First Day in Taipei

Greetings from Taipei, Taiwain! We are here!

It was a long trip, but a smooth one without any complications. Airport security was a breeze. It actually didn't seem any more rigorous than usual. We left Cincinatti at 8:30 AM Friday morning, Ohio time, got to LAX at 10:00 AM LA time. We left LA at about 6:00 PM LA time and arrived in Taipei at about 10:00 PM Saturday, Taipei time. The flight was as comfortable as a 13 hr. flight can be, and I think I slept for about 7 hours. We weren't very tired when we got to the hotel around midnight because we hadn't been awake too many hours after our night of sleep on the plane. I think we were probably in bed by 2:00 A.M. and slept until about 7:00.

We've had a nice day today. First of all, the Caesar Park Hotel is very nice. Our room is very, very spacious - the largest hotel room I've ever stayed in. There are several restaraunts in the hotel. We ate a buffet breakfast this morning at one of them. Then we went just kind of walked around the area near our hotel and checked out our part of the city. We went to the K Mall, which is right near our hotel. It is different than malls in the U.S. It is very electronics oriented and there are many stores, but the stores are very small. After that, we ate lunch at Pizza Hut, then did some shopping we needed to do at a department store and the 7-Eleven. We were tired after that, so we came back and took about an hour nap. We decided to go to Taipei 101 this evening. (For those who don't know, Taipei 101 is the tallest building in the world.) We didn't go up to the observation deck because it had started POURING down rain. So, we did some more looking in stores and ate dinner at the food court, which was HUGE. Taipei 101 is basically like a big, ritzy mall. It has all of the posh American and European stores. We want to go back when the weather makes it possible to get a good view from the observation deck.

From our first day in Taipei, here are some observations:

- Taiwan is HOT and MUGGY!!!!

- You don't find many women wearing shorts. Most wear skirts or crop pants with a short sleeved top or tank top and sandals or tennis shoes.

- If you've ever been to New Orleans, the smell of Taipei reminds me of The French Quarter, and I'm not talking about the nice smell of gumbo!

- Almost everyone we've come into contact with speaks excellent English. However, most are embarassed by their English skills and are apologetic. Imagine, we go to THEIR country and they are apologetic about not speaking OUR language well enough! It sure is quite a contrast from mean-spirited Americans who are unwelcoming to anyone who can't speak their language in their country and also expect everyone to speak their language in the rest of the world.

- Food service workers wear masks when working with the food. You will also ocassionally see people walking down the streets wearing masks, which I guess is customary if you are sick in Taiwan.

- The Taiwanese are prepared for heavy rains. They have systems to deal with wet umbbrellas before entering building, either a thing to put them in for a minute to dry them or a plastic cover to put over them. It is the rainy season right now, as we found out today.

- Lots of people drive scooters and there is parking for them everywhere.

- There are lots of Japanese tourists here, and a lot of the consumerism here seems to be geared toward them.

- You don't have to go far to find a Starbucks, 7 Eleven, Pizza Hut, TGI Fridays or KFC here.

- During our cab ride to Taipei 101 we passed a really ritzy looking shopping area that reminded us of Chicago's magnificent mile.


Well, stay tuned to hear about our 2nd day, which is when the excitement really begins. We will be united with Ai-Mi at 10:00 AM tomorrow morning!