saturday, august 5, 2006

finally, southeast asia, a place amanda and i have wanted to go to for a while but havent been able to until now.

we got a pretty early start and had some nice mcdonalds breakfast at nagoya station before heading to the airport. we took eva airlines, which operates out of taipei, and in order to get a cheaper flight, we needed a 1 night layover in taipei both on the way there and on the way back.

as soon as you get to taipei, you realize that even though the writing looks the same, nothing is the same. the language is harsh, the people rude, and the streets dirty. none of that legendary japanese politeness and clenliness here.

after the airport bus into the city we tried to find the youth hostel we reserved over the internet. when we finally found the place it was an absolute hole, worse than any place i stayed in europe. dirty showers, used sheets, mosquitos, paint peeling off the walls. even 20 bucks seemed like a ripoff. but it had a convenient location so we decided to check out what taipei had to offer.

unfortunately, not much. the main station area had little shopping, so after dark we went to check out one of taipeis famous night markets, known for lots of food and shopping. but it was a blisteringly hot and humid night and the market was just one big sweatbox. there were lots of people eating disgusting food like animal organs, feet, and brains, and the market was so hot you could literally see the cooks sweat drop into the broths they were cooking. we left rather quickly to the shopping arcades but realized that taipei is not where shopping is at...the clothes are ugly and overpriced.

we went back to the station area around the hostel to recover and get some dinner. we tried to find a taiwanese restaurant, but the images from the night market couldnt escape our heads so we passed. instead, we found a mcdonalds, basically the only thing we thought we could stomach at that point.

thats because around 9pm the stench in the city became unbearable. ive never smelled anything so foul. i guess the humidity was getting all of the sewage and trash into the air and circulating it...it was like walking around in a porta potty. after dinner we couldnt stand it so we went to the hostel and had an early night as we had an early flight to phnom penh the next morning.

hopefully i wont have to go back to taipei again. if youre thinking of going there, dont.