Wow, this is crazy. I'm in Taiwan now. Quick rundown because I'm hungry:
Got to the airport and they took my temperature (from the ear) before IU was allowed to wait in the checking-in line. Then I had some time to wait at the Hong Kong airport playing with the email kiosk -- I took this 30-second video of people wearing masks at the airport. It's silly...
Anyhow, after arriving in Taiwan there was another wait while we queued up and they took everyone's temperature before getting to customs. I passed with flying colors, and am certifiably SARS-free. Next caught a bus to Taipei and found a cheap ($300 NT tonight, ~$9 US) room for the night.
The hostel I'm staying at is one of the most relaxed I've ever seen -- it feels more like a flatshare, with shared kitchens and a big common television room upstairs. I only met one guy at the hostel so far, an Australian who just arrived yesterday. He said he'd heard from friends that there were lots of jobs for English-speakers in Taiwan, so he came over here on a two-month tourist visa, looked through the classifieds yesterday, and now already has a job teaching English. He starts tomorrow. I'm amazed.
Taking the bus to Taipei from CKS airport was pretty strange. I guess I didn't really know what to expect what Taiwan would look like -- and I still don't -- but on my way into the city I felt more like I was looking at the streets of Thailand rather than China or Hong Kong. There's a weird sort of grey, polluted urban sprawl here and the buildings aren't all huge skyscrapers like in HK.
But then again I've only been here a few hours, so who knows. Gotta run now and buy mosquito repellent (yeah, one just bit me, argh) and food.
Posted by cce at April 17, 2003 06:25 PM | TrackBackchris, great! opportunity has arrived for you to speak chinese exclusively now. remember? when you were there last (you were 7 years old) for a month, i was blamed for not teaching chinese to you and cathy. do you want to check out my old neighborhood?
Wow man, that video was mad funny.
"Yo, um, hello. . . . cool."
Posted by: Dan I. at April 18, 2003 11:19 AMoh, there was sound too? i couldn't figure out if there was a microphone in the kiosk... oops.
Posted by: chris at April 18, 2003 07:52 PMWow. I just returned from Taiwan. Take a look at the pictures I took at PheeshBall.com.
Posted by: yszm at October 17, 2003 06:48 AMNiccceee pagee
Posted by: Hero at February 20, 2004 08:13 AM