One Week in Taiwan

The first leg of our flight was from Saipan to South Korea. Departure time: 1:30am. I groaned a little when I first saw my itinerary. No sleep! It was impossible. I tried to rest from 7pm to 11pm but I was too excited about flying. I was packed and ready to go days before. As a sponsor for the 8th grade class, I had been responsible for helping them fund-raise over $4,000 for this trip. To accompany the students, all I needed to do was help chaperone and pay for my own plane ticket and food for the week. The whole trip cost me just a little under $900, and I was able to pay for the whole thing by saving a little from my monthly pay-checks and tutoring on the side (a lot of tutoring, but it was so worth it). I got to spend a week in Taiwan for pennies. I still can't believe how lucky I am.

The flight from Saipan to South Korea was around 4 hours long. By the time we arrived it was around 7am. The South Korean International Airport is perhaps the coolest airport terminal in the world. For those who have longer layovers, they have free tours from the airport to local tourist attractions. There is a large cultural center inside the terminal (right across from Starbucks) where you can make authentic Korean crafts. During our first layover our group painted wooden magnets, and on the way back we made a large copy of a Korean Magpie with a mold and ink. Magpies mean "good                                                               news" in Korea, and a Raven apparently means the opposite.

By the time we left the airport in Korea (headed for Japan) I was exhausted. I had been up since 6am the day before and wouldn't be able to sleep for another 8 hours. During every flight we were given meals. I wasn't too excited about airplane food, until I saw the feast they set before us. Thank you Asiana Airlines! It was great. We landed in Japan around 1pm. In Japan we had a short layover and then hopped on board a "Hello Kitty" airplane for Taiwan. We had Hello Kitty pillows, Hello Kitty screens on the tv in front of our seats, Hello Kitty silver ware, Hello Kitty boarding passes, Hello Kitty... you get the picture.

Taiwan was a sight for sore eyes. (Literally. My eyelids felt heavy like lead from being up so long). The group I was with stopped for a quick pic by a Welcome to Taiwan sign and then hopped into a taxi. We drove 1 hour into the city of Taipei, and there we found our hotel. Mai Hotel, Taipei. Three stars. Plushy soft beds with down comforters and pillows... I was asleep in two seconds. My bed in Saipan is like a board with fabric on it, so the extra comfort made our hotel feel like the Ritz Carlton.

Day 1) The next morning we had breakfast in the hotel. Rice, egg & seaweed soup, white bread with strawberry jelly. First whole day in Taipei and we decided to make the most of it by packing in all sorts of fun tours and trips to local attractions. First we headed to the Taipei 101 tower, the fourth tallest building in the world with the fastest elevator. We rode up to the observation deck and saw a 360 degree view of the city. We also saw their "wind damper", a large round steel ball that is around 660 tons and keeps the tower from falling over in the wind. After that we headed to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial. We watched the changing of the guards, a ceremony of sorts that takes the guards about 20+ minutes to complete. After that we headed back to the Taipei 101 tower to eat in their food court.
The information center at the Taipei 101 tower was where I met up with Roy, a friend of mine from high school who took a three hour train ride to be able to see me while I was in Taiwan. Our next adventure of the day was at the National Palace Museum. We weren't allowed to take pictures while inside the museum, but I did take one of the outside. The building was massive, and so was the collection of jade, porcelain, stone and steel artifacts. They also had a large collection of ancient Mandarin writings, cook ware, coral statues and other household things from dynasties long ago. It was really neat to see such an extensive collection of history. After the museum we ate dinner and then headed "home." I have never fallen asleep so fast.



Day 2) Another night at Mai Hotel & breakfast the next morning. Rice, egg & seaweed soup, noodles, white bread with strawberry jelly. We woke up early and headed to church. The Adventist church is right behind the Adventist hospital. After church we took the 8th graders to the Taipei Zoo. Somewhere in the Taipei zoo filmmakers shot scenes for the movie "Life of Pi." I never got to see where they shot those scenes because the zoo was so large we couldn't even sprint through half of it in a day. What we did get to see was pretty special. Koalas, Pandas, Malayan Tapirs... The kids got to see their first hippo and elephant in person... come to think of it I think that was also the first time I'd seen a live hippo. After the zoo we went back to the hotel and rested up for a couple hours. Our next adventure began around 7pm. We took the MRT to the Shilin Night Market and spent the evening running around looking at all the neat souvenirs and trying to dodge the smell of stinky tofu that food vendors were selling.

Day 3) Rice, egg & seaweed soup, white bread with strawberry jelly. Also our day staying at the Mai Hotel in Taipei. We made it to the gondolas before the rest of the crowd did, and bought tickets. Our ride to the top of the mountains bordering the city was breath-takingly beautiful. At the top we walked around for several minutes, but because we were on a tight schedule, we did not get to participate in any of the tea ceremonies. Next time. :) We headed back down the mountain, picked our things up at the hotel, and made our way to a train that would take us down to the city of Hualien. Four hours later we arrived in the city of Hualien and found the place we were to stay. As it turns out, the manager hadn't reserved the correct number of rooms. After figuring out that slight conundrum we talked two blocks down the street to stay at a different hotel. We weren't up to much that night so we found the closest restaurant (Pizza Hut!) and ate dinner.

Day 4) The next day we awoke bright and early to catch two taxis that would take us on a tour of the Taroko Gorge National Park. We had a great time. The gorge was beautiful. We stopped at many vistas along the way, one of which had a trail that led to a temple tucked into the mountain. At another stop during the tour the drivers gave us all hard hats to wear, and directed us to walk along a path than ran parallel to the road. The path went under some large rock overhangs (apparently what the hard hats were for). At the end of the tour we headed back to the hotel, ate dinner, and then called it a night.

Day 5) More trains! We took another train to the city of Kaohsiung and arrived in the early afternoon. After settling in to our hotel rooms we made our way around town and eventually ended up at the British Consulate. We toured the grounds for an hour or two, and then surprised the kids with a trip to an amusement park on top of 9 story mall in Kaohsiung. I opted out of the Ferris wheel so I could take videos and ride one of the brown panda scooter things. If it went faster than 3 inches an hour it would have been fun, but hey, make the most of everything right? It was nice and slow so my friends could take embarrassing photos. *Crushed it.

Coach Goris takes a selfie

Day 6) The next morning we packed up and got ready to take our last train ride. This train was the HSR, a high speed train that would take us back to Taipei. I got a bit mixed up with kilometers and miles per hour - its 180mph and 290k/h. Forgive me Grandma, didn't mean to make you worry so much! When we got back into Taipei we had just enough time to run to the local hot springs. After that we had one last grand shopping spree at the Shilin Street Market. Considering I haven't gone shopping for anything other than food in 8 months, it was a grand ole time.

Day 7) Early morning flights! Our group (we called ourselves the fantastic four) left Taiwan at 1pm and arrived back in Saipan at 1:45am the next day. It was a long, busy, and amazing week.