Ni hau! A new adventure calls for a resurrection of the ol' blog. I have arrived unscathed in Taipei! I have only been here for a little more than 2 days, but I've done a lot already. Melissa and I are currently residing in the "World Scholars Hostel" in Zhongxiao Xinsheng....(that's a fun one to pronounce), we share a tiny 7 x10 room with bunk beds. The hostel is a little ghetto, but it's a good spot and the manager is super nice. And we have AC, which is crucial because it is ridiculously humid and hot here. I am sweating constantly (thanks Washington for lowering my heat tolerance).
I am finding that there's not many people who speak English here, so we've been having fun trying to communicate. So far we've done pretty well, Melissa has a handle on basic Mandarin and I just smile and point at things. We're quite a team. We attempted to find one of the Chinese meetings on Friday night, but the Kingdom Halls are just rooms hidden in the upper floors of apartment buildings and stores, so not being able to read Chinese characters- we didn't actually find it. We did find the English cong. today though and got to attend meeting there today. It was PACKED. It's a room full of chairs in the upstairs of an apartment building. It's quite interesting. The congregation is really nice. Mostly Filipinos, but there are people from all over the world helping in that congregation. I am going to attempt to find the service group this week. (The field service groups meet at various subway stations around the city, so you just have to find your way there and locate the brothers and sisters and they send you on your way in pairs) Should be quite an experience.
So far I've done a LOT of walking and riding the underground rail around to the different districts. The city is surprisingly easy to navigate. Melissa goes to school all week, so I get to go exploring. There are an uncanny number of mopeds on the roads, it's something you have to see to believe. And it's a total free-for-all on the road, and they give no heed to pedestrians. It looks like complete chaos but somehow it works, everyone weaves in and out and drives on the sidewalks and darts in front of you and you think "how is it that there aren't accidents happening ALL over the place", but it works! I have to say, I feel really safe in this city. There's not a lot of crime and people just go about their routines here. No one really bothers anyone and there's no seedy characters. It's really pretty nice.
It was a little strange at first getting used to the flow of things in public. There is no concept of personal space, especially on the subways, NOT a place for anyone claustrophobic. And it isn't considered rude to push people aside or cut in front of them if they hesitate for more than a second. So you just move as fast as you can with the crowd and don't be afraid to be assertive. But when you're not commuting the people are very friendly and take time to care for you.
Eating out and shopping has been fun. The food has been AMAZING, and really cheap. Some places have menus with English or at least pictures, but one hole in the wall place we ate at only had chinese words and a price next to the items, so with some difficulty we ordered some sashimi & sushi. The decor was lovely- we sat in front of the preparation area which was covered with various decapitated aquatic creatures staring at us. Melissa and I both ate cellophane wrap by accident (not knowing our food was wrapped in it), we later got chased down by the restaurant employee because we left a tip.. (apparently they aren't used to getting tips and thought we left our money behind on accident). But it was some of the best food I've had since I've been here, cost about $4.
The night markets are really cool. They are all over the city on various side streets. The city lights up at night. Vendors fill the markets, some of which are unlicensed- and at the first sight of the police you will see them pack up their whole operation in about 2 seconds flat and RUN in the other direction with their carts. It's pretty impressive. I will try to get pictures.
We also went on a gondola ride up into the mountains. It was a pretty amazing view of the city. The mountains are very jungley, felt like we were in Jurassic park, only with rice furrows and little shanty's and gaudy temples along the way. Along the ride there are several stations you can get off and hike these boardwalk trails through the hills. At the top there are food vendors and you can hike a road that takes you to a tea house that overlooks the mountain side and some temples. (There's pictures below of that trip).
All in all this place has been really cool. I have yet to see even a fraction of it, but I can tell I will really like it here. I have been told I got the 'golden ticket' visa, because it's good for multiple entries for 5 years, I guess it's hard to get approved for that. So the brothers at the hall said I'm destined to be a 'lifer'. We'll see. :) But I will try my best to keep updates coming and post pictures. Hope everyone back home is well. Until next time...
(click on the pictures to enlarge)
