Taipei Touchdown

Post Edited 7/11/2010

I made it. Finally. After a twelve hour flight, which consisted of Chinese action movies and a lot of sleeping, I'm finally checked into the Miramar Garden Hotel, Taipei.

From Taiwan 2010

I'll wake up tomorrow morning to write about the journey a little bit more, but here are some pictures that are a taste of travels and the hotel. Tomorrow, which is a free day, looks like it'll consist of breakfast, a bit of workout time in the ridiculously nice fitness center to include a sauna stop, and then roaming around the city to hunt for food.

The hotel itself is incredibly nice. My favorite touch of flair are the bathroom speakers that are connected to the TV so you don't miss anything you were watching, and the room's power supply which can only be turned on by putting in your room key. Leaving the room means no power, which means to power waste. I think they're on to something here.

From Taiwan 2010

Also, the exchange rate isn't that bad, either.

It's hard to remember that I'm here for a PoliSci conference, which begins on Monday, but I am. Definitely excited for that.

Before then, though, I need some time change adjustment.

Added 7/11
Okay, now that I've gotten a full night's sleep, with the exception of a fully animated and illuminated beer billboard that featured two giant toasting hands with pints that went "HWAAAA!" all night, I can sit down and add some of the things I wrote in my notebook while flying. Here goes, with other things added in as well.

"Ladies and gentermen, we will be arriving in Taipei shortly."

The announcement on the China Airlines 747-400 was loud enough to stir me from a bizarre dream about taking a tugboat from North Carolina to South Africa to protest bad calls in the World Cup. The flight had been, well, bearable, and it remained as such until we landed. I opted to try the "Chinese Breakfast" when given the choice between a cheese omelette and the more cultural plate. A Chinese Breakfast, at least China Airlines' Chinese Breakfast, was a sort of porridge with ground pork, peas, and carrots. On the side was a roll, some sort of candied pork thing, fruit, and a cup of tea. As much as I tried, I could not finish the Chinese Breakfast. The sticky, white porridge with assorted veggies didn't settle too well with me. So, naturally, I turned back to the movie I had chosen for that particular moment (I watched two in between sleeping periods), Fourteen Blades.

I'm not a movie reviewer so I'll spare you a poor attempt, nor do I speak Chinese. However, I had a hell of a hard time following the plot, even with what seemed to be pretty good English subtitles. Set in what I gathered was a post Qin-dynasty China, the film was about a guy who commanded the Emperor's personal assassination team. They weren't a secret team or anything, so everyone knew who he was, which is quite a departure from our Western style films. Since this guy was out in the open everyone respected him, feared him, loved him, wanted to buy him drinks, yadda yadda yadda. He was then betrayed by some prince who wanted to be emperor and the guards turned against him, so it was basically a "good guy trying to complete his mission while avoiding death at the hand of his friends" type film. The "Fourteen Blades" mentioned in the title where kept in a tidy box by the protagonist, and he chose from them depending on the type of bad guy he was killing (each stood for different virtues, all of them related to filial piety and respect for the government) and they could do cool things like fly through the air, explode, and still remain perfectly intact.

Anyways, after that I fell asleep again. Cool. No dreams this time. About an hour later I was stirred by the flight attendant to turn off my iPod because we were getting ready to land. If anyone knows why things like iPods have to be turned off before landing, please enlighten me. I always comply, but I have a hard time figuring out how the smooth sounds of Ben Folds could bring the whole plane down. Anyway. I silenced Ben and looked out the window, and I experienced a rare, breath-taking moment. Either we were staring at the night sky in the middle of a cool, welcome-to-Taiwan barrel roll courtesy of the pilot, or the ocean was covered in little tiny lights. I looked closer, and I could discern hundreds of little fishing boats with their yellow, blue, and white lights tinkling and bobbing on the Taiwanese coast. This was the sort of thing you imagine when reading about Imperial China and the fishing communities of Eastern Asia, and I'm guessing the images created by the authors, poets, and directors were spot on. It was absolutely beautiful. I was transfixed by this simple light show until the wing flaps went up to slow us down. I sat back in my seat and did not dare look out the window again - I hate landing in planes.

Thankfully, it was one of the gentler touchdowns I've experienced and the de-planing process went very quickly. The fourteen hour flight was rather empty, and everyone had an empty seat next to them, so that helped. Since I had nothing to declare (for some reason, that makes me feel inadequate) the customs process was easy and we were greeted on the other side of the one-way doors out of the sterile zone by incredibly excited National Taiwan University students. Note: There were signs all over the airport for "The Beagle Brigade," which are their bad-person detecting dogs. I did not see one, and was incredibly disappointed. Hopefully the airport will read this before my flight out and have some hanging around the concourse before I get on their plane and eat their breakfast porridge again. The posters were the cutest thing: little beagles, almost smiling, standing next to pictures of guns, meat, plants, and drugs saying "Declare or be fined!" I can't think of a better way to threaten someone with the book.

We rode to the hotel on a bus that was the realization of my imagination's version of the United States' East Coast Chinatown Express. There were avocado green curtains with little tassels hanging in the windows, flat screen TVs that were probably added to the roof of the bus by the driver, a shiny faux chrome ceiling, and little lacy things on the head rests. I loved it. After a delightful welcome to Taipei by the Taiwanese students/program directors, I stared out the window at the tide of scooters that dominates the highway 24/7 (so I'm told). I then made it to the hotel, was blown away by the luxury (Have I mentioned the tiny micro-garden in the corner by the door? There's a little ceramic dish with pebbles, water, and a few plants growing in it.), enjoyed a pre-bed snack in the restaurant with two other Davidson guys who are here for the conference, and went to bed.

This entry was a little long, partly because I had a lot to say and partly because I woke up too early and had a hard time falling back to sleep. This seemed like an appropriate way to fill the time. Next on the schedule: get breakfast, check out the sauna at some point, and explore the city. I can't wait to see what lies beyond the HWAAA! board.