London: Day 2

London is delivering today on the dreary weather. Good thing is that there is plenty to do indoors, including seeing the platform and the loads of free museums. As I write this I am just south of the British Museum, where I have just seen the Rosetta Stone. Once I finish this coffee it's off to the Globe Theatre, where Shakespeare made his name, and then the palace before finishing up at some more museums on the way back.

London: Day 1

UK immigration was an absolute nightmare today, but when I arrived at Phoenix Hostel it was still too early to check in. So naturally I decided to go ahead and see some of the major sights since it was a beautiful clear day. I was able to see Tower Bridge, London Tower, the Houses of Parliament, the Gherkin, and the eye before checking in for a solid nap. It's now 20:40 and I am gonna go check them out again when it turns dark.

On another note entirely, Guinness really is extraordinarily better here.

It begins...

I had quite a nice little headache last night with KLM/Delta Airlines. It seemed that sometime since booking in January, my itinerary changed and an error in their system resulted in a failure to notify me via email. After a good half-hour on the phone with them, everything appears to be in order (fingers crossed) and I am finally slated to leave for Europe this afternoon as planned. The current plan goes something like this:
-London, England
-Munich, Germany
-Salzburg, Austria
-Linz, Austria
-Vienna, Austria
-Budapest, Hungary(?)
-Berlin, Germany
-return via London

Thanks to new technology, I will hopefully be able to update this blog on-the-go via my smartphone in little snippets. So if there's anybody out there reading this, stay tuned for snippets!

Update from the Midwest

It's been ages since I've gotten to travel now, so this blog has really settled down (read: died). But I do have something in the works: a three-week trip to Europe in May. The current plan entails flying into London, and through a series of planes, trains, and automobiles seeing Berlin, Munich, Linz, Vienna, and potentially Barcelona or Prague. Along the way I'll reconnect with friends from my time abroad and no doubt make a whole slew of new ones.

Expect more as I plan more. As with the four-week expedition into China, I'll be keeping it light with only a carry on bag and maybe a small daypack. This time I'll be retiring that old canvas rucksack in favor of something a bit more modern: the Osprey Porter 46. I've put hours into researching new gear, and have to admit I can't wait to try it out.

Taiwan!

(as per usual click for descriptions)

I had heard from everybody who had been before me that Taiwan was their favorite place of all. But I didn't want to get my hopes up too much because I didn't want to set myself up for disappointment. However, Taiwan lived up to what everybody said. The food was amazing, the people friendly and helpful, the city was clean with good transit, and the women were among the most attractive I've seen. It easily ranks as my favorite country during all of my travels thus far and I would gladly return.

That being said, story time!

First day I had some phenomenal ramen for breakfast at the airport. My flight left 90 minutes ahead of everybody else's so I had some time to spare upon arrival in Taipei. I chose to take the high speed train, as I had never been on one before. It was a bit more, but it was definitely worth the 5USD. Once in the city I went straight to the hostel to drop off my stuff so I could explore and start eating street food. We were staying at the Camels Oasis near Chiang Kai Shek memorial. The place was fairly removed from night life, but near to the MRT Station (subway). It appeared to be an apartment that had been converted into a hostel by the owner, Shaun. The place was very tidy, well-decorated, and comfortable. It had a kitchen, laundry room, two double rooms, an 8 bed dorm and a 6 bed dorm. Unfortunately it only had 1 bathroom with 1 shower, which was the cause of a decent amount of lost time. But nonetheless I would gladly stay there again. Everybody got a storage locker inside the room so you could stash your passport, electronics, and any other valuables you had without fear of losing them or getting them snagged.

Once checked in I went off to explore the neighborhood to get my bearings. Found a bun place and got to use my first bit of Putonghua. As I am a vegetarian, I must be careful about what I eat. Pork is especially popular in Asia, and seems to find its way into almost every dish. I successfully asked whether there was a vegetable bun option, and whether it had meat, and if not, what types of veggies were in it. This bun ended up being amongst my favorite foods while in Taiwan, and for only 35NT (1.08US) it was a steal. Picked up the others from the MRT station once they arrived and showed them the way. It wasn't long before we were off exploring the city.

The first place we went was the Shilin Night Market. Now, when you say night market in Hong Kong, instantly you imagine something along the lines of the Ladies Market, where you can buy "designer" clothing, bags, souvenirs, etc. However, in Taiwan, a night market is sort of a carnival. There are games to play for prizes and dozens of street food vendors.

Rather than narrating the whole trip in this manner, I think I'll leave the rest of it to descriptions on the photos and just cover the in-betweens and things that stick out most:

1. Taipei, though densely populated, is much more spread out than HK. There is more space in between buildings and more green within the city itself. It makes it a lot further to walk places, but overall a much more enjoyable environment.

2. Taipei's public transit is phenomenal. It would be difficult to compare to HK's simply because the populations are so different. But I would say that it works just as well if not better than Hong Kong's. The stations are very open and all of the signs and maps are clear. They even have section views of some stations to help you find the right level.

3. Scooters are a way of life in Taiwan. In fact, there are designated scooter lanes. And at intersections there is a designated area for scooters (as they will inevitably weave between cars and go to the front anyways).

4. I know Taipei 101 is the second tallest building in the world, but I guess I had no concept of how big it really is. The food court at the base has some excellent food and some of the architectural stylings inside are nice. However, overall, I don't feel like the interior lives up to the expectations that the exterior sets.

5. As I said before, the people in Taiwan are pleasant and helpful. Now, the other places I have been when people are helpful it is because they want something in return or it is simply an act to trick you out of some money. It's not that way at all in Taiwan. People come up to you if they see you hesitating about where to go and offer help. When we went the wrong place in Pinglin, some people not only told us where to go to get to the bicycle rental place, but also called ahead, got us a special deal, and gave us a ride there in their pickup truck. Again after the bicycle ride, my friend Paige and I missed the bus back into town, so we were going to go find the bus stop to wait for the next. Some people in a $70,000 (140K USD in Taiwan due to fees) Lexus pulled up and offered us a ride to the next bus stop, which was 20 minutes away, despite the fact that we were profusely sweating. None of these people asked for anything in return, even when we offered it: they just wanted to be of help.

6. Food. This might just be my favorite thing about Taiwan. There are so many street vendors and vegetarian options there it's almost overwhelming. And none of the street food costs very much money. I seldom payed more than $1US for a dish.

That's about all I care to type for Taiwan. I could go on for days with stories of it, but this is already a novel so I'll leave it at that.

Expect more small updates during the month of June while I backpack China. I won't have access to Facebook or YouTube in the mainland, so this will be my primary means of communication.