From Taitung to Kaohsiung - Meeting the ambassador

To spare my phone battery, I wrote the following on the back of a map of Kenting I printed out before my departure. A place I would eventually not go to. You start with a travel plan in mind but after all the advice and suggestions from locals, also taking in consideration the weather and your travel buddies, the plan can change a few times before and even during your trip. You will need to make choices between destinations, skip attractions and end up in places and see things you did not plan to. If you cannot handle this kind of changes; you better book the Chinese 14-days around Taiwan bus tour.

I skipped Kenting and went straight to Kaohsiung, a city that wasn't part of my initial travel plan. I ended up going there because I just visited Orchid Island which is very similar to Kenting in the following way: A lot of beaches, so great sunsets and sunrises and both great places to dive. Since I experienced all of that during my 2.5 days stay on Orchid Island, I happily exchanged Kenting for Kaohsiung, the 2^nd biggest city of Taiwan. When comparing Kaohsiung to Taipei, I would say it is clearly less populated/busy and a couple degrees warmer than Taipei. Kaohsiung is the place where you take a boat on the love river and enjoy the city view at night, also the place where the national park is just a walk away from the river where you are literally walking with apes and of course a place where you can enjoy great and cheap seafood dishes. I was on my way there, so this was the introduction I got from my local friends.

I said John’s family goodbye and see you soon at the train station where our ways would separate. They would head back to Taipei whereas I would take the train to Kaohsiung. Well on time, I relaxed a bit in the station main area which wasn't big at all but cosy enough and headed to the platform 10 minutes before the train would arrive. While standing there with my huge back pack, waiting for the train to arrive, a man approached me...

He started talking to me, asking me where I come from and what I am doing in Taiwan. His English was very good so it was easy to communicate. I told him about my travel plans while he explained that he was working for the Taiwanese embassy in the Netherlands. He’s Taiwanese from origin but after living 6 years in the Netherlands, his Dutch was perfect. We continued our conversation in Dutch (I think). He told me that his recent move to Taiwan has been a hard time for him adjusting to the heat and humidity again but he was also happy to be back ‘home’. He was on his way to a city close enough to Kaohsiung where he was going to visit a military base. He was on a mission that involved guiding a few Dutch journalists who were working on an article that involved much research into the different military bases of Taiwan. He took the train alone because the journalists were fine driving there by car. He told me that he has always been amazed by the independence and courage of young Dutch women backpacking on their own, finding their way and all. Even though I am not Dutch, I understood his compliment and thanked him for it. Eventually, he ended up sitting in front of me but he was so tired that he fell asleep when the train started moving.  

It's these kind of encounters that make travelling alone so worth it. The fact is, wherever you go, you always have the choice to be as alone as you want to be. When you are feeling alone, open yourself up, dare to approach strangers, and turn them into your travel companions. Even if it's just for 5 minutes, it's another chat, another story to tell, another moment to share...  

During my trip, travelling by train and bus often gave me the opportunity to catch up on my writing and so I did.

A top reunion on ground floor Taipei 101

Before we took off; I made a quick phone call to my mother. I wanted her to pass on the message to John that I was on the plane but my back pack wasn’t. There was nothing he could do about it, but sharing the situation, made me feel better. I guess that makes me selfish. I involved my mother in the process since I could not connect with him directly. See, I have this network on my phone, called 48, that shuts you off the entire world outside of Europe.

If everything would have gone smoothly, the first thing I would be stressing about while setting foot on the plane is the person who I will be sitting next to for the next 11 hours. I imaged myself in that scenario finding my seat thinking to myself pleaseeee not a smelly or too-big-for-one-seat person, please no babies in a diameter of 3 meters around me. This time, I only started observing him after take-off. My neighbour was a Dutch speaking, not-too-big-for-one-seat kinda guy, around my age. I wanted to connect with him but he fell asleep from the moment we took off. I also didn’t get the feeling he wanted to have a chat with me!? Besides me being the one delaying the flight, crushing his dream of having two seats for himself and the fact that my video screen was working while his wasn’t, I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t like me! At least he was quiet and odourless the entire flight. Perfect!

From the moment dinner was being served, I couldn’t stop thinking about drinking wine for free. Last time, I didn’t bother drinking alcohol on the flight but this time, I needed it!

“Wat wil je graag drinken?” asked the Dutch blond male flight attendant with a big smile. 
“Een glaasje wijn?” 
“Jazeker; welke had je graag gehad?” 
“Welke heb je?” 
“We hebben wit en rood!”

I did not ask him what kind of wine he had to show off. My wine knowledge is rather poor. I asked him the question because I already knew the answer and I knew it was going to cheer me up. So when he replied, we both started laughing out loud and so he poured me a cup of red wine. Since we both enjoyed this moment of laughter, I did not consider myself selfish at that moment.

I envied my neighbour because I so badly wanted to fall asleep. I even brought that weird U-shaped thing you need to put around your neck. I still don’t get it, it just makes it worse! Instead, I watched the Dutch and definitely worse version of ‘Zot van A’, some episodes of a show I don’t recall and read some pages out of my book ‘Travels in Taiwan’.

Finally, after approximately 12 hours, I arrived in Taipei. Hello heat! After exchanging some Euro in NTD and reporting my back pack ‘missing’, I walked all the way to the exit where Jerry welcomed me literally with open arms. Even though he did not have a car, he was willing to take the bus to the airport so that I would not be alone taking it into the city. I remember John having to do something with that little arrangement.

While seated on the air-conditioned bus we brought up some memories from two years ago. They funny thing was that we didn’t even share that many, to be precise only two. To be totally honest, we didn’t even remember how we met each other! After a bit of investigating by us both, putting the bits and pieces of our memories together, we understood that Mary, the German girl that decided to do a similar AIESEC internship around the same time as me, was the link. Jerry met her in Germany during his language course. And so one evening, two years ago, Mary decided to invite him along to an AIESEC night out in Taipei city.

When the bus arrived at Taipei main station, we decided to go straight to Taipei 101 by MRT and hang around in the shopping mall before meeting John for dinner. Jerry was surprised when I pulled out my Easy card to enter the MRT. “Where did you get the Easy card from??” “I kept it for two years, I thought it might come in handy some day!” Arrived at Taipei 101, Jerry mentioned that we drank a coffee on the 35^th floor last time.

While window shopping in the luxurious Taipei 101 shopping mall, we were wondering if there would ever come a time when we could take the window out of the sentence. And if so, when that would be!?

Jerry’s phone rang. It was John asking him if he already took a ticket for the restaurant. A ticket?! Why? Apparently we were going to have dinner in Din Tai Fung. Not just an ordinary restaurant, on the contrary, one of which the Hong Kong branch was awarded a Michelin star. Jerry came of the phone telling me that we need to get a ticket for a table of 7 which meant a waiting time of 1 hour and a half. It wasn’t the waiting time that shocked me but the fact that we were going to be 7?? I was wondering who he invited? 

Seven ok… so he invited his family along, so his wife Mary, his son Jay, so that’s 5. Who else?? Once everyone arrived at the entrance of the restaurant. I knew.. I forgot about John’s mother who moved into his house two years ago and the real surprise was Lilly, my Aiesec recruiter!! I could not be happier having them all present at my first evening. I inappropriately hugged everyone on arrival. In public places, especially in south Taiwan, physical contact of any sorts should be avoided. 

The plan was to go to the top of Taipei 101 after our lovely dinner but we were 10 minutes too late to get our second ticket of the night. It closed at 9pm. Instead, we decided to have a drink in Xinmending and eventually finishing the night in a MacDonalds with fries, Coke and spilled Coke Zero. On my pants. The one that I was going to need to wear for at least two more days. #clumpsycaro #delayedbackpack. Taking into account the few hours I did not sleep on the plane, I can say that after being awake for 36 hours I looked forward to going back home, John’s home. 

Again, I didn’t manage to reach the top of Taipei 101, but hey I just arrived..Third time is the charm? ;)

Carolyn.

Hell and Back in Caro style..

Two years ago, when I left Taiwan and told everyone I would come back, I never thought I actually would.. It's a thing you often say, leaving a holiday destination, an Erasmus location..but do you eventually go back? 

Taiwan, two years ago, was the first time I was away from home for a longer period of time, 1 month and 8 weeks to be precise. While it seems long enough to explore the entire island, slightly bigger than Belgium .. It's not. During the week, I taught English on irregular hours and days and the weekends were easily filled with day trips and exploring the city, Taipei. 

I did went on a 3-day school trip where everything was tightly scheduled. For Taiwanese and Chinese people, exactly how it should be. Besides that, I organised  one weekend trip together with Evy, my dear college friend who was studying - figuratively speaking - next to me in Xiamen, China. Together we explored the coastline and the Taroko gorge in Hualien. 

Conclusion: There was more that I wanted to explore and with a maximum of two weeks I was allowed to take off at once, it just seemed the perfect decision. You could say that there is always more to see, which is true and you could think I am silly to spend my money on this long flight to the same location while I had many other choices like Thailand or Malaysia. I think I just love Taiwan :) let's leave it to that. 

I booked my flights sometime in May. The dates were decided: 19 September to 6 October. It wasn't until one month before my departure that I seriously started planning the trip with some help from my host family from two years ago.  

The last week before departure was the busiest, at work as well as after. Toughest challenge: backpack packing.

Friday the 19th was there, I worked that day until 1pm, picked up my backpack at home and took a cab to the airport. The holidays began but I did not feel it yet..

I would only feel relaxed once I got on the plane to Taipei. I only had 55 minutes of overlay time but when I checked in my backpack, the check-in agent was confident in a smooth flight and luggage transfer in Amsterdam. 

When I arrived at the gate for my flight to Amsterdam, I noticed the delay on the screen of 25 minutes. This was the moment I got really stressed! How could it be possible to take out my backpack from one plane and get it on the next one in 30 minutes?? Next worrying fact, the flight to Taipei was not delayed... 

We landed in Amsterdam at 7.55pm and the flight to Taipei took off at 8.40pm. When the plane was finding its way to the right gate, I saw us passing by the gate I needed to be for my next flight and it. was. far, almost too far for this overlay time + delay. I got off the plane at 8.20pm, actually the gate closing time for my next flight but something just triggered me to run as fast as I could and try to get that flight! What did I had to lose? I could at least give it a try! During the run, I was thinking about the hell and back challenge that I missed. Well, let's say I saw Satan as well that day! People were looking at me because 1. the wheels of my hand luggage made a lot of noise on the fast tracks, 2. I was screaming desperately, 'excuse me' for maybe more that 50 times, 3. I was the only one running!? After a few minutes I arrived at the check-in. I saw a few still going through security so there was hope! Entirely out of breath, I asked the young security guy 'Is this the flight to Taipei?' 'No it's not! Naa just kiddin! Haha' 'SERIOUSLY?' 

My ticket was not valid anymore because they never thought I would be able to make it to the gate on time. They gave my seat away already. But since I was there, they tried to get me on the flight and there were two seats left so they gave me another one. Thank god! Unfortunately, my backpack wasn't as fast of a runner as me. It needed to come with a next flight. Not the ideal outcome but given the current circumstances, I think I did pretty well to get on that flight! At least I was going to be in Taipei on time. 

Sitting in the plane, I was finally starting to get my breathing under control. My hands stopped shaking and I looked at my wrist. I saw I was wearing the bracelet I bought two years ago outside a Buddhist temple in the Taipei mountains...I did not know which one to thank but I figured, I couldn't do much wrong by just saying 'thank god!'.

Carolyn.

Real time is overrated.

Hi there! 

Totally taiwanated is back! I will write about my 16-day tour in Taiwan during and after my trip. Nothing will be written in real time because of the lack of time.

So real stories, real emotions, the good and the bad, just a bit delayed. 

The essence will be put in writing..

Carolyn.