Colonel! We've managed to avoid drowning!

If you don't get the reference in the title, don't worry about it.  I MADE IT TO TAIPEI!!

I'll try to update this every night with pictures and all, hopefully I can keep to it!

Last night I didn't sleep well because the pillow wasn't great and my roommate snored like a bear.  O_o  I woke up ten minutes before my alarm, but got up anyway because I didn't really want to be with the bear any more.  Sometime while I was stripping my bed, she woke up, but I was being as quiet as possible, so I wasn't really concerned.  Besides, she started it.

My hostel room the first night.  I was in bed two.  The bear was in bed four.

I missed the train I intended to take to the airport because I forgot to buy the extra 'first class' upgrade required, so I got the Express instead.  I really like Centrair.  I love the atmosphere and it's my favorite airport (of the few I've been to).  I took a picture of the Christmas decorations in the main area.

Honestly, I have no idea what the Centrair mascot is supposed to be, but it's kinda cute.

I wish I'd had more time (or that more shops were open).  I checked my bags, ate a bagel and cream cheese, and made my way through customs.  Know what's great?  Not having to take off your shoes!  I didn't fill out an Embarkation Card, so I had to go through the immigration line twice, but I made it to my gate 15 minutes before boarding started (not the 30 I wanted, but not bad).

The inside of the plane was festooned with Santas doing various travel-y things.  XD

If you're ever hesitant to fly China Airways, don't be.  The attendants were great, and everything was tri-lingual (Chinese, Japanese, and English).  Boarding the plane, there was a tri-lingual selection of newspapers to grab.  They came by and confirmed that I selected the vegetarian meal option (and they HAD one, unlike stupid United).  Each seat had its own little TV (as they SHOULD have, unlike stupid Delta).  The movie selection was nice - I watched "Captain America," but the coolest thing was the plane had real-time cameras on the front and belly so you could see what was going on outside, even if you didn't have a window seat!

Don't mind me - just enjoying my flight.

My meal was yummy.  ^-^

The eggplant was a bit bitter, but the only thing I didn't like enough to not eat was the jelly.

Across the aisle from me was a Japanese gentleman and on his other side, a Taiwanese girl about my age.  It turns out that she's an ALT (Taiwanese, raised in New Zealand) living not too far from me, and the Japanese gentleman is an archery competition judge (HOW COOL IS THAT?!)  They chatted most of the flight (it was nifty hearing parts of their tri-lingual conversation as he practiced his Chinese and English), and I tried not to eavesdrop.  XD  We ended up chatting on the way off the plane and in the airport, though.

No trouble through Immigration or getting my luggage.  Kathy and her mom helped me get my bus ticket and I caught the bus to my hostel.  It's SO MUCH WARMER here than Kosai!  It's 25 degrees warmer!  Crazy!

Pimp my bus.  They ALL looked like this - or even gaudier.

On the bus ride, I saw three Minis (two cream-colored and one navy) and after I got off the bus, I saw a red one.  I also counted no fewer than four 7-11s and four Family-Marts.  Good.

Don't worry, Fred!  I think I'll be okay.  XD

My view of Taipei 101 from the bus (this is way zoomed.  XD)  I'm staying about a 15-minute walk away.

There are Taiwanese flags everywhere, which is also a great departure from Japan which doesn't display its national flag... anywhere!  My schools don't even fly them outside.  They just have one in the gym.  Weird.

Flags lining a pedestrian overpass.

I followed my directions to my hostel (correctly, for once), but couldn't find the intercom to buzz the desk.  Eventually, a nice lady helped me out.  Alas, no answer.  UGH.  To kill a few minutes, I got my first bubble tea in Taiwan!!  (It originated in Taiwan, for those who don't know), but I was too thirsty to stop and take a picture before drinking it.  I went back to the hostel, and as I got close, an older lady saw me - being all white and pulling a suitcase - and was very friendly and showed me to the intercom again.  This time, it worked.  Yay.

The hostel lady said she'd been waiting for me (then where was she 10 minutes ago?!) and showed me to my room.  I THINK she said I got bumped to an all-girls room, but maybe I heard her wrong.  We'll see.  The room is quite cute, but I'm not thrilled to be on a top bunk.  Who hates ladders?  THIS GIRL.  I took the one in the corner because I liked the bedding.  The hot air balloons remind me of the old Mickey Mouse set we had when I was little.  The air conditioner blows like a beast - so noisy!  It sounds like someone is waving something in front of a fan.

6-beds.  Mine's the top in the corner, there.  Seemed like a good idea.  Maybe I should have gone with the frogs on the right...

Cute wall in the room.  I hung my coat up because it takes up too much room in my suitcase.  I'd better not forget it!!!

This cute tree made from pinwheels is at the top of the stairs on my floor.

I wanted to check out the night market, but it doesn't really open until 6pm, so I ventured to FamilyMart to see what snacks there were to be had.

What on earth is 'Osaka-yaki' supposed to be?!  They show what looks like Okonomiyaki... but the kanji clearly says 'Osaka'.  These are basically SunChips, except not as solid?  They didn't have much taste, and they certainly didn't taste like Okonomiyaki.  

I got dinner in the neighboring Tonghua street market with a Swede-Brit and American visiting from Hong Kong.  Complicated, right?  People of the world!  We ate at an interesting place where they cooked the food on a grill, then put it on tin foil on the grill in front of you.  An interesting way to keep the grill clean and keep your food from burning at the same time!  The guys got steak and I got tofu, and all three of us had the beer (I was more following suit than anything).  I'm not sure if you'd call Taiwanese beer 'light' or 'watery'.  hahaha  I'm certainly no beer expert, but the flavor wasn't as strong as most I've tried.  I ate as much as I could, but ended up not able to finish my sprouts and cabbage.  :<

My beer, steamed veggies, and rice before he made my tofu.

Just off the main street of the night market.

A food vendor at the night market serves a soup of sweet red bean and various extra goodies.

After a turn about the rest of the street, we went back to the hostel where I concentrated very hard on the tv in the common area - enough so that two people asked if I understood it.  Heck no.  Then one of the girls who used to work here, but now stays here on the weekends (?) taught me some Chinese phrases which I wrote down and hopefully, I'll be able to replicate the sounds tomorrow if I need to.  It turns out she is also a vegetarian, so we went back to the night market for her to show me some of her favorite places.

I ended up with more food!  A deep-fried mushroom with a bit of spice on it that was REALLY good, but at the same time I was kind of cramming it down because I wasn't hungry.  o_o  Then I was thirsty, so she directed me toward a sort of smoothie place where a blend of juice and milk yields a very light-flavored froth which is quite refreshing.  Now I'm in for the night and about ready to crash.  It's past my normal bedtime anyway.  After I plug in some pictures, I'm outie~

Really yummy.  I see this kind of large mushroom in Japan, but I don't know that I've ever eaten it before.  Obvs it's cut up to get it bite-sized.

Things I've learned:
- the tap water in Taiwan is NOT DRINKABLE.  I brought my Brita water bottle, but now I don't even want to risk it.  The hostel lady said a boy who drank a bunch of tap water once had to go to the hospital for 4 days.  I'll stick to buying bottles, at that rate!
- apparently the sewage system isn't all that great?!

The sign at my hostel speaks for itself. 

- Unlike Japanese, Taiwanese seem to like to eat and walk
- Taiwanese smoke in a lot of ways that are illegal in Japan - like walking around or riding a bike.
- Vendors setting up in the middle of the path of a night market is illegal, but there's a solid line of them down the middle anyway.  If you see them scrambling, it's because the cops showed up (witnessed this).

Here's a look at Taiwanese money, as a parting picture.  ^-^

Taiwanese money.  

Tomorrow morning, I'm meeting up with Angela, which I'm really looking forward to.  Sunday, we're cosplaying with a friend of hers and maybe going to see "The Hobbit," which I'm sooo down for.