First Impressions of Taiwan

After our brief stint in Tokyo it was time to set up a "real" life in Taipei. We stayed at a youth hostel called Taipei Hostel, a little bit of a contrast from the wonderful Kimi Ryoken. Flying from Tokyo to Taipei could be compared to flying from Toronto to Mexico City. We stepped off the plane and everything was tropical and dirty. In Tokyo you'd have to be a real idiot to have a hard time finding your way from the airport to the city, in Taipei we wandered around forever just trying to find the buses. Driving attitudes here are a little different; no rules, no fault, just get out of the way. Made for an interesting voyage to the hostel, dragging all our earthly possessions. At the hostel, we were greeted by the desk staff and a couple cockroaches. Spirits weren't the highest that night, we decided bed would be the best idea and went to sleep, only to discover that there are at least as many mosquitos in Taipei as there are mosquitos *&%&(

Things felt a lot better in the morning. Nothing exciting to report from the stay in Taipei, just devoted some time to getting ourselves on our feet. Highlights included the best bowl of noodles ever from another fancy veggie restaurant and chillin with the people at the hostel. Although the hostel filled us with dread on that first night, it ended up being a great time. The people there really made it, it was our first intro to the expat english teacher scene here, basically just a bunch of laid back people who didn't like the "real" world. The hostel had a roof top garden so nights were spent talking, drinking some beer and playing/appreciating guitar. A guy at the hostel told us about a great hostel in Hualien, on the east coast, run by a really cool girl who would help organize surf trips and stuff. Although we had planned to head to Tainan to look for work we decided to check it out first and off we went.