My first day in Taipei

When we arrived in Taipei I only wanted to head right back home. Oh my God, what did I get myself into? I don’t know my way around here, I feel like a complete stranger. But now at the end of the first day, I look back and smile at the thought how much fun I had today.

How is Taipei for a stranger? First, it is hot and humid! Second, everything seems so strange and different from home. And third, nobody seems to speak English well enough to understand you.

And especially for me it is strange that everybody starts talking to me in Chinese. Apparently, my face looks a lot more Chinese than Vietnamese. Huh, interesting. I am used to Germans thinking that I am Chinese because for Germans every Asian is Chinese. But to be taken for Chinese by Chinese… Seems that I have to give some credit to Germans now!

The first thing that caught my eye when we drove from the airport to the hotel were the mountains, which were surrounding the city. It is beautiful!

Mountains next to the city

But what is also striking is the friendliness of the people. Landing in Taipei without any Taiwan Dollar in our pockets, we took a taxi to our place downtown. The taxi driver drove us to a bank and waited patiently for us to try out three (!) different banks without being able to draw any money from the ATMs. We were frustrated and at the verge of panicking, feeling completely lost in this strange country. At this point I truly hated myself for going to Taipei. But the driver offered to claim his pay later from the company we were staying with. Also the people renting the rooms drove us by themselves (!) to a bank, where we could change our Euros into Taiwan Dollars.

The first thing I did when we finally got our rooms was falling onto the bed like a stone. I had not slept for 30 hours (have you ever tried to sleep in a sitting position?!). Now I also know where the slogan “Thank Heaven for 7 Eleven” comes from – having not drunk for an eternity in this hell of hotness I took the water from the 7-11 cashier with deepest gratitude.

The street where I live

In the heat of the midday sun Fabian and I were so clever to spare us the complication of buying an underground train ticket and decided to walk to the 101 tower. Not so clever when you are not used to the heat, suffer from jetlag and underestimate the distance. Needless to say, when we found our way back into our rooms we fell into bed at the verge of unconsciousness.

The 101 tower in the background

Chinese signs everywhere

In the evening we were to meet Taiwanese friends, who I knew from Germany. I was very thankful that we were picked up at our hotel because I was so tired of running around and trying to find some place. The heat gets better in the evening. This part of the day made the whole trip to Taipei worth the effort. I was so excited to see everybody again! We had a wonderful dinner at a Taiwanese restaurant with so many different dishes and different beers. My European friend became the part of an experiment - what happens, if you give a European food, he never ate before. So Fabian tried raw fish, clams, fishhead, and the most exotic thing must have been pigblood (he did not know what it was though). The diversity and the taste of the food is amazing!

So much food!

After dinner we walked to the Nightmarket. There we continued the gourmet odyssey. As announced we tried a milky drink with “frogeggs” (they are made from corn starch). We had sweet iced tea (tastes like iced tea), cakes in shape of Doraemon (mine!), Pikachu and Kenny from Southpark, some iced-tea-like drink made of some fruit (nobody could tell us exactly which fruit…), some healthy drink that tasted extremely bitter and had to be consumed with drug like pills to soften the taste… Next to millions of stands with regional delicacies there were so many shops selling cheap clothing, accessories, shoes, keychains, dessous, … anything! I got so sad that I already came with a filled suitcase.

Taipei by night

Temple lights

Entrance of the Nightmarket

Nightlife at the Nightmarket

See the frogeggs coming up the straw?

It was such a fun evening and I thank all the special people who make this trip to Taipei such a wonderful experience! We felt so welcome and taken care of. I do not feel like a stranger in this city anymore!

A big thank you to all our Taiwanese friends. You make this trip very special.

More pictures on picasaweb.google.com/Quinni2005