Leaving Taiwan

Friday, March 17th

On Friday we took the hotel shuttle (like the genius travelers we are) to the metro station and then a route down and back out of Taipei way out to the airport.  In the final train they had those open shelves by the doors to store luggage.  In typical Taiwanese style there were cloth straps that you could hook over the outside of the shelf to close it in a bit, which seemed like total overkill, and the scene was completed when a passenger sitting a few seats away noticed the train was about to depart and nobody had closed them so stood up and fastened them all himself.

The people in Taiwan were very friendly and generous to us, somewhat reserved, and big on queuing up.  They seemed a somewhat anal and anxious people (and who wouldn’t be given their political situation?).  It’s my kind of culture!

Also: they have things like random vampire banana statues in the airport.

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Beitou Hot Springs

Thursday, March 16th – Friday, March 17th

On the far northern end of Taipei lies the famous mountains and hot springs of Beitou.  You can take the Taipei Metro all the way out here, which we did on Wednesday afternoon and gamely proceeded to walk to our hotel.  “It’s only about a mile!”  Half an hour later, sweaty from having hauled our luggage up stone (where they existed at all) sidewalks, and I do mean “up” (have I mentioned “mountainous region?”), and past increasingly amused fellow tourists (“you walk looooong way!” and “hey, we saw you before!”), we arrived triumphantly and learned the hotel has a shuttle to the metro stop.  We are expert travelers!

A Hot Spring in Beitou (“Thermal Valley”)

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