it was a long trip, beginning in my apt in west la, and ending up at my aunt's in taipei.
* my friend mr. mostfun gave me a ride to the flyaway at westwood
* the flyaway took me to the tom bradley terminal at lax
* eva airways flew me to taiwan international airport in taoyuan
* fei-go bus lines takes me to neihu district in taipei
* taxi takes me towards my aunt's place where i am staying the night.
when we're almost there, i see a teppanyaki place. it's past midnight local time, but i havent slept or eaten the whole (17+ hour) trip. so i ask the driver to drop me off there and i order a combination filet mignon and spicy cod filet. hits the spot, and its only NT$250 (< US$8)!
this morning i wake up at 6am, and head to get my fav breakfast here-- fresh hot soy milk and an onion pancake with egg. it's only NT$55 (< US$2). which brings me to list some of the things i've already noticed that i like and dislike about being back in taiwan
likes
* food
* prices
* market. so much fresh vegetables and fresh fruit. lenbu! starfruit! guava!
* the metro (called the mrt). it's nice, clean, fast, and cheap. what used to take 1.5 hours through city traffic by bus (plus a couple of transfers) is all easily accessible via the mrt.
dislikes
* large keychain-- my relatives require too many keys to get into their place
* cash-- i hate carrying it, but people don't take credit cards here.
* coins. this compliments the bills you carry, and is mandatory, because the smallest bill is NT$100 (~US$3). and given how cheap everything is... well, your daily transaction is likely all in coins.
* the unenvironmentalism. it never bothered me until last year, but there's so much waste going on here. everything you buy, you get plastic bags, plastic utensils, etc. even soup is wrapped in plastic bags. this morning's breakfast, i got 2 plastic bags, a paper cup, and a plastic straw. this is exacerbated by the night markets, where you go to a different stall to eat a different dish, and at each place, you get a new styrofoam plate or bowl, a pair of chopsticks, a plastic spoon, etc.
* not having a data plan. this is probably due to a bug in the unlock of my iphone. my mobile account here supposedly has a data plan, but i've never been able to access it.
that's it for now. lots of errands to do today, like getting my atm card here reactivated so i don't have to keep suffering the exchange rate every time i withdraw cash.
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