My First Weekend in Taiwan

Taipei is a FASCINATING city! It has the feel of any other big city that I've been to in the US, with a large diverse group of people walking around, but doesn't have the "too big for it's own good" feel that a lot of the bigger US cities are developing. I did some walking this past weekend to explore my new "home" and took some pictures along the way.

After not being able to sleep much on the plane (a common theme for my over seas traveling), I was picked up at the airport by a driver who had a coffee from 7-11 waiting for me. The coffee was great - the mint... not so much. But Saturday was a foggy morning for the 45 minute drive from the airport to the hotel. The hotel is quite stylish - reminds me of the Collins Plaza hotel in CR for anyone that's been there. There are a lot of shops (mainly clothing shops - a common theme here) in the first few floors of my hotel. A bunch of restaurants, a piano playing in the lobby.... makes one feel spoiled. A quick nap was in order, but then I headed out to venture.

I had to go check out Taipei 101 which is currently the world's largest skyscraper. It towers above the city with no other buildings even close to the same level. But that's what makes it so amazing to look at! There's a high class mall surrounding it with your usual Burberry, Coach, Prada stores. Funny story - I've actually seen as many authentic Coach stores (3) as I have Starbucks (3) so far. I was relieved to see fewer Starbucks than anticipated.

Here are the links for pictures - going back to this method to share photos instead of just posting a few highlights on here (may still do that). You should be able to click "view pictures" and won't need an account necessarily to view.

Travel and Day 1 Pictures
Day 2 in Taipei Pictures

I'll work on getting better comments in there from now on - wanted to get these posted! The Spiderman (and dog) were carnival prizes that came through on the conveyor belt... made me laugh to see. As you'll see in the 2nd set of pictures, there are some signs of the US everywhere:) I was going to pick up an application at Hooters for Sarah as a possibility.....

Couple other thoughts/experiences to share for today:

• Lots of dogs being walked by people. Almost all on a leash, some carried (dang toy dogs and the Paris Hilton phenomenon), and all pretty cute.
• Kids here LOVE me! Probably the Budha look-alike thing or just the fact that they don't see a lot of bald people. I get that in the US too, but a lot of funny looks from the 1-4 year old range!
• Yes, I fit almost everywhere... had to duck under a few things while in public. Haven't hit my head yet.

Time difference questions - "US Central Time Zone" is also currently -5 hours GMT (during Daylight savings... back to -6 in the Fall) and I'm in the same time zone as China which is +8 hours GMT (no daylight savings here) so there's currently a +13 hour gap. In the Winter it'll be +14 hour time difference. So as you're reading this at 10am on Monday morning, it's 11pm Monday night for me. As you're watching the NCAA finals tonight at 7pm, it'll be 8am Tuesday and I'll be at work already. You follow?

So after an enjoyable first couple of days, I leave you now to finish a few work things and head to bed.