Perhaps you are expecting some sort of reflection on this past year or a goal-setting post for this new year, but sorry to disappoint because neither of those are making an appearance quite yet (if ever). I recently returned from a long-awaited, highly-anticipated, tediously and carefully planned two-week-long trip to Taiwan & Hong Kong - and. it. was. FREAKING. AWESOME!
In all honesty, this trip was straight up FUN TIMES. I can go on and on and on aaaand oooon about all the meticulous details of hilarious, embarrassing, and disgusting events, but I'll spare ya'll for the time being. After picking up a week-long full-time unpaid job of photo editing, I think I have done enough reminiscing to write something about this trip...
MISHAP #1: YING BURNS HERSELF AT LAX. There you have it, we haven't even left the U.S. border and Ying manages to burn her hand with scalding hot water, which she sneakily obtained for free, and we watch her hand get progressively redder.
GOD'S PROVISION #1: ICE. I had just bought tea from an airport cafe (the same one Ying took hot water from by the way) and they happened to have bottled drinks stored in ice buckets - free ice! Problem solved.
MISHAP #2: "LOST" LUGGAGE. We arrive at Taoyuan airport in Taiwan, only to find out that both of my suitcases and Ying's big suitcase were missing. After waiting in line for a long, long time, we learned that due to an error in the system, our suitcases were still sitting around in HK, where we had our transfer. The airline staff assured us that our luggage would be delivered to our Taipei location no later than 6pm that day.GOD'S PROVISION #2: HANDS FREE IN UNKNOWN TERRITORY. We had to ride a bus from Taoyuan airport to Taipei Main Station, then apparently walk a block or two to City Inn, which is where we stayed in Taipei (highly recommend by the way). It is situated at a very convenient location actually, but dragging one big and one small suitcase each, along with a backpack in light rain, could be quite a hassle. But since our suitcases were stuck in HK (or maybe midway to TW), we didn't have to lug all of that around in the rain to get situated.
MISHAP #3: DESIGNATED ASIA PHONE LOCKED. My dad and I have been using this old school cell phone for our past Asia trips. This time, however, it managed to fail me and I was unable to unlock the phone with the password my dad had provided. Ying and I tried a gajillion combinations and it was just stuck at the lock screen. By now, we have already purchased our TW SIM card too. I even called my parents with our newly purchased SIM card on the sales associate's phone, but we did not progress with the phone business. Aside: the sales associate emphasized (just in case perhaps?) that we needed to be 20 years old to purchase a SIM card - yes yes, we are so past 20. I guess 20 is better than the 12 yr old guess.
GOD'S PROVISION #3: THE PUBLIC PHONE & YING'S CELLULAR. Thankfully, we were able to call Ralph with a public phone after purchasing our bus tickets to Taipei. By now, we should have arrived in Taipei, but didn't because we got held up by our luggage mishap and phone issue. While on the bus, Ying tried the SIM card on her cellular and voila! IT WORKED :) now, we have a phone to use, except...
MISHAP #4: NO CELLPHONE CHARGER. Ying realized she did not bring her cellphone charger since she was not expecting to use it until we returned to the States...
GOD'S PROVISION #4: RALPH. He was not only our tour guide + faithful hangout-er in Taipei, he "just so happened" to have a matching SamSung cellphone charger :)
you have probably caught on by now that we encountered many problems upon our arrival in Taipei. Think it tones down a bit hereon after.
GOD'S PROVISION #5: WIFI IN A GHETTO STATION. Thankfully, we had our i-touches with us and were able to connect via wifi to look up the correct min su number. In the end, we successfully got picked up and settled in our room with separate beds- the first and only time for those two weeks! Free upgrade!
MISHAP #6: NO MO' MONEY (ROUND1). I guess Ying and I were a bit too conservative in our money exchange at the airport when we had first arrived in Taiwan, so half way through our shopping spree (we really did not buy that much) at the wholesale district Wu Fen Pu, we averaged about 100NT each left in our wallets, which is about 3USD, with 1.5 more days to go in Taiwan!
GOD'S PROVISION #6: DONG QU MALL. We first hit up a nearby bank to check out the exchange rate. To our disappointment, we arrived right when they had closed the foreign exchange services for the day and were redirected to a mall in Dong Qu (just a stop or two away from Wu Fen Pu on the MRT). Ah, the mall did have an exchange service and the rate was decent too, so we were able to successfully exchange more money for, hopefully, the rest of our time in Taiwan. I must mention that I was not freaking out at all because my backup plan was, of course, my awesome friends who would not leave us to starve and die on the streets of Taipei :) ha.
MISHAP #7: NO MO' MONEY (ROUND2). Yes, as you probably guessed, there could only be one reason why i put round 1... because there is always a round 2 to follow! The next day, our last day in Taiwan, I decided I could not procrastinate on my tea-buying for the fam anymore. With the help of Ying's coins, I had just enough to buy two cans of tea leaves. Our record for this round? 10NT per person left! An equivalent of 30cents U.S. per person! Kind of risky and kind of gutsy, and maybe even unwise... I know.
GOD'S PROVISION #7: XIN GUANG SAN YUE MALL. After another failed attempt at a nearby bank, we visited another mall in the area, which also provided exchange services. Whew. Now we had sufficient funds to purchase our bus tickets to the airport! Cuttin' it close there, ey?
So there you have it. Quite adventurous already, isn't it? Undoubtedly, you can see God's hand in all of this, every step of the way. For that, I am grateful. I suppose I'll move on to some of the trip highlights and blessings before I eventually jot down ramblings from my... over-thinking in my next post. I apologize for my lengthy posts. 1) I accumulate an over abundance of content since I do not post very often, 2) I want to ensure that I understand my own thought process and remember certain memories when I revisit my posts in the future.
Until next time (the time gap will be much shorter as I have already started the next post)!
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