Arrived in Taiwan!

Hi all—Fred here, checking in from Taipei, Taiwan. What a travel experience thus far. That was by far the most amount of time I’ve spent in an airplane in a 24 hour period—over 4.5 hours from Dulles to LAX and then about 13.5 hours from LAX to Taipei. My itinerary had me leaving Dulles Friday at 5:45, arriving in LAX at 8:05 and then leaving LAX Saturday at ~1 AM and arriving in Taipei at 5:30 AM Sunday. The only glitch was that I was delayed taking off from Dulles by an hour due to weather, but fortunately, there was plenty of room in the schedule for such things.

My hope was to nap a bit on my way to LAX and then stay awake a bit into the long trek to Taipei so that I could be “waking up” close to the morning hour in Taiwan to reduce the jet lag issues. Well, I did nap a bit before landing in LAX, but I just passed out as soon as I got on the airplane in LA—it was, afterall, 4 in the morning back where I had originated. I “slept” for 6-7 hours into the flight, though, it wasn’t exactly restful. The rest of the flight was spent reading, watching some shows on my ipod, and playing video blackjack and poker on the consoles in the plane.

I flew China Airlines from LAX to Taipei. Not a bad experience. And, Nina, no there was nothing spectacular about the food. About an hour into the flight I was woken up and asked if I wanted a seafood rice bowl or some other rice bowl (I didn’t quite understand). I went with the seafood. There were three shrimp, some rice, some peas, and then some other meat that looked a lot like chicken, which worried me, as it was called a “seafood” rice bowl. I did not play “Name that Meet” so your guess is as good as mine. I also got a roll, some steamed veggies, and a cake of some sort. Not bad for airline food, but nothing to get excited about. For breakfast, about 3 hours before landing, I was asked if I wanted “Something I didn’t understand” or “Omelette.” I went with the omelette. It came with a hash brown, the blandest sausage I ever tasted, and then a very good cup of yogurt, some fresh fruit, and a very tiny croissant. Not bad. The folks sitting next to me had the “Something I didn’t understand” which looked like soupy rice with other stuff—a colleague of mine on another flight said that he had “soupy rice with seafood” for breakfast, so maybe that was it. I wouldn’t have minded being more courageous with the food choice, but I would just want to know what I was eating…I think. I won’t hold back this week.

Upon landing, customs was a nightmare, not from the hassle point of view, but rather, it was just such a long wait with “rush hour” being first thing in the morning for airline arrivals. As I said, though, no problems, I retrieved my bag, and then met up with the cab driver that was waiting for me and two others attending this workshop (one of which was on my flight). He drove us to National Tsing Hua University (about 40 minutes) in Taipei.

Taipei is a rather industrial looking city—lots of concrete buildings with some metal framework. Not a lot of cultural signatures, though I’ve had a very limited view thus far. It’s very dense in some areas, and the university seems to be located on the edge of a part of the city, though it’s hard to judge.

We’re staying at a guest house on campus, essentially a hotel run by the university. It’s nice, though it gives one the feeling of staying at one of the displays at an IKEA store: wardrobes and desks arranged in a space saving kind of way, but it works. And a hotpot with tea and coffee.

I have now showered, which was very exciting as I was cooped up in airplanes for something like 19 of the last 24 hours…maybe more come to think of it. Next, I’ll be off to explore the university and its surroundings, though I’m not sure for how long—it is very hot and humid here, and I don’t know how awake I’ll be come this afternoon. We’ll see though.

Check in later for more details. Hope you are all doing well!

-Fred