One Night in Taipei

When I booked my trip to Thailand, I intentionally picked the 17-hour layover in Taiwan so that I could visit a friend from grad school.  While it sounded good in theory, I don't think I'll do such a short visit again.  First of all, ten hours was not enough time for Mollie and I to catch up.  We could have talked all weekend.  Second, I was exhausted from the flight and then pushed myself to run around the night markets in the Taipei and cram in as many activities as I could until midnight.  It was not the best way to explore the city.  And third, I didn't get to see the rest of the country.  I would have liked at least one or two more days to learn about Taiwan.

That said, the 17 hours that I did spend in Taipei were awesome.  Mollie and I had a happy reunion at the airport and took the buses/train straight to the night market.

I don't know what I would have done if she wasn't there to help guide me - almost all of the signage is in Chinese and hardly anyone speaks English.  I've been so used to traveling to countries with English as a major language that I completely forgot about potential language barriers.  (She warned me that it will be difficult to communicate in Thailand too!)

The Raohe Night Market was everything I thought it would be: street food (mostly meat), small trinkets, jewelry, cheap plastic toys, etc.  

Unfortunately, the airplane food had made me a little nauseous, and the smell of the street meat just made it worse.  Mollie and I ended up having dinner in a cute Taiwanese restaurant . . . just noodles and broth for me.  After the market, Mollie suggested that we go to see the Taipei 101 Tower (Taiwan's tallest building).  By the time we got there (at 11:30pm), all of the lights were off and there wasn't much see . . . literally.  

(Taipei 101 is the building with the antenna.  Not very spectacular without the lights.)

Oh well.  It was a beautiful night - perfect for walking around.

Our night ended back at Mollie's apartment, where we chatted until 2:00am.  Then I got up at 5:00am to go to the airport and catch my next flight.  I've had a total of 4 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours, which has caused me to crash in my hotel room in Bangkok.  Tomorrow I will venture out into the city - today I need rest.