In the air for over 13 hours is not my idea of a fun time. But none the less it is the only way one gets to Taiwan. Swimming was starting to sound appealing to me around hour 8. I was seated next to an awesome family from Canada. I talked to their little girl for almost the entire flight. She was sweet and liked talking to me. Once the plane landed in Hong Kong they gave me their contact information and thanked me for taking interest in their daughter. I was surprised by this offering of thanks. Taking an interest in their daughter was easy and she was smart. I assured the Indian family it was no trouble and hurried off to catch my next flight. This flight was only an hour or so and soon I would be landing in Taiwan. At least this was the best case scenario I would soon discover. There was a typhoon circling Taiwan in the South China Sea. The flight might be delayed or canceled. I hoped it was not the later, due to the fact I had an early morning meeting at school the following day. Once we were deplaned I was met by a small Chinese boy hold a sign bearing my name in black marker. I check in with him and I and a few other people were off. We sprinted through the airport and down three floors to catch the flight to Taipei. We were forced to go through another security check which required the emptying of the contents of your back pack onto the security belt. This is difficult when you are required to take off your shoes for the fourth time. When would a person have time to hide anything on their person or belongings? Certainly not during the 13 hour flight we just arrived from, or the sprint across the airport to catch the next flight. Thanks to a few stupid people normal people suffer, isn't that always the way of things?
Once on the ground and off the plane two things hit you like a ton of bricks. First, it was hot, humid and after 11pm and secondly, Taiwan smells bad. In fact really it stinks. Strange thing is you can't place the smell. It's a combination of smells, and they are all stinky smells. After walking for what seemed like 20 miles I reached the immigration check point. This was only after I passed a huge sign painted in red saying "people bringing in illegal drugs into Taiwan will be punished by death". All I could think about yet another warning the captain of “Team Paranoid” gave me. She told me people in the baggage loading and check area put drugs into unsuspecting travelers luggage and they are thrown into foreign prisons with no hope of help coming to them. The evil tricks a mind can play on you when you are sleep deprived are horrible. After making it through customs, for the third time since I started the day, I walked over to get my large and heavy bags from the luggage carriage. Once I retrieved my bags I went out the front sliding doors and looked for Wade, the recruiter. Funny thing was that I had never seen him before, but for some reason I was sure I would know it was him when I saw him. However, Wade wasn't there to meet me. Instead there was some young man with a sign that had my name spelled incorrectly on it in black marker. He introduced himself as David and said he was taking me to a hotel for the night. Panic began to set in again. All I could think about was another warning from the captain of “Team Paranoid”. Many women are abducted into other countries and sold into the heroin whoring trade. Holy crap! Some young skinny guy, named David, is going to abduct me and sell me to Heroin whore traders. Sound plausible? But I still stood and told him I wasn't going anywhere until I knew for sure that this whole messed up situation was legit. I needed to know why my agent was there at the airport to meet me. David made a few phone calls in a blah blah blah language and finally reached Wade. Wade assured me everything was alright and asked about my flight. He said that because it was so late at night I would be staying at a hotel until he came to get me early the next morning. With Wade’s reassurance and smiles and nods from David I allowed the driver to load my belongings into a black box type van and we were on our way. Wait, didn’t I see this in a movie? The ride in a black van always ends badly for the people riding in the back. Right? Everyone has seen this movie and knows how it ends. We drove for what seemed like hours. It was hours it turned out, three to be exact, and finally we got off the freeway. We drove to a pull out near a bridge and this was when I was told a taxi would take me from there to the hotel. Well, I didn't have any Taiwan dollars so how the hell was I going to pay for the taxi ride? Thank God it turned out that the car company paid for the taxi ride. The taxi driver spoke no English. We drove off in the opposite direction of David, who spoke some English, and the car service. I was nervous and scared, but at the same time mesmerized by the lights and huge buildings. As we drove through the streets of the city, which I am still unsure of the name, I saw huge neon lighted buildings as far as the eye could see in any direction. The taxi driver weaved in and out of traffic as the GPS guide shouted directions in what sounded like blah blah blah language. We passed several 7-11s, a Starbucks, a Dunkin Donuts, and a few other signs that were written in English. I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to reach our destination, what was the name of the “hotel” again?
Jing-Xi’s Lesson of the Day: One should never make important decisions after a 13 hour flight across the International Date Line and being up 24 hours. At this stage nothing seems right and everything seems nefarious in nature.
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