There are some sounds I wouldn’t miss if I don’t hear them in Taiwan. One is the excessive use of the horn that was most extreme in Vietnam but in some Chinese cities in the South-East (1200km away from Vietnam) appeared again. The second is that combination of roaringly cleaning the throat and then spitting. Even on the ferry some men couldn’t stop doing that, it sounds disgusting, loud like a walrus and alarming like vomiting. And the third is people “talking” at the edge of there voices any time of the day. In this case, it was starting at 4:30. And it made no difference if people were standing near to each other or “communicating” through the walls of the cabins what they also did, it always sounded like coordinating rescue action in the storm. I don’t want to blame all Chinese maybe it was only a group of throat cleaners that also shouted that way. But I will not miss it. Especially at a time when “my system” only waits for a reason to wake me up.
At 6, they turned on the lights and at 7 there was an announcement and a passenger explained that it is time for breakfast.
There I saw and heard the “loud-speakers”, some men around 60 with an appearance and attitude that I am sure even in Chinese I couldn’t discuss this topic with any good result.
In the morning I didn’t see Ming who wanted to take photos of the sunrise but he must be a very good photographer for that (he is, I later saw the photos!), because I only saw clouds. After breakfast, at 7:30, I saw the port or a port and asked when I should go to my bike. The answer was “no”. But after 2 more “no’s” I got the information to go there at 8:30 when the ship has embarked. By that you can imagine how big the port must be or how many ports there are.
After landing, we went directly from the gate to the border control where every fruit had to be put away, I had one orange that I wanted to give LAN (=Lien, Amy, Neil) and ate it before it would be thrown away.
But at the X-ray, they stopped me, not because of a knife or the leatherman, no they had seen a can with something they supposed to be meat. I didn’t know what it exactly was, but it was from Thailand and it was for seasoning rice. Four officers looked at it, took photos, sent them, discussed and were excited, finally, they tried to open it and couldn’t and then gave it to me to open it. I tried hard and imagined that when I tear so hard that it will open suddenly and all that powder would cover, desk, floor and officers, but finally I could open it in a controlled way. Now a round of smelling and touching and proving the consistence started, they were sure that it was meat but then they got a message that it was fish. Now they sealed it with a tape with the writing “confiscated” but gave it back to me. I could go, enjoyed my new freedom in a free country and went to LAN…
Whenever I cycle the first time in a country, I must learn the “codes”, for example if someone stops at a red light, is he special or is it common (it is common in Taiwan). Now I got the impression that Taiwanese drive according to the same rules as Austrians, stick to them maybe slightly better but are more tolerant if someone makes something different. But it is easy to find more tolerant people than Austrians, because outside Europe I didn’t meet such unnecessary hatred and bitchiness that is common in our daily life for whatever reason.
In the middle of Taichung, there is a hill, maybe 250m but exhausting enough to climb. Most of the time, it was easy to find the way, because the bike lanes are good, most of the time making less problems than solving them. I arrived nearly punctually although embarking and border control had been more time consuming than I had estimated. I only was surprised that I didn’t see the bakery on the side of the street where I had expected it and that Amy ran out of a house on the other side, waving and laughing, she had seen me through the window. She works in the office of her father above the bakery of her sister, and her parents, an uncle, her sister and of course daughter Lien were all here. Lien has changed and at the same time not changed since we had met in Vienna last Easter. She has a very strong and funny and interesting personality and you can see how her parents find the balance to care a lot about her without spoiling her.
We had lunch together and Amy helped me to get a Taiwanese SIM-card and a train ticket to Taipei. In a few days, I would return to Taichung, varying the original plan to go to Taipei first (if the ferry would have arrived there) and then by bike to Taichung to LAN (now train) and on to Marc in Pingdong (we will see if this still will be according to the plan). I put some things from my 6 bag packs into on that I can transform to a backpack and decided to walk those 5km to the train station. It was diversified with high and low, old and new houses, parts looking like villages or parks or countryside and rice fields between normal houses.
I reached the station just in time, the train arrived, I entered, and we went on, only one hour later arriving in Taipei Main Station. In this big station, I tried to get an adapter for Taiwanese sockets, the only on this trip where I cannot plug in my PC. There are big shopping areas around the station, and I was walking 45min until I got one and then wanted to go to the exit where I had left the HSR, however, I didn’t. Meanwhile, Li had written that we could meet at another metro station, but I felt too lost and desperate and asked her to find me. And she did.
So we met again in Taipei (and, including the initial couchsurfing stay of her and her friends 3x Vienna)!
Li had brought a metro card that you can top up and also use for busses, city bikes and some shops, We went through an “art-quarter” of Taipei and then had dinner. On the way there and after it, I saw so many for me new food creations that I was glad that Li had chosen something ?
Not too late, we went home, because on the next day we would leave at 6:00 to meet some of Li’s colleagues at her office to make a bike ride.
Like 2015, I was sleeping in her brother’s apartment on top of her parents apartment, it only was a bit strange to be there and sleep there before they come home, because they had announced to be back not before 1a.m.
