The taciturn driver of first evening picked me up, and we drove along a three-lane highway (in both directions!), most of which ran through tunnels. No tunnel in Austria has more than two lanes in each direction, and there’s always—and quite justifiably!—a debate about whether it makes economic sense or is ecologically acceptable. And in this case, I saw no reason for such a monstrous snake beneath these mountains.
There was an elderly Taiwanese bicycle tourist in the queue at the harbour, obviously back from a long journey. And I was 99% sure I knew him from China six years ago! I tried to explain it to him, but he didn’t understand. It’s a shame I didn’t upload the photos to a cloud; maybe I could have found the relevant part of the tour. I might even have a YouTube video, but that wouldn’t show much more than passing him and waving to him.
At the border control, a boy of about six refused to look at the camera. His grandmother became furious, but all the passengers remained quiet and patient. Two officers tried to calm them both down and prevented the grandmother from hitting the boy. They also opened another counter, so I couldn’t see how they finally managed to take a photo.
It’s strange to me, but because of the facial features that are unfamiliar to me I can’t tell if the boy was mentally disabled or simply spoiled.
A guy told me I wasn’t allowed to take any of the fruit I’d bought for my stay in Nangan. So I gave some away and ate a large apple, only to realize I also still had dried meat junk food. . Somewhere in my stomach I found a little space for that, and then the fast ferry, with the help of the rough sea, gave it a good shake. I wouldn’t have needed any waves to feel sick now, but it helped. I also received messages from Jing and Yvonne, but after a while, I gave up reading and replying and just stared at the waves, telling my body that “everything gonna be alright”. After an hour and a half, it was over, but my trembling fingers told me enough was enough.
The struggle with the digital entry card for Taiwan (which is only mandatory from October 1st) was finally worth it, because the official was really happy and proudly showed me the stamp in my passport.
It took a while and three calls from Yvonne before I got the next, the ultimate! – Taiwan ticket (Nangan – Keelung). There were no serious problems, just the ticket not where it was supposed to be, then in a hidden office instead of the counter, and then the wrong departure port (Dongyin instead of Nangan) – everything could be handled by Yvonne.
I spent the rest of the day writing messages (faster, with my laptop, but still hours just because of the newly arranged trip) and editing here.
Later I realized that they had not expected this at all, but were counting on the use of the lift…