Oct 30, 2006 - Welcome to Taipei, TAIWAN

Taipei, TAIWAN

Republic of China ...

Back in Asia, ahhh!

It is hard to be excited sometimes, and it may sound selfish and un-appreciative, but, Taiwan is OK.

Perhaps it is the anticipated arrival to Bali tomorrow, but, yah, we have found Taipei to be another big, bustling city . . . with not many attractions for us to captivate in our short time here ( 3 days).

There are tons of night markets, shopping galore, but not the great deals we expected in electronics; just not there.

Taipei has the TALLEST commercial building in the world. It is huge, and the lights at night really decorate this monster, like art. Beautiful.

There is also a very big language barrier, but they do try and they do have great smiles.

I was going to buy a mobile phone here to bring to Bali, but they are just as expensive or MORE, and I could not get a straight answer whether the phone would work in Indonesia or not; so ...

Our flight out of NYC was long and long. Seven hours to Anchorage, then we had to de-plane as they re-fueled. It was like being in the twilight zone, as it was 4am local time, we were sitting there in the airport lounge like zombies.

Back on the plane in 90 minutes for the 11+ hour flight across the international date line, into Taiwan. Exhausted from the fantastic time in New York, now doubled from the extreme time change and jet lag... we collapsed upon arrival at the Taipei YMCA.

Thank goodness, it is clean, air-conditioned and cozy!

It is now the night before we leave for Bali (thank God there is no more time change!) and we are still fighting the jet lag and time difference from North America.

It is 8pm here, and John has been sleeping for almost 2 hours! Needless to say, we have spent quite a bit of time in our room here at the Y! ( sleeping and being zoned out)

Take good care of yourself and one another,

heaps of hugs,

Marc and John xo

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