Luck

Number 4 is the 13 of several Asian cultures. Or 13 is the 4 of America.

Third and Final Taipei Day

Tuesday morning. I awoke too tired to get real involved in touristing. But it was the third day of my three days in Taipei, so I'd have to go out and do something.

My hotel had free washers and dryers in the basement, so I let my clothes wash while I ran out and got my morning coffee. The one negative of my CityInn Plus Hotel Ximen is it has no breakfast.

Once my laundry was done, I finally convinced myself to head out. I walked across Peace Park to the National Cultural and Creative Gift Center, then took the metro to Taipei 1010. That's a super-tall highrise, the tallest building in the world for a while, until Dubai took the title.

After my trip up to the observation floor, I moved on to Hua Shan 1914 Creative Park. It's an old winery converted into a place with a bunch of independent shops and cafes. I enjoyed it, bought a few shirts from an independent designer with a rack in a corner, then headed back to the hotel until dinner.

Dinner was soup dumplings in a dumpy storefront. They were a grand total of $2.26, and they didn't make me sick like the fancy place had in Bangkok.

I went for one last dose of street mango, then called it a day and said bye to Taipei. In the morning, I had an airport taxi picking me up super-early, and would fly from Taipei to Narita, where I'd switch back into business traveler mode, stop by the lounge, and get onto my business class seat back to LA. I made a mental note to not dress like a backpacker.

I hope you've enjoyed this small break from our regularly scheduled program of working bunches.

Jiufen Morning and Datong Afternoon

My plan was to head to the picturesque mountain town of Jiufen, a former gold mining village. I'd read about it online, and I'd looked at various day tours initially.

But day tours do what they say on the tin, so to speak, which is to take up your whole day. I don't have the patience for that, so I'd gone to the tourist information desk in Ximen station and asked about how to take public transport to Jiufen.

They'd marked the #965 bus stop on a map and sent me on my way. When I'd asked at the hotel front desk, the clerk confirmed the info and gave me even more explicit instructions to go to the bus stop in front of the Armed Forces Cultural Center. The buses came by frequently, but I'd downloaded the bus app ahead of time so I could see how long I'd have to wait.

From Bangkok to Taipei

The airport lines were nuts at Bangkok's big airport today. I didn't remember that being the case from my past trips. Maybe it was a freak thing? Or maybe I'd left so many times from the old airport, I just hadn't been in a position to notice.

After passport control, I had just enough time to grab a dollop of Duty Free Shop sampler moisturizer (I'd run out yesterday), buy a soy milk latte and croissant (I'm in the middle of not eating wheat, corn, or dairy for reasons to complicated to explain, but basically I'm fighting off gut bacteria with a month of antimicrobials and orders to not eat what I was about to eat and this was my first bread in four weeks), and only just got on the plane before the doors shut. I quickly purchased the Lonely Planet digital guide to Taipei and downloaded it before takeoff. This was my reading material for the flight.

Travel=glamour, I thought with a touch of irony. Next stop: Taipei. All-out tourism stop for three days. "Why would you want to do that to yourself," Mr. Fixit had asked when I said I planned to get out of bed at four in the morning. I stared at him blankly. Obviously, I wanted to get as much time in Taipei as I could in the next few days.