Day 10 - Tainan to Taipei

Brad's and my last full day together in Taiwan. We woke a bit later than usual and went into the lobby of our hotel to have breakfast. Really is great how most all the hotels include breakfast with the room rate. We got downstairs at 9:40am and found the breakfast buffet deserted. I guess people get up early in this town. We were told that breakfast would end in 20 minutes. While this would have been okay at just about every other place we stayed in, here it meant that they would be done and cleaned up by 10am. We immediately set out to grab all the food we wanted, before they could shut us out!! We had eggs to order made, got the toast going, grabbed a bit of fruit and made some espresso for ourselves. Brad pointed out the thousand year old eggs and mentioned that it was an opportunity I hadn't yet had. Tried a bite of the egg with a bit of tofu. The egg was very dry tasting, but not horrible. Not good either, but not as bad as it sounds. And no, they are not a thousand years old.

After breakfast we packed up and asked the guy at the front desk which would be the best way to travel to the High Speed Rail (HSR) Station. He told us there is a free shuttle every 20 minutes from just around the corner. Great!! We made out way to the corner and waited for the bus.

It was then that Brad realized he didn't have his sunglasses. So he ran back to the hotel and found them under the curtain in the room and made his way back before the bus had come. The bus arrived, we put our luggage down below and boarded the bus. Turns out the HSR Station is outside of the city. It was about a 45 minute ride to the Station.

We entered the station and saw that the next train would be departing in 9 minutes. The next train would be leaving in 25 minutes. We decided to book the second train, as we were in no need to rush. Got our tickets $1,350 each (about $US42), took our time and made our way to the platform. Boarded the train and we were on our way.

I should mention that this was a magnetic levitation train. It travels at speeds up to 300 km per hour – that's about 180 mph! We arrived in Taipei in 1 hour and 45 minutes, traveling a distance of 305 km or 180 miles. While we didn't go as fast as possible, our average speed was about 103mph. Not bad. There were six stops along the way.

Once in Taipei, we made out way to the Hotel Flowers, except this time we stayed in their other building. Room was a bit larger than the first one we stayed in and newer. We dropped off our gear and went across the street for a lunch of Japanese Curry. It was quite good.

After lunch we continued in our quest to find Leslie a nice Jade Buddha necklace. We made our way to the Fujian area, where there were nice stores. Brad had seen a large SOGO Department store, so we went there. The idea of going to a department store to purchase the necklace rather than from a street vendor, as was quite possible, we felt that it would ensure a quality product. The first SOGO store we went to only had very high end jade encrusted with diamonds. Not what we were looking for. We went to another SOGO store that was larger than the first, hoping they would have a larger selection. No luck there either.

We made our way back to the Station area and went into another department store. We found a Jade shop within the store and found what we were looking for. The woman who took care of us was actually quite nice and a lot of fun. I made a bit of fun of her as just about the only English she could speak was “Credit Card Please.” She reminded both Brad and I of someone's silly Aunt.

After we made our purchase, we looked around at some other things. Eventually we decided to take a break and made our way back to the hotel to rest for an hour.

We decided to check out an area we had never been to before – Ximending. Turns out it was walking distance from our hotel. Once we got there we discovered where all the young people hang out.

The area had all kinds of cool little shops selling everything from handbags, book-bags, shoes, beauty parlors, tattoo shops, piercing places, etc Of course there were lots and lots of places to eat. We ended up in a Chinese chain restaurant - I ordered beef noodles and Brad ordered some pork with rice. It was really tasty and only cost about $3 each.

Afterward, we made a point of finding some betel nuts for me to bring home – they are fresh and we wanted to wait as late as possible to purchase them. Bought 2 bags for $100 – about $US3 – and headed back to our hotel to put them in the fridge. On the way we passed a camera shop that had a bunch of small tripods on display. I've been wanting one since the last time I went to China and wasn't going to let this opportunity pass me by. I got a small tripod for $11. When Brad and I were in Shanghai 2 years ago, I saw one and didn't get it. Once I got home and started to price them, I found that they cost a bit over $100. I wasn't letting this opportunity go a second time around.

The night ended around 9pm for us, as I think we're both getting a bit exhausted. Taipei, being a city not near any coast seems to hold the heat and humidity more than the other places we had been.