Goodbye ROC

Return to Taoyuan:  From my hotel, I walked across the street to the Taipei West Bus Station and caught the 7 am bus to Taoyuan International  Airport.  Remember, it used to be named after Chiang Kai Shek.  Recalling his name reminded me of a monument I missed, the Sun Yat Sen Memorial.  Dr. Sun is the nationalist who brought the monarchy to an end 100 years ago this year.  In fact, the government is spending lots of money commemorating the anniversary.  By tracing the Republic of China (that is how the visa in my passport reads) back to 1911, Taiwan makes itself look like an elder among the world’s nations and like the legitimate heir to the monarchy.   I didn’t get to visit with Dr. Sun, but you should never end a trip having seen everything.  Otherwise, you will have no motivation to come back.  And I would like to come back.  When I do, the MRT line to the airport might be finished.  It’s a long distance, but the Taiwanese are working on the entire line all at once.  It looks like a serious endeavor.  In fact, I think Taiwan will have a line to their international airport before our national capital (my last stop before Norfolk on this trip) has a Metro connection to Dulles, which it should have had two decades ago. 

Flight Home:  My return flight followed the same route as my outbound flight, but it was just a bit shorter.  I noticed from the onboard map that we flew over the Arctic Ocean on the way from Washington to Tokyo, in part to take advantage of the Great Circle Route and in part to avoid the headwinds of the Westerlies.  On the return flight we flew over Alaska and seemed to try to stay in the Westerly Wind belt to take advantage of the tail winds.  We were actually an hour early coming into Dulles.  I get home around 6 pm, but on my internal clock it is about 6 am.  Once again, it will take me a week to adjust.

Hotels:  I stayed in four different hotels in Taiwan, three in Taipei and one in Kaohsiung.  They book up so quickly, especially on week-ends.   That means you can’t always extend your stay.  In Taipei, you can get a hotel for as little as $30US a night and will pay no more than $75US a night.  Food is cheap and so is transit.  If you are on a budget and want to experience Chinese culture, go to Taiwan!  It’s easy and affordable, and they even have a choice of English-language daily newspapers.  For the record, here are my hotels' business cards.  And for the record, pick up a card immediately upon checking into a hotel and keep it with you; you never know when you might need it to find your way home.