A Taste of Taiwan

The first three flights were not that bad. My flight from San Francisco to Taipei (~13 hours) was the longest I’ve ever voyaged on but it was an overnight “red-eye” so I slept on and off for a majority of it. I’ll note that I ate a couple meals on the plane but I have no idea what they were. They both had chicken–I think–and then some gooey white substance that tasted like a hybrid of tapioca, milk, and potatoes and were topped off by some kind of fish-smelling crumbles. I’m going to go ahead and chalk that up to strange airplane food. Anyways, we touched down to an overcast scene in Taiwan and I bet you’ll never guess the first thing I did in the airport. Got in line at Starbucks. In my defense, it was the only open place that I could see and I was feeling pretty desperate for some coffee. But yeah, I know, a very basic American move. I spent most of my three hour layover touring the airport to the sights of cartoonish ads and the sounds of various Asian languages. I finished creating my blog–I’ll update the aesthetics, I know it doesn’t look great–and then it was time to jump on the fourth and final flight headed to Bangkok.

Ads on a Bangkok Highrise

Airport to Hotel

My final, 4-hour flight to Bangkok was fine other than not being able to nap. The Bangkok airport is enormous and required us to walk over a half mile just to get to immigration. After another 45 minutes of waiting to pass through Passport Control, I was able to retrieve my bags and set off to navigate the public transit system. While on the metro I noticed the tropical look to the city. It reminds me very much of South America to this point at least in regard to the infrastructure. Another thing I noticed is these massive billboards and ads along the highways and on buildings. They are about 4-5x bigger than those in America. Once I got off the metro I made a huge mistake by deciding to walk the final half mile with my backpack and suitcases. The sidewalk was narrow and bumpy, which only added harder conditions to the heat and humidity. By the time I finally walked up to the hotel, I was drenched and desperate for a shower.

Street meal: pad thai with shrimp

Making New Friends

Upon arrival I was greeted by the MediaKids (my hiring firm) staff and walked through several stations for signing in. Still soaking, I finally made it to my room and met my weekend roommate, Calvin. A Canadian and former music label manager and web developer, Calvin also had the yearning for foreign exploration and thus chose to come teach English in Thailand and explore the intriguing culture. He’ll be located in a school in the same province as me. Once I showered, Calvin invited me to join him and some others he had met earlier to go travel around Bangkok, and more importantly, find something to eat. Down in the lobby a group of 11 assembled hailing from the US, Ireland, England, and Canada. We set out on the metro and after an hour stopped off at a random station and chose the first street vendor we saw for our dinner. The internet, guidebooks, and other endorsements didn’t lie, the food is delicious. I inhaled a massive plate of pad thai with shrimp and honestly I could’ve eaten another one if I had tried. And the cost? Just about $3 USD. And supposedly that’s expensive. I can say with certainty that I don’t expect to get hungry here. Following dinner and conversation, we debated perhaps some sightseeing but consensus gathered that we were all fairly tired and ready to head back.

Songthaew: pickup truck used as a taxi

Cheap Thrills

Now if you thought traffic is bad wherever you live, let’s go ahead and add in an element of lawlessness (exaggeration). What you might get would be the traffic scene of Bangkok. Our group thought it would be fun to take a songthaeu ride home instead of the metro and while we were not wrong, I don’t think we could’ve predicted how much of an adventure it would be. 11 adults piled in the bed of an old pickup truck outfitted with a couple benches and a tin roof. Sounds safe, right? Although my internal safety meter was starting to go off, I played the dangerous game of just going with the group mentality and thought, “sure, why not?” What ensued was an hour-long ride through congested streets and enough smog to feel like I’d ingested a few cigarettes. There were thousands of motorcycles weaving between and around cars to the point where they would even slip into the oncoming traffic lanes to go faster. When we weren’t stuck at a traffic light, we would propel forward at top speeds and then brake hard as others cut us off and lights flashed red. It was the greatest example of organized chaos that I can think of to date. However, despite what you might imagine, we didn’t witness a single accident nor did we hear but maybe one or two horns honked. One of the girls with us said it was because she had heard that it’s considered rude by many Thais. That’s pretty amazing, in my opinion. As our ride concluded we were gassed–pun intended–and were dropped off and paid our bill of 70 baht each. That’s about two US dollars. TWO dollars. The novelty of Thailand’s low cost of living still impresses me.

Chang beer

Winding Down

Despite resistance from every muscle, tissue, and cell in my body, I joined most of the group out for a drink on the patio of a pub nearby our hotel. We talked as a musician sang Thai songs onstage while strumming a guitar. It felt like Nashville with a Thai twist. Shortly thereafter, we returned home and within minutes of being in my room I knocked out. I’m thoroughly impressed by Thailand and it still feels so surreal.

Did you try it?

Once again, I’d like to thank anyone that’s read my post. I’ll end by asking you: when’s the last time you tried an exotic or different food?

Again, feel free to comment below and share thus with anyone you think might enjoy it!