From -30 Degrees to Fighting off Mosquitos

Taipei, Taiwan

The journey to Taipei was long to say the least. This post is long, as many things happened. Taipei is also connected heavily in terms of Wi-Fi; I am using the great internet connection while I have it.

My adventures began on Wednesday (Feb, 3rd). I hopped on a bus to Montreal in the evening and my journey had officially started. Dave Jones (Taiwan Conglemerate) and his lovely companion Christina Clark, picked me up and we preceded to the Grange's (Jake Grainger) household. We went out for a drink to my favorite bar in Montreal and spent some time with great friends one last time before we left.


I spent the night at Richard Roy's with the Grange. As usual, he made a delicious breakfast in the morning. Every single time I come to Montreal, he never let's me leave, without eating a bite from Dick's Deli. He needs more recognition for his talents. He is an inspiration to man, to say the least.

After that breakfast I involved myself in the ultimate stupidity. Something I will never forget. It lead to a chain of ridiculously unnecessary problems, but I ignited the flame. After I left Richard's I ran into a copy place across the street to make photocopies of my passport and other documents. I tried to print something from a USB stick, but the clerk told me the file was missing. I ran back to Richard's to reload the file and went to the store to print it. I got my papers and jumped in the car.

The amazing Christina Clark has offered to drive Dave and us to New York City, where our plane was departing from. It was around noon, so we were hoping to spend a little time in the city before going to bed, as our flight was Friday at 2 p.m.

We began our journey and 45 minutes later we were at the border. Right before we were to speak to an immigration officer, I looked for my passport and it was missing. I felt like a complete fool and realized I left it at the copy store, while I was worried about other documents. I felt terrible. Dave and Christina did not flinch for a second. A 1.5 hour delay meant nothing to them and they did not seem to mind to return. As we attempted to turn around, we took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up passing a crossing. Border patrol rushed out and at that point a truck had approached us. We explained the honest mistake and then were told to go with them.

The three of us were detained in a room for 2 hours and then indivudally questioned by American border patrol personnel, as we had techinically entered the US. As I sat in a closed room, with only chairs and a table, I was continually reminded I was not in detention. They definitely made it feel like detention. While we were detained, they searched every inch of the vehicle, going through everything. They were very curious as to why the two of us were going to Taiwan. Another issue was the past travels of Dave Jones. He has visited many countries in Africa over the past few years and they did not understand why he had done so (Dave is a noble man, who sometimes works at refugee camps, when Montreal loses its swagger in the winter). After they questioned us about that, and thrown back into the room with each other, we were then told we could leave. We were never denied entry, it was just unusual circumstances. To make it worse, once we were let go at the US side, we had to go through Canadian immigration. Of course, they decided to search all our bags as well. All that said, we then drove back to Montreal, and found my passport at the copy store. By the time we had left Montreal, it was 5:00 p.m. And the second time across the border, it took 3 mins to get by.

Words or Wisdom: Don't forget the files you are photocopying. It may cause a chain reaction of events.

After I bought Dave and Christina Mcdonalds out of guilt, we were on our way to East Brunswick, New Jersey. After a 7 hour drive we made it to my cousin's house, Sonia. She had graciously let us stay at her place for the night. We woke up early morning and headed towards JFK airport. We stopped in Brooklyn, for pure novelty (and gas) purposes.


We hit the airport made ourselves onto Cathay Pacific for a 16 hour flight. The flight was good, but the last few hours were very long. The food and service was good. Hours of movies, and multiplayer tetris was great. There was also a cracked out individual who sat next to Dave. Literally, cracked out. I don't want to describe it here. He was on his way to Thailand; everything made sense. He made for some interesting entertainment as well.

The flight flew north above Northern Canada and Northern China. It made for some amazing views. Here is one of Northern China.


We then arrived in Hong Kong and waited a few more hours. We figured since we were arriving in Taipei at Midnight and had no place to stay, it was a good time to research into it. We found a hostel online and directions. Hopped on the another flight and finally, landed in Taipei. The journey was very long. We then hopped on a bus into downtown for NT90 (1 dollar) and attempted to find the hostel. After being dropped off and asking a few cab drivers, we just decided to walk in a certain direction. It was raining terribly and but we eventually found out.

I took an elevator up to the top floor of the building, as soon as the doors opened there were about 5 or 6 people sitting there having some drinks. It was about 2 am. Instantanelously I was greeted and given hugs by a Canadian man. After such an incrediblely long journey and walking around downtown Taipei in the rain, it was amazing to be greeted like that.

He instantly insisted we head to the nearest 7 Eleven to get some beverages. He took us and told us a little about the area. We came back and he tried to get us a room but was unable to. He had been living at the hostel for the past 3 months and was moving out the next day (today). Dave and I ended up sleeping on the couches in the lounge while watching Owen Wilson star in Armageddon until 4 am.

For the next 5 hours I did not sleep. Instead I battled mosquitos. It was brutal. After that, the employees of the hostel came and said it was ok if we didn't pay for the first night, as long as we didn't tell her manager. Basically, for the two nights in Tapei, we will spend a total of $10 each. After the manager came in we were given a dorm room. We both feel asleep until 6 p.m. tonight.

Since we are most likely headed to Taichung tomorrow, I wasn't sure if this was going to be my last night here. So I had to visit the famous Shilin Night Market. We did just so by Metro. Getting there was so easy. The city of Taipei is so wonderfully organized and most things are in English. People are very helpful. Everything is really efficient too. The Metro turned into a Skytrain as we got closer to the night market... Crazy.

The night market was awesome. It was so bright, had so many stores and seemed endless.




I also tried some fresh Squid in the market. It was delicious and cost me about $1.50.

After buying a watch and some other supplies we headed back to the Hostel.

It is now about 2:00 a.m. and the Superbowl kicks off in less than 6 hours. I found a Sports bar nearby, so I am hoping to wake up and make it. That was the mean reason I invested in a watch; to get up in time for the Superbowl. I do not think Dave will not be joining me though.

After the game, we will be making our way to Taichung, which is southwest of Taipei. It is a fairly large city. Dave is going to meet up with some friends to find an ESL teaching job and I am just going along for the ride. Should be good times.


Most Valuable Buds

The MVBs of this leg of the trip, has to be Christina Clark.

Honourable mention goes to Richard Roy for allowing me to stay with him and for his cooking of an amazing hearty breakfast. As well as my cousin Sonia, who made things very easy for us along the way.

Christina drove us from Montreal to New York in a fancy Lexus just because she did not want us to take a bus. It was appreciated on so many levels. Especially after I messed up humungously, she still never once even appeared to be angry. She also drove the whole way back by herself. I cannot express how grateful I am. Great, great person.