July 1-3: Taipei

I flew out of Detroit on a direct flight to Tokyo. Yes, you read correct, a direct flight from Detroit to Tokyo. I left Wednesday at 3:20pm and I arrived at 5pm on Thursday. Over 12 and a half hours on the plane plus you lose 12 hours with the time change. That will mess you up. That messed me up.

I met up with my dad in the Tokyo airport and after a 2 hour layover (just enough time to get through security) we had a 3 hour flight to Taipei. We arrived in Taipei late Thursday evening exactly 12 hours ahead of home. We were met at the airport by Jimmy Tsai and his friend Do-do. Do-do is a college student who's mother is a music teacher (his brother's name is Rey-rey. no kidding).

The flight wasn't too bad. I had an aisle seat and there wasn't anyone sitting in the seat next to me. So I had a bit of extra elbow room plus I could get up and stretch whenever I needed. I never got stir crazy, but your brain shuts down after about 6 hours.

When in Taipei we stayed at the YMCA hotel. It was nice and conveniently located right in the heart of downtown next to the MRT (subway system), bus depot, and high speed railway. We pretty much just spent friday recovering from jetlag, but I did have a food challenge on that first day.

As a reader of this blog, you probably know me well enough to know that I am a picky eater. I knew going into this cross-cultural experience that I would be challenged, but I hoped to have some time to ease myself into this new food experience. So when given a few restaurant options for lunch, I chose Italian, what I beleived to be a safe bet. What I didn't know is that the "Italian" served by Cafe Grazie is just chinese food on top of spaghetti. I really struggled with that meal (especially the lettuce wrap appetizer). It was especially difficult since, as an honored guest, we were offered all of the goodies first. yum.

more stories tomorrow:)