Started off with a rude awakening….Sharon (my missus..sorry luv!!) called my mobile at 8.00am. I was so jet lagged that I couldn’t work out where I was, what the noise was and why I was hearing it !!!!!
Greatfully received.
Had a nice breakfast of sausage and scrambled egg, fruit and plentiful coffee. After packing up I got a taxi from the hotel to Taoyuan High Speed Rail (HSR)station. This was a lovely experience, had a great conversation with the taxi driver on the 20 minute trip. We talked non-stop even though he could not understand a word I said and I not one from he…. But we giggled and nodded our way through it, smashing.
TheHSR, what an amazing place….so futuristic. Printed out my ticket via the machine and made my way to the platform. So well organised, your ticket gives you your place to wait on the platform for your carriage….great system.
The train was roomy and quick, took 35 mins to go to Taichung, apparently normal rail takes 3 hrs.!!!! The top speed was around 250km/hr. !!!, 8 quid, pretty good value.
Hotel was excellent, checked in quick and did a couple of hours work to catch up with admin stuff and work. Had a call from Dr Chen of the research station in La Kung to check I had arrived. Nice
1 hours sleep, still a little time zone confused then Skype home to check on the family. Slightly guilty about wearing my fleece to counteract the hotel air conditioning when I knew that temps were close to freezing in Wales!!!!.
Around 4 pm walked to night markets, less stressful than the night before as I knew to expect severe road stress!!! Coped well and even had some street food…sticky rice with chicken and bacon and veg, some kind of soup for less than 2 quid….good value in my book.
Bought couple of souvenirs then back to the hotel for a rest, saw a sign saying “Gym”, so I passed according to my lack of Taiwanese.
More admin and work stuff on my pc, thank God for Wi Fi.
Headed out pm to a bar/pub…..took about 30mins to explain this to the hotel staff. It was a Belgian bar located in a Department store basement!!!! I know !!!! I got puzzled looks from staff in the store even though the place “Le ble d’or” was 50 yards from where I was trying to explain!! The only thing that did it was the action of drinking and the word “beer”
I Had a couple of beers….dark stuff and then taxi back to hotel. Calculate daily expenses and type up blog
Have to say everyone was so friendly, they do their best to help you then just laugh if it all comes to nothing!!!
Well off to bed and really looking forward to tomorrow, visit to the Fisheries Research Station in La Kung, Dr Chen (Associate Researcher) has kindly agreed to pick me up at the hotel.
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