Tuesday, December 26, 2006

The Worst

The worst part about travel is getting there. GET THERE ONE TIME!!! I'm in Taiwan with a 10-hour layover in-between a 13.5 hour flight and a 7 hour flight. The flight from Seattle to Taiwan was grueling to say the least but I slept for at least 6 hours so it could have been worse. I also watched Superman and My Super Ex-Girlfriend on the plane. Both were pretty bad but still managed to be entertaining.

I got into Taiwan at around 6:30 AM local time and wandered around for a while, wondering if I would have to sit here for 9 hours or if I could leave for a while and see the sights. My questions were answered by a bright green billboard that advertised a free half-day tour put on by the Taiwanese Board of Tourism. The tour left at 8:15 AM so I twiddled my thumbs for almost two hours before a man that looked a lot like Chau Giang picked us up in his bus. The tour was pretty short, to the towns of Sanshia and Yingge, aka pottery heaven, and it felt very commercialized. I don't know what I expected since the tour was put on by the tourism board but I was hoping to see a bit more of the real countryside. The pottery was really nice in Yingge but the atmosphere was too touristy. I'm such a travel snob. The tour was probably 50 times better than spending the time cooped up in the airport and it was free so I can't really complain too much. I'll give one guaranteed postcard to the first person who can correctly tell me what "Sanshia" means. If you look it up, you are a jerk. Hint: Pittsburgh.

Anyway, it's 1 PM here at the airport and I have 3 and a half hours to kill before my final flight. India is 13.5 hours ahead of Seattle(what's up with the 30-minute change?) and I'm not really looking forward to the first few days of jetlag. We're going to Agra tomorrow to see the Taj Mahal and I hope I don't become too much of a drag on Scott, Ivan and Brianna.

I've already realized that I forgot a few things but none of them are catastrophic. Hopefully I'll be able to get online in Delhi but if not, dream about me bombing on lots of Indian food.

5 comments:

Adam said...

This temple was built in 1769 and has been through three rounds of renovation. The first time was in response to damage from a massive earthquake, the second after the Sino-Japanese War. After the war, the people elected Professor Li Mei-shu as architect for a rebuilding of the temple. Professor Li did what he could and dedicated himself to building a temple that combined Eastern and Western art.



But we all knew I was a jerk

Anonymous said...

steelers!!!!

AlCantHang said...

Sanshia:

My guesses...

"Steelers", "Bus", "Team that really must cheat in order to win the Super Bowl", or it means "The Refs gave us a win".

Actually, I know what it means thanks to Discovery channel but I'll let someone else get it.

Hint: confluence

Anonymous said...

Predictions:

1) Brandon will complain about Indian food at least once, especially if he has to eat with his fingers. No hot wings!

2) Brandon will not be named Time's Person of the Year again in 2007.

Happy New Year, B!

Anonymous said...

I looked it up, so I guess it doesn't count, and I don't want to ruin it for someone who might actually know. Have a great time, and I still deserve a postcard.

-Harlow