So it happened. I left Banff after four amazing months. And because I started travelling again, I felt the need to reactivate my little blog. I guess I could've written stuff about my time in Banff, but honestly nobody needs to know the amount of crazy partying that went on there. You had to be there otherwise there is no use in telling just how much fun I had, so we just leave it at that: I had a blast.
But to be fair: I am sorry I never wrote a post about the road-trip to Alaska. That would've been a really good story, but if you really want to know about this we can share a beer one day and I will happily share all the stories of that trip with you! The internet doesn't need to know everything about me after all.
So after the last hoorah in Banff - i might still be hungover - I hopped on the plane that carried me to Taipei. The reason why Taipei is easy, it was the cheapest flight available, so I just extended my layover from 4 to 50 hours to go on my first Chinese adventure.
I arrived at 5 in the morning and it already was warmer than the past 5 months together. Such a treat feeling the warmth of the sun after the eternal darkness and winter of Canada.
Since I am me, and being me is my speciality, I forgot to tell my Bank that I was going to Asia. And because Banks never want to loose your (read: their) money my Bankcard was not working and I could not get any NT$. Good stuff. Luckily I had a few Euros in my pocket that I could change to the local currency and avert a bigger crisis. So after I had my money and dropped my bags at the hostel, it was time to swap Jeans for Shorts and the Hoodie for a T-Shirt: The sun was shining bright and hot and there was no cloud in sight! What a feeling, just a few days after it was almost -20C. Of course I went exploring without any kind of City Guide, so I got lost a few times in the endless maze of small alleys and streets that is Taipei.
While I was lost (if you actually can be lost when you don't have a set destination) I caught the sweet smell of incense, so I followed the faint smell until I found the temple where it came from.
There isn't that much to say about a temple, I guess either you like Chinese architecture or you don't, either way here are some pictures of a few temples I visited in Taipei:
Besides sightseeing I actually didn't do much there. I found out that I really don't like the food there and that Chinese LOVE to stand in lines. But that's about everything. After all I was only there for two days. Mostly I was just soaking up the warmth and exotic culture of that place. It actually felt good to be out of Banff and to see something new. Which was good, given the emotional good bye and the fear of continuing my travels alone. But it is working out quite well so far (maybe its also because I hung up the T-Shirt for decoration, haha).
So after Taipei I went on to my final destination (for now): Japan. I've been here for two and a half days so far and haven't been up snowboarding once. Why not you ask? Because it was, or better, is raining. RAIN! In winter! But it should change over to snow tonight and by tomorrow evening we should have about 30 cm of fresh Japanese pow! I have to admit I am fairly excited to see what all the fuzz is about with that snow.
Until now I haven't taken any pictures of Furano. Mainly because I was just sitting in my hostel room (I have a private dorm, hell yeah - PRIVACY!) to escape the rain. Also it is really nice to just chill a bit after sleeping in a living room haha. So as soon as the weather is a little more pleasant I will go out and take some pictures of Japan for all of you that wouldn't join me on this trip. In the meantime you can enjoy the rest of the Taipei pictures. Some of them are actually quite nice. I know its just a fairly short entry given that long period of time, but so far nothing much has happened, but there is a few exciting places coming up (VOLCANOES!) so you can look forward to that!
And before I finish this entry, here the promised album of Taiwan:
I hope you like the pictures, I sure had fun there.
So long, I will be back with more, hopefully exciting, stories in a while!
/Phil
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