I've had 'long' days, but let's face it: 24 hours isn't an approximation, it's what you get, every day. Unless of course, you're traveling from the other side of the world, then you get to time travel.
Our day started at 4:00 am. When you're chasing the sun you get extra hours, 15 in this case. Which means by the time I put my head to my own pillow, 38 hours had passed and it was still the same day. Needless to say, travel-back-to-the-States day was long. But glorious. A long layover in Taiwan allowed us to explore a little bit of the capital city Taipei. We rode up the fastest elevators in the world (89 floors in less than 40 seconds) to get a view from the tallest building in the world: Taipei 101. It was pretty impressive, looking over Taiwan from that height. What a city- armies of motorbikes took to the streets for rush hour and amid mountains surrounding our sight lines buildings continued sprouting, tall and slender.
After the 101 story building, we walked through Snake Alley and peered at all the odds and ends for sale to the Taiwan night owls. It was crowded and noisy, and strange things (to American eyes) lined the alley. And yes, snakes were a notable piece of the scenery, though there was no snake blood for drinking, as we had been told to expect. I was ready to try it with a handful of other brave souls, but can't honestly say I'm disappointed.
We walked back toward our bus, stopping at a Buddhist temple in search of a comfort room (restroom). Katie and I opted to look around the temple first, walking in awe under ornate ceilings yielding to open sky. Intricate work in dark, polished wood and shining gold surrounded us, as did worshipers, holding incense and bowing to gods kind enough to be kept behind glass. Katie told me a bit about the religion and guessed what each god was supposed to be- power, peace, etc. We had to make our way out quickly due to the late hour. We didn't make it to the comfort room, but I was perfectly happy. I hear it wasn't very comforting anyhow.
Our day started at 4:00 am. When you're chasing the sun you get extra hours, 15 in this case. Which means by the time I put my head to my own pillow, 38 hours had passed and it was still the same day. Needless to say, travel-back-to-the-States day was long. But glorious. A long layover in Taiwan allowed us to explore a little bit of the capital city Taipei. We rode up the fastest elevators in the world (89 floors in less than 40 seconds) to get a view from the tallest building in the world: Taipei 101. It was pretty impressive, looking over Taiwan from that height. What a city- armies of motorbikes took to the streets for rush hour and amid mountains surrounding our sight lines buildings continued sprouting, tall and slender.
After the 101 story building, we walked through Snake Alley and peered at all the odds and ends for sale to the Taiwan night owls. It was crowded and noisy, and strange things (to American eyes) lined the alley. And yes, snakes were a notable piece of the scenery, though there was no snake blood for drinking, as we had been told to expect. I was ready to try it with a handful of other brave souls, but can't honestly say I'm disappointed.
We walked back toward our bus, stopping at a Buddhist temple in search of a comfort room (restroom). Katie and I opted to look around the temple first, walking in awe under ornate ceilings yielding to open sky. Intricate work in dark, polished wood and shining gold surrounded us, as did worshipers, holding incense and bowing to gods kind enough to be kept behind glass. Katie told me a bit about the religion and guessed what each god was supposed to be- power, peace, etc. We had to make our way out quickly due to the late hour. We didn't make it to the comfort room, but I was perfectly happy. I hear it wasn't very comforting anyhow.
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