We decided to split our trip back to the UK by flying with EVA Air, stopping over in Taiwan en route on the way there and back. We were really looking forward to leaving the miserable, gray, damp and windy Wellington, mid winter, to a south east Asian tropical island and then on to sunny Blighty for an Indian summer.
We landed and spent the first day walking the streets of Taipei like your average tourist; marveling at unfamiliar sights, sounds and smells and realising my Mandarin is worse than my Spanish, and my Spanish is crap. It became difficult ordering something other than offal, for Lisa, with any confidence. Whilst wandering around we wondered why on a wet Saturday not many people were out shopping and going about their daily routines. We were expecting some proper Asian hustle and bustle. Why do these people have sandbags in front of their shops and windows taped up? We were sure that Taipei isn't built on a flood plain and we hadn't heard of rampant looting. Whilst using our deductive skills on this matter we were being lashed with buckets of water, knocked down by outrageous winds, dodging street lamps blown from their housing and advertising hoardings taking advertising to another level as it flies at 90 miles per hour towards us. We even bought matching full length, blue, transparent ponchos - groovy. One of the few locals we came across on that Saturday highlighted that at noon the Super-typhoon Sepat passed over the island. The penny finally dropped.
The typhoon moved north to the Chinese mainland and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Meanwhile, we spent a few days enjoying Taipei. An excellent city that dried itself off and came alive with all the vibrancy, colour and zeal we'd hoped for.
Seeing friends and family was an awesome prospect but the main reason for this trip back to the UK was to take part in The Wit's wedding. It was a true honour, and although we had a couple of doubts saving our dollars, we realised again that money or time should never enter into these equations. We were very lucky to have an excellent time at the wedding with great people in a great location. We also spent time in the spiritual home of Cambridge with the F-J's and the wonderful Amaya. We were regaled with the splendor of BasVegas. We ended our time in London and before we caught breath, realised three weeks were already over.
Another hidden agenda for the trip was to fill our luggage full of funky fashion. The fashion here is okay but seem to be half-arsed copies of UK trends with a six month lag. Trying to beat the beau's to it has always been a struggle for me - my new romantic quiff had an embarrassing longevity. While I had shoppers block, no matter how hard I tried, Lisa emulated Imelda Marcos in a frenzied shopping spree that put pressure on sweat shops in China.
We came back via Taipei again and this time felt like confident locals strolling round the city. In fact we enjoyed it so much that it was only with Lisa screaming into my sleeping ear that the fact of having already missed our flight became apparent and we had to spend two extra days de-stressing from the additional stress that such stupidity begets.
The whirlwind trip is over but pictorial evidence exists.
