New Perspectives

The sun was bigger and more red than I had ever seen it as I descended towards Taipei. The blazing ball set at the same speed as the plane fell and it was a strange yet comforting. That was probably the last time I felt calm since I have been here!

Now that Thailand is over I can say: "that shit was awesome and I had more fun than I have ever had on a vacation." Our last week was spent at Ko Phi Phi relaxing and checking out the islands around, Phuket for a couple of days, and then one last night in Bangkok. Originally Drew and I had thought that the day Dunkle left we would take a boat to another island called Ko Lanta. But when we found out there were no other boats during this season we said screw it and stayed another night in Phi Phi. Phi Phi was fun after a while and on our last day there Drew and I met our first Americans on the whole trip. The wildest part was that one of them was even from Denver. Small world. Before our boat to Phuket Drew and I walked all over the island (not by desire but because we got lost) and eventually climbed the highest point to see a magnificent view of the whole island. It was actually the evacuation route from the Tsunami that hit in December of 2004. From the top of the mountain we had a beautiful view of both gigantic beaches which was really an eyeful. Ko Phi Phi was really amazing place because you got to observe what an impressive job of rebuilding they had done since the 2004 Tsunami. While there was still some dilapidated buildings and a lot of washed up rubbish, the community had really done a great job to get back to normal.

Our reason for going to Phuket was because we wanted to take a day trip to this amazing natural reserve nearby. However, when we got to our hotel, we realized how much we needed some time to just take a break. Our hotel was only 15 bucks a night and it was our nicest one. Instead of taking another trip we took some time to unwind. We had a lot of things to reflect on and a lot of future plans that we were both ready for. (or not) So Phuket was our time to relax after so much relaxing and we enjoyed it. Then it was back to Bangkok and off. Thailand really was cool and the primary reason why was because I got to go on such a wild adventure with such good friends. Every moment was an experience and everything we set to do we accomplished. It is an experience I will never forget and I hope many are encouraged to have.

So I don't want to go too long but I wanted to make sure that those who have tuned in so far will continue. And by the way, if you have been reading these blazin' blogs let me know with those commentary things. It would be a lot more encouraging for me to know that people are actually reading these things. If you ever have questions about something or have an idea of something I could do just let me know.

Well here I am in the great city of Taipei, Taiwan. I mean holy shit I am in this crazy ass city for the next year. I am in no way *wink* freaked out about being here *wink wink.* I arrived last night with no idea at all of what I was doing. All I knew was that "maybe" someone was picking me up from the airport and that for sure I was and am broke.

I walked through the customs worried as all hell. You see I didn't even know how to go about getting a visa. I only knew that what I needed, a three month visa, was now no longer possible and thus I wasn't sure if they were even going to let me into the country. I got in somehow with a 30 day visa and saw some dude holding a card with my name on it. Well so far so good. As we walked outside he reached his hand out in what I thought was an attempt at a handshake and my giant backpack (which he was reaching for) crashed down on him. I don't even know how to greet people here, do I bow? or do I shake? or should I just smile like an idiot? I have gone with the latter. As we chopped along sentence to sentence I soon discovered that this man was not my boss but just some cab driver who knew little more than I did. As the door slammed on the cab, Simon (his chosen English name) asked "where you go?" Well how the hell should I know, I didn't even have a hotel reservation. Luckily he had the number of my boss lady, not me, and called her. They squared things up and he took me to this mediocre hotass inferno hotel I find myself in right now. Thank god the Taiwanese know what they are doing because if they didn't I would probably be dead or at the least still crying and wondering around in the airport.

I got a chance to talk to my superior and we made an appointment to meet each other today. So for that night I was unleashed on the city that I literally knew nothing about. And it is big here, I mean lots of lights, music all over, people calling me over to eat there pig ears, and tofu squares, nothing like Paris. The other thing too is that I don't look like anyone.........anyone!!! It seemed like Thailand was so flooded with tourists that you often saw more ferangs (white folk foreigners) than Thai, but here it is just all black haired Asian people. I feel like all I see are either 15 year olds or the oldest people on the planet. I don't know where all the middle agers go. I got lucky with dinner because I had soup, a salad, tempura chicken, a big bowl of rice and a drink all for about 4 dollars. I made sure to try every sauce which meant I accidental poured salad dressing on my chicken and some sort of vinegar in my rice, oh well. But guess what, for the first time in more than a year.......free refills, I musta drank me about 4 cokes just because I coulda. It was all quite lovely. Sleep was rough because I kept waking up to heat fevers not knowing where I was or what the hell I was doing there, and that went on until about when I woke everyone up to my french alarm screaming "c'est l'heure de se lever, il est 9:30."

Then there was all of today, basically it just felt really good to do something after so long of doing nothing. What I covered today was what it took my French program about 2 months to do. It would mostly bore any regular reader but now I have the medical stuff figured out, my work visa will be coming soon, I have a schedule, I have looked at apartments and may have found one, I might get to skip training cause I am such a bad ass, and my boss has already told me that the best way to learn Chinese is to date a Chinese girl. She even said she could do some introductions. That part isn't anything great though because I don't care at all about girls........hahahaha not! So while just a day ago I thought I was going to die because I was so unprepared the Taiwanese have showed me that if you are indeed unprepared, just leave it to them. So now I have until Wednesday before I have anything to do and I feel pretty good. Shoot I might even go have a beer tonight, who knows. Thanks again for reading and stay tuned for more nuttiness.