October 30,

Neither of us slept well last night, but we did get some sleep. It’s a travel day. We finally got up and around by 0730. We started the sorting and repacking… we will be getting rid of some stuff- leaving it or donating it as “New To You” items. We took a break, having our Javas and the last of Muesli and oatmeal with yogurts. We left our nice condo by 0948, returning the key to the mailbox slot. By 1009, we were on the subway, going eight stops. We exited, transferred to the HSR at the Zuoying Station, and at 1038 we were to the platform. The train was being cleaned, so I walked down to take a picture from the engine back the whole length of the train. As I arrived down at the engine, the train attendants opened up the cars for boarding so I ran back. It was only 1047 – still early, but you never know. Jeff had already boarded with our luggage. I walked a bit inside the car, to get more steps and struck up a brief conversation with a lady from Holland who lives in Kaohsiung and has for 12 yrs. The train took off at 1055, on time.

We saw the train had reached 294 kmph or 183 mph. The views out the windows were still fascinating but not different as it was the same route we had taken a few days back (obviously reversed). One thing of note: the bridges are painted in different hues. There are blue, green, orange, pink, yellow or red– you get the picture. They are even different artistic shapes/designs. We reached our top speed of 295 kmph. Another note… we left Taichung station one minute late! That surprised us both. I had heard one of the train station attendants blowing her whistle… a lot, maybe that was the delay. The next stop was at Banqiao station.

We arrived at Taipei station by 1229. Now we had 11.5 hrs to re-explore Taipei until our flight. At 1244, we had stored carry-on bags in a locker. We went to take our checked bags for an early turn in. But we needed our passports… which were in the locker with the other bags! So at 1251, with a new locker for carry ons and our passports…. we turned in our check-in bags and confirmed they went through x-ray. This is basically 12 hours early – so cool! It reminded us of the old curb-side check-in. Anyway at 1301, we headed out walking. Our first stop was for a couple of legendary Pepper cakes. They were as hot and as good as we remembered. We ate them in front of the National Taiwan Museum, our second stop.

After we finished them we paid 30 TWD (98 cents) each for entry into the museum. Right off inside the main hall there was an open atrium to a grand ceiling skylight. It was beautiful. We then went through the three floors of galleries. The first floor went through “The Discovery of Rhinoceroses in Taiwan.” There was even a Wooly Rhinoceros here. We breezed on through here. The next floor was “Exploring Taiwan.” This floor started with a displayed painting of Fort Zeelandia. Taiwan or Taiyuan, as it was known then, was a Dutch east India stronghold in 1624-1662. Currently, the fort is known as Anping Old Fort or Anping Castle, and is mostly restored. I thought it interesting that the Dutch claimed ownership at one time. Next there was a displayed National Treasure Portrait of Koxinga, a Chinese leader who defeated the Dutch in 1662. The coolest display piece on this floor was The Kangxi Taiwan Map. According to the placard, this very long scroll map was ‘painted in 1699-1704’ and is ‘the oldest existing Chinese landscape-style map of the whole of Taiwan.’ It was amazing that it survived, but the most fascinating part was a digital screen above the map. It enhanced the painting and made little parts of the map come to life. Little boats sailed, cows grazed, and people trekked on roads.Technology! Continuing on, in another display, there were statues of different idols – some even having real hair. Another display had a taxidermied clouded leopard, now extinct, but they used to roam the island. Lastly there was a case that had displays of dressed Taiwanese Indigenous figures – seven aboriginal couples that are Hakata Figurines that were made in Japan. Taiwan has an “eight tribe” system classification of aborigines that was set up in 1899 by Japanese Anthropologists. The last floor of the museum was Re-visiting the Age of Natural History and Naturalist of Taiwan – we breezed through this. I did like the huge shells and butterflies displayed here.

We left the museum around 1430, went back through the Peace Memorial Park and noticed that one monument that had been blocked off a couple of weeks ago was open and had water in it. Anyway, we walked from here to the Taipei Botanical Gardens – it’s a free entry. It was a nice garden, with a decent sized Lotus Pond. Unfortunately most of the flowers were past blooming. Next there was a Japanese style house to look into, and a zen yard garden. Another area of note was the ginger garden, some of these were blooming. Around 1540 we left, it was time to head to the airport and we were hot with achy feet.

We caught a bus to the MRT to collect our carry-on bags and at 1617, we boarded the Airport MRT. At 1654 we arrived at our stop, the airport. By 1704 we were in line for security, got through easy-peasy, next through immigration, then over to the “#1 rated Priority Pass lounge in the world for 2025”. It was 1730 and was busy!! The guy scanning us in let us know before we entered. But Wowza! There was a time limit for three hours. The showers are not even available until 2100, and we have to be out by 2030! We had supper, which was fine – but overall, we were expecting more. There was a great display of large blown glass bowls hanging on a wall. Still, we would not vote this as our #1 lounge… and we have been to a few. By 2000, we left this lounge and went to another lounge we could go to. It was way less busy and we were able to shower here. The food was not as good here though.

We left around 2300, at the gate by 2315. There were at least 20 wheelchairs with people waiting to board! REALLY!! That numbered amount was a first for us. We boarded the plane at 2348. At 2352, the airplane door closed and at 2358, it backed up-3 minutes late. We took off at 0014. We were given a meal, but neither of us had the entree. There was quite a bit of turbulence in the first third of our flight. That’s always unnerving! We watched movies and tried to stay awake for the almost 12 hour flight. Around two hours before touchdown we were served another meal – choice of seafood porridge or chicken noodles, which was pasta shells. We both had the pasta chicken. At 1032, according to my watch, we had the announcement “for prep to land.” Here’s the kicker.. it was 1932 local time on the 30th… not 1032 on the 31st like my mind says it should be. We landed, through security, and collected our bags (after one hour).

Then we exited out to see Jeff’s sister waiting…

     Welcome to the USA! Welcome to LA!