The flight finally took off around 2:00PM. For the next 14 hours I was confined to my cell. I was easily the tallest person on the plane, and, having a window seat, I was truly crammed inside the plane.
Taiwan in on the other side of the International Dateline, so, although as you travel west the time of day creeps backwards, it finally reaches a point where all of a sudden, it is tomorrow. Although the flight was only approximately 14 hours in duration, we spent from Thursday at 2:00PM until Friday at 6:00PM, an apparent flight of 28 hours. It seemed like 40.
I had hit upon the brilliant idea of staying awake for 36 hours prior to the flight so that I would be able to sleep most of the flight away. We were planned to arrive at 6:00AM, when I would awake, refreshed and ready to go on my first day in Taiwan.
The delay in the flight meant that I was awake an additional 12 hours. I slept through one of my meals on the plane, but remained awake for the last 10 hours of the flight. Somehow my sleep plan had gone horribly awry.
Instead of arriving as planned at 6:00AM, we arrived late at night, and passed smoothly through Customs and Immigration.
We had been able to inform Chu-wan’s parents about the delay and they were there to meet us. Her father speaks understandable English, but her mother does not speak any.
We wrestled the luggage into her father’s station wagon and headed off towards Taipei. Their home in Taipei is about an hour’s drive by freeway from the airport. Her father took to the surface streets for some of the journey, so the drive took somewhat longer, but I got my first taste of Taiwan’s cities. Her father is a perfectly adequate driver, but the traffic conditions in Taiwan were terrifying! It was only the fact that it was dark that prevented me from realizing the magnitude of that observation until the next day. I’ll speak more on this later.
We arrived at her parent’s home (which is also her father’s office, Operation De-Handicap) late at night, and I was shown my room. I had honestly thought Chu-Wan was kidding, but true to her word, I was to sleep on a board instead of a mattress. (Hereafter referred to as “The Board”) The room was efficient, clean and, surprisingly, it had a window looking into her brother’s room. Further, the window, which had neither glass nor screen, had to be left open to allow air circulation. In addition to air, it also allowed the mosquitoes to circulate freely. Considering what the CDC had to say about all the indigenous, mosquito-borne nasties, this was less than comforting.
I thought this was an odd lack of privacy, but not intolerably so, especially since her brother never seemed to be in his room. I was further surprised to find out that her 21-year old brother’s only means for entering his bedroom was through his parents’ bedroom, which he did at all hours of the night.
Her brother works at Tower Records Taipei, and likes Metallica, Guns ‘n Roses, and the like. If you’ve ever seen a Taiwanese person do a Beavis and Butthead imitation, well… it’s pretty funny. Her brother kept pretty odd hours, usually coming home around 1 or 2, then staying up playing computer games till sunrise, but not always. At first, I thought he was trying to avoid walking through his parents’ room so late at night. Personally, I would feel uncomfortable having to walk through my parents’ room, but apparently this isn’t the same kind of issue with them as it would be with us.
Her mother prepared dinner for us, which was something very much like beef stew, but served with rice, steamed cabbage, cooked peanuts and cold chicken. I also gave her parents the presents I brought them for their hospitality, and they seemed well received.
Since it was late, but we were still internally on Arizona time, we went walking around the streets of Taipei and the park across the street from her home. 7-11s and Circle Ks were welcome reminders of home, as was the Sizzler Steakhouse down the street.
Taiwan is humid — nothing like Arizona! My hair, which is never very controllable at the best of times, turned curly and remained totally unmanageable for the entire trip. No amount of hairspray could contain it. From the moment I arrived till a few hours after I left, I was never completely dry. What an odd feeling! No amount of toweling could complete the job as the water just kept coming back.