Sunday we caught the Taipei Rapid Transit System (TRTS) train north to Tanshui which is at the mouth of the Tanshui river as it spills out into the East China Sea.
A festival was going on which apparently had something to do with fireflies. We walked up and down the streets among the crowds eating food and watching people. Teams were practicing in the river for the next weekend’s Dragon Boat Festival. Much like a crew-team, Dragon-shaped boats were racing for practice.
The TRTS was impressive. Clearly, a foreign-designed train of some kind, it really could move quickly, unfortunately, it stopped so often I don’t think it ever got up to full speed.
That evening the Huangs ordered pizza from Pizza Hut while I packed. Then they drove me to the airport.
My flight home was uneventful but boring, as Chu-wan remained in Taiwan through the end of June.
We had a good tailwind and the plane made it in about 45 minutes early on the normally 11-hour flight. Of course, that just meant 45 more minutes in LAX waiting for the connecting flight.
Notes from the 21st Century
When I left Taiwan on this first trip, I really thought that I had gotten a good feel for the place. How wrong I really was. It’s a lot more complicated and diverse place than can be seen in just 10 days.