Unlike the trip to Korea, this time I got to fly first class, which is the first time I've ever flown anything other than coach. There are various attractions and detractions to the experience:
- You generally do not have a lateral neighbor, with your "pod" taking up the entire side of the aisle, and the pods are staggered so no one is directly across from you.
- You get to recline, all the way flat if you like. This is obviously the biggest attraction, as flying 18 hours or whatever sitting straight up is frankly torturous and inhumane. It is not perfect, however, as the seats are still somewhat hard and covered in sweaty blue naugahyde, and I found it difficult to sleep.
- They feed you constantly. Really, it was a bit much. I'd go brush my teeth and put my Invisalign trays back in, and here comes the stewardess with another course. Please, spare a couple courses and send it back to the suffering souls in economy who are getting by on pretzels and maybe one dry sandwich halfway through.
- On the major leg, from Detroit to Narita, we had our own door and were on the upper deck, which is entirely first class. From Narita to Taipei, however, it's one big cabin, so they seat you, get you a glass of champagne, and they march the proles past on their way to the cattle pen in the back. I felt shame from deep down in my anarcho-communist soul.
- We had an opportunity to use the first class lounge at Narita. Apart from being able to recline, this was the other big attraction of having a first class ticket. There is plush furniture everywhere, a free buffet, free alcohol (I decided on a small tot of sake, to celebrate landing in the country of my near-birth), private restrooms and even showers. Hopefully one of our layovers on the way back will give me a longer opportunity to explore the lounge for other amenities I might not have noticed.
Customs at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport was fairly low-stress. The border control agent took my landing visa form, asked what I was visiting for, how long, and what sort of domicile I would be taking up. She took my photo and fingerprints and we were off to claim our baggage. If you have nothing to declare, you go through a turnstile labeled "Nothing to declare," and that's it--no forms or questions. We took out cash at an ATM, hopped on hotel shuttle, and check into our room.
The hotel was nice, but nothing exceptional. The breakfast was pretty good though, with Western, Chinese, and Japanese items. I recall eating pork belly stewed with cubes of tofu, rice, vegetarian fried noodles, a couple pieces of sushi, various forms of seaweed (some good, some bad), bamboo shoots in a pepper sauce (delightful), and then a tongful of bacon.
The hotel called us a cab, and we made the hour and 30-minute trip down to Taichung. The area between the airport (which itself is a distance away from Taipei) and Taichung is somewhat older and more industrial, but Taichung itself is comparatively newer and more prosperous.
We made it to our apartment building, the entrance of which is somewhat recessed and hidden, and were stunned when we entered the lobby and found marble floors, marble columns, great glass skylights, and a garden atrium. Also a desk with an attendant, and various red festoonery for the looming Chinese New Year.
We met with the relocation agent and landlord. She was nice, but he seemed a little intense. He was also strangely dressed like a teenager, despite being easily in his 40s, maybe 50s. His baseball hat had a flat brim and "Hi haters" embroidered in script. He went through the apartment in great detail, explaining the use of every gadget, knob, and lever, noting any preexisting dents or stains or scratches (for our benefit; he already had photos of everything), and then walking us through a packet of diagrams of various appliances and remote controls over-labeled in English. I can now operate the TV, but everything else I just punch buttons randomly until I get the desired result.
Undoubtedly you've seen photos and video on Facebook, but to describe the apartment, it's on the top floor (the landlord called it a penthouse, with some evident satisfaction), the 27th, and the apartment itself is two floors. It's decorated in what I would call a sleek Asian modern style, with a lot of wood and straight lines and all the furniture somewhat low to the floor. There is cabinetry everywhere, far more storage than we would need even at home. In fact, the whole place is 1,600 sq. ft., which is 200 more than our house in Indiana and 600 more than where we're renting in Corning. I'm a little confused, as it has three full baths, but only 1.5 bedrooms (the office has a guest bed). I'm thinking the layout was probably designed for a couple with a single child, or none. Since the light switches for the guest room can only be gotten at by climbing across the bed, it seems like the bed may not have been part of the original vision.
While furnished, the place has no linens for the beds, kitchenwares, trash baskets, clothes hangers, etc., so we headed off to the nearby Ikea. I have never been to one before, but it seems like a stressful place. Of course, I had already had a busy day and it was on a Saturday afternoon in a densely populated city. What we didn't pick up at the Ikea we got the next day at the Carrefour. Carrefour is quite nice and exhaustively stocked, but nothing terribly unusual about their wares, except that the Taiwanese seem to prefer flat, folded toilet paper to the kind on a roll we're used to. Nevertheless, you can get the stuff on a roll for a slight premium.
In general, Taichung is very clean and very modern, and apart from Chinese signage, would look like any other place in the developed world. Probably newer, even, with an emphasis on landscaping that I, as a Californian living in New York, miss and appreciate. However, as with city traffic in Korea, you're best to watch yourself in the crosswalk and be sure to buckle up in the taxi. On the highways, the cabbies still speed, but they're less casual with traffic rules. In the city, though, anything goes. Make a yewy mid-block in front of a traffic cop, who cares. Our cabbie did that, and even waved to the cop, who waved back.
We've been by taxi much of the time, and these are pretty easy to catch. You can get the desk attendant to call you one, and tell them ahead of time where you're going, and they'll also write down instructions in Chinese for the driver. When you're ready to go home, go to the nearest busy corner and stick out your hand. Hand them your card with the address in Chinese, and it's done, easy as that. Like in many countries, payment is exact and any attempt to tip the driver is a source of confusion.
A quick note on the Taiwanese character: everyone so far has been friendly and quietly deferential. In this they remind me more of the Japanese than the Koreans, having a concept of face (mian) and harmony (huh ping). Which is not to say that I dislike Koreans, just that they can be a little prickly and rough around the edges in random interactions. The same could be said of the Scots, I might add. The only thing approaching rudeness I've encountered here was an indifferent convenience store clerk. But the convenience store itself was indifferent, too.
What have we eaten since we got here? We first were taken to lunch by a group of company expats to a place called the Gordon Biersch, which is a chain outfit that's supposed to be like a German brauhof, but apart from the beer is fairly standard American chain restaurant fare. Dinner was my choice, so we went to a dim sum place across from our building, which was very excellent and very cheap. The staff spoke no English but did have an English menu available to point at. And then yesterday for lunch we went to a place called Mr. Onion, which is kinda like a steakhouse but more like an Asian impression of a steakhouse. My filet of chicken was pretty much tonkatsu with a sweet-and-sour sauce. Not advertised as such. I ordered plum-and-lime juice, which is a little weird but also refreshing.
Dinner last night was instant noodles. Lunch today will be instant noodles, too. But then I'm thinking I might go outside to explore the block and, if this doesn't tucker me out (doing anything in a very foreign, non-English-speaking country is a double-effort), I might visit the national museum of natural sciences which is across the green on the next block up.
More in a day or two.
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