We left Dounan (also spelled Tounan, but pronounced like Dounan) just after lunch today. Our week with the Li family was terrific. They helped us feel at home and we enjoyed a new adventure each day. We also had a chance to visit my dear friends, the Wang family, in Huwei. Honestly, seeing the Wangs was the highlight of my time here.
One half of Taiwan is out visiting the other half this week and so the trains and highways are packed. We missed our chance to buy train tickets, so we took the four hour bus ride to Taipei. That trip covers more than half the length of Taiwan. Interestingly enough, I spent most of last year weekly commuting a similar distance from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, something unthinkable to most Taiwanese.
After arriving in Taipei we had to first pick up some luggage we had left at the LDS mission office here. We got tired of lugging everything around and so we dropped off what we didn’t need for a week when we were last up here on the way to Beitou. In case you were wondering, that’s why I’ve been without my nice camera too.
All this traveling turned out in our favor. We arrived at the famous Grand Hotel to find out basic rooms had been upgraded to the executive suite. These are definitely the nicest rooms we’ve had yet. Jenny can’t get over the heated toilet seats while I’m admiring the two LCD HDTVs. It will be hard to leave them tomorrow for the YMCA at Hong Kong.
Even though we’ve only been in Taipei for a few hours, we’ve already had some adventures In addition to our surprise accommodations, we went to the Shilin night market, the largest night market in the city. But I’ll save that story for the next entry…
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