The other weekend, I took a couple of days of work to go on vacation to Taiwan. I went with Juan Jose, a foreign exchange student that I met in Korea. In Taiwan, we met up with a couple of Juan Jose's friends who had offered us a free place to stay. More importantly, they also spoke Mandarin.
Coming to Korea was certainly a foreign experience, but when I arrived, I could at least read the subway signs, ask for directions, and manage my way around. Taiwan was a different story. When Juan Jo and I arrived, we quickly ran into the language barrier problem. We fumbled around the Taiwanese airport for about an hour searching for anyone who could help us figure out a way to get from the airport to our friends address, which was in Chinese. We were lucky to eventually meet a girl who helped us out, and we finally got in touch with Jaun Jo's friends, Lucas and Raul, which was a huge relief.
In addition to the language barrier, Taipei was also a noticeably less developed city that Seoul. The streets were narrower, the infrastructure slightly poorer (although the subway still put MARTA to shame), and the roads and sidewalks were littered with about 10x as many scooter drivers- zooming around with no regard for the wellbeing of pedestrians such as myself.
The upside to Taipei's underdevelopment was the prices. For our first meal, we ate fairly well for the equivalent of under $2! The rest of the trip kept a consistant theme of "I can't believe how cheap this is!"
It was an eventful weekend, we played pick-up basketball against some Chinese college kids, went to a Taiwanese magic show, saw the National Palace Museum and Chiang-Kia Shek Memorial, and (my personal favorite) went to the top of Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world.
Taipei left me with a very positive impression, but I felt a sense of relief when I was back to Seoul. Having felt like an alien 6 months ago when I arrived in Seoul, it was an odd experience to re-enter the country after a trip to Taipei. I almost felt at home coming back to the familiar language, subway system, and my closet-sized apartment. I guess its a sign that after 6 months, I've truly adapted to living in a foreign culture- my number one goal for my time here. Now that that's accomplished, I'll be looking forward to coming home soon to see friends and family (and finally eating a nice steak).
