Famosa Diary

I was good at dumb charades, but my talent did not stand a chance before the two Taiwanese receptionists. I tried my luck again. Wheeere eeese daaaa BUS STOP????  During this question I was acting as if I was driving a Bus and leaned forward as I pressed the break. After this I pointed to earth and gestured my hand as if asking where. The two receptionist started looking at my feet and later nodded in sync conveying that they didn't understand a thing what I said. I had no clue what was so confusing about it. It is just two words BUS and STOP. They could easily understand credit card and Taxi but not BUS STOP. No Place for common man I guess.

I was in the second day of my Business trip to Taiwan. Actually I was there to debug an issue reported by a customer, but hell yeah business trip sounds more cool.  After coming back from office, I was planning to catch a bus to the nearest metro station so that I can catch a glimpse of Taiwan before I leave back to India. Our sales representative/GM in Taiwan was a one good person and gave me a detailed map of Taiwan. I made a list of main thing to be done and Taipei 101 fell first on that list. After my failed effort with the receptionist I strolled out of the Hotel to catch a bus to Yonging, the nearest metro station. I had noted down the Bus number to Yonging but failed to find the Bus stand. To my luck, a Taiwanese girl came to help me and pointed to direction and told BUS STOP. I bowed my head in the Japanese style conveying my thanks but she had disappeared before I finish my stretching.

In Taiwan they have a single card which can be used to travel in Metro and the Bus even to buy groceries from Seven Eleven and Family Mart. I reached the main metro station. The well lit streets look like a series of Vittal Mallya Road in Bangalore. I could see people renting out cycles from the metro station. As I love walking I decided to walk through the main streets in Taipei city. At a distance I could see Taipei 101, the second tallest building in Asia, only behind the great Burj Dubai. It was a flood of famous Brands inside the Taipei 101. Most of the lone wolves who enter a posh mall have three main activities to do.

1.       Take a selfie

2.       Ask someone to take a portrait of yours

3.       Curse all the arrogant women who do not spare a second look to your handsome face.

After finishing of the ritual, I called it a day and returned to my hotel.

The Selfie

Inside Taipei 101

The next day I decided to visit Longshan temple, a Buddhist temple located at the not so posh area of Taipei city. I got down at Longshan temple metro station. The streets in Taipei are well marked and it is very easy to find direction to most places especially tourist place. After watching the ritual in the temple I decided to walk around. It was not long before I saw place which are impoverished and smell like feet. There were homeless people lying on the pavements and smoking cigarette. There was a night market nearby which sold many food items especially crabs, snakes and other sea creatures. I saw a shop selling sex toys in the night market, but was chased away when I tried to take a photograph. The night markets especially Shilin Night market is well known for its late night shopping centers. These places have exotic dishes like juice made of frog eggs, stinky shrimp fry etc. Mc Donald’s was the official food sponsor for my trip. A malayali christiani who likes tapioca and beef curry will be very much happy with the Big Mac and the French fries at the Mc D.

Longshan Temple

As I wanted to visit geo thermal valley and my main plan for the Taiwan trip was to finish of the business related issues, I slogged on Wednesday, but made sure to visit the secretariat and other main building in Taipei. I also decided to do a bit of window shopping to get some stuffs back home. I took some snaps of bags and shared it to my techie mother who figured out how to use Google hangout in no time. Thursday morning I woke up very early and caught the first bus to the Metro station.

Food served at the Shilin Night market

Geo Thermal valley

The Thermal valley opens at 9 and closes at 5. I reached there at 8 30. I had taken an extra pair of dress, in case I decide to take bath in the hot springs. Thermal valley was a different experience as I could see the water boiling and Sulphur fumes rising from the water. The main pool is very hot and the temperature is near to 100 degree Celsius. In downstream there are hotels which offer people at a nominal rate to take bath in the not so hot natural hot springs. I decided not to take bath. My size zero body figure is something which I would not want to expose in a public (yea both men and women) hot spring.

Friday was the swan song day, the issue was fixed, everyone was happy. The General Manager/ Sales representative took me out for lunch as promised. He made me eat god knows what. I remember eating a cooked jelly fish, shrimp fry and sushi. I tried by best not to puke. That night I went for a massive shopping. I bought enough stuff so that I can go home without any complaints. While returning back to Hotel with loads of stuff in my hand, an old woman gave me a helping hand. She knew a little bit English. I told about all the places I visited. By then I had got acquainted with the driver of the last bus. He had helped me earlier in finding my Hotel. I asked the old women to convey my thanks to the driver and tell him that I am leaving back tomorrow. I got down at my stop and walked slowly ahead.  As the bus was catching up with me, the driver stopped very near  to me. He opened the door and gave me a salute.

With Chaucer Kuo, the GM in Taiwan

The food Taiwanese savored and I gulped 

The next day morning after the buffet breakfast a Taxi was arranged by the Hotel to drop me to airport. I had packed all my stuffs already. The receptionists were giving me a warm smile though intermittently watching my feet. I got into the taxi, there was some Chinese melody playing. As the car started, I started feeling nostalgic about the last one week. The awesome places I visited, the awesome people I met right from the GM with all maps, the receptionist who thought something funny has happened with my feet, the girl who showed me the direction to bus stop, the hardworking customers, the old women who helped me with the luggage, the driver who gave me an warm salute. As the car speeded away, I asked the driver to increase the volume and leaned back on the seat to enjoy the final moments in Famosa.