Sayonara!

5/6-

Naturally, I woke up a bit later than I wanted, so I rushed to the post office to ship a package home, and then took the subway, and then the special, expensive train ($20!) to the airport.  I checked in just in time, weighed myself on the baggage carousel and got some sushi I hadn't tried, to take with me on the flight. 

I don't know if I mentioned it specifically, but I have, of course, had sushi while in Japan before this, and it was good, but didn't blow my mind.  This sushi, that I ate on the plane, didn't either, though that's probably because I was trying the weird stuff I hadn't gotten to before; unagi (eel) and sea urchin, though the other piece was a safe bet of grilled salmon.  The unagi was okay, but the sea urchin was truly revolting.  I'd heard it described as having the consistency and texture of wet brains, but that didn't bother me too much.  The bright orange, the coldness of it, all of that was okay, but the true texture: solid and thick outside, giving way to gross, oozing orange pus and foam with a terrible taste, that was horrible. 

They gave me something to eat on the plane that was edible and the rest of the flight was uneventful, though we had a fair bit of turbulence at one point.  Even so, it was a perfectly decent flight and I have no complaints, which, for a flight, is saying a lot.

I'm a little sad to leave Japan and it's definitely somewhere I'd love to go back to and see more of in the future.  For such a small country, there's just so much.  I also really liked Tokyo.

I was able to disembark quickly and get through immigration without too much time or trouble, changed a tiny bit of money and walked out.  Mei, a teacher friend of a friend of my Moms, who lives in Taipei and is sort of helping me out and sort of just annoying and a little bit crazy, was there with a sign to meet me.

Her "help" turned out to be more of a pain and more expensive for me than if I'd had no connections whatsoever.  She was just a bit spastic and anxious and really didn't seem to know her city very well.  Additionally, she kept telling me that Taipei is very difficult and confusing for foreigners if you don't speak Mandarin (it isn't- it's actually easier than Tokyo as more people speak English here) and implying that I really needed to rely on her and should be SO grateful for her help.  On the bus ride, she asked me if I had a hotel for the night.  I said I didn't but that I had looked up a few places.  She said that was okay, that a student of hers was a travel agent so she called her. 

Her student said she's found a place for around $40 USD.  I said that was too much and that she really didn't have to worry or do anything about that for me- I'd find my own.  Eventually, I did get a hostel and then after much unnecessary fussing, she left for a while, before forcing me to go out to a bar (which sounds like an oxymoron but I was tired and really didn't want to go out to this crap ex-pat bar with a 50 year old woman).  After about two hours, she let me leave, though I wasn't allowed to go to sleep until she finished giving me a crash course in Mandarin pronunciation- yes, at 2 a.m.  Not fun.