Taipei

We arrive in Taipei past midnight. The guidebook suggests accomodations will be expensive. I ask for a $50 room at the airport counter. A taxi takes us past an interesting part of town. We see call girls. Our room has no windows, but does offer two free porn channels and a condom next to the shampoo. I like my seedy room, but my dad doesn't, so we move to the YMCA, which is more expensive and like a Holiday Inn. With the air-conditioner on all night, I think this room is too cold, while the New Moon Hotel could be considered "too hot". The YMCA is booked solid, for a group, for the weekend. So, we move to the hostel next to Taipei Main Station, which costs $16 per person. To my way of thinking, this is just right.

Taipei has all shapes of people-- tall, short, thin, fat, which is a nice change of pace after thin Indonesia and short Viet Nam.

The National Gallery has several thousand years of China's top historical artifacts. A tour guide shows us jade and bronze, and tells stories with good humor.

Baseball is the top sport (since the 1920's). A baseball game between the Elephants and the Seals is sold out. The crowd cheers loudly, like as with American college football.

The Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial shows us history, as does the daily newspaper. A member of the KMT (a non-ruling party) is visiting President Hu of mainland China, and causing a furor here. There were demonstrations at the airport, and some violence, just before we arrived. The week before, one million people demonstrated.

Some time soon, I`ll review the Asian news, as it is probably more important to you than Michael or Martha.