Blogs from CKS International Airport, Taipei, Taiwan, Asia

It is now 1830 in Calgary and 930AM here in Taipei. We sat on the Tarmac in Vancouver for 3 or 4 hours in the snow. I was thinking of my brother Kit and wondering if he was clearing snow at the airport. It was a very full plane, but we did get some sleep and had a choice of quite a few movies. We have missed our Bangkok connection and now will have to wait until 230 PM. So will not get to Bangkok till about 6PM. They have given us a voucher for a meal here which will help some. Ta for now... read more

你好 (ni hao) from 台湾 (Taiwan)! Another meaning for "tai wan" is 太晚, "too late." That's about right. It's only 9pm here, but it's 7am in Bozeman, and on the 14-hour flight across the Pacific I was only able to get the kind of sleep a 6'4" man can get in an economy class airplane seat, so I'm feeling every minute of that 7am. I leave again for Hong Kong in 10 minutes, and get there at 11:30pm local time, where it will be about an hour before I can actually sleep. Hopefully being this tired now means I'll adjust to the jet lag quickly! Not much else to say - just wanted to leave a note from Taiwan while I had the chance and let you know I've survived the first leg of my voyage. ... read more

I will be here from May5 - May 30th, I am trying out some different blogging sites to see what I like best. The one with the most updates was the easiest for me. I am trying to send photos from my Nokia N95 cellphone, and blog my trip via its Sports Tracker program. Hopefully that works.. if not its going to be lame having to login to Flickr to upload photos every night. Which I know I am lazy and will not do every single night. Soooo..... ... read more

So I land in Taipei at around 19:30 delighted to finally be here and to be done with travelling. It's taken about 16 hours to get from London to here which I guess isn't too bad. Can i just make two points about the journey. Both Heathrow T5 and BA have had a bad press over the last year or so but I thought they were great. T5 is an outstanding piece of architecture, so much better than the other hellhole terminals. My bags connected fine at Hong Kong (as did I) and i felt that the £25 charge from BA for being 7 kilos over my limit was pretty fair given what other airlines charge. The semi-upgrade wasn't bad either so I was pretty pleased with the service I received from them. Anyway, that's my ... read more

Deodorant and a quick brushing do not a shower make. Sitting in the Taipei airport waiting for my next flight to Bangkok. From there, it will be a slow slog into the city, a 10-hour train ride north to Chiang Mai, and a 3-4 hour bus ride to get me near Mai Ai. I think that means I get there on Saturday. Though last I checked, it was Wednesday. On the long flight over, I sat next to a health worker from Indonesia, who had gotten 3 weeks off to take his 3 kids (all born in LA) and wife back to his native village. He wants his kids to feel the depth of the opportunity they have in the US, and how hard the struggle was for him to leave the village and to rise ... read more

So im back in Taiwan and honestly this place is kinda creepin me out.... right as I step off the plane im bombarded by that damn cat again!!! What is it with these people and Hello Kitty? Im beginning to think that it was created by the Red Masters as a brain washing tool for childeren. But anyways.......... Ive had a great past few days in Phnom Penh and everyday im beginning to realize why people hate tourists and more often then not , American Tourists. We were leaving a nice little cafe on the riverfront after dinner and all we here is screaming and yelling, its a bunch of "frat bros" from Cal State. soo drunk and screwing with the locals and one is soo drunk he passes out face down right on the sidewalk ... read more

So I made it to Taipai, LONG LONG LONG flight. Watched 4 movies read most of my book and still slept for about 6 hours. Very beautiful landing, saw whales swimming off the coast and loads of fishing boats scattered everywhere. I have about 2 more hours till I leave for Phnom Pehn. Im going to explore the airport. Ive noticed alot of stores run by liquor companies, there was a Hennessy store, A glenlevit store, etc etc etc.(my kind of people) Also, as long as I live I will never understand the facination with Hello Kitty, that stupid cat is everywhere here, kinda creeps me out. Anyways, Im hungry and there are unusual smells I need to track down and taste. ... read more

Hey everyone back home :-) hope your all well, its 7:15pm Tuesday and I'm guessing its about 11:15am back in England about today was my first proper day here in Taipei, its a very busy city with people and scooters everywhere, it seems like everyone has a scooter and they ride them everywhere including the pavements lol, the weathers pretty bad cos it keeps raining but its still really hot, was still finding my feet after the flight yesterday (left England 9:30pm Sunday arrived in Taipei at 9:15pm Monday) so i haven't really done a lot i went to the library to use the computers but found it harder to get to then i first thought so i asked a man for directions but i must have looked a little confused still cos he ended up ... read more