Good evening Taipei

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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 plug over, on with the story. So I've arranged to meet this guy called Martin at the airport and the plan is that he's going to drive me to the studio I'm renting off him. He's not there when i exit customs so i poke my head outside the door and get my first taste of Taiwan. WHAM, heat and humidity the like of which i've not felt before. Good grief, I scuttle back in quickly. I knew it was going to be hot but still... Finally Martin shows up about fifteen minutes late just as I'm starting to wonder if I'm on my own in Taipei. Martin it transpires is Taiwanese which surprised me given the fluency of his emails. It turns out he worked in DC for 8 years so his English is tip-top. Anyway, within 5 seconds of getting in the car his AC conks out so it's a pretty uncomfortable drive for the forty five minutes or so to the apartment. By the time we get there I've got a good sweat on. Martin is a little more acclimatised. The studio turns out to be exactly as advertised and it'll do fine for the next 10 days while i find my feet.

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