India via Taiwan

---

I had planned to write my first entry for this trip in Taiwan but I was unable to get connected to the airport's WIFI network. And while writing in India would have been a simple process, I've instead been busying myself with showing my friends around and enjoying the great social atmosphere.

Leaving Mt. Isa was a breeze and the flight down to Brisbane was smooth and comfortable. The cloud formations over Mt Isa were spectacular and continued for about half an hour into the flight. As seen from above the clouds could easily have been mistaken for fresh snowy slopes.

Luckily, Brisbane too was a smooth experience. The sky train into the city departed about half an hour after my flight landed so I was right on time. I swapped trains at Central and hopped on the Ipswitch line for Toowong. I ended up staying the night with my friend Raymond in St. Lucia, a short walk from Toowong station, who took me out for Thai for dinner. I had originally planned to stay with Raymond for two nights but we needed to be at the airport by five am and the earliest train didn't get in 'till six thirty. This I didn't realise, unfortunately, until later in the day.

The second day in Brisbane I actually spent on the Sunshine Coast where I got a doctor's check-up before departing and said goodbye to some friends. I went 'round to see Keith and Kylie (the two I'm traveling with) who offered me a lift to the airport. This would have made things much easier but I'd left my bag back in Brisbane with Raymond! My solution was to borrow Kylie's car and drive to Brisbane and pick up the bag: a solution that sounded good, but I hadn't factored in the roadworks between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. The drive took five hours there and back!

By the time I got back to the Coast there was only two hours 'till we had to leave for the airport again so I didn't get any sleep that night. Our friend Adam drove us down to Brisbane for the flight (we were a little early) and we hopped the flight for Sydney. This flight with Qantas was comfortable, with quite a good breakfast provided, and came in twenty minutes early. I sat next to a very untalkative woman from Melbourne, not a bad experience but a little boring.

In Sydney we got the bus between the domestic and international terminals and had only to wait around an hour and a half for the China Airlines flight to Taipei. Sydney was comfortable but uneventful.

The flight with China Airlines, however, is almost beyond explanation. They are by far the best airline that I have flown with to date! We were in an Airbus so the seating was the standard 3-4-3, and the aircraft was equipped with same A/V setup as I've had with other airlines (although there were some good - and new - movies on board), but the hosts and hostesses, along with the food and drink, were exceptional. Being vegetarian I sometimes get pretty crappy food but China Airlines certainly had the veg options covered.

The landing in Teipei was smooth and getting the transit visa pretty easy too. We found the bus booking counter near the exit and booked a bus into the city and got a ticket back as well. The bus in was fun but the super springy suspension made Kylie a little sick. We got dropped off at the Yuan-Shan MRT Station where we bought tokens to get us on the train to Jiantan. The train was very easy to catch and gave us all a good insight into Taiwanese efficiency.

The reason that we got off at Jiantan station is because the Shilin market stretches from here right through to Shilin station. Shilin market is fantastic! I've got no idea how large this area actually is but we walked all night and still didn't see everything. We found one bazaar where they sold pets that was quite upsetting though. They had all the animals in little fish tanks, animals from pigs through cats and dogs right down to little furry things that we couldn't recognise. The main street through the market, however, had some fantastic food...and I love food.

We started out with candied strawberries on sticks, a really fantastic treat that I could easily have over eaten, and after exploring the other shops that sold things we couldn't identify settled for some cabbage and dofu baodsa (I don't know how to spell this). Everything we ate was great.

We headed back to the train station to get the bus back to the airport and couldn't find the bus stop location on the map we got from the tourist counter at the airport. To our surprise (and luck) at this moment we heared a 'hello, can I help you' in an American accent over our shoulders. This was Jeremiah from California, an English teacher who also happened to speak Chinese...a Godsend! He took us to the train station's help desk and had the attendant call the airport to get the bus stop location. As it turns out, we were duped at the airport. We were told that the last bus was at 12:30 am, which is the case if you're leaving the airport but the last bus to the airport was at 10:00pm...we'd missed it by an hour. Jeremiah showed us to an area were we could get a taxi, got a good price for us, and we said our goodbyes. Unfortunately for us though, the forty odd minute taxi trip back to the airport really blew the budget.

The taxi trip was good and the driver nice...and the airport deserted. I couldn't believe how quiet the airport was...we probably was no more than ten people all night. We thought that this would be great as we'd get a quiet sleep while waiting for the next plane...a bad move. Taiwan airport was exceptionally cold! We managed about an hour's sleep in all, and about five hours walking to keep warm, before shops started to open. We had Burger King for breakfast which consisted of hash browns with coffee. The hash browns they had in Taiwan's Burger King were like potato gems, no larger than one and a half centimeters across and delicious.

The flight from Taiwan to New Delhi was just as good as the flight from Sydney to Taiwan...except the flight staff were even better (if that's possible). We had the same movies as on the first flight so we could start off were we left off before. And once again the food was delicious.

Arriving in Delhi was simple, as it always is, and we got a pre-paid taxi into Parharganj. We found the hotel with little problems, a more expensive option for the Ganj as I didn't want Keith and Kylie to stay somewhere too bad. We paid 950r (a lot for us) per night but the rooms were the best I've ever had in the Ganj, we even had drinks fridges.

I took Keith and Kylie out to my favorite dosa restaurant (Dosa Yes Please) for a taste of India and they loved it (of course they did!). While waiting another tourist came in and sat to be served. He waited for around two minutes, no more, and then lost it. I can't repeat the words that he used here but I can tell you that he screamed at the top of his lungs the most foul insults at all the staff. He even went upstairs to abuse the cooks! I can promise that he's going to have a bad time in India.

After Dosa we walked the Ganj and then went back to the hotel for some much needed rest. We slept like babies.

---