My biggest pre-trip fear was being separated from Lexcie in Taiwan – understandable, since I would be in a foreign country with no grasp of its language. Eleven days went by without incident – that is, until Sunday, when my fear came true. Lexcie and I ran for a subway train; he made it onto the train, the doors shut behind him, and I was left on the platform, watching the train leave the station.

He yelled for me to meet him at the next station, so I waited for another Beitou line train (which he was on). I didn’t realize that the train following his, a Danshui line train, would also stop at the next station. (For you New Yorkers: it’s just like taking either the C or E to get to 23rd Street, yet one ends in Manhattan while the other ends in Brooklyn.) So when he didn’t see me get off the following train, he hopped on to see if I was still on the train, traveling to yet the next station.

Meanwhile, I get off the Beitou line train, only to find no Lexcie on the platform. I stay put, hoping (and starting to get a wee bit panicky) that he will realize I was waiting there. He did catch the next train back, and we were reunited. Success! But we then realized we never discussed a game plan if we’d gotten separated. Eleven days with no separation seemed too good to be true. With only a day and a half left to go, we deciced that if we were to get split up again, we’d meet at Taipei Main Station, in front of the souvenir shop. Girl and Boy Scouts, we are not.

Sunday

Sunday, we decided to spend in the morning in Hsinchu, where Lexcie lived for a few years while he was in middle school. We took the train to this beautiful, historical station. Hsinchu was yet another bustling city, with much of what we’ve seen already in Taipei and Kaohsiung, yet on a smaller scale. We only had a few hours, so we decided to walk around town.

We happened upon a small river, which we found out was once a moat. Right next to it was the Yieng-Siyi Gate, which it protected. Now the moat is filled with to the brim with fish. We at first thought it was just a few koi, but as the fish food we threw down disappeared with no koi nearby, we realized there were tons of black and grey fish that were hardly discernable also swimming about.

We then hopped the local Number 1 bus to take a ride to Lexcie’s old hometown, where he showed me what it was like to be a suburbanite in Taiwan. Unlike Taipei’s buses, these were practically coach buses (and when you wanted to get off, you pressed a button that played “It’s a Small World.”) See the multi-level condos? That’s what’s considered suburban houses. Single-family homes – at least what we’re used to in the US – are rare, although we did find a classic Chinese-style single-family house off of an alleyway.

We didn’t have time for lunch, so we stopped at a 7-Eleven for a quick bite. or a Big Bite, in my case. I thought it was the perfect time to see if their New York hot dogs were indeed like home’s (and not trying to pull the same trick a Massachusetts vendor tried to pull on me when he handed me a white sausage and proudly called it a hot dog). It looked the part, until I found out that the store only had honey mustard. It would have to do, because I was not going to put ketchup or thousand island dressing on it. And the taste result? Pork flavored tofu. It tasted exactly like a Not Dog. Fail.

After we left Hsinchu, Lexcie wanted to ride an EMU300, an older Italian-made train. Unlike most train systems, Taiwan Railways Association tells you what train is going to be on each route. So we took followed a certain schedule to assure we’d be on the EMU300. However, on our way to Hsinchu earlier, we had seen the empty train sitting in a station, which wasn’t a good sign. The train never came, and was instead replaced with an everyday piece of equipment, which was a disappointment. However, skipping that train allowed us to catch an EMU100, which had already been retired but was running as an extra.

For dinner, we had Sushi Express, a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant. The dishes come past you, you take what you want, then pay $30 TWD ($1 USD) per plate you eat.

We finished the night (after the whole getting-split-up incident) at the Shilin Night Market, which is one of Taiwan’s most famous and largest night markets. However, we were disappointed. Too much of a tourist trap – food was overpriced, it was much too crowded, and we were night market-ed out by that point. We did get this humungous semi-cured sausage that cost $100 TWD (about $4 USD) and this HeySong (Taiwan’s local beverage company) lemon drink that I can only describe as melted Jell-O or congealed lemonade. It was certainly a strange texture.

On the way home, we met two tourists from Chicago who were only in town for two days. It was a stopover before China for one; the other just joined him for the two days. I wouldn’t be able to handle such a long flight for just 48 hours!

Monday

The skies finally cleared up, so we decided to go back to Taipei 101 to ride the world’s fastest elevator up to the 89th floor (only 37 seconds) and get some great shots of the city. The world’s second-tallest building (which was knocked off its pedestal in January by Burj Dubai) offered spectacular views, so we took some shots before checking out some artwork scattered about the floor and the building’s tuned mass damper (the golden globe below), a sort of pendulum that sways to offset building movement from typhoon gusts or earthquake tremors (speaking of, one hit Sunday, but we didn’t feel a thing). It’s the first publically viewable one in the world, and spurred Taipei 101′s “Damper Baby” characters, which are seen in little statuettes around the building. On our way back, we were forced to walk through what may have been the world’s largest gift shop, where Lexcie made a new friend.

A funny sign in Taipei 101′s restroom. Westerners have trouble with the Eastern squat toilets; guess it’s the same the other way around? However, I don’t think that the building gives people enough credit to not pee on the floor if there’s obviously no hole in the ground to do so.

Afterwards, we went on the seach for the elusive EMU300 train, but was again hit with a replacement train – guess it wasn’t meant to be (but here are most of the tickets from our train trips this vacation, some which were used to chase this train). On the opposite end of the train spectrum, we also rode TRA’s newest Taroko train, which reminded me of Amtrak’s Acela.

By then, we were starving, so we headed back to the Shilin area to eat at one of the most uniquely themed restaurants I’ve seen. Toilets. At Modern Toilet, you sit on toilets, eat on a Plexiglass-covered sink, drink your coffee and eat your food out of mini porcelin toilets, have ice cream in mini squat toilets, and use toilet paper for napkins (against a Louis Vuitton-inspired wallpaper). The ambiance is provided by modified urinal lighting. Below, Lexcie got beef curry and I coconut chicken; we were surprised that we didn’t receive chocolate swirl ice cream for dessert.

And so ends our trip to Taiwan. We’re leaving for the airport in a few hours and should be home by 10 pm on Tuesday. We have a six-hour layover in Japan; then we’ll fly to JFK, take the Air Train, and then the LIRR to home sweet home. I’m looking forward to my comfy bed – all the beds here are slightly softer than rocks. However, this was one of the best experieces of my life and I was happy I could share it with you all.