Welcome to Mars

Star date: June 9th, 2009

I must say I feel like I’ve landed on a completely different planet. Everything here is pretty much completely different. Even the air, and omg the air is insane. What kind of place has a temperature of 86 degrees at night with a humidity of like 100%! Trying to breathe normally is a chore in itself. I am look looking forward to the day time that’s f’sure. And the smell of Taiwan, that’s one thing I tried to prepare myself for but still couldn’t get used to it. For those of you guys who have lived in the dorms at UCLA, imagine walking out of the airport and the whole country smelling like those smelly Rieber stairs on a hot summer day with no breeze. For those that haven’t lived in UCLA or was lucky enough to not go near Rieber ghetto, imagine your toilet clogging and overflowing on a 90 degree July day and the windows are sealed shut and you’re still in the bathroom. Yes, it’s that pungent.
And the bugs, they’re outta control! I’ve seen bugs I’ve never seen in my life, it feels like Taipei was built in the middle of the jungle and the jungle is now angry as hell and trying to take it back. There are millions of lizards running around, and the trees are straight out of the Jungle Book. (See pics of the buidling’s backyard).

I must say I love how everything is so cheap here! I mean I know Chinese people try to cut as many deals as they can back at home, but here it’s insane. You can pretty much buy whatever you want at a cheaper price (and that is just me in the convenience store downstairs)! Although whether it lasts on you, or if you get sick from it is up to luck. I bought a giant bottle of water, and feel a tad bit queasy already haha.

From my stop-over in Tokyo I must say I can’t wait to go to Japan, it’s like Star-Trek come to life! The first place I went to was the bathroom and it was like sitting in Capt. Kirk’s chair. All these automated buttons and dials where the toilet will wash AND dry your ass for you. Now that’s comfort haha. I spent about 10mins outside of the bathroom struggling to get in because I thought it was a push kind, but not in Japan. There’s a button and the door slides open for you! I did find it kind of ironic though, despite all the automated toilets and faucets, you still had to step on the little pedal to open the trash can lid.

So , I went around taking pics of the building and the crazy jungle trying to creep in on the city. I put up a few here and you can see the rest at http://d40dan.shutterfly.com

p.s. my Chinese sucks haha being illiterate is not the way to go. Be cool stay in school lol (sorry pics coming later when the internet stops being retarded and not kicking me off)

-edit- pics are up on shutter fly and scrolling down there