I have arrived... Every minute is an adventure.

I can't believe how much I enjoyed my 14 hour plane trip. I was seated next to a beautiful Taiwanese women who gave me lots of information, and helped me pronounce some of the most important mandarin phrases. Unfortunately the inflight movies were not very good. We flew over parts of Alaska and I saw pristine mountains and glaciers.
I arrived in Tokyo and was amazed by the beautiful landscape. Wen (the Taiwanese women) helped me find my gate. In the brief 2 1/2 hours I was in Tokyo there was a minor earthquake. I just thought that my legs were weak from the cramped conditions and my heavy carry on bags, but then I noticed that the signs were swaying and there was a lot of commotion among the people, many were concerned there would be more.
I arrived in Taipei late in the evening and went through quarantine and customs and was admitted without incident. I was originally concerned that they might hassle me about my burnt copies of CD's or want to unpack all of the crap that I had crammed into my bags. They asked me if all my stuff was for my personal use. I said yes and they motioned me through. My director was unable to be at the airport, so she sent her uncle who did not speak English. He was holding up a sign with my name on it. Needless to say we had a very quiet ride to the hotel. Once I got settled in I thought I would take a walk around my hotel. I grabbed a hand drawn map and a card with the address of the hotel and took off. I learned a very important lesson that night. Pinying ( the Chinese language written with the Roman alphabet) is not an exact science. After wondering about I pulled out the map and decide to fined my way back. I have always be proud of my ability to decipher a map, but usually the street names on the map are the same as the ones on the signs. Jin Shang, the official name of the street was spelled Kin Shang on the map and Chin Shan on the card. I eventually figured this out, and wandered into my hotel in the wee hours of the morning.
Important lesson #2 was learned Sunday afternoon. Toe clips and Arrow bar are great bike accessories for a bike path or a country road in Iowa, but they are no good on the bustling streets of a city of over 3 million. All I can say is that I am lucky to be alive. I swerved to miss a boy on a bike when a car was passing me in a very narrow area. I slammed into the side of the speeding car and took a quick trip to the pavement. I was battered and brushed. My rear wheel looked more like a taco then a wheel. My backpack was ripped up and my camera had seen better day. Fortunately I was able to walk away from the accident.
Lesson #3 don't bring travelers checks to Taiwan. They are a huge pain in the ass. I have yet to find a place to cash them.

I could write so much more but I need to go pick my bike up from the repair shop before it gets to late.