I left Korea on the 29th and despite saying goodbye to my friends I was looking forward to traveling Southeast Asia for about one month.
My first destination is Taiwan. The flight was scheduled to take off at noon and when I arrived around 9:30 with Nameun,Jinhun and Seungyeon, who kindly brought me to the airport, the young man at the check-in had a nice surprise for me. I was upgraded to the business class (because I was good-looking, he explained :) ).
Flying is always a pleasure for me but if the flight attendants politely call you 'Sir' when asking if you would possibly like more red wine to your steak then you know that you no longer belong to the 'common people'.
The business class was half empty, so I had two seats on my own and so much space for my feet that I could have started dancing with one of the flight attendants. ;)
I enjoyed my medium-steak and than read the New York Times while sipping an excellent dark coffee. But for everybody who is getting jealous now: the flight took only little more than two hours and after that the special treatment was over.
When I got my luggage back at the airport in Taipei a dog (a dachshund) trained on drugs eagerly inspected my backpack ... twice.
island off the west coast of Korea where the Incheon International airport is located
high, high in the sky
Steak Tenderloin with Californian red wine - by far the best meal I ever had on a flight
I made my way from the airport through half of Taipei to my hostel without major problems. My only enemy was a ticketing machine in a subway station that embarrassed me.It returned about 20 coins after I purchased my ticket with a large banknote and I almost fell over with my backpack when I tried to put all the coins in my wallet.
Despite of the nice flight I was pretty tired and therefore went to bed earlier than usual after briefly exploring the neighborhood of my hostel.
The next day I started out with Longshan temple, Taipei's most important Buddhist temple. It is somehow similar to Korean temples with regards to style and structure of the wooden buildings but as a whole more ostentatious.
There were lots of people although it didn't seem that some sort of special celebration was going on.
entrance door to Longshan temple
main building (right) and golden pots for incense sticks
praying worshipers and a Buddhist monk
table where the presents are laid out
golden dragon fountain inside Longshan temple
After Longshan temple I thought I can as well turn the day into a religious one and so I headed for the Temple of Confucius in the northern part of Taipei.
In contrast to the Buddhist temple this one was almost empty and if the sun would have been a little more gentle I could have spent some time contemplating in the silent environment of the temple. But I was sweating with every move I made and the sun mercilessly burned down on my head.
And I unfortunately discovered that at night with the sun going down, that doesn't mean that the temperatures would change much. So the only chance to stop sweating at any time of the day is to seek refuge in one of the well air-conditioned shopping malls, stores, office buildings or the subway.
me in the Temple of Confucius
At night I took a look at one of Taipei's night markets that get really busy after dusk. The Shida night market is located just a short walk from my hostel and thus I joined the crowds and drifted through the small alleys.
Shida night market
My first destination is Taiwan. The flight was scheduled to take off at noon and when I arrived around 9:30 with Nameun,Jinhun and Seungyeon, who kindly brought me to the airport, the young man at the check-in had a nice surprise for me. I was upgraded to the business class (because I was good-looking, he explained :) ).
Flying is always a pleasure for me but if the flight attendants politely call you 'Sir' when asking if you would possibly like more red wine to your steak then you know that you no longer belong to the 'common people'.
The business class was half empty, so I had two seats on my own and so much space for my feet that I could have started dancing with one of the flight attendants. ;)
I enjoyed my medium-steak and than read the New York Times while sipping an excellent dark coffee. But for everybody who is getting jealous now: the flight took only little more than two hours and after that the special treatment was over.
When I got my luggage back at the airport in Taipei a dog (a dachshund) trained on drugs eagerly inspected my backpack ... twice.
island off the west coast of Korea where the Incheon International airport is locatedhigh, high in the skySteak Tenderloin with Californian red wine - by far the best meal I ever had on a flightI made my way from the airport through half of Taipei to my hostel without major problems. My only enemy was a ticketing machine in a subway station that embarrassed me.It returned about 20 coins after I purchased my ticket with a large banknote and I almost fell over with my backpack when I tried to put all the coins in my wallet.
Despite of the nice flight I was pretty tired and therefore went to bed earlier than usual after briefly exploring the neighborhood of my hostel.
The next day I started out with Longshan temple, Taipei's most important Buddhist temple. It is somehow similar to Korean temples with regards to style and structure of the wooden buildings but as a whole more ostentatious.
There were lots of people although it didn't seem that some sort of special celebration was going on.
entrance door to Longshan temple
main building (right) and golden pots for incense sticks
praying worshipers and a Buddhist monk
table where the presents are laid out
golden dragon fountain inside Longshan templeAfter Longshan temple I thought I can as well turn the day into a religious one and so I headed for the Temple of Confucius in the northern part of Taipei.
In contrast to the Buddhist temple this one was almost empty and if the sun would have been a little more gentle I could have spent some time contemplating in the silent environment of the temple. But I was sweating with every move I made and the sun mercilessly burned down on my head.
And I unfortunately discovered that at night with the sun going down, that doesn't mean that the temperatures would change much. So the only chance to stop sweating at any time of the day is to seek refuge in one of the well air-conditioned shopping malls, stores, office buildings or the subway.
me in the Temple of ConfuciusAt night I took a look at one of Taipei's night markets that get really busy after dusk. The Shida night market is located just a short walk from my hostel and thus I joined the crowds and drifted through the small alleys.
Shida night market
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