Dateline
One of the coolest things about traveling East over the Pacific is the dateline. This flight was the fastest I've ever been on from Taipei, at only about nine hours. It didn't go over Japan and Alaska like it usually does.

What this means is that I left Taipei Thursday at 23:55, and I landed in Vancouver Thursday at 19:15!

Bye-bye Taipei
I was hoping to write something during my stay in Taipei. Instead, I'm writing this from the plane flight back to Vancouver. The plane is a nice shiny Boeing 777. It's pitch black outside, with bright stars and a fair bit of turbulence. I'm hoping the plane will have the starry-sky ceiling like on my previous flight on one of these.

I guess the point is that I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to write anything. With this fifth visit, I know enough people and places in the city to keep busy every single night of a four week trip.

The trip has been exhausting, as always. First a week of Computex, then a whole slew of meetings and working with my company's customers. We even opened a new corporate office downtown Taipei, at an excellent location right next to the Zhong Shan subway station. Four hotels throughout the stay kept it fresh. Perhaps this is to be expected, but I'm starting to understand significant amounts of Mandarin, and starting to recognize more and more characters. Just for fun, I got two-sided business cards, with my Chinese name (史派特) and contact information on the back!

The photo is of the one chance I had to get away from the city. I was fortunate to get brought along on a trip to the Eastern coastal town of Keelung. Nothing reminds you that you're on a tropical island like a lush green coastal line falling into the ocean.

One last note: don't drink the Guinness in Taiwan. It has a funny yellow label, is brewed in Malaysia, and tastes nothing like Guinness. Try one for fun, it's an alright stout, but it's definitely not Guinness.

I can't wait to sleep in my own bed again. First, I have to spend the night in Vancouver. Maybe I'll spend the night walking along the coast rather than sleeping in yet another hotel.