It's all about the places you visit and the internal changes occurring within. The people you meet along the way are the embellishments to a prolific journey.
It was like yesterday I stepped off the plane in Taiwan without an itinerary to my sojourn. I checked into the hostel knowing I would stay for 3 days and was instantly introduced to two American girls (the nurses) by the lovely Taiwanese Rice. That evening we visited an Anthony Bordian recommended restaurant and I said goodbye to them shortly after.
In my dorm there was a born to be a world traveler, a Chinese girl from Shenzhen (banker) and a Japanese boy on a stop over before his year long adventure in OZ ; where exploration and language practice took place for all of us for the upcoming days.
New and amazing people started trickling in by the day. I was quickly blessed to meet more memorable Canadian girls on long term travels, the boy from Holland (Which I believe had a very similar childhood to my own 'Cantonese family' though we lived in alternative countries) and a German solider which I will meet again next year if not sooner. They have all come and gone. There were many more but names are irrelevant here and I know I can not list them all. Know that my conversations with you were all precursors to my next brilliant chapter of the wandering vagabond.Next thing I knew I was offered a position at the very hostel I stayed at. This wonderful event felt like the mother-ship calling home. A suitable job that I could effortlessly obtain being my garrulous self whilst still plodding along.
I was planning on traveling Taiwan from west to east or vice versa but ended up meeting my destined foodie partner. (You know who you are Ms. Air traffic controller) We ate our way through night markets, street side stalls, bakeries along the route to our daily destinations and made sure that we had our fill of bubble tea.
Bittersweet goodbyes were uttered once again before I made my fake straight face gesture towards the accelerating airport bus.
Eccentric Brits, lovely long term traveling Americans (p-a-r-t-y hard) female/males, a boy from Hong Kong I couldn't stop giving a hard time to, story telling pirates/surfer from The land down under and a Canadian birthday girl that I'll make sure to keep in touch with about my future endeavors. ;)I followed up on a couple reunions, one of them being with the best Taiwanese girls ever. I met them in Japan when I first arrived in Tokyo. Also working for accommodations :P On top of that I even had a fellow Edmontonian drop in from HK/China to make this a full blown reunion. Even had an unknown random Calgarian joined us.
After an epic Halloween dressed up as the Tardis from doctor who, with a vigilante Scotsman it was time to say goodbye again to a whole new wonderful set of individuals.
I wrote this in honor of all the above mentioned paragons. They not only made my trip to Taiwan more than perfect, they actually made me fall in love. With the hostel, the neighborhood, the city, the country and most of all created a time slot in my memory that will forever make the corner of my lips curl upwards.
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