The Trip that Almost Wasn’t

Day after day, my cold grew worse. The pain in my throat swelled into an obviously severe case of tonsillitis and, as a secondary reaction, deafened my left ear. A residence doctor prescribed me with five days worth of amoxicillin and an assortment of other drugs, but I was far gone and the relief slow coming. I quarantined myself to the sixth floor of S2 and lived off of soup and self-pity for three days without noticing any improvement. I considered canceling my Easter getaway – one of the very few chances I’ve had to travel outside of Macau – but I figured I may as well be sick somewhere else.

I met her at the airport and the two of us checked in together. Because of her midterms and my self-imposed seclusion, we hadn’t seen each other in any regularity for the past week. Now, I could breathe a constricted sigh of relief in expectation of a relaxing four nights of vacation.

Our journey to Taipei was short.  We arrived at our bed & breakfast sometime after ten in the evening and made a quick run of the night market just around the corner. Her eyes gleamed and glistened at each stall’s assortment of food while I yawned in an undeserved fatigue.

Saturday began with an authentic and traditional Japanese lunch served by an irritable woman. Since my only comparisons were to the perpetually rushed waitresses in Macau, the rudeness didn’t seem out of place to me. As it would turn out though, servers in Taiwan are of a more patient and welcoming sort and we just happened to be unlucky. Fortunately, the food was worth it.

We moved on to Taipei 101 by metro to gaze up at what was, for a short while, the world’s tallest building. There’s only so much time one can spend staring up at a skyscraper though, so we walked to a multi-level Eslite bookstore and tried to restrain ourselves from impulse buys. I was confident I could leave with just one book until someone had to take a bathroom break before leaving and left me standing in front of the classics section – my weakness. And so, on top of a compilation of the letter exchanges between Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, I picked up The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Our first dinner of Xinjiang-style cuisine also happened to be the only non-Japanese meal we tried during our stay. After two months, I’m still no less ignorant of the differences between various Asian plates, but as long as I know how to eat my food, I don’t particularly mind which region or country the recipe came from. We shared our meal with five of her high school friends which again made me feel guilty for not having made any progress with my Cantonese.

For the third day, we played tourist well into the hills by way of the Maokong Gondola. It was a long ride, but that was the major reward since the final stop had few good views. Many shops lined the streets and, despite the colder temperature, we indulged in some green tea ice cream before heading back down again.

Our Japanese barbeque dinner was reserved with another set of friends. I was quite the fan of this restaurant despite it being one of those cook-it-yourself deals (I prefer to eat my food when it arrives at the table, thank you very much). The redeeming factors included all the extras we were able to score. For a ten-second kiss, we got an extra plate of meat; for chugging what was left of our beers at eight, we received refills; and, for “liking” the restaurant on Facebook, we were rewarded with desserts.

My favourite place in Taipei was along the water near the fisherman’s wharf. Monday afternoon, we strolled along the boardwalk and tried a bunch of different snacks. Various shops lined the alleys and we browsed them for a couple of hours. I stopped in a leather shop and bought myself a nice rucksack and wax letter pouch – definitely one of my favourite buys since I’ve begun my travels!

That evening, following a Japanese dinner of raw foods, we toured one of the bigger night markets in Taipei with another high school friend. The amount and variety of food we tasted on this trip was astounding, regardless of the overarching Japanese theme. Food vendors, clothing shops, and carnival games eagerly sought attention from the crowd by their flashing lights and ruthless noise. Oddly, it wasn’t overwhelming, but enchanting in its own way (for a limited time at least). Wrapping up our last night, I took advantage of finally having access to a dryer and did some laundry in the hotel. My delight for such good fortune would be pathetic in any other situation.

Before flying out on our final day, a tea set in one of the airport shops caught my eye. This whole trip turned out to be one big shopping spree for myself and I feel no remorse. Sitting in our library-themed waiting area, we talked on about travel and literature, and mulled over (unsuccessfully) how I should meet her father. Maybe after next trip...