t
o
n
y
a
n
g
'
s
 
w
e
b
l
o
g


9:10am
these are my final days in taipei. i leave for shanghai from the nearby songshan airport on thursday 12:00pm. i'm still trying to negotiate the details of entry. they want to see my college diploma for some reason. i figured a copy would suffice, and had my parents go to my place and scan it for me, but the contact person i communicated with said they want to see the original and told me i could mail it to shanghai (didn't give me an address though, i figured writing "shanghai" on the envelope will do, they must know me there right? population one billion people?). also the details of my shanghai stay hasn't been worked out. will somebody meet me at the airport or will i need to go to the company headquarter myself? what about hotel accommodations? are they paying or will i be paying? i don't like the fact that i leave in a few days and a lot of this stuff hasn't been worked out yet, makes me a little anxious. but worst case scenario is this whole deal falls apart and i take an extended vacation in asia, not bad (i just won't get paid for it).

my time here in taiwan is precious now that i don't have much of it anymore, but this morning i can't seem to decide what i want to do. there are some errands i still need to run, like pick up the card for my checking account at the main xintian post office (that requires a bus ride out of the city) or buy some socks from dongmen market.

i also need to get something to eat. i came to the realization today that street food is not very healthy. maybe that's why i've been getting these dizzy spells, either too much salt or too much oil. hopefully i'll eat better in china, which sounds funny just saying it because everyone knows taiwan has the best food.

i also have a few things i want to do and places i want to visit. i want to try out this taipei bikeshare i've been seeing around the city. it operates much like the system back in boston, free for the first 30 minutes, then NT$10 (30¢) for each additional 30 minutes afterwards. i've never tried hub bike (because i have my own bicycle thank you very much), but since i'm bikeless here, it's the perfect opportunity to try it. i also need to pick up my health exam certificate. they gave me a pick up date for tomorrow, but i'd like to see if i can get it today (it's also along the youbike route, so i'm can do both). as for destinations, there's the option of danshui which everyone tells me to go but i've been there 8 years ago and didn't think much of it. there's also yangmingshan national park, which i visit every time i come to taiwan, and feel like i have to go there to get one last bit of naturing before i leave. there's also maokong, which can be reached via a new flying gondola transit system that opened up a few years ago by the taipei zoo. unfortunately they're closed for maintenance today (which makes my decision process a little easier i guess, i could do zoo in the afternoon then gondola ride up to maokong summit to get a view of taipei).

anyway, the more i'm here in my office bedroom writing, the less of taipei i'm seeing, so i better head out, make the most of this monday.