Last week was really busy so here's the recap.  I met up with CK and her friends Yuko and Sandra.  Tom showed up.  Jidesh showed up.  We saw fireworks at the 101.  We got up to some spots in northern Taipei.  I did some things I didn't think I was going to do.  Hit a couple different night markets and got a chance to see the energy in them.  All in all it was a good trip and allowed me to check out a lot of stuff around.  There are still a few things that I didn't get around to doing while I was there but I'll survive without having done them.  Perhaps I'll make another trip out there some time but I'm not going to put a date on that.

 

After a couple of weeks hanging out there it was definitely time to come home and get back to life.  All in all I think Taipei is an interesting place.  The hot springs were something that I hadn't ever experienced before.  The public transportation was great and made it really easy to get around.  It was clean, easy to navigate, and ran at frequent intervals so it was all good.  There was some really good food around and it was great to make some new friends.

 

Staying at the Grand Hyatt was a good choice for checking out the fireworks for sure.  The crowd that gathered around there for New Years was incredible.  It was a good show I guess although I expected it to be longer but still good.  Too bad that's supposed to be the last year they'll pull that off.  At least I can always look back and say that I was there to see that.  If I do go back next time I'm not sure I'd stay at the same location but the hotel stay was great.

 

The best thing about the trip were the friends I was able to make and the friends that were there to share the experience with me.  It was kind of funny as I was coming through customs and I didn't have anything to declare.  I think this is the first trip that I didn't acquire something to bring back with me.  I'm still not sure whether that's a good thing but it's definitely something.  And this concludes this years entries for this blog.  I don't see myself making any long distance trips in the near future but you never can tell.