Today
was a travel day. Felipe arranged a taxi for me to get to the airport
in Makung where I would fly (about an hour) to Taipei's "domestic" airport. Felipe's
home is the town of Dayigwong on the Penghu Islands which is southwest
of mainland Taiwan. From there I took a bus to Taipei's "international"
airport - TPE or Chaing-Kai Shek (CKS). I had some help for this bus
trip too as when I was purchasing my ticket for the hop out of
Makung a guy my age walked by and said "Good Morning, Sir" - he knew
English... We chatted while waiting for the same flight and he
thought that my time frame might get a bit close should I not be able
to get on a bus to CKS. He said he would help me with the bus
arrangement, and if need be, drive me to CKS (about a 40 minute ride).
Quite nice of him to offer.
In our conversation I asked where
he learned English and he said he spent time in California - Silicon
Valley. He used to be a circuit designer and now does product work -
for graphics display chips - ATI and nVidia. I told him I do PC repair
and that I quite likely have handled products that he was involved with
the creation of.
Off of the first flight our bags were awaiting
before we got to the belt - and it was a short walk from plane to belt.
To have the bags there before the customers - this is perhaps a FIRST.
He showed me the bus and I purchased the ticket and the bus left not
but five minutes later. I now would have ample time to make the flight
out of Taipei jumping over to Bangkok. Had he not been there I would
have had some questions but the sign "Bus to CKS" was easy to see.
Every little bit helps and I certainly appreciate it. I should have
taken a photo with him though....
After the bus arrived at CKS
it was an easy affair to find out where to go (assisted by my helper as
he asked the driver which stop I should get off at for China Airlines -
"second stop"). Since I had time I found something to eat and worked on
some rail road day photos. The flight to Bangkok was un-eventful enough
though I did take some photos. I noticed via the in-flight info screen
that we would fly directly over the Penghu Islands. I was able to see
the Makung harbor just slightly. There were some nice clouds too. We
may have flown near the typhoon that is in the area - perhaps it was
visible out the windows on the other side of the plane.
In BKK I
exchanged some currency - US Dollars for Thailand Baht - about 36 Baht
per 1 USD and processed through the "foreign passport" line - an easy
stamp in the passport and I was through. The next detail was to get to
a hotel - which one? I pulled out the Lonely Planet Thailand book and
looked at the map but in the end I skipped it and went the "easy" route
- over to the "hotel and taxi" counter. I paid more than if I went
direct but not ridiculous and the service was worth it. Hotel (2 nights
in Bangkok to start) and taxi I'm set for a full day. A "complimentary"
tour of Bangkok is tomorrow at 2 pm with breakfast each morning
included.
There is (and I hope it pans out as I wish) a
"Computer City" across the street, Pantip Plaza. It doesn't look like
the C-City stores in the US but I'm hoping to see what a digital camera
would cost. The new Canon PowerShot A620 is having fits. It hasn't let
me down on a photo but it is acting up. At first the camera would go
full zoom, which is a bad thing with the wide angle lens adapter as
the built-in lens would hit the wide angle lens. This has hurt the
gears in the lens mechanism such that it doesn't fully retract and
makes noise when doing so (but otherwise works - zooming and focusing
to get good photos). The second issue is that the morning of the train
trip to Alishan the LCD would not work. I would have to "flip out" the
LCD so that it would turn on and then it's "orientation" mode was
incorrect (things were upside down). I could live with it but it would
be not so nice. Oddly - this LCD anomaly has disappeared and it now
works as it should.
With things "supposedly" being "inexpensive"
here I'll at least check out some camera options. I'm happy enough with
the A620 as to get another one - the flip out LCD is getting use in
places I would not expect.
Observations: Not as many bikes vs
cars but they exist. Bikes drive between the lanes to get places easier/quicker
than cars do (cars often sit for light change after light change). More manual shift bikes too vs automatic shift scooters.
Much construction going on - large cranes erecting buildings is a
common sight. Billboards - HUGE suckers - blot out the sun for a good
portion of the day - with about 40% of them being "vacant" / ready to
rent. Graffiti - I wonder if a gang's mark is written the same here as
in other parts of the world? Tuk-Tuk's, three wheeled vehicles,
motorcycle front end with a covered cart back end. They go as slow as
the cars - not being able to go between them - and are not air
conditioned. Bikes - if the road is really, really clogged - might ride
on the sidewalk for a short distance.
Video Dancing in the park, Clouds from the airplane window 2006-05-14-dancing-n-clouds.mpg MPG, 3.5 MB, 50 seconds
The route for the day - Taipei at the north end of Taiwan in the top right - and very near Bangkok Thailand in the bottom left |