So now I am back home. These are just a few things I learned about Taiwan during my visit:

• Every you do is on camera! Everything. You don't see a lot of police,  but you don't need to because the law is enforced on camera. If you speed, your license plate is recorded and a ticket is mailed. If you par in a parking spot, you don't feed a meter. Someone comes around and stamps a ticket on your window, and a photo is taken of your plate. If they come around again, they stamp the next time slot. When you leave you take the ticket to 7-11 and pay for your parking. If they don't come around to that street while you are there, then you just parked for free.
• When you buy something, the price marked, is the price you pay. When you go to a restaurant and pay for a meal, it includes everything. Food, taxes, and servers wage. No tipping is required for anything. This has been a huge issue for me here in the US. I've always felt the establishment should pay the servers wage instead of the patron. 
• Garbage is a huge problem with all those people. Napkins, paper towels, and toilet paper are not always provided. When they are, they are provided very cautiously. A great example of this is toilet paper. Public restrooms are everywhere. Toilet paper is generally on a roll outside the stalls. One roll for all the stalls. You take what you need in with you because you won't get any inside. 
• Bags work the same way. If you go to the 7-11 and don't take your own bag, you will pay $1 for a small bag and $2 for a larger bag. A lot of places do the same thing.
• There are no soda refills. The soda in a restaurant comes covered with a sealed plastic lid. There is no place to refill it even if you could get the old off. 
• Every where you go people are genuinely grateful that you used their service or purchased what they were selling. They are very attentive and helpful. I always heard thank you, and people bow to you. They don't bow heavily, but they bow and thank you. Everyone from the food vendor on the street, to the taxi driver, to the hotel worker, to the clothing sales clerk, to the government employee handling your affair. They are all very respectful, and always bow and thank you. 
• They don't cook eggs very well, and they don't have traditional bacon. It really is the only thing I missed while I was gone, and the first meal I ate today. 
  

Today I had to say goodbye and start the long journey home. We were up very early today lucky for it. Kuan was going to put me on a shuttle bus to the airport so we lugged the luggage through the tunnel and off to the bus station. We found out that the earliest bus was 7 am. I could have taken the bus but it would have meant cutting it very close at the airport.
Kuan decided he would drive me but stopped at the hotel front desk to ask about cab or shuttle pricing from the hotel. They recommended we use the high speed rail so we set off to the station. Turns out it was a pretty easy way to get to the airport.
I had to make a transfer to a shuttle bus once I got to Tauyuan but I found the bus and was on my way to the airport. I got our tax refund from purchases and something to eat and now I am at the gate and they will be boarding in a few minutes.

I'm very sad to be leaving. I made Kuan promise to bring me back as often as we can. I hope to come back every year but will be ok if I can make it back once every two.

We went to another night market last night on our way to get my glasses and contacts. As usual it there were a lot of people. People really get out and about here.

It was a great final opportunity to do some people watching and get some more great food. I had a crispy boneless chicken leg and thigh. It was from a street vendor and was absolutely amazing. I can't wait to try and make some of this food I had while I was here. Kuan is a great cook but some of his food flavors are lost in the translation. Now that I've tasted some of this food I hope to be able to bridge that gap.

We were able to have a dinner and a lunch with his Mom. I learned some more about how a family would sit at the dinner table and eat. It's really a great way to share food and have conversation. We are going to make some changes in our home when it comes to dinner and how we sit and eat.

Last night we stopped at one of the old ice cream places. They have been in the same location since 1946. The ice cream was like a vanilla sherbet with kidney beans and shaved ice that was a little bit salty. The three flavors combined were really good together. Definitely the sweet and salty thing going on.

Today I came across a very large temple in Dali District. It was quiet with only a couple people around so I was able to explore a little and check things out a little more closely. 

I skipped a day so I want to add some video of the High Speed Rail. We traveled from Taipei to Taichung on the HSR. We traveled on three trains and it took us right to our hotel in Taichung. Can't say enough about how amazing it is to be able to travel across this country without ever getting in a car.

We traveled from our hotel in Taipei to the Taipei main station on the light rail. From there we got on the HSR to travel to a stop outside Taichung. Once at the transfer station we got onto a local train that travels back and forth from the transfer station to the Historic Taichung Train Station.

The HSR travels at a speed of 294 km/h which is about 182 mph. The ride is smooth and it took us about 45 minutes to travel from Taipei to Taichung.

The Taipei Main Station was filled with people. We had time to kill so we sat and just watched people coming and going. Amazing the number of people that run through that station.

We visited the National Museum of Natural Science. This was another opportunity to learn more about Taiwan and it's history. A lot of the methods for processing the rice and grain have changed, but the methods for growing are the same.

Across the street we went to the Botanical Garden. I was surprised to see a lot of the same plants as we have in South Carolina. The plants are much larger, but there are a lot that are the same. The climate here is similar to what we have back home because it is warm and humid. The difference is the range of highs and lows. It does not get as cold here as it does back home.

The last stop today was my favorite. I finally got to visit Kuan's childhood home and meet his mother. She made us dinner and we ate with his brother and mother. 

Restrooms

We traveled a lot today. I'm going to say again how great it is to have such easy access to public transportation. When you travel it's really important to stay hydrated, and that is going to cause me to take a few minutes and get on a soap box.

In the states it's tough to find a bathroom when you are out and about. You won't just be walking down the street and run into one. Here they are really very accessible. I have never been out traveling and sightseeing, and not been able to find a restroom. The best part is I have only been in a couple that were not super clean.

Here's my soapbox. In the states we have people trying to make it more difficult for people to use a bathroom, if they don't fit the mold. I have only been in a couple bathrooms here that didn't have a female cleaner cleaning the bathroom while I was using it. I still can't figure out what people are worried about. Do people really think that they have something that people haven't seen before? If they do then they should show it off!

Taipei Zoo

My phone shows almost ten miles today. We went to the zoo today and got to see the panda's. It was great to see them for the first time in person, but the place was wall to wall people.  The crowds were really big today. There were times when we couldn't move because there were so many people in the way.

Kuan was super happy to see his favorite pandas. When we arrived at the zoo the signs indicated that the panda exhibit was not open. Kuan talked to a nice gentleman before we bought our tickets and he said that the exhibit was so packed with people that they were not allowing any more people in. Kuan told him how w came from the US and wouldn't be back for a long time and the guy gave us special tickets to see the exhibit.

We got back to Ximon area and moved to our new room. We have a great view tonight and can see Taipei 101 in the distance. We went out for a couple beers at the gay bar and are now back in our room getting ready for bed.

Tomorrow is a big day with an hour long ride back to Tiachung City. This time we will travel on the high speed rail and have a seat for the trip.