The story of my first trip to the Orient: 11 days from Chicago to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Kowloon City, Kunming and Lijiang in the Yunnan Province of China

Before we get started, here, let's get one thing straight: My wife is a saint!  I was not even seriously considering this trip -- too much time away from home and too much money -- but Laura said, "I'll keep the kids!  Just go visit your brother.  You might not get another chance."

I went to see my brother Bryan, who teaches English at the Lijiang Guanfang Hotel in Yunnan Province in southern China.  Since the trip took me through Taipei and Hong Kong, I spent a day in each of those two places along the way.

So I left Laura in Chicago with the three kids on January 18, and went to Taiwan via Los Angeles.  After 20 hours of airplanes and airports, I arrived in Taipei.

Taipei at 8AM: a busy, crowded, but friendly place

"My Asia Diary" (emails to home from Asian cybercafes)

Hey Folks!

3 hours of sleep in 40 hours, it's amazing what a little adrenalin and a lot of cappucino can do for ya!

I left Chicago Thursday night and arrived in Taipei Taiwan, fourteen time zones ahead of Chicago.  Basically got 3 hours sleep, skipped Friday 1/19 and landed at 6am Saturday morning.  A bus dropped me off in downtown Taipei.

 The first thing you'll notice about Taipei is all the motor scooters buzzing all over the place.   The streets are narrow and most people don't drive cars; still there's lots of cars, and they usually have to take turns to pass on a downtown street.  The other thing you'll notice is that Taipei is very smoggy.

Anyway, I found a little cafe where I managed to communicate to the non-English speaking cook that I wanted the same thing she'd just made from someone else -- a 'Taipei Omelette' for want of a better word.  Good stuff.  Then I got two cups of cappucino at another place, and a pastry from a third place.  All of these eateries were small marketplace open storefronts.

Generally the people there spoke rudimentary English.  I can't take any credit for knowing Mandarin, which is the most typical language spoken; I bought a Mandarin book but hadn't cracked it.

 I then took a taxi to the National Palace Museum, which by all accounts is one of the very best museums in all of Asia, particularly with respect to ancient Chinese art.

Taipei's National Palace Museum: One of China's finest museums

Fortunately for me, 1/2 hour after I arrived, a museum tour from an American -born tour guide who gave us an outstanding overview of some key exhibits.  Some of the most interesting things: lovely ivory carvings, so thin they were actually translucent, so delicate one could barely touch them without damage.   Other ivory carvings took 3 generations of craftsmanship to complete.  Also: an extensive collection of jade, and beautiful paintings and chinese calligraphy wall hangings.  I'm told they rotate their exhibits every 3-4 months, and a Hong Kong businessman told me he never fails to visit the museum every time he passes through.

I left the museum, argued with a taxi driver who insisted on taking me all the way back to the airport (I only wanted to go back down town), ditched that taxi driver and got another.  Back to downtown for a quick lunch (a tasty rice and chicken dish with ice coffee) then to the airport to go to Hong Kong.

Taipei is a major metropolitan area, rather dirty, with lots of industry.  I soon found out that if Taipei is like Detroit, then Hong Kong is like New York City!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Perry