Hey there,
It's been a while. It is October 30th and I just arrived back in Taiwan. The rules here are that any arrival into the country must be under strict quarantine for 2 weeks. Not only that, but you must quarantine in a government authorized location and Betty booked me at the Tango Nanshi, which is located in downtown Taipei.
My thought is to write a daily entry to document my fortitude in handling this isolation, or to give you a peek as someone slowly loses their mind.
The flight from Seattle to here was quite good. I think. Plane left at one in the morning, so was tired to start, but with a Zanax, a stiff whisky (Kavalan...Taiwan style) or two, and a couple/three of the PNW's finest edibles, I slept a good 8-9 hours of the 12 hour flight. My flight attendant (Vivian) commented that I was a good sleeper. Vivian also offered at the beginning of the trip that there were two bathrooms for us to use in Biz class, but the one on the left is bigger and would be good for me. Damn. There is a matter of fact honesty that some would call brutal in these types, but as a dealer in brutal honesty, have to take it in the spirit in which it was intended. In this case, so fatty can take a dump in comfort.
Don't know how many places have this level of quarantine, but there can't be many. They are getting their vaccination rates up, but not yet to the level where they are willing to let down their guard and have seen next February as the date where enough will have received the shot to let down this particular restriction.
Upon arrival in Taiwan, you first hit a group of folks right outside the jetway in full hazmat gear that confirms your documents. This group does not mess around either. The form I completed in Seattle was on-line to them and they didn't like something, so had to renter it all again. I'm hungover/jetlagged and am obviously lost, so a dude comes up to help. He has similar problems with the data entry, going 'huh' several times before calling in the supervisor. She takes another good 10 minutes and several 'huh's before it finally clicks. Then onto the regular Customs people. The locals love telling me what to do...which bathroom to use, what line to go in, etc. Nothing gets under my skin more than being micromanaged, but this is the land of it. Baggage carousel is next and they take longer than usual to come out as they spray them all down with disinfectant. Next, you follow the ropes to a covid test...this one is a spit kind. Betty had been through this before and she was parched and it took her a while to cough up enough luggies to satisfy the tester. I stayed fully hydrated and have never had a problem dredging up a good spit. The test people were a little impressed.
After that, you go to the taxi stand. No other choice as you gotta go directly to the hotel as shown in your docs. Before getting in the cab, they spray everyone down with more disinfectant. Neck to shoes. Front then back. And then lift up the shoes so they can spray the bottom of your feet. What about my balls dude? Something is always incubating down there.
Taxi ride was uneventful. Many of the drivers here outfit their rides with shrines to whatever. Usually it is some stuffed animals, religious medalions, and at least 3 screens. This driver had three gorillas above her navigation screen that I originally thought were the See/Hear/Speak no evil, but on closer inspection, they were Think/Pray/Hear. I wanted to know more but alas...translation difficulties.
The hotel room is fine. Am sure I will document it more later, but it has a balcony, so that helps. No one ever quite understands me when I tell them how shitty Taiwanese food is. I can tell they think I'm just crazy cause "Asian food is so good". They bring you three meals a day to the room...there is a 30 minute delivery window, they drop it off on a table outside the door and ring the bell. They must ding dong ditch cause the hallway is empty by the time you get to the door.
Have had three meals delivered today. The first thing to note about them is that they are all cold. I get it...boxed meal from somewhere outside the hotel it is gonna be cold. There is a microwave in the room, so that helps. Here is a picture of dinner.
Some root veggies bottom right, three cherry tomatoes and half a golden potato bottom left, and then three chunks of white meat chicken over a bet of angel hair pasta with maybe some butter on it. Flavorless all but not entirely inedible thanks to the Ghost Pepper sauce I packed.
I went to our PO mailbox one last time yesterday and they were selling sauces and had a rare stroke of brilliance to buy the hottest one they had. And this shit is H-O-T. Instant nose run. Made that chicken go from Taiwan bland to ass kickin' with a couple drops.
Oh yeah...that brown stuff at the top was a mystery at first but was the famous red bean soup. Sounds good, but the only thing worse than the blind leading the blind is the bland leading the bland. I'd eat it if I was starving, but it has the taste and consistency of rainwater filtered through a nearly clogged drain.
I haven't seen the requirement myself, but am told that you can't have booze in the quarantine, and I am not a big drinker so thought it'd be fine without, but at the gate in Seattle was a duty free store so I figured that was a sign. Took a bottle of Johnnie Black to the counter and the lady said $42, but tells me they are having a special on the Johnnie where two bottles only cost $58. I mean, would you say no? So I have my precious brown, which I am enjoying now. Hotel is very responsive to my request for ice, so I got that going for me.
OK...that's enough for today. Am in that part of the jetlag where things are just not all firing. And I just finished my second stiff pour and am feeling it. Will try again tomorrow. Have all kinds of notes about the 5 months spent in the States to share and have the time, so we'll see ya manana.
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