it begins — again

Here we go…
Matt and I are in Taiwan. To do some factory touring and assorted business for Crust Bikes. And since we’re here, a little tour round the island. I arrived on Monday (somehow lost Sunday somewhere during the flight) and spent the better part of the day in the baggage claim room at Tayouan International airport unboxing and building up my bike.

I had been so busy doing things for and with various friends in the days leading up to this trip, that l didn’t get around to packing or getting my bike ready till the day of the flight — which meant that it didn’t come out of the box quite ready to roll.
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Fortunately no one seemed to mind my taking over a seemingly unused corner of the room for several hours of tinkering and sewing and such. Most of the security and cleaning staff did stop by to give me the thumbs up and/or converse to the limited extent our language barrier allowed. The security folk all informing me one way or another that I was not allowed to ride my bike on the road outside the terminal. Advice I quietly intended on ignoring until finally, the last (plain clothes?) security person I spoke with had the language skills/foresight to give me an alternative plan. It turns out there was a shuttle buss that would take me out of the restricted area for free. So I headed out into the sea of scooters aided (or more properly hindered) by the plethora of incomprehensible signs; to look for some where to stay, and wait for Matt who was due to arrive in about 12 hours later.

With some luck and dead reckoning, I found a hostel (with out a sign) masquerading as a family home on a back alley — and settled in for a long day entertaining my host and waiting. There is supposed to be a typhoon coming, but some day we’ll leave the endless greater Taipe metropolis actually start riding.

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