https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VqgObCWq-o
This was the week where I finally got my KITAS, my Indonesian working visa. And when I say finally… it really was a drawn-out process. I’ve dealt with admin, visas, and getting in and out of countries before, but nothing quite like this. Anyway, it’s done. And now it’s time to move forward.
First thing was to get back to Jakarta from Hong Kong. As it turned out, the cheapest last-minute route, with oil prices doing what they’re doing thanks to that orange idiot in the White House, was via Taipei. Somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit, so it would have been rude not to duck in, even if only briefly.
Before that though, my final night in Hong Kong was at the Happy Valley horse races. Another one of those things I’ve always wanted to do. I went with Glen, Christelle and Rose, who had been some of the ringleaders of the shenanigans at the Rugby Sevens. I lost on pretty much every race… until the last one, where I backed almost everything except two horses. As it turned out, I clawed back what I’d lost. It shows I wasn’t betting big money, but I was having fun.
Doing both the Sevens and Happy Valley in one trip is something I’d always wanted to tick off but never quite managed because of timing. This time it all just lined up. A reminder that Hong Kong is just a brilliant city.
On to Taipei.
I’ve been up a lot of tall buildings now, but always enjoy getting a sense of a city from above. So the first stop was Taipei 101. The views were a little obscured by the clouds, which probably tells you how tall it is, but you still saw enough to get a feel for the place.
On the way down I got chatting to a couple of other travellers, which was nice as I don’t really do that much as I used to. We were going to grab food together, but they opted for a food court in a mall because it was raining outside… that prompted me to politely bailed to follow a recommendation from a friend of Christelle’s to a small, slightly obscure pork place in a non-touristy area. Completely the right decision. The food was incredible.
And that pretty much set the tone for my time there… moving from one food recommendation to another, and seeing what I stumbled across in between.
As a city, I didn’t really know what to expect. I think I’d imagined something more like Japan, all neon and vertical, but it felt different. This may sound stupidly obvious but… more Chinese in character, which makes sense once you spend a bit of time understanding the history and the whole Republic of China vs People’s Republic of China situation but Japan has played a big part in story of the narrative that has developed here.
What I really liked was just wandering. Stumbling across temples, discovering things like “moon blocks”, finding little pockets of the city without really trying. The people were kind, the energy was relaxed, and even the rain, which was constant, didn’t really get in the way. The city seems built for it.
Umbrellas are everywhere. I usually loathe them… people being people, you’re normally dodging getting your eyes poked out. But here there seemed to be an etiquette to it that everyone just respected.
I did have a slightly clumsy moment. Slippery painted kerb, flip-flops… you can probably see where this is going. Foot went out from under me and I managed to take a decent chunk out of my toe and there was a fair bit of blood. What followed was one of those small moments that sticks with you. One guy stopped his car to give me tissues, another lady came over with antiseptic wipes and plasters, and even came back ten minutes later to check I was okay. Just genuine kindness from strangers.
That was kind of Taipei in a nutshell.
On the way back from 101 I passed a bar that piqued my interest. So the following night, the day before my birthday, I went back, had a quiet drink, and wrapped up the trip there.
Back to Jakarta on my birthday, visa sorted. New chapter of life, properly underway.