Our excellent guide for two days in Taipei, Mr. Golden (not a James Bond bad guy) remarked casually, “I don’t think 5 days is enough to explore Taiwan”. Well, true, but I think that is not our goal. To compare, we have been in Chiang Mai for 18 months now and yes… that is enough time to ‘explore’ a city.

My goals while traveling may not be similar to others.  Do I want to be in a World UNESCO Heritage Site and be elated that I can take a picture of a cat? Absolutely. Do I want Diane to ask, “do you know where we are?” Then I reply, “yes, of course” but then think ‘where the F are we?’ For sure! Do I want to interact with shop owners, and sip a sample of tea, then talk about it? Yes. 

We broke a Bourdain rule. On our second night, instead of exploring the neighborhood for a restaurant, we ate at the hotel. But having roast duck, with a fine wine, while laughing with Diane may be just the goal I was looking for. Speaking of Bourdain, my hero, his rules are wrong about breakfast while traveling. Exploring begins at 9 am. Before this, it’s time for some fruit, coffee, a croissant, some bacon, and maybe some type of potato. BTW at the breakfast buffet there was a self-serve beer tap, between sodas and the coffee machine, near the croissants, (see short video below for proof). All this, at the hotel, then a shower…and now time to be Dora the Explorer.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, this blog is really just a journal for Diane and me. It’s one of MANY reasons we don’t have 10’s of thousands of followers, which I really don’t want. Terrifying. Yes, it’s ok to share this if there is someone you know who you think might enjoy this. Thanks for reading. You are one our ‘peeps’. 

Why do we travel? Because it’s not easy and easy at the same time. You learn things. You eat delicious and interesting foods. One sees things you would normally not. This can lead to appreciating someone else’s point of view from somewhere far from home. Sure, it’s fun. One could argue you could have fun ‘at home’.  But for me travel moves me, both literally and figuratively.  Perhaps I am a better person because of it and hopefully will continue to be so.  Traveling is not only expensive but may even be a little physically difficult. Things don’t always go your way. Food can be … weird and unidentifiable. Confusion and hesitancy are a regular occurrence. If I could meet the current me sans the 150 flights and roughly 18 countries that I have visited (guesstimate, but close) and subtract the two foreign languages I can read and write in, would I be all that different from the person I am today? Maybe not, maybe so. One thing is for sure. I’d be back in Seattle, sitting at my desk at work…right now. Probably counting the 854 days until my retirement.