My end-of-year trip to Taiwan was filled with randomness, bad lucks, nice discoveries and warm and rainy weather. It was probably the weirdest trip I've been too, filled with sweetness, just as much as bitterness.
The trip started on a bad note.
We set our alarm to 5AM because the flight was at 9h20, so we'd be there around 6h30 and would have the time to chill at the airport. After missing one flight back home from Japan, for the amazing price of 2.5K$CAD, I always feel reluctant to get to the airport late.
The alarm didn't ring.
I woke up in a wayyyy too relaxed state, and looked at my watch. 7h38AM.
Fuck.
Wake up Heather, run out of the apartment with our stuff - that was luckily ready to go - and wait in line for a cab. We can make it.
7h45.
No cab.
7h50. Maybe we can make it?
Cab comes, we get in, tell him the time of our flight. That he would be the greatest cab driver in the world if he brought us in time.
At 6AM, there is no traffic. It's too far from the 9-5 schedule.
At 8AM, however, it's a different story.
The cab was silent. I stopped trying to make conversation after the first 20 minutes. Neither of us had had coffee, so talking was the second worldly most dangerous thing to do, after deep sea crab fishing.
We got to the airport at 8h40.
...And $50 and 5 minutes later, we had ran to the Cathay Pacific Airways counter.
35 minutes to the flight.
They had filled the seats with people on the waiting list.
Had closed the check-in counter.
Fuck.
Casualties assessment: - CAD$600 (cab, flight ticket)... CAD$1,018 if we take into account the yet non reimbursed previous flight ticket we had bought.
The trip started on a sour note.
But we got on the plane alright, and after the 30 min delay before takeoff, we were finally getting there.
We also, almost missed our flight back to Korea. Isn't that amazingly incredible? I am starting to believe that this year was really the start of my samejae 삼재(三災）* explanations in detail at the end of this entry...
Taiwan was nice though, it was nice to walk along the streets. Temperature was mild and nice, I had a day I took off on my own and walked back the streets I used to walk when I lived in Taipei some four years and half ago. I also got to meet up with a long-time-no-seen friend who gave us some time out of his busy schedule. End of year, is end of year. I never expected to see Taipei so busy.
We told my friend that we wanted to chill in a nice place with drinks. He suggested we go to a nice bar in a big hotel, where his friend works. We get there. And the place has been rented out for an event. (samjae? or New Year?)
We then get in a cab to go somewhere else. When we get there, the place looks nice. I mean, as nice as an empty coffee shop can look? I was not quite grasping the idea of a coffee shop being a good replacement for a bar, but at this point, I remember thinking: Okay, let's just go with the flow, I don't want to bother anymore, too many badlucks in one day. Coffee shop? Sure.
But it was not really a coffee shop.
Do you know what a "Speakeasy" is?
I didn't. Those are bars that opened in the States during the time where alcohol was illegal, and people just started running those fake coffee shops that had a hidden room at the back, a hidden bar.
There was a sections with a heavy wooden wall, and doorbells put in frames. One of the frames on the wall had a hand pointing down, towards a button. That was the doorbell of the Speakeasy. After waiting a moment, the massive wooden wall opened and a white dude dressed in old style bartender clothing gets us inside.
It felt like we were doing something bad, something secret. It felt amazing.
We got an amazing Thai massage one night. I really liked it. It was funny to have the people giving massage, not able to communicate completely with us (bunch of non-mandarin-speakers) and having a massage that usually requires a minimum of communication to do the moves correctly.
All in all, I was happy I got a feel of Taiwan after all those years, even if the timing has not been the best, and couple of bad lucks tainted the trip. I am happy I got to try- retry and hang out with my two coworker for Sanbon <3 that I don't get to see as much since I moved to Dongtan.
Next time I go to Taiwan, I want to try a couple of the things we did not get to do during those few days: hot spring, clubbing, foot massage, go back to the hill where you can see all of Taipei, do some KTV, eat more taiwanese food.
The term “samjae” means three years of misfortune, based on zodiac birth signs. In the old days, people attributed samjae to the disasters of war, infectious disease and famine. It also implied calamities such as fire, flood and wind. In modern times, it refers to a recession of our activity, constrained circumstances, and unexpected obstacles.
People often say, “Oh my samjae starts from this year, I have to be careful for three years now.” If you know your birth year by zodiac, you can easily figure out in which years you’ll undergo the ill luck.
In 2013, those who born in the year of the pig (1959, 1971, 1983, 1995), the rabbit (1951, 1963, 1975, 1987) and the sheep (1955, 1967, 1979, 1991) will be in samjae. The possible hardships are slumps in business, deadlock in financial circulation, being swindled and distress with diseases. People also try to avoid or postpone important events such as weddings.
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