Taiwan

Quickly: Taiwan is top three on the list of countries I have been to so far on this trip (Israel and South Africa fill out the rest), and, I am unsure of where it goes in the top three. I think South Africa is "better" for people 18- to 30-years-old and the uber-wealthy that can spend weeks upon weeks on safari, but outside of those two exceptions, I think Taiwan has it beat, which would place it in the number one spot (I think), but I am not sure I am ready to do that for reasons discussed below.

I admit I am skewed because I did not spend enough time there to get bored, but I would say that is true for basically everywhere I have been so far. I only had five nights in Taiwan, I spent four in Taipei and one in Hualien. Taipei is a good city, but not as cool as Hong Kong, but still very cool.

As I write this I find myself thinking, "Why *did* I enjoy Taiwan so much?" because what I write does not make it sound so great. Most of the problem is that I am simply not articulat enough but at least part of it is just how the country feels; its vibe or atmosphere or feeling or gut or whatever word you want to use. I do not know if this is common, but when I go somewhere I get a feeling for it right away. Sometimes that initial feeling is wrong, but usually it is dead on (obviously this is partially a self-fulfilling prophecy, I know). For example, Hong Kong. I liked Hong Kong as soon as I got out of the airport but, after having spend some time there, I still like it but for reasons that have nothing to do with what I saw outside of the airport. I just had some feeling inside that told me I liked it there. I guess what I am saying is that this post will be cut off because I cannot articulate why I liked it and I do not want to write a list of things I did.