Unemployed and itinerant

After bidding a fond farewell to the Taipei Times, I'm now on the road with Topher, dwadling in various tourist sites in Taiwan and generally coming to grips with the fact that my year in Taiwan has almost come to an end, and there is still so much to do. Not fun stuff either - mostly packing and applying for visas etc (more on that later, you'll enjoy it).

Half the time when I'm out traveling I'm actually slightly stressed. Partly because I'm the one to arrange everything (Toph doesn't speak Chinese), and also because I'm not in the habit of going off traveling before everything I need to do is done and dusted. Usually I'm super organized and get things done well ahead of time (I finished all my uni essays a day before the deadline).

So, I guess Toph is rubbing off on me. I'm getting much more messy and last minute. I know for a fact that when we live together I'll have to have a separate work area (so he can't foul mine up with his monkey mess, and I won't keep tidying away his relaxed clutter).

Maybe it's not entirely fair that I blame the physical and non-physical disorganization of my life in general on him? I can't help but think that when two people start living together, things do tend to get a bit messy (and more than a bit different for each person), at least in the first little while.

In any case, we'll have plenty of time to work it all out. Right now we are in Alishan (阿里山), enjoying the 14 degree weather while the rest of Taiwan roasts away at 38 degrees. The humidity and pollution of big cities here makes one sweaty and sticky in a matter of seconds. I tend to picture myself walking down the street, coated in syrupy chocolate as gusts of hot wind brings almond and peanut bits which stick to me all over - that's what walking in humid, polluted air feels like (though less yummy).

So yeah, it's nice to be 2200 meters above sea level, enjoying the fine air, and, er, drinking coffee at Asia's highest Starbucks. Normally we're not Starbucks folk. I have no particular feelings about Starbucks either way, not being a coffee drinker nor rabidly opposed to corporate chains. I do object to the homogenization of coffee shops - but I have to admit that it has practical advantages (standard of service, cleanliness etc). I mean, small places almost always have "character," though that in itself does not guarantee that those "characteristics" are positive. In any case, Starbucks in Taiwan is a bit of a god-send, since it's the only place where Toph can get soy latte. While good coffee places abound in Taiwan, most places (especially the more old school spots, such as 蜂大), look at me like I'm out of my tree when I ask them to make Toph a latte with soy milk. For me, more important than soy milk in my coffee, is the fact that Starbucks is always impeccably clean - and their toilets are always the sit-down type! Squat loos are something that I'm afraid I'll never be able to get-used to. I grew up with them, and would be entirely content to leave them in the pages of my past... but alas, they are really quite standard in countries such as Taiwan and Japan.

I would keep a running update of our travels - but sometimes time is better spent away from the computer screen. Though my new Eee PC makes it easy for me to keep up with web life on the go, I'll still wait till I'm home for serious blogging.