Again I woke up at seven due to the construction, but amazingly I fell asleep again until 9:30 at which point I was running very late! I did a rush pack, including a big bag to leave in Bangkok until my return. By this time I was drenched in sweat so I took a quick shower, then rushed up to grab my bags. On my way out the door I realize that I had left my ticket in my SE Asia guide book - the one which I had just put in storage! Lucky I'd done a last minute check! After digging out my ticket I jumped in a taxi - I ended up leaving for the airport about 15 minutes after I was supposed to have checked in! Luckily it's Saturday so it was a very fast taxi ride.
After checking in I was walking around the airport and I see on CNN that the king and Queen of Nepal are dead! The headline said Murder - Suicide, but I only caught the end of the report so I really have no idea what the story is. Having just left Nepal in the middle of some trouble it gave me severe goose bumps! After going through immigration and customs I went on mission to buy one of the new 128 meg memory sticks for my camera in duty free. There are about 50 shops, all run by the same company and all carrying the same things, and only one of them wasn't sold out - and it was the only one closed and no one could help. At least I figured that Taiwan would have a huge duty free selection. I ended up being the last one to get on the plane.
We landed in Taipei a little after five. The one bookstore closed at five, the duty free shop is giant, but only sells purses, makeup / perfume, a small selection of liquor, and a huge selection of cigarettes - nothing at all fun. The airline provided me with a very bad diner - even worse than on the plane - couldn't even eat the cake. Diner was served at six, then I was left alone. Everything in the airport is closed and it's freezing cold. It's really frustrating to look out the window and see the thermometer registering 30°C (~86°F) outside while shivering alone in the semi dark (they've turned off most of the lights). I get cold when I sit, but the guards get annoyed when I walk around - there are a few vending machines for cold drinks, but no banks are open to exchange money. Finally around 11:30 they post the gate number so I can at least go sit in the right spot for the last two hours. Also the gate is enclosed in glass which lets some heat soak in. About 1:30 the let us board the plane and almost immediately after take off I fall asleep - I never sleep on planes.
