It was great to see all my great friends and family for so long in Canada… it is quite amazing how many people I still know and/or just run into when I am there… and it always seems whenever I am in Vancouver, I manage to be very busy and always have something/somewhere I am going to…
BUT, enough is enough. For all the reasons I have commented on in my blog in the past, I just am not that happy in Canada anymore. I am not even sure exactly all the reasons, all I know is, I’m not. I was even offered an opportunity to stay in Canada and have a lot of fun and likely make some good money etc, and I just couldn’t even consider it.
I hopped on a plane to Taipei, Taiwan yesterday. I was very tired from two days of going out late with a lot of my friends in Vancouver but managed to get 4 hours sleep on the plane thanks to Siu Yin giving me some sleeping pills! That made the 13 hour flight much more manageable.
When I got here I was so exhausted, I went straight to the first hotel I could find that looked decent… Great little hotel, quite cheap (about $45 US/night), good location, nice, clean with highspeed internet… all I ever ask for in a hotel (its name is Wan Tai Hotel (http://www.asiatravel.com/taiwan/wan_tai/ if you are ever here).
My room wasn’t quite ready and they asked if I could wait 10 minutes while they prepared it, so I went for a brief walk and got some street noodles. I don’t know if it is me… or Asia… or what exactly it is.. but I felt SO good to be here. I can’t explain all the reasons, but I definitely just feel like Asia is my place to be, for now.
I’m sure part of it is the girls… even the girl at the front desk at my hotel… for example… so beautiful, medium length dark hair, with deep dark eyes and great style… actually that is one thing I have already noticed here in Taipei, the girls in general seem to have a really, really great style. But I think my happiness in Asia goes well beyond just the girls… I love how people here just eat at all these little street restaurants… everyone seems so happy… its kinda like one big family sorta feeling… rather than the canamerica (my new name to describe canada and US, since they are both very similar in some ways) sort of cold, keep to yourself and/or your group vibe.
I think there is also something in me that REALLY enjoys being alone… and just going to places I have never been and figuring them out. I think that is definitely part of the happiness I am already feeling here… there is definitely part of me that is like a wolf… if I am somewhere too long with too many familiar faces, I grow more and more irritable… I need to roam… I realize this is quite the opposite from the majority of people who feel very unhappy when they are not with all their friends/family all the time…
I just happened to run into numerous people in the last few days in Vancouver who are friends of mine who have spent a lot of time in Taipei and they told me I will love it here… I have really only seen 10 minutes of it so far and have sensed that I think they may be correct… My initial thoughts was just to stay here for a couple days and then go to the Philippines for a bit, where it is warmer and supposed to be a lot of fun… but I really am in no rush at the moment… I have no where I need to be really for the foreseable future, so may just hang out in Taipei until I really don’t want to anymore (so that could be a while!).
This is the first time in my travels that I don’t have much of a deadline… when I was in Europe I had to be in Asia by end of September, so that kept me moving… and then when I was in Asia I knew I had to be in Van/NYC by late November, so that also kept me moving… but for the moment I have no place I need to be by a certain time… although that may soon change, I think I am going to make a proposal to the Chinese movie studio people for me to come there and help them build that company in the new year… plus I have recently heard about a Russian mining show which should be very good in February I believe, so may go there too…
Anyway, it is 4:30am and am up typing this because I just got up and am back to being jetlagged! Oh well… at least I am happy and jetlagged!
I bought the best phone in the world, btw… the thing is friggin cool.. called I-mate K-jam (worst part of the phone is the name!). But it does everything… I may eventually get a prepaid sim if I ever decide to be in a country longer than a few days, but in the meantime I use it for all its other functions… including a decent camera that does stills and videos… so I will likely be putting up a lot more pics and vids over the coming months as I likely will be exploring much of South East asia, which will hopefully include Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and hopefully even places like India.