6.16.2005
In order to save 100 us dollars, Ryan and I spent about 12 hours flying back to Taiwan(Taipei) from Hanoi, Vietnam. I really can't tell if it was really worth it after all the waiting and hanging out in the airports, and, of course the best part...4 meals on the plane! Yeah...Oh well, at least we traveled four countries just yesterday alone, Vietnam --> Thailand (Bangkok) --> China,(Hong Kong)--> Taiwan, (Taipei).
Feeling pretty strange to be home again after the long traveling. I shocked myself by not being able to think "maturely" the Chinese way of speaking...One old guy who tried to introduce us a hotel room in the airport spoke English to me the whole way, and I only thought about how odd it was after he stopped that I didn't even think of any Chinese words. Chinese signs are everywhere...The streets are in orders, and so as motorcycles and cars which speed quietly. No more hard selling, no more " hey! You! Motorbike??" or "where you go now??" are heard at street corners...
I'm home again! Part of me is happy that this journey has finally ended, and I can meet my family and friends again, and I don't have to deal with the heat in south east Asia once more; yet part of me is in fact experiencing a sort of culture shock now. Well, this time, it's my own culture!
I'm not sure how well, or how bad I will deal with this shock now, maybe tomorrow I'll be fine, perhaps it will take weeks before I feel home again...But I am certain that this time, after walking all over most of the towns in SEA, after all the cultures and different people I've seen...Taiwan, my own home, will have a new definition to me.
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