That’s what the check-in lady in Bucharest asked me. She said most people going to Hong Kong are sailors. She didn’t know a third flight was going to take me to Taipei.

First stop – Frankfurt, where I boarded the mighty beast that was going to take me 10000 km away. Also, my Kindle got checked for explosives. Probably, the combination between a Romanian and a book seems fishy.

11 hours, 10000 km, a goulash and some rice later, I was in Hong Kong. Beautiful archipelago, mountains and sea in the same time, but I couldn’t stay more to admire. The third flight was waiting.

In Taipei Airport, I found the organizers from SayTaywan (thank you, Alice!) and got my temporary Taiwanese phone (0978042604). There I also met my cute little host Apple. She took me to her place, I met her parents and they offered me a room (with air conditioning!!! HOOORAY – forgot to mention, Taiwan is hot, 35 degrees during the day and 26 during the night, so the AC is a bless).

Didn’t have time to sit, because we went to check out the night markets. They were an extraordinary sight, full of lights, scents, sounds and energy. All sorts of food (pork, chicken, shrimp, ..), covered in unknown (for me) aromas made choosing something a hard task. Among the things sampled were tofu, stinky tofu, blood rice or salty guava (I think).

I also tried some traditional Chinese icecream (in picture 2, the guy was shredding a blog of ice). In picture 3, people were fishing for their lunch, while in picture 4, for some new pets.

Even if it was 10 pm, the streets were full of traffic, mostly scooters (deja-vu with Rome, anybody?). Interesting thing – the sun sets at 6:30, at 6:45 it’s dark outside.