วิ่งไม่หยุด: on my way to Thailand

Friday, March 06, 2009

on my way to Thailand

On my way to Thailand

I heart Taiwan!

It had been raining since morning as I biked to lab for a lab meeting before I prepared to leave for Taoyuan around three. Unfortunately, I forgot my eye drops so I had to bike back in rain for the second round to get them. After a quick dressing-up, I caught a cab for a shuttle bus to Taoyuan Airport. Originally, I planned to be at Zhongxiao Fuxing Stop, but both cab driver and I did not know exactly where the stop was. Thus, I asked to be sent to Xinyi's Grand Hyatt Hotel, where the driver knew of the stop. I arrived at the bus stop just before 5p, just couple minutes before the next bus enrouted to Taoyuan.

When I arrived at Taoyuan (around an hour before the scheduled departure time), I was notified that my flight was delayed for 2 hours because of technical problems in Bangkok and given a free meal ticket. I had two hours to spare in the airport but I had to call home to make sure that they did not come to early.

I a quick airport touring by walking around and taking Skytrain to Terminal 1. A way to get to the Skytrain seemed to be a bit inconvineint. However, the trip on the Skytrain between the two termimals was very quick. Tonight, only one train was in service. Thai Airways counters were located in Terminal 1.

Later, I went to the gate. A 1-year-old boy with his Thai mother were going for a Thailand visit. Being a mixed Taiwanese and Thai, he understand both Thai and Mandarin but did not talk much yet. At the gate, there were many water buffaloes painted and decorated by Taoyuan school district students. These buffaloes were interesting (similar to CowParade), and visitors were urged to vote for your favorite!

During the 4-hour flight, I talked to a 40-year-old Thai lady seating next to me, whom I originally thought to be a Taiwanese as I spoke to her in my broken Mandarin asking her where she was from. She answered Thailand ... so we easily conversed in our native toung.

This is my first visit home since more than two and a half years. I saw familiar faces--Dad, Ott, Jay~ Tom and Khead--waiting at the meeting point. After that we drove back to Chanthaburi and arrived at home around 4-5 AM due to a short detour.