Taiwan – Elvis has left the building
Saturday, June 3rd, 2006Right, I might be cheating a bit by adding this as a new country. I didn’t even get my passport stamped, and it will surely be the briefest entry on this blog as I was there for less than an hour, and technically didn’t set foot on Taiwanese soil. BUT! I was in Taiwanese waters, and the boat parked (or whatever the nautical term is) right off the coast of Jinmen, part of Taiwan. And dammit, if Prestwick Airport can still proudly proclaim that it’s the only place in the UK where Elvis has been, then I will grant Jinmen the same honour. Only with me, not Elvis. And I don’t plan to die on a loo in a white jumpsuit anytime soon.
From Gulangyu it’s possible to go on boat trips around two Taiwanese islands. Having exhausted the possibilities for this tiny islet the day before, I decided to go on one. It only lasted an hour and 40 minutes, most of which time I spent feeling as sick as a dog on the choppy sea. Truly, I don’t know why I keep going on boats in China. I am to sailing what Dan Quayle is to gun safety.
To add insult to nausea, I could see precisely nothing in the thick fog that encased us as soon as we left Gulangyu.
So all in all, a non-event.
However, should the question of Taiwan ever arise in a pub discussion (it often does; my friends are very cultured, and we never talk about Chantelle and Preston, Big Brother, chocolate etc), I will nod vigorously, and proclaim myself to be an expert, as I once went there.
Suzanne