I could go on and on about our final day in Taipei - but it would bore you senseless.

Suffice to say, it was one of those travel days where everything and nothing happened. Where lots and lots of trvial things went wrong, and a hostel booking wasn't held and everything seemed drear.

The new hostel we had to move to was like a skanky, bonged-out sharehousehold. Empty liquor bottles, cigarette stubs, dirty desks with half-assed 'work stuff' on them, and the smell of stale, far-from-home, dormroom sex thick in the air. They had no idea we'd made an online reservation with them three weeks earlier, and showed no signs of knowing what to do with us.

We chained our bags to a spare bedpost, and left to see '101', the World's Tallest Building.

Upon discovering that the surrounding district seemed bland, dull and cracked pavement rundown, and that if one is in a bad mood, 101 looks suspiciously like a series of American-Chinese takeaway containers stacked one upon the other, we couldn't take any more.

'This is crazy ... I know it's already 1.30pm, but how about we call Cathay and see if we can fly to Japan on the 5:35pm flight today?!'

And so we did. Hearts-in-mouths because of the tight timing, we nearly missed the plane due to a crazy taxi driver with two gammy eyes who initially drove us to the wrong airport. But eventually we made it.

We had no accommodation booked in Japan, and Cathay had told us over the phone that they couldn't make a computer reservation for our seats on the flight as it was within the four-hour-before-flying period where you just have to take your chances and turn up at the airport on standby.

It was crazy, but entirely travel-licious. And now we are in Japan, land of Hello Kitty jellied fruits, Doraemon toilet paper and copious hardcore pornography.

There is also a national love affair with umbrellas here.

I look forward to telling you all about it, even though I have the distinct impression that I'm understanding about one-fifth of the things going on around me ...