by Erin Watkins

Created on: March 26, 2008   Last Updated: November 24, 2008

I am not a world traveler, I am not even an American traveler. The farthest I have ever been from home (Texas) is North Carolina to the east and Utah to the west. I have been to Mexico once, just across the border to Juarez, on a mission trip with a church group as a teenager. However, when my best friend moved to Taiwan to teach English, I decided to go visit her. I applied and received my passport within 9 days, I didn't even have it expedited. I purchased my plane tickets and prepared for my first trip abroad.

When I arrived in Taiwan I was so excited, nervous, and exhausted! I could not believe I was officially a world traveler. I followed the herd of people from my flight to immigration. There were approximately 15 20 lines and 10 20 people in each line, yet it was very quiet and orderly. I waited through the line and when it was my turn, I got my first stamp in my passport and moved on to get my bags and through customs. I was thrilled when I walked through those frosted sliding glass doors and saw Crystal, my friend, wearing a bright pink sweater and standing about a head taller than most of the people surrounding her. We took a Taxi to the High Speed Rail and took that to Taichung, where Crystal lives. On the way to Crystal's apartment I noticed 3 very unique things in Taiwan: 1) There are NOT a lot of Americans, 2) Traffic laws are more of a suggestion than actual punishable laws, and 3) Scooters are EVERYWHERE! When we got to Crystal's apartment we carried my bags of 4 flights of stairs. By the way, Taiwanese flights of stairs are not only steeper, but there are also more steps per flight than in America.

We started the next day very early at 6:30am. We took a taxi to the Day Market. There was so much stuff! It reminded me of a flea market, but much narrower with a lot more people. Plus there were some very strange things for sale there. I got some really good deals and some really nice stuff. .

After a short rest, we walked to where Crystal gets her hair done. I wanted to get a haircut in a foreign country, just for the experience. I knew I could end up with a less than desirable cut, but I also knew it's just hair, it would grow back. Between Crystal's limited Mandarin and the employees limited English it took about 20 minutes to communicate the word "trim," but we finally got started. When they washed my hair they gave me a 15 20 minute face and head massage that was amazing! Then a 10 minute awesome neck and shoulder massage. While I ended up with

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