IT’S BEEN TWO MONTHS SINCE THE MAASDAM was forced to retreat before Typhoon Francisco. Since then Japan has weathered Typhoons Krosa, Faxi, Tapah and Mitag. Now Typhoon Hagibis, the most powerful storm in 60 years, is hammering the capital, playing havoc with the F1 Grand Prix of Japan and the Rugby World Cup. All flights out of Tokyo have been canceled and we are counting our blessings that it gave Taiwan a miss.
Talking Baseball in the Post Season
Due to the 12-hour time difference, we got to watch the end of the Cardinals/Nationals NLCS game and the first three innings of the Astros and Yankees—all in Chinese, or maybe Korean— before it was time to check out and shove off. The 200 km drive to Touyuan Airport went without a hitch and our Garmin GPS (to whom we haven’t even given a name) deposited us right in front of the Avis counter, I, for one, am glad to be finished with driving. The aggressive drivers and snarling scooters combined with not ever knowing exactly where we were was giving me massive agita.
Hanging out at the Airport Novatel, Taipei
After turning in the car we BS’d our way onto the Novatel Hotel shuttle. It turned out to be a great place to hang out and lunch at the Chinese restaurant was tasty . Connie used their wifi to reconnect our phone service for Hawaii and I finalized some reservations for Australia. As it stands now, we are covered until December 3 with a week in Oz sandwiched between two cruises. And life is good!
"I'm stumped." Where today meets yesterday
Even Einstein, who wrote the book on relativity—or at least the paper—would have trouble explaining how we could have Sunday lunch in Taipei, get on a plane at 9PM, still on Sunday, land in Honolulu just after noon—on Sunday— and have another Sunday lunch. I want to know if this makes up for the July 24 I lost coming from Seattle or if I am just banking 24 hours against the October 30 that we’ll lose sailing to Sydney.
