Our train got into Taipei after dark, and our loop of the island was complete. It was a bit of a shock to the system being back in a busy city after our lovely week in nature! It was a short walk to our hotel, and we were surprised that the weather was still fine with no wind or rain yet. For days we had all been watching the typhoon get closer and closer wondering if it was going to disrupt our flight to Hong Kong, but it seemed to have slowed down enough that we were no longer worried about getting out tomorrow. There were signs in the city that it was coming though, the shelves in the stores were empty with people stocking up on food, and there were signs around warning people to stay inside.
We had one last dinner in the city, at a nice Japanese restaurant. Sashimi, octopus with wasabi, fish cakes, pickle and of course a beer went down a treat. The following morning we had our last Taiwanese breakfast, which after two weeks has finally grown on us! We had a couple of small shopping jobs to do around town before we took the metro to the airport. All went smoothly and with absolutely no weather disruptions we were on our way to Hong Kong.
Two weeks in Taiwan did not feel like enough, and we are so excited to hopefully come back and explore this amazing island more one day. The conversation of Taiwan on a global political level will be ongoing and likely to continue to escalate, and now that we have spent time on the island we feel like we understand it on a deeper level. As always, weβre struck by the fact that the people are not their government, and just want to be able to get on with their lives. The people we spoke to about the China issue in Taiwan mostly had the same outlook - itβs been a threat for a long time but nothing has actually happened. They donβt seem to expect that to change. The Taiwanese people have fought long and hard for the democracy they have today, and we sincerely wish them the best for the future and hope they are able to keep that.