taiwan day 1 - kaohsiung

it was an interesting journey for me this time round. the crew knew i had resigned and we took photos on board. it was kinda bitter sweet for us all cos i had trained them and they reminisce about the good times we had during training and the lesson they'd learned. i supposed to them, they cannot imagine me leaving the company as i had come to be the face that represent the company to them. and i cannot blame them as i had taught them about company history, culture, values, etc... and i had also covered brand, service etc too. nonetheless, it was a poignant moment for me, and i believe them too.

but the highlight of the journey was that in the plane, there was an ex-minister and his family. many people were whispering to each other of his presence. nonetheless, everyone seemed pretty happy to see him as he was a good minister who had had a very good track record and connection with the grassroots. we exchanged a couple of words after disembarking and he shared that he was on holiday with his family and will be spending time at a local hot spring in taipei.

the trip to kaohsiung was uneventful but just as exciting for me. it was after all my first attempt taking the taiwanese high speed rail. and i was rather impressed by the smoothness of the journey. the trip between taipei and kaohsiung took about two and a half hour. not too long and very comfortable. a quick nap and i was there. of cos, it was rather cool that i had a rather nice looking gentleman seated next to me through the whole journey (yup, that is how shallow i can be).... lol.

the hotel was really good and came fully equipped with all sorts of gadgets including a toilet seat that has a heater, auto wash (for both the asshole as well as for vagine (for ladies)) that allowed one to decide on the preferred water pressure. but frankly, such gadgets was not for me. nothing beats using my own hands to clean myself. for some reasons, it didn't feel right to be "auto-cleaned" by a toilet seat. heh... ok, too much info. anyway, the room was so comfortable that i ended up just lazing in my bed and watching national geographic until dinner time! and yes, i was surprised that the hotel served free buffet supper on top of the daily breakfast. this was really a first for me. 

my first evening was spend walking along the famous liuhe night market. but it was rather disappointing cos there was no crowd and most of the people i saw were either from hong kong or singapore. you can identify them from the way they speak! doh! and so, i did a hasty retreat from the night market and headed to the sauna. hi-man was supposedly the best gay sauna in kaohsiung, but it turned out to be the second disappointment for the night. yup, the place was big and clean, but there were hardly anyone there. and coupled with that, i was first amused, then disappointed, that sauna customers walked around in underwear! omg! ended up, i was the only person to walk around in the nude. and this was another first for me! i left in less than half hour.

was watching tv in the hotel when someone in grindr contacted me. he wanted to meet up but i was not too keen although i chatted with him. afterall, i had washed up and ready to retire for the night. but after sometime, he came across as rather nice and i thought i might just meet him for a quick drink. it was then that he mentioned he was deaf. that kinda threw me off. i was generally ok with deaf people but i was really not ready to meet up with one during my break. in the end, i politely turned him down and suggested we continue chatting another time.

i slept early that night.