My flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong (and then to Kao-Hsiung) isn’t until 1pm, but my Asian mother insists that we leave the house at 10am, which leaves me less than three hours to finish packing (my blog’s timezone is off), shower well (especially since I will be stranded at the HK airport for 16 hours right after a 14-hour flight…), eat a hearty breakfast—and blog a farewell before I leave (because we all know how San Francisco still charges for wifi when I can get it for free at even the dinkiest airport in Asia).
So what, exactly, am I doing in Asia? I’m spending July interning in Taipei, Taiwan for a project titled Living 3.0, and then I’m traveling all over Southeast Asia in August:
LIVING 3.0 – multi-sensory i-TeaTable and briefWall from xxtralab on Vimeo.
As an aspiring product designer with particular interests in tech and arch, I’m pretty gosh darn excited.
I’ve been corresponding with a Taiwanese architecture professor via email—in pure Chinese—and needless to say, I struggled deciphering the latest and lengthiest email detailing which metro stop I am to get off of, which exit to take on what street, where to turn, and what building to look for. 9am Monday morning—I will be there, even if it takes me three hours in advance to leave a stranger’s house, get lost, and ask for directions.
I have no close relatives in Taipei—let alone, any friends. I also have no cousins older than I am to spoil me with free, local tourism. Despite spending 2-3 hours every Saturday morning in Chinese School for thirteen years straight, my reading comprehension only rivals that of a first grader, and despite my near-perfect penmanship (said all of my teachers), I can’t write any complete sentences without consulting zhongwen.com every five minutes.
But if my parents could survive grad school and life afterwards in the US with their minimal grasp of the English language (I mean, they still struggle…), then so can I deal in Taiwan. I’m not really worried. If there’s anything I’m actually worried about it, it’s not having enough time to backup my laptop via TimeMachine, looking too much like a tourist with expensive equipment on my back screaming, “Steal me!”, and choosing to carry-on all of my luggage. I haven’t even left San Francisco (let alone Fremont), and I already know that I will be buying a larger luggage halfway into the trip. Choosing to bring my tablet instead of my mouse, my stereo headphones instead of earbuds, my excessive accessories like my laptop lock, passport drive, blank dvds—even my Solio charger, are probably poor decisions that I will regret later on, but when I’ll be spending sixteen hours at an airport through the night, I’ve got to be entertained and kept awake somehow.
Before I go cook myself some…gourmet ramen (expect an egg, perhaps some beansprouts and some sort of meat), here is my itinerary for your envious soul (or perhaps, not-so-envious if you get incredibly air sick like I do):
June 30: San Francisco to Hong Kong
July 2: Hong Kong to Kao-Hsiung
July 6: internship starts in Taipei
August 7: Taipei to Manila
August 10: Manila to Kuala Lumpur
August 13: Kuala Lumpur to Brunei
August 17: Brunei to Kuala Lumpur (planned around avail free promotional Air Asia tickets, not schizophrenic…)
August 18: Kuala Lumpur to Singapore
August 19: Singapore to Bangkok
August 22: Bangkok to Hong Kong
September 1: Hong Kong back home to San Francisco!
International Twitter friends, let’s hang out.
To pack or not to pack Lolita in hardcover? That is the question. The last time I went on a trans-oceanic flight, I threw up after playing too much Sudoku—but I sit aisle this time.
