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Today I took a trip to another town called Sansia, about an hour away. It is sort of a historical town with an “old street.” The main attraction was the Zushih Temple, which I read has been under construction for 60 years or so. When I got there I noticed it was pretty small, but when you get up close you see all the work and details that have been put into the place. All of the stone columns have been carved deeply, wood carvings up above, and even on the ceiling there is not a flat spot to be found.

When I got back to the city of Taipei, I stopped by another temple called Longshan Temple. It was similar, but larger and featured a scrolling LED display at the entrance gate.

I visited a popular bookstore here which is open 24 hours a day. I read and memorized some more of the Taiwan guidebook.

Today I visited the National Palace Museum. This is the number one place to visit in the country since it possibly has the best collection of Chinese art, books, and treasures in the world. During the civil war in China 60 years ago, the imperial collection from the Palace (Forbidden City) in Beijing made its way over to Taiwan and it has stayed here from that day. The museum is built on the side of the mountain, away from the center of the city, so everything is in safe keeping in case of war.

Unfortunately, there was no photography inside. But I was able to see a lot of things related to the emperors of China. It was interesting to see the rare book collection, where the books where 500 to 1300 years old, one after another. There were many paintings, strange pieces of jade, and bronzes.

Today I visited the Yangmingshan National Park. It is a mountain region just outside the city. There are walking paths, a waterfall, and some views of Taipei city. There are also hot springs up there, but I wasn’t prepared to try that today.

Then I went to the Shilin night market. I tried more food, including the local fried chicken, cold noodles, and bitter tea that is supposed to be good for your health. It was tough to drink the tea since it tasted horrible, but I was able to do it. I don’t think I want to try that again though, since it was near vomit inducing.

Taipei reminds me a lot of Tokyo, due to it being a part of the Empire of Japan for 50 years. There are Japanese restaurants everywhere, sushi in 7 ELEVEN, and it is clean and modern. The official name of the country is the Republic of China and Mandarin is the official language, just like in Beijing. Everything here is fairly expensive. Food and accommodation is at least twice as much as I’ve been used to the past few weeks.

I have no travel guide for Taiwan, and I’m not sure I want to buy one and carry it around. I headed to the National Library to try to read and photograph some pages. You do need to get a temporary library card to use the library, which required my passport, but it was still free. They didn’t have the latest editions, but I got some ideas.

I visited the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall across the street from the library, a major landmark here. Next to the hall are two huge buildings: National Theater Hall and National Concert Hall. Later I walked to National Taiwan Museum and look a look. Nothing too special there, I thought, but it was free since it was 100 years old this year.

In the evening, I went to Keelung and visited a night market to try some Taiwanese food, including chou doufu, soup, dessert, and milk tea.

From Ayutthaya, I took the train back to Bangkok. From the main train station I knew there was an express bus that goes to the airport. I didn’t know how close I was to missing the bus that left every 2 hours. If the train was 10 minutes later, I would have missed the bus and ruined my whole plan.

At the airport I searched for some Wi-Fi, but was having bad luck with that today. But then I found the airline lounges. Sitting outside of those is the secret to free Internet in airports.

I took China Airlines to Taipei, Taiwan. This was my first non-discount airline flight since Detroit->Tokyo last year. I got food and drinks newspapers and magazines and a TV. I wasn’t bored at all on that flight. The discount airlines won’t even give you water for free.

It was dark when I arrived, but I had some good directions to a hostel. I got a ticket on a bus from the airport to the main train station and from there I walked to a hostel. I paid for a $16 room with air conditioning and the first Wi-fi room access I’ve had in weeks.

In the morning I had a long, hot and humid walk to the Hualamphong train station in Bangkok. Then I took the train 2 hours away to the ancient capital of the country, Ayutthaya. It was the capital for 400 years of its history. I was surprised the 3rd class ticket was only 15 Baht ($0.50). Once I arrived, I walked toward the city and a guy invited me to his guesthouse and I took a 100 Baht ($3) room there. Talk about a low cost of living city. Later in the day I tried to find a special noodle place that serves cheap bowls of noodles and you eat many bowls and stack them on the table. I found one with 10 Baht ($0.30) bowls and I had four. I thought the bowls would be smaller or else I would have stacked up twice as high!

The next day I rented a bicycle so I could ride around the city and see all the ruins, museums, and temples. I started off at 7:00 in the morning and visited Wat Yau Chai Mongkhon, Wat Phanan Choeng, Chao Sam Phraya National Museum, Wat Chai Watthanaram, Wat Lokayasutharam, the Ancient Palace (which was only some foundation bricks), Wat Phra Si Sanphet, Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit, Wat Mahathat, and Wat Ratchaburana.

Wat Ratchaburana was interesting because you could go inside down some steep stairs into a chamber where a lot of treasure was found in the 1950’s.

At one point I noticed I was barely casting any shadow. I looked at my watch and it was 12:00. I’m walking through a field where the ancient royal palace used to be and there isn’t much shade anywhere! So that’s why Thailand is so hot. I got some sunburn this day too. I didn’t put enough sun lotion on myself.

Back in Thailand again and is it ever hot! This place is consistently one of the hottest places in the world, I’d say. My primary goal was to buy a suit here. I heard there were many tailors around and had pretty good prices. I found one owned by a man named Chu. It was like a 24 hour deal: I would get measured and I pick something out, they tailor the clothes, I try it out the next day and then take it. I didn’t get the cheapest thing and I didn’t get the most expensive. I bought the coat, pants, undershirt, and tie for $124. Now I just have to carry this around for almost three more weeks.

I visited the computer city area of the city which I missed before. I also went up the tallest building in Thailand: Baiyoke Tower 2.

My room was hot last night. It is north facing room so it got a lot of sun all day. It was simple, and something was biting me (maybe bedbugs?) but it was ok.

In the morning I helped an Australian guy with a virus on his computer. Then I went to the National Museum. I tried to pay the entrance fee, but he said it was free today. Yes, I saved $0.08! However, he told my camera because no photos in the museum. I was there for a few hours checking everything out.

Afterwards, I walked around the big monument in the center of town. It is a huge tower, but I couldn’t go up to the top because they said it was full today. Then I went to a shopping mall and then had some food at Burger King since I had not eaten for about 24 hours.

The people here in Jakarta don’t seem too bad. They aren’t trying to annoyingly sell you something all the time compared to the more touristy areas of the country.

Then I headed to the airport. From the train station there was a convenient airport bus. Oh, where am I flying to? Bangkok, Thailand on AirAsia. I’ll be there 5 days and then off to Taiwan.

I took the “executive” class train to Jakarta today. It was pretty nice since I got served tea and a small lunch on the 8 hour journey. I saw much of Indonesia’s countryside pass by. There were long stretches were I could barely see any reminders of modern life, but only rice paddies, forests, and rivers. There were not any sizeable cities the entire way. It was a relaxing trip, and an air conditioned one as well. I’ve been getting used to having no A/C for almost two weeks now and entering a mall or train feels really freezing!

Indonesia has the 4th largest population in the world, just after the USA. Today I arrived in its capital and biggest city, Jakarta. I talked to a couple of people who have been here and they said they hated it. My guidebook doesn’t have much good to say about it either, especially about crime, pollution, traffic, and lack of anything good to see. The guidebook says it is “suicidal” to cross the streets on foot here.

I’m planning on only staying one night here. I just want to go see the National Museum and then get out. I’ll cross the fewest number of streets possible, only go out in daylight, and just play it safe.

On arrival at the Gambir train station I walked to the area where the cheapest rooms are. They weren’t lying, the traffic here is crazy and it is tough to cross the streets. You can see the smoke from all the exhaust coming from the buses, cars, and motorcycles on the major roads. Some motorcycles don’t have any mufflers. I made it to the area and looked at 3 rooms before deciding on one. Once I got in my room, I never left for the rest of the night.

A little after 6AM, I got up and took the bus back over to the Prambanan area. I got off the bus and first saw Candi Kalasan. Then I walked down the highway to Candi Sari. Then I took a minibus and then walked for a while to Candi Plaosan. This walk took me away from the traffic and out into the farmland. Here I saw some renovation workers and farmers in rice paddies surrounding the ancient temples.

Afterwards, an Indonesian guy outside his home talked to me for a while. He mentioned he owned a 1972 Harley Davidson motorcycle, but it was so expensive he sold it and used the money to buy a house. Then three little girls invited me to have their photos taken and I ate a meal. I’m finally getting to see some more friendly people when I get farther away from the cities.

Then it was time to walk some more and I made my way to Candi Sajiwan, but the whole thing was under construction so I couldn’t see too much. I kept walking through small villages and farms which was pretty nice. I finally made it to Ratu Boko, which are some ruins up on top of a hill. The other places I was able to walk in for free today but then I was stopped at a ticket office at this place. They showed me a $10 ticket, I laughed and said “see you later!” So that ended my tour of the Prambanan countryside.

For dinner I ate at one of the stalls on the street. They have a sitting area, where you sit on the ground without a chair. It was ok.