After boarding the plane, I had a quick three-hour flight to Bangkok. Upon arrival, and because I am all about adventure, I attempted to take the train into the city. I walked down the ramp but couldn’t find it. The 7-Eleven staff somehow directed me back toward the airport. After running across the five-lane highway, I found the train; however, it was not running. I returned to the airport and jumped into a taxi. Luckily, I was travelling very, very light, so I could move easily.

I’m in the middle of purchasing an IP phone from a distributor here in Taiwan. My Asterisk server is quite solid, but most of the softphones for Linux are disappointing. When I get my phone, please call and say hello. I have a long list of people I need to catch up with. The first is my grandma, whom I’ll call today because it is her birthday.

As I wait for my “grep -R tpe1 *” to finish, I’ll write a quick update. School: I’m currently studying at the Chinese Culture University. Two weeks have passed, and I’m starting to feel more confident about living in Taipei. Today I went to a dance performance with a friend and 10 of her friends — I almost understood what they were saying. I could hear that they had or didn’t have something, along with “doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter” — but I didn’t know what they had or didn’t have. Exciting! I meet with Christian and Chino, from Germany and Japan, at 11:00 a.m. every day to practise for two hours. I then have class for two hours before wandering home. I’ll usually try to practise again before I fall asleep.

So many promises, so little done. Well, it is time to get through that list. Shortly, you can expect updated photos and videos. At the time, I also published a number where readers could reach me. As you know, I’m something of a techie. The historical phone numbers have since been removed for privacy.

I’m finally starting to feel settled! Let me explain. After New Zealand, Ben headed back to L.A. while I carried on to Singapore. My flight was routed through Kuala Lumpur, so I spent a few hours at the airport chatting over an open wireless access point (which belonged to an airline, oops). I arrived in Singapore quite late at night, where a friend who had arrived earlier met me at the airport. I compared the price of a taxi with the airport shuttle and chose the shuttle.

After Singapore, a quick flight brought me to Taiwan. The mountains seemed to nestle into the clouds, which blanketed the sky. The view was beautiful until the plane dropped below the clouds and everything became gloomy, dark, and wet. The plane crossed expanses of farmland, a landscape I was not used to. After breezing through customs, I got on a bus and started to come “home.” A long bus ride, a decent walk, and five flights of stairs brought me to my host’s house. I curled up and quickly fell asleep.

So I’m in Taiwan. I have so much to write about. Expect an update shortly.

My night is winding down at 2:30 a.m., and sleep seems like a good idea. Looking at my arm, the relentless mosquitoes must have read yesterday’s post; they have practically drained the life from my left arm. What I really meant to say is that my time in this flat is finally nearing its end. Today I listed the networking equipment I used to work away from the office on Trade Me (http://www.trademe.co.nz/Computers/Networking-modems/ADSL-modems/auction-46922291.htm). Wish me luck!

I realized tonight that there is one small part of New Zealand life I have not yet made peace with: mosquitoes. Mozzies, as they are called here, seem to have a special talent for appearing just when I am trying to concentrate. The small ones are the worst because I cannot always tell whether I am seeing a mosquito, a speck of dust, or just my imagination after too much time staring at a screen. I refuse to spend the evening clapping randomly at the air, though I admit the temptation is real.

I close my eyes and write in my blog in an attempt to fall back asleep. As many of you know, I have never had a problem falling asleep. I have slept in the dirt while camping, in a bathtub, on a concrete balcony, and on countless trains. In fact, name a place and I have most likely slept there. Except when I have had coffee. My body responds very strongly to caffeine, and last night was no exception. At about midnight, I decided to have a cup of tea, pouring not a teaspoon of leaves into my cup but a heaped tablespoon. Oops. I could not get to sleep until almost 6 a.m. Then my alarm went off at 9:55 a.m. for a meeting, only for it to be cancelled!