Good morning Taiwan

Just sitting here in the Taipei airport shortly after 5am.  We landed on time around 4:30am on Saturday July 19. It is a 13 hour difference between here and Halifax. I am officially from the Future  if you want to know how the rest of your day goes,

Man that was a long flight 14:45 from Toronto to Taipei! I am glad I don't have to do that again....for at least 4 weeks! Pretty hard to get any sustained sleep in tight quarters but, all in all, feeling OK and EVA Airways takes care of you. 2 full meals and a some snacks thrown your way. Those girls work hard!

We took the scenic route over the Arctic.  A Big ol'  Airbus cruising at 37,000 feet and I think we may have crossed over Siberia.  The temperature reading outside the plane was -61  and when we landed at Taipei it was very muggy (25C at 4:30!) The windows were so fogged up I thought we took a wrong turn and ended up in St John's Nfld!

Went to get a cold drink... I am parched. Found a vending machine and the prices gave me a start!

$20 Dollars! Yikes :-) 

Until I found out NT stands for New Taiwan Dollar which equals 0.036 Cdn. Only 90cents...crisis averted

The flight leaves for Manila in a couple of hours so won't get much chance to see much of Taipei outside of the airport.Too bad.  Meetings arranged for when I arrive...I hope Manila has strong coffee!

Will try and catch a catnap and practice some Filipino/ Tagalog  phrases before I land. English is very widespread but it is always good to know and may come in handy.

Some useful Filipino/Tagalog phrases

Magandang umaga - Good morning
Magandang tanghali - Good noon
Magandang hapon - Good afternoon
Magandang gabi - Good evening

Kumusta ka? - How are you?   (add  'Pare'  (pa-re) and it is "how are ya bud" (need to make friends first!) Tip courtesy of Haidee Gagnier(proud Filipino)

Salamat - Thank you
Maraming salamat - Thank you very much
Walang anuman - You are welcome

Mabuhay! - Like Aloha there (welcome, cheers)

Walang anuman - You are welcome
Opo/ oho. (formal/polite) - Yes
Oo (informal) - Yes
Hindi po/ho (formal/polite) - No
Hindi (informal) - No
Hindi ko alam. - I don't know
Anong oras na?  - What time is it?
Anong pangalan mo? - What is your name?

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