Dad got me 蘿蔔糕 for breakfast.
Afterwards I just sorted out and packed the rest of my luggage. Did some juggling.
Then it was pretty much just waiting for time... Which is kinda yuck, feel like you can't do much.
For lunch we went to buy 田家涼麵 around 10:30am. When we arrived the owner wasn't around. The stall is in front of some very old housing. There's a mini garden on either side.
We crossed the road to seek shade next to the library while waiting for the 老闆娘 after there was no answer when shouting. Then as soon as we got under the shade dad spotted her coming back via scooter. So dad lead us to quickly go back and line up, otherwise everyone else will start lining up.
She said her sister would usually help her but was in hospital recently and had surgery, now in rehab. Otherwise there would be someone around while she goes go get more supplies, etc. Since it's just her, she limits the amount of noodles she sells, to the amount she can handle. She is also a 眷村小孩, and dad says once elections come around she has lots of opinions and talk to chat about. She recognises dad haha.
Once we got our noodles, back home we go. Yummy. I had my lemon cake for dessert. Then 二叔 started to hurry and went to get the car... But we're still early. OK... I had to give my face a pat down to wipe the sweat off. Alright, grabbed the luggage and headed down stairs.
I masked up to my Sip mask n95 in the car on the way to Chaoma station, since there's aircon and my face won't be sticky. The Ubus was about 10 mins late as usual lol. It arrived and they started boarding while I went to the toilet and just washed my hands. Awkward.
Parents and 二叔 saw me off. I feel asleep on the bus, and woke up about an hour later. The air con wasn't really strong and I ended up feeling really hot, especially under my mask. Really annoying. Then drifted on and off to sleep.
Arrived at terminal 2, grabbed a trolley and spent some time trying to find the check in counter... We got there. Gosh there are another tour group so I assumed the flight was full as there were only 5 seats left for selection. Tried checking in online and I think it let me? But app still displaying that I haven't so I still had to go to counter anyway. Asked if they could put me in a window seat and the staff said that I was assigned a window seat. She asked to see my face so I had to pull my mask down.
One suitcase was 21.9kg, and the other one was 21kg. Yus. Got told to watch it go through the Xray before leaving.
I then went to South side rest area. It was themed like old Taiwan. Really neat.
They have an observatory deck which is open air, but they ask to check your bas before going in. The uncle at the door asked me where I was going. I said NZ, and he asked if I was going for holiday? No, I usually live there. Then our convo was cut short because there were people behind me. They also say no drinking or eating. I sneakily ate the rest of my Doraemon cakes and had some water, sitting down at a bench on the lower area that was kind of in a semi blind spot of the cameras. It was good to have a break from my mask.
I think I spent around 30mins on the deck. I saw the Sanrio Eva Air plane.
I went back in arpund 4:45pm. The uncle asked about me some more lol, happy to oblige. He asked if the 4 seasons was quite distinct. I said that spring and autumn tend to be longer and we have a short summer and winter, and the season is opposite to northern hemisphere. I thanked him but forgot to wish him a good day (bye-lingual).
Time to go through security. They still need laptops and larger electronic devices to be taken out for screening.
After the xrays, it was to get through customs. They pretty much had full auto gates and I tried the e-gate since it said over 14 yrs and NZ passport OK... But it failed me!!! I was struggling to hold my breath!! The staff said to go to the normal auto gate, and I took a quick breathe after cupping my mask back to my face, and tried to get the gate to read my passport... Oh my God... Had to do that twice whilst struggling to hold breath. Then I stepped in and it wouldn't read my face!! Had to cup the mask over for breathe while it tried again... And nope! It wanted my forehead clear as well. *#~=-%&@$!!! One more time... And FINALLY.
MASK BACK ON ASAP fkfjsjsn that was NOT a fun time. Wanted to nasal spray but not safe... Ughhhh. We should be OK, the air I breathed in was semi filtered even if not perfect.
Let's go and see the themed gates anyway. To D7!! The Pili one hehe. Everything seems to be the same, but the stamps got more worn out... They should replace it soon. I forgot I put my stamp book into checked so I only had my old thin paper notebook. It will have to do. Look my last entry was the same stamps, but they were so much clearer compared to the ones I just stamped.
I had a look at the other gates. An Alishan one that celebrated the indigenious. Another one with native birds of Formosa.
And other odd photos around that area.
Made my way to gate C7. It was a music themed one. I didn't have time to read the blurbs but took photos so I can check them later.
Then the staff said to come to board, I thought they started early. But turns out the actual waiting area and gate is downstairs from the themed gate. Oh. They also asked to see my face so I just pulled down the mask for them.
It looks pretty full but I found a small area next to the boarding gate staff that had fewer people so I sat there while waiting for most people to finish boarding.
They just scanned my pass didn't ask to see my face. Cool! One of the last ones board. I still had to wait a bit in the hallway... And once I got to my 38A window seat some lady was already seated there. Um, that's my seat. I asked for it. The gentlemen in the aisle seat stood up and moved out so I could get in. I said that the window seat is my seat and she had the audacity to say "no it's my seat". I just repeated that window seat is mine. Twice more. And then she went "fine" with an attitude. God. I settled in and then I heard her ask the person in the row in front if she cold have the window seat, and that passenger let them. Bitch. Tried to steal my seat.
I thought the plane was full but after looking around it's about half full? Seems like the seat next to me is empty? Almost every row had an empty seat.
CO2 levels were ~1500ppm before take off and around 1100ppm after take off... I can hear at least 2 sick coughing adults and 1 coughing kid in front of me. Ughhhh.
Plane has wifi and we're going into turbulence now after dinner. Sleep soon.
Breakfast service was French toast with berry compote. They came around to get the trays much faster than dinner... so I couldn't finish my yoghurt. That's OK, I can take it home. And I want to reduce my time out of a N95 with all that coughing.
Didn't see that bitch at baggage claim after getting off. I know because I got to baggage claim before i the belt started moving. She got off before me and walked ahead. So strange. Hope I never see her again.
Egates were no problem and went through fast, so no problem unmasking and holding my breath.
I think biosercurity officers must be new. The triage officer didn't know what 木耳 black fungus was... and the examining officer had to ask someone else if it was OK. He also stared at my 金針花 for ages too. And got angry when asked if I had food in my carry on suitcase and I said "unless you wanna see my bread?" because usually they have no problem with bread... and he got angry because bread is food. But my tired brain said it was in my backpack... like bro... the old officers were way nicer. Didn't take too long to get out of biosecurity. I got picked up by 吳老師 and basically crashed after having lunch, taking a shower, and unpacking most of the luggage.
