Taiwan Day Fourteen: Back the Land of Giants

Yaa boo sucks! Do I really have to go back to the United Fundamentalist States of Bush? Nooooooooo!
Apparently so.
Fortunately, the typhoon cleared out today, suddenly veered off east, leaving only drizzle and dark clouds, but no winds. My last breakfast: a McDonalds Sausage McMuffin (not my choice). Boo!
The sisters all came with us in a similar rented bus, and at the airport, at our last lunch, which was some surprisingly good shabu shabu from the food court. By the time I was done with the razor thin slices of pork, the broth was delicious and complex, and the noodles that I emptied into the soup were tender. Yum!
At airports there’s not much to do. Either you hang with the people who have come to see you off, and chit chat pointlessly, or you just go through and wait for the flight. We chose something between the two. Lynn and Mike had enough frequent flyer miles on China Airlines, that they bumped their return flight up to business class. Me, I’ve never been on anything but peasant class.
Jessica and I did get a spare seat between us, but I could never seem to take proper advantage and fall asleep properly. I didn’t watch any of the movies on the way back, but I did finish off Days Between Stations, the Kerry issue of the Believer, and the entire BFI book on Eyes Wide Shut, so it was at least productive. We never saw Lynn and Mike the whole flight.
They took off for Phoenix, and we for Santa Barbara, where my Dad picked us up. Home was chilly and fresh and suddenly smelled just like it had been when we moved in two years ago. So we’re back and bloody hell, it’s like we never left.