Taipei vital statistics:

• Population (2015 estimates): 2,704,810 (city proper); 7.047,559 (metro)
• Latitude & longitude: 25˚ 04′ N, 121˚ 31′ E
• January average temperature: High 19.1˚C (66.4˚F), low 13.9˚C (57.0˚F)
• July average temperature: High 34.3˚C (93.7˚F), low 26.3˚C (79.3˚F)
• Time zone: GMT+8 (12 hours ahead of U.S. EDT)
• Language: Chinese, Taiwanese, Hakka
• Currency: New Taiwan Dollar (NT$)
• Exchange rate: US$1 = NT$29
• Average rent of 1-bedroom apartment in city center: $549.57

4 April 2018: My first impression of Taipei, on disembarking after my 13-hour flight from San Francisco in United economy class, was the feel of the air. Taiwan, the whole island, has a warm dampness about it. The same way all of the United Kingdom has a kind of cold, damp, mildewy smell, Taiwan (and southern China, too) has a warm, damp mildewy smell. It was 30˚C (86˚F) when I landed, with 88% humidity.

And it felt soooo nice! Per Rick Steves’ Europe Through the Back Door book, I did not pack a jacket and relied on layers (a sweater and long-sleeve shirt over a t-shirt) to keep warm, which did not cut it in Eugene in early April (thanks once again to my brother-in-law Aaron for the loan of a hoodie). After that, the Taiwan heat and humidity felt like a snug, cozy blanket. Apparently, after years of living in Washington, D.C. and even hotter and more humid places, I’ve built up a near-immunity to humidity (except when I’m trying to go to sleep; then I am thankful for the miracle of air conditioning).

Taipei is the largest of the 18 cities I’ll be staying in during this trip. Taipei’s urban area is the 42nd most populous in the world (in the U.S., only New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago are larger), and it has the 65th largest metropolitan area in the world.

Also, Taipei is the only one of the 18 that I’ve been to before. In between undergrad and grad school, I studied for an academic year (2001-2002) in a non-degree program at the International Chinese Language Program (國際華語研習所; ICLP) at National Taiwan University (國立臺灣大學；台大). Because I was in between U.S. schools, I didn’t get any grant or loan money for my studies, and so I was truly a starving student. My academic performance suffered because I was teaching multiple English classes on the side to make ends meet, and toward the end I cut down to eating just one NT$40 (about $1.20 at the time) 便當 box lunch a day. I lost 7-9 kg (15-20 pounds). And even so, embarrassingly, I ended up borrowing money — a lot of it — from my parents to make it through that academic year. I actually owed them more after one year in Taiwan than I did after four years at a pricey private liberal arts college. (I paid it all back during grad school, when I got a full ride on tuition plus a stipend.) To get to the point, I am really looking forward to enjoying Taipei, and particularly the food, with money this time!