Baby I'm back (in Taiwan)

I’m writing this entry in a coin laundry in Taiwan. It’s the last day of my 9 day layover here. Why Taiwan again you might ask but the answer is really simple. I like Taiwan and it also happened to be the cheapest way to get to my destination. Hooray! 

Taipei 101-tower. Worlds second tallest
skyscraper. From top 3 I've seen two. Not
bad.

I contacted some of my friends that I met here last time and and set up a couple of meetings. First I was to meet David in Taipei for a jam session in Bobwunday, (Bob’s) a bar known for it’s Wednesday jams. 

I met David originally in Dulan, on the east coast of Taiwan and we played some music on the hostel’s front terrace and since that I’ve been following his doings around the world and I have to say that I’m really proud of him. He is doing great with his music. 

So we played couple of songs in Bob’s and it was cool. Even managed to play one of my originals with an trumpet player. You don’t get to play with a trumpet player every day. 

I was banging my head so fast that the camera couldn't
capture it. 

Me doing some serious shredding! ;P

Check this amazing and entertaining .GIF that I made only for you my dear readers. 

Since this was my second time in Taipei I wasn’t that keen on going around the city all day long. 

I mostly chilled but also found some cool “hidden” gems that I haven’t had found the last time. 

Well to be honest, I found those places with a help from other travellers but still. I managed to have quite fun night after Bob’s jam session and finally got back to my hostel at 9am.  

I guess I had kind of foreseen that the night might be long because I had told my next buddy, Tim, that I was gonna come to Hualien either on Thursday of Friday. In this case it was pretty easy decision to stay in Taipei for one more night. I was just too tired to leave. 

I met one Norwegian guy at the hostel and we hang out a bit and decided to have one last breakfast together on Friday morning before I was heading to Hualien. Well I don’t know what happened but it was one sweaty morning. First this guy is a no show. I waited like 20 minutes for him and then decided to head to the breakfast joint on my own. Once I was done with my breakfast he had replied to my earlier message about the breakfast: “Hahahahaha”. I don’t know what was wrong with this dude but no apology for the no show. I really hate no shows and no shows without any explanation makes me even more pissed off. Damn you Norwegians! ;)

I had scheduled the breakfast for 11am so that I would have plenty of time to get to the central station and to catch the train 1pm train to Hualien. I still had plenty of time even with the delayed breakfast but I also needed to get some money from the ATM to pay for my accommodation and then it started get really unfunny. I went to the nearest ATM and it rejected my card instantly. I knew that there’s a bank couple of blocks away and headed that way. Same again. The machine just spat my cc back at me. Ok, let’s try one more ATM. I just decided to go along the same street in hope for another ATM. Few blocks later there was another bank with and ATM but with the exactly same result. Shiiiiit. At this point I started to sweat a bit (just because it was so hot and humid...) I figured that I just had to head back to the hostel to get my back up cc and hope for the best. I rushed back to the hostel, grabbed my other cc and started to make the same run again with totally same results. Oh f***. What the hell is going on. I knew that both cards should be totally fine financially but somehow the ATMs were rejecting them. It's not a fun feeling to be without money and to have two non-working credit cards =)

Then I remembered this one convenience store with and ATM inside which worked for me once I got into Taipei. Some more walking and there it was. With fingers crossed I inserted  my cc and finally heard the calming sound of notes being counted inside the machine. I rushed back to the hostel, grabbed my backpack and hurried to the metro station. I made it in time to catch the train but I was sweaty, pissed off and relieved at the same time. Nevertheless, I was on my way Hualien.