Taipei lacks the charm of San Francisco, the beauty of Paris, and the glitz of Singapore. But beneath the formless, polluted skies, the monotonous cement buildings and the noisy road construction, there is the heartbeat of a young, independent city. Last night our Country Manager took the team to eat at AoBa, the self-described mecca for “creative Taiwanese food.” The restaurant sits just a few blocks from the tallest building in the world, Taipei 101. This was an area of town where you could feel the pulse of this young country. At dinner, course after course of heavily-flavored Taiwanese and Chinese dishes paraded in front of my eyes and, after relatively few questions, into my stomach. Taiwanese food fuses together flavors from the middle and southern provinces of China and even has a hint of Japanese influence. It was delightful and put me squarely in the mood for some well-deserved rest.

The next morning, when I pushed back the curtains in my room, I came face to face with two elderly Chinese men in the building less than 25 feet from my face. They were dressed in wife-beaters, sitting on stubby-legged chairs smoking rolled cigarettes and playing a game I couldn’t quite make out. I looked down below to see a few young people at an outdoor cafe with bowls of steaming soup. Next door, a man in his 20’s dressed for business stepped out of a Starbucks with his latte Venti grasped firmly in his right hand. I stared at the scene for a while, lost in my hazy jet-lagged mind. It was probably a little too long because the two Chinese men started to stare back. I smiled awkwardly and pulled the curtains shut.

Lamentably, Taipei is not a very walkable city. After being caged in the office all day on Friday, I wanted to stretch my legs and decided to navigate the five city blocks back to my hotel. Cars swarmed the four lane street to my right. The light rail barrelled over my head. The sidewalk was more of a parking zone for scooters than a pedestrian haven. The residents of Taipei barrelled down towards me, inured to the commuting madness. Many of them were wearing face masks, which made me feel for a moment like I had missed an important news bulletin. But given that we were out-numbered by gas and diesel motors, they were probably all the wiser for it.

Thirty minutes later, I dragged myself into the marble oasis of the hotel lobby. The bellman smiled at me and asked if he could help me find something. “Peace and quiet?!” I felt like saying. Back in my room, I non-chalantly glanced out the window for my neighbors before sealing the curtains shut. The treadmill and CNBC would be charming company enough for tonight.

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