Taipei Airport

I have landed safely in the Taipei, Taiwan airport.  I have one more flight to Bangkok, Thailand.  This week has been a whirlwind.  I'd like to thank my friends and family that stepped up to help me prepare.

A few highlights from the trip thus far:

Good flight from Indy to Salt Lake, and Salt Lake to San Diego.  Nice ladies next to me on both flights.
Really cool view of Salt Lake and SNOW coming down - probably the last snow I will see for awhile.
Got to spend time with my best friend in San Diego :-)
Visited the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park, and gawk at koi the size of NBA player's feet.
Tried Filipino entrees and pastries - yum!
Saw a cute toddler with light up shoes (dancing to make them light up of course) at check-in.
Was saved from excess baggage weight charges by a very nice, (very cute!) ticketing agent :-)
Listened to the musings of a four year old waiting to board on: how to mix lemonade and chocolate milk, how people don't eat seeds because those are for flowers (I was eating seeds).  In the middle of this exchange I was summoned to the desk and asked to change seats to an exit row (phew, OK - not that they decided to charge me extra for my luggage weight or put me on standby) and when I got back, to answer "why I was going to be in an exit row?" I explained about how I was superwoman because I ate seeds, and I would have to save everyone on the plane if it was going to crash.  I enjoyed his reaction to that one.
Saw an advertisement that seemed the direct inspiration for Bill Murray's character in the movie Lost in Translation - down to the way the actor in the ad held the glass.  "Make it Santori time..." flashed through my mind.
Apparently the 2010 Taipei Floral festival is going on - complete with lucky charm plant leprechaun mascots everywhere.  They also remind me of Pikmin, the Nintendo video game plant people.
The Taipei airport is coming alive as I sit here and wait for my connection.
Ads for Swarovski crystal and other duty free wares for sale - modeled by a Caucasian woman.  I'm not sure if I'm allowed to be bothered by the westernization of the east as a white, western woman.  But I don't particularly like consumerism on the whole, either.  A large part of why I never went into advertising graphic design - I knew I would hate it simply on principle.
We are definitely getting closer to boarding as the waiting area is beginning to buzz with activity.
I watched the sunrise across the terminal here - and oddly, my first thought was - that building looks like it was dropped straight out of the movie Blade Runner.  Triangular windows, somewhat a pyramid and somewhat a weird trapezoid - Someone that's seen Blade Runner back me up here.  All that's missing is the flying cars.
The relative quiet is gone as it's a more reasonable hour of the morning and more people are preparing for boarding, so I'm going to sign off for now.