The best temperature to serve coffee is:

Unless of course you're getting an iced sea salt coffee, which you are. Ladies and Gentlemen, and Mother in particular - I found it. Or rather it found me, because this is actually an 85 C we stumbled on onr way to a farther one I had researched and marked on our map.

Kate and I managed to, almost accidentally, have a wonderfully successful first day in Taipei, and the day is by no means over. It's half past four and we're just back at the hostel recuperating a bit. This morning we decided that walking around our neighborhood was a good way of orienting ourselves, so we set out in the general direction of the 85 C marked on our map, and along the way we ate breakfast from a 7/11 (a whoooole different experience in Asia - I had milk tea and a sushi roll), stopped at the famous and breathtaking Longshan Temple (next to which we found the sea salt coffee we were searching for), and afterward passed through a whole street of jade bead stores and a whole street of exotic (and not so exotic - hello common house finch) bird shops to find ourselves in the vast, oxygen rich haven that is the Taipei botanical gardens. In this way, with no real plan, we found ourselves having a perfectly lovely day.

Needless to say, I am already in love. This city (so far) is incredible, and somehow feels a world away from the Philippines. English signs are hard to find, senselessly lovely designs adorn perfectly common sidewalks or power boxes, and there is so, so, so much to look at. Plus, with all the food and flowers and temples, this city actually smells good.

And amazingly, Kate and I have both noticed how comfortable we are here. We've been in Taiwan less than 24 hours and even with the newness of it all, we're finding ourselves at ease. No one stares or gapes or hassles us when we are merely looking through a shop, and if you stand on the street staring at your map for just a second too long, someone will attempt to help you. This is a big, busy, and very densely populated city, yet it somehow doesn't feel crowded. The streets, though well-used, are free from horns and other unnecessary noise. It's just...calm.

I could go on. And I will, later. For now, the only pictures I can put up are those I email to this blog straight from my iPhone, typing the words later on a hostel computer. So, one picture at a time for now, and I'll bore you with billions once the trip is over. Which I hope it never is.