A big problem for Taiwan is that, despite the fact that according to the CIA factbook there are over 22 million people living here, the place is simply not fit for human habitation. Taipei is basically a city in a jungle. It’s humid and hot, as you might expect, but perhaps worse, it is simply infested with insects, many of which I fought a personal battle with last night. You see, they installed a new air conditioner in the room I’m staying in yesterday, and when they pulled the old one from the wall, hell, in the form of a small hornet’s nest in the AC unit, was unleashed. In order to get the hornets out of the house, we had to use those electric fly swatters, except that they were powerless against such large insects. Well, not powerless, but let’s just say that the hornets and I (and my cousin’s wife) were evenly matched. It was touch and go for a while, (the AC installation guy was such a big chicken – he totally ran away) but eventually we prevailed. Except that last night at 4, I woke up with 6 mosquito bites. We had opened the screen for a few minutes to get the hornets out, you see. As I have already mentioned, Taipei is in an uninhabitable jungle, and the jungle is angry. I eventually killed the 4 mosquitoes which had infiltrated the house, as well as the one remaining hornet which had escaped detection. Anyway, it took 2 hours. Taiwanese mosquitoes are very tricky, and it took all of my considerable mosquito tracking powers. In the words of Gandalf, “I have never met such a challenge.”
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