So yesterday afternoon I arrived in Taipei for a weeklong conference about cosmic dust, and as I write this I’m relaxing in a rather comfortable hotel room. Interestingly enough, this marks the 4th country I’ve visited across 2 continents over the past 6 months. And honestly, I’m enjoying this very much, even if I’m feeing a little run down right now. I love seeing new places. Also, by this point I’m no stranger to being in a country where I don’t speak the same language as most other people around me. That said, for someone who speaks only a small handful of words of Chinese, I seem to have survived ok so far here in Taiwan.

Also, I seem to have far more varieties of currency than normal at the moment. The EasyCard there in the picture below is the newest – it’s a Taiwanese subway card (the local variant on Oyster/Octopus/Suica/fahrCard/Multivía/whatever may be used where you are in the world). I seem to be making a collection of these, as I am with various other things. It seems that if you spend enough time going places elsewhere, you find yourself acquiring some souvenirs without needing to look very hard for them.

I really should write in this blog more often – my apologies to anyone still reading. Also, I should write more sciencey things here. After all, this is supposed to be a science blog and not a travel blog. Though in some ways, when you work in certain fields of research, the two rather go hand in hand. At some point, I’ll no doubt write a couple of things related to the conference I’m here to attend….