At My Stay in Taiwan – Welcome Back! –

Greetings from Tate to everyone!
　
I traveled to Taipei, Taiwan this April on business.
　After that, for a total of three times in May, July and September, I visited the Kaohsiung City, the second largest city of Taiwan located in south, and stayed there for about 10 days on every visit.

　I stayed at what is called in Japan, a “business hotel.”

　My stay was arranged by a female, local interpreter who helped me with oral and written translation until this August.

　The hotel I stayed at was a nice one with the services and facilities similar to Japan.
The voltage of electricity supply in Taiwan is the same as Japan.
　But, there was one thing that surprised me.
　Almost all bathrooms have only a shower.
　The translator later told me that the houses or apartments in Taiwan rarely have a bathtub.
　It was late May this year that I first visited Kaohsiung.
　Kaohsiung has an international airport, and there are two direct flights weekly from the Chubu International Airport in Nagoya to Kaohsiung.
　Immediately after getting out of the Kaohsiung Airport, I felt extreme humidity outside.
　They told me the humidity there was 80% to my surprise.
　The peak temperature was 39 ℃, and I got drenched with sweat just from walking.
　Inside the hotel room, however, the air-conditioner was working very good.

　I thought to myself, while smoking.
　“When getting up tomorrow morning, my throat will have pain!”
　But, when I woke up the next morning, my throat didn’t have any pain at all.
　I learned later that due to the outside humidity of 80%, even an air-conditioned room maintains humidity of around 50%, and therefore, my throat didn’t get sore at all.

Two of the hotel staff spoke English, and one elderly lady worker spoke a little Japanese.
　She was an interesting lady who spoke to me in her broken Japanese during my stay there.
　I stayed at the same hotel in Kaohsiung when I went there late July.
　After arriving at the hotel, when I was about to enter the same room, I unexpectedly came across with this elderly worker.
And the lady spoke to me saying,
“Welcome back, Mr. Tate!” in Japanese.
I naturally replied, “I am home,” in Japanese.

　I felt a very exhilarating feeling.
　Unlike the courteous welcome greetings at a first class hotel, the sound of “welcome back” spoken in Japanese made me feel that “there is someone who is waiting to welcome me in this foreign place of Taiwan.”
I also thought these words cannot be said by someone who doesn’t understand the linguistic sense of Japanese people.
　
Good Luck to everyone! （*^_^*）