Taipei

All it takes is about 30 minutes inside the Taipei airport to realize that, for whatever reason, LAX is a disaster. When I left LAX last night I was unable to find a decent bar…or a restaurant…or even the newspaper. I ended up having a beer at something called The Marine Bar where, maybe, they could seat 15 people and their only choices for bourbon were Jack Daniels and Jim Beam. And this was in the Bradley International Terminal. It’s very, very sad to realize that this is the best my hometown can do: a $9 Budweiser and a bag of chips.

Compare that to Taipei where I landed some 14 and a half hours later. There were noodle places galore and a green meditation room that was dark and quiet and, perhaps most astoundingly, a Hello Kitty Breast Feeding Room. I wanted to go in just to see the decor but, of course, that would have gotten me arrested. Then again, I’m sure the detention center at the Taipei airport is as luxurious as everything else. Afterall, this is an airport that has a big red SOS panic button in every toilet stall. Just in case you happen to have a heart attack while doing your business.