Taiwan
Up early enough to enjoy the sunrise from my hotel room, realized I did not have time for breakfast, so straight to the airport after enjoying the sunrise. Like the way in, a single transfer from the W Taipei (MRT City Hall station) to Taipei Main Station, then the express train to the airport.
Leaving slighty earlier than planned actually left time to explore the food court at the airport's MRT station. An airport train station food court (hello Terminal 2) open first thing? Complete with beef roll and soy milk? I felt like I'd finished the last of my expected food groups on the trip with this last meal, even if it wasn't anything to rave about-- it did the job.
From bottom to top, Taipei Taoyuan International Airport is nothing special as far as architecture goes, but it is one busy place.
Food on today's UA 872 was better than on earlier UA 871, although the shrimp pasta, much like the shotrib on the way over, was best described as unexciting. The return today was an hour longer than usual due to ash from a volcanic eruption (Krasheninnikov volcano, Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia), forcing airplanes to detour around for a few days. At least the delayed returned paid off, with the Dumbarton Bridge peeking through a hole in the fog on the return, making for some prettier scenery than normal of the southern-most bridges in San Francisco Bay.
United's check-in agents in Taipei, aware of the longer than usual flight time, had already rebooked me on a later flight back to LAX, so from there on out it was smooth sailing. As soon as I got home, decided to run off to a new fried chicken place in the Arts District, Happies Hand Made. Their fried chicken is as juicy and well-seasoned as advertised, the portion of beef tallow fries is massive, and unfortunately, the "spicy" fried chicken is just covered in a layer of chili crispy. Some may find it interesting, but it was not great, at least to me. Stick to the original next time?