In a restaurant in Taipei one of the five waitresses came forward with English explanations to the Chinese menu, and returned to talk a little after she had placed my order. "Where are you from?" she asked. "England." "Why are you in Taiwan?" I'd never really thought about it so I told her that I'd been to Japan and Korea and that the island was on the way to Hong Kong. "Then you go back to England?" England was just a memory. I told her that I hoped to travel on the trains in China. "China!" She put her hand to her mouth and returned to her friends, laughing at the absurdity.
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