Mike the Mysterious Is Back...

Cats on Tuesday...for more cats in this group visit Gattina, here:


Mike the Mysteriuos, aka, World Traveler, is back home for the holidays and is catching up on his travel log...this is part one of two on his visit to Taiwan.

Mike the Mysterious: World Traveler:

Visit to Taiwan
Part One:

Mike here:

It's time to get back to my travel log and tell you all about my visit to Taipei, Taiwan, and with my host Adan and Michico.

I left on November 10th, yeah, you're right, that's been over a month ago. But right after I got back from there, I zipped off to Sweden to visit Yoggie. While I was in Sweden my human caretaker, and my live, furry companion, Gretchen, were having a few crises to deal with at home. So, I apologize to my gracious host Michico, and my new live, furry friend, Adan, for taking so long to write my story and tell everyone about all the fun things I did while I was visiting them.

First off, I teleported up to Portland PDX, caught a flight on an airplane with humans, and crossed the ocean to Taipei. They let me sit up front in the First Class section next to this little girl with long red braids. She was scared to fly and the flight attendant let her hold me on her lap the whole way. Of course, I'm sure everyone thought it kind of strange that I walked into the airport on my own, waited at the gate with all the other passengers, and then boarded the flight right behind the little girl. Humans are strange. They must have thought that I was some kind or battery operated toy, walking around the way I did. No one picked me up, or even asked me any security questions. I guess having my passport strung around my neck helped. But after crossing the ocean on that big jet liner, in the care of that sweet little redheaded girl, I think people came to think that I was just the girl's toy and never gave me another thought.

It was a really long flight, too. We seemed to fly all night long. I got to gaze out the window, the little girl had a window seat, and I saw all the stars in the universe. What a sight that was. Not every fluffhead, mysterious or not, gets a chance like that. The little girl and I had a great time watching a movie on the back of the seat in front us. I couldn't hear what was being said because the little girl had the headphones on her head. That's okay, though, she had no way of knowing that I was a special kind of fluffhead and would have been interested in hearing the movie, too.

The big jet thundered across the sky and landed with a little jerk on the runway. It sounded like a million lions all hollering at the same time, and if I fly again, I'm going to ask my caretaker for ear muffs or something. Because I'm so magical, my ears are pretty sensitive to sound. More so than the ordinary cat. Anyway, I could see this little island far off and it didn't look like it was going to be big enough to land that huge plane on. But to my surprise, it landed just fine, and when I got off the plane, via the arms of the little red headed girl, I could see that Taiwan was a big place and had lots of room for airplanes.

I recognized Michico right away and jumped down from the little girls arms and raced across the huge airport. Michico recognized me right away, too, and we wasted no time in finding a seat on the bus, and then the train that took us to Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. We boarded Taipei's Metro to Jiantan Station where Michico lives with Adan in ShilLin. Jiantan Station is very beautiful and very busy.

Michico spoke English to me, but she could have spoken in her native language, I understood her every word, because I'm so mysterious, and all. She took me into her apartment high up and I could look out over the city around us. Wow, what a view that was!

Adan greeted me right away and we got along famously for the whole visit. I was pretty tired when I first arrived, even for a magical fluffhead, and I took a long nap with Adan on his blanket. Teleporting over there would have been a lot faster and less tiring, but I was a little afraid that I'd drop out of cyberspace over that vast, cold ocean, and no one but the sharks, would have known it. So I'm really glad that I took a human conveyance with wings.

The next day, Adan woke everyone up very early, wanting his breakfast, and as he usually did, he went right back to sleep as soon as he ate. Michico had a great many things for her and me to do, so we told Adan, we'd see him in the evening. Adan seemed to be okay with that. He wanted me to hang around and see his pigeon sisters, but he agreed there'd be plenty of time for that later. So Arion (that's Michico's cute boyfriend) came by and took Michico and me to see a Film Festival. There were three films. We saw two of them…Asiemut, about a couple that went on their first cycling expedition, 8000 kilometers across Asia. Discovering the world and themselves at the same time. The next one, Mountain without Barriers, was about two blind men and a man with no legs that tackled a 100 foot rock tower in Italy, wow, now that was something! Michico said it "really rock my heart!" She talks so cute.

The best part came after the Banff Film Festival. We stopped to eat Haagen-Dazs ice cream. I got to talk a lot with Arion. He's a very sweet young man, just perfect for Michico. And Adan sure likes him, too. I can tell. I slurped up all the strawberry ice cream I could while I had the chance. Yes, I do eat some things…

When we got back to the apartment, Adan greeted me, happy to hear about my day with Arion and Michico. He could tell I'd had strawberry ice cream and licked the leftovers off my wiry fur. I told him all about the movies and how much fun and exciting being out in the world was with a whole lot of people around.

Oh, wow, was Adan in for a surprise on Sunday. I'm sure glad I got to go with Adan. Michico brought out the red carrying bag and Adan knew right away where they were going…to the VET! Yikes, I'm sure glad I'm made of fiberfill. Being a fluffhead, and magical, to boot, sure has its advantages. Adan didn't want to go anywhere in that red bag. He ran into the bedroom and hid under the covers. Auntie Pamilla was there and she pushed Adan into the bag, while Michico quickly zipped it shut. He was almost too strong for those two girls.

Michico showed me around the VET's office. I have never been to an animal doctor before and it was filled with a lot of sick pets. The doctor introduced me to this beautiful cat named MOMO. She belonged to the veterinarian.

Adan was taken out of the red bag and sat down on a cold, metal table. I sat right beside him and I could feel his anguish. He didn't like that hard old table, and frankly, neither did I. I felt sorry for all the poor cats, and other pets that have to sit their bare, little butts on that cold, metal. Then Adan had to have his temperature taken…the hard way. He was so embarrassed that I was there to witness that probe being projected into a particular sensitive part of his anatomy. All I could do was tell him to hang on, it'd be over with in a second. His temperature was perfect and next he got a shot—I guess for good health to come. Michico was taking pictures of the whole experience, heaping more embarrassment on poor Adan.

As soon as he got his shot, Auntie Pamilla, who was giving him words of encouragement, also, helped him relax a little and he let Michico take his picture with the doctor. After he got weighed, 4.67kg, Adan quickly jumped back into the red bag and eagerly waited for someone to zip it up so he could go home. He was very happy to be home again, and we just hung out on his bed, resting up from his ordeal.

On Monday, we sat in front of Adan's huge windows and watched his pigeon sisters fly around. He told me that one particular pigeon sister flies to the sixth floor air conditioning unit on the building across from his, everyday.

We also watched the busses go up and down the street way down below us; way, way down below. It's really cool to be so high up. Everything on the street below looked so tiny…and so busy. After we were tired of watching pigeons and busses, we decided that it was good time to start the interview. Adan told me that he thought the interview questions were really too long, so we only worked on the first ten questions.

Speaking of a long interview, I've decided that my travel log is a bit long at this point, for one post, so I hope you will come back tomorrow, and I'll finish telling you the rest of my adventures in Taiwan.

Your friend, Mike, the World Traveler