The Big Flight and locked in Taipei Airport's motel prison

Well... not a cage so much and I was locked in, but I was unable to get out of the airport the entire time and there was absolutely nothing to do but tune into Chinese subbed, American action movies from 10 years ago and stretch (I had to after the flight).

So Taipei airport isn't exactly the most accommodating after 22:00, but to be fair after a slow opening they had some decent noodles and even a blind-person-massage-parlor that I didn't get to use. The flight in itself was actually pretty unremarkable, the 14 hours wiled away to the not-so-quiet hum of the engines and while I found that even 3 days latter my lower back still thinks it's missing a vertebrae or two, with a few timely stretches and walks to the bathroom (more for my legs than my bladder) I was able to get by without too much trouble. I didn't sleep much but most of the flight I was watching one movie or another either on my laptop or the seat-screen and did quite a bit of reading (Having an ereader on a plane is extremely handy as they have none of the weight and size of a few books). Luckily, in the middle section they had three seats, the middle one being empty leaving me and my left-side counterpart both two wonderful armrests all to ourselves and an empty space with which to throw our bags and computers.

On arriving in Taipei I was informed I had to pay $100 dollars for the airport motel (they called it a hotel, it wasn't) or have all my baggage dumped outside the airport at 22:00 and with a guy who has never been to Taipei and has no idea where the hotels are (and with no real way to look them up or any Taiwanese money). So very groggily I took their directions (which only worked because the airport is basically a straight line) and got to my room and even though I was told I'd be woken for the flight to Bangkok, either due to excitement or worry or both I was unable to sleep and spent the night emailing various people in other (daylight) time zones. This was one of the roughest nights so far.

The next morning I got out of my room as the airport was still waking up and spend a few hours waking around, wishing I could get a massage by a blind person until the cafes opened and I could get something to eat. After that I grabbed my bags and waited at the gate 'till my flight arrived (08:30).