January 2023 in Taiwan and Japan

[cosi]

Well, “ZERO worries” notwithstanding, if you’re travelling from a ski area in the next few days, good luck.

It all works well until it doesn’t, such as when it snows a lot.

Luggage is still safe irrespective of weather - may be delayed but still safe

 

[rbjhan]

Stay at Tango Inn Jihe, Taipei

When in Taipei we usually stay at the UInn Business Hotel in Shihlin as it is very close to a relative living in Taipei, the rooms are spacious and they provide free breakfast. Unfortunately it was not available for our last minute booking so we tried the Tango Inn Jihe this time for 3 nights.

I booked this via Agoda as the hotel website didn’t have any availability. We booked a twin room for 3 nights for TWD 7800 during a busy weekend in Taipei.

This is a modern 3 star hotel which is very reasonably priced and conveniently located. If you take the MRT the station is across the road from the hotel and you’re close to a the Shihlin part of Taipei which has various restaurants and markets. The company has a more upscale hotel next door, the Tango, but this value offering was fine for our purposes.

Check in

This was very easy and a slightly earlier check in than the advertised time of 4pm was able to be facilitated.

Room

Our twin room was on the ground floor so we just walked across from the small reception through a passageway into the room. This was very convenient but it did mean we couldn’t open the blinds to the small window in the room as it opened onto the driveway of the adjoining hotel building.

This room was on the smaller side but made up for this with a good use of its space and had a small arm chair in the corner, desk and chair, a useable closet and decent sized bathroom. The room had the full set of toiletries in the bathroom as well as slippers (which I always appreciate). Bottled water was provided in the room and replenished daily.

There are larger rooms at this hotel which I would recommend if you were staying for longer or looking to spend more time in your room. In this part of town I do still prefer the Uinn Business Hotel.

That being said, the hotel had a 24 hour lounge behind reception which offered self serve tea/coffee and snacks which could make up a light meal should you wish. This room opened onto a courtyard and was a pleasant space to spend time in although it did get busy between 7-830am. It was advertised as being for breakfast with items put out at 7am but I saw them replenishing it throughout the day.

I have stayed in this hotel! The loft room is very nice.

 

[karen blancfield]

Looks like the busses are another casualty of Covid. the JR pass covered them in 2018.

Covered the hop on bus in Hiroshima at Christmas.

 

[cdp88]

Stay at Novotel Taoyuan Airport

With a morning flight we decided to stay overnight at the Novotel Airport hotel. It is not in the airport as such but is a short ride away by car/bus or MRT.

The airport shuttle limits luggage to two pieces per person and four pieces per room. As we has considerably more luggage than this we arranged a private transfer using the same service we use for airport transfers.

This is the only Accor property in Taiwan and while there are other hotels in and around the airport I was keen to use my loyalty benefits. Having received a few points from our Japan trip I was able to reduce the cost to about $AUD45 for the night. I had stayed here before without any status many years ago so this would allow me to see how they treat Accor members.


Check-in
Staff were very helpful on check in with luggage and met us on the forecourt to collect the considerable amount of luggage we had. We stored most of it downstairs rather than carrying it up to our room. They had it ready when we were due to leave the next morning.

Check in was fairly quick as they had my details and I had already paid for the room. They didn’t take a card to guarantee charges and advised that I should pay for any meals at the restaurant.

Loyalty benefits
No upgrade was given and I didn’t ask given we would be here for 12 hours. I received a small gift in the room of a pineapple cake, some cookies and fruit and nut mix. 2 bottles of water were in the room but I believe these are in all rooms so are not a loyalty benefit.

The bar had a dedicated menu for the welcome drink with different sections for silver, gold and platinum/diamond. While I didn’t take a picture of it silver was tea/coffee and soft drinks, gold was beer and platinum had access to wine. We were given 1 welcome drink for the room.

Room

As we were here for 12 hours only I booked a standard room. We didn’t have a view of the tarmac but the room was spacious with plenty of storage for bags and was well equipped with toiletries.

Restaurant

We decided to take dinner in the standard buffet style restaurant at the hotel which had an a la carte menu as well as buffet until 9pm. The buffet was 1150TWD per person and they honoured Accor plus for a 50% discount. While I was paying rather than charging to the room they proactively sought my details so that I could earn points and thanked me for my loyalty. The points did indeed post to my account together with the room spend.

There was a good offering of different food types with both Asian and western options, hot and cold. Some was not particularly fresh , eg French stick loaf seemed like it had been sitting out for a while, but most was fine and we were satisfied with the meal. The drinks list was limited (eg only house red or white wine and limited choice of beers) although there was free tea/coffee and soft drinks on the buffet.

The bar was pretty quiet and didn’t really have much atmosphere.

Summary

Overall, this was a good experience even though loyalty recognition was about average.

 

[cdp88]

TPE-BNE Flight on EVA 787-10

I was particularly looking forward to this daytime flight in the 787-10 in business class as I would be able to enjoy the food and drink on offer.

For reference I’ve attached screen shots of the various menu options for this flight in terms of main course for the “light meal” (lunch) and “refresher” (dinner). I decided to go for a chef special of the veal cheeks and my partner the spare ribs chef special for lunch.

My plan was to work through the wine list a bit more this time starting with the vintage champagne on offer. This was good for a top up during the appetiser and entree courses. For the main course I switched to the French red wine on offer and this was excellent. I usually take port for dessert on EVA seeing as they offer it and this was a great finish to the meal.

The refresher meal was served approx 2 hours before our descent. I decided on the western style offering of the seafood crepe. I’ve eaten this before on EVA and while it didn’t amaze me last time I ate it the other options were not to my liking. It was quite good with the entree salad an excellent addition.

I decided to switch to the 2009 sauvignon blanc. Whilst I generally don’t go for this varietal in the style it is usually made in Australia and New Zealand this promised to be a more complex and rewarding drink and I was very happy with this choice.

Service was excellent again on this flight. I was proactively offered top ups and refills and they remembered my preferences.

 

[cdp88]

Conclusion

This is the end of my trip report. It was great to travel again and I’m keen to return again next year.

My highlights from this trip would be:
- visit to Korakuen in Okayama. I would like to spend more time at the garden in another season and also spend more time in the town
- visit to Kanazawa. Everything worked out perfectly here with the hotel, tourist bus and dining options.
- EVA’s business class continues to amaze me with the service and food offerings. I love the 787 design too.

Accor did a good job overall on this trip and for the prices I paid (approx $120/room/night) I was satisfied. I finally managed to get all my points for the Osaka stay but it took multiple emails to the hotel and Accor.

 

[MR61]

Stay at Tango Inn Jihe, Taipei

When in Taipei we usually stay at the UInn Business Hotel in Shihlin as it is very close to a relative living in Taipei, the rooms are spacious and they provide free breakfast. Unfortunately it was not available for our last minute booking so we tried the Tango Inn Jihe this time for 3 nights.

I booked this via Agoda as the hotel website didn’t have any availability. We booked a twin room for 3 nights for TWD 7800 during a busy weekend in Taipei.

This is a modern 3 star hotel which is very reasonably priced and conveniently located. If you take the MRT the station is across the road from the hotel and you’re close to a the Shihlin part of Taipei which has various restaurants and markets. The company has a more upscale hotel next door, the Tango, but this value offering was fine for our purposes.

Check in

This was very easy and a slightly earlier check in than the advertised time of 4pm was able to be facilitated.

Room

Our twin room was on the ground floor so we just walked across from the small reception through a passageway into the room. This was very convenient but it did mean we couldn’t open the blinds to the small window in the room as it opened onto the driveway of the adjoining hotel building.

This room was on the smaller side but made up for this with a good use of its space and had a small arm chair in the corner, desk and chair, a useable closet and decent sized bathroom. The room had the full set of toiletries in the bathroom as well as slippers (which I always appreciate). Bottled water was provided in the room and replenished daily.

There are larger rooms at this hotel which I would recommend if you were staying for longer or looking to spend more time in your room. In this part of town I do still prefer the Uinn Business Hotel.

That being said, the hotel had a 24 hour lounge behind reception which offered self serve tea/coffee and snacks which could make up a light meal should you wish. This room opened onto a courtyard and was a pleasant space to spend time in although it did get busy between 7-830am. It was advertised as being for breakfast with items put out at 7am but I saw them replenishing it throughout the day.

Activities in Taipei

We didn’t visit any of the main tourist sites on this trip as we have been many times before. We did head up to a fairly popular with the locals spot called Maokong in the hills outside Taipei. It is famous for its tea and there are many tea houses and restaurants where you can enjoy the view. The road up there was quite precarious and most people took the bus. There was also a cable car. While it was raining and misty you could see the clouds floating over the mountains.

Thanks for such a great trip report ! We just booked our reward flights for our first trip to Taiwan, and we're looking at booking Uinn Business Hotel for our first four nights - the rooms look modern and spacious.

 

[ltwo]

Thanks for the TR. You've inspired me with Kazanawa. Maybe in a few years.