Tearing around Taiwan

[OZDUCK]

We have just had a short trip to Taiwan. The main reason was the wedding of my son to his Taiwanese born, now Australian citizen, partner but that particular event will be pretty much off-limits for this report. My new daughter-in-law planned the trip to try and show us as much of possible of her native land. Being inexperienced she tried to fit too much in our limited time there but we certainly saw lots of things. We travelled in a van with a driver/guide. Apparently pretty normal in Taiwan but very strange to us. The hotels we were booked in never got above 3 star but the were clean and comfortable. Almost all had self laundry facilities that were pretty cheap and one was free.

A couple of things to mention at the outset. The public toilets in Taiwan that we used were uniformly very clean and not at all smelly plus they were all free. Europe could certainly learn from them. The only shortage was toilet paper. There was always at least one 'sitting' toilet as well as squat ones.

Smoking was very rare and looked to be about the same rate as in Australia. After our experiences in Germany last year it was nice not to be enveloped in smelly second hand smoke. In fact a quick check on the internet shows that the rate is about 14%. Something else Europe could learn from Taiwan.

My son, his wife to be and their 15 month son used points from his business expenses to fly on SQ in J. We have very few points left and SQ wanted around $5,500 each for a paid trip in J. So we fell back on our old standby of Scootplus to Singapore and then booked J on China Airlines Singapore to Taiwan. It cost around $1,000 each for Scootplus and China Airlines was around $2050 each.

 

[OZDUCK]

About an hour for our departure to Perth Airport we got a message that our Scoot flight had been delayed by three hours for "operational reasons". Annoying but at least we had a chance to lessen our waiting time at the airport - I have no access to lounges. When we got there we were given a $30 dollar voucher for the delay. This let us buy 3 bottles of soft drink, 2 small cakes and a couple of packets of potato chips. The waiting was pretty easy and there was plenty of comfortable seating available.



We eventually boarded in line with the new timing. As usual Scoot ground staff fiercely patrolled the 'premium' check in lane and transgressors were quickly sent away. There must have been a replacement B787 on this trip as we were in a B787-9 with 5 rows of 7 across seats rather than a B787-8 with 3 rows as scheduled. This meant that the 'Plus' cabin was only half full.

This cabin is getting a bit worn and out of date but there is still plenty of leg and shoulder room - the reason I fly it. At 6'3" in old money I was never cramped. Even with the seat in front fully reclined I could easily get up.







The food is basic but ok for a flight that usually comes in at under 5 hours.



My meal was actually very spicy with lots of chopped chili. My wifes was more bland but fine. They are just like a $5 hawker meal in singapore.

 

[OZDUCK]

We got to our hotel, Village Inn in Katong, at about 03:00 so the next day we weren't all the bright eyed and bushy tailed.

The Village Inn is a bit old fashioned but none the worse for that. Large rooms, a balcony and a mini fridge. A nearby MRT station will open on Marine Parade in about 3 weeks.







Next to the hotel. This house would once be on the seashore.



The number of condominiums in this area has really surged since our last stay about 5 years ago.



East Coast Road Katong

 

[OZDUCK]

These old gates in a park opposite the Kallang MRT Station took my wife's fancy. It turns out that they were the gates to the old Kallang Airport which was in operation from 1937 to 1955 when it was replaced by the Payar Lebar Airport. The old control tower is also still standing.



We then went off to Chinatown.

Pagoda Street - pretty quiet.



There is a lot of nice street art in this area. It showed scenes of the past lifestyle of Chinatown.

 

[OZDUCK]

Some more buildings in the area

Sri Mariamman Temple (1827) - the oldest Hindi temple in Singapore​

A bit of comparison between the old and the new



Buddha Tooth Relic Temple built in 2007.



Then off to lunch at Maxwell Market.



Chicken Rice and a Tiger - ah Singapore.




We just had a light evening meal.

Rojak and a Rose Soda for me



Fried Kway Teow for my wife



Some Nonya Cake for desert

 

[OZDUCK]

We went to the Airport fairly early the next day.

China Airlines use the Marhaba Lounge (Dnata) at Changi Terminal 3. We have been in 3 or 4 of the 'contract' lounges at Changi in various terminals and this would be the worst one we have used. Small and certainly not very special. The seating was pretty uncomfortable and the food choices uninspired. We ended up leaving early to have a walk around.





Our awaiting A350

 

[elanshin]

These old gates in a park opposite the Kallang MRT Station took my wife's fancy. It turns out that they were the gates to the old Kallang Airport which was in operation from 1937 to 1955 when it was replaced by the Payar Lebar Airport. The old control tower is also still standing.

View attachment 388257

We then went off to Chinatown.

Pagoda Street - pretty quiet.

View attachment 388260

There is a lot of nice street art in this area. It showed scenes of the past lifestyle of Chinatown.

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Took me a moment to realise this was Singapore. I was wondering what a strange place in Taiwan to have "Chinatown"

 

[OZDUCK]

Took me a moment to realise this was Singapore. I was wondering what a strange place in Taiwan to have "Chinatown"

Well there is :-

https://chinatowntaipei.jimdosite.com/

 

[OZDUCK]

The interior does look pretty classy in my opinion. The FA's could mostly speak reasonable English. On the return flight their English was noticeably shakier.





The seat was very comfortable and quite roomy. But I never tried it in lie flat mode.



The iconic lamp



The last two airlines we have flown on. The China Airlines seat is better than any of the SQ J seats I have used.



The usual concentration of ships swinging on the pick with Marina Bay in the background.



Some of the industrial areas surrounding Singapore.

 

[OZDUCK]

The menu and drinks list





A pre-departure drink of blueberry juice was offered.




The food was not of , what I imagine to be, Michelin Starred quality. But it was mostly tasty and fresh. The bread was the exception. The roll was a bit stodgy and the garlic bread was very poor.



We both had the Butter Chicken.



It was pretty cloudy most of the way but I could glimpse what I assume to be the Philippines to the south.

One of the multiplicity of elevated freeways around Taiwan.



The hanger of a newly created competitor (2020) to China Airlines.



A new Terminal is under construction and judging by our arrival experience it is badly needed.




We arrived a little early but spent about an hour in various queues. Taiwan is the only country outside of Australia and New Zealand I have seen take quarantine measures so seriously. All hand luggage was x-rayed with plenty of Quarantine Officers asking questions and there were sniffer dogs as well. After that we were in a long snaking queue via sheep runs for Immigration. There were some e-gates for the locals but no-one seemed to be using them and I am not sure if they were even operative. Some of the 'foreigners' passport counters were progressively closed off to cater for locals. Once you arrived at the counter you were photographed and fingerprinted - via a screen. Australians are given a 90 day visa on arrival.

 

[antycbr]

The menu and drinks list

View attachment 388341

View attachment 388342

A pre-departure drink of blueberry juice was offered.

View attachment 388345


The food was not of , what I imagine to be, Michelin Starred quality. But it was mostly tasty and fresh. The bread was the exception. The roll was a bit stodgy and the garlic bread was very poor.

View attachment 388347

We both had the Butter Chicken.

View attachment 388348

It was pretty cloudy most of the way but I could glimpse what I assume to be the Philippines to the south.

One of the multiplicity of elevated freeways around Taiwan.

View attachment 388352

The hanger of a newly created competitor (2020) to China Airlines.

View attachment 388353

A new Terminal is under construction and judging by our arrival experience it is badly needed.

View attachment 388351


We arrived a little early but spent about an hour in various queues. Taiwan is the only country outside of Australia and New Zealand I have seen take quarantine measures so seriously. All hand luggage was x-rayed with plenty of Quarantine Officers asking questions and there were sniffer dogs as well. After that we were in a long snaking queue via sheep runs for Immigration. There were some e-gates for the locals but no-one seemed to be using them and I am not sure if they were even operative. Some of the 'foreigners' passport counters were progressively closed off to cater for locals. Once you arrived at the counter you were photographed and fingerprinted - via a screen. Australians are given a 90 day visa on arrival.

I believe Taiwan doesn’t have Swine Flu or Foot and Mouth, so they are very thorough in checking, even incoming flights from Australia get checked.

 

[rbjhan]

Pre COVID AU passports can be registered to use the e-gate in TPE.
I'm not sure about now...

 

[cwd]

Pre COVID AU passports can be registered to use the e-gate in TPE.
I'm not sure about now...

Can still be done. Is fast to register on arrival (As few countries are eligible), and would almost certainly end up being faster to register and use the e-gate than using a manual counter.

 

[rbjhan]

Can still be done. Is fast to register on arrival (As few countries are eligible), and would almost certainly end up being faster to register and use the e-gate than using a manual counter.

I have registered before (2019), wondering if it still works...

 

[OZDUCK]

Thanks for pointing this out. The e-gates registration process is below. As stated above it can be done on arrival. I will have to tell my son about it as he is much more likely to return than we are.

e-Gate ENROLLMENT SYSTEM

egate.immigration.gov.tw

 

[VPS]

The menu and drinks list

View attachment 388341

View attachment 388342

A pre-departure drink of blueberry juice was offered.

View attachment 388345


The food was not of , what I imagine to be, Michelin Starred quality. But it was mostly tasty and fresh. The bread was the exception. The roll was a bit stodgy and the garlic bread was very poor.

View attachment 388347

We both had the Butter Chicken.

View attachment 388348

It was pretty cloudy most of the way but I could glimpse what I assume to be the Philippines to the south.

One of the multiplicity of elevated freeways around Taiwan.

View attachment 388352

The hanger of a newly created competitor (2020) to China Airlines.

View attachment 388353

A new Terminal is under construction and judging by our arrival experience it is badly needed.

View attachment 388351


We arrived a little early but spent about an hour in various queues. Taiwan is the only country outside of Australia and New Zealand I have seen take quarantine measures so seriously. All hand luggage was x-rayed with plenty of Quarantine Officers asking questions and there were sniffer dogs as well. After that we were in a long snaking queue via sheep runs for Immigration. There were some e-gates for the locals but no-one seemed to be using them and I am not sure if they were even operative. Some of the 'foreigners' passport counters were progressively closed off to cater for locals. Once you arrived at the counter you were photographed and fingerprinted - via a screen. Australians are given a 90 day visa on arrival.

Visitor to Taiwan hit with $9,000 fine over 'roast chicken and pork combo' lunch box

Taiwan's customs officials issue a fine of NT$200,000 ($9,369) to a traveller for attempting to bring a lunch box containing pork into the country.

www.abc.net.au

Very strict quarantine regs

 

[drron]

It's not just the fine but they won't be allowed to enter Taiwan unless the fine is paid. And they were deported.

 

[Flyfrequently]

We got to our hotel, Village Inn in Katong, at about 03:00 so the next day we weren't all the bright eyed and bushy tailed.

The Village Inn is a bit old fashioned but none the worse for that. Large rooms, a balcony and a mini fridge. A nearby MRT station will open on Marine Parade in about 3 weeks.

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Next to the hotel. This house would once be on the seashore.

View attachment 388277

The number of condominiums in this area has really surged since our last stay about 5 years ago.

View attachment 388247

East Coast Road Katong

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We found the staff at Village Katong delightful.

 

[OZDUCK]

We found the staff at Village Katong delightful.

Actually we also found them very helpful, friendly and pleased to have a chat.

 

[OZDUCK]

After we got through the arrival formalities we were met by Jackson who was to be our Driver/Tour Guide for the next couple of weeks. Being a cheapskate we had arrived the day before the others in our party as it was $500 cheaper for us to fly on a Sunday rather than a Monday. This is the first time in around 48 years of overseas travel that we were met at a foreign airport by a driver. Our daughter in law was convinced that we would be unable to use the excellent public transit systems in Taipei city. This includes an express train form the airport to Central Station. Pointing out how we always travelled on our own and booked everything ourselves didn't stop her worrying about us so we acceded to her wishes. The trip into the city from Taoyuan Airport gave us an idea of how busy the roads are in an around the city. Even at 1800 on a Sunday night the traffic was horrendous. It also introduced to the apparently innumerable number of elevated roads in Taiwan.

We stayed for the first couple of nights at the Stay Inn in the Zhongshan District only about 1500 metres from Taipei Main Station. It occupied about the top 5 floors of a nondescript building with the reception being on the 3rd floor - Taiwan follows the American practice of the ground floor being called the 1st floor. It was actually pefectly fine for our purposes and quiet except in the mornings when low flying military jets flew low over the city in answer to Chinese 'annoyance' flights. A new Taiwanese President was inaugurated during our stay and he annoyed them in his first speech.





The washbasin was in the main room.



Most of the hotels had all singing all dancing toilets but we could never get used to the concept that toilet paper was not to be flushed but placed in a bin in the toilet area.



We had a luxuriously appointed balcony with a superbly scenic view










Most of the hotels we used had self service laundry facilities. This one was about $2.50 for the washing machine and the same for the dryer. As you can see there was also a microwave which we used to heat up a quick meal once.