Our flight back from Indonesia landed in Taipei, Taiwan (aka Republic of China) where we had a day long layover. We decided we were going to spend it on the island rather than the airport on the island.
So armed with our travel documents we ventured out at night (it was around 11 pm) and caught up with the young lady at the immigration desk. No lines since they have like 10 counters open.
She was perky and totally focused on making sure we had the right documents to enter and exit (when the time came). "Show me ticket" she sharply cried when we merely gave our passports to her to stamp. Since our airline took away ongoing boarding passes claiming security issue (was not entirely sure what that was about) I had to resort to pulling out my smart phone and logging into the airport 'free wi fi' and showing her an e-version of the actual ticket the airline had mailed me.
That was perfectly acceptable to her. She peered over her desk and without actually taking my phone away read the pertinent detail and was happy to see we had an ongoing flight to the US. "Okay look in camera". Then fingerprints (from both hands) that we left with the Taiwanese and we are out. I wonder if they archive this data or merely use it for exit checks. Anyway so far so good.
We wander with our carry on luggage into the arrival hall looking for a transport appliance to our overnight hotel about 20 km away. We see a information desk actually manned by another young lady. This one gets up and says she can speak basic English. Shows eagerness to help. For those that have traveled through this island and Hong Kong - one point of comparison - HK staff seems arrogant compared to the Taiwanese. IMHO. Anyway - the lady understood we want a taxi into town. She pulled out her smart phone and used Google translate to tell us how to get to the queue for the yellow cab.
Off we went. Five minutes later we are in line for Taipei Taxi. The island is big on employing females in the tourism industry it appears (including the airline that had a female only hosts on board) and sure enough a strong voiced high heeled entity appeared with a hand held radio and corralled the crowds into a line and also kept urging the cabbies to pick up quick. (as an aside the island has also elected their head honcho to be a lady - the President of the ROC).
We got to our cab and had to make sure he knew where we were going. So the hotel had asked we print the address in the local language we produced the print out. The line attendant reviewed it and barked the address to the older gentleman who was our driver. Off we went into the dark. The highways are maintained at night when traffic is light and lanes are clearly marked with flashing lights.
The next morning our hotel staff was kind enough to provide bus travel information into downtown proper and directions to the final bus back to airport. We had stayed in Taoyuan which is the same town the airport is in. Now we were headed into Taipei proper. A modern city with a suburban sprawl but clean on the whole. First impression. Connected by adequate public and private partnership services to move people around. Not much by way of traffic snarls other than streets that are too narrow and no room to expand.
Our mission was to first see the erstwhile architectural marvel called the Taipei 101.
An office complex and hotel with a commercial floor at the bottom for dining and shopping, the building looks from the street like takeout food boxes stacked on top of each other. There are decorative metal buttons on its outside facade to make the structure pop and glisten like an oversize gift box.
It is accessed easily enough from the main bus station where we got off using the local subway.
We also stopped at the CSK Memorial dedicated to the president of the ROC, a controversial figure to the day. The white building houses a statue of the former president where a change of guard occurs on top of the hour. Climbing 80 odd steps (that is how old the president was when he died) almost had me wondering if my end was near - try it in 100 degree heat index and humidity after having walked to the building across the big court in front.
All in all it was an experience spending few hours in the country and enjoying some dim sum and mango cha cha (ice cream made from local mango) to cool off.
There is more natural scenery according to the guide books further south but that will be a trip for another day.
So armed with our travel documents we ventured out at night (it was around 11 pm) and caught up with the young lady at the immigration desk. No lines since they have like 10 counters open.
She was perky and totally focused on making sure we had the right documents to enter and exit (when the time came). "Show me ticket" she sharply cried when we merely gave our passports to her to stamp. Since our airline took away ongoing boarding passes claiming security issue (was not entirely sure what that was about) I had to resort to pulling out my smart phone and logging into the airport 'free wi fi' and showing her an e-version of the actual ticket the airline had mailed me.
That was perfectly acceptable to her. She peered over her desk and without actually taking my phone away read the pertinent detail and was happy to see we had an ongoing flight to the US. "Okay look in camera". Then fingerprints (from both hands) that we left with the Taiwanese and we are out. I wonder if they archive this data or merely use it for exit checks. Anyway so far so good.
We wander with our carry on luggage into the arrival hall looking for a transport appliance to our overnight hotel about 20 km away. We see a information desk actually manned by another young lady. This one gets up and says she can speak basic English. Shows eagerness to help. For those that have traveled through this island and Hong Kong - one point of comparison - HK staff seems arrogant compared to the Taiwanese. IMHO. Anyway - the lady understood we want a taxi into town. She pulled out her smart phone and used Google translate to tell us how to get to the queue for the yellow cab.
Off we went. Five minutes later we are in line for Taipei Taxi. The island is big on employing females in the tourism industry it appears (including the airline that had a female only hosts on board) and sure enough a strong voiced high heeled entity appeared with a hand held radio and corralled the crowds into a line and also kept urging the cabbies to pick up quick. (as an aside the island has also elected their head honcho to be a lady - the President of the ROC).
We got to our cab and had to make sure he knew where we were going. So the hotel had asked we print the address in the local language we produced the print out. The line attendant reviewed it and barked the address to the older gentleman who was our driver. Off we went into the dark. The highways are maintained at night when traffic is light and lanes are clearly marked with flashing lights.
The next morning our hotel staff was kind enough to provide bus travel information into downtown proper and directions to the final bus back to airport. We had stayed in Taoyuan which is the same town the airport is in. Now we were headed into Taipei proper. A modern city with a suburban sprawl but clean on the whole. First impression. Connected by adequate public and private partnership services to move people around. Not much by way of traffic snarls other than streets that are too narrow and no room to expand.
Our mission was to first see the erstwhile architectural marvel called the Taipei 101.
An office complex and hotel with a commercial floor at the bottom for dining and shopping, the building looks from the street like takeout food boxes stacked on top of each other. There are decorative metal buttons on its outside facade to make the structure pop and glisten like an oversize gift box.
It is accessed easily enough from the main bus station where we got off using the local subway.
We also stopped at the CSK Memorial dedicated to the president of the ROC, a controversial figure to the day. The white building houses a statue of the former president where a change of guard occurs on top of the hour. Climbing 80 odd steps (that is how old the president was when he died) almost had me wondering if my end was near - try it in 100 degree heat index and humidity after having walked to the building across the big court in front.
 |
| CSK Memorial |
 |
| the man himself - Chiang Kai Shek |
 |
| Krispy Kreme has special flavors for local markets |
There is more natural scenery according to the guide books further south but that will be a trip for another day.
You missed the typhoon..
ReplyDelete