Day 1 & 2: The Traveling Roadshow
I have no idea how I got up for my flight. I've still never missed a flight by being too late. Given I take a whole host of ~7AM flights on Mondays, this is somewhat surprising. If there ever was a time to miss a flight, it was going to be this. It would be one of the worst ones to miss - a flight from London to Singapore to Taipei.
Here was the situation. I was in London for my company's annual all-hands meeting which is followed ny the annual company party, one where the listed end time is 3AM, and in reality is generally a few hours after that.
I was already tired having reached London just two days prior to my departure, on one of the most useless red-eyes ever - the good old 6pm flight to London. I didn't sleep much the following night (Thursday Night) in London as I had to help set up for our company's event starting at 7am. So I was already running on probably 10 hours of sleep over two nights when the party would limit it to a 2-hour night. But I made it. I woke up to my alarm that was set for 7:45, a good 90 minutes after I would go to sleep. I zonked out completely in my 90-minute Uber - 90 minutes beacuse of the illogical nature of London's (lack-of) highway system. I somehow made it on the plane, the beautiful Singapore Airline's whale (A380-800), ready to eat the good food Singapore Airlines would serve, even in economy, and try to sleep for as long as possible.
It says a lot about how sleepy and tired I was that I would willingly sleep through most of a Singapore Airlines flight, given how much I revere the airline and their incredible standard of accommodations - easily the most room and most comfortable ride I've ever had in coach. It also says how much I value Singapore Airlines that I wanted to woken up for the meals to interrupt my sleep.
Anyway, the flights were as good as expected, both featuring the usual Singapore Airline's touches like hot towels before every meal, more drink rounds than you would normally have, printed menus and three meat meal options. In the end, I chose the lamb biryani, whihc was great, even if a fairly strange choice for Singapore Airlines, having no real ties to Indian cuisine. It was really well made, however. The breakfast before we landed consistently of an actually good tasting airlplane omelette and sausage, something most airlines (looking at you, UA) so often screw up.
If there is any downside to Singapore, it probably is their movie selection which leans to having a larger international selection than most, but a weaker Hollywood selection. They had a few movies that I hadn't seen anymore, the only one I had any real intention of getting through was Rocketman (surprisingly good) but then also saw Us on my second flight, a four hour journey from Singapore (where I had a tight one hour layover) through to Taipei.
That flight was on the Boeing 787-10, my first trip in that variant of the Dreamliner, the one that focuses on shorter routes. United flies a bunch of them to Europe from Newark, but sadly not to London. Anyway, this flight was good, short, and before I knew it we were descending into Taipei.
For the trip as a whole, Taiwan was a late addition. Due to the work event in London, I knew I could expense my flight from London to some Asian destination, and the real meat of the vacation would be the 10-11 days in Vietnam and Laos to come. I had a few extra days, and after some dalliances with Sydney and Seoul, I settled on Taiwan, allowing me to get a new country, a new area, a first experience at a new culture (with teh mainland still a glaring TBD on my resume) and finally something a bit closer to Vietnam.
First entering Taiwan through its airport, I had no real expectations for the city of Taipei or the country in general. I know very little about it aside from the peculiarities of its government situation. I did not know if it would be closer to Singapore or Phnom Penh on the features and trappings of East Asia, be it the weather, the infrastructure, the way of living, the sites, the cost, and everything else.
Half a day in, I still can't really answer all those questions too well I must admit, but it is more because I don't want to overstate initial expectation. Taipei might be the best mix of Singapore and Phnom Penh (or for a more realistic comparison, Singapore and Bangkok) of any city I've visited in this part of the world.
It has the modernity of Singapore without the oppressive cost, and even less of the oppressive heat. The streets are wide, clean, well manicured, open. There is so little traffic (granted, it was a weekend), though granted the city is smaller in population than most of its East Asian comparables. StillThe culture is still great, with temples all over hte place, and a great main cultural center around the Chian Kai-Shek Memorial Hall which I'll get into more later.
Again, a lot can change. I was truly disappointed with Kuala Lumpur initially only to realize some of its beauty on a better planned, better executed second day. But I don't know if I've ever been more surprised by a city - again part of this is the fact I came in with no expectations. To be clear, not low expectations; I just didn't know wwhat to expect.
Again, the only real tourism I did was take in the lavish Chiang Kei-Shek Memorial, and the grounds around it which included the National Theater and National Concert Hall on either side of 'Democracy Boulevard'. The area had well groomed gardens on either side, with koi ponds and bridges and the like. All of it is really well maintained, gorgeous, and a great example of what civic pride can look like when combined with Asian hospitality.
The main hall itself is stunning, a white rock cube, with an open hall in the middle on the face facing the Democracy Boulevard. Inside is a large iron statue of Chiang Kei-Shek, the father of Taiwan - though someone whose legacy has taken a lot of ups and downs in the past few decades. The whole scene in that square was great because it was such a nice picture of Taipei. That said, places like Phnom Penh had similar cultural centers. What they didn't have though was a same level of infrastructure, cleanliness and 1st world sensibilities everywhere else.
After the cultural center, I went for a late lunch / early dinner at Din Tai Fung, which is actually a chain of really popular soup dumpling + traditional mandarin food restaurants strewn out all over Taipei. It was packed despite me arriving at 3pm. Some of this might be reputation but they had an 80minute wait bit a pretty clean number system where you could get your place in line and come back. This is what actually enabled me to see the Chiang Kai Shek hall.
The food once I finally got in was great, the star being their soup dumplings; so good, so soft, so full of liquid while holding their exterior. After that I had a beef snoodle soup which was about as good as I would have expected. Overall Din Tai Fung was worth the wait because I didn’t have to wait. Either way it’s a Taipei institution.
After this I went to my other tourist opportunity of the day, a hike up Elephant Mountain to see Taipei at sunset. Now, there’s no reason this is named after elephants, and it isn’t a hike as much as a series of steps but damn if it wasn’t beautiful. There are a few lookouts on the way that all offer nice views of Taipei 101.
Quickly about that building. Other than political initrigue maybe nothing defined Taipei as much as this building that was the worlds tallest from about 2005-2010, replaced by the Burj in Dubai. In reality many buildings have passed it now but all came after the Burj. Taipei oddly doesn’t have that great a skyline so the Taipei 101 sticks out so hilariously in all its beauty.
The view from the top was excellent but I do wish I came a few hours later when the whole city could have been lit up. That’s a task for another day or another visit I guess.after descending I went back to the Airbnb (nice as always) to freshen up.
I didn’t have any huge night plans as I expected to be more tired than inended up being. Dinner was at the Gongguan night market, one of the many night markets that are in Taipei, this one being a bit more food forward than the others. I had various skewer dishes (chicken skin, chicken breast, pork belly), then pork over rice and topped it off with a truly great helping of fried sweet potato balls. The night market lived up to expectations, plus I really appreciated the fact it was less crowded than most.
The end of the night I care to detail was at 23 Public brewing, a great little craft brewery in the heart of Taipei. It is shocking places like this exist but the craft beer revolution is truly everywhere. This place has some great features like a cucumber flavored sour and a lot of great options a probably won’t be my last time at least checking it out.
Overall this was a really great start to Taipei even if it was just ten hours. There’s a lot more to see. Ultimately probably not enough to judge a whole country it the limited time will have to make do.
I have no idea how I got up for my flight. I've still never missed a flight by being too late. Given I take a whole host of ~7AM flights on Mondays, this is somewhat surprising. If there ever was a time to miss a flight, it was going to be this. It would be one of the worst ones to miss - a flight from London to Singapore to Taipei.
Here was the situation. I was in London for my company's annual all-hands meeting which is followed ny the annual company party, one where the listed end time is 3AM, and in reality is generally a few hours after that.
I was already tired having reached London just two days prior to my departure, on one of the most useless red-eyes ever - the good old 6pm flight to London. I didn't sleep much the following night (Thursday Night) in London as I had to help set up for our company's event starting at 7am. So I was already running on probably 10 hours of sleep over two nights when the party would limit it to a 2-hour night. But I made it. I woke up to my alarm that was set for 7:45, a good 90 minutes after I would go to sleep. I zonked out completely in my 90-minute Uber - 90 minutes beacuse of the illogical nature of London's (lack-of) highway system. I somehow made it on the plane, the beautiful Singapore Airline's whale (A380-800), ready to eat the good food Singapore Airlines would serve, even in economy, and try to sleep for as long as possible.
It says a lot about how sleepy and tired I was that I would willingly sleep through most of a Singapore Airlines flight, given how much I revere the airline and their incredible standard of accommodations - easily the most room and most comfortable ride I've ever had in coach. It also says how much I value Singapore Airlines that I wanted to woken up for the meals to interrupt my sleep.
Anyway, the flights were as good as expected, both featuring the usual Singapore Airline's touches like hot towels before every meal, more drink rounds than you would normally have, printed menus and three meat meal options. In the end, I chose the lamb biryani, whihc was great, even if a fairly strange choice for Singapore Airlines, having no real ties to Indian cuisine. It was really well made, however. The breakfast before we landed consistently of an actually good tasting airlplane omelette and sausage, something most airlines (looking at you, UA) so often screw up.
If there is any downside to Singapore, it probably is their movie selection which leans to having a larger international selection than most, but a weaker Hollywood selection. They had a few movies that I hadn't seen anymore, the only one I had any real intention of getting through was Rocketman (surprisingly good) but then also saw Us on my second flight, a four hour journey from Singapore (where I had a tight one hour layover) through to Taipei.
That flight was on the Boeing 787-10, my first trip in that variant of the Dreamliner, the one that focuses on shorter routes. United flies a bunch of them to Europe from Newark, but sadly not to London. Anyway, this flight was good, short, and before I knew it we were descending into Taipei.
For the trip as a whole, Taiwan was a late addition. Due to the work event in London, I knew I could expense my flight from London to some Asian destination, and the real meat of the vacation would be the 10-11 days in Vietnam and Laos to come. I had a few extra days, and after some dalliances with Sydney and Seoul, I settled on Taiwan, allowing me to get a new country, a new area, a first experience at a new culture (with teh mainland still a glaring TBD on my resume) and finally something a bit closer to Vietnam.
First entering Taiwan through its airport, I had no real expectations for the city of Taipei or the country in general. I know very little about it aside from the peculiarities of its government situation. I did not know if it would be closer to Singapore or Phnom Penh on the features and trappings of East Asia, be it the weather, the infrastructure, the way of living, the sites, the cost, and everything else.
Half a day in, I still can't really answer all those questions too well I must admit, but it is more because I don't want to overstate initial expectation. Taipei might be the best mix of Singapore and Phnom Penh (or for a more realistic comparison, Singapore and Bangkok) of any city I've visited in this part of the world.
It has the modernity of Singapore without the oppressive cost, and even less of the oppressive heat. The streets are wide, clean, well manicured, open. There is so little traffic (granted, it was a weekend), though granted the city is smaller in population than most of its East Asian comparables. StillThe culture is still great, with temples all over hte place, and a great main cultural center around the Chian Kai-Shek Memorial Hall which I'll get into more later.
Again, a lot can change. I was truly disappointed with Kuala Lumpur initially only to realize some of its beauty on a better planned, better executed second day. But I don't know if I've ever been more surprised by a city - again part of this is the fact I came in with no expectations. To be clear, not low expectations; I just didn't know wwhat to expect.
Again, the only real tourism I did was take in the lavish Chiang Kei-Shek Memorial, and the grounds around it which included the National Theater and National Concert Hall on either side of 'Democracy Boulevard'. The area had well groomed gardens on either side, with koi ponds and bridges and the like. All of it is really well maintained, gorgeous, and a great example of what civic pride can look like when combined with Asian hospitality.
The main hall itself is stunning, a white rock cube, with an open hall in the middle on the face facing the Democracy Boulevard. Inside is a large iron statue of Chiang Kei-Shek, the father of Taiwan - though someone whose legacy has taken a lot of ups and downs in the past few decades. The whole scene in that square was great because it was such a nice picture of Taipei. That said, places like Phnom Penh had similar cultural centers. What they didn't have though was a same level of infrastructure, cleanliness and 1st world sensibilities everywhere else.
After the cultural center, I went for a late lunch / early dinner at Din Tai Fung, which is actually a chain of really popular soup dumpling + traditional mandarin food restaurants strewn out all over Taipei. It was packed despite me arriving at 3pm. Some of this might be reputation but they had an 80minute wait bit a pretty clean number system where you could get your place in line and come back. This is what actually enabled me to see the Chiang Kai Shek hall.
The food once I finally got in was great, the star being their soup dumplings; so good, so soft, so full of liquid while holding their exterior. After that I had a beef snoodle soup which was about as good as I would have expected. Overall Din Tai Fung was worth the wait because I didn’t have to wait. Either way it’s a Taipei institution.
After this I went to my other tourist opportunity of the day, a hike up Elephant Mountain to see Taipei at sunset. Now, there’s no reason this is named after elephants, and it isn’t a hike as much as a series of steps but damn if it wasn’t beautiful. There are a few lookouts on the way that all offer nice views of Taipei 101.
Quickly about that building. Other than political initrigue maybe nothing defined Taipei as much as this building that was the worlds tallest from about 2005-2010, replaced by the Burj in Dubai. In reality many buildings have passed it now but all came after the Burj. Taipei oddly doesn’t have that great a skyline so the Taipei 101 sticks out so hilariously in all its beauty.
The view from the top was excellent but I do wish I came a few hours later when the whole city could have been lit up. That’s a task for another day or another visit I guess.after descending I went back to the Airbnb (nice as always) to freshen up.
I didn’t have any huge night plans as I expected to be more tired than inended up being. Dinner was at the Gongguan night market, one of the many night markets that are in Taipei, this one being a bit more food forward than the others. I had various skewer dishes (chicken skin, chicken breast, pork belly), then pork over rice and topped it off with a truly great helping of fried sweet potato balls. The night market lived up to expectations, plus I really appreciated the fact it was less crowded than most.
The end of the night I care to detail was at 23 Public brewing, a great little craft brewery in the heart of Taipei. It is shocking places like this exist but the craft beer revolution is truly everywhere. This place has some great features like a cucumber flavored sour and a lot of great options a probably won’t be my last time at least checking it out.
Overall this was a really great start to Taipei even if it was just ten hours. There’s a lot more to see. Ultimately probably not enough to judge a whole country it the limited time will have to make do.
