Taipei 1

I chose Taipei as my last stay by chance. It was a way lay between the States and Asia as the airline I chose, EVA, hubbed out of Taipei. I decided to explore the City for 3 days before heading home with no expectations and zero study, just winging it. What a delightful surprise it was. I had never heard much about Taipei, and what I did hear was not good. I pictured crowded, polluted, industrial blight. I expected Western culture and not much Asia. At least not the Asia I just left behind. Taipei was some of that and none of that.

First, the airlines. I carefully researched my flight to Asia, the airlines that fly in that direction, down to the very seat I wanted to sit in using Seat Guru.* EVA's prices were substantially less than the competition to the main hubs that service Southeast Asia, namely Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and a few others. Better yet, EVA offers the new class of service many airlines are introducing for long haul flights called Premium Economy which offers more leg room, seat room and amenities than an economy seat at thousands of dollars less than a Business Class seat.

Not all airlines have caught on to Premmie. But EVA is on the cutting edge and so are their prices. The long haul part of the flight from L.A to Taipei was 14 hours. Doing this in coach was not happening for me. EVA offered a Premium Economy seat for only 400 dollars more than a coach seat. Well, well worth it. This was the best airlines I have flown for the money. Easy. If I do Asia again it will be EVA. Every time. I paid 1100 US to get to Taipei in Premium. By contrast, Cathay Pacific, based out of Hong Kong will give you a regular coach seat for 1500 US. Maybe more. Cathay is a very good airline too. But Coach? Forget it.
Other airlines may get you there for a comparable price, but the connections are not as good.

So Taipei it was. The airport in Taipei lets you know right away you are back in the first world. First class, very modern, very western airport with shopping galore. The airport was a distance from the city. My choices were a cab at 40 dollars US (ouch), or an express bus with a connection at about 9 dollars. The bus won. Long bus ride in but being low on funds this was it. The bus let me off under the bright neon lights of a thoroughly modern, totally Chinese downtown district. No English to be found here unlike my prior destinations which catered to Westerners and laid everything out somewhere in English. Taiwan doesn't appear to give a shit about English. So much the better.

TBC











* I highly recommend studying seat guru before your next big flight. It's spot on and shows you exactly what seats are good and which are bad on any given plane in the world.