Taiwan trip report

My wife and I recently returned from Taipei. Having lived there 12 years ago (almost to the day, I left Taiwan around xmas of 1996) I was curious to see how it had changed. With the subway up and running (it was still being built when I left, with only one elevated section to the zoo completed at that time) there are fewer scooters and motorbikes on the street. The air seemed a little better.

The food was just as good as I had remembered it. I always enjoyed eating out in Taiwan. My wife picked out of her guidebook one honey named %26#39;Shin Yeh%26#39; (near the Riveria hotel where we stayed). Fantastic food, a little pricey by Taipei standards, but very good service and a relaxing atmosphere.

Another simplier meal we had was in the food court of the 109 building. Not so expensive and pretty good food for a food court, though I recommend you stick with Taiwanese or Chinese food.

A couple of surprises, but somewhat forewarned by other teachers who had traveled there, is the number of Taiwanese who speak Japanese (even though English is more common than when I lived there, Japanese is sometimes more useful). At the Sunroute Hotel where we stayed, it was less of a surprise as that is a Japanese chain. But also at the Riveria, we communicated more in Japanese than in English (I%26#39;m using %26#39;we%26#39; loosely here, my wife as a native Japnese speaker runs rings around my poor Japanese).

Another was the tokens used in Taiwan on the underground. Looking like plastic poker chips, the subway tokens are easy to use. My wife often favored taxis as they%26#39;re very cheap, but I sometimes wanted some exercise, so we did use the subway a few times.

All and all a good trip. Will tell you about the market later, gotta run.

Taiwan trip report

Hi,

Thanks for posting report. I like the Shin Yeh at SuangCheng Street - The Outlet on the corner is the Original Shin Yeh Joint.

I used to stay at the Reviera in the early days back in 1981 when it was called The Hotel National.

Looking forward to your further postings.

Taiwan trip report

We went to the Shilin market on our last night in Taipei after the restaurant. Very crowded, and not always cheap. There seemed to be a lot of lower quality items for sale, especially items from the mainland. One other thing is that if you%26#39;re not Taiwanese, the unmarked items seem to magically jump up in price. Oh well, you can%26#39;t expect local prices I guess unless you go to a supermarket.

We took a taxi the following morning to the airport as the bus near the Riveria is reported to take 90 minutes. Of course it%26#39;s more expensive than taking a bus or even a bus and a taxi (which we took to the hotel as it was quicker, though partly because the woman working at the express bus counter at the airport put us on the wrong bus), but much faster, some 30 minutes. If you%26#39;re in a hurry or just want to sleep in, it might be the ticket.

listview bug