Above: Ximending by night.
I woke at 0500 and lay till 0600 before going to use the shower. I was out at 0630 for the train to Terminal 1 but my brain wasn’t working. I thought I needed one in the opposite direction (there isn’t an opposite direction) and had to wait a little for the next one. It could have been a lot worse if I had taken a train going non-stop to the city!
Despite not having to check-in or bag-drop, immigration and customs scanning was slow and I was in the lounge some 45 minutes after leaving my bed (not very good considering I was at the airport already). I headed to the my allocated gate to find that they were still security scanning passengers for the previous flight. They recommended that Taipei passengers wait outside. After about 20 minutes, I went in regardless and so did many people.
Once in the gate area, we waited and was told that there had been a gate change. It appears the main terminal (non-satellite) gates are quite tightly rostered to handle many flights and delays would mean shifting. There were people who didn’t speak English or the local languages who had been caught out from an earlier gate change and missed their flight but still waiting in our lounge. I think somebody needs to check entries into the lounge rather than just at the boarding point.
Fortunately, my new gate was only next door. Apparently there had been several gate changes to our flight already as I saw various gate numbers on different people’s boarding passes depending on when they checked in! We boarded the Malaysia Airlines 737 and departed about 45 minutes late. Despite being a relatively full flight, it was quite pleasant largely because all four crew were very cheerful and seemed happy to be there for us (unlike yesterday’s flight). Chatting with one of them, she works on all aircraft types: 737, 330 and 380.
We landed in Taipei only 20 minutes late. It has been about 35 years since my previous and only visit. Arrival immigration at Taipei’s Taoyuan airport took about 1h05 with a ridiculously long queue. I took the express MRT to Taipei’s main station. While the ride takes 35 minutes only, the walking at both ends took it to about an hour.
The Morwing Hotel near the station was lovely and very clean with individually decorated rooms. There was plenty of shops and street food around. Despite that, I went further afield for a wander and found myself in Ximending, a very happening shopping area that’s very glitzy and lit-up at night. After some dinner of noodles and a dessert of mango ice (NZD9) I returned to my aircon room for the night at 2100. For nearly October, I was surprised how hot and humid it was in Taipei.
Ximending by night.