Day 1 of Holiday.
We were flying from Sydney to Tokyo via Taipei, where we would have a 12 hour lay-over. Alex wasn’t a fan of the layover but my logic is that if you’ve got half a day, you get to leave the airport and see some of the local sites. Because be honest, when is the next time we’re likely to be in Taipei? Plus a layover splits a long international flights into more manageable bite-sized chunks (and the tickets are cheaper of course).
Now, being a strapping six footer, it is fair to say that I am not designed for flying economy class as there is never enough leg room for me. This flight was no different, except for the fact that this plane was a bit smaller than the normal plane you fly on when going overseas (747 or Air Bus, etc), consequently we’d managed to snaffle 2 seats on their own. Alex with the window seat and me with the aisle seat (so I could stretch out a bit if I needed to – at least for a few minutes). This made the journey reasonably bearable.
We’ve never flown China Air before, and when you’re with a new carrier you never quite know what you’re going to get. Take Thai airways for example. Looks fine until you sit down and find out the back of the seats (where you rest your head) are like concrete. I mean rock hard. Or Hawaiian air, who saturate you in purple and drown you in Hawaiian lift music the whole journey to the point where you want to smash open a window and jump to your death, because that’ll be a lot less painful and easier to bare!
China Air Review
Fortunately there were no such complaints flying China Air. The queues to get our luggage checked in at the airport were, as I mentioned, nonexistent. The flight attendants were friendly and attentive. The journey from Sydney to Tapei itself took a little over 8 hours and was largely uneventful. Alex dozed for a fair bit of the journey, while I pottered away on a new novella I’m working on called (working title) ‘Roadside Assistance’. The seats were acceptable without being super comfortable, the food was acceptable (though they ran out of the only western dish – bacon and eggs) and the air hostesses were very friendly. My TV froze on the back of the seat, which was a trifle annoying, and despite the air hostesses twice saying they’d ‘reset it’ to fix the problem, they didn't. But I wasn't too fussed as I was either pottering away on the travel blog during the flight or - being exhausted after a very stressful and long day (and night) sleeping. Though by the end of it I won’t lie, my lower back was killing me and my neck was sore.
Did I mention I wasn’t designed to fly economy?
Taipei Review
After getting off the plane in Taipei we jumped a short shuttle bus from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 (where our plane to Tokyo was departing from later in the day) and then went in search of somewhere to store our hand luggage while we went adventuring. But, as our plane had arrived at 4.30 am, Taipei time, nothing was open. So we went and had some breakfast in a food court and a little after 6 am we stowed our luggage and went in search of a bus to the city. A half an hour wait followed by a 40 minute bus ride later (that I slept completely through!) and we arrived in the city.
It was at this point that we realized that my being in a T-shirt and tracky pants (I tend to overheat in planes, and always under dress) wasn’t the smartest thing, as Taipei was about 10 degrees. For some reason we’d assumed that Taipei was like Singapore (no winter, just degrees of hot and sticky). But nope. It was cold!
Anyway, with things being cheap here we decided I’d just buy a jumper or a jacket or something and solve the problem. But of course, it was about 8 am by this stage and most of the shops didn’t until after 9 am.
Being a Viking though I felt I could cope with the cold, and so we worked out which trains to board (well, Alex worked it out!) to get to the Taipei zoo and the gondola (which was going to be the only thing we really had time to see while here). Except when we got there at about 8.45 am there was an enormous queue to get into the zoo (like the sort of queue you have to join if you’re trying to get up the Eiffel Tower, say). And we didn’t have enough time for 2 hours of queuing. Also, where the zoo was, the wind-chill factor made the 10 degrees seem considerably colder, so – much to Alex’s annoyance – I suggested we train back to the city (15 minutes) so I could buy a jacket or a jumper (the shops would be open by this stage) and then train back again. My logic here was that if the queue to the zoo was gone when we got back, all well and good (because the queue could’ve just been a queue before opening), but if it still had a queue we would just do the gondola (about an hour all up) instead.
So anyway, we trained back into the city where Alex and I both bought thermals, and then we head back out to the zoo. Unfortunately by this stage we’d realized that we wouldn’t have time to do the zoo and the Gondola, so we just got on the Gondola.
The Gondola is something I’d highly doing if you’re in Taipei as the views of Tapei from it are wonderful. Go at night if you can, because the views would've been even better then (I assume it runs at night too?). We went up the mountain on a Crystal Gondola (glass bottom) and came down in a normal Gondola (because the glass bottoms of the Gondolas are scratched so much it’s barely worth looking through them – and if you’re a couple you can go up or down the normal Gondolas just the two of you, but if you go in the crystal Gondolas they make you go with 3 other people to fill up the Gondola - one assumes because there are more of the normal Gondolas).
Still, we really enjoyed the Gondola and afterwards trained back to the city and bussed to the airport (where I again slept the whole journey!).
Back at the airport we collected our carry on luggage, grabbed some Hungry Jacks and went through immigration to wait for our plane.
Again we were there with plenty of time, so it was all stress free. Well, notwithstanding that my lower back was complaining and my neck was starting to really hurt from all the uncomfortable places (planes, busses etc) I’d been forced to sleep.
Flight from Taipei to Tokyo
The flight to Tokyo from Tapei is only 3 hours and we both slept most of it. Upon arrival at Narita airport in Tokyo we collected our luggage and boarded the Skyline bus to Ueno (in Tokyo). Needless to say more napping was involved. And by the time we got off in Ueno station my neck felt like someone had stuck a blunt hot knife up the left hand side of it and I was in sheer agony.
Finding our hotel, the Ueno no Mori, took some doing, and we were forced to backtrack around the local area several times before we found it. Which let me tell you is no fun when you’re dog tired, your lower back hurts, your neck is on fire, and you’re pulling a 25 kg suitcase with a dodgy wheel!
Still, I was in agony in Tokyo, baby! So, you know...things could've been worse! :)
Anyway, all’s well that ends well, and at about 11.15 pm local time Alex and I checked into the hotel. The Ueno no Mori is a cheap and cheerful 2 star hotel (the only such hotel in our holiday) and the room was tiny. Tiny but functional. It had two single beds (I’m too tall for them but it was only for one night) and a bathroom and a TV. What more do you need I ask you? For our needs (and for one night) it was perfect. So we dumped our luggage and climbed into bed (fully clothed as it was very cold in the room) and I took 2 mersyndol and was out like a light.
We were flying from Sydney to Tokyo via Taipei, where we would have a 12 hour lay-over. Alex wasn’t a fan of the layover but my logic is that if you’ve got half a day, you get to leave the airport and see some of the local sites. Because be honest, when is the next time we’re likely to be in Taipei? Plus a layover splits a long international flights into more manageable bite-sized chunks (and the tickets are cheaper of course).
Now, being a strapping six footer, it is fair to say that I am not designed for flying economy class as there is never enough leg room for me. This flight was no different, except for the fact that this plane was a bit smaller than the normal plane you fly on when going overseas (747 or Air Bus, etc), consequently we’d managed to snaffle 2 seats on their own. Alex with the window seat and me with the aisle seat (so I could stretch out a bit if I needed to – at least for a few minutes). This made the journey reasonably bearable.
We’ve never flown China Air before, and when you’re with a new carrier you never quite know what you’re going to get. Take Thai airways for example. Looks fine until you sit down and find out the back of the seats (where you rest your head) are like concrete. I mean rock hard. Or Hawaiian air, who saturate you in purple and drown you in Hawaiian lift music the whole journey to the point where you want to smash open a window and jump to your death, because that’ll be a lot less painful and easier to bare!
China Air Review
Fortunately there were no such complaints flying China Air. The queues to get our luggage checked in at the airport were, as I mentioned, nonexistent. The flight attendants were friendly and attentive. The journey from Sydney to Tapei itself took a little over 8 hours and was largely uneventful. Alex dozed for a fair bit of the journey, while I pottered away on a new novella I’m working on called (working title) ‘Roadside Assistance’. The seats were acceptable without being super comfortable, the food was acceptable (though they ran out of the only western dish – bacon and eggs) and the air hostesses were very friendly. My TV froze on the back of the seat, which was a trifle annoying, and despite the air hostesses twice saying they’d ‘reset it’ to fix the problem, they didn't. But I wasn't too fussed as I was either pottering away on the travel blog during the flight or - being exhausted after a very stressful and long day (and night) sleeping. Though by the end of it I won’t lie, my lower back was killing me and my neck was sore.
Did I mention I wasn’t designed to fly economy?
Taipei Review
After getting off the plane in Taipei we jumped a short shuttle bus from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 (where our plane to Tokyo was departing from later in the day) and then went in search of somewhere to store our hand luggage while we went adventuring. But, as our plane had arrived at 4.30 am, Taipei time, nothing was open. So we went and had some breakfast in a food court and a little after 6 am we stowed our luggage and went in search of a bus to the city. A half an hour wait followed by a 40 minute bus ride later (that I slept completely through!) and we arrived in the city.
It was at this point that we realized that my being in a T-shirt and tracky pants (I tend to overheat in planes, and always under dress) wasn’t the smartest thing, as Taipei was about 10 degrees. For some reason we’d assumed that Taipei was like Singapore (no winter, just degrees of hot and sticky). But nope. It was cold!
Anyway, with things being cheap here we decided I’d just buy a jumper or a jacket or something and solve the problem. But of course, it was about 8 am by this stage and most of the shops didn’t until after 9 am.
Being a Viking though I felt I could cope with the cold, and so we worked out which trains to board (well, Alex worked it out!) to get to the Taipei zoo and the gondola (which was going to be the only thing we really had time to see while here). Except when we got there at about 8.45 am there was an enormous queue to get into the zoo (like the sort of queue you have to join if you’re trying to get up the Eiffel Tower, say). And we didn’t have enough time for 2 hours of queuing. Also, where the zoo was, the wind-chill factor made the 10 degrees seem considerably colder, so – much to Alex’s annoyance – I suggested we train back to the city (15 minutes) so I could buy a jacket or a jumper (the shops would be open by this stage) and then train back again. My logic here was that if the queue to the zoo was gone when we got back, all well and good (because the queue could’ve just been a queue before opening), but if it still had a queue we would just do the gondola (about an hour all up) instead.
So anyway, we trained back into the city where Alex and I both bought thermals, and then we head back out to the zoo. Unfortunately by this stage we’d realized that we wouldn’t have time to do the zoo and the Gondola, so we just got on the Gondola.
The Gondola is something I’d highly doing if you’re in Taipei as the views of Tapei from it are wonderful. Go at night if you can, because the views would've been even better then (I assume it runs at night too?). We went up the mountain on a Crystal Gondola (glass bottom) and came down in a normal Gondola (because the glass bottoms of the Gondolas are scratched so much it’s barely worth looking through them – and if you’re a couple you can go up or down the normal Gondolas just the two of you, but if you go in the crystal Gondolas they make you go with 3 other people to fill up the Gondola - one assumes because there are more of the normal Gondolas).
Still, we really enjoyed the Gondola and afterwards trained back to the city and bussed to the airport (where I again slept the whole journey!).
Back at the airport we collected our carry on luggage, grabbed some Hungry Jacks and went through immigration to wait for our plane.
Again we were there with plenty of time, so it was all stress free. Well, notwithstanding that my lower back was complaining and my neck was starting to really hurt from all the uncomfortable places (planes, busses etc) I’d been forced to sleep.
Flight from Taipei to Tokyo
The flight to Tokyo from Tapei is only 3 hours and we both slept most of it. Upon arrival at Narita airport in Tokyo we collected our luggage and boarded the Skyline bus to Ueno (in Tokyo). Needless to say more napping was involved. And by the time we got off in Ueno station my neck felt like someone had stuck a blunt hot knife up the left hand side of it and I was in sheer agony.
Finding our hotel, the Ueno no Mori, took some doing, and we were forced to backtrack around the local area several times before we found it. Which let me tell you is no fun when you’re dog tired, your lower back hurts, your neck is on fire, and you’re pulling a 25 kg suitcase with a dodgy wheel!
Still, I was in agony in Tokyo, baby! So, you know...things could've been worse! :)
Anyway, all’s well that ends well, and at about 11.15 pm local time Alex and I checked into the hotel. The Ueno no Mori is a cheap and cheerful 2 star hotel (the only such hotel in our holiday) and the room was tiny. Tiny but functional. It had two single beds (I’m too tall for them but it was only for one night) and a bathroom and a TV. What more do you need I ask you? For our needs (and for one night) it was perfect. So we dumped our luggage and climbed into bed (fully clothed as it was very cold in the room) and I took 2 mersyndol and was out like a light.
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