City hops on Qantas/Cathay Pacific/JAL/Singapore Airlines

[KeithMEL]

Waterfalls







Lots of stairs...





"If I can do this, I can do anything..."



"w00t we made it" Oops there's more...

Hotsprings

Think hotspring spa. We each had our own private room, cost NTD399 per person per hour plus dinner thrown in which was excellent value.











Next: Missing a flight; CX421 TPE-HKG whY; CX711 HKG-SIN J; St Regis SIN; SQTalk mini DO and partying in SIN!

[YK@HKG]

What a feast u have in Taipei

Agree with you that the Shilin night market is insane and it's one of my favorite place to visit while in Taipei. You can find tons of local delicacies and drinks.

Entrance to the night market:


Inside:


One of my favorite food -- fried egg with oyster:


I have been to Taipei for several times and have yet to visit Wulai. Heard it's a good place (esp for hotsprings) and definitely more convinced now after looking at your photos.

Will be back to Taipei end of this year (hopefully) and will spend a day trip to Wulai for sure.

[KeithMEL]

One of my favorite food -- fried egg with oyster:

Used to be mine too! Saw that and it looked soooo tempting. But alas...

[YK@HKG]

My Taipei 101 Pics.....

The exterior:


The mall:


The mall itself is a very upscale mall with lots of branded stuffs. The top floor of the mall is mainly for banks and a huge Sony-Style shop. The pictures below were taken just 1 floor below, which were occupied by several restaurants, Page One bookshop and also some pretty nice cafes.

[planemad]

That'd be great mate, as I've not done research on the restos in Bali. First time there so I'm v excited - heard so much about the partying there from friends who've been.

This would be just the thread for your suggestions:

http://www.sqtalk.com/forums/showthr...ghlight=eating

Thanks in advance!

hey keithmel

I posted the Bali (Seminyak) restaurants in the thread above yesterday. Check it out!

[HUGE AL]

Was greeted at the door by Sharon, the very nice Malaysian ISM.

Is that Sharon in the pic?

There are/were things other than trendiness that tempted the OP to the St. Regis

Hmmm...what would those be?

[KeithMEL]

Is that Sharon in the pic?

That's a junior FA. Sharon's an ISM and thus wouldn't be in that uniform.
White blouse = FA
Red = Purser
Purple = Senior Purser
Navy Blue (with yellow trimming) = Inflight Service Manager

[KeithMEL]

CX461 TPE-HKG, 05JUL2008, Economy Class - "Oops too late!"
CX421 TPE-HKG, 05JUL2008, Economy Class

Connecting to:
CX735 HKG-SIN, 05JUL2008, Business Class - "Oops too late!"
CX711 HKG-SIN, 05JUL2008, Business Class

TPE-HKG

I felt extremely fragile as I woke up, must've drank much more the night before at Carnegie's than I'd realised. I was dragged downstairs to the lounge for brekkies, still in my PJs but totally oblivious to my surroundings. So I was obviously in no state to care about what time I was supposed to be at the airport. Back in the room taipeiflyer (who's also flying to SIN but directly on SQ and leaving a few hours later) panicked when he realised the time I was supposed to arrive at the airport - and insisted that I did OLCI to increase my chances of being accepted for the flight. I was at that moment still too hungover to care. Normally I'd have worked myself into a frenzied state of worry, so we must've had a huge night...

OLCIed for the flight, and noticed that the flight was retimed to depart 30 mins later. Cathay's website advised that my bp would need to be collected 50mins before departure, and I had no bags to check in which ought to make it easier (long story...). However I arrived at the airport to find that the flight was indeed retimed, but check in had closed per the original departure time - unfortunately I hadn't printed out the OLCI confirmation page... lesson learnt. This shook me out of the dreamy daze I'd been in all morning as I've yet to miss a flight (through my own doing that is) and was worried about the consequences of such.

I was rebooked on the next scheduled departure 30 mins after the flight I'd missed. This however made my connection at HKG illegal as it didn't meet the MCT. To my relief the Cathay agent was most accommodating and protected my itinerary as best as he could without charge even though the connecting flight to SIN was on a separate ticket as it was part of the DONE4 whereas TPE-HKG was part of a cheapie return ticket I'd booked out of HKG. I understand that normally Cathay charges HKD300 to lift a finger on a DONE4 that's issued by another carrier, so I'm grateful that in this instance nothing about it was mentioned when my HKG-SIN flight was switched. He even managed to note my preference for aisle seats and seated me accordingly. My new itinerary had me in SIN 2 hours later than originally planned - could've been worse so all kudos to Cathay at TPE for dealing with my stupidity in such a professional manner. Rang up taipeiflyer and texted upright man to let them know that I'd be arriving later than expected for the mini gathering we'd planned in SIN.

I then rushed like a banshee through the airport (PS - T1 of TPE is gross!) as I only had 20 mins till the flight departed. It helped that the gate was the first one down the corridor. Walked all the way towards the v end of the plane, and sank into my seat exhausted after the mad sprint.

A lunch of chicken noodles was served on this flight, I didn't intend to eat anything after that big breakfast back at the hotel but said yes when the cart came around to take a pic of it anyway. The sacrifices I make for all ya devouring my TRs...



Still feeling exceedingly thirsty (the marathon didn't help) I drank copious amounts of water and OJ instead. And a tipple or 2 to calm the nerves.

Landed at HKG pretty much on time. I'd thought about running to the gate of my original flight and ask to go on it if space was still available but the long queues at security snuffed that idea out. Once again I've had to register my details at security due to my epi pen.

HKG-SIN

Flight was assigned to board from gate 22, and so once again I trooped off to the Wing which was a fair bit closer to that gate than the Pier. It was an extremely long walk through the airport to get to the Wing, one of these days I must learn the shortcut ways of fellow AFFers serfty and simongr. Picked up a bottle of Lanson along the way for nickbot and mrs nickbot.

Got a glass of Lanson in the Wing to soothe my nerves and to dull the throbbing in my head ("the best way to ease a hangover is to...") after the epic hike through HKIA, and the stressful morning generally. I had a few hours to kill in the lounge, so I was careful to pace myself as I intended to have a big night out in SIN the same day, and Cathay serves one of the most delicious JCL champers onboard their regional flights - Billecart-Salmon NV. Thought about having some noodle soup but was still feeling stuffed from brekkies.

JCL line was empty when I got there - some effective policing of the gate there unlike back in Jan when I departed on Cathay out of HKIA. Was greeted at the door of the aircraft by the flight's funeral director... I meant ISM. Was then served bubbly by an equally sour looking white blouse, who barked at pax and rolled her eyes at colleagues - it's a wonder she manages to stay employed. Brought me my 2nd glass of pre-take off bubbly without too much trouble though.



ORBC on this flight which I prefer to NRBC. Seat's like a big comfy armchair and perfectly adequate for the 3hrs 45 mins service to SIN. Bulkhead was all taken, but legroom at 14G was still pretty good.



A meal was served after take off. The smoked salmon entree was ok, but the main course of pork ribs was ghastly in both taste and presentation. The cheese plate was mediocre, but I was glad that the Senior Purser had talked me into trying the dessert as it was delicious.









I tried really hard to pace myself on the flight so that I could last the night. But it was hard when Billecart is one of my fave NVs. All the harder when the IFE (non AVOD) channels I wanted to watch didn't work, due to some problems with the tape, so I occupied time by indulging in a tipple here and there. I tried to force myself to sleep to kill time and to perk up for the night, but that didn't work so well - so more Billecart it was.

The crew were rather mixed on this flight. Had the whole range of Cathay crews on this flight, except the ISM (who wasn't seen for the entire flight). Miss Sour Face and another much friendlier white blouse took turns serving my aisle. The Pursers were seen walking around the cabin assisting wherever they could, and seemed pleasant enough but had all the warmth of a doorknob. The Senior Purser who came around to introduce herself was the star - a rather charming Sri Lankan lady who radiated personality and genuine warmth (unlike the simultaneously sickly sweet, to quote from another SQTalker , yet clinical ways of many a FA I've come across on a variety of Asia-based carriers), and whom you'd likely have an insightful convo with at the pub.

The flight deck had anticipated that we'd arrive 5 mins before schedule, however landing was aborted and a go around was performed as the runway hadn't been cleared in time. We ended up docking at the gate 10 minsbehind schedule.

Had an extremely quick gate to taxi journey, per the norm at ever efficient Changi Airport, the world's model of how an airport should be run, but this time made even quicker by the fact that I had no luggage to pick up. Unfortunately I was already breezing down the expressway when I'd discovered that I'd left my bottle of duty free Lanson on the plane....

edited to add: menu for CX711 here.


Next: St Regis SIN; SQTalk mini DO and partying in SIN; New Majestic Hotel

[jjpb3]

This TR confirms why I'd like to visit TPE: the food!

I'd ask taipeiflyer to play host, but I'd have to warn him: I'm at least two orders of magnitude more tame than KeithMEL.

Thanks for the TPE highlights, KeithMEL.

[jhm]

This TR confirms why I'd like to visit TPE: the food!

Funny, this is exactly what phaleesy told me earlier this evening!

[KeithMEL]

I'd ask taipeiflyer to play host, but I'd have to warn him: I'm at least two orders of magnitude more tame than KeithMEL.

After one too many late night out with little sleep, I think taipeiflyer was more than ecstatic to get rid of me.

[HUGE AL]

I felt extremely fragile as I woke up, must've drank much more the night before at Carnegie's than I'd realised. I was dragged downstairs to the lounge for brekkies, still in my PJs but totally oblivious to my surroundings. So I was obviously in no state to care about what time I was supposed to be at the airport...Normally I'd have worked myself into a frenzied state of worry, so we must've had a huge night...Once again I've had to register my details at security due to my epi pen.

Hard to believe this is the same KeithMEL from Los Angeles earlier this year...

I'm at least two orders of magnitude more tame than KeithMEL.

That's still rather rambunctious!

[taipeiflyer]

This TR confirms why I'd like to visit TPE: the food!

I'd ask taipeiflyer to play host, but I'd have to warn him: I'm at least two orders of magnitude more tame than KeithMEL.

Thanks for the TPE highlights, KeithMEL.

it would be an honor to serve as host to jjpb3, as well as any other sqtalkers that make their way out to taiwan... and don't worry about being two orders of magnitude more tame than KeithMEL. This old-timer had trouble keeping up with the "Vampire." By the time we hit Singapore, i had to entrust him to my cousin, cause i was totally wiped out. =)

[taipeiflyer]

Funny, this is exactly what phaleesy told me earlier this evening!

seriously- the pics don't do the food justice.... taiwanese cuisine is flat-out the best!

[KeithMEL]

By the time we hit Singapore, i had to entrust him to my cousin, cause i was totally wiped out. =)

Hey as I recall I was the one to whom he was entrusted not the other way round...

seriously- the pics don't do the food justice.... taiwanese cuisine is flat-out the best!

I get the hint... i'll work on my photography skills...

But yes totally agree - Taipei is foodie heaven!