Holiday somewhere else. ideas ?

[surreybloke]

Colleagues i use Eva sometimes from London and see onward flights to Taipei.         Has anyone done  it  and what did they think of the place.     I was thinking of a few days.     

[DonniePeverley]

It's just your standard metropolis with a kind of dull Chinese flavour to it. The big building is nice to look at. They play baseball which is odd. But the rest of it just like a Chinese city. 

[BusNo8]

15 hours ago, surreybloke said:

Colleagues i use Eva sometimes from London and see onward flights to Taipei.         Has anyone done  it  and what did they think of the place.     I was thinking of a few days.     

DON'T

Go to Taiwan. My wife finally talked me into it and it was the most boring place I have ever been to in Asia. It was twice as boring as Singapore.

 

We did win $5, 000 Taiwanese dollars on entry in the lotto

[DonniePeverley]

4 hours ago, BusNo8 said:

DON'T

Go to Taiwan. My wife finally talked me into it and it was the most boring place I have ever been to in Asia. It was twice as boring as Singapore.

 

We did win $5, 000 Taiwanese dollars on entry in the lotto

 

The people of SIngapore are boring, but Singapore itself is decent for a few days .... sentosa, Universal Studios, a beach although it's crap, China town, Little India, marina bay sands, etc

[Lorry]

The place is boring if you only have a few days.

The people are by far the best I have met in Asia (or anywhere else).

If you are deaf and dumb, and illiterate (in Chinese, of course),  you could confuse Tapei with just another Chinese city. 

 

If only a few days, visit Taroko gorge near Hualien (wait until the damage from the earthquake has been cleaned up).

Not many places in the world go from sea level straight up to 4000m, certainly nowhere near London. 

 

If interested in old stuff,  visit the Palace Museum in Taipei. When the nationalists fled to Taiwan they carried all Chinese pieces of art from the mainland with them, and what was left in China was destroyed in the Cultural Revolution.  So the Palace Museum is the place to go for Chinese art.

[Thingamabob]

I lived and worked in Taiwan from 1987 to 1993, following 5 years living and working in Thailand.

Taiwanese people are friendly, hard working, and well educated. The island has beautiful mountains and lakes, and an excellent infrastructure. The capital Taipei is a well organised city, with top class hotels, markets and facilities, and a lively nightlife. However, if you are on a brief visit, with not enough time to explore the island outside Taipei, it may not be the best place for a short holiday.

 

 

[Denim]

2 minutes ago, Thingamabob said:

I lived and worked in Taiwan from 1987 to 1993, following 5 years living and working in Thailand.

Taiwanese people are friendly, hard working, and well educated. The island has beautiful mountains and lakes, and an excellent infrastructure. The capital Taipei is a well organised city, with top class hotels, markets and facilities, and a lively nightlife. However, if you are on a brief visit, with not enough time to explore the island outside Taipei, it may not be the best place for a short holiday.

 

 

 

Seconded. I stayed there a while and liked it. I was young then so found it easy to hook up with the local women who showed me a great time taking me around the city. I then went on a 1 week tour of the island with a Chinese waitress visiting Taroko gorge , the East coast and the highlands which were really beautiful.  Must be some great hiking there if you have the time.

 

On the other hand , if you are a boring person who just wants to sit on a bar stool ogling women then you will get bored. None of that there. Weather is cooler and less humid too. I walked miles all over Taipei ending in the suburbs and by the time I got back exhausted to my hotel I realized I had not seen another foreigner all day. Same on the coach tour. Very few tourists back then.

[bradiston]

1 hour ago, Thingamabob said:

I lived and worked in Taiwan from 1987 to 1993, following 5 years living and working in Thailand.

Taiwanese people are friendly, hard working, and well educated. The island has beautiful mountains and lakes, and an excellent infrastructure. The capital Taipei is a well organised city, with top class hotels, markets and facilities, and a lively nightlife. However, if you are on a brief visit, with not enough time to explore the island outside Taipei, it may not be the best place for a short holiday.

 

 

My daughter taught English there for a year so I visited one time for a week. She organised a trip round the island. Best holiday I ever had. Everything, trains, buses, run like clockwork, clean, and comfortable. Beautiful places, the gorges, and the parks. The Pacific is something else after this paddling pool. Massive breakers, wrecks on rocks, cliffs, just a lot to do and see. Food amazing, dim sum and sushi. Very little crime. I suffer from vertigo but still made it up what used to be the tallest building in the world. I recommend it. No visa required, 30 day stay. God forbid the CCP get their hands on it. Like Hong Kong, they'll just completely destroy it.

Edited June 1 by bradiston

[PaoloR]

I lived there for 2 years.

Hated the city of Taipei, loved the country outside of the capital.

Moved there from Shanghai where I loved the city but was not much impressed by the country around.

Beautiful countryside away from Taipei which has a poor microclimate (it is in a low depression and can get covered in a haze of pollution)

So I would fly into Taipei and head South to visit the mountains and the Taroko Gorge.

Food is good with a different slant on Chinese food from most Chinese you will eat elsewhere. The stinky fermented bean curd is an acquired taste and can cause nasal offence to some visitors.

[Roo Island]

Can't really accomplish much in a few days. Probably not worth the effort.

[Ben Zioner]

9 hours ago, Lorry said:

Not many places in the world go from sea level straight up to 4000m, certainly nowhere near London. 

There must be some interesting Paragliding. Are these slopes facing dominant sea breezes?

[BusNo8]

16 hours ago, DonniePeverley said:

 

The people of SIngapore are boring, but Singapore itself is decent for a few days .... sentosa, Universal Studios, a beach although it's crap, China town, Little India, marina bay sands, etc

Yeah, Singapore definitely ok for three days. I've prolly now done three weeks.

 

I think the value in Singapore is just not there. It's been years since my last visit. It was expensive then. I would imagine it's twice that now. We even mostly ate in hawkers food courts also.

 

Taiwan soooo boring. Electronics you'd think are cheap - not so. Most impressive thing I found about Taiwan was the transportation system both rail and bus. Museums...not impressed. Food was ghastly. Everyone literally lives on cheap bits of protein saturated somehow in Pa Lo. I'll never eat it again. Have problems eating Chinese Thai food now bc of it.

[BusNo8]

4 hours ago, PaoloR said:

I lived there for 2 years.

Hated the city of Taipei, loved the country outside of the capital.

Moved there from Shanghai where I loved the city but was not much impressed by the country around.

Beautiful countryside away from Taipei which has a poor microclimate (it is in a low depression and can get covered in a haze of pollution)

So I would fly into Taipei and head South to visit the mountains and the Taroko Gorge.

Food is good with a different slant on Chinese food from most Chinese you will eat elsewhere. The stinky fermented bean curd is an acquired taste and can cause nasal offence to some visitors.

 

Countryside looked inviting but expensive to get about.

 

Our highlight was the gondola and some sashimi joint we found.

 

Stinky tofu lol. Living in Asia for decades, with Thai wife neither of us smelt anything overly stinky in that main famousy area. About our third evening we spied a sign across the walkway - stinky tofu. So, we go, we smell, we buy, we try. Wife likes it but meh. I found it edible but no reason to eat bc why? You can eat something better. I'll try pretty much anything but gooey insects, blood, offal.

 

Food and rooms very overpriced. We ate typical Chinese meals about 30% over BKK + AC food court in BKK. Eat in stall in tpe. Our room was basically a queen bed and toilet.

Edited June 1 by BusNo8

[Hummin]

Been to Puh Quoc a few times for visa run. It's ok for a few days, some love it, and some find it very destroyed! 

 

But great food, some great locations, great wine, horrible local coffe, except some few decent coffe shops. And decent value for the money. 

 

The cable ride was impressive. 

 

International airport, short flight, 30 days excemption visa on arrival

 

 

 

Edited June 1 by Hummin

[BusNo8]

OP needs to consider monsoon setting in. Anywhere on Pacific can get raging storms and even typhoon.

[BusNo8]

Just now, Hummin said:

Been to Puh Quoc a few times for visa run. It's ok for a few days, some love it, and some find it very destroyed! 

 

But great food, some great locations, great wine, horrible local coffe, except some few decent coffe shops. And decent value for the money. 

 

The cable ride was impressive. 

 

 

 

 

I was there once back in 2002. It was just fishing villages. I didn't want to give my passport to the hotel so the police told me to report. They hassled me as best they could as none spoke English. Checking out if I was a spy no doubt. After about an hour they just let me go on my way. Ridiculous Fing fascists.

 

Many parts of Vietnam are stellar, but I don't care for the vietnamese character.

[Hummin]

1 minute ago, BusNo8 said:

 

I was there once back in 2002. It was just fishing villages. I didn't want to give my passport to the hotel so the police told me to report. They hassled me as best they could as none spoke English. Checking out if I was a spy no doubt. After about an hour they just let me go on my way. Ridiculous Fing fascists.

 

Many parts of Vietnam are stellar, but I don't care for the vietnamese character.

Oh, okay, they wanted to keep your passport?

 

We had no hassel on our stay, 

[BusNo8]

Just now, Hummin said:

Oh, okay, they wanted to keep your passport?

 

We had no hassel on our stay, 

 

Back in the day they did this. It was especially rigid in the old days. The hotel keeps the passport. There were stories of hotels losing ppts as well I can recall. I always carried an old passport and would do a switcheroo.

 

Lao was very tedious traveling in the old days as well. You had to check into the police station ever place you stayed.

 

Myanmar in early 90s was very weird as well.

[sipi]

Any place can be an adventure. Nothing wrong with exploring the off trodden path.

[geisha]

Depends how long the OP has got. With under 4/5 days really not worth going far. I loved Tokyo and Kyoto , bit too far maybe ? Shorter stays, Singapore as said, great food, I love the multicultural life. Malacca Malaysia, Penang, Langkawi great beach . All good for the food. I also went to Cameron Highlands. Fantastic, had a great hotel, strawberries and cream , scones at afternoon tea. Great trips in old war jeeps into the jungle, the tea plantations, cool weather, loved it. Or stay in Thailand and take a trip down to Koh Chang and go to the nearby islands of Koh Rang,Koh Wai, Koh Ngam ask before for the quietest islands with the least boats. Might not be good weather at this time of year though. I go in January. 

[surreybloke]

self car hire available looks interesting  

[Lorry]

9 hours ago, Sticky Rice Balls said:

Love TPE and thought of always trying to live there but assume its more $$$ than LOS.....

Not really. 

Some things are more expensive,  especially in Taipei. Other things are cheaper.  It depends a lot on your spending pattern which one is more expensive. 

 

Biggest cost difference: you don't have to pay for girls (but you won't find a beauty 25 or 30  years younger than you)

I am not talking about prostitutes,  but regular girls (you probably couldn't pay for Taiwan prostitutes anyway).

Thai girls know  farang are rich. 

Taiwan girls know foreigners have no money.