Adventurasia Community

So begins my first day in Taiwan, or Kaohsiung to be exact. For those who don’t know, Kaohsiung is the second largest city on the island and is about a 1 hour flight / 6 hour bus ride from Taipei. In my opinion, Kaohsiung and it’s nearby city Kenting are like the Okinawa of Japan; the Hawaii of the USA. Temperature currently is about 28 degrees celsius, sunny, and humid. Much like the weather in Tokyo a couple months back. Coming from Tokyo, the adjustment in temperature/climate is not all that great as if you had began your journey from elsewhere.

So as is always the case, one of the most tiring parts of the trip is getting from Tokyo to the Tokyo International Airport in Narita. Getting to Narita is about a 90 minute to 180 minute journey depending on your connections and the transportation method you use to get there - limousine bus; JR local trains; Keisei Skyliner; Narita Express; Keisei Local train; Keisei Local Rapid etc. Cost generally is between 1000 to 4000 yen from Tokyo one way.

\r\nNot only is the transportation long and boring, but if you are lugging around suitcases, you need to contend with the multitude of staircases, crowded trains, and crowded stations. It’s surprising to note that even the stations where there will be many travellers (ie. the stations where the special airport trains leave) they still resort to staircases - or the elevators/escalators are so far and inbetween that people end up trying to carry their luggage up the stairs. Worse is the return trip when quite often you buy many souvenirs and what not and then you have to bring them home.\r\nI remember both Hong Kong and Singapore being much more efficient and friendly for travellers. One can hope, given several years.

Well finally I got to Narita Airport, and decided to check in a bit early so that I didn’t have to wheel my suitcase around. Of course, like the last time I flew Northwest Airlines, they decided to scrutinize my luggage. The bad thing was that I was using the suitcase that I bought in my last trip to China (with the intention of dumping it in Taiwan) and the lock had somehow reset itself - so I didn’t know the combo to open my suitcase! I told the inspector that it was okay to cut the lock - but he actually found out the new combination after a few minutes. I’m sure it already raised a few suspicions… (or perhaps this is a common occurence, as he didn’t start laughing at me or further questioning me).

Anyways, half my suitcase contained car parts for my cousin - a turbo, an AFC Controller, and a Blow-Off Valve — don’t ask me what these are for. The AFC controller looks like a black box with dials on it + wires coming out - i thought for sure he would be wondering about that one, but fortunately, he just said ‘kikai’ which means machine (i think) and carefully put everything back into the suitcase. He also went through my carry on bag and made me turn on things that could be turned on. I had also bought a Starbucks tumbler at the airport and he was very suspicious about it - but I told him he could tear up the nice wrapping if he wished. He didn’t bother.

After checking in, I walked around the concourse a bit to check out the stores - picked up a couple of souvenir or omiyage type items and basically tried to kill some time. Next I decided I may as well go through security. Again they searched my bags, I set off the alarm, so they ran some sort of metal detector on me. Checked my shoes, checked that I didn’t have anything strapped to myself, made me turn on the electronics in the carry on, checked my wallet for knives or whatnot, checked my keyring. Finally they let me pass and I headed to customs and immigration. The guy was being pretty strict - asking me where I was going, whether I was going anywhere else, how many days, etc…

So as I got to the airport quite early, and even after all the inspections - i still had about 2 hours before the flight to kill. So I walked around a bit more, tried to do some reading, and played some games on my computer - one of them is a shooting game that comes with the system - i was a bit worried that someone would complain about it (you try and shoot down as many flying objects as possible; you bomb buildings; etc… ). Anyways, I’m getting better and better at this game.

Finally it was time to board the actual plane, and I was EXPECTING to be stopped again for inspection (i think every 2nd or 3rd person was being searched) but they just let me pass. Perhaps there is a computer record that says that I already went through the inspection a couple times and not to do a third inspection less you upset the customer. (Lots of people got checked so I didn’t feel so bad) So I entered the gate and got on a bus that made a 10 minute journey to where the airplane actually was - it was near the JAL hangar I think. The plane was quite small - an Airbus 320 - for those who are interested in these kinds of things, there were probably about 50 rows, split in half with 3 seats on each side (so just one center aisle). There weren’t any tv screens and only two washrooms at the back. It was a small plane. When it was starting up (and later when it was shutting down) it made a funny noise. (oh well, if it’s not the terrorists, then maybe it’s the mechanics; the flight wasn’t too expensive so they need to cut corners somewhere!).

The flight itself was quite pleasant - it was a direct flight from Narita to Kaohsiung. The flight was about 75% full - so I had the three seats to myself and I took full advantage of this. For once, the stewardesses were not fighting amongst themselves - they were all very friendly / professional. The food was OK. I was starving! It was some sort of rice and fish dish. Surprised that it wasn’t teriyaki chicken - although that might be the dish I get on the way back.

Finally we arrived at Kaohsiung airport, and i was expecting that Customs would give me a big hassle with my luggage. Instead, it was Immigration that had all these questions for me. (Part of the problem is that I got a new passport about a week ago as my previous one had less than 6 months to go). The guy asked me if I came to Taiwan before; where I was staying; phone number; how many days; why. Finally I offered to show him my previous passport and he let me through - although I think he should have asked me in the first place. I was lucky that I brought the old passport along.

I next headed to the baggage conveyor belt thingy to pick up my luggage. The bags showed up about 5 minutes later. I then went to the ‘nothing to declare’ lane in and i was again expecting them to inspect my baggage as they tore apart the suitcase of the person in front of me - but they just waved me through. Personally I couldn’t wait to get out of that area.

Unfortunately I needed to change some money into Taiwan dollars and the banks were closed at the airport! (This was around 10:00 PM). So I went to information counter, and they told me that I had to go back inside to the customs area and use the bank there - i did go inside and changed some money without incident.