[The Intense Summer] TAIWAN DAY 1 (Part 1)

On our 8th (?) day in Asia, we flew from Hong Kong to Taiwan, making a short stop at the EVA lounge before boarding.

But before heading towards the lounge, I made a quick trip around the stores they had at the Hong Kong airport.

That white polo reminded me of Jackson's fencing uniform. XD (Now if only the 18 was changed to 852...)

This wall print was also pretty cool - for those that can't read Chinese, there's basically a different word/character in each heart depicting things you can do in Hong Kong (ie. sightsee, eat, shop, etc.).
A giant Fujifilm Instax camera was also spotted.

Later on I went to explore a small bookstore. Besides retailing typical overpriced gifts and magazines like the airport bookstores we have in Canada, it was also selling toys, cookbooks, and some cute stationery.

And then I finally made it to the lounge...

...and had Haagen-Dazs for breakfast since it was still fairly early in the morning. (Haha XD)

We boarded the aircraft shortly after.

Since Taiwan is only about a 1-hour flight from Hong Kong, a short nap and the ingestion of an in-flight lunch was all there was time for before preparations for landing had to be made.

I sat in the aisle so it became rather difficult to capture photos as we were landing, but here are the ones I managed to render not blurry.

The first thing I noticed about the airport was how adorable all the signs were. I mean, it's not everyday that you see cartoon versions of every single warning/caution sign possible.

Our hotel sent us a taxi to pick us up at the Taoyuan airport and take us to Taipei, which was approximately 40 minutes away.

So, naturally, the only thing left to do while sitting in a taxi during daytime (aka perfect lighting conditions) in a foreign country for an extended period of time is to take lots of photos - besides checking all your social networking sites since they have Wi-Fi inside the moving vehicle (like how cool is that?!).

Another thing I noticed was the crazy number of scooter drivers there were, and they weren't just all men either.

Women with pink helmets would just whiz by us once we arrived in Taipei, and some scooters were even carrying two people: a small child holding onto the handlebars while standing with their parent sitting behind them. A very common use for the scooters, as we observed, were for delivering takeout.

My third observation of the afternoon: all taxis were yellow in Taiwan.
We have black or blue/white taxis in Canada, and red or green taxis in Hong Kong.


For our one-week stay in Taipei, we resided in the Xinyi area at W Taipei.

Their pool was honestly breathtaking at that time of day. It was extremely sunny when we got there, and so I made use of the opportunity to capture a few quick shots. Once they're ready, a link shall appear here!

Read PART 2 for more!

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SUMMER 2014 LINKS

• JUNE 28, 2014 - Mill St. Brewery, Toronto Pearson Airport
• JUNE 29, 2014 - NorthWest Fan Fest 2014
•                                       - Red Star
• JUNE 30, 2014 - Photos N/A
• JULY 1/2, 2014 - Vancouver to HK Part 1 (Vancouver International Airport)
•                                        - Vancouver to HK Part 2 (Flight to Seoul)
•                                        - Vancouver to HK Part 3 (Incheon Airport, Arrival in Hong Kong)
• JULY 3, 2014 - Mong Kok
• JULY 4, 2014 - Macau Day Tour
• JULY 5, 2014 - Shopping in Causeway Bay
• JULY 6, 2014 - Tsui Wah Restaurant, I SQUARE
• JULY 7, 2014 - Arriving in Taiwan + Akazubo (Hankyu)
•                                     - Exploring Eslite
• JULY 8, 2014 - Food and Family Dinner
• JULY 9, 2014 - Ximending
• JULY 10, 2014 - Taipei 101, Ding Tai Fung
•                                       - ATT 4 Fun
•                                       - Birthday Buffet
• JULY 11, 2014 - SOGO, Taipei Underground Mall
• JULY 12, 2014 - Exploring the Area + Shinkong Mitsukoshi
• JULY 13, 2014 - Breakfast + Taoyuan Airport + Flight Back to Vancouver
• JULY 14, 2014 - Mega Sushi
• JULY 15, 2014 - Maji Taiwanese Cuisine
• JULY 16, 2014 - Thai Food + Family Dinner @ The Jade
• JULY 17, 2014 - New Hair + Cattle Cafe
• JULY 18, 2014 - Photos N/A
• JULY 19, 2014 - Garage Sale + MiniComi
• JULY 20, 2014 - Photos N/A
• JULY 21, 2014 - Cattle Cafe + Bubble Tea at Yaohan
• JULY 22, 2014 - Vancouver Aquarium
• JULY 23, 2014 - Lost in Burnaby + Afternoon Tea at Adonia
• JULY 24, 2014 - Journey via Canada Line + Pinkberry
• JULY 25, 2014 - Richmond Night Market (Part 1)
•                                       - Richmond Night Market (Part 2)
• JULY 26, 2014 - Back to Toronto