30 Hours in Taipei

Finally, I have concluded 3-week trip to US. I stopped at Taipei to visit one of my strategic clients and also another Enterprise prospect. This is my first trip to Taipei, so another country got added to my long list of countries I have visited so far. I took a really long flight from IAD to TPE via SFO, which means 19-hours of flying, and about 25-hours of travel time. Given that I have become jet lag immune, I survived it without too much of a stress. I landed at 6AM in TPE, and reached hotel by 9AM, and started participating in business meetings by 11AM.

So, I had just about few hours to explore Taipei in the first day evening, and next day morning, and then headed back to home. Taipei 101, was World’s largest building for a while, until Burj Khalifa (and few others) took over the record. I walked around Taipei 101 late in the evening, and took clips of Most Photographed Building in the town. I spotted Vapiano in the building next door, and had my dinner over there. This is my second visit to Vapiano which is euro-chic chain for pastas, pizzas & more, ordered cafeteria-style in modern environs with a bar. Loved the experience first time I explored it in London.

Next day morning, I found myself woke up at 5:30AM and pleasantly surprised that breakfast buffet opens at 6AM. So had my breakfast, took a 12-min taxi ride to Elephant Mountain a 7AM, scaled 500 steps to capture few pics of Taipei 101 amidst sprawling city.

FindTaxi is a very useful android only mobile app (thankfully, I am not using iPhone) and one of the few apps which has English UI. I have used the app to order Taxi and was able to request English Speaking drivers, and made my commute around the town very easy. I was able to get a local SIM card within 10 minutes of getting out of Immigration. I paid about INR 600 for 3-day SIM with unlimited data plan. A local SIM card with unlimited data plan and a credit card is enough to survive any city in the plant.