Friday, 25 October 2024

Taiwan Day 0, Hsinchu Arrival

 I woke up on 24th Thurs morning after getting out of the bathroom to a cancellation notice for my flight, due to engine repairs not being able to be completed on time. Uhhhhhhhh NOT what I wanted to wake up to.

I had to poop first and tried to calm down and figure out what to do. There's only 1 direct flight on a day... Maybe I can transfer at HK?? Managed to get onto livechat while eating breakfast and while I was in queue, looked up flights and there is one to HK at 11:45am, departing 1 hr later than what my flight would have. I asked Jason John (the live chat agent) if he could reschedule me.

It took about half an hour in total, JJ was able to reschedule me on premium economy and I also had to reschedule my pickup shuttle taxi, and inform the hotel. Thankfully the hotel has 24hr reception and the shuttle taxis Aicheng Rentals 艾承租車 reschedule to a new time. 

Off to the airport we go. Thanks dad! They have a premium economy check in area (which was under reno last year IIRC) and it was like special counters and bag drop area for prem and biz class. Wow. Then an elevator directly upstairs to the express lane for security. 

I forgot to tip out the last bit of my water and my bag was pulled aside for inspection. The security officer looked in every pocket of my backpack. Oops.

Then it was just sitting and charging my phones in a communal area before you go up the escalators for the gates. I had a snack at a quiet corner with no one, and more people came into my area at Gate 7 as I ate. *sigh* Prem economy has priority boarding but I chose to board last anyway, to reduce exposure of the yucky air before the engines start running.

On boarded and off we go. So hungry, they served lunch at around 1pm. I had pork belly.


For dinner, I had hāpuka, a type of fish.

I watched Coco on the plane, because I recently lost my grandma, it hit harder than usual. It was a really good film. I could see a lot of similarities between Mexican culture about honouring and remembering your ancestors and deceased ones. I just slept and snoozed most of the way. Browsed a bit of twitter as there's in-flight wifi. There were a couple of peope coughing, but it sounded more like dry coughing or smoker's cough. There was a Brazilian flight attendant, Vitoh, who was so friendly and cheery. The cabin crew duty manager Melissa came around and introduced themselves to everyone at the beginning of the fight. I had a nice European lady next to me at the window seat. I was front row.

Once we landed in HK, there were some crew with a placard for Eva Air transfer. I somehow latched onto a tour group lol, who was also meant to be on the cancelled flight, and did the check in procedure too even though I had a boarding pass. They replaced my boarding pass and asked to see my leaving flight from Taiwan when they asked where my visa was, and I was like "but it's visa free...?". 



After that, I headed through security again. They had the egates which required you to unmask...

The guy behind me at security tried to take away my empty tray that I prepped for my laptop as I was taking it out from carry on. And then almost pushed that tray off the table and would've smashed my laptop... god.... please.... situational awareness....

Headed towards the gates and passed the tour group again. I saw a sign for a Sky Garden (!!!) with a light show starting at 7pm to 9pm. It was only a few minutes until 7pm. Oh cool! I might be able to get an open air break from masking! And as I passed the entrance into the garden, there were like 7 big units of what I think were air purifiers.... I wondered why they had them. Then I realised as I stepped out. It wasn't plants I could see, it was all smokers, lined up on every spare space of the walkways, just smoking. I couldn't even make 20 steps before giving up and going back. I came for fresh air and some plants... but all I got was a smoker's paradise. Unbelievable. So that's what the HEPAs were for...


Alright then, make my way to Gate 26. Had a look at the shops near the gate (Tripadvisor mostly). IT was quite expensive. Managed to find some pods with recliner type seats and I set myself up, and had a snooze for about an hour-ish. After waking up, I saw a guy far off watching Thunderbolt Fantasy on a laptop. Lol!! It was S4 Ep 3. I see you, weeb. xD When the episode ended he twitched his feet in like "AHHHH!!!" reaction. I feel you, bro.



Then boarding time. I was in zone 2 which they boarded first, but I chose to wait until the last people too. They also had automated boarding gates and required me to unmask... can just hold my breathe long enough. Plane due to take off at 9:10pm.

Eva Airways planes are newer looking? Way less grimy. I didn't bother disinfecting. It wasn't a full plane so I had an empty seat in the middle and a guy on the end. The crew came around with dinner (pork rice), and it smelt good, but if I ate now I would just feel sick (I was hungry but it's like 2am NZT). I snoozed pretty much the whole way and missed the plane landing, only woke up when it touched down, but since it was rainy I probs couldn't see too much anyway.

Get through security, customs and bag check. No paper arrival cards on the desk, but there's a lady giving them out. Customs also asked for unmasking and stare into the camera, and then finger prints. Bags come out fast, pretty much within 5 mins of me getting to the baggage belt. Then got out for Lucky Land draw. Was worried since my flight arrived way later, it might had expired. But thankfully not. Two draws no win, lol.

It was 11:45pm now, only 45 mins?? That's so fast. And right on time Aicheng rentals LINE'd me to ask me to add the driver as a contact, which I did, and seems like he was already here. Nice!!! Arranged for pick up at 28/29 area, but it was really busy and he ended up being at 27. We got there. Mr Luo was my driver. Asked if the A/C was OK, I just requested it to be on natural air circulation. And asked me if music was good, I said I am happy to listen to all types of music. He said it was the radio, lol. All G mate.

He had to stop for a pee (no problem, mate! Please pee), and the rest stop, Yang Mei, was really nice looking and had a mixed/all gender toilet. Nice!! Very pretty circular design. Then onto Hsinchu. I dozed off... woke up when we got off the motorway... and then after coming out onto Beida Rd, had a near miss from some scooters just zipping through at full speed? Emergency brake?!? Oh my god. Glad we are OK. Are you OK Mr Luo? It was just before the hotel too. He asked if it was a hotel address and I was like yup. Oh, are you on a business trip? Nah, here to visit family, but I have friends in Hsinchu which I will visit first before heading to Taichung.

When we got to the hotel, I paid him first - bro!! Are you ok not checking the amount?? He told me I didn't have to take it out of the sleeve (oops man I'm so tired me no think). And then it was raining lightly he said I should wait under the roof and not get rained on when I got off to help him with luggage. Hdfsbis I thanked him and wished him a safe drive home.

Check in at the hotel, the receptionist was in a black surgical. I paid the extra $2000 for the night that wasn't on Klook. They gave me the same room, 1112, as last time. Lol!!!! 

Shower and bed time. My poop came out on time, like, 6am NZT. Lmao. 

Exhausteddd.

Zzzzz

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