Taipei Gay Pride Parade 2017: Saturday 28 October

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fountainhall

Taipei Gay Pride Parade 2017: Saturday 28 October

Post by fountainhall »

Since aussie’s thread here is about the 2015 Parade, I thought it might be useful to update it for this year's Parade. The date is Saturday 28 October. Usually it will start at 2:00pm with marchers assembling up to a couple of hours beforehand. The numbers taking part are staggering - last year an estimated 82,000 - and so for the last few years the march has been split into two routes with the same start and end points. After the march there is a concert on that site. Over the weekend there are several disco parties which are heaving with gorgeous bodies from all over Asia! If you want to get into those parties, you have to go early as long queues quickly form.

In an earlier post in the 2015 thread, GB asks about hotels and flights and how far in advance they should be booked.

Hotels

Taipei has lots of hotels at a wide variety of prices. Aussie’s hotel has basic rooms over the Pride weekend at around US$56 per night. Location is not so important for the Parade because there is a subway stop right at 228 Peace Memorial Park where many marchers gather before the short walk over to the Parade start point.

I expect 2-3 months in advance should still find plenty of rooms, although the cheapest ones in the cheaper hotels may have been snapped up.

Aussie mentions the excellent W Hotel which is usually one of the Pride Parade’s official hotels but that will set you back around Bt. 11,500 per night! But there are also plenty of centrally located hotels in the $60 - $100 range. I plan to book mine soon as it now has a special offer.

Flights

I have recently been checking flights departing Bangkok on Friday 27 and see that some prices are already rising for that week-end. The obvious airlines are the non-stops on Thai, EVA and China. Another poster will be going to Taipei next month on EVA at Bt. 8,595. Thai and China Airlines are considerably higher. I often take the excellent Hong Kong Airlines to allow a stopover in Hong Kong. Next month, my Hong Kong/Taipei fare at excellent departure times is Bt. 9,550. On Friday 27 October, though, those same flights are only available at more than double the price. But there are lots of other one-stop flights through Macau, Guangzhou, Hanoi etc. Having a quick look, Air Macau, Philippines and Vietnam Airlines seem to have decent fares with decent departures.

If you don’t mind overnight flights or very early departures/very late arrivals, you’ll still be fine on Jetstar Taiwan or Scoot. Jetstar Taiwan’s lowest fare is Bt. 9,462 with just 7 kgs of cabin baggage. Scoot’s 00:20 departure on 28 has limited seats but plenty the night before. Round-trip presently costs around Bt. 8,800.
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Re: Taipei Gay Pride Parade 2017: Saturday 28 October

Post by Gaybutton »

Thank you very much, fountainhall. I'd like to go myself. But for those who can't go, please take plenty of pictures of the boys and post them for us.

I see a lot of those Pride parade photos on Google Images, but most of them are several years old.
fountainhall

Re: Taipei Gay Pride Parade 2017: Saturday 28 October

Post by fountainhall »

I will be taking lots of photos but will not return to BKK till around November 7 and cannot get them out of my camera until then. I'll post on my return but I am sure others will have posted much earlier.
fountainhall

Re: Taipei Gay Pride Parade 2017: Saturday 28 October

Post by fountainhall »

A small correction to the last para of my first post. I should have referred to Tiger Air Taiwan which departs from DMK and not to Jetstar Taiwan which does not exist. Flights on Jetstar Asia have to take a very long route via Singapore.
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