Taipei Report

Anything and everything about gay life anywhere in the world, especially Asia, other than Thailand.
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a447
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Taipei Report

Post by a447 »

Taipei airport would have to be the most frustrating airport I have ever been at.

First, I lined up at the non-citizen area of Immigration, where 15 lines snaked back and forth. After waiting on line for about 20 minutes, I was shunted outside the barrier to another line which hardly moved at all. All in all it took about 40 minutes to get outside.

I headed straight for a bank of Taiwan atm, but again, there was a line a mile long. The reason why it hardly moved was because the atm machine was so fucking slow! When I finally got there it rejected my 2 credit cards!

So off to find another one. It worked!

Opposite the atm was a counter which sold tickets to the MTR train into the city, so I lined up. It wasn't till I finely got close to the counter until I saw the sign - No one-way tickets sold here. Proceed to MTR station.

I joined yet another long line to buy my ticket from the vending machine but it would not accept my NTW$ 1000 note. So I lined up to try another machine. Then I saw it - a notice saying one-way tickets could only be bought at the information desk! Why not place that sign near the vending machines??

So off to line up yet again.

I eventually made it to my hotel in Ximen. I hope these events are not a precursor to a frustrating trip to Taiwan.

I've just come back from the gay bar area surrounding the Red House. Bring Saturday night the bars were packed with lots of gay couples /groups as week as hetero couples. Unfortunately, not as much eye candy as I expecting.

Tomorrow afternoon I may wander around to have a look at the massage places in this area. I hope I'll have something interesting to report!
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Gaybutton
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Re: Taipei Report

Post by Gaybutton »

Seems like your experience at the airport really was a "Chinese fire drill."
fountainhall

Re: Taipei Report

Post by fountainhall »

Like any other international airport, the length of time taken to get through immigration at Taipei usually depends on when you arrive. I've got through in about 5 minutes on some trips - but more frequently my flights seem to arrive just after one from Hong Kong or China whose residents require a special paper permit in addition to passports which takes a little longer to process. Sometimes the snake can take about 30 minutes though rarely longer in my case.

As for cash, I have a rule that wherever I travel I always have a small amount of cash in local currency that will at least cover me for 24 hours (unless it's somewhere like Bhutan where currency is hard to get outside the country!) In addition at Taipei airport the official bank money changers have as good a rate as you get in the city and so I'll change a lot of cash on arrival. Usually I'll have US$ or HK$ bills and I don't think I've ever had to wait more than 5 minutes. In Taiwan I don't bother with ATM machines. In a long post on the "Taipei in 24 hours" thread I did mention the bank exchange booths at the airport and the good rates you get for cash. But I failed to point out that i always use the ones prior to leaving the customs area! The rates are the same as those in the arrivals' hall, but usually they have very few people using them.

Good luck with the massages! I think you mentioned that you've been reading the Taiwan massage/sauna thread on the Singapore site blowingwind. There's a lot of posts from guys looking for travel companions and the merits of the hot springs. But there are quite a few posts about specific massage places and masseurs. Looks like happy endings are mostly restricted to hjs but I haven't read it in detail.
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Re: Taipei Report

Post by aussie »

I use a Citibank card in Taiwan. No ATM at the airport but enough located conveniently around the city and no transaction or exchange rate fees.

The eye candy is in the Ximen walk shopping area and Cinema street more so than the Red House. My friends in Taiwan will rarely if ever go to the Red House. They say it is expensive and for tourists. I stay near Zhongxiou Danhua MRT, eye candy central, especially on the weekends. Night markets near Universities are also great for viewing the locals and trying the food.

I am presently having coffee in the new Lotte Tower mall here in Seoul. There is plenty of Korean eye candy here today to view the cherry blossoms in the nearby park.
fountainhall

Re: Taipei Report

Post by fountainhall »

I am really surprised re Citibank and the absence of charges. My Citibank account is in Hong Kong. If I use the cash card for withdrawals in Bangkok, I am charged no fixed fees but I get a rather nasty exchange rate. Same with the credit card when I use it for purchases anywhere I travel. In Taiwan I get the offer of paying in NT$ or HK$ and always choose NT$ since it is well known that the exchange rate back to home currency at the point of purchase will be worse. No fees but still about 2% worse than the best cash conversion rates from HSBC in Kong Kong when the purchase appears on my statement. One reason I have moved back to cash for a lot of my travel.
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Re: Taipei Report

Post by aussie »

https://www.citibank.com.au/aus/banking ... k_plus.htm

The times i checked the exchange rate was good. Maybe this version of the card is only available in Australia. I mentioned it to a friend from the U.S.A and he said that he could not get a similar card there unless he had over $US200k in his account. It has proved very convenient for me when traveling throughout Asia.
fountainhall

Re: Taipei Report

Post by fountainhall »

I've never heard of a card with these benefits in Hong Kong. I'll double check when I'm there next month. Your US friend should still be happy, though. He is able to take advantage of the seemingly endless cards from hotel chains and airlines which offer anything from 50,000 - 100,000 miles when spending about $3,000 over a 3-month period. I have never seen these offered in Asia.
a447
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Re: Taipei Report

Post by a447 »

My plans for today ended up going all over the place, like I did. And there were a couple of surprises, one not so pleasant.

I got onto the subway, sat down and just enjoyed the eye candy. One guy in particular was stunning ; very tall, slim and with the cutest face. Gorgeous! I've noticed that all the guys here look very fit - not a fat guy in sight. The nicest looking guys always seem to be with their girlfriends. Oh, well.....

I was determined to climb Mt Xiangshan -actually, it's a hill - to enjoy the famous view back towards the Taipei 101 skyscraper. But first of all, I went up to the 89 floor to the viewing platform. The sign at the ticket counter said viewing conditions were "good.". Something was lost in translation as when I got to the top, all I could see was fog!

But all was not lost. There is a fantastic shopping area you have to walk through to get to the elevator. There are heaps of shops selling ceramics, which I just so happen to collect. So making a mental note to come back later, I walked down the street to the start of the hiking trail up the hill.

When I got to the stairs I almost had a heart attack! They went straight up as far as the eye could see. How on earth am I going to manage that? But I'd come all this way so I was decided to just go for it.

And thank God I did. Sure, the climb was exhausting - although I managed to leave some younger guys in my wake - but I got an unexpected reward. I was sitting down taking a short break when suddenly a group of young guys - shirtless and wearing short shorts! - came jogging up the stairs. OMG! Look at those bodies! Look at those 6-packs! And a couple of bubble butts, too! Who were they? Army guys? Fitness fanatics?

All I can say is, the view from the observation platform in the top of the hill paled into insignificance.

On reaching the platform I tried to take a selfie with my new camera, but was having a bit of trouble. Just then a young guy appeared and offered to take my photo. In typical Asian style he took about a dozen. I thanked him and started on the trail back down when he suddenly appeared next to me. He wanted to practise his English.

Sure, no probrem.

We sat down and started talking but the vibe suddenly changed when he asked me if I liked guys.

My heart stayed racing. What does he want? Is he a money boy? Is he one of those guys fountainhall mentions - the ones who just want to have sex with a westerner? How do I find out? Do I just ask him?

So I asked him if he had a job and whether or not he earned good money. He assured me he did. He then asked me if I would like him to come back to my hotel - we could relax there and he could practise his English and he would teach me some Chinese. (nudge nudge, wink wink).

I told him I wanted to go back to Taipei 101 to buy some ceramics and after that we could go back to the hotel. Not a problem, as he wanted to see something in a store there, too.

After I'd bought what I wanted it was his turn to go shopping. I followed him into Louis Vuitton; he wandered off to the clothing section and I looked at the shoes. Suddenly, he appeared with a jacket.

"What do you think? Does it suit me?"

"Looks great. Are you going to buy it?"

Jesus, I thought. He must be earning good money if he can just walk into LV and buy a jacket!

"No," he said, putting his arm around my waist. "Can you buy it for me?"

Gulp! You want me to buy you a $2000 jacket?? Really? I hardly know you. Besides, although you are very attractive, I'd hardly call you a stunner.

To cut a long story short, he didn't get his jacket and I never got to have sex with him. He stormed out of the store in disgust.

Somehow I think I missed a bullet. Was he really planning to come back to my hotel, or is that just his modus operandi - con a gay westerner into thinking he'll get sex, only after he's bought him something expensive. Was this some kind of scam?

So if you ever run into a guy called Danny on Xiangshan, be warned! Lol

So I decided to go to the Chang Kai Shek Memorial and ended up spending quite a long time walking around there. Then back to Taipei 101 to have a lunch at the famous Din Tai Fung dumpling restaurant. The line there was long and I had to wait about 40 minutes but it was well worth it. The best dumplings ever! And then another hour or so upstairs shopping.

By now I was exhausted - my smartwatch told me I'd walked 13 kilometres (!) so I decided to head back, shower and then head off to Hans sauna. But I got lost. Maybe I was just too tired but I wandered around and around but never found it. The problem is, it's hard to find the street names and all the streets look the same.

I could have walked down to the massage place but in the end I just couldn't be bothered. So here I am, back in the hotel writing this report.

Maybe tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
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Gaybutton
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Re: Taipei Report

Post by Gaybutton »

a447 wrote:To cut a long story short, he didn't get his jacket and I never got to have sex with him. He stormed out of the store in disgust.
Things like that certainly are not exclusive to Taipei. I had a similar experience recently. A boy I had not met yet and I were chatting for a few days online. Everything sounded great. Then, only a couple hours before we were going to meet, he sent me a photo of a watch. He wanted me to send him 3000 baht so he could buy the watch. When I told him sorry, but we haven't even met yet, he sent a message to me: "If you not send money to me, I cannot come."

I wrote back, "Fine. Then don't come."

A couple more messages went back and forth until I finally told him to forget it. Try that shit with a different farang. I made it crystal clear that he was a very good con artist and had me fooled right up until the watch photo. I also told him we are absolutely not going to meet and I will neither read nor respond to any more messages. I haven't heard from him since. GOOD!

I'm glad this happened before we actually met, when it was easy to just get rid of him. Fortunately the local sea has plenty of fish - who are not like that. I imagine the same is true in Taipei.
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Re: Taipei Report

Post by aussie »

Hans sauna can be seen from the stairway at the left hand side rear corner of the two story building which is part of the Red House bars area. There is a big "Hans Sauna" mural on the side of the sauna building about 50 metres down the street on the right hand side. The only time i went there i hooked up with a nice Thai guy having a break from his bf for a few hours.
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