After our relaxing day in the onsen in Beitou, we grab a taxi to take us to the Taipei Raiway Station where we have booked seats on the high speed train to Tainan, the old capital of Taiwan.
The railway station is impressive, huge and very very busy. And spotlessly clean.
But even more impressive is the departure board. The high speed trains run every 20 minutes or so and the board lists the times and platforms. Every train leaves exactly on time – to the minute, and arrives at its destination just as punctually. In the States there are just two high speed trains in the entire country. I have no idea how punctual they are, but if they are anything like the regular trains you can rely on them being late.
All the platforms are below ground. You travel down two escalators to get to them. Taipei began putting their rail lines undergound in 1979. By 1989 they had completed almost 3 miles of underground railway tunnels, and now all trains traveling in and out of Taipei do so underground. Now that’s impressive.
Our tickets specify the carriage number and the seat number. On the platform there are markings showing exactly where the door to each carriage will stop, There are orderly lines on the platform at each carriage entrance. The train arrives exactly on time.
It is like something out of Star Wars.
The doors stop exactly where they are supposed to, and they open. No one moves. They wait for any disembarking passengers to get off. Then we all walk quietly to our seats. There is no pushing or shoving. It is such a pleasant experience. There are exactly three minutes allowed for this and amazingly it is plenty of time. The train leaves precisely on time.
I was expecting the inside of the train to be as sleek and stylish as the outside. It isn’t. Infact it is a little boring. The seats are like economy airline seats (I seem to remember what they were like!). They do recline a little, but they are not particularly comfortable.
Sadly there is no TV screen on the back of each seat. But what there is, is almost as entertaining
I spend a good part of the journey trying to decipher what it is supposed to be telling me. It is more confusing than the hotel toilet, but not nearly as much fun
At times we are traveling at 185 miles an hour, and yet it is really quiet. None of the noise that you expect on a regular train. But watching the scenery flash by seems to be very similar to watching it flash by on a normal train. There is no sense of traveling at such a high speed.
Every train has 12 carriages. Ten of them are for those who have pre booked seats, two of them are for those who haven’t. There is no ticket collector, at least not in the ten carriages of prebooked seats. Instead a member of the cabin staff (that is what they like to be called) in a smartly tailored uniform and jaunty hat with orange accents to match the train, walks through the train with a small hand held computer. As she passes through each cabin the computer shows which seats have been booked. If anyone is in a seat that does not show as booked on her screen, the collector knows that person should not be there. It never happens. Welcome to Taiwan.
When the train emerges from underground we are in the suburbs of Taipei:
No wonder Taipei put the trains underground. The views are so much better!
We are traveling down the west side of the island. Soon we should be leaving the suburbs and seeing the beautiful countryside.
We do leave the suburbs, but we never find the beautiful countryside.
The weather makes everything look grey and depressing. But it is hard to believe sunshine could make much difference. So why did the Portuguese call the island Ilha Formosa (beautiful island)? Maybe they didn’t get out much! Or maybe it’s going to get better. A lot better.
When we arrive in Tainan, we have traveled almost 200 miles, stopped at 5 different towns, all in just over an hour and a half. And we arrive exactly on time. Not a minute early. Not a minute late. It is really impressive.
So is our hotel.
There is only one car parked outside. It’s an Aston Martin.
I want one! And it has been left immediately in front of the entrance. Any other car would have been valet parked moments after it’s arrival. This one is left there for hours. I really want one.
To the right of the entrance there is a small lake with ducks on it.
I want one of those, too!
Inside, the design of the hotel once again owes much to Japan:
But this time, their New Year’s decoration is more restrained:
The Fabulosity Meter approves.
I think I am going to like it here!
Andrews Fabulous Travel Blog 