Sunday, May 24, 2009

Commuting in Taiwan

Getting from HsinChu to Taipei via High Speed Rail is faster than getting to work in Singapore using public transport.

In Singapore:-

Trip to train station (< 2km away): 30 minutes
Train Ride: 25 minutes
Bus ride: 10 minutes

In Taiwan:-

Trip to the train station: 15 minutes
Train Ride: 20 minutes

Bam! You end up right in the middle of Taipei city, with MRT connections to anywhere. Better still, base yourself in TaoYuan if you need to travel to Taipei or HsinChu equally.

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Hsin Chu Assignment - Day 1

Lunch was in the office canteen. We were still not used to the large portions of food being served here, and I had a hard time finishing my food. We had to leave the office with tons of reports left to be submitted by 2359. We used the first of our dinner coupons in the hotel's Monet Garden Restaurant. Sushi, sashimi, 新竹米粉, were the order of the day.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Hsin Chu Assignment - Arrival

Landed at Taoyuan Airport after an uneventful flight on a half-empty SQ876 (the entire middle section in the economy cabin was empty). We found our driver pretty quickly and were driven to the familiar Lakeshore hotel. We were surprised to be given a whole month's worth of breakfast coupons (not that they were necessary anyway). For our tremendous support of staying for 23 days, we received 3 complimentary dinner coupons (1 coupon for every 7 days of stay)

Dinner was supposed to be Thai food, but it was changed back to 醉月楼 at the Lakeshore at the last minute. We were thinking, if all dinners were this large, then I would gain at least 5kg by month end. During the end of the dinner, I was getting a headache and falling asleep, so I was relieved when it was finally over and I could crash.