To Taipei

After measuring the cardboard mountain bike box I'd been given by the local bike shop I was concerned it might be oversized incurring an additional charge by the airline.  I'd been very careful with weights going to the effort of buying scales to ensure neither the bike box nor the trailer exceeded my 23kg allowance.  I'd also carefully labelled the box as fragile and not to lay it flat.

Obtaining my boarding pass was easy at the self check-in kiosk but I obviously couldn't use the self luggage drop for the box. The Cathay Pacific staff didn't query the size of the box however the weigh scales had it at 26kg whereas I had weighed it at 19kg.  $190 later the box was on it's way to Taipei.  But not before I noticed they had completely ignored the labelling laying it flat.  Fingers crossed there is no damage.  I'll need to redistributed the weight for the return trip.

The flight was late departing as the inward aircraft needed additional cleaning.  An overnight 8 hour flight to Hong Kong.  Two meals were served and I also managed to doze for a couple of hours.  The body appears to be too old to find a comfortable position to sleep.  My experience was, Cathay Pacific is far superior to Air New Zealand.

After several hours in Hong Kong transit I boarded the flight to Taipei.  A shorter two hour flight with an empty seat between me and the next passenger.

Both the box and trailer appeared on the carousel (laying flat)

I was met by my Taipei B&B Host Kiri, who showed me where to purchase a SIM card $T1000 $AU50 for 30 days unlimited data.  I probably won't need to make any phone calls.  She and her father then drove me to her B&B in central Taipei.

It appears to be a very well appointed apartment with all the amenities I will need (and more)

Kiri had previously agreed to take delivery of my 2nd bike battery.  She had collected it from the Post Office on my behalf and had left it it in the apartment bedroom she had given me.   To my surprise there was no import duty to pay!

Kiri is very friendly, helpful and informative.  The house has three bedroom.  However I'm her solo guest as Taiwan only removed COVID restrictions the day prior to my arrival.  Masks must still be worn outside the home; unless exercising.  Cycling is exercise!

If anyone is travelling to Taipei and is looking for good and reasonably priced accommodation then I recommend Kiri.  Her details are:

Kiri Chen

Kiri's House

5F.. No1, Lane 126,

Sec. 1 Da-an Rd.,

Da-an District,

Taipei City 106, Taiwan (ROC)

website http://www.kirihouse.net

email: kiri@kirihouse.net

ph: 0921-850678

I'm currently struggling to get photos from the camera to the laptop so will include them in a later post

Now to bed as I'm very tired