For those who visit Taiwan from other countries, Taoyuan is probably the first city they arrive. Even though Taipei is the capital here, and people recognize it as the most important and influential place, it is hard to deny the existence of Taoyuan city. In the meanwhile, the international airport is located in Taoyuan city, which makes locals visit there when we need to travel around the world. And that is the reason why international visitors will visit Taoyuan in the first place.

Taoyuan International Airport

There are gift shops, restaurants, and tax free wine shops for travelers just like other airports in New York, London or Tokyo. For me, I would have some local meals such as stew meat on the top of rice with tapioca milk tea. Congee or noodle soups are other good choices as well, people can taste the hometown foods and start their journey. Those who don’t feel like eating Taiwanese foods is fine, we can provide fast foods at McDonald’s, chocolates at Godiva Cafe, Pizza CreAfe or Starbucks.

Airlines

For airlines, the Eva Air is one of the biggest companies for locals to take. Due to Covid-19, many flight attendants leave the airline industry and try to find a new job in the near future. The Eva Air created a new style of boarding experience for people who want to travel but can’t. So, passengers can board the plane and it takes off just above the ground with only an hour hovering in the Taiwan region and lands on the ground again. And that’s the end of journey.

The China Airlines, which is different than other airlines in China, is an officially owned aircraft here. People here call it ” ChungHua” airlines, but it still means Chinese and causes confusion overseas.

The Taoyuan International Airport welcomes all passengers from all over the world, including Canada, New Zealand and so on. I wish to see Taiwan Airlines or Air Taiwan in the future when I visit other countries, so I don’t need to explain my identity and worry about being bullied/targeted by Chinese. Though we have tiger air right now, it is actually under the control of China airlines with deficit each year.

The transportation for Taoyuan International Airport

Passengers can commute to airport by buses, cars or MRT (mass rapid transportation). It takes about 40 minutes from Taoyuan airport to Taipei city by the MRT system, which was built by Japanese & German companies for around 10 years of hard work and negotiation with local government. Although once in a while, they travelled to Beijing and visited the office there to see if something went wrong, we still worked hard to get over with difficult issues. Of course, the local engineers contributed a lot of energy in the same time so the MRT is quite stable now. People who take on the MRT do not have to worry about anything.

Taoyuan is the city that opens the gate for international travelers and allows Taiwanese to visit other countries anytime. Without Taoyuan, the island will be even more isolated in this world. Wish everyone can have peaceful life even under Covid-19, and don’t forget that Taiwan can help.