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F
ate draws you to places and so it was that fate drew me to a place that I hadn’t ever thought I’d visit, the home of my partner, Taipei. As I sat there with a flight booked, puzzling where to stay an invite from the W Hotel in the heart of the city dropped into my inbox, they’d heard I was headed to Taiwan and offered me a stay at their hotel.
For many of us Taiwan brings to mind the famous “Made In Taiwan” slogan, but as I was to discover there is much, much more to the country and its capital. First off how to get there, well for those of us that see flying as the boring bit before and after the adventure you’ll be pleased to know there are now direct flights from Gatwick to the island, significantly reducing the journey down to 14 hours, and then it’s a quick hop on a bus or the tube, (I LOVE the MRT, it has WIFI consistently, even while the train is in motion, not just the stations) and with the Easy Card they’ve topped the Oyster by being able to use it in shops as well!!!
The city is a busy hustle of life, culture and motorbikes, there are two things I’ll take away from the city, the sound of engines zooming around and the smell of cooking from the numerous restaurants that are dotted everywhere. In the end I stayed on the island for a month and I can honestly say I didn’t have a bad meal. The city is ringed by tree covered hills and mountains setting it off with a feeling of nature close by.
The W Hotel is perfectly placed to take advantage of Taipei's thirst for fashion, across the road from one of Asia’s finest luxury malls, the biggest names in global fashion can be found there.
But it’s also perfectly placed to explore Ximen and Zhongxiao Fuxing districts with their range of High Street shops on the main walk ways, and each side street rammed with some of the finest independent and emerging designers you could hope for anywhere. You could even hop over to the historic textile district of Dadocheng where globally renowned Apu Jan has his studio. Look out for my interview with him in the next issue!!!