October 2007 Archives

Have been in Taipei since last night. Primarily here for a paranoids meet-up on Wednesday but due to the crappy flight schedules from Sydney I arrived early and am leaving on Friday afternoon. Stayed the first night in a hostel and either I've gone soft or the standards of hostels here are lower than elsewhere in the world. It was quite run down and oddly enough there were signs on the toilets saying "please don't put toilet tissue down the toilet". Looking around the toilet I could not, in fact, see any toilet paper... how do people do their business!?

I'm now at the Far East Plaza Hotel, the local Shangri-La, and its super grand. The place is probably bigger than my 1 br flat back home and definitely more nicely furnished. :)

Dinner last night was amusing. I walked the streets near the hostel to see what local cuisine I could dig up and popped into a noodle shop. None of the 3 ladies there spoke English, and I don't speak Mandarin. They look at me like I'm crazy, I'm doing my best to look dumb to evoke some sympathy. One of the ladies breaks the awkwardness by pointing at a menu board which was entirely written in Chinese with no pictures - but it had prices. Nothing was over 80NTD (AUD2.50) so at least I wasn't about to be robbed. She read out a few things and I recognised the words "wonton" at one point so I nodded and sat down. Sure enough, wonton noodles were served. :D

After dinner I went for a walk north around Linsen Road which is the road the hostel links off. I figured as long as I didn't stray off that road I couldn't really get lost. However curiosity got the better of me and as I wandered past one bright lit lane I decided to take a closer look. The lane was about 20% restaurants and the other 80% massage parlours, karaoke, bars and what not. I suspect I'd wandered down the Taipei lane equivalent of the Cross. If anyone from Taipei is reading I am curious as to what services the "Fairlady Club" and "Hole in One" offer. :)

My room at the hostel was tiny but the bed comfortable and I slept well considering I'd had 5 hours sleep the previous night, then lots of crappy dozing on the 12 hour flight over. I asked the lady at the hostel to recommend some local breakfast and she gave me directions to the Huashan Market, cnr of Zhongxiao E Rd and Shaoxing S Rd. The ground floor are typical fresh food markets and on the 2nd floor is a brekkie place that serves soybean milk & bread/omelette/fried dough sticks. IIRC she said it was called "hao pi".

Lunch was near the hotel, another recommendation from the hotel staff since I have no interest in eating at any of the thousands of chains present here. I suggested beef noodles and they sent me up the street to a little noodle house. The guy there spoke English thankfully and helped me order some spicy beef noodles. As an appetiser he recommended a small dish of compressed beancurd skin. As I was eating the guy went outside to fiddle with his bike which appeared to be a Krex carbon fibre model. I guess the noodle business is doing well. :)

My impression of the Taiwanese so far is that people are very friendly. Anyone I've asked directions from has tried to draw me a map and I notice people tend to randomly talk to each other (though I have no idea what they're saying) and people even say thanks and bye to the bus driver. I have a feeling the table next to me at lunch today might have even asked about me (as I was dining alone) as I heard the noodle guy saying to them that I only speak English. I guess I do understand enough Mandarin to know when people are talking about me.

So I'm generally amazed by the shitty customer service I experience in various walks but today I had a really good experience with Westpac. I closed my Altitide credit card after 6 years with Westpac. This has been my primary card and I've spent over $100k on it over those years, racking up quite a few reward points. When I first joined the reward points converted 1:1 to Qantas Frequent Flyer points, but quite a few years ago this was reduced to 2 reward points = 1 QFF point. A few months ago I switched to Citibank's gold card since it offers 1:1 conversion.

What impressed me about my experience with Westpac today was that it was so prompt, and genuinely helpful. After asking for various details to identify me (tick for security), I was transferred to Tania in the department that closes accounts. Tania asked why I was closing the account and I explained the better deal at Citibank. I was expecting at this point that she might pitch another Westpac product at me but she didn't (understandably, because Westpac has no comparable product). My $75 annual card fee was due this in September, and I am technically overdue, and she waived that fee. She also inquired as to whether there were any direct debits setup against the account (which would obviously fail once the account was closed) and if I had used up my reward points (which would otherwise vanish). Even though I've no longer any banking relationship with Westpac because of this no fuss service I will consider them again in future.

Cheers to good customer service.