Two hours up in the air on an airplane and you’re in Taipei. The same as riding in a car from Quezon City to Parañaque!

But then time is relative, on the ground or up in the air. The best thing about flying to Taiwan at this time of year is that it’s winter – a mild one without the snow – where the temperature hovers between 11 and 16 degrees C.

It’s not even sweater weather as far as Paolo, 19 and 5’ 9”, was concerned. A tee shirt was all he needed, paired with longish shorts and sneakers (size 13).

I like Taipei, capital of Taiwan, for other reasons, such as it’s cheaper than Tokyo and less frenetic than Hong Kong. The shopping is the same anyway – Gu being slightly cheaper than Uniqlo, but then both stores are in full winter mode at this time of year. As for the night market, it’s always the same happy place for shoppers anywhere, hoping to find a lucky bargain, in Kowloon or Shanghai.

January might not be the high season for tourists; that’s how, at 11 a.m. on the dot the next day, we had a table at the restaurant specializing in roast duck. Fifteen minutes later, the place was full, every table occupied. Yes, the duck was simply good, its skin crisp, its meat odorless.

For dinner, we lined up at a Korean restaurant, of all places, only because it was the one with the shortest queue. Our first choice, Italian, was full to the rafters.

The next day, we landed in a Chinese restaurant where we were served two kinds of soup, one spicy, the other bland and unexciting.

So why go to Taipei if not for the sight-seeing, the food or the shopping? Precisely for those reasons, that Taipei is not an all-out tourist trap, not at this time of year anyway. It’s not the same as saying that the city is without its own charm/s.

From my hotel room up on the 12th floor, the sun was a mellow source of light at 9 a.m., Jan. 4. A slice of the city stretched out under my feet and I didn’t bother to ask if it was the same time in Manila.