How was your trip?
Really nice. Best beaches in Taiwan. I plan to go back.
In the States now for a bitā¦covid ended here so thatās cool.
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Iāve been a couple of times. Once when the boy was a toddler. Went to the smaller outer islands. Was there for the sky lantern festival. Lovely place.
What is your guysā preferred airline for traveling between Penghu and Taiwan?
As far as I know there are only two, Uni ē«ę¦®čŖē©ŗ and Mandarin čÆäæ”čŖē©ŗ. Itās easy to check between the two, so I choose whichever has the best available flight times for me. The price usually doesnāt differ much.
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Depends on city and schedule.
They only crash on Penghu every few years so airline choice based on safety is kind of a toss-up.
I have friends that work in Penghu Monday through Friday and live in Taipei on the weekends. Iāll have to ask them and I suspect itās whatever Airline gives them but the best perks or mileage or you know benefits.
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I only remember one Penghu crash in recent history; there were 10 survivors so I still consider that a slight plus. That particular airline did have too many problems, though, so its demise was expected.
Something about taking off and flying into a storm, right?
Iām trying to recall the airline and the details of that disaster . . .
Guy
Fuxing used to be the third. They havenāt been around for a while, maybe because they used disposable planes.
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Yes! Thatās the one: TransAsia Airways (復ččŖē©ŗ), which attempted to fly from Kaohsiung to Penghu in the midst of Typhoon Matmo. It did not go well.
Guy
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(Not so) fun fact: TransAsia is responsible for 30% (3/10) of all fatal ATR 72 crashes worldwide, and they still run a bakery.
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Just checked it out. Holy shit. How was it even allowed to continue flying?
Can you name it?
Just asking, for a friend.
Guy
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That would be the TransAsia bakery, located near the observation deck at Songshan Airport.
TransAsia Bakery, Songshan Airport store
02 2719 8959
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Yeah, I read about TransAsia before. Pretty terrible.
It looks like Uni Air has a pretty good safety record though!
Yeah theyād been responsible for a lot of (all?) the crashes that have taken place between TW and the outlying islands.
There was a crash into the river right after liftoff from TSA during CNY 2015 where the pilots had apparently shut off both engines. Investigation found that some insane percentage (I feel like it was over 60%ā¦or more than that?) of their pilots hadnāt completed training or failed the licensing test or something else along those lines.
And then āFATā (é ę±) airlines just decided they didnāt want to exist anymore. Their planes are still parked at TSA. They were a shit airline though. Maybe NT200 less/ticket but my not even that long legs could not fit in a seatā¦
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You didnāt enjoy that 70s orange upholstery on the MD80s? 
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Uni Air is a subsidiary of Evergreen Group (the shipping firm).
Eva Air is an affiliate of Evergreen Group.
So, Uni Air is rather excellent. Mandarin Airās parent firm is China Air.
I took FAT a few times. I remember getting off the plane , looking back and thinking shit I actually flew in that what was I thinking.
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Living in Penghu check in: Finishing up my second school year on the island and my family and I have settled in quite nicely. The boys enjoy their kindergarten and daycare (Aimen and Huxi), the wife likes her job in Fonghui and I enjoy teaching at the public school. It seems there are more and more foreigners moving here to open businesses or teach and they are currently building a Subway (big news for Penghu) downtown!
For those thinking of leaving the big city you should give Penghu a try! It is not as isolated as it used to be when we were visiting the wifeās family here 10+ years ago. There are more and more teaching opportunities (for certified teachers) as the āBilingual by 2030ā program is expanding and placing more and more teachers on the island. There are also a few buxibans hiring if anyone is interested.
The firework festival runs from April 20-June 29th and is a must see. Hope more people will come visit the island and it is nice to see the foreigner community growing.
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