The Taipei Kid

Rants/raves + false childhood memories

Escape Sling


This emergency escape sling at the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport features a thick steel chain so that you can’t get into the plastic box that holds the damn sling. Make sure you have a big pair of steel cutters with you if a fire breaks out. (Hat tip to secret spy.)

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1. McGruff the Crime Dog - July 17, 2006

The other day, I was in a buillding where there these metal escape-sling frames without any actual slings. Seems that’s a weakness in the whole system.

Meanwhile, to its credit, my gym has 4 slings ready to go at a moment’s notice.

2. Michael C. - August 4, 2006

Yeah, I think that airport really need to beef up management.
I had a picture of mops leaning against the wall, mops side up left there for drying, in the public restroom. Nice way to greet foreign visitors. I wanted to send it to someone, airport authority or something, but I got lazy. This picture just reminds me of that.

3. Anonymous - August 4, 2006

It’s like the way that people used to put steel chains around the emergency exit doors at movie theaters and dancehalls to ensure the patrons wouldn’t let in their buddies for free. The CKS people probably think that if not for the chains, people would take out the slings and use them to carry their babies around.

I still think it’s hilarious that the bookstore in the old section of the airport (Lee’s Books) has nothing in English, despite the passengers who pass through the airport being from all nations. Nothing like having to curl up with an inflight magazine when you’ve got a 10-hour flight to Europe ahead of you! In comparison, Hong Kong’s airport bookstores almost make a layover there worth the extra time!

My final pet-peeve is that the ground transport is totally run by people who don’t speak any other language than Mandarin or Taiwanese, basically meaning that anytime I have any friends coming into Taipei I absolutely must make reservations for them or else personally pick them up. The taxi stand captain is worthless, as he doesn’t know the names of any of the hotels (”Liu Fu” = Westin?). None of the bus people have any idea what they’re doing — and the Kuo Kwang counter is the worst of the lot. Other airports in Asia (Tokyo, Kansai, Incheon, Hong Kong, etc.) have great information counters with knowledgeable, multilingual staff.

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