Sunday, May 9, 2010

.:8D7N Taiwan Trip!:.

I'm back from Taiwan! *obviously* .. many days ago.
So here is some update. For more pictures, click here.
I'd uploaded some on flickr's as well, but not all as it has exceed the monthly quota. = =lll
Anyway .. okie.

The air ticket to Taiwan was bought a year ago, when Air Asia first open up route to Taipei and with promotion price of RM101. Cheap doesn't it? Our 2 way air ticket plus tax and extra luggage cost each of us RM441 - only.

Then proceed with accomodation and itinerary. Yee Wei has done a really good job. She plan almost everything for this trip. *salute and appreciate it a lot*
We stayed at Babyhome for 6 nights and Hualien for 1 night.
For Babyhome, it cost RM200/night, and we shared 4 of us. I love this hostel. It is accomodate with washing machine, dryer and fridge. If I know earlier, I wont bring so much clothes!


Day 1



Our flight is 950am and we reach TaoYuan airport at 230pm.
After check out and collect our digital tour buddy [have to apply at their website seven to thirty days before go to Taiwan. Consists of a handphone with simcard. Very useful to contact our tourguide and among us who lost in the middle of our trip. LOL.] and youth travel card [very useful as you will get discount at certain places, like 50% discount eh.], we then proceed to check in into our hostel which is located at Xi Men.
*we took a bus [90 Yuan] from Tao Yuan airport to Taipei Main Station. Board MRT [Bought Easy Card - smth like Touch n Go card, can be use on MRT, Train and bus for 500yuan with 300yuan credit inside. You can later on return the card and get refund for the downpayment of 200 yuan.] to Xi Men Station and the hostel owner pick us up there .. and of course we walk to our hostel as it is very near to the station!*
After settle down, we then went for a walk at Xi Men Ding, which is just around 10 minute walk from our hostel. Had some dinner and took a train to Long Shan temple. After say our prayer, we then proceed to Hwashi night market nearby and enjoyed some pasar malam foods again.

Day 2.


We excitedly woke up at 8am to start our day.
But too bad, entrance to building is only open at 10am. So we just snap pictures from outside.
On day 2, we went : Presidential Office building, Zhong Zheng Ji Nian Tang [this 2 is walking distance from our hostel], Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall and Taipei 101. It is a very tiring day indeed as we walked a lot a lot a lot!
Later in the evening, we then proceed to Wu Fen Pu (take MRT to ShongShan Station). This place is interesting. You can get a lot of cheap clothes!

Day 3



We book a tour guide for our one day trip to Jinguashi, Jiu Fen and Yeh Liu.
It cost us RM60 (600 yuan) each.
It is a rainy and very very cold day!
To reach here .. We took a 40 minute train ride to Ruifang Train Station. And our tour guide pick us up there and fetch us to the places ;)

Day 4



We then swap our Day 4 plan with Day 5 plan to slow down our pace a bit as we feel too tired after an adventerous Day 3. Day 4, we start our day with Taipei Art Museum before proceed to Beitou (take MRT to XinBeiTou Station) for hot spring. The hot spring cost RM40 for 1 hour soak. Very nice and relaxing! :) 1 hour sounds short, but actually it is more than enough, as you will start to feel dizzy after awhile. *or is it me only? ^.O)
After that, we went to DanShui (take MRT to DanShui) for the night market there and then proceed to the romantic Fisherman's Wharf (2 way to get here .. by ferry or by bus. We took bus as if we were to take a ferry ride, we need to walk 30 minute from DanShui to the DanShui Ferry Pier and we had enough of walking for the day. So we decided to hop on bus Red-26. You can also take bus 836 or 837).
A nice and relaxing day :)

Day 5


CKS Shilin Residence Park [we took MRT to Jiantan Station and hop on bus Red-5 which suppose to go to YMS, but we stop here instead as our first stop], Yang Ming Shan [take MRT to Jiantan Station, take bus Red-5 to reach Yang Ming Shan bus station. Then hop on bus 108 that will bring you around the area. - and yeah .. we stupidly drop off at the first stop, trying to be adventurer and walk on our own legs which ends up getting tired. LOL], National Palace Museum [from YMS bus station, we took bus Red-30 to here], Shilin Night Market [and from National Palace Museum, we take bus Red-30 again back to Jiantan station. Shilin Night Market is located at Jiantan Station Area].
Shilin Night Market is a very big and chaos night market. So many humans that I barely get to see any special things. A lot of food stalls but as expected, need to queue up very long as well. Foods to try here : Popiah - thumbs up! The 50 yuan fried chicken breast *I don't think it is tasty at all, at all. It is very oily and become 'lembik' once it is cold. Some more need to queue so long*. Black Pepper Pastry *which I don't find it nice as well* A lot of BBQ stalls *which I feel the meat is so elastic and I feel like chewing a chewing gum = =llll*

Day 6 : Another day for rest as the walk at Yang Ming Shan is too tiring. And yeah .. it's SHOPPING DAY! ^^ On Day 6, we shop around at ZhongXia Fu Xing MRT Station and Taipei Main Station. This is a must go place for shopper. It's so cool as it is underground malls/shops and reachable by MRT. *actually in Taiwan, most place is reachable by MRT* In fact, it is in the MRT station itself. We then went to shopping at SOGO (both green and white SOGO) and around the area.
Later in the evening, we pack our things, hop a train for a 2hour++ train ride Hualien.

Day 7


Day 7 is spend at Hualien for a one day trip. We stayed there the night before [love the room design! ^^]. Both accomodation and one day tour guide come in a package with price of RM130 each. Worth and should go. Hualien is a place with very nice scenery. Mountains, Valleys, Cliffs, Rocks .. etc.
And of course need to walk a lot as well. We then hop a night train back to Taipei.

Day 8 : Our last day in Taiwan. We walk around Xi Men Ding in the morning before back to our hostel and say good bye to Taipei at 12pm. Our flight is 350pm and back to the harsh reality, end of holiday at 9pm.

Overall Taiwan is really a nice place. Clean and the people there is friendly. *perhaps towards tourists only*
For me .. the foods is so-so only. Perhaps we only had pasar malam foods all the time. The food that amaze me the most instead was the instant cup beef noodle! Wahaha .. special eh. Other than that .. the oh-jien and popiah is what I like. Those BBQ thingy .. was like .. too elastic and I had a hard time chewing them. Bubble Milk Tea and Lime Juice with Jelly is .. normal for me. All those " 'wantan's', sui gao' " thingy *ahh.. I know it isn't called that, but I'm not sure what it is called *forgive me* .. at certain places it is nice. 'Dai cheong bao xai cheong' *big sosej wrap small sosej - direct translate* .. big sosej is rice made into sosej shape, small sosej is Taiwan sosej .. I couldn't say I like it. 'Lu rou fan' .. feel it is very fat and oily! Beef Noodle .. I still love the one I had here. At Taiwan .. it's kinda plain. I mean the soup. Rice Noodle *Min xian* .. nice on first few bites .. will get muak after too much of it. So .. you see .. I wasn't so impressed with the foods. Perhaps it's only me .. as I'm very picky with eatings. Hehe .. for the pictures .. go to the link above. TQ.
For scenery lover .. Jinguashi, Yehliu and Hualien is a must go place. Although weather was bad during our day at Jinguashi but the view is still nice :) I personally love Beitou. It gives me the Cameron Highland feel and the hot spring is nice and relaxing!
For shopping lover .. you can get really cheap clothes and shoes at Wu Fen Pu, Taipei Main Station and Zhong Xia Fu Xing MRT Station. Definition of cheap is .. shirts cost from minimum 100 yuan, shoes and boots from minimum 150 yuan. Leggings from 19yuan. 19 eh! 19!!
For cosmetics lover .. I don't know about other country, but at Taiwan .. most of the cosmetics which is unavailable in Malaysia is already available there. And the price is quite cheap compared to Malaysia. And the beauty diary mask that people hu-ha about. Its only 189yuan per box which consists of 10 piece. And 888 yuan for 6 boxes! Cheap doesn't it?! And of course I grab it. But .. a mask is still, just a mask.
Transportation there .. I love it the most! The MRT system is so good and fast! Most of the place is reachable by MRT - which is very convenient for tourists like us. Even the bus system isn't that bad. Thumbs up!

End of a long-planned holiday. A very nice one! ^^
Again .. for pictures please click the link above.
Looking forward to the next trip .. when? And where?

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