TAIWAN 2017
I will try my best to give you a detailed itinerary of our trip here in my blog.
It was a last minute decision because I waited for the president to announce that there will be a holiday this November to give way for the ASEAN Summit. And so there was a holiday, the airplane fare tickets were expensive so I tried TRAVELOKA to find out what is the lowest fare of them all and found out that it was EVA AIR. Our fare was about Php9,000+++ roundtrip with 30kg baggage allowance and with meals (which we did not know).
Our hotel was Go Sleep Hotel Hankou which is 5 minutes walk from Ximending Youth district and Ximen station. I highly reccomend this hotel the staff was very very friendly, one of the staff particularly (i forgot his name) anticipated that my friend and I will request a same floor room since we booked separate rooms. He even gave us a map of the vicinity and it was helpful.
Let's Start!
Day 1 (November 12, 2017)
6:00am Arrival at Taoyuan Airport
Left: Upon arrival at Taoyuan Airport; Right: Lower ground of Taoyuan Airport
World clock in Taoyuan Airport
7:00am Secure luggage and get sim to Klook kiosk
- we rode the express train to Taipei Main Station
- we bought easy card
-then transfer to MRT Taipei Main station to Ximen station
-from Ximen station we looked for the hotel for around 10-15 minutes
9:00am Arrived in Go Sleep Hotel Hankou
-we checked in and leave our luggage in the hotel
10:30am We left our hotel room and went to MRT (Ximen station)
- Ximen station to Taipei Zoo (Taipei Zoo is the MRT station near Maokong Gondola)
Left: Train ride to Taipei Zoo; Right: Taipei Zoo station
10:55am We were queuing for Maokong Gondola
Outside Taipei Zoo
12:00nn When we finally ride the Maokong Gondola (we did not expect the line would be long)
- We were hungry good thing I brought a biscuit and water with me
- When we got to the last station there were food stalls then we ate late lunch
- Instead of availing the round trip gondola ride we opted to ride a bus going down instead. If you are in a hurry and have a tight itinerary schedule you should ride the gondola it is much faster (I think).
2:00pm MRT from Taipei Zoo station to Xiangshan station
-From Xiangshan station, a 5-10 minutes walk up to the foot of Elephant mountain
Left: Random post while walking to Elephant mountain; Right: at the foot of the Elephant mountain
2:15pm We arrived and settled in Elephant Mountain's fist level view deck.
3:15pm After 1 hour hike.....
- It is a risk taking this photo at it took us 30 minutes
4:45pm Another hour walk down the mountain...
5:00pm We walk to Taipei 101
-around 15 to 20 minutes walk but I think we made it around 30 minutes because we were so tired and my limbs are shaking plus it is drizzling.
5:30pm We arrived in Taipei 101
- We haven't much photo because we were so tired!
- We went inside to explore a little bit
6:15pm MRT ride going back to Ximen station to our hotel.
6:45pm Arrived in our hotel room and rest for a bit.
7:30pm We went out to Ximending youth shopping district to explore and eat
10:00pm Back to hotel room and lights out.
Day 2 ( November 13, 2017)
6:30am Wake up call
7:30am Breakfast (included in our hotel package)
8:00am Walk to Ximen station
- We rode the MRT from Ximen station to Taipei Main station
- We availed the KKday tour to Shifen, Jiufen and Yehliu
- Meeting place is at East gate 1 of Taipei Main station exactly 8:45am
- I suggest that you should leave your hotel earlier and give at least 1 hour allowance from the meet up time because Taipei Main station is huge! We almost got lost and did not make it.
- Sharon (our tour guide), was the best! She gave us her number in case we get lost or if we have any question/s regarding Taiwan and also she gave us very informative stories like some history about the tourist destination or the best seller (food) in that area.
9:00am Depart from Taipei Main station to Yehliu Geopark.
Arrived in Yehliu Geopark
- We just took a decent amount of photos because it was raining. :(
Arrived in Shifen
- the rain continuously pouring but they allowed us to light a lantern.
- lanterns price depends on how many color/s in a lantern will you choose
- we also went to the bridge and took photos
- we ate the famous peanut crepe with ice cream (I think?) and chicken wing stuff with rice.
We finished the tour and ate. And we were on our way to Shifen waterfalls.
- the bus drop us off near the entrance of the falls.
- 5-10 minutes trek depends on your phase and also on how long will you take photos.
Jiufen
- Jiufen was huge,the streets are narrow, and that time it was crowded
- I bought a lot of food for snack and bring some at home.
At exactly 5:00pm we were back in Taipei main station.
- I am amaze with KKday because we were really on track.
- then we went to Shilin night market
Shilin Night Market
Day 3 (November 14, 2017)
-Taichung day tour
-we've contacted Kuya Leo prior to this trip via his Facebook
-our Taichung tour costs NTD7500 for the 3 of us maximum of 7 persons, if you can find a group that can join you much better. That happened to us there were 2 Filipinos also who joined us and that makes NTD1500 per head.
7:30am Wake up call
8:30am Breakfast (Included in our hotel package)
9:00am Kuya Leo picked us up in front of our hotel.
Our first destination was Lavender Cottage. When we arrived, we thought Lavender Cottage was closed and the owner said they were really close due to power shortage but they allowed us to roam inside without a fee. So, we had the place all to our selves. But the part that we missed was the coffee shop inside the cottage since they were closed.
The place was beautiful and it was a korean inspired coffee shop.
Above the cottage you can write your wishes in the paper leaf and hang it.
Left: then ring the bell 3 times
Left: a view of the lake within the cottage
Our next destination was in Taichung Zhong She Tourist Flower market
- Entrance fee is NTD 320 that includes the unlimited BBQ
-The place was huge! We were in a hurry and wasn't able to explore more.
It was flower festival in Xinshe Sea of Flowers.
Our destination in our Taichung tour was in Rainbow village.
-No entrance fee
We asked Kuya Leo to drop us off in Raohe Night Market.
- we tried the fried milk, the baked oyster and scallops, pepper bun.
Day 4 (November 15, 2017)
-Our last day to explore Taipei
8:00am Breakfast
8:30am Number one in our list is Longshan Temple.
10:00am Chiang Kai Shek
10:30am Taipei Tianhou Temple
-this temple is near our hotel
11:00am Back to Hotel
12:00nn to Aiport
TIPS:
- I will not encourage you to purchase easy card or the Taipei unli pass because it will really depends on your itinerary try to compute first then weigh if which one suits your itinerary
- If you are doing a DIY tour make sure to familiarize the MRT map
- No problem with Taiwanese they can speak and understand English
- Download the TP Metro app in your smart phones it help us get around and also you can check the fares
- If you are availing Mr. Leo Sun's services like us we were only 3, you may look for joiners to minimize the costs
-Cost of express train depends on what airport terminal are your from. Ours costs NTD106 from terminal 2
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