We booked our flights in October 2019, for February 21 - March 1, 2020, with Scoot (for $258.60). We planned to head to Hualien straight after we land, spend 2D1N there, then head to Taichung for another few days before heading to Taipei. We booked Airbnb for Hualien & Taipei, Hotels for Taichung & Sun Moon Lake. 

When COVID-19 was sort of breaking out in February, we had our concerns if we should carry on with our trip. We are monitoring the cases in Taiwan and it was maintained and kept low. However, when the SHN for certain countries were announced, we were panicking if we can even head into Taiwan. I tried contacting Scoot - to no avail (just don't bother trying), so I called MFA and the Taiwan representative office to get more information on whether we can head to Taiwan. At that point in time, we can enter Taiwan and return back to Singapore from Taiwan without any SHN or taking COVID swab test. 

The flight was relatively empty - 1/4 were empty seats. At that point, Scoot had not published their refund policy for flights yet, so I guess people just cancelled knowing that they may forfeit their flight costs. 

I think we wore our masks from Singapore airport all the way to Taiwan and also on the way on the train to Hualien. There weren't many people wearing their masks, Taiwanese cyclist wear masks when they are on their motorbikes but on the streets, there weren't many people wearing.

We waited at the airport for the airport transfer rail store to open, I think it was around 2 hours. Bought breakfast from the convenience store while we waited. Got our SIM cards online, collected them (more like Brendan) so we had our data. Got the rail passes and headed to Taipei Main Station to catch the train to Hualien. We tried to get 4 seats but there were only 3 seats + 1 standing ticket left! But since the next available train to Hualien was hours later, we got the tickets. Doing the train ride, I think there were empty seats so Ben just sat on the empty seats. And we were lucky there wasn't anybody who came to "collect" the seat lol. 

We took the 8.50am Taroko Express 278 (I researched about the trains prior to the trip), the trip was 2 hours and 40 mins (NT$506) and we reached Hualien at 11.30am. Walked to our Airbnb which was around less than 10 minutes walk from Hualien station. There will be quite a lot of taxi and private car operators walking outside the station, so no worries if you require any taxi service. 

I've informed the Airbnb owner that we will reach before 12pm and they allowed us to check-in early as there was no booking before us (thanks covid? ). This was our Airbnb for 2D1N, it was around $60 per night including cleaning fees. There are two bedrooms and it was quite cosy but they did not provide towels!! Also, the walkway to the apartment was quite shady, as it was a really old building. 

We rested for a bit before we walked out to explore, we walked to the Natural History Museum but it was closed... So we walked all the way to the Pine Garden and Manor House area (which was closed because it was lunch) before walking to the main shopping area. 

Got our milk tea and decided on a pasta place for lunch. We walked around the main shopping area and walked over to the Dongdamen Night Market. And it was quite a huge area - it was like 3/4 night markets combined into one huge area. Went to several stalls for food before cabbing back to our Airbnb because we are heading to Taroko National Park the next day! 

Woke up early and dragged our luggage to Hualien station, the boys went to deposit our luggage at the station while we went to get the tickets and food (all in 15 mins lol). We bought the one day pass, which is NT$250 and we can take Buses 1133A, 1133, 1126, and 1141. However the frequency of the bus is not very high, so you need to plan your route with the bus timings. 

We took the bus to the visitor centre straight at around 10am+ before walking to the Shakadang Trail. Took around 1 hour and took the bus to Yankizou for another hour and took the bus all the way to TianXiang. The bus frequency was one hour at each stop so we had around an hour or so at each stop. 

Had lunch at one of the restaurants - actually, 3 shops were the same kitchen lol. After lunch, we stopped at Tunnel of Nine Turns and we wanted to head to Changchun Shrine before heading back to Hualien to catch the train to Taichung. 

But we waited for the bus and it didn't appear! So we waited for the next one which was almost one hour later. Everyone was waiting and we were sure we didn't miss a bus, but nobody knew what happened. Since we were one hour late, it started raining and we had to reach Hualien to catch our train at 5.55pm. We didn't visit Changchun Shrine but we went back to Hualien straight. Got our luggage and had dinner before getting some snacks for our 4 hours train ride. 

We took the Puyuma Express283, which was NT$815. We had seats + a table this time!! Bought our dinner + snacks + drinks at Hualien station so that we can have our dinner on the go. We reached Taichung at 10pm, walked to our hotel (Moon Lake Hotel - about $42 per night) which was around 10-15 minutes walk away. Checked in and got our rooms so we stayed in since it was quite late and we have an early day the next day. I was already all ready to sleep and everything before Kams clogged the toilet LOL. Initially, we called the staff up because our air con was not working well at first and then we called them again because the toilet was clogged lol. 

I think they tried to unclog it but they offered us another room which was so much bigger actually (I had space to open my luggage). I believe... it's an upgrade.  LOL So we called the guys to help us to move our stuff over when they were also all ready to sleep HAHAHAHA. 

Okay too drama for the night, we slept and woke up early for our day trip! We rented a car with a driver so the driver arrived at our hotel. He drove us to takeaway breakfast at Pork Eggs Toast, which he recommended. It was so crowded so I guess it was really popular with the locals. Ate in the car as we drove up to Cingjing. 

We reached Cingjing at around 11+am, the ride was around 3 hours plus from Taichung (almost died from the journey). Spent around 2 hours there which includes us sitting under some random windmill house to picnic for a while. 

Before we went to Swiss Garden which we regretted. Don't waste money to head inside - there is nothing much! We went opposite for lunch and guess what - we could have free entry tickets to Swiss Garden from the spending of our lunch.... #regrets

We wanted to go to Lavender Forest but the driver does not recommend as we would need another 3 hours to get there and it will be closed by the time we arrive. We went to Gaomei Wetlands instead and it was SUPER WINDY. The rest of them went down to waters (it wasn't very deep) but I wasn't to keen in getting my feet wet. LOL 

After that, we asked our driver to drop us at Fengjia Night Market as our last stop. We had street food for dinner there and I bought the brown sugar tea that I got the previous time I was there. As well as my dearly missed abalones! 

Went back to the hotel and asked the front desk if we could leave our luggage the next morning for 2 days as we are going to Sun Moon Lake. I suggested that we should leave our big luggage at the hotel as we do not need to drag them to Sun Moon Lake and to the theme park. BEST DECISION EVER I NEED A PRIZE. 

Slept in a little before getting ice cream before our lunch (lol) at Miyahara Optometry. We went to look for the bus stop which we couldn't find it as there was no clear indication or whatever. In the end, we gave up and walked all the way to the main shop which was actually near our hotel (which adds another point for my best decision so that we can collect after reaching back from Sun Moon Lake). We bought the Nantou Sun Moon Lake Pass (NT1160 ~ $52) which includes the following.  

Took the bus to head back to the hotel where we rested (again). It's a chill day as compared to the other days okay. We went for our dinner at some individual hot pot restaurant at 8pm+ lol. I didn't sleep well that night because the room was so dusty that I had rashes on my body. 

We took the ropeway and reached about 11.30 am. The theme park is quite huge - we spent about 5 hours there! I would say the rides are a little disappointing but there are two huge park areas and the cultural village for you to experience all the different ming zu. 

Will talk about Taipei in my next post because as usual - this post is too long. Byeeeeeeeeeee. 

Labels: #joeytraveldiary, FIT, Free & Easy, Taipei, Taiwan, Travel