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

FLASH SALE: Phi Phi Islands & Khai Islands 1 Day Tour by Speedboat (+Lunch/Snorkeling) - from Phuket

https://www.trazy.com/experience/detail/phi-phi-khai-islands-from-phuket-tour-no-maya-bay#tab:reviews

This is NOT sponsored, you can see my review on the page itself too. (yes I copied and paste) :)

Choose this package as it was the cheapest i could find online.

The driver came and pick us up on time but there wasn’t a text/WA the day before even though i provided my number.

Pick up time was long and took around an hour to reach the pier. Waited for more people to come and was wondering do we really need to reach so early?

Split the mass group of people in two groups and had a small briefing and selling. They are promoting their snorkeling shoes because they will take away your slippers before you board. *Do just keep your slippers yourself, so that you can wear it on the islands* My feet hurts more from stepping on the beaches than sea urchins. (there isn’t that much Sea Urchins, less 10m underwater)

They will take a photo of your group before you board the boat, for insurance they said. But you’ll see them selling you at 200baht each photo when you’re back.

The boat was filled with too much people in my opinion, with almost no walking space in between. And the ride was bumpy, do pop a sea sick pill that they offer before boarding or you will vomit. The ride was 40-50mins to the first stop (which was just to take photos at Maya Bay) and the next two stops were also just staying in the boat and take photos (The cave and monkey beach).

Then we head to Phi Phi Don for lunch, which was quite salty but it was ok. And we had 1-1.5hours here, which i hoped i got my slippers where I can explore the island even more. But it was too hot to walk around we settled for a thai ice milk tea at a cafe instead.

Boarded the boat and travelled for another 40mins, stopped some where for snorkeling, which wasn’t that great. (You’ll probably only see 3 types of fishes + sea urchins) It was around 30mins of snorkeling before we stopped at a nearby island for an hour. Once again, wished that I had my slippers. There’s food stalls around so you can get some BBQ seafood and drinks. Or you can just sit in the water and have a school of fishes swimming around you.

Travelled another 5 mins back to Phuket and our transfers back to Patong (another 1-1.5hours of travelling).

The guide was interesting (thanks minnie) and they serve you water + a shared bottle of coke on the boat. And some fruits when you’re done snorkeling. But the transfers were long and the boat was really packed. The experience could have been better if they had decrease the number of pax in the speedboat by a little.

Labels: #joeytraveldiary, FIT, Free & Easy, Phuket, Reviews, Thailand, Travel

Hello everybody, here with the second part of my Taiwan grad trip and this time we're in Taipei!

Read my first part here:  Taiwan Grad Trip 2017 // Taichung

So in the end we took a bus instead of the train to Taipei from Taichung, and we terminated at the bus terminal and we went to get their easycard (their ezlink card) to get around in Taipei. We didn't get it straight as we didn't use it in Taichung (there was no subway).

We took the subway to Taipei Bridge station where we'll be staying in a capsule hostel (!!!) for a night. I have been wanting to stay in a capsule hotel and I chance upon this Hey Bear Capsule Hotel in Taipei! It cost around $30+ per night. We had a whole room to ourselves as we had 6 of us, so the room had 6 capsules.

Take a look at the hotel here: Hey Bear Capsule Hotel

We're so fascinated with the capsule, it was comfortable, and it had so much space that it can fit two people, unless you're like Gab. Sorry Gab. 

I just like Gab, you just take the one below la hor, it's quite dangerous for you to climb that stairs. 

We rested for a little and we went around to look for food and we entered a hotpot restaurant where we also tried pigs blood. 

It was ok, it tasted like 糯米饭 honestly. 

And if you're interested in our reactions, you can view the video on Alvina's channel here 

After that we explored the area for a little, stopping at some random small departmental store, some family mart, some road side food store before we decided to head back. 

As it was a hostel, the toilets are located out of the rooms and they separated the toilets according to genders and our floor has the bigger guys toilet and smaller female toilet. 

So me and Jasmine went to the other floor with the larger female toilet lol.

The key cards are so prone to losing. Zar lost hers and Alvina almost lost hers as well but we managed to find it back in the toilet lol.

Had a good night sleep in the capsule, it wasn't uncomfortable at all.

The next morning we checked out to head to Ximending for our hotel check in and to meet Ethan and Jamie as well. (yay finally) 

We went to the wrong hotel LOL. 

Well, technically its the same hotel chain but it's the wrong outlet that we booked. 

Too many of the ECFA Hotel in Ximending. 

On the same street some more. 

We checked in and the girls actually didn't really like the rooms because of the high celling shit, and they wanted to change but the guys thought that it was ok lol.

So in the end no, we didn't change our hotel.

expectations:

reality:

it was quite bad. honestly lol.

sorry had no photos

Moving on with life, we went to the original DinTaiFung at Xinyi Road,

which is just Dongmen station exit 5.

We took a number and decided to just walk around the area and bought 50 岚 yay.

Took some group photos and we headed back to the store.

We Q for a little more and I think we over ordered lol.

Then we headed to Damsui Area and we tried the air bb gun game.

That's how we waste our money and how our money depleted so fast lol.

Spent like I think around 2 hours there before heading back to Ximending for food and some shopping.

I love how our hotel is so central like so near to Ximending, we went there almost everyday.

Halp.

The next day, we walked into Ximending for some Lu Ruo Fan and Orh Jian before heading to shop at Wufenpu!

Spent like a good 3-4 hours there but it was so hot, had a little headache due to the sun zzz.

Alvina and I were like shopping together so we thought they will meet at the time we agreed on before we left but nope found wifi and they decided to take an hour/ 30 mins more to walk.

Both Alvina and I were just too tired so we just nua-ed at a bubble tea shop. lol

I actually managed to get such many stuff that I literally bought a travel bag to put everything inside.

lol ded

And I managed to drag them to Raohe Night Market?

Am I cray.

I think the rest went to another night market after raohe but my head was hurting quite a bit from the sun.

But in the end accompanied Gab and Jamie to SPAO and spent like an hour or so there halp.

The next morning we went to Taipei Main Station to take a train to Ruifang aka where Jiufen is at.

Bought some food from 7-11 to eat on our train ride there.

Upon reaching Ruifang, you're supposed to take a bus up to Jiufen area.

There's so much snacks to have at Jiufen!

The Peanut ice cream, prawn crackers and some melted cheese crackers which is awesome.

However it was sooooo misty we literally see nothing.

And from Jiufen we went over to Shifen to release the sky lanterns.

After that, we missed our train lol.

Because the train timings are so fixed and once you missed it you have to wait for like almost an hour or so.

There are like so many taxi drivers quoting you such a high price to get back to Taipei is like what....

So we waited at some café and played like charades lol.

Initially I wanted to head to HRC Dance for class but because we missed the train so sobs :(

Took the train back to Taipei and we went to some night market with an underground food court!

Yayyyy it was so worth it we just keep having stuff to order lol.

But it was raining as well so we couldn't really shop at the night market.

Decided to sleep in the next day and headed for a

buffet hotpot brunch at Ximending which was so awesome!!!

And they also serve free flow beer + haagendaz as well dayum

After our fulfilling brunch we went to the Guo Fu Museum and checked out the Xinyi Area.

And we also went into Taipei 101 building to change money lol.

Before we went separate ways aka me going to dance class at HRC.

Signed up for two classes in HRC, it was like 350TWD (around $16) per class.

Took Girls Hiphop at 6.30pm and Dancehall at 8.30pm.

Wanted to have Dazzling café alone, walked all the way there only to realize that it had closed down. Halp.

Walked all the way back to have burger king alone halp la.

But was so proud that I went to HRC myself and ate dinner and back to the hotel alone without data/wifi yay.

Went back to Ximending and some guy came to approach me to be a bargirl??

Whattt..

And went back to sleep because the next day was theme park day + club lol.

Went to Ximending for simple breakfast aka AhZhongMeeSua.

We wanted to take a bus to Leofoo Theme Park but we're like too late?

So we split up to two cabs, which was kinda worth it because we had 8 people.

We reached in the afternoon but it was okay because we're aiming to get the half day ticket.

It is cheaper and more worth it.

Eugene joined us for the theme park and he was complaining to me saying that he was super cold.

Ok la, before that we're at WuFenPu which was super hot.

But the theme park was up on a hill so halp, it was a little colder.

And there was nobody at the theme park?!

We totally didn't Q for any rides LOL.

Love these kind of theme park where there is nobody that you can go for the roller coaster thrice. HAHAHAHA

Took a cab back to Ximending for dinner and some last minute shopping.

Did a new specs and bought some contacts as well.

Bought like 1000TWD worth of face mask, eye mask and lip mask. LOL.

Went back to put the stuff and headed to Babe 18.

So it was said that there's free entry before 11.30pm. But there was a Q outside so obviously we won't be able to get the free entry, so we paid... 750TWD (around $40) for club.

CRIES

Opened two bottles, 750 TWD each, 2000TWD in total.

Balling hard.

Cries.

We got back to the hotel safe, with funny incidents in between lol.

I remember laughing at Ethan till I was on the floor LOL.

The next day we packed our stuff and we're all hoping that we don't exceed 20kg each.

Tho my baggage was like 23kg? halp

But because we checked in as a group, so we leeched the rest of their baggage yay.

Alright, that's the end of our Taiwan trip.

#finally.

Till the next trip, which happened last year June, Gili Islands and Bali.

LOL

HALP.

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