Hello!!!
2018 is going to be an AWESOME year! :)
I am feeling inspired to (re)start on documenting my trips in 2018. For anyone out there who is looking for Taiwan itineraries/day trips, I hope this would be able to benefit somebody. This is also our first long trip together so it's extra special for me and I hope that I can read back some day on our adventure together.
Here is an overview of my full itinerary (which I will be breaking into different entries):
Day 1: Taoyuan Airport to Tai Chung
Day 2: Tai Chung to Sun Moon Lake
Day 3: Tai Chung to Cingjing Farm
Day 4: Cingjing Farm to Hualien
Day 5: Hualien to Taipei
Day 6: Taipei Yangmingshan + Shilin Night Market + Dinner at Mume
Day 7: Taipei Danshui + Shida Night Market
Day 8: Taipei Huashan 1914 Creative Park + Xiangshan hiking trail + Taipei 101 + Kanpai Yakiniku
Day 9: Addiction Aquatic Development (AAD) + Chiang Kai Sek Memorial Hall + Taipei 101 + Airport
DAY 1 - Taoyuan Airport to Tai Chung
*How to get from Taoyuan airport to Tai Chung city*
I was in a rush to get to the Zhong She Guan Guang Flower Market which is abit off city-center from Tai Chung but my flight only landed at 11:50am and the sun sets at 530pm in January. So, I was looking for the fastest way to get to the city. You have the following options:
1. Take a taxi to city, burn your pocket and risk getting caught in a jam. 1.5 hours to 2 hours
2. Take a bus from Taoyuan Airport to the Taoyuan HSR station, to catch a train to Taichung HSR station, walk to nearest Railway station to transfer to local railway to your respective railway station.
- Yes, its dumb because the Taoyuan HSR is not located WITHIN Taoyuan airport itself. From my research, its a 20minutes bus ride and buses don't really come very often like airport shuttle buses. And the fare is NT30 if I'm not wrong.
- Tip #1: Buy your HSR ticket from Klook prior to arriving in Taiwan. Save you time and $ because its cheaper online.
- Tip #2: The MRT connecting Taoyuan HSR to Taichung HSR is located at the Terminal 1 departure hall end. Exit the arrival hall, go left wards and all thhee wayyyy. Ask for directions too if you see the security personnel around.
- Tip #3: Buy MRT ticket at automated machine, please change your coins/have small notes. Don't worry, there's a machine for change there too.
- Tip #4: DO NOT blindly board any train that comes. M almost did but lucky I checked. There's one commuter, one express. Express skips a ton of stations. Pay attention to the electronic display which states clearly "Commuter" or "Express".
So anyways! If you're wondering if there's food at Taoyuan HSR. Yes! There's a main hall area on ground level and we bought Sushi Express. SUSHI IS SO CHEAP IN TAIWAN. We bought 3 nigiri sets, and one set with 8 sushis cost NT100 - 120? That's like $4.50-$6. If you don't want sushi, there's also ramen, some chinese restaurant too. Oh and you can grab their 台鐵便當 too! However the lunch sale period is 11am to 1pm.
After lunch, it was enjoying our 40mins ride to Taichung!
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Ok after you reach HSR Taichung, you can walk across to the nearest Railway station - Xinwuri Railway station, which is connected from within the building complex you alight from HSR. It was a pretty far walk, maybe 500meters or more? Bought our ticket via a counter to go to Taichung Railway station (just one stop but on the map actually quite a distance, 20mins by car, but 5mins only by train).
Our airbnb is really close by to the station so it was quite a breeze.
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We walked back to Taichung railway station to get a train to Houli railway station to take a cab to the market (according to the directions provided by the flower market's official website). Although I found out there's a nearer station called Tai-an. I am guessing the reason why the website did not tell us to take a cab from Tai-an is because its a pretty ulu station and you might not get a cab there. IMPORTANT to note - The trains to Houli are super irregular (like every alternate train stops there), and we waited 20minutes for the next train - inserts sobbing emoji - ... so please check the time table on the TRA website properly.
Tip: Please use Uber when you're in Taichung! We manage to get a uber for NT70 (10mins) ride to the market from Houli. Booked it one station before we arrive so as to save time. Hailing a cab will be about NT200++ for the same distance.
If you're wondering why I did not take a cab straight to flower market, it's because it cost $40 by uber and the train ride was faster too. Although I did end up waiting for the next train but laoniang aint going to pay $40 for a cab ride.
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YAY!!! Finally after all that hassle, we arrived!!! We only had an hour before sunset so we dashed around to take the best photos. (the photo on my homepage is taken there too!)
The place is not very big but there are pretty good photo spots and I would say it's worth a visit! I would definitely return if I go back to Taichung one day.
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So after the sunsets completely around 630pm.. we tried to get a uber but to our horror, we couldn't. No cars were nearby and we tried for awhile. It was fields and fields of farm lands around us and our only resort was to walk to the nearest railway station aka Tai-an. It was a 1.8km walk on ulu streets and honestly quite scary. But we survived! M was being very sweet by playing music from his phone and chatting with me along the way to distract me from those scary thoughts I have in my head. <3 Before we knew it (actually v long), we reached! Thankfully the trains at Tai-an operates till 11pm. We got there around 7plus pm i think.
Headed to Fengjia Night Market for dinner! We took a bus (took 50mins journey) from a bus stop near Taichung main railway station - we had to walk to the old station building, cross the road adjacently and walk abit more. took some time trying to figure out. Ask the locals! Google maps like not accurate.
After some research, I was interested in trying these:-
- 官芝霖大腸包小 (taiwanese sausage sandwiched in glutinous rice - 3.7stars)
- 雷丸牛肉丸 (beef ball with cheese - did not try in the end)
- 黃金左腿 (fried chicken with mexican-ish salsa on top + cheese sauce -- 3.5 stars)
- 超獨特果汁傳奇 (fruit juice - did not try :( )
- 帝鈞胡椒餅 (pepper pastry thing - cannot find!)
- 炳叔烤玉米 (grilled corn -- 4 stars from me, -5 stars from M lol)
I also tried smelly tofu! It has a red banner, I can't remember what it's called but its a few stalls from the fried chicken stall (above). Not very nice. Don't try.
I really quite like the grilled corn! but M hates it. LOL. It's sticky and chewy on the outside because of the caramelised exterior. Quite a unique flavour and texture. Must try! Nothing like the corn you would imagine. You might hate it thought >.<
We also randomly bought some oyster/large intestines mee sua from random stall. Pretty good!
In general, I think the food there did not wow me, maybe we didnt pick the right food and we were quite tired to explore more. Oh there's PLENTY of claw machines everywhere and I think the toys at Taichung seems cuter and nicer as compared to Taipei and Hualien. lol.
Got a uber (it was a BMW 5 SERIES!!) at NT180 from Fengjia back to our accoms ! so cheap!! I believe its 25mins by car.
Okay thats basically end of Day 1!
