Started the day with the breakfast buffet provided by Cityinn Hotel, the chicken was SUPERB!! I wanna get more after the 1st round but the plate was emptied by the time I went for 2nd round. =(
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| The small piece of chicken <3 |
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| Restaurant Interior |
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| Second Round of Buffet |
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| View from Hotel Room |
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| Taichung Train Station View from Hotel Room |
In order to reach Taipei, one has to travel from Taichung Station to New Wuri Station (NT15 = SGD0.65). Taichung High Speed Rail (HSR) Station is connected to New Wuri Station and you only have to walk about 10min (air-conditioned) to reach Taichung HSR. I bought free-seating ticket (no seat assigned) at NT675 (SGD29.40) and you are only allowed to be seated in section 10-12, which is the last 3 cabins of the train. The journey from Taichung to Taipei takes about 1h, which is MUCH faster than taking a bus. You can also consume food and drinks on HSR trains! I bought a belgian waffles from Taichung HSR Station, it's not as tasty as it looks, please don't be cheated by its appearance. Lol.
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| Ticket counters at Taichung Train Station |
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| Ticket from Taichung to New Wuri Station |
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| Train Station Entrance |
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| You have to cross over to the opposite platform if you are traveling towards New Wuri's direction |
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| New Wuri Station (take the lift) |
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| Signboards are everywhere to guide you towards HSR |
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| HSR Ticket from Taichung - Taipei, NT675 |
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| Door 10 |
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| Belgian Waffles NT45 |
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| Taipei HSR Station |
Yay!!! Finally arrived in Taipei!! Whenever I'm in Taipei, I'll be very happy and excited as it has a lot great shopping, food and fun to offer! I got myself an EasyCard as it is cheaper and more convenient for public transportation in Taipei. The guy at the counter asked if I'm a student, I produced my matriculation card and he gave me this card. It costs NT200 with NT100 deposit (you can get it back when you return the card) and NT100 credit. =P
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| Student EasyCard |
I booked Happiness Inn at Ximen, along Chengdu Road. It costs about SGD 80 a night, very accessible to Ximending and 5-10min walk away from Ximen train station, exit 1. The room was rather old and I was quite disappointed with the hotel cause it's quite run down in terms of design and comfort. I doubt I will ever stay here again.
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| Happiness Inn Road Signs |
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| Happiness Inn |
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| The bed with suspected bed bugs |
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| I didn't try the PC, don't know if it's working or not. |
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| Basket containing towels, mineral water, cups and toiletries. |
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| Room Access Card |
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| What's inside the small box. |
I guess the hotel was not fully booked as I managed to check in at 1.20pm, when the usual check-in time is 3pm. I was so tired from traveling and I lazed in the room for quite some time till the continuous growling of my stomach pulled me out of the room. =/ I went to Ximending for Ah Zong Mee Sua, my mum's favourite food in Ximending when I came to Taiwan with her in Feb 2013. The shop is along E Mei Street (峨嵋街).
First night market to visit in Taipei: SHILIN NIGHT MARKET (士林夜市)!!! It's my favorite night market as there are lots of delicious food and cheap shoes!!! Shilin Night Market is located at Jiantan Station, exit 1.
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| Jiantan Station |
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| Entrance of Shilin Night Market |
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| Signboard to Underground Food Street |
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| FAVORITE!!!!! SUPER NICE!! DIE DIE MUST TRY |
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| All the different flavours |
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| Got my drink from this stall |
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| Aloe Vera Honey Drink, so so only |
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| There're lockers available for you to store your bags if you buy too much! |
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| Exiting the underground food street |
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| Oh oh, Okay -.- |
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| So paiseh to see this. lol |
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| I call this 'lantern street' cos there're a lot lanterns. LOL |
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| Mum loves this stall |
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| Trend Setting, finding Hater Snapbacks |
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| Only 5 designs available here |
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| FAVORITE SHOP FOR SHOES!!! FREAKING CHEAP AT NT190 = SGD8.30!!! |
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| Another competitor opposite but the previous one seems to be more popular |
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| 肉圆 |
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| Old Shilin, pretty empty. =( |
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| Jiantan Station |
I didn't have enough capacity in my stomach to try all the food cause I was alone. I got quite full after having Guan Cai Ban, the drink and Rou Yuan. However, when I got back to hotel, I got hungry again. Luckily I'm staying in Ximen, there's food everywhere. I walked over to KFC to get their egg tarts and 7-11 for orange juice.
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| Supper |
Day 3 was rather short as I was quite exhausted from the journey from Taichung to Taipei. Nevertheless, I am very excited for the next day as I'm going to Taipei Zoo to see (first time in my life) PANDA!! Good night! =D
Hi!
ReplyDeleteChanced upon your blog when i was researching for my solo trip Taichung/Taipei! I really like your blog posts cos its definitely gonna help me much when i travel. I get the kind of expressions you described when i tell people i'd be travelling alone. But oh wells, its a kind of experience and it definitely takes a lot of courage.
Anyway thank you for the useful tips in your blog! =)
Hello Ya Wen! You're welcome! Great to hear that you are going to travel alone to Taiwan. I'm sure you will enjoy your solo experience! You might be nervous on the first day but rest assured, you'll be fine and have lots of fun for the rest of the journey! Be safe and wear more clothes to keep yourself warm if you're going in Jan-Feb! =D
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteWould it be hard for me to travel to Taiwan (Taipei to Taichung) if I dont understand Chinese?
Hi, yes it would be quite difficult as their English proficiency is not that good. Taichung is also not as developed comparing to Taipei. I would advise you to print out the chinese words of the places/food you wish to go/eat if you are keen to go to Taichung.
DeleteHey!:) I also stayed at Happiness Inn Ximending,really nice. the PC was really helpful :)
ReplyDeleteHi, i am going to taiwan this coming oct, may i know how you go to taichung from taipei? If you did ) what you did u do in tai chung besides feng jia ye shi ? And if you do went to other attraction, how ? Hope to get respond as soon as possible, thank tou
ReplyDeleteHi, I arrived at Taipei and took a bus to Taichung. You may visit my Solo Trip's Day 1 blogpost at http://lynnechua.blogspot.com/2013/06/solo-trip-to-taiwan-taichung-day-1-24.html
DeleteI mentioned all the places I been to in Taichung in my Day 1 and Day 2's (http://lynnechua.blogspot.com/2013/06/solo-trip-to-taiwan-taichung-day-2-25.html) blog posts. Please refer to the posts for more details. Enjoy your upcoming Taiwan trip! =)
did you try the coffin bread ? ;)
ReplyDeleteYes I did! You can see from the pictures above, in this post. I will never miss it. =)
DeleteHi there!
ReplyDeleteI've finally made up my mind and have the courage to travel alone in the May.
Your blog really helps me alot, and pretty impressive you travelled mostly by the local bus.
I'll be in Taipei for 4 days staying around Xinyi , do know where to get the local bus schedule ?
If I were to meet those people asking for money or behave weirdly towards me I could definitely scares the hell out.. do you have any precautions and advice for people travelling alone?
I am excited for this day to coming.
Hi Jessie, that's great! May is good for shopping as it'll be summer over there. I'm not sure if there's a bus schedule available for the local buses, I usually just google how to get to a place and wait for the bus at the bus stop. Unless you are talking about those buses from the airport, then you should be able to find it online. :)
DeleteJust stay out of empty places and just ignore random people who don't look like sales girl/guy approaching you. Taiwan is a safe place. Don't worry too much and enjoy yourselves!
Thank you for sharing Lynne!
ReplyDeleteThis post is really helpful for me to plan my upcoming trip <3
Love,
Clarie C.
http://mytimeless-distraction.blogspot.sg/
You are welcome Clarie. Nice lifestyle blog you have there. =)
Deletehi. planning to go Taiwan this August. wanna ask, why you stayed in taichung on your first day rather than staying in Taipei?
DeleteHello, I stayed in Taichung for 2 nights before heading back to Taipei. I wanted to visit Taichung as it's different from Taipei - less urban and high ratio of Taiwanese to tourist. Fengjia Night Market in Taichung is also the largest night market in Taiwan. I'd say the feel was different and I will visit Taichung again in the future.
Deletehello!! im so happy tat i found ur blog as im singaporean too and i was also thinking of going to taiwan alone nxt time and i rlly do not know whr to go at taiwan as i had nvr went thr before oya and do u have any other famous or popular places for first timer solo traveller like me? and i also wanted to know whether the transportation thr was anything similiar to sg as taiwan looks rather complicated in transportation for me...haha thx alot though!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Hui Hui, depending on how long you plan to travel solo. If you are only look at 1 week, perhaps you can visit at most 2-3 cities otherwise it will be too travel intensive in terms of trains/buses and you won't have much time to relax properly. But if you are going for more than 1 week, I will recommend you to fly to Kaohsiung (South of Taiwan) and return from Taipei. Taichung is a good place with really good authentic Taiwanese food and less tourist as compared to Taipei. The transportation in Taipei is very good, just like Singapore. Don't worry to much about that. Just make sure you purchase the mobile data SIM card at the airport! With GPS (google map), you will never get lost. I have detailed all the places I been to in my blog posts, though there's one more place that I always wanted to go - CingJing Farm. =)
DeleteHi there, im planning for a solo trip to Taiwan too and planning to visit taichung and taipei or other parts of taiwan. just one thing that im worried about is the luggage! was it of a great hassle to bring around your stuffs/luggage from stations or did you do more of like a backpack travelling?
ReplyDeleteHi Panny, I have a 24" luggage and a backpack ('cause I like to shop!!). If your accommodation is far from train station it would be quite a hassle but it's not an everyday thing - only when you are switching places. If you are worried, travel light! I'd recommend you to bring a four wheeled luggage (easier to stroll) if you love to shop. =)
DeleteHi Lynne! May i know how did you purchase the student easy card? Did they accept matriculation cards from Singapore or were you studying in Taiwan?
ReplyDeleteHi Wenhao, I got it at Taipei Main Station's Control Station. I think most of the train stations sell them. The officer accepted my NUS matric card from Singapore.
DeleteHi, I stumbled to here after trying to look for transportation from Taichung to Taipei. I am also planning to do a solo travel to Taiwan next year. I'm Indonesian, doesn't speak any Mandarin at all, but since I survived my solo travel to China, I'm pretty excited to go to Taiwan. Thanks for the blog post
ReplyDeleteHi Ami, wow that's so cool! I have never been to China butI bet many of them couldn't speak English well. You are very brave to do solo travel to countries without knowing their language. Hope you will have a great time in Taiwan!
Delete