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Grad trip to Taiwan Fun Day 1

Friday, May 31, 2013 |Comment(s)

Fredfredtan says...

So I decided to get down in writing my Taiwan post. I guess I was just waiting for my results to be released today to start on this post so I can say out loud that

I GRADUATE LOH!

And hence, I can really blog about my grad trip. Haha. Before 12 midnight, I was really really nervous, because I was so scared I can't graduate, then like damn malu. (Ps: I'm really a born worrier. I worry about practically everything!) B was trying all methods to distract me and told me not to check my results or he would do it for me. But I was too nervous to ignore the results! :D And it turned out to be my best semester despite all those things going on in my final semester. And now my 4 years in University has officially ended and I will wait till 25th July to wear my gown and mortar board to collect my cert. :D Yay!

So on 11th May, just 2 days after my final paper on 9th May, I embarked on a 8-day trip to Taiwan. :D I was flying via Transasia. It was a full carrier, hence the air ticket included breakfast and 20kg check-in luggage. We were lucky because we got the early bird discount at $400sgd per person. We had some problem with the booking of the discounted tickets initially. I was supposed to buy 2 tickets while B would buy the 2 tickets for his parents. He managed to get through the process and gotten the discounted tickets but I couldn't and was charged $700sgd per ticket instead. Of course I didn't follow through with the transaction. I e-mailed to the carrier as facebook pm them. Their office in Singapore wasn't friendly and helpful at all. But the same cannot be said for their HQ. They contacted me the next day and assisted me in getting the discounted tickets. I was so impressed with their level of service! They even followed up on my case a week after, just to double confirmed that everything was good to go for my trip. Thumbs up to Transasia.

And I was glad I travelled with Transasia because it was a midnight flight, I had a comfortable flight to Taiwan so I was all ready to go when the plane touched down. :D And the mandatory airplane picture. :D So excited. I hardly gotten any sleep on the flight even though it was comfortable, so I just rest and used the in-flight entertainment.

My phone protested when we reached Taiwan and my battery went from 60% (before I switched it off) to 12% when I turned it on. Taoyuan international airport had these charging points everywhere. And what I really like about this is that I could charged using my USB cable as they had the USB ports just above each usual power point. I thought was really clever of them. Perhaps our Changi Airport could look into having this charging points around too.

We gotten our bus ticket from Ubus at NT$30 each to the High Speed Rail (HSR) Station. We were going to Kenting on our first day, hence we planned to take the HSR to Zuoying then take the public bus to Kenting. Kenting is actually at the Southern most point of Taiwan.

This is our train ticket to Zuoying. HSR is actually a pretty expensive mode of transport. Our ticket from Taoyuan to Zuoying was NT$1290 each. However, it saved us a lot of time as it takes approximately 1.5 hours to reached Zuoying instead of a few long hours if we were to take the bus or a cab over. The trains were relatively clean and comfortable. They had free sitting carriages so there is a risk that you might not get a seat but these carriages are slightly cheaper than those with designated seat numbers.

Upon reaching Zuoying, we had breakfast at Movenpick cafe as we were too hungry to venture further for food. As mentioned, we wanted to take the public bus to Kenting which will be an approximately 2.5hours ride from Zuoying. But we met a cab driver that offer us a ride to 1.5hour ride to Kenting at NT$150 per person. This worked out to be cheaper and fast than the public bus and so we decided to go for it. We had a stop-over for fruits en route to Kenting. The fruits were provided free of charge for sampling and they were really generous. I shall let the pictures do the talking! :D

Even Pooky got excited with the fruits! Haha. Some PRC tourists came afterwards and they started grabbing our fruits too. >:( I was quite angry as they had their plates of fruits too. Didn't want to stay too long, especially with them around, so we left soon after with some fruits that we bought out of appreciation.

We reached our hostel Minimi Inn in Kenting! The lobby was quite small but it was beautifully decorated with lots of small and cute ornaments. It was a weird mesh of colors and knick knacks and I loved it. However, there wasn't anyone at the lobby greeting us. Instead there was only a stuff toy seated at the desk.

Decided to take some pictures while waiting for someone to attend to us. There were other hostels along the way, but only ours was without a counter staff. :/

Really liked the stairways and had a picture there with B's mum. But the poster behind was quite distracting. It had the words "Protect your largest organ" printed over a naked guy and the "T" from protect was bold and enlarged! Hahah. But there was actually another poster beside (blocked by B's mum) that mentioned that the organ was the skin! *chuckles. Don't think dirty you people! ;)

After awhile, a teenage girl appeared. She was apparently cleaning up the rooms. A person to attend to us at last. She went to get another lady to attend to us, which wasn't the boss. The lady boss was actually at her 2nd hostel which was a distance away. I felt it was rather irresponsible of her to leave the front desk empty and her guests helpless. Our room was at the 5th floor. There wasn't any lifts, as such we had to lug our luggage up the stairs ourselves.

This was our room. On first look, it looked rather clean and cozy. But the sheets weren't very clean and the wallpapers were peeling. The power point beside the bed was spoiled and I was so worried sleeping beside it. ): The stay wasn't very pleasant as the room was rather small and the bathroom wasn't very clean either. I will only suggest this place if you are on a really tight budget. If not, I think you deserve a better stay in a cleaner hostel.

Most people would actually rent an electric bike to travel around Kenting. However, the weather wasn't ideal that day as it was raining, hence we opted for the public bus.

Here is the bus route map of Kenting. I think it is useful to have this around so we know which bus to take to the various scenic spots in Kenting. There are only 4 lines and they all intersect at the Heng Chun bus interchange. So when in doubt, just take the bus to the bus interchange to ask or just ask the locals around.

We took the orange line to our first destination- the Eluanbi Lighthouse. It costed us NT$23 per person. We didn't know how much it would cost, so we just asked the bus driver. After making payment, the bus driver would hand you paper tickets which you would have to return upon alighting the bus at your destination.

B said that this would probably be the nicest picture of Eluanbi lighthouse since it was already drizzling slightly when we arrived.

Picture of us at the Eluanbi park. I think we looked quite ridiculous with our umbrellas. Haha. But I guess since it was our first day, we were all really excited to be all touristy despite the rain. :D

The tickets were NT$40 for adults and NT$20 for students. Haha. This is one thing I liked about Taiwan. They accept foreign student pass as well for student discount. This is probably one of the last few times I can still use this privilege.

My discounted ticket! Hahaha. :D But the thing was, there wasn't anyone there to check the tickets, so it seemed to be that anyone could just enter without paying the tickets. It was all down to integrity then! And presenting to you the Eluanbi Lighthouse. The sky cleared for a really short while while we took the pictures before the rain came crashing down again.

We ventured out after taking the pictures. It was a pity it was raining as it was actually a pretty nice place to spend the day at. I really like the next two pictures but I think my purple umbrella sort of spoil the mood a little right! ): But by then,the rain was getting heavier so we can't abandon the umbrella to get a better shot. But even with the umbrella, my whole back was drenched and my blouse was translucent and stuck to my back.

At one with the nature. I love seeing large expanse of sea and I got no explanation why. They never fail to calm me down and make me feel much much better, especially if I have a bad day or am feeling really angst.

One last shot on the boardwalk. It became relatively dangerous after because it was slippery and we had to watch our steps. And the way out was filled with pathways made of rocks and we even had to pass through a small cave. Thankfully I had a small torchlight as the cave was quite dark and dingy. But I lost my torchlight after. :,(

On a side note, I think B and I looked like excited kids in this picture. Hehe. i like this picture too! <3

And you must be thinking why did I include a pig right. This gigantic pig was actually the pet of a storekeeper located outside Eluanbi! It was so huge! Plus it was leashed up because the pig would bite at strangers. Upon hearing that it bites, I decided to just zoom in to take a picture instead of getting close to the pig. But it was still so hilarious. Hahaha.

And when in Taiwan, it is a must to visit the night market! I was so glad the sky cleared when night fell. :D But there were still the occasional drizzle, but it didn't really bother us. Yeah! These pictures are basically what I managed to take along the way as my hands were busy with food and what not along the way.

These 2 dogs (I can't distinguish if it was an akita or a shiba inu) were actually guarding a shopfront and there was actually a signboard asking people not to touch them. I guess they might bite at strangers and they didn't appear very friendly as well as they kept barking.

And then we saw a store selling fried fresh milk. We thought it was rather interesting, plus I had seen this on Beatrice's blog and so decided to buy them to try. It was actually pretty good. The exterior was crispy while the inside was chewy.

And we ate at this 卤味- Wu Master Froods. This big plate was quite cheap, but I forgot how much. HAHA. I was so glad I picked the 科学面 (science noodles). It went really well with the dish as despite soaking up the gravy, the noodle remained springy! There was this "snake" chili as well, their signature spicy chili! I loved it as it was spicy enough (usually those so-called spicy sauces are still too sweet for me, no kick) and left me wanting more! Hahah, we were guessing why the chili was named "snake" and then the conclusion was, after eating it, we would make some weird hissing sound that sounded like snake. Hahha.

The snake chili is actually at the side and was only given in a small amount. But I think that was enough. :D Shiok!

And how can we not eat chicken cutlet when in Taiwan? Hahah. This was actually pretty good. We tried the honey flavour one and the chicken was really juicy. Their business was pretty good and it was apparently featured on a TV program before. But as usual, we didn't know all these before ordering so it was like discovering a gem! When you have no expectations, you will not be in for a disappointment. :D

B looking really happy with the chicken cutlet.

That's the end of my day 1. Hope you had fun reading it. :D

Labels: HSR, Kenting, Lighthouse, Night Market, Shopping, Taiwan

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