Taiwan (Outing)
Friday, December 09, 2016
"I fell in love with Taiwan." These were the words I was saying to myself when we were already heading out to Taoyuan Airport for our flight back to Manila. Four days of fun in Taiwan was not enough -- admittedly this is always the feeling I get for every vacation I had, HAHA. I mean, there's still so much to do but its already time to go home.
Our trip was short but it has been enjoyable. Taiwan is such a really nice little country which I will probably choose if I have to select a place to live next. Everything that happened in our four days will be too overwhelming to write so I have just listed below the summary of places we've been and the things that we got to do during our trip.
By the way, this trip is sponsored by my company. Our generous boss treated us all with free travel to Taiwan - yey!! This is the 3rd out of the country trip our company did actually. Imagine flying out to Taiwan without worrying much about accommodations, itinerary and stuff. All we had to worry was our own pocket money and how to 'make kasya' our stuff in a hand carry luggage (check my Bangkok blog to know the story behind hand carry luggages).
Ximending
Aboard an Eva Air flight from NAIA, we arrived at Taoyuan Airport at around 9pm. A tour guide and a tour bus has been waiting for us when we landed. The airport by the way is not located in the middle of the city of Taipei so we have to take like an hour bus ride to Ximending; the place where our hotel is located. By 11pm, we were already checked in, ready to sleep if we wanted. But since the streets of Ximending is famous for food street enthusiasts and is also a night market shopping haven for young people, we decided to go out in the middle of a very chilly night and took a walk on its streets. Ximending I've read is famous as the 'Shibuya of Taipei' being the first pedestrian zone in Taiwan.
It was almost midnight so there was not much people, aside from the fact that it was a Thursday. I was hungry that time and food was the only thing on my mind. I knew there's a night market very near our hotel but we had no idea where it was located so we got lost. We ended up at a McDonald's and I ended up eating fries (booo!). When we were already on the right street, we crossed paths with some of our officemates who also went out for food. They were holding very large Hot Star fried chicken and milk teas (a must try in Taiwan) so we also lined up at the Hot Star kiosk to try it out. There were also interesting shops and side street vendors selling fashionable clothing but we contented ourselves with just checking them out. No shopping was done on our first night in Taiwan.
From Taipei to Hualien
At 11am the next day, we were already on our way to Taipei Metro Station. We boarded the Taroko Express bound to Hualien. It was more than 2 hours of train ride with a great view of Taiwan's countryside. There's the sea on our left and the mountains on our right. Our tour guide who fetched us at the airport was also with us. For our lunch, we had a local Taiwanese food which honestly didn't really impressed me.
Our group posing outside the train station wearing our blue company shirts. Good idea we had this uniform shirt since it helped us easily identify our group amidst the many people.
Taroko National Park
When we arrived in Hualien, our tour bus is already waiting for us ready to bring us to Taroko National Park. Taroko Gorge is a famous attraction of Taiwan because of its stunning beauty characterized by its marble walled cliffs and the Liwu River cutting in between. I'm a probinsyana who is not new to mountain and river views but was still amazed by the beauty of this gorge. The place was just simply amazing and magnificent. The feeling was like being one with nature again after a long time of living in the city. Fresh air, endless views of mountains, temples atop mountains, waterfalls, clear skies, bridges and winding tunnels. We clearly had a good time experiencing the beauty of this gorge. Too bad we were not able to do some hiking due to time constraints.
FarGlory Hotel
This hotel is worth special mention in this blog because it was one of the best hotels I've been. The building itself was massive (it has 400 guest rooms) and boasts of its Victorian themed rooms with either mountain view or ocean view depending on your room choice. The buffet dinner and breakfast was also worth mentioning due to the variety of food that they serve, including the dessert buffet and unlimited ice cream (it was my first time to try Mövenpick ice cream which was one of the best ice cream I had in my life 😋). Strolling around the vicinity of the hotel led us to its well maintained gardens and an amazing view of the pacific ocean. What I loved in this place was waking up early in the morning and opening your balcony with a view of the mountain greeting you. Waaah, what a great way to start the day!
Food Trips and Shilin Night Market
By Saturdays's lunch time we were back in Taipei. The rest of the day was spent on trying street food and pasalubong buying in one the city's famous night market - Shilin Night Market. This night market has tons of locals and tourists enjoying 'perya' games on side streets and eating cheap street food which are worth trying. I finally tasted the fried milk which I was curious about and the shaved ice which I was very keen on eating amidst the cold night. There's a lot of different unique food to try actually. I just didn't like lingering on places where the smell of Stinking Tofu dominates the air. It was just awful and gives me bad vibes about Taiwan night markets. Going to Shilin Night Market, we tried their train station. Their train system was the best - it was fast, convenient, and most importantly, clean! It was very impressive that I even researched about it when I was already back in Manila. (I learned that it was one of the most expensive train system ever built, has 117 stations, and serves an average of 2 million passengers per day.) If only our MRT/LRT could have a system similar to them, surely our city life would be easier. Uber by the way is not legal in Taiwan. We have tried a taxi and was greatly impressed by its service. No wonder people are still sticking to their taxi system and does not patronize Uber, unlike what we do in Manila.
Taipei 101
On Sunday before heading to the airport, we still had a few extra hours to spare so we headed to Taipei 101 to see the famous building up close. Besides, a Taiwan trip won't be complete without a Taipei 101 pic. We realized that taking a picture on the grounds of the building itself is impossible due to its size so we decided to transfer to the next train station to have a better view. The idea was very worth it despite spending NTD20 for the train fare. We were able to take good pictures with a full sized Taipei 101 in the background. Yey!
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