Taiwan in My Eyes

After 11 days in Taiwan, below are some titbits on Taiwan. 

1. Taiwan is really the Land of Scooter
Many Taiwanese were not familiar with public transport because most owned a scooter. It's convenient and fuel saving. Somehow in the Taiwanese novel, many heroine owned a scooter, but not the hero. The hero would normally own a car. That's odd. Almost half of the motorists were male, as far as I could see on the road from my 11 days there.

Scooters in Taiwan

Scooters in Taiwan

2. Generally, Taiwanese are friendly, but it's not true for some of the bus drivers / taxi drivers

We met many helpful and friendly Taiwanese along the way, however, some of the Taiwanese bus drivers were on par with the Malaysian drivers, they were impatient and didn't talk nicely to the commuters. Well, I get it, the road was jammed, the bus was packed to the brim, and the clueless tourists still kept asking the dumb questions, etc. (Well, although we tourists already researched about the price or schedule, sometimes,  we need some assurance!). And the most important thing was they also drove dangerously. When I went to and left Alishan, I took bus and taxi respectively, both speeding on the hilly area, and even overtook car in front of them although it was a blind spot! I was so scared, but I refrained myself from correcting the drivers, I was afraid they would drive more crazily. I just prayed in my heart. I am very thankful that I am well and alive.

3. Personally, I like the Taichung BRT concept, too bad, it will be abolished soon
The concept was like train station, the commuter swipe the easycard to enter the stop and waited for the bus, then boarded the bus and upon reaching the destination, depart from the stop after swipe the easycard. In this way, the bus driver didn't have to spend time to collect the bus fare, he or she just concentrate on driving. Plus, since there's a dedicated lane for the BRT, it wouldn't be so affected by the traffic jam. I hope that the Sunway BRT will be a success and do not follow the path of Taichung BRT.

Taichung BRT

4. Coin laundry shop is not as easy to find as I have imagined

It is easier to find coin laundry in big cities, however, in Alishan and Cingjing, I didn't see any coin laundry shops. Maybe we were staying in the more touristy area. Well, not many of my friends would laundry their clothes during any trips, most would bring enough to last the whole trip. However, I am not the kind who is strong enough to lug the big luggage around. For me, a 20kg luggage is the max, anything more than that, it will become a burden and slow me down.

a coin laundry shop in Taichung

5. Other than human, the traffic light have icon for bicycle too

I saw one in Taipei, so cute!

icon for bicycle for the traffic light

6. Most of the takeaway drinks were sealed 

Well, I didn't know whether it's standard or not. But, most of the restaurants / eateries I went have a plastic cup sealer, so the drinks would be sealed nicely. It's very convenient, no danger of spillage. 

sealed paper cup (for takeaway)

7. MIT  stands for Made in Taiwan

When I first saw this MIT, I couldn't catch the meaning. After that, then only I understood it. It's 'Made in Taiwan'. Well, I bought 2 MIT shoes. LOL! The quality was good and it's very affordable. 

MIT (luggages made in Taiwan)

8. Political Campaigning was very intense in Taiwan, if not more than Malaysia

When I was in Taiwan, it was the campaigning time for local elections to choose the mayor for each state. In Malaysia, we will see many small political flags, but in Taiwan, it's just a big huge posters of the candidates stuck to some buildings. I wondered the owners got paid for this posters or not. I think one big poster is good enough, the flags war was quite wasteful, there's no use for the small flags after elections and it's a mess to remove the flags. One big poster is good because after elections, it could be removed easily and maybe could be reuse. I saw some market vendors use the used posters as the top cover for their stall. LOL!

an election campaign poster in Jiayi

an election campaign poster in Sun Moon Lake

Well, I was in Taiwan for eleven days, but I met quite a few politicians there, not really met, but observe from afar. Hahaha! One of them using a car convoy to meet with the voters.

using car convoy for election campaign in Changhua

The biggest surprise was when I back from Jiufen and stopped at Ruifang, the politician was using a concert to campaign. Initially, I thought it was a normal concert, then Miyoshi san told us it's due to elections. Wow!

using songs for election campaign

Other than that, the campaigning was extended to TV advertisements, not only to advertise themselves, but also to smear the opponents. Overall, I think all the politicians are the same, no matter it's in Malaysia or Taiwan. What they did was just to get the votes.

Taiwan 11 Days Trip (12) - Taipei Part 3

24th November 2014

The second last day of our trip. We woke up too early and it's still time left before me and CY met with our other travel mates. So, we decided to go to Ximending again. It's still early in the morning and not many shops were opened yet. So, we just strolled around the area. Well, we got a picture of "The Red House 西門紅樓" without the presence of another human beings. Hahaha! 

The Red House 西門紅樓

We realised that the Watsons was opened for business. Apparently, the store in Ximending was opened for 24 hours. Good news for shopaholics. We went there to browse initially, at the end, we bought many things. Another group of customers in that shop were putting many Naruko products inside their basket enthusiastically. From their accents, I think they were either Malaysians or Singaporeans. Well, I never tried Naruko before, so I didn't know the price, whether it's cheap or not. Then, they told me it's very very very cheap and put more products inside their baskets. So, at the end, I bought three Naruko night gelly, sunscreen, a box of face mask with very cute cover, a cream made with sheep oil, etc. CY also bought six bottles of the night gelly. It's not light, so we went back to the hostel to drop off the products before went out again to meet our friends. 

Skin care products bought from Taiwan

Taiwan 11 Days Trip (11) - Taipei Part 2

23rd November 2014

Me and CY planned to meet with our friends at one of the MRT stations. We wanted to have the famous Fu Hang Soy Milk 阜杭豆漿. We thought we were early, but instead we were actually later than our friends, we met them right out of the exit of the MRT Station. The queue for this Fu Hang Soy Milk was so long, it formed a L shaped queue on the pavement and a further line along the stairs to the shop. I even had some time to left the queue for a while to buy two pants from a clothes stall next to the queue. Well, that's the benefit of queuing with friends.

queue for the Fu Hang Soy Milk

The counter of Fu Hang Soy Milk

I think I spent around 5 minutes to buy the pants, then around half an hour more before we finally reached the door to the shop. Hahaha, I should have gotten something to eat before I came here, I was so hungry. Luckily, a souvenir shop staffs were distributing biscuits to the people queuing outside. We went to the souvenir shop after that and bought so many biscuits that we were entitled free delivery to our accommodations. This place was like food court, just the Fu Hang Soy Milk occupied the biggest space.

Inside of the Fu Hang Soy Milk

We ordered soy milk, rice milk, the famous Fu Hang Soy Milk and other side dishes. Well, to me, their signature dishes tasted like chawanmushi. I like chawanmushi, hence I like this too.

Fu Hang Soy Milk

Taiwan 11 Days Trip (10) - Taipei Part 1

21st November 2014 - night

Reached Taipei Station. It was nearing Christmas, so there's a Christmas decoration inside the station. From the hostel map, our stay for the next few days was very near to the station. However, we went round and round and couldn't find the place. Finally, we asked a taxi driver outside the Cosmos Hotel, well, he told us we were right outside the building. We were stunned. Our accommodation was in a commercial building, right next to Cosmos Hotel. No wonder! We kept looking for Nihao Taipei, not realising that it's not a standalone building. We thanked the taxi driver and went into that building. The hostel (Nihao Taipei) rented a few floors in the building and converted it into rooms. Well, the properties in Taipei is more expensive, it's a good way to utilise the built up space. 

Christmas decoration in Taipei Station

Taipei Station at night

Taiwan 11 Days Trip (9) - Taichung & Changhua Part 4

21st November 2014

When me and CY were on the way back to Taichung City, we passed by yet another park with many teddy bears, so we stopped at the place. It's near the CMP Block Museum of Arts. Since CY already bought a bento, we decided to have our lunch in the park separately and gathered after that. I bought a bento from a convenience shop nearby and just found a spot and ate my lunch there. Well, for few days straight, I was finally alone for almost an hour in a foreign land. It was quite refreshing. Hahaha, After finished up my bento, I walked around the park, snapping photos of the teddy bears. The park is called Calligraphy Greenway 草悟道廣場. The Chinese name is more zen than the English name.  

CMP Block Museum of Arts 勤美術館

The day view and night view of the teddy bears were different, more on the feeling though. The teddy bears during the day were more sunny and happy looking, more approachable. Sounds silly, right? Anyway, this Calligraphy Greenway was very green, it was lined with trees, so it was quite shady, good for walking around.

Teddy Bears in Calligraphy Greenway

Taiwan 11 Days Trip (8) - Taichung & Changhua Part 3 (Rainbow Village)

21st November 2014

On that day morning, me and CY took a very long bus ride to Rainbow Village 彩虹眷村. Not many public buses from Taichung pass the area. So, timing is very important if one wants to take public transport. We followed the Taichung Travel website's instructions, we got off the 干城六村 stop, then we were lost, we couldn't find a sign to this Rainbow Village, there was a bus nearby, so I went to ask for directions, too bad the bus driver was not a local too. Then we slowly walked towards the Ling Tung University. Luckily, we saw a place at other side where there's a crowd there, it's the Rainbow Village. Hahaha!

Rainbow Village is a residential village for the retired army officers and their families. The name came after a resident there started to paint the wall there with vivid and colourful things. I am not someone who can appreciate fine arts, I never understand the abstract drawings, if it's a scenery, portrait, animals, etc, then I know what I am looking at. If it's just a few strokes of random colours, then I don't know what I am supposed to feel.

Rainbow Village 彩虹眷村

Taiwan 11 Days Trip (7) - Taichung & Changhua Part 2 (Maple Garden Teddy Bear)

20th November 2014

After we came back from Changhua to Taichung, it's almost 7pm, and we didn't have any plan for the night, but it would be a waste if we just went back to the hotel. So, we decided to go to the Maple Garden 秋紅谷廣場 for the Teddy Bear Show. Initially, we wanted to take the normal bus to the Maple Garden, however, the bus driver told us to take the BRT (bus rapid transit) instead, he told us there's a Maple Garden Stop for BRT and it's free. We thanked the driver and went to the BRT Stop, there were many people waiting there, I guessed one of the reasons was it's free.

Anyway, we reached Maple Garden and there were many teddy bears. I am not sure whether the show is still on going or finished already, but if it's still on, it's worth a visit at night. All the teddy bears were sponsored, one could see the name of the sponsor on the base of the teddy bear. It's not so big, one could simply enjoy the walk here. Or one could snapped photos here, even without the teddy bears, the night view was not bad too.as the Maple Garden was surrounded by many buildings. The light from the buildings illuminated the sky.

Teddy Bear in Maple Garden

Taiwan 11 Days Trip (6) - Taichung & Changhua Part 1

19th November 2014

Reached Taichung from Cingjing. Me and CY directly checked into our hotel (Zaw Jung Business Hotel) for the next two nights, and chit-chatted with the front desk clerk about where and how to go around Taichung area, to my surprise, she was not really knowledgeable in tourism in Taichung, she told us she didn't go to all the tourist attractions, and she went to everywhere in her scooter, so she couldn't tell us how or where to to take the public transport. Well, if someone ask me how to tour Selangor in public transport, I will give the person a blank stare too. Hahaha!

We knew that there's a card called Youyou Card 悠遊卡 or Easy Card that could be used to pay the bus rides, train rides, buy stuffs in convenience store, etc. However, we didn't know where to buy it, so we didn't use the Easy Card for the first few days, we finally got it in the convenience store in Taichung Station. As it turns out, the Easy Card can be bought at any convenience store. We scrambled our pockets, purses for coins earlier few days for coins when we took the bus. It was no fun at all.

Since we couldn't get any information from the front desk clerk, we went to the Tourist Information Centre in Taichung Station, it was not fruitful also. Almost all the tourist attractions in Taichung were not near to each other, and there's no best route to visit using public transport, to visit all the places using public transport would be time consuming and we didn't budget many days in Taichung, easiest way was to rent a car or motorcycle. We couldn't because we didn't apply for the international driving licence, so we just skipped many of the attractions.

Anyway, since the famous Fengjia Night Market was not near to the place we stayed, we rushed to take the bus to the night market. We didn't want to stay in the night market until we missed the last bus. To me, the night market was very big, crowded, and I am not the fan of most of the market's famous snacks or food. However, me and CY still bought and ate some of the famous snacks, like the 大肠包小肠 (literal translate as small intestine wrapped inside large intestine, actual was sausage wrapped with something made of glutinous rice, the name etched an impression in my brain although didn't like it), 碳烤鸡排 (charcoaled grilled chicken), a kind of fried kuih, and yam milk (yam blended with milk, it's ok, but after eating so many greasy food, I should buy iced carbonated drink instead). After all the exercises for the pass few days, we decided to go for foot massage at a shop near the Fengjia Market, most of the masseur and masseuse were visually challenged, I forgot the price, but it's not expensive, initially we opted for half an hour package, and after that, add half an hour more, it's really relaxing, but I had to ask the masseuse to avoid the bruises on my leg (I had an bicycle accident two days before). Then, back to the hotel. 

Fengjia Night Market 逢甲夜市

Taiwan 11 Days Trip (5) - Cingjing 清境

18th November 2014

Cingjing is a very hilly area, we came here for the farm and view. We booked a room in a very nice looking hotel. Well, most of the hotels in this area were very beautiful, the only difference was the distance to the farm 青青草原 and convenience store. So, it's best to choose a place which provides dinner.

Anyway, the hotel we chose was Energy Vacation Village (the name was kind of weird), the room we booked has a roof window and the balcony overlooking the gorgeous view of hill tops and sky, not some man-made structure. So, after we checked in the hotel, we stayed at the room for hours, sitting on the balcony and just simply enjoyed the view. Well, for our trip in Cingjing, we decided to go easy and as leisurely as possible. Then, dinner time, our packages included dinner, we had steamboat. The portion was so big that I almost couldn't finish it. I was and I am a big eater, that was really a lot. So satisfying. 

Energy Vacation Village 愛力家民宿

Energy Vacation Village 愛力家民宿

view from the balcony

Taiwan 11 Days Trip (4) - Sun Moon Lake

17th November 2014

Arrived Sun Moon Lake in a very good weather. The sky was blue, the water was crystal clear and the air was fresher, hahaha!

Sun Moon Lake 日月潭

Sun Moon Lake 日月潭

The Taxi dropped us in front of our accommodation, which have a very interesting name, Sun Moon Lake Honeymoon Hotel. We left the hotel after check-in and dropped our bags inside the room. Me and CY were very hungry, it's almost 2pm and we haven't had our lunches, so we just had lunch in a restaurant nearby. We had minced pork rice 滷肉飯, something like bean curd 豆干 and kombu. The minced pork rice was nice, but I didn't like soy products, so I couldn't say whether the bean curd was nice or not. 

Taiwanese lunch (minced pork rice, etc)

Taiwan 11 Days Trip (3) - Alishan

16th November 2014

After Fenqihu, me and CY took bus to Alishan from Fenqihu. Once we reached Alishan, CY rushed to the train station to buy the next day train ticket to Chushan 祝山. While I stayed to take care of the bags. Then, a travel agency staff came over and introduced a package to go to Hehuanshan 合欢山, she told me that for past few days, due to the weather, the Chushan sun rise was a no-show, while Hehuanshan sun rise was seen for past few days, I was in a dilemma, actually I was prepared for a no-show sun rise because the weather was not nice. However, presented with another alternative didn't make me happy, I hate too much choices. At the end, CY and me decided to stick to original plan, we would stay in Alishan and hoped for the Chushan sun rise.

After that, we checked into our hotel, Alishan Shermuh Hotel. Then, we left and walked around the Alishan Station. Well, the structure was quite special, it's a wooden building and I think it looks a bit like the rumah panjang in Sarawak from far. Around 5pm, the day went completely dark, and we felt hungry and cold, so we chose to eat steamboat in a restaurant there, the taste was so so only and we ended up buying oden in 7-11 to eat in our hotel room. Ah, we should have just had convenience shop oden for dinner because the steamboat dinner was not cheap, and the most importantly, not nice. Well, it's on the mountain, they probably needed to bring all the stuffs from the ground and it added to the cost. Anyway, Taiwan has many wild boar dishes, when we went to the restaurant, the waiter suggested we go for a wild boar themed steam boat, but I didn't eat wildlife, so didn't choose that. After that, another group of tourists came to the restaurant, and the matriarch just directly said no to wild boar, she said anything ok, but not wildlife. Sounds like my mother, hahaha!

Alishan Train Station

Alishan Train Station (the digital thermometer showed that it's 14 degree Celsius then)

Taiwan 11 Days Trip (2) - Fenqihu 奋起湖

16th November 2014

Initially, me and CY wanted to take the early 7.10 am bus to Fenqifu, however, we both overslept and the next bus was afternoon. Since we couldn't catch the bus, we took our breakfast leisurely. The hotel breakfast was quite nice, I had a very Taiwanese breakfast, I ate porridge with fermented bean curd, fruits, coffee and drinks made from rice and peanuts called "rice milk", according to Wikipedia. Lol!

After breakfast, we walked to the bus station to ask about other alternatives to go to Fenqihu. Well, sadly, there were none. Then, we met the private transport provider that kept promoting his business to us the day before, he still have spaces left in the van, however, the trip was to go to Alishan, he agreed to detour to bring us to Fenqihu, but with a higher fees. We had to agree because we didn't want to wait until afternoon for the bus. (*Don't worry too much about the schedule, if you miss the schedule of the public transport to Alishan / Fenqihu, there are many private operators that offer transport to these 2 places!)

The driver brought us to Fenqihu Hotel, and told us to leave our bags in the souvenir shop next to the hotel. Apparently, the driver knew the owners and owners offered to help keep our bags while we toured around Fenqihu, I didn't see any lockers in Fenqihu Station. We were so lucky! It would be difficult to lug along a luggage to jungle trek.

We couldn't find travel brochures for Fenqihu, so we just read the travel information in the lobby of Fenqihu. After that, we started our Fenqihu trip. First we went to the Fenqihu Station, during that time, no train was scheduled to pass by, so it was quite quiet. It was a good thing though, we could take photos leisurely, didn't have to wait for the right time for the crowd to disperse.

There is nothing special about the Fenqihu station itself, it's just a normal building. However, next to the station, there's a wooden structure (阿里山森林铁路奋起湖车库 Alishan Forest Railway Fenqihu Train Garage) that houses some old locomotive train cars and a model of the Alishan railway. It's quite fascinating.  

Fenqihu Station

Alishan Forest Railway Fenqihu Train Garage

After that, we went to the square bamboo forest, the bamboo species was not native to Taiwan though, the bamboo originated from China. Anyway, the view was nice. It's not a very big area though, one can walked round the forest in 10 to 15 minutes. 

bamboo forest

Taiwan 11 Days Trip (1)

15th November 2014 - Day 1

This was my first and only trip in 2014 and provided me a chance to clear my annual leaves. I planned for this trip with a friend of mine and decided on the date end of 2013. I bought my flight tickets on February 2014 after Air Asia offered some discounts for 2 people travelling together. The initial price for return tickets for single person was RM900.00 ++, and with the discount, the initial price for return tickets for 2 persons was RM1074.00 ++. So, I just bought the tickets, after adding meals and charges for everything else, the total bill was RM1666.00 for two person.

On that morning, I had difficulty waking up because I worked very late the night before, and had to finish packing my luggage after I went home. I went to KLIA2 with a very tired body, I think I only managed to get three hours sleep. The queue to check-in the luggage was short, so after me and CY check-in the luggage, we still had a whopping three hours to kill before we board the flight. I had no appetite, but CY haven't had her breakfast, so we went to Bibik Heritage, me to have a cup of coffee and CY had nasi lemak and coffee. I forgot the exact amount of the bill, but I think it's quite reasonable and the the cup of coffee was huge, so satisfying!

After that, we passed the security check and walked towards the boarding waiting room. Well, that's the time I understood why a lot of people criticised the KLIA2 design. The route was long and many shops were squeezed along the way. For shopaholics, maybe this won't annoyed them. However, for me, it's too much.

Anyway, this was my first Air Asia flight, but not the first low cost Airline flight. Well, it's ok, not bad, I missed the in-flight entertainment though. For a flight around 5 hours, after read the in-flight magazine, the rest of the time was quite unbearable. Although CY was next to me, talking for a few hours straight was not really an option too. So, we talked, rested our eyes and waited for the Nasi Lemak Pak Nasser. Well, the nasi lemak was really nice, thumbs up!

After some time, the time passed by slowly when one was in a confined space, so five hours plus later, finally, we reached Taiwan! Well, the Taoyuan International Airport. After we reached there, we registered with the free iTaiwan Wifi service. Then, we decided to be more secured, we bought a temporary Taiwanese number. Since CY was the planner, she kept the Taiwanese number and I used my Malaysian number. Well, just in case if someone wanted to reach us. To make things easier, CY also became the treasurer, we both put 10,000 New Taiwan Dollar (NTD) each to our travel fund to pay for the meals and transports. For others, we will pay from own pocket.

To buy a Taiwanese phone number, one can do it right after go through the immigration. There are 3 major telco booths in the airport, all the offers are more or less the same. We chose the one with less queue. Hahaha! We got a 10 days unlimited internet package with certain amount of talk time. I forgot the price, but I think it was around 600 NTD, the employee at the counter helped to set up everything too, very convenient. Well, it is a right decision because we found out later that the iTaiwan Wifi was not as widespread as we thought earlier.

queuing up to buy a temporary SIM card