Ceddy's Random

Taipei,Taiwan Trip | Travel Itinerary 4 Days and 3 Nights

Ceddy January 15, 2020 0 Comments

At Taipei 101

Hey Folks, Ceddy here and I am back again for another travel review.

Planning is the KEY!...

It's been a long time that I planned this travel along with my Auntie. This trip was a D.I.Y, the reason I booked this as a D.I.Y, is that it is much cheaper than buying a tour package. I was able to save a ton of money rather than buying a group tour package.

It took me 4 months to set the trip, (it's too long right? as my travel dates were unsure and my vacation leave that time was pending to get approve) Finally, after my vacation leave approved last September of 2019, I booked a ticket right away and I was able to find a seat sale from Air Asia, If it's not on sale, that would cost me 4x the price of two passengers, but I got it only for half of the price. (Including the travel tax and the food for round trip which includes the domestic and international).

Surprisingly, the food that they were serving during the flight was good, and it's pretty cheap as well.

It's my first time as well to travel along with a senior citizen, (yes, I bring my Auntie with me during my travel) and surprisingly, she never felt tired at all during our travel timings the fact that our domestic flight was delayed for more than 4 hours. She is even excited than me as this is her first time to travel out of the country. How cool is that? :)

It took us 8 hours and 45 minutes including the domestic flight, layover and international flight with Air Asia, excluding the delayed timings for more than 4 hours. To know more about my in-flight experience with Air Asia, you can check my in-flight review here.

Do It You're Self...Pretty Self Explanatory...

Since this is a Do It You're Self Tour, I managed to book the ticket starting from my flight, hotel bookings, airport transfers, and tourist spot package.

For my flight, I booked my flight online at Air Asia's official website. I'm a member of their loyalty program Air Asia BIG Rewards (Flyer Reward Programme). I get discounts and more from them.

I booked a ticket including the following:

Food for a round trip (including the domestic and international),
Mandatory travel insurance (Tune Protect)
A choice of seat for two persons

Total expenses for the flight is 432.11 USD

You can check the screenshot below for your reference:

After the long wee of hours of layover (6 hours and 10 mins.) and flight travel. We are now at Taipei! Yey!

Hello Taipei! The Land of Milk Tea and Meteor Garden!

(Just kidding, 😜)

I am skipping the part when we're inside the plane, As I made another review. You can check it here.

Yey! We're here! at Taiwan International Airport

Unfortunately things happened, but there is always a solution ...

And unfortunate things happened. Uber is not working by that time and we're not able to utilize the application. But the first thing I did was to rent a portable pocket wifi.

At the arrival of the airport (after passing thru the immigration lane), Plenty of shops and kiosks that sell portable pocket wifi and sim cards that come with data. I never managed to book a klook online for some reason, but I was able to get one from another shop.

The name of the shop is Unite Traveller

I paid 500NTD (Equivalent to $16 US Dollars). It's worth it as the data is unlimited without capping and the signal is very strong (4G) that even in the furthest outskirt of Taipei has still good reception. For more information about getting a portable hotspot from their end, I will leave a link here. You can reach them out as well via LINE.

After acquiring a portable hotspot, I eventually use the Uber App, but for some reason, there was no available car at that time. We reached Taipei around 1:40 in the morning.

Good thing, there was an Airport Taxi (The yellow ones).

I presented the hotel booking that I made. I present it to the woman who is assisting the taxi drivers on the lane. Though it is difficult for them to understand English (language barrier), I gave them the Chinese printed of my hotel booking and without any problem, the woman advised the driver to drop us at our hotel. Our hotel is Diary of Ximending, located at Ximending District- The shopping district of Taipei.

Things to remember...

Guys, My advice, If you are traveling to Taipei in the morning, better use the train as it can save you more. I paid 30 US Dollars for the taxi and the travel time was half an hour. So expensive but we don't have a choice as its late in the evening.

So guys, My tip: If you are traveling out of the country, make sure to print a hard copy of your accommodation translated in the local language. Trust me, It would be easy for you and for the locals to know where you are going.

For my accommodation, I always check the best hotel rate. I opt to book at booking.com as they have a more competitive rate. I choose a hotel which offers a buffet breakfast and a room for two persons.

I was so blessed that I found the best price for our hotel stay. 4 days and 3 nights for only 168 US Dollars.

If you are wondering if how does our hotel accommodation look like. You can check the pictures below:

Diary of Ximending Hotel. Photo credits to Agoda

Twin Bed

The Shower

Guys, Please do note that there is no bidet in here

Just my Auntie, chilling out after day 1 of our tour

You can also watch my Taipei Vlog on the top of this article :)

The only thing that I don't like about the room was the lacked a bidet. So after relieving your self from the call of nature, you have to use the toilet paper instead of water.

Buffet Breakfast is included in the payment. The front office staffs which include a Filipina and Chinese assisted us. They gave as a stub receipt for 4 days. We gave it to the attendant and we're able to eat during breakfast. Breakfast timings start from 8 AM.

The food consist of egg dishes like omelet egg, noodles, and some meat. Beverages such as orange juice and coffee are available as well

Please do note that this hotel is very strict when it comes to cleanliness and upon noticing, most of the attendants at the buffet area were senior citizens. And also, everyone should clean up after you are done eating, as this is a courtesy to the other guest who would like to use the table.

Overall, the hotel accommodation was superb as its very accessible to the night market. The hotel is situated beside the famous Ximending Night Market. I was not even expecting that there was a night market just beside our building. How cool is that? :)

You can check the pictures below:

And for my day to day itinerary trip. A friend of mine recommended this Filipina (who arranged tours in Taiwan). I contact her and she provides me a quotation for our day to day excursion.

Below is the itinerary that I made as she advised me to make a new one since immigration might ask for it.

Relatively Cheap and Bang for your Wallet...

I paid 25 US Dollars for two-person in two days tour from Ms.Mel (Our tour guide) it is very cheap compared to others. The tour package comes with a free meal and a very comfortable coaster to ride on. The meal is Filipino food too. I highly recommend this Filipina to everyone who is planning to visit Taiwan.

Some of the pictures below during our tour outskirt of metro Taipei (North Coast) :

The temperature during our visit was kinda bit high around 38-degree Celcius. However, the place that we first visited was full of lush greenery, It was still manageable. The first stop was the Green Fantasy forest.

After having lunch, we went to Chung-She Flower Garden. It is likely similar to Dubai Miracle Garden in the UAE. The entrance cost is 4 US dollars per person.

The next tourist spot we visited is the Rainbow Village. As you may know, Taiwan recently allowed same-sex marriage in the country last year 2019.

The last tourist spot we visited for a day is the GaoMei Wetlands- It is a wetland preservation area in Taichung, Taiwan. Various small crabs and amphibian creatures can be found here, adding some dozens of windmill that generates electricity in the region. A green energy resource.