Accommodations for 11D10N Taiwan Trip,

Accommodations are one of the most important things when we travel overseas. I'm quite particular about the rooms I live in when I travel abroad. I look for 3Cs when it comes to this: cleanliness, comfortable level and convenience... HAHAH!!

Listed below are the accommodations for Taiwan:

#1 Kaohsiung (2D1N) - Just Sleep Kaohsiung 捷絲旅高雄中正館

Total: SGD 226.56

For this, we booked a superior double room that comes with a small balcony (a place that we didn't get to enjoy hahah!). Anyway, I was filled with anticipation when we were at the lobby to check in to our room because the reception area is so pretty that you'll wonder how your room looks like!

LOL! I totally forgot to take a shot of the lobby with my camera. The only shot I have with me now is the one that I took via Snapchat :/ At the left of this image is the entrance of the hotel, while to the right is the hotel restaurant where you get your complimentary breakfast at!

Please pardon the following photos because we were in a rush (while the man was preparing) and I just anyhow snapped the room that we stayed for 3D2N. HAHAH!

 

That's the main door. The sliding door on the left, beside the tv, is the bathroom. Literally bathroom! Because there's no toilet bowl for you to pee/poo. Not that they don't have. They separate these to two different rooms. The area behind hangers is the toilet with toilet bowl where you can pee and poo. It's a rlly small area and you have to be super careful when you're exiting that constraint place. 

We didn't get to use that bathtub too

Shower area

The messy basin area

No photos of the toilet with toilet bowl. Overall, both Baby and I were very pleased with the room. We were like, "wow!! I like!" once we unlocked the door of our room! It's so clean and it's just a 4mins walk to the nearest station. All you gotta do is just, cross one road (traffic light!!) and the station is just a few metres ahead!

#2 Cingjing/Nantou (2D1N) - Starry House 清境觀星園景觀山莊

Total: SGD 128

This was recommended by my Bro. He went Taiwan with his friends back in 2013 and they stayed in this minsu. Nubbad! I quite like it too! Just that the toilet has many flies that are attracted to the lights. But, what can you expect? It's a minsu for a reason. Furthermore, Starry House is located at the top of Cingjing and people who stay in this minsu get the best view of Cingjing!

LOL! Quite fail. I didn't take any shots of the room but according to the staff there, we got the room that has the best view with sunrise. Not sure if the video will work here but I'll still upload anyway. This is the only video that I took of my room using Snapchat (again). This shows how often I used Snapchat while I was travelling!

The minsu has a very friendly husky!!! Baby's weakness because it's his favourite breed but..... He's very strongly against having a dog at home in future because of my condition despite me wanting to have one!!

I'll recommend this minsu even though the way up to this place is a bit dangerous and thrilling. But it's rlly worth it as breakfast and dinner are both provided by the staffs there and alrdy included in the total of the stay! #3 Taichung (3D2N) - New York Double Room Fengjia 台中逢甲 Total: SGD80 This is an apt from Airbnb. We decided to go for at least one Airbnb stay in Taiwan. Searched for the apt and the ones in Taichung are rlly cheap judging by the fact that it's only $80 for 2 nights. It's rlly convenient because you'll reach Fengjia night market just 4-5mins walk out of the alley from the apt. The host was nice enough to meet up with us to lead us into our room. In Korea, they don't. They just put the key/card in the letterbox and you gotta find your way to the apt yourself. Initially, we thought it was super far because we had to walk one long stretch of alley into the apt. And that was when we were lugging our luggage as well. That instant regret... But (!!), everything was good after we settled down and we thought it was okay as we walked the alley for the 2nd time. Humans are always judging from first impression. HAHAH! I had only 2 unhappy stuff about this apt: 1. It has no windows at all (not incl. of the one in the toilet because the door is always closed). It's not rlly a good thing having no windows in the room because you'll think that it's stll dark out there and you tend to overslp. That's what happened to us for the following 2 days in Taichung. We started our days late because of this despite switching on the toilet light throughout the night. But no!! We didn't know that there's no windows in the first place. Sigh pie! 2. The shower head is just above the basin. How are we supposed to stand below the shower head to bathe without the need to hold it? I don't have the habit of holding the shower head because I find that it's troublesome and it has the holder for a reason. But anyway, for that 2 days 2 nights, I had no choice but to do it manually because I didn't want our stuffs to be wet. But the man just had to put it there and everything was wet after his bath! #WHUT?! I agreed with Baby that this apt is more for backpackers and not for the fussy ones :/

#4 Taipei (6D5N) - Westgate Hotel 永安棧 Total: SGD 768.40 (incl. of VAT)

From what I knw, this is the best hotel in Ximen. Even the cabbie whom we booked told us this too! Initally, when we were planning which hotel to book in Taipei, I chanced upon this hotel and it looks so pretty!  It's like, the washing area is in the middle of the room like this... Cr: Google But our room turns out to be good too with the toilet bowl and shower area in the same place. But then again, our room has no windows :( We slept till very late every day except for the last 2 days... Total cost of accommodations for this 11D10N Taiwan trip is SGD1203. If we were to go back to Taiwan again, I'll definitely choose Just Sleep Kaohsiung and Westgate Hotel (with windows) again.

Taiwan Itinerary (11D10N),

It's been more than a month since I came back from Taiwan. This trip wasn't my first time to Taiwan but it felt as if it was my first. Reason being the first time I went to Taiwan was tour-guided trip. Everything was in a rush. Shopping time was just a short 1.5hrs or at the very most 2hrs... Had a lil struggle between Taiwan and BKK but we decided to choose Taiwan eventually.

Just like my trip to Korea last June, my family was telling me that 11 days were too long for a vacation in Taiwan. But I thought otherwise! Heh, explained to them that we'd be exploring a few parts of Taiwan. At the end of our trip, I thought 11 days were rlly not enough.

Initially, Zach wanted 10 days. But our return flight was in the afternoon. A bit not here not there, so I suggested another day more and he was okay with it too. I think he's okay because he knows I love travelling and that I'll love one more day rather than being in a rush during our holidays overseas.

As compared to our Korea trip, we were rather relax and chill about our itinerary in terms of planning. We did plan like, 2-3 months before our trip. But as our school work started piling up, we decided to stop planning and I did not even bother with the itinerary even after my exams. Hahah! I was super clueless about Taiwan. There are so many different parts and up till now, I still don't know if Cing Jing is in Taichung or not... This is how clueless I am!

It was only 3 days before our trip that Zach resumed the planning of the itinerary. It's rlly this last minute! Hahah. In the end, I think he didn't plan for Taichung and Taipei. We just list down the places that we wanted to go and that's it!

Itinerary as listed (15th May - 25th May):

Day 1: Scoot @ 12AM from Singapore Terminal 2 to Taoyuan Int'l Airport at 520AM.  Took a shuttle bus from the airport to Taoyuan HSR station > Kaohsiung, Zuoying. Dream Mall > Rueifeng Night Market > Love River > Liouhe Night Market.

Day 2: Booked a cab for the day at 4500NT$. Kenting semi-submarine > 白沙灣 > 猫鼻头 > 關山 > 出火 > 墾丁大街夜市 > 新崛江夜市

Day 3: Kaohsiung to Cingjing. THSR Zuoying > THSR Taichung > 1.5hrs cab ride from the station to Cingjing minsu (Starry Villa) > Cingjing Farm

Day 4: Checked out from our minsu. Booked a cab at 4000NT$ for a day tour in Taichung. Feeling 18 Degree Chocolate Factory > Xin She Castle 新社古堡>  Carton King Creativity Park 紙箱王 >  Moncoeur 心之芳庭 > Checked in our apt in Taichung > Fengjia night market

Day 5: Yi-Chung Bazaar for brunch > The Luce Memorial Chapel in a university > Miyahara Eye Hospital > 阿明師老店太陽堂 > Yi-Chung Bazaar for street food and such

Day 6: Checked out of our apt > THSR Taichung to Taipei Main Station > checked in to our room @ Westgate Hotel (LOVE THIS HOTEL SO MUCH BUT!!!!!) > Q Square > Ximending for Oyami Coffee Cafe and of cus shopping!

Day 7: Booked a cab at 450NT$/hr. We booked a total of 6hrs to Shifen > Pingxi > Jiufen (where we saw Yiyong and Cindy). The cabbie was nice enough to allow more friends to hop onto his car. Cont'd our journey to Raohe night market > Wufenpu clothes market (where Baby and YY bought a lot while Cindy and I bought only one apparel each!)

Day 8: Q Square for Ariel Cafe > Danshui Old Street > Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf > Shilin Night Market

Day 9: Complimentary brkfast at our hotel after missing it for the past 2 mornings > Impromptu plan to: Cafe Waiting Love > Yong Kang Street for DTF > Patisserie La Douceur > Shida Night Market > Back at Ximen for my A-Zhong Mian Xian 阿宗麵線 and sweet potato balls. It was literally a day for food, food and more food! Fats accumulating underneath!!

Day 10: Taipei 101 Observatory > Dazzling Cafe > Wu Fen Pu for 鬍鬚張滷肉飯 > Back to Ximen for: packets of 一度赞 noodle at Carrefour > Shaved iced > O ah jian 蚵仔煎 and sweet potato balls (agn!!)

Day 11: Starbucks at level 35 of Taipei 101 > Back to hotel to pack our luggage and till then, Taiwan! 

The accommodations are in this entry: here.

Back To Six Years Ago,

Just told Baby this: Omg, I miss our times back in Anderson. Those times!!

Three Saturdays ago (30 May 2015) was the day when I finally stepped into my alma mater after a good 6 years! It was a special occasion where Anderson celebrated its 55th Anniversary by holding a big-scale carnival in school. I've been looking forward to this very day when I got my hands on the coupons that costs $10. Ah, that was during CNY period. Hahah! How long ago was that!!

Erm, anyway I lost my $10 just a 2 hours after we reached Anderson :/ But Mr. Sim was so nice to give me one set of coupons to replace my lost one! Thank you, Mr Sim. We bought a portable charger with the remaining coupons we had.

Played back some scenario that would always happen during lesson time when we reached the classroom...

Chitchatting when the teacher's writing on the board.

Students who made the teachers speechless (1)

Students who made the teachers speechless (2)

Thanks for making my dreams come true... For a good 20 minutes! HAHAHAH!

Anyway, it was rlly nostalgic once I stepped into the compound of Anderson Secondary School. Lots of memories came flashing through at the back of my mind. It was as if I left Anderson only at most 2 years ago. But, nah! I'm old now... This was my first snapchat vid I sent for the day. I was rlly excited so please pardon my scream at the end! HAHAHAH! 

5/1 '09 classroom. Not much changes. The only thing was that, it's no longer 5/1 anymore. My friends are all so cute! They auto sat in this formation when I said I wna take photos! 

So good to see people whom I haven't seen for years!!

We went to hunt for our ex-teachers. Okay, not that exaggerating. We didn't hunt. We saw them coincidentally wherever we were. Hahah! First, it was Mdm Liau! Damn, I miss her teaching us POA and her nagging! This lady here was a form teacher of mine in Sec 3. 

I rmb how rebellious we were, but not to the extent that we would wreck smth in the class, she would always call out to one of my classmates. The way she called out to her is deeply etched in the back of my mind. HAHAH! Sometimes, we'd (my clique during gathering) randomly talk abt it and we would imitate how she called her name. She surprised me by saying "I remember you! Eileen!". She even rmbrs a Chinese name - Huey Zhen. Super surprising because not many of us can rmb Chinese names well. It's such a waste that I didn't do well for my POA during O Levels. 

Ms. Ho

My favourite P.E. teacher who is very patient towards her students. I have never once seen Ms. Ho flaring up at her students (or maybe I just didn't see it when it happened), she always hangs a smile on her face. Super adorbs when I joined my friends, who were alrdy surrounding Ms. Ho when I approached them because... When Ms Ho saw me walking slowly to join the friends at the back, she kind of played Bollywood dance with me (using heads) and I just burst out laughing after a few seconds.

Mr. Sim who is now the HOD of A&T 

I can't rmb in which year did he take our class and was our co-form teacher. My impression of Mr Sim was that he's a quiet teacher who won't show his anger. Hahah, not sure if it's the same during D&T lesson cus I wasn't taught by him before. But apparently, many D&T students like him so I shall assume that he's temper is very good too! 

Mr. Koh

I can't find Mr Koh at first look whenever I see this photo! He can totally blend in!! Anyway, the first thing he saw us was... Asking Zach "how's your BTO house?" HAHAHAH! Apparently, Baby posted a photo on his instagram and the caption was bloody long and funny. To summarise, the caption is about us finally gotten our own house which wasn't true at all. We took that photo in the living room of my place!  I was so surprised by his caption during lunch when I was working at Transamerica last semester break.

Mr Koh seems chirpier than before, which is a super good thing! He even told both Zach and I to start saving up for our wedding soon before it's too late :O He even said this himself "okay, I'll stop because I feel like a pastor now" and he proceeded to another topic (like, jobs/studies) before side-tracking back to this again. Hahah!

Mdm. Wong

"You can't find me. Only Eileen is able to find me because we are of the same level."

"Tell you also don't understand one. You're of a different frequency level while Eileen and I are of the same" 

Laugh die me!! First statement was Mdm Wong to a guy whom Idk. A junior perhaps? Second statement was Mdm Wong to Zach because he asked "what?" HAHAHAH! 

It was only on Saturday that I rmb Mdm. Wong taught us for 3 years straight from Sec 3 to Sec 5! Mdm Wong was the teacher who saw both the good side and the bad of my class. She would praise our class if we did smth good but of cus there were times when we made her real angry. Okay, #whatsnew because my class is the well-known notorious class :/ Forgot when was it but she treated our class pizza and BBQ at her place! I wonder how's everyone doing now! 

Ms. Leow

Nope, she didn't teach my class before but the people who were from 5/1 wanted to find her so, might as well. HAHAH! From what I know, Ms. Leow is a very easy-going teacher who got angry with the class less than 3 times??

Of cus, these weren't the only teachers whom we saw though... Didn't take much photos of the carnival booths but if I'm not wrong, everything was catered by Uncle Ringo. No wonder it seemed fun!

Sadly, no photos from the carnival bcos I couldn't take from a nicer angle :( But, I didn't regret going back at all! I rlly miss wearing the kelly blue pinafore with the belt at my hipbone level (which made it rlly ahlian that time but it was the in-thing!) and getting caught because of the belt, ankle socks and hair colour HAHAH! Those were the times... Good ol' times, giving both the teachers and myself a hard time. Like, wow! So nostalgic!!

If given another chance, I think I'll still be the same as I was in the past. HAHAH! Too much good memories and I can nvr forgo good ones for smth else.

& I hear-say there's another upcoming event. Hopefully it's true! Goodbye!