I went to Taiwan without a prior itinerary in mind. Having gone to Taiwan for quite some time, I kind of thought that this trip would be something like a "Spur of the moment, I go where I feel like going". This trip by far has been one of my relaxed pace travel that I've been to. Granted that I was feeling under the weather the whole time, this might not be the best trip but it was a memorable one.
Day 1
At wee hours of the morning, I reached the immigration counter, showed passport and have my passport stamp! (Woot!). Since they (The tw government) announced that it was visa on arrival for my passport till end of July 2018. I didn't have the headache of applying for a visa. (Thank God!). It was smooth sailing as I walked past immigration. The only thing they asked me was "How long was I staying there".
After claiming the bags, my friend and I looked for the counter where we bought our SIM cards. The queue was non-existent and in disarray. My friend and I showed them our passport plus 1 more identity card, and they had us sign documents that we already claimed our SIM. We bought the traveler's sim from
Unite (Counter 3) . We just need to plug and play the SIM to our phone, dial the number, and key-in the password (and we managed to surf our way! The good news is that it was unlimited data for 5 days) . The SIM costs S$13.40.
I planned to get the EasyCard from the convenience store (at the airport) but the store didn't seem to sell, which was a blessing in disguise. I wouldn't want to miss the chance to buy the travel card with cute designs. I hold off buying it but we bought food instead.
After resting our legs and have eaten our snack, we took a cab from the airport to our hotel. Hotel Cham Cham holds your bag before your official check-in time at the hotel. (As most hotels in Asia do).
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| Facade of Hotel Cham Cham, Banqiao district. It costs 1100 NT to get here from the airport. |
With our bags settled, it was time to hit the roads, but before that -- a proper Breakfast! Hotel Cham Cham is surrounded by eateries, my friends and I decided to eat some sandwiches at
Louise Coffee.
Our first agenda of the day is to go Taiwan Main station ( Z zone ) and walk to Ximen Area ( Yes, there is a way! )
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| This year was the Year of the Dog. |
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| Inside the Taipei Main station |
Lunch was at the Pork Cutlet Shop (literal translation) where office workers come to eat for lunch.
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Lunch at the Pork Cutlet Shop! (NT$120)
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We were walking down the street and spotted a bubble tea shop (Qing Shin) having some promotion.
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| Qing Shin Bubble tea was having a One Piece Promotion |
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| Ceylon Milk Tea (M) NT$45 |
You'll pass by this landmark when you walk to go to Ximending area. It's also where the old gate (old Taiwan) lies.
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Post Office/Bank
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| Old Gate in Taipei |
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| A government building |
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| The Old Street |
You'll know you're in Ximending when you see Animate! (Or their new location). After walking the long road and a few turn, we reached Ximending.
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| Reached! New Location of Animate XimenDing. |
Our next course of action: Shopping at Miranda ( chain of beauty store like Watson, Guardian,etc.). Miranda do have some shop offers and they're even cheaper than your regular grocer. Do bring your own shopping bags too (Taiwan is already getting rid of plastics.. )
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| Miranda! |
and we had dinner at that Famous steamboat restaurant ( My friend booked a reservation). It takes just 150NT to go from Ximending to the Steamboat restaurant.
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| Yin and Yang of steamboat |
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| Marble beef |
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After the hearty meal, we went back to our hotel. But of course, our activity for the day didn't stop at that!
One of the few things to do in Taiwan is to visit the original bubble tea shop,
Chun Shui Tang 春水堂( well, this was more of an outlet and it was near to the hotel that we were staying!)
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| The Original Bubble Tea, NT40 |
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And that's Day 1!
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