Taipei Day 1 (22/11/2012)

Finally D day!

The maxi cab we booked arrived on time and viola! at exactly 5.40am, we set off for the airport!

Since we are taking budget airline, need to make sure tummy is full before boarding the plane.  All of us had a heavy breakfast at McDonalds and checked through immigration at 7.40am.  Hearing scary tales about how Tiger Airways always have flights delayed, I was expecting the worse..but hey, not too bad, plane took off on time lei! Oh one little tip..bring an empty water bottle in your bag with you if you are traveling on budget airlines.  Once you check in and waiting in the holding room just before boarding the plane, you can then take out your empty water bottle and fill it up with water from the water cooler in the holding room.  Haahaaa...cheapo because a small tiny weeny cup of kopi costs SGD4/- on board the plane.

Reached Taoyuan Airport at 1.15pm

As Mr Lai (our pre-arranged driver cum guide) has earlier mentioned in our email correspondence that he will not be able to pick us up at the airport, a Mr Deng was waiting for us when we arrived, holding a plycard with my chinese name on it. I told him we need to get SIM cards for our phones and he kindly brought us to the telco counters.

To get to the telco counters,

Preparing for Taiwan Trip 22/11/12 - 1/12/12 Part 6/6

Counting down! 5 more days before our trip! Yay!!

Work is so darn busy that there's simply no time to do anything else. Old folks went for a tour in Cambodia last week and I was running around like a lunatic, shuffling between work, meetings, fetching kids for tuition, picking them up from school, preparing their meals etc. Not a schedule for the faint hearted! Colleagues around me are most wonderful.. Keeping track of my time and literally nag till I cheong out of office to pick kids. Hahaha..in case you are wondering still ... Yes I am a super lousy time keeper !

Finally finally found sometime today, sat down and calculated the luggage weightage that we will

Preparing for Taiwan Trip 22/11/12 - 1/12/12 Part 5/6

Old folks and kids made a trip to the Taiwan Visitors Association Singapore Office today finally. :). It is located 30 Raffles Place #10-01, Chevron House..

Collected loads of brochures. Kids are sure of great help, grabbing whatever that is within reach!

Show your flight tickets and hotel confirmation slip ..and for this period of time, you will get TWD100 worth of night market vouchers each pax as well as some discount coupons booklets. Ok, so I flipped the discount booklet and out of the whole booklet I guess I will only be using the buy two get one free tickets to Yeliu Ocean Park! Haiz..


Discount Voucher Booklets and the tickets which I will likely be using...complimentary $$ to spend at designated night markets...brochures and more brochures !

Preparing for Taiwan Trip 22/11/12 - 1/12/12 Part 4/6

Ohhhh! This is cool !

A new discovery as I was surfing the net! When we go to Taiwan, must remember to ask for receipts for all your purchases. That is because the tax authority in Taiwan will conduct bi-monthly draw (or quarterly maybe?) On each and every receipt that we collect, there is always a receipt / tax no. printed on it. When you are back from your trip, just go this this website to check all your receipts against the numbers published.

http://www.etax.nat.gov.tw/etwmain/front/ETW183W1

Looking at the website info as to how much was spent and what kind of items the receipts were for..wow! even buying a bottle of water at 7-11 qualifies too!  Or at night markets food stalls if they do  issue one.  Must grab !

If your receipt(s) matches one whole complete string, like our Big Sweep, really HUAT BIG BIG AH! If it matches last few numbers, the prize money varies from I think NT 200 to NT 1000? I am not too sure as I have only found this out. Of course if we are back in Singapore and strike only NT200, don't waste money on another air ticket to fly back to collect the prize money. Just donate to charity and earn some good karma ! kekeke!

 This thread on Trip Advisor will help you to understand better.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g293910-i9303-k4561587-o20-Keep_your_receipts_for_purchases_made_in_Taiwan-Taiwan.html

Go on and read the thread ! Anything that is free and on lucky draw basis, kia-su-ism may not be a bad thing ! Lol...

Now I know :) My friend who came back from Taipei could not understand why some locals ask if she needs the receipts / fa-piao (发票）or else can they (the locals) have it.

Everybody also want to HUAT 365 days !

Preparing for Taiwan Trip 22/11/12 - 1/12/12 Part 3/6

After a day of solid work in the office..finally reach home at about 8pm.  Wonder how I managed to survive all the madness the world has been leashing out for so many years! TTA?  Yucks!

Anyway after a quick dinner, I sat down to purchase a travel insurance cover for the 5 of us.  Citibank was having a good promo with 30% discount if we sign up from now till 31 Dec 2012.  Being true-bred Singapore lang, hurry hurry signed up and no lose out. paid S$138 for the whole trip & family.   Underwritten by ACE.   :))

Just like our past trip, we always book our hotel here.  Rates are good and there are $$ given for the next booking.  Worth!

For our accommodation in Taipei, I originally checked out Rainbow Hotel, located at Ximending.  They have a room that can accommodate up to 5 persons!  Only disadvantage is that there is only one bathroom and my worry of mad rush in the morning.  From the reviews I gathered from other travelers, this 5 pax room seems to be somehwhat comfy and spacious, no frills.  The cost per night at that time I enquired was NT4480 per night.  Not too bad a deal.  Hot favorite with Singaporeans and Malaysians because of its excellent location.  Step out of hotel only can shop till dropped and it is very near MRT.  Wonstar is another really popular hotel.

I almost nearly made a booking with Rainbow Hotel, and by fate / chance, I happened to chat with an old friend, who has visited Taipei last December with his family.  He did not stay at a hotel, but went for minsu (民宿).  He strongly recommended Taipei York, which is located in Ximending too.

Well, I dropped the minsu owner, Mr Liu,  an email out of curiosity, googled around for more info and hey! this minsu is indeed a popular choice with travelers from Asia!  Staying in a minsu is generally cheaper than staying in hotel.  Reason being : there is no full housekeeping other than someone coming in to clear your rubbish for you.  Plus point is that there is a kitchen where you can cook, a washing machine and a dryer.

Preparing for Taiwan Trip 22/11/12 - 1/12/12 Part 2/6

Finally..completed planning itinerary for our Taipei Trip!  Not the best, but good for a start.  Will make adjustment when we are in there.

  

Taiwan Trip (22/11/2012 - 1/12/2012)
Day 1	22/11/2012	Arrive in Taipei
	(Thursday)	Miramar Entertainment Park
		Ximending
Day 2	23/11/2012	Wulai SkyWalk
	(Friday)	Wulai Old Street
		Persimmon Farm
		Beipu Old Street
		Neiwan Old Street
Day 3	24/11/2012	Flying Cow Ranch
	(Saturday)	Shang Tian Coffee House
		Sheng Xing Railway Station
		Strawbery Farm / Winery
		Shokolake Choc Factory
		Salt Factory
		Nanzhuang Old Street
Day 4	25/11/2012	Breakfast at Fu Hang Dou Jiang
	(Sunday)	Longshan Temple
		Taipei Main Station
		Lunch at Ding Tai Fung - ZhongXiao FuXing
		Wu Fen Pu
		Raohe Night Market, Songshan Ciyou Temple
Day 5	26/11/2012	JiuFen
	(Monday)	Jin Gua Shi (Museum, YingYang Hai, Huangjing Waterfall)
		Shi Fen Waterfall
		Shi Fen Old Street - Sky Lantern
		Qingtong / Pingxi
		Toufu Street ( depends if have time)
Day 6	27/11/2012	MaoKong Gondola
	(Tuesday)	Taipei Zoo
		Taipei 101
		Keelung - Miaokou Night Market
Day 7	28/11/2012	Beitou
	(Wednesday)	Danshui
		Fisherman Wharf
		Shilin Night Market
Day 8	29/11/2012	Yeliu
	(Thursday)	Ocean Park
		Dihua Street
		Ximending
Day 9	30/11/2012	F&E
	(Friday)

For Day 2, 3 and 5, I have engaged a guide cum driver, Mr Lai.  Got his contact through...

Preparing for Taiwan Trip 22/11/12 - 1/12/12 Part 1

After rounds of "family conference", our next travel destination would be Taiwan ! :))  Old folks wanted to go to Korea and kids - to Hongkong again, to eat fishballs! *FAINT*

I have just started to blog about me and my travels..hopefully this will bring back sweet memories should mine fail one day.  LOL! I have just uploaded some pics that I took when we were in Hongkong last year.  Instead of putting up pics which most bloggers would have already done, I have chosen to put up pics which we took when we were in Cheung Chau and Tai O.  Not much narration since the trip was one year back.  However, for those of you who are reading and has any questions, just roll me an email..

For the coming Taiwan trip, I will try to blog in as many info and details as possible. With my Iphone 4S, this should make blogging more fun ! :)  I was scribbling an itinerary one fine day in my office and my colleague teased and say that I should have it properly documented.  Hmmmm..I saw that cheeky look on her face and asked : you intend to go har"?  Bingo ! Answer is ya lor! She was hoping for me to do all the "homework" and she piggy back. 

As of now, I have already booked the air tickets.  We are going via Tiger Airways.  This is the first time we are traveling via budget airline and I find the booking online kind of confusing.  Besides booking the flights, we will also have to estimate the weight of baggage and purchase the needed weight package.  This is to avoid paying high charges at the airport should we exceed to baggage allowance.  As for meals, we have decided not to make prior purchase. Rather, we will buy on board as and when we feel like eating.  My mum always have problems with airline food.  Says that it is full of "rubber" texture and taste.

Going out now.  Will talk more about my hotel booking and tour guide arrangement in my next post!

Lovely weekend!

Hong Kong-Cheung Chau 25/11/11

During our trip to Hongkong, we made a day trip to Cheung Chau.  This place is pretty laid back, with not much activities.  To me, it seems like an ideal place to seek shelter from city life and do some soul searching : :))

Below are some photos to share .. enjoy !

The jetty at Cheung Chau ..

Getting out from the ferry and jetty..

The first scenery that greeted our eyes.  We reached this small island around 10 plus, but seems like the whole town is still not awake yet!

 The smell of the sea, dried seafood fills the air..

 Bicycle rental kiosks can be found at various parts of the island. This is the most common mode of transport around the island.  No cars on the island..no taxi..no buses...

 This is a common sight along the pier...dried stuff and more dried stuff...flies swhoohsing around..

 These huge posters or Hua pai is another common sight.  The bright colors and hand written calligraphy never fail to capture tourists attention !

 The famous fishballs!

 Recommended snacks by one of the coffee shop owner ...Osmanthus jelly cake. 

 Not that interesting...we left after spending less than 2 hours there.  This is the jetty where we boarded a ferry back to Hongkong island...

Hong Kong -Tai O 26/11/11

A day trip to Tai O..

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