During the recent long weekend, we went to Taiwan. So I would like to share my experience of traveling to Taiwan on my own. I must say that this was my first trip to Taiwan. And this is a follow-up post from the previous one where I just reviewed the expenses and preparation before going on the trip (preparation post http://pantip.com/topic/35188188/) In this post, we will go into more details.

After booking our flights and accommodation, we started planning our itinerary. This trip, we will be in Taiwan for 4 days and 3 nights. We have planned to visit the following places:

1. The Red House

2. Sun Moon Lake

3. Taroko National Park

4. Longshan Temple

5. CKS Memorial Hall

6. Jiufen

7. Gongguan Night Market

8. Shilin Night Market

Let's go to Taiwan together.

Day 1 Due to the fact that we booked a flight with VAIR Airlines at 10:35 AM, on the day of our trip, we luckily hit the jackpot! The plane was delayed by 3 hours!!!!! We sat and waited, dozing off and waking up for a long time. After a while, there was an announcement calling us. The trip to Taiwan took about 3 and a half hours, but their time is 1 hour ahead of ours.

We arrived at Taoyuan Airport around 6pm. The immigration queue was quite long. After exiting the gate, we headed straight to buy a SIM card. The SIM card counter is easy to find, just turn right after exiting the gate and you'll see it. There are several providers to choose from. We used Chunghwa Telecom, which cost 300 TWD for 5 days of unlimited 4G data and 50 TWD of call credit. The 4G here is fast and reliable. We recommend asking them to insert and set up the SIM card for you. After getting the SIM card, we took a Kuo-Kuang bus into the city. The bus stop is also easy to find. If you exit the gate, turn left and you'll see a sign for "Bus to City". Just follow the signs and you'll find the ticket counter. The ticket price is 125 TWD per person.

The journey takes about 45 minutes and the bus will drop us off at Taipei Main Station. However, as we have plans to visit Sun Moon Lake on a day trip, we booked our bus tickets to HRS here. Taipei Main Station is a central hub for travel to various cities in Taiwan, with BUS, MRT, HRS, and TRA all located there. After getting our HRS tickets, we walked to the MRT. There are no easy cards available at Taipei Main Station, so we had to buy tickets from the vending machine first. The easy card works similarly to the Korean t-money card, allowing you to use it for MRT rides, purchases, and bus rides. Therefore, it is recommended to have an easy card for convenience. We bought ours at the automatic machine at Ximen Station for 100 TWD. However, it cannot be used immediately as you need to top it up with an additional 100 TWD. The 100 TWD is a deposit for the card and will be refunded when you return it.

The original text is in English, so no translation is needed.

After getting the EasyCard, we took the MRT for one station and got off at Ximen Station Exit 6 to check in at Tomorrow Hotel.

This is where we will sleep tonight ^^

After checking in, we went out to visit The Red House, which is located directly opposite the hotel we were staying at. For those who are not staying in the area, take the MRT to Ximen Station, Exit 6. When you come up from the station, look to your left and you will see it right away. It's hard to miss.

After checking in and taking photos, our stomachs started to growl. We crossed the street to find something to eat. Ximending has a wide variety of food options. Some of the popular choices include A-Chung Flour Rice Noodle, Hot-Star Large Fried Chicken, Stinky Tofu, Bitter Melon Juice, and shaved ice. There are so many options that it's hard to choose!

With full bellies and drooping eyelids, and knowing we had to wake up early the next day for our Sun Moon Lake day trip, we all agreed to head back to our accommodation and get some sleep in preparation for our upcoming adventure.

Day 2 We woke up early today to catch the 7:08 high-speed train to Taichung station, where we would transfer to a bus to Sun Moon Lake. In our haste and fear of missing the train, we grabbed breakfast at 7-Eleven (the hotel we stayed at provided food coupons that could be exchanged for free food at 7-Eleven, up to a value of 70 TWD).

While enjoying the scenery on both sides of the road, we soon arrived at Taichung Station. The journey was relatively fast, taking about 1 hour. I highly recommend taking the HRS if you are planning a day trip to Sun Moon Lake, as it saves a lot of travel time. This is because we still need to take a bus to Sun Moon Lake for another 1.30 hours. Even though we took the HRS, we still couldn't finish everything. Next time, I plan to stay here for a night. After exiting the gate, we went downstairs following the signs that said "bus station". Once we got down, we immediately saw the counter selling Sun Moon Lake passes. It's not hard to find.

We bought a pass for 620 baht, which included round-trip bus tickets from Taichung to Sun Moon Lake, cable car tickets, unlimited rides on the Sun Moon Lake loop bus, a boat trip around the lake, and a discount on bicycle rentals. Once we had our tickets, we walked to the front of the line and a staff member helped us choose the correct bus, so we didn't have to worry about getting on the wrong one.

After about 1.30 hours of travel, the bus took us to the Shuishe Visitor Center. We were able to get a map of the area around Sun Moon Lake from there. With the map in hand, we set off to explore the area by Sun Moon Lake bus.

Our first stop is Wenwu Temple, which is only a 5-minute drive away.

View in front of the temple.

After we finished praying at the temple, we continued our journey to the next station, Sun Moon Lake Ropeway. We will ride the cable car to enjoy the view.

Cable car station

The cable car will take us to the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village. Inside, there are amusement rides and a replica village, which costs about 800 TWD to enter. However, we did not go in because we didn't have enough time. Outside, there are souvenir shops and snack shops.

Dessert shop

The original text is in English, so no translation is needed.

The souvenir shop will have pineapple pies, black eggs and other things. We stopped by the bathroom and then took the cable car back. But I have to say that the view is very beautiful. Taiwan is very rich in nature. Wherever you look, it is lush and green, refreshing and the air is very good. After getting off the cable car, we continued our journey. The next stop is to take a boat trip around the lake. We took the loop bus to the Ita Thao pier to take a boat trip.

Boat boarding area

The ship we are approaching is docked.

We presented the coupon we bought to the staff. The staff will stamp the arm with a rubber stamp. The next time we want to go up, we can show it to the staff and we can go up an unlimited number of times.

Take a boat trip to enjoy the atmosphere around the lake.

Glancing at the clock again, it was already half past four. So we had to hurry to catch the loop bus back to the Shuishe Visitor Center to wait for the bus back to Taichung. Then we took the HRS back to Taipei. That's the end of our day trip to Sun Moon Lake. If you come here, we recommend staying overnight so you can fully experience the atmosphere without having to rush. It would be amazing to cycle around the lake.

We will continue with the rest later. On Day 3, we will take you to experience the magnificent nature of Toroko. On Day 4, we will tour around Taipei and then take you to eat the famous shabu-shabu in the Ximen area.

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Feel free to join the conversation, share your experiences, and recommend places to visit. Thank you very much. 🙏🏻🙏🏻

Please forgive any typos or formatting issues, as I am typing on a mobile device and it is difficult to format the text properly. Thank you for your understanding. PART 2 is now available.

Lost my heart in Taiwan PART 2 (Exploring the Nature of Taroko National Park) http://pantip.com/topic/35195432

Eat a lot!!!!!!!!!! Body explodes!!!!! At TAIWAN >< http://pantip.com/topic/35199615