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I am a girl and I love my blog. My blog has gone through years with me, all the happiness and sadness. I am trying to change the style of my blog to share happier moments. I will be sharing food, travel and different places.

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TAIWAN 6 DAYS 5 NIGHTS! (DAY 1) 21:10 Sunday 18 January 2015
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Taiwan Trip: 06 Jan 2015 - 11 Jan 2015
Flight & Accommodation: $540 (each)
Spending: $600 (each)
Total: $1140 (each) 
This is the first time I planned an overseas trip and I learn a lot from this trip! I realised that certain things that I wanted to know prior the trip were not on the internet and I hope to share with more people.

The trip was 6 days and 6 nights as I flew back on 4 am the next day. The trip consist of 2 people, my boyfriend and I. The trip covered Taipei and Taichung.


Important!
  • Apply free Wi-Fi using passport
  • Youth Travel Card (Red)
You can apply them at the airport or train stations that have tourist information counter. You can apply the youth card if you have valid student cards (学生证) and you are under 30 years old. Youth card will entitle you to certain benefits. If interested, please refer to https://youthtravel.tw/sub_en/card/ . Free Wi-Fi allows you to use internet at bus and train stations, which will be useful if you need to contact your cab driver, minsu owner or research on opening hours of places.

On day 1, we boarded scoot plane from Singapore at 00:55 am and landed at Taiwan, Taoyuan airport at 05:30 am. We are very early! Most shops aren't open that early. We planned to travel to Taichung and reached Taichung at around 9 am. We did not take the High Speed Rail (HSR) as we will reached Taichung too early. Traveling by bus is a lot cheaper. We did a little research in Singapore regarding traveling by bus from Taoyuan airport to Taichung. 

(What was found from the internet)
Free Go Buses, TWD 200, operating hours 06:00 – 01:00, frequency 20 – 40 mins, duration 2hrs 10 mins
Ticket counters are located in the arrival passenger reception areas of both terminals, T1 and T2.

We managed to board the Free Go （飞狗） Buses at 6 am, we are slightly late but the bus turn back to fetch us at around 6:10am. It was pretty rushed but we managed to reach Taichung before 9am.The tickets cost TWD240 each. You just tell the person at the counter where you are heading to and tell the driver where do you want to alight and you will be good.

 We will be staying at minsu at Taichung as it is cheaper. The check-in time for our minsu is 3 pm. It is possible to collaborate with your minsu owner so that you can store your luggage with them. For our case, we planned to travel to Xinshe (新社) on day 1 of our trip as you should be early if you want to visit the Xinshe areas.  We decided to booked a cab and we have arranged a cab in Singapore to save the hassle. Our cab driver had instructed us to alight at a certain stop so he can fetch us easily. We will be placing our luggage in the cab. If you are traveling in 4 and there's 4 luggage, maybe you have to request a larger cab.
 

I contacted four cab drivers and they either quoted the same price or they just reject me directly because they are not free. (I only started sourcing for driver 2 day prior the trip)

Mr Lin / 林先生 : +886 925 580 202 (rejected me because he already planned work)
Mr Xie / 謝先生 : +886 937 216 180 - Quoted me 3500 TWD
Mr Liu / 劉先生: +886 927 888 032 - Quoted me 3500 TWD
Mr He / 何先生 : +886 937 210 079 (is busy and introduced his friend to us)
Mr Zhang / 张建荣先生 : +886 923 216 565 - Quoted me 3500 TWD

 I did not bargained. In the end, our driver is Mr Zhang / 张建荣先生. I liaised with Mr He and he replied fastest. Mr Zhang is the picture below. He is a very nice guy! He drove us to breakfast shop after he found out that we did not have proper breakfast. He even allowed us to eat in his card to save time.





The route of our cab around Xinshe (新社) is Lavender Cottage (薰衣草森林) > Princess Annie Garden (安妮公主花园) > Xinshe Gushen (新社菇神) > Summit resort (古堡花園)
We then traveled out of Xinshe to Gaomei Wetlands (高美湿地) to watch the sunset. If you don't include Gaomei Wetlands in your route your cab fare will be TWD500 cheaper.

 Lavender Cottage (薰衣草森林)





Monday to Friday 10:30 – 18:30
Saturday to Sunday 10:00 – 18:30  (I found this timing from the Internet, not very sure if it's correct)
Entrance fee is TWD200, during weekdays you can use the TWD200 as expenses within lavender cottage. During weekends you can use TWD100 as expenses with  lavender cottage.
Lavender Cottage is a very serene and calming place. You will only be able to smell the lavender if you rub your hands against fresh lavender plant's leaves and smell your hands.
If you purchased postcards at lavender cottage, you will be able to mail them for free (They provide free overseas mailing too. I'm not sure if they will reach because I did not mail any from there.) If you like to mail postcards, you can prepare your friends' addresses.

 It is possible to take public transport to Lavender Cottage. However, you should only opt for this option if you are on a very tight budget. As you really have to walk very very far to reach Lavender Cottage. It's uphill all the way. The website mention that it's 30 mins walk but it took very long for the car to reach that place. I doubt it will be 30mins walk. Moreover, you won't be able to visit other places as they are even further.

 Princess Annie Garden (安妮公主花园)


The entrance free is TWD200,  you can use the TWD200 as expenses within its premises.
Our minsu owner and driver told us that Lavender Cottage and Princess Annie Garden are very similar. In our opinion, they are indeed similar! Just like lavender cottage, Princess Annie Garden provides many places worth photo taking and also provide free postage of postcards that you purchased. Certain websites mention that you will like Princess Annie Garden if you really like princess fairy tales.  I love princess fairy tales! However, I prefer Lavender Cottage to Princess Annie Garden. I feel that you should visit Princess Annie Garden if you did not visit Lavender Cottage. You can also visit there, if you wanted to dine in their cafe. Their cakes are wonderful. They also provide western main course but we did not try them. We planned to eat at the next destination!

 Xinshe Gushen (新社菇神)
The mushroom hotpot (火锅) is really very nice! My friend recommended it in her blog and I went to try it. It is delicious! It is really healthy too! If you like hotpot, you will like this. It costs around SGD 20 each person, the ingredients, especially the vegetables, are all very fresh.

 Summit resort (古堡花園) 
The entrance free is TWD500,  you can use the TWD200 (given as coupon) as expenses within its premises. Unlike Lavender Cottage and Princess Annie Garden, you have to use the coupons (two TWD100) separately. One coupon can only be used on one item. I think it's overpriced. It's a very pretty place but I feel that it's overpriced. I will only visit it once.
 For more info on Xinshe areas, you can visit my friend's blog (which is where I got my info from before I go Taiwan):
http://chocolate-lightsauce.blogspot.sg/2013/02/taiwan-taichung-xinshe-lavender-cottage.html

 I will do a part 2 on my Day 1 regarding Gao Mei wetlands.
Do I post too little photos?
If you have suggestions or questions regarding this blog post please leave your comments! =)

Travel Trip Coming Up! 17:10 Thursday 15 January 2015
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Upcoming Taiwan Trip Post!
Hello 16:43
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I am pretty glad that I found my blog =)
:( 01:38 Wednesday 31 October 2012
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Please please please, can I stop being so lazy!!! Argh!!!
Some inner thoughts 18:55 Monday 29 October 2012
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I don't mean to be sarcastic or mean. I know at times I'm inconsiderate and mean. Not sure if I hurt you. I don't really understand what you are thinking. You must be thinking something like "whatever la, I don't need to explain to you". I'm not asking for explanations. I just want to say that I hope you can find your true solid friends. Or you may already had. I dunno. Sorry that I fail as your ex-friend. Thank you for being once my friend. I will learn to cherish my other friendships. All the best to you. Thank you for reading. Don't have to reply, though we are no longer friends, I don't wish to see you forcing a reply out. All the best to your future endeavors.
cheer up 03:01 Tuesday 4 September 2012
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things always become better... it's just sooner or later=)




straighten up your fucking life! haha!




i will straighten up my life!


Destructors... With severe mood swing... 03:01
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有些人一辈子都不要靠近。
太可怕了...

Today is a couch day. Couch is not as comfy but im happy.


"I believe that bad things happen in life to teach us how to look at good things in a whole new light."