Keno's Travelogue: My first step into Taiwan

Once again, my trip was accidentally scheduled back to back again, almost like last year Guangdong and Chiangmai trip; but nevertheless perhaps I will just keep the pace slow and feels the flow as 14 days of journey in 2 different culture place happens.

Just had my nomadic backpack style travelling in Myanmar, 8 days and 7 nights sleeping at different places every night, back to Singapore and went for 2 days of day shift and preparing to fly off just 4 hours after the end of my 2^nd day shift. Awesome, shack but I love this on the move feelings (once in a blue moon please). Sleeping soundly throughout my flight from Changi Airport to Taoyuan Airport.

$1sgd = 23.10NT

We manage to grab quite a good deal from Scoot Airways, which cost us about $263sgd for round trip to Taiwan. This is my first visit to Taiwan and we have a veteran (Tze Kang) to brief us around (he manage to come out with a detailed itinerary so swiftly! Good job!) We arrived in Taipei and headed straight for Kaohsiung where our first night stay will be in Kenting.

The flight is about 4hours 20mins; we intended to take a normal train to Kaohsiung but however we were intercepted by the Cab driver that fetches us to the train station. He said that it will be a very waste of time for us to take the middle speed train and wasting time is wasting money, it will be more economical and practical to take the bullet train instead. After some discussion and consideration, we decided to take the bullet train instead; the cab driver fetches us directly to the train station. Purchasing ticket is quite simple, similar to purchasing single trip ticket in our MRT system. It cost us about 1400NT single trip. 2 hours is all it takes for us to reach Zuo Ying whereby we bought bus ticket to Kenting which is about 1.5hrs bus ride.

Bullet train that travel around 300kmh

in Tao Yuan Station

Train ticket

The booth to purchase bus ticket (2 ways) to Kenting is just at the exit of Zuo Ying train station. The lady that sold us the tickets advise us to ignore the taxi drivers that will approach us when we make our way to the bus stop. It did happens, the taxi drivers that were at the bus stop were actually touting at bus customers; giving suggestion for us to take their taxi instead; we do not need to pay him a single cent, all we have to do is just to give them our purchased bus tickets. We felt something is amiss, as he claims that he can get refund from the bus company our tickets and the refund will be our taxi fare to him. We are not taking the taxi and boarded the bus instead. The bus has Wi-Fi services, and is relatively fast because I can stream YouTube HD MVs while travelling on the bus!

the booth at Zuo Ying station for us to purchase bus ticket to Kenting

MRT to Kaohsiung station at far end and bus stop to Kenting on the right

Selfie in Wi-Fi enabled bus

Finally we arrived in Kenting, impression so far is that the Taiwanese is relatively courteous and honest and friendly, maybe the taxi driver is too, but we chose not to believe him. After alighting from the bus, we are approached again; this time is by an auntie, she is trying to rent us motorbikes but we did not know how to ride instead we ask her where is our homestay and she advise us. 10mins walk down the street, we arrive at our accommodations, it is more like the homestay style, and 4 of us can all share the same room; this helps us save a lot on accommodations.

Glimpse of our homestay in Kenting

View from 2nd deck

Chill out corner

Kenting in general is more towards watersports and beach activities just like Phuket but we were there during winter, so it is a bit too cooling and windy for water sports. After checking in, we went for our delicious lunch which is just next to our homestay. I will say that this trip is planned more towards a slow nomadic and relax trip, no rush, no urgency and no fixed or must do itinerary. Good lunch follows by a stroll by the beach under the glaring sun but yet not feeling sweaty or annoyed; this is the beauty of cooling weather. Zhi Hao is emphasizing to me every day that it is bright and sunny and I don’t really know what he meant; so weird… while on our way back from beach stroll, we thought of trying out the bikes and maybe we can rent them too. Not to be too adventurous, we tried and rent the battery operated scooters instead.

Nice local delights for lunch

the streets of Kenting

not much crowd after all

having fun at the beach

mini sand dunes?

The battery of these scooters kinda sucks as it tends to get drained out quite easily and we have to find the nearest charging stations. Nevertheless, it does did its job; as we ride and explored quite a few places in Kenting base on the map provided to us by the shop (this is something that wasn't anticipated and its really fun!), and took many candid shots of ourselves and the scenery. Zhihao bike’s battery somehow loses energy much faster than ours and so we have to rush and get to the nearest power charging station, we did found a charging station and idle at the beach while waiting for our bikes to get charged. It was getting late and also getting colder, but the 4 of us are still just clad in T-shirt and now we have to brave the cold wind that slams against us while we ride our way back to our accommodations.

stopping on and off along the way to take pictures

pose..!!

at Mao Bi Tou

Charging our bikes

Time for night market food snacking and chill out drinking session in Kenting!

mushroom stores

one of their common food, cuttlefish

preparing shredded meat wrap for us.

road side stores

Disappointingly, there isn't much crowd at the clubs, and so we are the only audience for the Filipino band that is strumming and singing their way through the night; enjoyed our bottle of MaCallan and went back for an early rest instead.

Filipino Band

Chill out with MaCallan and Coke

2^nd day, woke up feeling kind of fresh, we headed out to the street for some breakfast; it doesn't taste good anyway and so we just gobble up the food and went back to check out and next destination Kaohsiung!

Breakfast at roadside stores

Yang chun Noodles (suppose to taste good but this is kinda blant)

So we took the same bus service back to Zuo Ying, the return bus is way much more comfortable as compared to the rundown bus that we took when going to Kenting. So at the place where we alight is also the MRT station from Zuo Ying to Kaohsiung Station. After arrival in Kaohsiung, we left our bags at the lobby of our homestay and went for steamboat lunch. After returning from lunch, while getting our stuffs; I lifted my backpack and took a step back not realizing it was a flight of stairways behind me! Lost my footing and fell backwards but miraculously I twitched and slammed myself on a wooden plank just beside the stairways. I am saved! Very fortunately I did not back roll all the way down, or I will not imagine what terrible injuries I will sustain but by slamming myself just on the wooden planked I only suffered some large bruises on my left calf and right inner thighs.

Sumptuous and delicious steamboat lunch

What a weird shop name...

our homestay in Kaohsiung

view from 2nd deck

entrance of our guesthouse

Kaohsiung is kinda similar to Raffles Place in Singapore, high rise commercial buildings, plenty of cars on the road and busy pedestrians moving around. We the 4 lost souls were just strolling around the city seeing landscape and walking and walking… eventually we were at Jin Zuan night market; snacking for dinner. After dinner was visit to the local club name Lamp, for $20sgd, we had free flow beer but the queue for beer replenishment is terribly slow… the local beer was mixed with tequila, a night of drinking but don’t feel high, doesn’t feel good and for that tequila content; I had a bad stomach for the whole of tomorrow (argh... my trip is ruining itself).

back alleys of Kaohsiung

Lamp disco

Elevator up the highest building in Kaohsiung

View from top of highest building (dirty glass windows!)

the gallery in the highest building

shopping and shopping

night streets in Jin Zuan night market

Mahjong quick fix with pretty girl

3^rd day (feeling drowsy and bloated due to the tequila), also the most interesting day of the trip we hired a private van from Kaohsiung to Dong Gang (Eastern Harbor) to catch the ferry to Liu Qiu. At Liu Qiu, we experience local island life, their mode of transport and the quiet and ‘un-rush’ lifestyle. We each paid 1900NT each, this includes ferry fare to and fro from Liu Qiu, transit from jetty to guesthouse (both ways), Guesthouse stay (of course we are sharing room), BBQ dinner and 1 scooter each!

pricing and ferry schedule

the fast craft that we took to Liu Qiu

Lamb vermicelli

our homestay in Liu Qiu

the infamous 6 litres water that we bought from Kaohsiung and carry around everywhere!

It is relatively safe riding on the island as it is about the size of Pulau Ubin and probably has less than 10 cars on the whole island; and everyone is riding (scooters are just like motorized bicycles). So the whole day was riding around the island, visiting different attractions and sites for photo taking. Dinner is also arranged for us at a local BBQ store, there isn't any other customer around other than us; and so we all agreed that today is no alcohol day as we are all riding and we should have a good and proper rest before setting off to Taipei the next day.

at lobster cave (but i don't see any lobster)

playing a fool in the post war bunkers

scooters and island life

play and play until got stuck between railings

the legendary Qingong..!!!

our BBQ dinner

4^th day, we slept like 10-12 hours, deep sleep and well rested until about 9am when the guesthouse staff delivered breakfast to our room. This breakfast ruin me…

Packing up and settled our stuffs, the guesthouse boss agreed to help send our bags to the bike stores, so that we can go try the Xiang Si Noodles (Nostalgic Noodles) before going to return our bikes and take the ferry back to Dong Gang (Eastern Harbor). The Xiang Si Noodles taste fabulous!

Xiang Si Noodles

Nostalgic shop setup for Xiang Si Noodles

Taking ferry back to Dong Gang, we are all feeling fresh and energized for Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan. We hired a taxi to get us directly to Zuo Ying Station where we took bullet train back to Taipei (1600NT). Just when the train is about to reach Taipei, I felt that something is not right with my stomach… Jason and Zhihao felt bloatedness and cramping pain in their stomach too, alighting from the train, I went to the restroom, and ever since my stomach is getting from bad to worst... we eventually deduced that it is due to the breakfast that the guesthouse in Liu Qiu.

taipei night

in Xi Men

street stores

I tried to feel normal while in Taipei, not thinking that I had food poisoning and just carry on; but however it is getting from bad to worst that I have to grab some medication from Watson. Dinner was ramen in a quite cozy store, and I am starting to get chills and cramps; gobbled and swallowed my ramen, I rushed back on my own back to guesthouse to take medications and rest while they were shopping in the night Taipei streets (so sad). Fever occurred around midnight; I am already shivering despite under 2 thick blankets. Fighting hard with the virus until 5am, where I woke up and finally feel that I am getting some energy back; rested awhile more, I showered and headed out on my own for breakfast.

hot soup in cold weather..

my last struggle for food

2^nd last day in Taipei, and it is Monday; equivalent to no nightlife, no clubs, all closed! Demoralized, depressed, stomach still hasn't fully recovered, I dragged myself across Taipei streets and to Xin Bei Tou (the place where there is a lot of hot springs), and drag myself back to An Le where we went for massage (Royal Thai Massage). Dinner was at night market where I just chew some noodles, and after which we went to a dead pub named Carnegie (because it is freaking Monday), after a bottle of wine, we tried to recce for some night spot but all to fail. 7-11 for 2 cans of beer and we are back to guesthouse to sleep our last night away…

while taking train to Xin Bei Tou (boredom strikes us)

braised meat rice... very nice

lunch..!!

Map of hot spring zone

sneak shot of public hot spa

hotel for spa

night streets in An Le

suppose to be happening place..

but it was so quiet...

Last day in Taipei was all the last minute shopping and breakfast. I have fully recovered now! I am going to airport and flying back (FML). A lot of ups and downs for this trip (bruises, gastric discomfort, diarrhea, fever), things weren't very smooth sailing for me too, I will go to Taiwan again next time (in better condition)!