Taiwan Trip - Day 1

Singapore -> Taiwan

Our parents had already left for China, so it's up to us to secure the house properly. Booked a Toyota Estima cab from Prime in case our luggage couldn't fit into a Toyota Wish. The booking fee was a staggering $8! I finished up the last cup of fresh milk in the fridge. Settled the house according to the checklist and we rushed off at about 9.30am, as the cab has already arrived.

It's so fat, but the doors can close on their own. So cool!

I went through the checklist and found that we did not lock the room doors. Oops.

Perfect portrayal of sunny island Singapore! Wait till you get a feel of the suffocating heat.

Yay I'm at Changi airport again after a long 10 years! Check out my flight!

Jetstar is at Terminal 1. Right at the entrance, is a giant weighing machine. Both our luggage cases weighed a mere 22.3kg. Come back dunno become like what.

Next, we looked for lunch during breakfast, taking a tour around T1 at the same time. The corridor to the T1 lift is so narrow! The lift so tiny as well! Nothing much interests me. Perhaps only the Popeye, because I have never had it before. But it's all fried food neh... not very keen on fried food at this hour. My sister just said don't want, but couldn't say what she wanted, got grumpy over it before leaving the luggage behind to fetch a brochure.

While looking through the brochure for a place to eat, we strolled to the viewing gallery. Saw a random Jetstar plane and containers... wonder if they will put our luggage in there?
Decided to go T2. Sister wanted to eat at restaurant lah. Lots of kids on excursion at T2! Went to the F&B area... but most not opened yet, except for Breeks. So Breeks lor.

Got 2 stomachaches in the middle of my meal. I was wondering what on earth I ate, then I realized it's what I drank.

It's the milk.

Forgot that milk shouldn't be the first meal of the day. Had 1 of the 2 Chinese stomach upset potion. I'm pretty sure I didn't need it, but well, just take it lah.

We went to Guardian pharmacy to buy some sweets and the good old Po Chai Pills. No time to visit T3 after all the toilet trips, so it's back to T1 to check-in our luggage. The officer changed our tickets from the middle of the plane to the 2nd row. Oops to the poor person :X Our luggage disappeared down the conveyor belt. Hope it didn't hurt. The officer said we could still keep the wheelchair until we board the plane. We checked-in ourselves too and walked around the shops... which looked pretty boring since I can't afford am not into branded goods. Bro and sis utilized the free internet kiosks, grabbed a copy of free pink newspapers, final toilet trip and it's a mad dash to catch our flight! The gate was unbelievably far from the shops! Then we got stuck behind people who didn't pack their bags properly and thus had problem clearing security. On the plane, the flight attendant said I had to check-in the wheelchair :O They took it and I could only hope that it would arrive safely. The flight attendant notifed me that I had to rent a wheelchair once I touch down at Taipei, which would cost me NT35. Ok lor.

It only sank in later that NT35 is like only S$1.75.

13:50 Byebye Singapore!

Jetstar washroom. Never used it before.

Filled in the immigration cards. 3 of us shared 2 canned drinks. Save money.

Across the aisle was a mother and super obedient baby. Totally fuss-free throughout the flight, fully contented with some pieces of sponge jigsaw. If only all babies were like it!


18:30 Hello Taipei!

Landed on schedule at Taoyuan airport. Despite waiting for the whole plane to disembark and taking a look at the cockpit, the wheelchair still hadn't arrived upon touchdown. My brother lifted me to the departure lounge where we looked at the boring scene of planes moving like snails on tarmac. An airport worker came with the wheelchair shortly. The first thing he did was to ask for payment haha. Surprise, he's there to help push it as well, and insisted on doing it. We had to let him, or else I think his boss would scold him. Passed by the duty-free shops... paled in comparison to Singapore's. He led us through the customs via express (now then we appreciated him being around), through some hidden corridors and lift (now, we REALLY need him around) to the luggage collection, where our bags were probably already dizzy waiting for us. He waited while we found my wheelchair, made sure we didn't need anymore help before leaving with the airport's wheelchair. Wow, what a steal for NT35!

Went to the washroom, where I encountered disposable seat covers for the first time. Washroom was generally clean, but it's a bit cramp and no handicapped cubicle. Dehh.

Having heard the pilot's weather report prior to landing, we gave a public display of our luggage in order to fish out our jacket. 20°C, dun pway pway! Outside the washroom was a desk for the airport staff, and on the desk was a rack of glasses for far-sightedness. Guess middle-aged Taiwanese don't like to get their own spectacles? ^_^;; Near the exit is a giant transparent bin of discs, presumably pirated. So many people kena caught eh?

Dated look.

Got out of the luggage collection. Many people were holding up signs bearing the names of the people they were waiting for. Nobody was waiting for us if course. We turned right to the Tourists' Centre to apply for the Youth Travel Card. Just had to fill up a form and show our passports. All below 30 years old, so still young, haha. While we were at it, cabbies were advertising their transfer services to Taipei for NT1200. Expensive lor... the guy I booked for the return trip only charges NT900. But bus still cheapest lah! Now I understand why Changi forces people to get ripped off by the limousine service. Touting is not a pretty scene. Those people ask non-stop one.

66°F! Meaning 19°C! Walau don't know can take it or not!

The bus ticketing counters are located at the opposite end of the Tourists' Centre. The people manning the counters were shouting out the stops, timing and charges to attract people. If I hadn't done my homework, I would have been overwhelmed by all of these, including the cabbies. Freego bus really took the effort to employ the woman with the loudest voice. We confirmed with Freego that it would drop us right outside our hotel without a need for transfer. Freego was driving off right away, so we chop chop bought the tickets for NT140 each and we went out of the airport, into the outdoor aircon of Taiwan for the first time. Alamak!

Funny that the ticket said that it's a non-direct ride.

The bus is the type where the luggage compartment takes up the bottom and passengers sit on the upper deck. My brother had to carry me up the narrow flight of stairs, probably the second most dangerous stunt during our trip.

The interior of the bus. Very comfortable seats, with the news tv channel on to make sure you know all about Taiwan upon arrival. No excuse to be suakoo. I figured that it would be after 8pm when we reached the hotel followed by running out for dinner right after, hence there would be no time for the confirmation calls I was supposed to make. Braved the roaming charges, call now! Meeky requested that I call him using the hotel phone later. Hmm very careful of him. It was only after I was done then I realized that I would have to brave the battery-draining as well. See lah, geh kiang never bring charger!

The bus went up the expressway. It was about 30min more before we saw the city lights of Taipei.
The Ximen metro exit we would use everyday.

The bus driver began calling out the hotel names and stopping for passengers to alight. It was not long before we left the bustling Ximending area... with only us and another person left in the bus. Getting worried...

Finally, the bus driver shouted, "内江到了". My brother executed the most dangerous stunt of the trip - getting me down the bus. The driver took our luggage out and also one that didn't belong to us. We thought another person was dropping off too, until we saw there wasn't anybody else coming down and the driver had closed the bus door. We faster stopped the bus, so honest of us! Free luggage also don't want!

Neijiang's reception is really compact. At the entrance, look left, the armchairs shown on the website are there. The lift is at the centre. Look right, it's the counter. That's it. We were given the option of paying in full or daily and we opted for the latter. When we leave the hotel everyday, we have to pass the keys to the counter for safe-keeping.

Neijiang's staircase is probably just 1m wide. The lift landing has no room a wheelchair to make turns. The lift barely fitted my wheelchair. Think lone wheelchair user cannot stay there lah. Our room is very basic, 1 double bed, 1 single bed, hairdryer, mini-fridge, wardrobe, bathtub, tv with a million channels and clean. NT2080/NT2280 per night, worth it!

Late already, faster find the 飞天麻辣火锅 for dinner! We just kept walking... and walking... until we reached 西宁南路, not giving up although we passed by several steamboats and I was already freezing in the wind. I had planned to feast on crab pincers, but they weren't fresh. Disappointed that there isn't any free-flow Haagen Daz as mentioned on the website.

Super shiok to have piping hot steamboat on a cold day. Only 1 plate of the premium meat. We had tomato soup and mala soup. No MSG at all! Only took a few sips of the mala soup, don't want to kena diarrhoea on first day of the holiday! And Singapore just had food poisoning outbreak at Geylang mala steamboat lor! The desserts are quite sad. Very thoughtful of the restaurant to provide a mini-bin and packet of tissue paper. Total bill was NT1199, which is S$59.95 for 3. Worth it!

Stopped by a 7-11 near our hotel and bought the largest bottle of mineral water we could find, because we weren't sure if we could take Taipei tap water. Back to the hotel to bathe and sleep.

Sandstorm? What sandstorm?

End of Day 1.