TRAVELING IN TAIWAN WITH MY BFFs.
- Clarissa Teng
- Dec 27, 2016
- 5 min read
I hope it's not too late to blog about my trip to Taiwan back in March this year with my two other best friends. It has been a crazy 12 days trip for the 3 of us. We were only 17th years old. It was a long awaited trip for us AND IT REALLY HAPPENED (I waited 6 years for this trip to happen). I can still remember most of the things that happened when we traveled together and there's so much memories for us. We started our verbal discussions for a year plus till last year's November when we booked our flight ticket (it was during our finals heh). We started checking out for interesting places and tourist spots to visit and also accommodations (Airbnb) around Taiwan along the way until March this year. It was a very tight 12 days trip as we tried to fit in as many places to visit as we can although we cut down a few places during the trip because we were extremely exhausted and it wasn't convenient due to the timing and transportation, but we still managed to visit most of the places that we desperately wanted to visit.
We arrived at Tao-yuan International Airport at 10 PM and caught a taxi to our home-stay located nearby. By the time we checked in at our home-stay and settled down, it was almost midnight but we were starving. We went to a 7-Evelen nearby to grab some food for supper (any food in Taiwan's 7-eleven taste good and I've no idea why), then headed back as soon as possible because we were pretty scared as the streets were so quiet and dark although there were some stalls around. On the 2nd day, we checked out from the home-stay in the morning and rushed to the LRT Station to get to Taichung City. We arrived there in the late afternoon and that's where our journey starts. I'll summarize the whole trip instead of being attentive to detail. So here's a few things of why we're lovin' Taiwan.
1. PEOPLE
You would have heard anyone else said that the people in Taiwan is extremely nice. And YES, they really are! It's so easy to start a simple conversation with them. They answer to your questions as much as they could without a doubt and they love to share about anything they know. I would say that it makes it a lot easier for tourists like us who knows nothing about what's there to ask for directions and information. From taxi or Uber drivers to home-stay owners and many more, everyone is just simply nice. Their services in any field is definitely on point. I remember having the owner of a souvenir store who brought us to walk around with his pet dog and took lots of pictures of the 3 of us at Kaohsiung Harbor after we bought some souvenirs from his store. We also had fun with his friend's grandsons. They were so cute! We really had a lot of fun that evening. Without entering his store, we probably wouldn't know there was so many beautiful scenery nearby, how lucky we were he-he.
Photos taken by the owner of the souvenir store , aren't all of em' lit?
2. FOOD
Nothing beats the food in Taiwan. Not sure why but we loved all the foods and drinks we had throughout the 12 days there (maybe they have strong taste buds idk). We went with the extremes by either having luxury meals or having night markets food, there was no in between. The only thing I have to say is, all of them tasted really good. Yes, repeating it because it's really really GOOD. All the food seems to be so fresh and tastes so good. Oh ya! One more thing, their food is cheap. We also bought lots of their local snacks and recommended local food back to M'sia (We had to add-on luggage because of the amount of food we brought back).
3. SCENERY & ARCHITECTURE
The scenery in Taiwan is simply so breathtaking and calming. It's a place you would never wanna leave to be honest. It's somewhere to go to if you're feeling stressed out or unhappy. When we were there, we literally stayed as long as we could even though it was really cold at that time of the year with the addition of the strong wind. Other than the scenery, the architecture there was stunning. The kind of creativity they have blows your mind. We've seen a whole area of home-stay with all different designs and they look extremely adorable!
There were also a few randomness that we encountered alongside the trip which is their transportation fees were more expensive than what we estimated especially when we traveled from one state to another. But one thing's for sure, their public transportation is pretty punctual. There was once where we almost missed the train due to the continuous route but different train. And also, the weather there wasn't consistent. It was supposed to be humid and hot, but it turned out to be freezing cold and dry at certain places.
Not to forget to highlight my own satisfactions that I finally went to my own idol's (Show Lo) fashion brand flagship store - STAGE HYALINE OF WORLD in Taipei!
Even the fitting room is lit. I finally get to buy one of em' for myself and my friend after so many years (but I would say it's not cheap though)!
Almost forgotten that I've finally seen Sakura for the 1st time in my life!
Finally put a checked in my wishlist at Taipei 101. It's really crazy how long it took me to fulfill the dream I had since I was 12. My heart is full.
3 girls with this amount of baggage. I really have no idea how we brought these around with us throughout the 12 days around the whole Taiwan. Just girls being girls ha-ha!
All in all, we enjoyed the trip and had a great time traveling together. At least we made it to most of the local hot spots and Taiwan's landmarks. But one small advise: try not to travel around Taiwan in a few days but focus on a few areas would do. It's very exhausting to go from one to another place in a short period of time. Anyways, traveling with your BFFs is always so much more fun! But I think it also depends on who you go with. What's more important is to have the same kind of interest and appreciative on the effort to travel together and plan ahead if you wanna have more fun.
-FRIENDS ALWAYS MAKE WORLD A BETTER PLACE.-
Till next time,
Lots of love. x
- Cla -
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