Taipei Day 1

TAOYUAN AIRPORT (台灣桃園國際機場)

Terminal 1

DAY 1 ITINERARY

Taoyuan Airport > Taipei M Hotel > Ximending

To avoid looking like a lost sheep at the airport and any long queue, I pre-purchased our SIM Cards from Klook - instant confirmation, cheap and convenient. Simply show 2 forms of photo ID (in our case, passport and IC) and fill up 2 forms over the counter and you can start using your SIM card already. 

Note: It doesn't matter which type of SIM Card you select online when purchasing. On the day of collection, the card given to you is complete with 3 types (Standard, Micro, Nano) so you break it accordingly.

Unite Traveler Counter 3 is just right before you take the escalator down to the bus terminal at Taoyuan Airport Terminal 1 - very easy to spot!

P.S: I used the discount code 'KLOOKHAO' (thanks to TheJianHaoTan's HK vlog) for $5 off our booking!

Thanks to my relative, our family got the bus voucher from Taiwan Tourism Bureau (located at Raffles) so we had a one-way bus trip from Taoyuan Airport to Taipei Main Station for free. The bus voucher allows you to use it on certain bus companies, one of which were Kuo-Kuang (国光）Bus 1819. Fret not if you have no bus voucher, just purchase the tickets from the counter at NTD 125 (SGD 5.80/pax)

We alighted at Taipei Main Station's Bus Terminal, and walked through the station to get to our hotel, just a 10-15min walk. 

TAIPEI M HOTEL (台北門精品旅店)

Taipei Main Station Exit Z

Due to flight delay, we checked in our hotel at around 4PM. I'll blog more about our hotel in another post, so please wait for it!

XIMENDING (西门町)

Ximen Station Exit 6

You can get out from any exit from Ximen Station, but Exit 6 will land you right outside the 'main entrance' of the shopping district. As for us, we walked from our hotel, so you don't see that prominent photo of its entrance.

MODERN TOILET (便所欢乐主题餐厅)

Ximending

Meals at Taipei are generally very cheap as compared to Singapore's restaurants and cafes. For 5 set meals (main+ice cream+drink) costed only NTD 1,370 (SGD63.67) The mains itself consisted of a side and a small bowl of soup. Super worthy!

Also, we don't have to approach the staff to clear our tables and to serve our desserts; they do it automatically after seeing that we've all finished our meals. Great service!

FOR VEGETARIANS The only option available was the Vegetable Hotpot (NTD 290/SGD13.46). Decent portion but quite salty, according to my parents. You may wish to request for less salty soup if you're trying this dish!

SHOPPING TIP Try not to enter department stores like Eslite, because it's so expensive and the sales assistant are slightly more pushy in my opinion. The moment I walked into the store, I fell into their trap and this sales girl started slamming masks on my hand and under my eyes, telling me how famous they are in Singapore (but I seriously didn't hear of their brand before). I hated how she put the undereye mask and refused to let me take down the mask and went on promoting that damn mask even when I told her it's burning my skin.

Grilled Mochi (NTD 30 per stick/SGD 1.40) was such a comfort food during rainy days. It's a must-eat when you're at Ximending! There's usually a queue, but it won't take long till your turn. I got mine in Condensed Milk, my all-time fave.

KC CAFE

Ximending

It was raining every now and then, so we sought shelter at KC Cafe. Quit an average cafe, but the drinks really weren't nice. The Oreo Milkshake was considered a popular drink, but it was merely an ice blended drink and was very bland. Cakes and wedges were fine. 

If I didn't remember wrongly, this cafe was kinda expensive. Total bill (4 drinks, 2 cakes, 1 side) was around S$30/40+. Sorry but I wouldn't come back again~

Stay tuned for Day 2!