We’ve had low expectations of Taiwan but was surprisingly mesmerized by it that it has now become one of our favorites! Once in a while, you will chance upon a country that has everything you ever need, no matter what type of traveller you are — cheap good food (not to mention the numerous street markets), the warmest people you can ever meet, shopping haven (and quite affordable too!), amazing places for the nature lovers — name it and they have it.

Note that Taiwan is visa-free for Filipinos (under 9-month trial period until July 31,2018).  Sharing to you some TW travel hacks and five-day detailed itinerary in and out of Taipei:

Day 1 –  getting around Taipei (hop-on hop-off)

As this is the first day, I wanted it to be stress-free yet productive so we took the Taipei Hop-On Hop-Off Tour (4 hours would just cost S$12/PHP459), Klook also offers 1 day pass which costs S$24).  Unlike taking the train, the double decker bus gives you a great view of the city and you can go around two lines (red line: 9:10 am to 8pm, blue line: 9:40 am to 4: 40 pm).

Day 2 – Taichung

This is my favorite day, though it took time to plan and decide how to go, what to see and which service to get since we do not speak Chinese.

How to get to Taichung from Taipei:

It takes about 2.5 hours by bus and since it would take too much time, we decided to take Taiwan High Speed Train (THSR).  Luckily, Klook offers cheaper THSR tickets (about S$5 lower than standard rate).  Good thing my friend Flo advised us to get reserved tickets — this doesn’t have extra charge, we went to the ticketing office a day before the trip (while doing our hop-on hop-off since it stops at Taipei Main Station), otherwise, you might end up standing if it’s rush hour.

route	Price in S$	Travel Time
Taipei to Taichung	24.59	47 minutes
Taichung to Taipei	25.3	63 minutes

Upon reaching the Taichung station, we were picked up by our very friendly driver, Mr. Chen.  I did have a hard time finding cheap car service who has an English-speaking driver, but thankfully my friend Flo helped me arrange with Mr. Chen, and though he cannot speak English, can you actually believe everything went on smoothly because of Google Translate? 🙂

Car Service Cost	# of Persons	Duration	Contact Number
4000 TWD	6	Whole Day	+886 911 773 711

1st Stop – Rainbow Village

This place has an inspiring story to tell.  So Mr. Huang, a military veteran, started painting the village as his form of protest to demolish the village.  Because of the huge support that he got from a lot of people, the government decided not to push through with the demolition, and yes, the village even turned out to be a tourist destination.  Amazing how a noble and creative act served such great purpose.

2nd Stop – Zhong She Guanguang Flower Market

You don’t have to go to Holland to have ‘tulip and windmill’ experience, just visit Taichung and you’ll be in awe with the stunning flower farm.  My favorite, of course, is the lavender fields which are filled with busy bees 🙂

3rd Stop – Lavender Cottage

I would say that this is the highlight of our Taichung trip.  The only reason I included this in the itinerary is because I wanted to see the lavender plantation, which turned out to be ever so present in the Flower Farm.  So, for a while, I was thinking if going is still worthwhile but never did I expect I’d be so fond of this place.

If you’ve been to Sonya’s Garden in Philippines, you’d love this place but what I find amazing about the Lavender Cottage is each dining table at their restaurant is beautifully created in the midst of a garden…and though their food is bit expensive, it’s definitely worth it!

4th Stop – Mushroom King

There’s a proliferation of mushroom in Taichung as the weather is nice enough to grow them.  We had a quick stop at this mushroom house to see all amazing kinds of mushroom.  Mom and dad super enjoyed trying out and buying mushroom snacks.

5th Stop – The Origin of Bubble Tea

When you happen to be in The Land of Milk Tea, do try to experience their authentic milk tea, even if you’re not really a fan (I drank until the 4th day!)  We were lucky to try The Origin of Bubble Tea (Chun Shui Tang)  and the pearls are the besssssst!

Day 3 – Yehliu Geopark, Shifen & Jiufen

I’m so glad I chanced upon Klook’s Private Car Charter which is very convenient for a group of 6 since for this day, we had a lot of places to go to.  The 8-hour customized car service only costs us S$189 (S$31 each, which is actually equivalent if you take a bus tour to only 1 of the above destinations).

1st Stop – Yehliu Geopark

This is where you’d find the interesting and world-famous rock formations which are seemingly mushroom-shaped (travel tip: do visit this on a weekday — we actually went on a Monday and yet there were lots of tourists.)

Shifen

If you love to chase waterfalls (just like me!), don’t miss Shifen’s marvelous 40-metre waterfalls which is located in Pingxi district and is quite near the popular Shifen Old Streets.

I love the vibe at Shifen Old street and though I wasn’t keen at first to make wishes and fly lantern, I actually got excited doing that with family when we were there.. (oh, and please don’t judge the wish on the white part of the lantern haha).

Jiufen

Save the best for last: I specifically requested for our car service to start at 11am and end at 7pm so we can see the beauty of Jiufen at night.  This is one of my TW faves and I was really looking forward to visiting this since Jiufen is the location one of the best animes of all time, Spirited Away.

Day 4 – Taipei: Ximending & Shilin Night Market

Ximending is a shopping centre in the Wanhua District of Taipei, which I made it a point not to miss as this completes my missing letter to my upcoming blog ‘The A-Z of Travel‘ haha!  This place reminds me of Tokyo’s Shibuya Center and you’d find a lot of good finds and cheap eats here.  Right after we got off the Ximending station, we already saw a store that sells cheap pasalubong such as pineapple tart, nougat and other Taiwanese delicacies.

Shilin Night market is said to be the largest and most famous night market in Taipei.  As one local puts in, it is the night market so we made sure that we spent our last night there.  I would say that even if you’re not a foodie nor shopaholic, you’d appreciate this place.  Oh, and there’s a very yummy bubble tea store near this market called Itso.

Day 5 – Taipei: Elephant Mountain & Huashan 1914 Creative Park

Even up to the last day in Taiwan, everything went perfect.  We woke up early to climb the Elephant Mountain to get a breath-taking view of Taiwan.  Rather than going to Taipei 101 observatory, going for a short trek to see this skyscraper is more fun and off-the-beaten track, plus you don’t have to spend anything at all!

Before going the this park, I was having second thoughts if it’s worth our time and funny this was, when we actually got there, I was so enthusiastic and I randomly exclaimed ‘I love Taiwan’ while we were looking at the shops.  A great place for the artsy-fartsy, you’d find exhibits, cafes, craft/souvenir shops and home deco (our fave is the Wooderful Life store — I was so happy to buy a wooden clock with plant holder.)

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How to Get to Taipei City from Taoyuan Airport:

1 – Express Train / Commuter Train –  You have two options if you want to take the train, and since express train only costs 160 TWD and would only take about 35 minutes, we decided to take this to save time.

2 – Private Car – If you won’t be able to catch the train (last train for commuter is 10:58PM while express is 10:42PM) or you if you feel it’s inconvenient to commute with all your luggages, another good option is Klook’s airport transfer.  For 4 persons, airport to city costs S$39.7, while city to airport is S$37.2 (which is still cheaper than the service provided by hostel we stayed in).