#21 | Taiwan Travel Guide | Accomodations, Shi Fen and Jiu Fen

Holla! Have not had the time to sit down to write a detailed post. Although there is no school now, but my life seems to be rather eventful and I'm enjoying every bit of it!Let's leave the catching up for another time and move on into the Taiwan Travel Guide. 

I've been to Taipei twice now, and this trip would be to recount on the latest trip with 2 of my besties, May and Wen Wei!

The flight was entertaining as it was Christmas period, and apparently whoever who can sing/shout? then tiger-airways jingle the loudest gets free tickets. Which obviously the not so thick skin us just sniggered and applauded for the people who really went all out. 

Arriving at Tao Yuan Airport after a nearly 5 hours flight (of budget airline = no food), we had to visit the convenience stores for snacks. Which is what travelling is about right? The convenience stores, its our 2nd home.

 G E T T I N G  I N T E R N E T

Anyways, here's how we got our sim cards/3G for Taiwan. There are many ways of course to get internet. A tip is to sign up for the iTaiwan free-wifi service at the Tourism Information Booth, or go to their website to self register, just on the right when you exit from the Arrival Gates. You would require your passport number as your account number and your birthdate as your password. To prevent the hassle of keying them in again and again, I would suggest that you save the details, which should be automatic if I remember correctly. With the iTaiwan, you would be able to access free wifi hot-spots  at tourist attractions such as Xi Men Ding, Taipei 101 etc. Saving some $$$!

Another way to get internet (other than renting an egg wifi) would be getting a sim card with data. There are mainly 3 big telco available at the airport: ChungHwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile and Far East Tone. Point to note is that if you must be above 20 to apply for a sim card with ChungHwa Telecom and Taiwan Mobile, and above 18 to apply with Far East Tone - it's rather silly a rule, but do take note if you are not of age. They will require your passport and another identification card. They can help you to insert the sim card into your phones or you can DIY, dont forget to bring the iphone pin! 

Tip; bring a small ziplock bag to put your sim card and hang a prominent key chain on your iphone pin so that you will not lose these items easily.


Here are the rates that I can find for 3G data plans:

And for the other packages:

Credits: HanJie

The one that I bought was from Far East Tone, 5 days 3G package for 350NT for our 6 days stay. I've actually shared the plan with my friends, so what we did was that we brought an extra iPhone and have to on its hot spot when we wanted to use the internet/3G. There was no need for us to get smses or talk time, but if I remembered correctly, they did give us like 20NT worth of talk time? So yeah. The coverage wasn't that bad. We managed to get decent signal to upload photos and whatsapp people back home almost everywhere. But from the homework that I did, ChungHwa seems to have the strongest signal, good if you are going far out of Taipei.

G O I N G  T O  T H E  H O T E L

With that whole chunk of infomation, let's proceed on to how we got to our hotel. We took the Kuo Kuang Bus 1819 to Taipei Main Station, 125NT, it was approximately a 40 minutes bus ride and we took 40 winks, and arrived at the Terminal Stop. Bus seats were really widely spaced and well-cushioned. 

Our hotel was YMCA, a youth hotel that gives 20% discount for students. (Just remember to bring along a student card with your picture and name to get that offer) Which was a great deal! The location was very centralized and on both trips I stayed there just because I love that fact that there are so many food stores around my hotel, 2 7-eleven nearby, the Taipei Main Station, the Bus Station and Shopping Malls etc. To get there you'll have to come out from Exit 6 or 8 from the Taipei Main Station MRT. Should be able to reach Hotel within 5 minutes or less upon exit. (Ahh, the convenience)

I have stayed in the superior room for the first time and in the standard room on the second. The superior room's beds were really more comfortable and the room was more spacious and somewhat seemed brighter. But the standard room wasn't that bad! Haha It had all the basic amenities. Obvious differences would be the full length mirror and bath tub that you will get in the superior room. You'll also get the option to choose a room with or without a balcony, which of course comes with a fee. There is unlimited supply of water, as YMCA does not serve bottle drinks. Instead, they have a common water cooler on every floor.

G O I N G  T O  S H I F E N

So we decided to go to Shi Fen and Jiu Fen on the same day as they were relatively near each other. To get to Shi Fen, you would need to purchase TRA (Railway Tickets) at Taipei Main Station to Rui Fang Station (Ping Xi Line), as for my case. The ticket prices varies within the range of  50-100NT, depending on the type and time of the ticket you will buy. The trains leave on time, we managed to get bentos to eat for the long ride. (The bento shop is just beside the Tourist Information counter, same level as where you'll buy the tickets).

Note: It's not the MRT platform, but at the Main Station level 1 counter. Just follow the signs that says TRA, you should spot this long stretch of counters at this brown hall with shops that sells cakes and snacks nearby.

The ride to Rui Fang Station can be long, around 45 minutes, and you would need to switch trains there after. You would require to alight and exit the station to purchase tickets at Rui Fang station to Shi Fen Railway Station. Which you would then have to take another maybe 30 minutes ride to get to your destination. Don't lose your previous ticket! Otherwise it can be difficult for you to go back in and catch your train.

So what can you do at Shi Fen? PLENTY. Here's a list:

1. Eat fried squid. Trust me, its the noms.

2. Flying sky lanterns, aka Kong Ming Deng. Where you get to write your wishes on it and watch it rise up in the sky.

3. Take pictures on the railway tracks, beware of the train that comes every 15-20 minutes

4. Take pictures on the bridge (that you see above)

5. Play with fireworks (Yes you can buy different kind of fireworks there and it's legal!)

6. Buy souvenirs like mini sky lanterns with nice wishes for your loved ones.

7. Send back a post card to your friends and family back home! There are a few postcard shops with free chops of Shi Fen attractions. The mail box is there as well to your convenience.

8. Visit Shi Fen waterfalls, either walk there (20minutes walk) or take a taxi/ride motorbikes.

G O I N G  T O  J I U F E N

Spending a good 3 hours there, we headed to Jiu Fen. You'll require to purchase a ticket at the Shi Fen Railway station back to Rui Fang Station. Upon alighting at Rui Fang Station, you'll need to walk for about 10 minutes to get to a bus stop with the bus 1062. 

Directions to get there, based on my memory: Exit the station, walk straight to the end of the open square, turn left into the street. You should see a 50嵐 (the bubble tea shop with a yellow and blue signboard). Keep walking straight for about 5 more minutes you'll pass by a police station, on the same side of your road. Keep walking straight until you see Far East Tone's shop opposite your road. There will be a bus stop nearby with bus 1062. It goes directly to Jiu Fen, which is up on a hill. 

As soon as you alight, you'll have to walk uphill for awhile, passing a 7-eleven and toilet, to reach the entrance of Jiu Fen Street. 

So here's a list of recommendations:

1. Eat taro ball desserts and beef noodles. Its one of the first few stalls. There are 2 famous dessert stalls there. The second one gives you a chance to sit in the balcony to enjoy a panoramic view of the Asia's Santorini.

2. Eat Popiah wrapped with ice-cream, green onions and peanut shavings. Its a very unique taste!

3. Buy many many Taiwanese snacks there, one of the few famous stores are Li-Yi Shop (to buy Tai Yang Bing) and Chia Shop (To buy Pineapple tarts) just to name a few. Its rather easy to spot the famous one, find the one with crowds. Hehe

4. Take pictures with the Spirited-Away Anime's building

5. Climb to the top of Jiu Fen and chill at a cafe, my pick is SIIDCHA. It has one of the best view and ambiance. Prices are comparable to Singapore Cafe prices, but the food quality there is superb! i had their thunder tea rice which came as a set with nuts and sides and a free drink for about SGD $16?

6. Just shop away at the random shops you'll walk by. Many souvenir shops that sells handicrafts, tea-leaves shops, ginseng tea, postcards, leather goods etc. One of my favourite shop is Sophisca (Above picture - Which you can find at Changi Airport T3, but its way cheaper here at Jiu Fen. This is their first every outlet before it was franchised.)

7. Take many street photos and of course, food photos.

R E T U R N I N G  T O  T A I P E I  M A I N  S T A T I O N

We unknowingly spent another 3 hours or 4 here, partly to avoid getting wet in the heavy downpour, but also to immerse ourselves in the relaxing ambiance of SIIDCHA. You'll love the place, it gave me a very homely and peaceful vibe. 

Getting back to Taipei Main Station would require you to either take 1062 bus then take the MRT or take a taxi ride that drops you off at your hotel. The taxi drivers would usually get more people to squeeze into the cab with you to be more cost and time efficient.. I chose to take the bus on both occasion as you get to enjoy the scenery more and just blend in with the locals. Do try to grab seats if you can, cause its a long ride down and it might not be very fun to practice your wake-boarding skills and bumping into people in all directions. Haha trust me on this.

Taking 1062 will get you to SOGO, which is the famous departmental store. It's like our Takashimaya or Tangs. You can ask the bus driver to alert you when it's your stop, the driver usually will announce loudly to everyone. From there you just hang around to take photos and see see look look. Branded items might be cheaper here you never know. Then you'll be able to take MRT, from Zhong Xiao Fu Xing (Blue Line) to any station you want. 

So yep! Hopefully I provided some useful information. Getting around Taipei is not difficult as long as you can speak basic Mandarin, Hokkien is just a bonus. If you want more visuals to help you picture the places, do watch the vlogs that I've posted to give you a better idea. 

I know that my pictures are not of fantastic quality, but I'll be saving hard for a better camera and will upgrade the software I use to edit my photos. Hehe so be patient with me love. 

Till my next post, love yourself and others! X