I booked a ticket to Taipei last month and this is my first time going so far away from home alone. I was a bit sceptical to do this on my own at first but there is a first for everything and you are never going to know whether you like it or not until you've done it and boy, was i glad i did this.
Traveling alone in my opinion, can be so much fun. This is because you are responsible for yourself and you can do whatever you want, whenever you like. You can go out and come back to the hotel room anytime and go anywhere you want. It's like a total freedom and all focus on you.
Anyway, i am flying Air Asia directly from Kota Kinabalu. There are another two carriers you can choose to fly from Kota Kinabalu to Taipei namely Malaysia Airlines and Dragonair (via Hong Kong). Of all these three carriers, Malaysia Airlines is the most expensive and Dragonair is in the second spot. However, the timing of Dragonair's flights kind of suck and Air Asia is a few hundred bucks cheaper. Of course the sane choice would be to fly Air Asia. Besides, the timing of their flight suits me the best. It arrives into Taipei Taoyuan Airport at 9.30am and comes back to Kota Kinabalu at 9.55am. This gives me plenty of extra time to check out the city and to familiarize myself with their public transportation system.
So, i checked-in online for my flight the night before and went to the airport at 5am. I've pre-booked my seat when i purchased the ticket which is in the overwing emergency row that gives me plenty of extra legroom which i will definitely find very useful for the 3 hours 20 minutes flight to/from Taipei. Our flight departed on-time and we actually arrived at Taipei Taoyuan Airport at 9.05am, 25 minutes ahead of schedule which is great !
I took the Evergreen bus (part of the Eva Air Group) to Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT Station (忠孝復興) which cost me TWD150 (RM16.125). After that, i took the Metro Taipei MRT at Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT Station (忠孝復興) to Daan MRT Station (大安) which is on the Wenshan-Neihu Line (文山内湖線) and if you have the Easycard (Taipei's version of Touch n Go), you will have to pay only TWD12 (RM1.29). Otherwise, a single normal pay per ride ticket will cost you TWD20 (RM2.15). Knowing that i will depend a lot on Taipei's MRT and buses for the next couple of days, i decided to buy the Easycard. If you buy the Easycard at any Metro Taipei MRT Service counter, you will have to pay TWD500 (RM53.75). TWD100 (RM10.75) for card deposit and the other TWD400 (RM43) will be deducted accordingly as you use their services. The card deposit can be refunded to you if you return the card to them in good condition. However, they will charge you TWD20 (RM2.15) as processing fee which is a non-issue as the savings i will get from using this card is greater.
There was no problem finding my hotel. In fact, it is only 2 minutes walk away and one only needs to walk straight when coming out from the Daan MRT Station. Weather in Taipei is kind of bad now. Umbrella is a must whenever one goes outside as it has been raining day and night since i arrived here on Monday morning. The average temperature is only 9°C in these few days and there is a strong wind which makes it very cold. I did not bring any umbrella. So i had to buy one from a convenient store and i paid TWD200 (RM21.50) which in my opinion is way overpriced. The quality of the umbrella is just so-so. I later learned that the hotel will lend an umbrella to in-house guest upon request. So, there you go my TWD200 ...
The hotel i am staying at is called Park Taipei Hotel. This is a very new hotel and everything inside the room is flawless and all the staffs are sincere, friendly and polite. They are very prompt to attending your request too which is yet another extra point for this hotel.
This is my room. They provide a complimentary broadband service in all rooms. No wifi is available though. One must connect to the internet via ADSL and this ADSL wire is provided too in the room. Though is it not a high speed broadband runs on fibre optic, the download speed is like 10x faster than our Streamyx 1mbps package.
The sockets and ADSL are actually built into the desk ... how high-tech of them. Every new hotels should do the same. Exposed sockets are so last decade.
The clean and spacious bathroom
TO BE CONTINUED ...
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