Words can’t express how much I’m thrilled to travel again (and to be out of UK) after almost half a year! I may have been out and about all throughout these times but having not allowed to travel felt like I’m in London prison —NOPE, I’m not jailed or anything!😅 I was just dealing with a lot of personal stuff that led me on a hiatus. In fact, I’m happy to share one if you continue to read this entry! 😉
(26MAY25) So on this May bank holiday, I travelled to my long and overdue planned trip to TAIWAN! Truth be told, I had plans to go here even before I went to the UK but it never flourished so finally, this happened! It was absolutely great to tour another Asian country and to be home in the Philippines after this trip. However, this entry will focus on my solo itinerary to Taiwan’s vibrant capital of food and culture, Taipei.
FLIGHT
Although, their premium economy is already worth the go and I’d say that the perks are almost similar to their business class.
Just like in other Asian countries, security checks in Taiwan involve health declaration so there’s a section where you grab a card then walk towards a lane if you either have a health-concerning symptom (covid, flu, etc) or none to declare. Plus, make sure you’ve done the online immigration form!
For my second flight which is from Taiwan to Manila, I flew via Air Asia which is one of the best picks for budget airlines in SEA. However, they can be very strict with baggage—they have a one cabin bag policy which includes duty free items.
But other than that, the flight went smooth and quick. You know you’re in Southeast Asia if you get delicious meal choices (especially when going to the Philippines!😆). This chicken inasal was pre-ordered and I highly recommend it.😋
Whilst, as for my return from Manila to London, I had business class via Etihad on an early morning flight 🙂↕️ Should I say it’s a travel hack to choose early flights for cheaper prices? It was also hassle-free at the airport during that time. Subsequently, the downside of this flight was on the first part going to Abu Dhabi, they were partnered by a chartered aircraft called Vamos and it was very disappointing. The crew was fine but their facilities doesn't seem well-maintained. Imagine a 9-hr flight with limited entertainment system and seats were almost similar to Economy class (despite the upgrade). Yet anyhow, I just slept it all out.It was great relief that it was back to normal Business class Etihad style on the 2nd part which was packed and again, I fully slept. Yes, I was hibernating so much.
I’m happy to witness the Eid Mubarak sale at Abu Dhabi airport! These are the few moments that I really splurged on duty free shops and there's no harm on it because majority of it had great discounts!
E-SIM & TRANSPORT
Download the Airalo app then use my referral code: JULIA2362 to get £2.50 off on your first purchase!
I purchased an EasyCard from Klook. You can actually use the card to pay in convenience stores and some partnered shops as long as there’s sufficient credit in it. But if you’re only using it for transport, I’d say that either TWD200-TWD400 is already enough for a 4-day stay. Using the metro can be straightforward just like in any other countries but the buses can be a challenge. Majority of the writings are in Chinese with sudden diversions and buses only operate until 11 PM. So I would suggest to use Apple Maps for transport times and navigation. Google maps can also be reliable but some directions are written in Chinese. Did I get lost at one point? Yes, I once board the wrong bus but good thing there was a nearby metro.
ACCOMMODATION
I stayed at Citizen M Taipei North Gate and knowing Citizen M hotels, it has a very hip and chic ambiance, straightforward self check-in service and minimalist clean, modern rooms. Location-wise, it’s about an 8-minute walk going to Ximen whilst it’s 2-minutes away from the nearest Metro station.
ITINERARY
Klook offers a lot of good tour deals for Taiwan and it’s just a matter of which activities you’d like to do. If you are staying here for more than 3 whole days then you might benefit in buying a Taiwan Fun Pass.
Taipei is vibrant for its culture and food so on this trip, I focused more on the latter. Let alone, I went straight to the night market right after checking in on my hotel! 🙆🏻♀️
Welcome to Raohe Night Market!
I can’t help but to feel so in awe on this long stretch of food stalls. Chinese food is my comfort food so this is heaven for me. Moreover, going to night markets has been my dinner spot throughout this trip!
My top favorite is this fried xiao long bao that only costs NTD260 (£5)!!Whilst for dessert, I highly recommend these fried potato balls-- make sure to try the plum flavor!
The night after that, I went to Shilin Night Market which has games and souvenir stalls besides food. Although, I felt like Raohe has more food options than here.
Some of the foods I tried and took a picture of. I personally enjoyed all of them with spice as it brought more flavor. From L-R: sausage rice sandwich, fried pork bun,sweet taro balls,fried cheesy scallops,Taiwanese sausage,garlic pepper king crabstick
The only thing that I wasn’t keen to try was stinky tofu. I heard it tasted fine but I just cannot really stand food with bad smell.
For someone who stayed in Zhongzheng district, my itinerary route for exploring the capital started in Ximending/Ximen. This shopping district is very lively at night and this is where I bought souvenirs.
These cup handle bags are such a sass for carrying a tumbler or milktea cups!
The Xin Fu Tang flagship is in this area but I can’t be bothered for the long queue. It’s just amazing to see the original on how they make their famous brown sugar milktea and in addition, they sell xiao long bao!
And above all, there’s the biggest PopMart store in the city! I was hoping to buy a Labubu V3 but it’s still out of stock. So I bought a Dimoo Disney World instead; In order to buy the new ones, you need to register in store and then the staff will guide you through the process.
There are actually a lot of resellers within the area but it’s twice the price of the originals. Or you can be lucky to just score one in an arcade shop.
I love claw games but I didn’t try these. It seemed very difficult by the looks of it and nobody dared to play much of it compared in Japan!
Upon the entrance of Ximen is the iconic crosswalk, Rainbow Six. It’s giving London Abbey Road vibes.
Then I went to the beautiful Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. I was able to watch the changing of guards there too! It’s a huge park so you can freely take pictures anywhere.
On that same day, I went to Taipei 101 and its gorgeous mall. While I was waiting for my slot at the observatory deck, I had lunch at the original Din Tai Fung!
I didn’t wait longer to get a seat and their service was so quick! Plus, it’s very cheap among all DTF branches that I’ve tried worldwide.
I had pork xlb(xiao long bao), taro xlb and fried rice. Ideally this would already cost GBP50+ but this was just a total of £15 here! They should adopt this.
I reserved my observatory ticket online via Klook; There’s an extra fee if you wish to go to the secret garden exhibit located at the 101st floor. I only bought the entry for the 89th to 91st floor and you can already experience a lot from it.
There are a lot photo-stop attractions, vouchers for food and souvenir stores and the breathtaking view of Taipei.
Oolong tea or honeycomb seems to be the most popular among many milktea flavors in the country. Besides that, there's a perk where you can send yourself or someone a postcard from TPE101.
Sadly, the outer deck area was closed that time due to the rainy weather. Though, there’s a room where you can listen to an in-depth history of the tower and its walls were covered with artistic Taipei 101 paintings.
Then on my last day in Taiwan, I joined a full day tour to visit Shifen, Jiufen and Yehliu Geopark hosted by MyProGuide Taiwan. It’s one of the most popular tour that you can do in the country so book in advanced! The meeting point is at Taipei Main Station East Gate and it’s best to come early especially if you are navigating on your own. The main station is a very wide area and coming from my hotel, it’s a 15-minute walk (which felt more than that to be honest).
Surprisingly, we were an all-Filipino group at the bus so from there, I can really feel and smell that I’m coming home soon. Haha!♡ It was also nice to meet some fellow solo and first time travelers.☺️ Our tour guide took good care of us as he tweaked the itinerary of which attraction to go first considering the amount of tourists (the tour company has 12 buses on that day) visiting and the rainy weather. So we had a first quick stop to see the Shifen Waterfall.
Generally, all these attractions would’ve looked amazing if it wasn’t for this damn rain 😩 Moreover, it was tons of walking wherever we went so do get ready.
Then we went to Shifen Old Street where they fly the stunning sky lanterns. It was still allowed to lit up the lanterns at that time but some got easily ripped off because of the wind. I hope to do this activity next time but for now, I just bought some mini ‘good luck’ lantern souvenirs.🏮 This tour offers a discount for the lanterns.
They say that this railway effect looked similar to the one in Vietnam which is pretty cool!
After that, we went to Jiufen or also known as the town where the anime, “Spirited Away” got its inspiration! It was such an interesting place as it has several souvenir shops, tea houses and authentic food stalls but the cons to this is that it involves a lot of climbing. The weather somehow made it more difficult to go up a bunch of stairs and some of the routes were even flooded!
This is from a ceramic tea museum which has pretty artistic stuff. You can also dine in here for a cuppa 😉
I rented a small lantern that I can take back home and a prayer block that I hung in Jiufen shrine. I somehow liked the habit of making a wish to whichever new place I go and happily, they do come true in its perfect time ✨ You can book this experience here.
Hats off for this authentic beef noodle soup—too perfect on that rainy day.💯 I forgot the name of the stall but they're the only who's selling this so it's easy to spot!
Lastly, we went to Yehliu Geopark which offers a scenic geological formation of various things from candles, food, and commonly, mushrooms. Though, the most popular would be the “Queen’s Head”.
For the record, sometimes it might take some imaginary time for you to visualize it in reality. Like in example, the "Queen's Head" is a little identical to "the Princess Rock". Plus, they even have a story on how it evolved!
They give out guided maps about these item-shaped rocks if you ever feel lost around the bedrock. 😅 Unfortunately, we weren't able to spend much time here as the rain got heavier.
At the end of that day, I had a hotpot dinner in Modern Toilet at Ximending. Who would’ve thought that having a potty design can be attractive?!😆
I tried their signature hotpot (pork-based) + cold oolong brew tea and I started to get hooked on this drink!!Additionally,I loved how this was customized for solo consumption and it was really delicious.
I’m not quite sure when will my next travel be but I’m happy to share that as of this writing, I have received my approval of becoming a British citizen. ⭐️ I’m currently waiting for the next steps so I guess I’ll be exploring more of England for now!
