Travelling in Taiwan

2009
08.24

When traveling in Taiwan, I find that if you can save a little on some things, it can go a long way at times. I would call it smart traveling =)

Things to get / bring:

  1. If your traveling around Taipei Area, it’s a must to buy the MRT card. First time purchase would cost you NTD500 and you can use the load of NTD400 on any of the rides. The NTD100 deposit will be return to you with the rest of your unused balance when you return your card. You can reload any amount anytime it’s not enough.
  2. Why is it important to get the card? Because you get around 15~20% discount during each ride. You get discounts if you use this card when you ride the bus as well! Smart shopping isn’t it?
  3. If you plan to challenge yourself on seeing as many sights as you can for one day. I call this my amazing race challenge =p, get a 1- day Pass card for NTD 200 with balance of NTD50 which will be refund when you return your card in good condition at the end of the day. There is also 2-day Pass, not sure of the amount.  You can also do computations of places you plan to travel. If the total amount to more than NTD150, I suggest getting the 1-day pass.  Our  one trip travel to Danshuie from my place will cost us NTD60 one way. Since we plan to stop in other stations, it will add up, so we got the 1-day pass. This pass is only good for MRT and not inclusive of bus rides.
  4. What I love about Taiwan is that there “Tourist Stamp” found in some places. So don’t forget to bring with you a small blank notebook so that you can stamp as you go… I’ll show you some that we have.. but at times, we forgot, so we lost it =S
  5. Water are really cheap here and no need to bring the heavy water on your backpack! Of course you will be saving alot but with the heat at times, less weight is better. There lots of vending machine to buy the water. Just make sure you got lots of change =p
  6. Bring umbrella! I’m not the type who carry umbrella, but when it’s hot, gosh, you can’t take it!
  7. Bring Sunblock lotion and Insect Repellant. You don’t want to travel all the way just to feed the native mosquito =p

Enjoy your travel! =)

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