Destination 3.2 : It's Ho Chi Minh Again

OMG....
I'm preparing to go oversea again
and it's Vietnam for my 2nd time
I've been there exactly 10 YEARS ago
Happy 10th anniversary to my Ho Chi Minh Trip
(almost 11th year)

and...
I haven't finished blogging about my Taiwan Trip
(from last month)
Now i'm busying packing
last minute...
Didn't plan much on the trip also
Just make everything flexible

Actually...
This is my 1st time really travel oversea with friends
(except Korea for academic purpose)
Happy eating in Vietnam then
(to be honest... i'm not sure what else can I do there... >.< )
but I like Vietnamese food a lot

oh....
alcohol...
my mom said that it's tax free
so it'll be really cheap XD
drink all you can

In the end...
I'm still stuck in asia...

Destination 6.1.1 : Taipei 101 Tour 臺北101之旅

This post is about what can you do and EAT around Taipei 101

I guess everybody knows where is this

The Taipei 101 Tower in Taipei City, Taiwan XD

Taipei 101 is a MUST place to be visited if you go to Taiwan

Taipei 101 (Noon, Cloudy)

Transportation : You can get here from "Taipei City Hall" MRT station (Blue Line)
Walking distance : 15 minutes from MRT station
Price : 450 NTD per pax
Duration Estimation : 1 hour

Well... there's nothing much you can do in Taipei 101 except going up, looking down, taking photosssss...

For sure, you need to pick nice weather to go up
and you can go outdoor from the top of the building
outdoor is not open in some bad weather condition

when you arrived at specific floor, you'll received some phone-like thingy

that thing will do the explanation of the area you view from the window

After that, you need to walk to a floor below

for souvenirs...
overall, you need about 1 hour for everything in the tower

What else can you do except Taipei 101?

It's SHOPPING!!! (Girls favorite)

There are few shopping malls around
A classy one is right below Taipei 101
Entrance to Taipei 101 is at the top floor of the mall
Passing by few floor below is not nothing much to mention...
but when you reach the 2nd top floor of the mall
WOW
How are you going to describe these...
Prada, LV, Bulbery, Bvlgari, Chanel and more...

If this mall is too much for you

(as in all branded and luxury stuff)

There's more malls surrounding

One of malls connected to the MRT station, Eslite.
There's something special in this mall is
The biggest bookstore in Taiwan is here
The Eslite Bookstore

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!AND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tonkatsu (Fried pork chop) that need to queue up for hours

Anzu Japanese Style Pork Chop Restaurant

We waited for around 2 hours for 40 queue up list in between
Cost of a set is around 350 NTD.
The taste was not really bad, worth trying.
Something I like here is their servers
They will teach you on how are you going to eat this and that one by one.

There's also a very smooth green tea ice-cream stall outside of it
Tsujiri

It's only 105 NTD each.
Girls will like this for sure.

Hankyu mall is connected to Eslite.

More food you can find at the lowest level

It's connected to the restaurants floor of Eslite.

We tried the "Black as Chocolate" cake shop in it
The cafe has less tables and chairs so it'll run out of seat easily
+ they will run out of cake at some time
There's a requirement for dine in
a minimum for 1 dish per pax

We went there around 4:30pm on Saturday
They were already run out of cake except this...
I guess it's the least popular cake
and it doesn't taste good at all....

We also went to buy chocolates and macaroons next door

Anna Cocoa Art is just few stalls away

They sell bunch of macaroons and chocolates

Good looking for the chocolates

The macaroons taste okay

At least, you still can feel the chewy part in it

Something extra you can do in the same day...

You might have more time for more activities in the same day
It's Ferris Wheel ride in Miramar Mall
Transportation : MRT by Brown Line, stop at Jiannan Road Station

Price : 200 NTD per pax

Duration Estimation : ~20 minutes per ride 

There's a food court down there with a lot of foods and people
Price is around 200 NTD per dish
Else, you can go for more shopping in Miramar Mall...

Taipei 101 (Night, Cloudy)

I think that's how you can spend a day around Taipei 101

(and that was how I spent my Day 1 in Taiwan)

It's a relaxing tour around

Been there on September 15th, 2012

Destination 6.1 : 台灣自助自拍行

It's been ages since my last travel

EXACTLY 1+ year ago to Korea

and it's been.... hmmmm... 8 years since my last travel with my whole family...

it was to Shanghai in winter of year 2004

thanks to my sis who is studying in Taiwan

so that my dad is willing to travel again to meet his baby daughter...

Actually this is what she's been doing in Taiwan...

Chibi Study Trip in Taiwan

It's all about SHOPPING !!!

STAY TUNED

for me to test the itinerary prepared by my sis

and all those legendary delicious foods of Taiwan

from Taipei to Taizhong

but i'm still stucked in Asia...

when am I gonna fly out of Asia...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

anyway... the following are the accommodation and taxi details 

The rating from what I felt personally are good 

They are really worth for what you paid for

Taxi 988 包車旅遊

戴家羚 小姐

email : fanshinabs@yahoo.com.tw

Mobile : +886-972-105-887 (0972-105-887)

http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/fanshinabs/gallery 

Price? You need to bargain with her yourselves...

:: This taxi can bring you around the place you wanna go for whole day

although the price is a bit pricy (even other taxi) but quite worth

this taxi driver is really friendly and she can give a lot of explanations for the places you visit

she can even help you to book accommodation if you are not familiar with the area you'll be visiting

Accommodation 民宿 天時時尚

This accommodation is in Ximen 西門町 

It's only 10-15 mins walk to the MRT station

across the shopping district

you still can hang around at night (after the MRT is close)

The room is big and comfortable enough for us to stay

http://www.hhotel.url.tw/

Extra for Malaysian in Kuala Lumpur

You can visit the Taiwan Visitors Association, Kuala Lumpur Office 

to get free tickets such as shuttle bus ride from airport to Taipei station

or other entrance tickets to theme park (subject to availability)

p.s. bring along your flight itinerary to claim the items

I got almost nothing but the shuttle bus tickets and airport free gift vouchers in mid of september 2012

http://admin.taiwan.net.tw/info/foreign_en.aspx?no=20

Hope these details are helpful...

Destination 6 : Taiwan 台灣

Not really sure how is Taiwan for me...
but I saw a lot of Taiwan intro program in TV
and I think it should be something similar

Taiwan is a really a famous place for tourist
especially for teenagers i guess
even lotsa my friends also been to Taiwan...

Taiwan is all about FOOD
TV show also showing nothing but food
but...
a lot of people who been there did complain about Taiwan food
they said it's not nice at all and totally different from what is shown in TV
anyway... those are elder people
for teenagers, Taiwan is food heaven
every friends of mine who been there like their food a lot

and that's all i know about Taiwan
nothing but food...
coming up i'll show you what is taiwan in my trip

Destination 5.3.3 : Transportation Card in Korea & Busan

Since there's a lot of students from my university going to Korea for different purpose
This post mainly about the transportation card that charges the passenger at cheaper fare
+ cheaper fare for transit within a period of time (15 mins if not mistaken)
These transportation card can be used on both subway and bus
everything written here are based on my personal experience and they might be incorrect 

These cards are something like Touch n' Go in Malaysia
You might don't need to buy these as some student card built in with these functions


For those who just arrived in Incheon Airport (in order)

1. rush to the subway if you don't wanna stay overnight in the airport, the subway will be closing at 11pm (around that time) and it'll take u about an hour + (since you are carrying luggage and it took us 1+ hour to reach Seoul University Station in Line 2) to reach the city
2. buy T-money card at a convenient store while you are on your way to the subway station
3. charge money into the T-money at the subway station entrance
4. one ride in subway will normally spend 1,000 won, so you can plan yourself on how much you want to deposit
5. get a map of the subway if you can and leave the Airport at once (there's only one ride to take, as it is the last station) or here (time and everything can be checked inside)
6. when transit is needed, you can find elevator in almost every station, it'll ease you from carrying your luggage by walking the stair
7. hope you reached the destination before the subway station closed

For those who are going to Busan

1. The T-money card I mentioned before still can be use in Busan but it's hard to reload your card. You can only do so in city area.
2. Else you can buy an extra Mybi card for Busan and surrounded area (some outskirts don't accept T-money)
3. Mybi card are available as phone accessories, but you need to beware as some of them are for kids (especially those really nice looking and cute one), kids fare are cheaper and you might get caught for using it

I hope these will help you a lot for new arrivals