THOUGHTS ON FIRST VISIT TO TAIPEI

today is the final day of the first quarter of 2017

it seems like i've accomplished so much within these three months

like my mum & i visiting Taipei for the first time our my lives

of course, you can search up the four episodes of my TAIPEI STYLE vlogs on youtube

but this blog post allows for more detailed content whereas the vlogs can't

 

 

our first day was spent around Ximending area which was a great starting point to get our bearings around this new city and country. gotta thank my ex-colleague, Jason for his recommendation he's such an amazing friend imo.

since our holiday was mainly free & easy, we could go anywhere & anytime we wished without the pressure of having to wake up early or be contained to any time slot. so we visited multiple places as we pleased to try all their tasty food-din tai fung, beef noodles & night market finger food.

we also tried their bubble tea & other drinks made in Taiwan
i had a ton more btw =P a lot more lol
they were so satisfying

we also booked a one-day tour to bring us outside of the city to some of Taipei's favourite tourist attractions-yehliu, jiufen, shifen & pineapple-making class

it was a really productive day & valuable package imo
i love the scenic views of yeliu geopark. beautiful beaches and mountaintop experiences are my soft spots tbh

 

 

i love the hustle & bustle of jiufen. obviously as Singaporeans, we can easily shrug it off as a common occurrence so it was very easy to blend in & enjoy the overall atmosphere of the place while snacking on all their cool finger food

i love shifen for its rustic feeling & it was perfect timing that we visited on a busy day. it really lifts the exciting vibe to its peak imo. also, burning a lantern & watching it float up was super cool since i havent done it before i shit you not LOL.. but yea it was a pretty cool place

now making pineapple tarts wasn't something i was looking forward to but since it was part of the deal, which is very affordable & value-for-money imo, i went in with an open mind & i think it was pretty enjoyable. 

basically, Taipei, Taiwan was a very pleasurable place for a vacation, as concluded in the final minutes of episode four of my TAIPEI STYLE vlogs in youtube. yes it drizzled & rained like 80% of the time we were there, which the locals said it was rare as there was a drought season just before we arrived. but that didn't stop us from enjoying our vacation because we are humans. mindsets can be positively switched if we choose to let it instead of tunnel-visioning on the sunny, clear blue skies of Taipei which we see in videos & on TV etc.

maybe that's why we could enjoy so much haha

oh & talking about money. i'd say it is pretty affordable like the in-between of Thailand & Malaysia. putting aside the flight & accommodation expenses, i exchanged SGD $460 for a five-day-four-night trip & could not finish spending it despite being lavish with my consumption of meals & tidbits. I even had so much left I could buy a pair of original Nike shoes(Pegasus 33 if u'd like to know) & still had spare for a cab to the airport.

having been to Australia multiple times now(i'll prolly do a blog post about my latest trip some time soon), i observed that Taiwan is a lot more affordable for Singaporean tourists in terms of daily expenditure & accommodation. the difference tho, is that the quality of life & beauty of things is a tad lower in Taiwan than in Australia so you'll have to weigh your next holiday destination depending on what you prefer. the underlying fact tho, is that both countries will undoubtedly still bring rejuvenation to your mind & soul, they just do it in different ways.