Taiwan 1/7 - Another Solo Travel Diaries and This Time to Taiwan!

Unexpected things happened, some made me pretty upset but some made me feel so grateful and happy at the same time, Life is a roller coaster indeed!

Capsule Container Hotel at KLIA2

Pardon me!

Lately I was too lazy to write my blog but still I need to do my homework for my previous trip on last May. This trip was made since on that week, there were 2 National Holiday, so I will only take 3 annual leaves to have a whole week. I checked the ticket and Taiwan was a good option, in addition I never been to Taiwan so Taiwan marked country #22 that I visited. Beside that, I kinda remember when Meteor Garden which is Taiwanese drama was so popular long time ago, F4 haha, I love and watched that drama.


I have no particular plan at Taiwan so I think I just go and think later. It’s another my solo traveling but solo is not really solo eventually. I met many friends along the way even met old friends of mine. The place that I wanna see is Taipei 101 and most people said Taiwan is safe so no worries to travel solo especially if you are a girl. I went to Taiwan on Friday, May 25 - Sunday, Jun 3, 2018 (10D/9N), transit at Kuala Lumpur.


***interlude***

Well, actually some things happened before the trip and I was a bit terrified. I had problem with my left ear also herniated disc, for my ear due to an old problem I had when I went to Bangkok last year so I am a bit afraid to fly especially if those moments come again, it’s so uncomfortable plus this herniated disc, at first I felt like low back pain but at some point, I had a lot of pain so I went to hospital to do rontgen, MRI etc and yes the doctor said I had herniated disc, well I also need to go back and forth to hospital for  physiotherapy which was not so me. 

When I went to Taipei, I was worried actually, I had 8 times physiotherapy for my herniated disc before my departure, my physiotherapy wasn't finished yet, many times I asked the doctor and they said just don’t force yourself and have some rest when you feel tired when you wander around. When the day was come, I had mixed feeling during the boarding time, my flight transit at Kuala Lumpur, this low back pain makes me can’t sit for too long because it will hurt so I was just worried during the flight, it's hard to make yourself calm down at that time so I just prayed and hope everything would be alright. If I can't conquer this bad thought, it would be hard when I will go to travel again. So, for my flight I always asked to sit on the aisle so I can go out easily to toilet or do bit walking because sitting way too long will hurt my low back. Anyway, I'm survive haha! :D
***

Day 1 & 2 - Friday - Saturday, 25 - 26 May 2018

It was my first time to the new Terminal 3 at CGK and I was surprised because it is sooo cool and nice. I left CGK around 8.30 PM and arrived at Kuala Lumpur (KLIA2) at 11.35 PM, I booked a capsule hotel already inside the airport, Capsule Container Hotel, I stayed here before and I like it. To go to this hotel you need to go out from immigration. I choose the 6 hours for RM 90 (Rp315,000), they offer stay in 6, 9 or 12 hours. It's good to lay down in bed after a long day and long walk for that day. Need to have a good sleep before catching my next flight in 7.40 AM for Taipei on  Saturday.

Terminal 3, CGK, so cool!

my dinner before flying to Kuala Lumpur

My Capsule at KLIA2 :D

Arrive at Taipei, Taoyuan International Airport around 12.20 PM, I bought a simcard in the airport, it's easy to spot the sim card kiosk, GT 4G NTD 450 for 8 days with Unlimited Internet. The immigration was sooooo long, packed with people, it took me 1,5 hours for immigration, geez. For immigration I prepared my passport and my e-visa print out for Taiwan. It's so easy to apply Visa for Taiwan, it's Free, online and once you submit, you can get it right away :) just print and show to the immigration officer. You will get 30 days to stay at Taiwan.

I took Airport MRT and bought Easy Card NTD 500, this Easy Card is like EZ Link in Singapore or T-Money in Korea. So from airport I took purple line (A) to Taipei Main Station by MRT, it's really easy and convenient. They have 2 type of train, express and commuter but actually the different is the express is just faster because they don't stop on every station. If you buy single ticket it cost NTD 160 from airport to Taipei Main Station.

I bought my simcard there, GT NTD 450 for 8 days Unlimited Internet

Immigration queue started from there, so long!

Easy Card, starting pack from NTD  500

inside the MRT to Taipei Main Station

Taipei Main Station is sooooo big, I met my friend there, we're going to chill in his apartment with his friends too. My first day in Taiwan was just chilling out and did some origami, haha. I never thought to make some origami but looking at them who made origami on the different level of origami was interesting. It's too complicated, I learned the easy one.

There was some miscommunication with my host so I have no idea where to stay, I tried to book a hotel from Agoda on that day, around Ximen and when I arrived there around 11 PM, the hotel said they didn't receive the booking. I checked the apps and it said booking is still processing, it's weird because I input my credit card details already. It's such a long night to find another hostel due to some events will happen on the next day so it's full.

Shopping Mall under Main Station

Origami haha

our creations, I made the bird, mount Fuji and rose :D

dinner time

yum! NTD 125 for this Noodle with Dumplings and Vegetables Set

I was lucky because my new friend from Taiwan accompanied me on that night, we went about more than 10 hotels and all is full. The one and only hotel that I could manage to find is Taipei M Hotel, NTD 1200/night. It's quite expensive for me, because I plan to stay at hostel around NTD 300/night haha. Shit happened and this hotel, I will think this as a reward for me :p I only stay for a night and on the next day I will move to Taipei Oxygen Hostel, NTD 300/night for 4 nights so NTD 1200. I found this hostel when I wander to find hotel at that night, it looks good so I just booked it for tomorrow.

I felt soooo tired on that day, so I just want to have a good rest on that night, I checked in around 1 AM. The hotel was nice and I guess I will have a good sleep, in addition it's already included breakfast. I am so grateful to have and meet nice friends like that, it was chaos for me but I am lucky indeed. I can't wait to explore Taipei! yay :)

my room at Taipei M Hotel, NTD 1,200/night

Thank you for reading my blog post and see you soon.

cheers,
MJ