Intentional Travel : Taipei 2019

Traveling is a huge part of my life. Since 2011, I made it a point to visit at least 1 country a year. I’d like to think that my work as a photographer and my ambivert-slash-minimalist lifestyle has blessed me to do so. 

This year, we went to Taipei, Taiwan! 

My tummy and my heart is yet again full and happy! I thought I’d share a little bit about our trip from the point of view of an intentional traveler. It’s not as fancy as it sounds. Intentional traveling is about setting your own purpose and allowing that purpose (not expectations or what other people think) to guide your decisions.

My purpose for this trip was to recharge, get inspired, and try as much Taiwanese food as possible!

You’ll find this list is a mix of everything and I hope it helps you out in some way. I included a breakdown of my expenses, oh and, where to find toilets (haha).

Getting to Taipei City from Taoyuan Airport, and back.

We didn’t have much luggage going to Taipei. We had 1 check-in suitcase, 1 (almost empty) carry-on suitcase, and 2 small personal bags. So getting to the city, we chose to ride the purple express train. It’s a 35 minute train ride to Taipei Main Station. We bought 1 way tickets on Klook for Php 220! I think we saved Php 60 each purchasing it online.

From Taipei Main Station, you can ride the train to your destination. We chose to stay in Ximending area.

Going back to the airport, we decided to book a taxi service ride at a fixed rate of NTD 1,000 or PHP 1,750 for 2. It was a nice, convenient experience! A bit on the pricey side, but we didn’t want to rush our last morning and we didn’t want to miss our flight! 

Money Exchange

Based on our experience, we got a little bit more at the money exchange counter at Taoyuan Airport in comparison to having our money exchanged here in the Philippines. It’s not much of a difference though. The best rate we found here in the Philippines is at 1.75. Most of the rates at the money exchange shops in Makati are at 1.9.

Do note though that in Taipei, we had USD exchanged to NTD since I have some leftover from our US trip last year. 

Here’s a little breakdown:

Php 9,975 = NTD 5,700

USD 190 = NTD 5,789 (Less NTD 30 Service Charge) 

Next time, we would go for exchanging all our money at the Taoyuan Airport. It was more convenient, there weren’t any lines, and was worth the NTD 30 service charge – which you can even split with your travel buddies.

Pocket Wifi

We decided to rent a 4G Pocket wifi via Klook for Php 76 per day. We spent a total of PHP 532 for 7 Days. It was fast, easy to claim, and return too!

Transportation

Taipei is quite an easy city to travel to. They have an effecient train and bus transportation system. Payment method is through an Easy Card which you can purchase for NTD 100 at the airport or at convenience stores like 7/11! I think we used just around NTD 300 during the duration of our trip for all our train and bus rides.

We use googlemaps to get to pretty much wherever we want to go. I think buses are relatively cheaper than trains. It wouldn’t hurt to waive at your bus when you see it coming – we saw locals do it! You also have to press the STOP button before your stop or the bus driver won’t stop. Whew, that’s a lot of stops!  

Accomodations

We stayed in ECFA Ximen. We got one just a few blocks away from Ximen Station Exit 6 and Ximending Night Market. There are a lot of shops and eateries around too! My favorite Yong He Soy and Mala Yuan Yang Hotpot was quite near our place! 

The hotel had free bread, jam, and coffee. I don’t eat breakfast but I need my coffee and I’m so glad theirs was so good! We spent Php 16,000 for a 6-night stay for 2. I do think you can definitely find cheaper ones! They have a lot of options around Ximending. 

Packing Light 

After much consideration, I decided to leave my laptop and my DSLR. 

I made sure everything was in order before leaving and I had my phone and iPad in case I needed to reply to e-mails, do a little research, or get inspired to write. I brought my Fuji xa5 but still chose to stick with my iPhone to take videos and photographs. 

Food

Now for my favorite part and the highlight of our trip – food! Our goal was to taste as much Taiwanese food as possible. And we did just that. Our favorite night markets were Tong Hua, Raohe, Shilin, and Ximending Night Market. Here’s a list of our favorite food with their prices in NTD: 

Mala Yuan Yang Hot Pot (NTD 600 for 1)
Yong He Soy – a proper taiwanese breakfast! (NTD 135 for 2)
Ay-Chung Flour Noodles (NTD 70)
Brown Sugar Milk Tea by Specialized Tea Club (NTD 70)
Prince Cheese Potato (NTD 85)
Alliaceous Chicken – fried chicken with chopped onions. (NTD 120)
Fried Quail Eggs on Stick – with wasabi, garlic, and soy. (NTD 20)
Crispy Milk Donut (NTD 29)
Chinese Omelet with Pork Floss (NTD 35)
Melon Pan Bread with Vanilla Ice Cream (NTD 55)
Hot Star Fried Chicken – juicy crispy chicken the size of your head! (NTD 70)
Grilled Mushroom (NTD 100)
Deep Fried Mushroom (NTD 70)
Cream Puff from Jiufen (NTD 60)
Oyster Omelet (NTD 65)
Taiwanese Sausage in Sticky Rice from Ximending (NTD 70)
Bingsu (NTD120-NTD200)

Whew, just writing those made me want to go back. Taipei is known for it’s night markets and tons of food choices. It is best to share food so you get to try more.

When in doubt, just try it! I was surprised to love the Prince Cheese Potato and the Quail Egg. They seem pretty basic but turned out to be one of my favorites. The quail egg was slightly crisp on the outside and all gooey and creamy inside. The wasabi made it all the more special!

Toilets 

Yup. I think this deserves a separate category. Those who know me well, know I have a bladder the size of a peanut. As my friend would call it, peanut bladder. Haha! 

There are usually no public toilets in night markets – at least the ones that we went to. You will find clean and decent toilets in train stations, cafes like Starbucks, malls, and sometimes in souvenir/gift shops! One time I asked a nice lady from a hotpot restaurant if we can use their toilet and they were kind enough to let us! 

Oh, the mandarin translation for toilet is Cèsuǒ! Thought that might come in handy!

Itinerary

We stayed in Taipei October 1 to October 7. We arrived morning of October 1 and our flight back was morning of October 7.

We planned a 5 day itinerary for a 6 day trip! That way, we get to have 1 buffer day to do whatever we weren’t able to do or to go back to our favorite spots. 

I love night markets so we made sure we go to a different one every night. We didn’t want to fill our days with activities – we would go out for brunch and go around Ximending in the morning (most shops open at 11AM) go back to our hotel to rest and go out again in the afternoon. We end our day exploring Ximending Night Market which is just a few blocks away from our hotel.

We decided not to go on a lot of day trips outside of Taipei. It was still pretty hot during daytime. We booked the Yehliu-Jiufen-Shifen tour via Klook. It was fun but quite hard to go around because of the heat. So that’s one thing to consider too – the weather. It didn’t rain one bit though and it’s breezy at night so that was quite nice!

Shopping

I’m not much of a shopper. Traveling abroad does not mean you have to shop or buy anything. I did buy pasalubong though!

I would suggest you do your pasalubong shopping at Tong Hua Night Market also known as Linjang Night Market. That is where we found the best priced salted egg cookies at NTD 79 each (most stalls sell them at NTD 100 – NTD 120) The shop is called 22king. You’ll find a range of different local and imported snacks here. 

We found the cheapest box of fruit cakes (you’ll see a lot of this everywhere) at Ximending Night Market at 3 boxes for NTD 170 (I wasn’t able to get the name but I can send you a photo if you wish) We also found one in Raohe Market at 8 boxes for NTD 500. Each box contains 10 Packs of fruit cake.

Breakdown of Expenses

Here’s a preview of my expenses. I am not an expert on this but I do keep track (or at least I try to) of my expenses when I travel.

Php 6,885 Air Asia Ticket with Insurance, and 1 Shared Check-in Luggage
Php 1,620 Travel Tax
Php 220 Express Train Ticket (via Klook)
Php 8,070 Hotel (via Agoda)
Php 266 Pocket Wifi (via Klook)
Php 975 Yehliu-Jiufen-Shifen Tour (via Klook)
Php 379 Maokong Gondola (via Klook)
Php 11,670 Pocket Money Spent (food, transportation, and shopping)

Total Expenses for 1: Php 29,886

I think Php 30,000 for a 6 day trip is a good deal. There are so many ways to reduce your expenses – scoring cheaper flights and hotel would make a huge difference!

Final thoughts 

Traveling changes your life. It’s all about exploring the unfamiliar, spending quality time with the people you travel with, and breathing in new experiences.  

It doesn’t matter where you go. Experience is almost entirely based on how you view things and I choose to view it with compassion. Quiet and unrushed moments are my favorite. It reminds me to stop sweating the small stuff because there’s a big and beautiful world out there waiting to be explored. 

I have been to Taipei once before but this is a completely unique, and beautiful experience. I do hope this this post serves you in some way. Feel free to share anything on the comments section below!