[KAOHSIUNG] Budget and Itinerary

 

MONDAY: 10 November 2025

THSR (Banqiao - Zuoying) - 1,245.00

Red Line (Zuoying - Kaohsiung Main) - 25.00

Yoshinoya (Gyudon + Coke) - 219.00

7 Eleven (Groceries) - 195.00

Airbnb (3 Nights) - 2,070.00

TWD3,754.00

[KAOHSIUNG] Lotus Pond + Pier 2

The last time I was in Taiwan was exactly a decade ago. 2015. Fresh out of that one-year sojourn in Xiamen to study Mandarin. Taiwan used to be a favorite destination, visa free if you had a multiple entry US visa in lieu. Now, Taiwan is visa free regardless, 14 days allowed. And so I thought maybe it was time to come back. As for Kaohsiung, it has always been in my radar because I’ve always heard about it from almost everyone who has been to Taiwan but already done with Taipei. This time, we go south. I booked a high speed rail ticket via Klook from Banqiao in New Taipei to Zuoying. It took an hour and 26 minutes.

[TAIPEI] Budget and Itinerary (2)

SATURDAY: September 15, 2012

Taxi (Makati - NAIA 3) - 117.00

Travel Tax (NAIA 3) - 1,620.00

Terminal Fee (NAIA 3) - 550.00

Cebu Pacific (Manila - Taipei - Manila) - 4,197.52

PhP6,484.52

[NANTOU] Budget and Itinerary

FRIDAY: September 21, 2012

Nantou Bus (Taichung - Sun and Moon Lake) - 190.00

Bike Rent (Sun and Moon Lake) - 400.00

Late Lunch (Dolce Luna) - 280.00

Nantou Bus (Sun and Moon Lake - Taichung) - 190.00

HSR (Taichung - Taipei) - 700.00

TWD1,760.00

Estimate of TWD1 = PhP1.50

TOTAL - PhP2,640.00

[YUCHI] Sun and Moon Lake's Cycling the Musical

No, Sun and Moon lake is in no way connected to Miss Saigon, although you can stage your own musical here with nature as your only audience. I sure did, and it was liberating. There is nothing more fun than having a go at Eric Carmen’s hits about how love is all that matters and being by yourself, in full volume, while on a mountain bike descending a slope at full speed. Come to think of it, I should have included Highway to Hell on that set list, except that this lake is really far from hell. Nor is it paradise but hey, the place is just perfect for nature lovers and health buffs alike, two categories in which I really do not fall under but let us just pretend that I do. At first, I thought that nature might pelt me with stones or dead lake creatures because of our differences in musical taste, but she turned out to be just as tolerant and patiently listened to my impromptu concert, without caring that much whether I do not hit a note or be unable to sustain a vibrato for whatever chilling effect it might result in.

[CHANGHUA] Budget and Itinerary

THURSDAY: September 20, 2012

HSR (Taipei - Taichung) - 700.00

Taxi (Zhongshan Rd - Corner Backpacker Hostel) - 100.00

Corner Backpacker Hostel (1 Bunk/1 Night) - 500.00

Brunch (Iris 113) - 99.00

Zhonglu Bus (Taichung - Lukang) - 93.00
Snacks (7 Eleven) - 85.00
Souvenirs (Lukang) - 570.00

Zhonglu Bus (Lukang - Taichung) - 93.00

Early Dinner (KFC) - 200.00

TWD2,440.00

[LUKANG] Taiwan's Second Oldest Town

Once again, change of plans. Taichung was just supposed to be a stopover where I would establish my base to go to Nantou. What I wanted to happen was take the high speed rail to Taichung, check in at the guest house, and then go directly to Nantou for one day to the Sun and Moon Lake. For the next day, I would be checking out and bringing my stuff to Formosan Aboriginal Park, which is also within the Sun and Moon Lake area, and then head back to Taipei from there for my red eye flight from Taoyuan. And then I woke up at around 8 AM.

[WANHUA] Window Shopping at Ximending

Ximending was not really on the itinerary. Neither was Taipei, but from what I have realized, and you have to excuse me for resorting to using this abused phrase: "You can take the boy out of the city, but you cannot take the city out of the boy". Hualien was a city alright, but I just needed to see some skyscrapers to relieve me of my homesickness. And so instead of going to Taitung and risk doing nothing because of the not so pleasant weather threatening my island-hopping plans, I just bought a train ticket back to Taipei.

[HUALIEN] Budget and Itinerary

SUNDAY: September 16, 2012

TRA (Taipei - Hualien) - 440.00

Snacks (TRA) - 50.00

Amigos Hostel (1 Bunk/2 Nights) - 1,000.00

Snacks (Bosondo Tea & Coffee) - 55.00

Drinks (7 Eleven) - 20.00

Dinner (Pizza Hut/Cafe 85c) - 251.00

TWD1,816.00

[HUALIEN] Taroko National Park

How do I describe Taroko Gorge? Well, it is one of those places that make you stop and stare, after which you begin to be grateful that you were born in this awesome planet. After the exhausting trip characterized by what seemed like endless walking and non-stop snapping of photos, I realized that the place is just full of rocks, huge rocks, which has sort of become the defining attribute of the place. What seems to be a river has become a narrow stream of water, that is apparently the result of the dam controlling the water’s flow.

[HUALIEN] Farglory Ocean Park and Your Dental Health

I've been to one glorified aquarium too many in this lifetime. Why go see another one? I have nothing to do today, okay. I was supposed to go to Taroko National Park and maybe collapse in the middle of a hiking trail and die unnoticed, except that I woke up at noon and a good head start is recommended unless you want to be stranded there and have a slumber party with the snakes, which are said to be plenty this season. Paragliding was the second option except that the ­feng is hen da. More or less they would not like their clients getting flown away too far and end up in Fiji or something because of that strong wind. Paragliding would have been fun, and a first. If only that stupid typhoon would leave before Friday!

[TAIPEI] Budget and Itinerary

THURSDAY: August 4, 2011

Taxi (Makati - NAIA 3) - 145.00

Travel Tax (NAIA 3) - 1,620.00

Terminal Fee (NAIA 3) - 750.00

Cebu Pacific (Manila - Taipei - Manila) - 4,409.80

Hot Chocolate (Cebu Pacific) - 80.00

PhP7,004.80

[NEIHU] Miramar’s Giant Wheel

Miramar’s giant wheel was the only attraction I managed to visit in Neihu which is a shame because there are actually a lot of tourist spots to visit in this district! The National Palace Museum, for one, is just nearby. Go there and you also get to enjoy the other famous neighboring attractions like the park for aborigines and another museum named Shung Ye. But it was raining that day. I know. Excuses. I hate umbrellas and raincoats and I’ve grown tired of museums. I love history in its written form through books. Artifacts and clothes from another century don’t amuse me that much. Well, they actually did when I visited that museum at Lotte World but that was my first out of the country excursion, and so everything was fascinating. As you get to visit more places they start to become the same.

[SHILIN] Hawker Food and Plenty of Clothes

After meeting Chiang Kai Shek, I thought it would be fun to get lost in the Taipei MRT. Okay, that was a lame attempt to cover up my stupidity. Anyway, Xiaonanmen is the only stop on that MRT line. From there you either go back to CKS Memorial Hall or to Ximen, both of which connect to the main MRT lines. I went with CKS Memorial and upon arrival there I had to transfer trains to go to Shilin up north, except that I boarded the train going south. Yahoo! I was surprised to see Guting station when the train should be arriving at NTU Hospital station. But the doors already closed, so I calmed down. How far could it be right? It turned out to be quite far. If you have a map of the Taipei subway, see how longer the line connecting Guting and Dingxi is relative to the other stops. That’s how far it was. So even when I immediately transferred trains at Dingxi, the trip that would have only taken around 15 minutes to Shilin became 45 minutes. Yehey me!

[ZHONGSHENG] Chiang Kai Shek Memorial

“Lazy” would be the adjective I’d use if asked how my trip to Taipei was. Of all my trips, this is where I really tried to reflect on whether I should continue traveling or not. Although the impending loss of my wanderlust was already evident in Kuala Lumpur, at least there I was still able to go places. Here, I just stayed in Taipei, and I didn’t even visit most of the common tourist spots, considering that there aren’t too many and the metro is efficient. Hooray me. All my travels here began past noon, which meant late lunch, and ended before 10 PM. It’s as if I flew all the way to Taipei just to laze around. Again, hooray me.

[XINYI] Taipei 101

As if sensing that this trip to Taipei would be full of sleep and rain, I decided to go where any tourist in Taipei would probably go for a been-there-done-that photo. Taipei 101. From 2004 to 2010 it was the world’s tallest tower until Dubai’s Burj Khalifa snatched that title away. You know these skyscrapers, they like outgrowing each other. In the observatory on the 89th floor there is a wall listing the top 10 tallest towers in the world. Only two are outside Asia, both of which are in Chicago in the United States. Four are in mainland China. One is in Hong Kong, and then you have Taipei 101, the Burj Khalifa, and KL’s Petronas Twin Towers. Too bad you can’t jump off Taipei 101, neither for leisure nor for suicide.

VISA: Taiwan (Visa Free)

Philippine passport holders can go to Taiwan visa free by using another visa. This does not make a lot of sense because it is not really “visa free”. You need to have a valid visa or permanent residence permit from any of the following countries: US, Canada, Japan, UK, EU Schengen, Australia, and New Zealand. What do we mean by “valid”? UNUSED.

Question: I have a Japanese Visa issued three years ago. It is unused. Can I use it to enter Taiwan? NO. It would no longer be valid since most tourist visas to Japan expire after three months of issue. Now if that is a multiple entry visa valid for five years or more then that would be fine. I guess your best bet would be a US visa because what the US embassy usually issues are valid for ten years. If you have single entry visas to any of the mentioned territories in the first paragraph and you HAVE NOT USED THEM YET and they are NOT YET EXPIRED, congratulations. You can use that to enter Taiwan.

If you satisfy the visa requirement but you have worked as a blue collar worker in Taiwan, then you are not qualified for this special arrangement. What’s next then? You go to this website: https://nas.immigration.gov.tw/nase and fill out the necessary fields. This does not take more than ten minutes. The approval is immediate. They would issue a permit shown above. You can print it right away. Actually, I suggest printing it right away. The page expires. I am just lucky I was able to save it on my desktop. I had no access to a printer when I did that. Bring that paper and show it to the immigration officer together with your passport containing the valid visa you registered on the website.

As for me I used my single entry visa for Japan, which I won’t use until September this year. Applying for a single entry visa at the Taiwan embassy will cost you 2,400 pesos. My Japanese visa only cost 1,200 pesos, and I get to use it for these two countries. I didn’t even have to go to the Japanese embassy. This is what I suggest you also do, if you are also going to Japan after all.