Ni Hao, Taipei!

My 3rd city this 2012 – Taipei!

Visiting Taipei alone for the first time, and “ni hao” being the only chinese words I can utter and understand, it was a mixture of adventures and misadventures.

Landed in Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei around noon and headed to the bus station right away. Good thing I got a free Bus Voucher to city from the the Taiwan Tourism Board in Singapore – such a nice touch for their tourism campaign!

Following friends’ advises, I stayed at the bustling district of Ximending.  Hailed as Taipei’s answer to Tokyo’s Shibuya, it is filled with colourful neon lights, shopping stalls and throngs of youngsters dressed fashionably.

Stayed in one of the newest boutique hotels in the district, SWIIO Hotel. Like most hotel rooms in Taipei, it was on the small side, but for a solo traveller, it’s ok and quite comfortable.  It’s very accessible too which makes it a good base in exploring Taipei.

Going around Taipei is very easy.  The Taipei Metro pretty much takes you to every destination in the city being comprised of several train lines.  Roughly, here’s a map of the Taipei MRT system with some of the tourist spots on each station.

I also took the bus (which I’m very proud of)! Being a non-chinese speaker, I simply relied on my gut feel (when alighting buses) or through the help of my hotel receptionist or the personnels from the Tourist Help Centre in every MRT Station. This was how I survived taking buses in Taipei.

Here are some of the photos I took while walking and going around Taipei.

Visit my blog in the coming weeks, I’ll be posting more entries regarding my Taipei trip and the places I visited. Now, next to wishing I’d be able to go back to Taipei this year, I wish that there’ll also be a green tea flavour of yakult here in Singapore.

XOXO

Taiwan Tourism Board Singapore

Address: 30 Raffles Place, #10-01, Chevron House, Singapore 048622

Tel No.: 6223 6546

Website: http://welcome2taiwan.net