Taiwan Travelogue: Taoyuan International Airport and a glance at the city

When the word Travel pops up, I am almost instantly excited and all the pictures of vacation and the prospects of wandering to a new place to see the other side of the world just come rushing into my mind. I mean, who doesn't like the idea of traveling, right?
So, when we decided and finalized on a surprise trip (oh, my surprise trip actually, by my hubby) last two months, I was thrilled and overjoyed that I was to pack my bags and get ready for another adventure.
Destination?
Taiwan, yes, that is the place that I have been talking about for years, and have yet to make a trip and finally, it was realized early this year.
Almost everyone has been to Taiwan, but hey, it is not a race, so we are taking our own time to plan and explore this gem in Asia (though I would not say much about the planning, as it was more of a spur-of-the-moment kind of trip).

The idea of an early flight never bothers me, as I am naturally an early person who wakes up way before the birds do in the morning every day. Besides, when one is to embark on a journey to see the world, who needs that much sleep anyway?
I was busy finalizing my packing from the night before, and needless to say, I need no alarm clock to wake me up that morning as I was just anticipating the trip.

The newly renovated Penang International Airport, with the International Departure Gate beckoning to us while we finalize our documents after checking in.



 It was an approximately 5 hours flight; with a layover at the Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok International Airport, for about an hour before we finally landed at our destination.



Huge Taiwan flag displayed at the airport, greeting visitors at first sight upon landing at the international airport's runway.





Taiwan's Taoyuan International Airport, formerly known as Chiang Kai Shek International Airport (CKS) has seen the years taking its toll on this once glorious and much acclaimed landmark making to the list of one of the most impressively modern architecture for an airport in Asia and today, its lacklustre appearance has dethroned her from the likes of the rise of the other much modernized counterparts in the neighboring countries.
It was rather quiet really, at the time of my arrival, and the airport, while still maintaining the basic architecture is currently undergoing minor modifications to upgrade her already fading glory as proudly worn now by the far more impressive airports in Asia. While it is not too bad, I could not help but agree that the airport did indeed lack the wow factor and did not seem to synonym with the prestigious hat worn by one of the Five Tigers of the East, in which Taiwan was in the list. It may signal time for an upgrade, and I am sure it would be on the many belts of planning in the country.

Spotted, Hsin Tung Yang's outlet located at the airport, one of the big household names in the country for their pastries and baked goods (perhaps something like our very own Bee Cheng Hiang?)



As usual, we always preferred to travel on our own rather than book on tours and therefore, most of the time, it would require a lot of of research and planning to get around independently.
The first and foremost concern in question is the transportation, upon arrival, as in, getting out of the airport and to our hotel.

We found that there are bus services available at the airport, and for an approximate of TWD150 (~MYR16), we could board a bus which would take us to the nearest MRT station to our hotel.
(There is no direct bus to the hotel where we have booked for our stay).



There was a designated area right outside the airport where we could wait for our buses, and the lines are drawn clearly on the grounds for the queues. The Taiwanese do take their queues really seriously, based on my first impression as I noticed how the people would stand religiously and obediently to wait and there is no one who would cross over to overtake another. I would say this is something which should be observed and practised in all the countries.



Now, I have to admit, I am not much of a bus person. In fact, I am not much of a public transportation system either, and maybe you could say I am spoilt in that sense, but in my country, it seems to be easier and more convenient to own a car which gets us everywhere. Okay, now that sounds a little like over pampering, and I guess it is true. Don't get me wrong, I have gotten on buses and trains back in my country before, but not on a regular or daily basis, perhaps also due to my job nature and the frequent traveling, I am more used to cars.

Anyway, I am not that familiar with the bus system, and I was a little skeptical initially, preferring the cabs over the buses, but I was proven wrong when the bus arrived.
I was instantly bowled over by the warm welcome of the bus steward (yes, they have one) who came over to our queue to greet and to confirm on our tickets and destination, and of course, checking on the luggages. He helped us to put the luggages into the designated compartment at the lower part of the bus and then gladly answered our questions as we checked with him on the direction the bus will be traveling and our destination.

The bus was not like those public buses I had pictured, but rather, it felt more like a luxury coach which just made me instantly relaxed as I got on and enjoy my trip.
Oh one thing though, I remembered that the bus had this flapping sound at the roof; where I noticed that there was a huge plastic taped to prevent rain drops so I guess, it is time they look into the maintenance of the bus. After all, Taiwan is prone to rainfall too.



It was an approximately 45 minutes ride to the town; as the airport is located at an estimated 40km (~25 miles) away from the center of the city.

Scenes of Taipei from the bus (be reminded that these are from the outskirts of Taipei, as these are taken while traveling from the airport)









Arriving at the city; and the sudden change in the weather.
We were there in January, and it was during the winter season where sudden changes in temperature and rainfall can occur.
However, the weather was not too cold as in some of the other countries I have traveled to, and it was just nice with an average temperature of 16 degrees Celsius, and on certain days, it could go up to 18, or drop to 10, but in general, the temperature was just a cooler escape from the heat in our country.





Taipei is another metropolitan city that is full of hustle bustle and needs no introduction as our bus enters the roads lined with shophouses, skyscrapers and swerving against the motorcycles or rather, scooters which were so notoriously known and associated with the city that they have almost become one of the most iconic things to look out for in the city.



To be continued....

Travel Tips: Getting around Bangkok

Bangkok is hailed as one of the top cities in Asia for her traffic condition, and anyone who has been to Bangkok can definitely vouch for that. The city is known for the notorious traffic condition; particularly during the peak hours where one could be stuck in a bumper to bumper and even a standstill traffic for hours to get from one destination to another.


The traffic congestion can be a headache for most motorists, and sometimes taxi drivers are even known to refuse rides to potential customers during those peak hours.
If you are planning a trip to Bangkok, do make arrangements to avoid the traffic peak hours. While you may not be planning to take a taxi, the trains can be quite crowded during those hours and it may not be such a good idea to be lugging your luggage around to beat the crowd to squeeze yourself into the train, and your luggage(s).


Getting around Bangkok is not such a complicated thing, with the well-established public transportation system such as the BTS and the abundance of colorful taxis around.
Beware of the Tuk-tuks too; which are small three-wheeled type of trishaws with eager drivers who have no fear of approaching you directly to get you into their vehicle. Do bargain and make sure you have settled on a price before getting on.
However, I would still advise to either go for the licensed taxi or better still, the train.

The BTS is indeed a handy travel companion, but having traveled to many countries, the BTS can be a rather tricky thing especially if you are not a local, or do not know Thai.
If you have been to Bangkok, you would have noticed that most of the station names are in the local Thai language. Of course it makes sense that they are in the local language, but the thing is, it is not friendly to travelers who are foreign to the country, and the places within the city.
Also, I have noticed that the famous landmarks or tourist destinations are not included in the station names.
For instance, some of the names of the landmarks are mentioned beside the station names or the station was just built at the landmarks in cities like Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taipei.

Therefore, if you are a first timer to Thailand and without a guide, please do your research on the places you want to visit and jot them down in your notepad.

1. Print out a copy of the BTS route map, and study the map.

2. Plan your trip according to No.1, and identify the stations linked to your destinations.
Take note that some of the locations could be reached by more than one stations; but do check out travel books/blogs/sites on the recommended stations to get off as the travelers have real-time experience on getting around the city.

3. Carry enough spare cash and coins with you, as you would need them to purchase your tickets at the stations.

I was fortunate enough to be on a trip with a friend who knows Bangkok city; or at least the few top attractions at the back of her hand and we had not much problem getting around the city with her guiding us around. With a guide, I did my own observations and made my mental notes for future references and the above were what I have noticed during my travel.

Don't worry too much though, as there is always the bright side to it.
For one, you never have to worry about starving if you have missed/skipped a meal, for there are always food joints available at the train station.

 

Scenes of Bangkok's road and traffic; and this is on a Saturday morning, though near Chatuchak market

The car on the road

We collected our rental car which we booked earlier; following a free ride from Hertz to their rental station.


A comfortable bus ride aboard the Hertz bus

Our car for the whole trip; we remembered ordering a smaller car but well, guess we were upgraded!


A glimpse of Waikiki area! It's where we will be staying during our honeymoon trip...


To be continued...

Night Bus and Overnight stay in Hangzhou

After a full day at Wuxi and having dinner at the bus station (read here), we hopped on our night bus to begin our journey to Hangzhou; which was the next destination.

The bus journey took approximately two hours from Wuxi, and we arrived at Hangzhou at almost 9.00pm.


We faced a little issue when we arrived at the Hangzhou bus station as there was a miscommunication with the tour company. We were told that we were to be picked up by the tour operator, but to our dismay, when we reached the main entrance, there was no one there.
We were left there standing in the cold, while frantically trying to reach the emergency contact person, and it took us half an hour to finally get the person on the phone.
It seemed that the driver had already arrived at 9pm sharp, but he was on the other entrance.
(What, there's another entrance?)

Anyway, thank God we were safely picked up and sent to our hotel for the night.
Alright, I was not really thrilled at the sight of the 3-star hotel which we were supposedly staying the night but it was part of the tour package and after such a long day, a place to rest and refresh myself is essential.


The hotel was quite dimly lit and even the rooms were the same.


The bedsheets were not too clean, but still white, in my opinion, but hey, this is no Hilton, although I was still rather uncomfortable with the sheets.


The bathroom was not too bad, although the amenities were rather limited.
Still, they provided soaps and shampoo, toilet paper, shower cap, toothbrush and also a hairdryer. That kind of impressed me, by the way.



The closet was rather shabby but comes with hangers and drawers, and next to it was the mini bar.


There was also a television and a A/C unit with heater facilities. I think the heater must have broken down as I barely felt warm the whole night, and we were just freezing through the night.


Maybe I should not be complaining so much, but hey, we paid for it, and the tour company just did not do such a good job with the accommodation.
Anyway, it was just for one night, thankfully!

Travel Tip: High Speed Train from Suzhou to Shanghai (New Suzhou Railway Station)

The first day of my trip, despite being in Suzhou, I had the desire to visit Shanghai, the most developed cosmopolitan city of China.
(Well, as many say, you can take a girl out of the city, but you could never take the city out of the girl)

I grew up in a city myself; and being surrounded by traffic jams, hectic lifestyle, fast-paced walking on the pavement is just to me, part of life.
Furthermore, Shanghai is a place which holds special memories for me as it was the place where I was posted for my first business trip and it is also the first place in China that I have visited.
I was definitely excited to see Shanghai and see how the place has changed in the past five years since my first visit.

The thing is, the first time I was there, I was in Shanghai itself, so getting to the city was no feat since I could just catch a cab and in less than 30 minutes, pronto, I am there.

This time around, I am staying in Suzhou, and if you are good in your geography, you'd definitely know that the point to point on the map is not to scale; which in other words meant Suzhou is not that near to Shanghai, though not that far either.
The distance between Suzhou and Shanghai is estimated to be approximately 80km.

To get to Shanghai from Suzhou, one would need a train from the Suzhou Railway station to Shanghai, and the train ride would take about half an hour or so to get to the city.
There were two railway stations in Suzhou; but the new Suzhou Railway Station which is opened in July 2010 is the main station.
(Anyway, the old station was closed at the time of posting for renovation and remodelling).

The new Suzhou Railway station is the place to get the tickets for the high-speed trains to get to most of the major cities and stops in China; and that includes even to the capital, Beijing.


A few things to know about the Suzhou Railway station, or railway/public transportation stations in China to get a traveler started:
1. Most of the signs are in Chinese, but not too bad as they do have English translations as well.


2. One may face problems with the ticketing machines as the machines require a national identification, and there may not seem to be ticket operating window in sight.
However, do check with the guards standing by the doors, they'd be happy to direct you to the ticketing counters.
(It would be better if you know a bit of Chinese as well, after all, these are locals working at the stations).
**There may not be so many help available in Suzhou or other smaller stations, compared to Shanghai**


3. If you are a tourist, which you definitely are, I'd advise to purchase the tickets directly from the counter as they require your passport for verification.


4. Be prepared to have cash or change on hand, as the machines accept change and it may not be easy to find an ATM anywhere in the station.
Also, you wouldn't want to be cursed by the long line of people behind you (there's always a long queue at the ticketing machines).


5. This goes without saying, try to avoid peak hours like morning work hours (7.00-8.00am) and (5.00-6.30pm) where the crowds could seem like they are about to cause a major stampede in the station.


6. Do read the bulletin boards or signs to check on the train departures, and the gates/platforms from which the trains are to depart to avoid getting on the wrong train or joining the wrong queue.
(Sometimes the locals are not that friendly, and some of them could be conmen; so I'd still advise to approach the train operators or the guards).

Facts and Information to know:
The New Suzhou Railway Station (source)
The station is located in the north of city Suzhou, and it has five floors which three (B1, B2, and B3) are underground and two (1F, and 2F) are on the ground. By its planning, B2 and B3 is reserved for city metro line 2 and 4, B1 for taxi cabs etc.. Now 1F in the station is a lounge for trains which start from Suzhou to Shanghai, and 2F is a lounge for trains to Nanjing and trains via Suzhou to Shanghai etc..

Station has 32 entrance fare gates and 21 exit fare gates. It has 1200 chairs for passengers, 3 information kiosks, and 2 machines for due ticket fare. However, 500 more chairs have been set up because of crowded traffic. Now New train station transports more than 100K passengers in and out daily.

Station has three ticket offices now, and they are intercity automatic ticket booking office (18 TVMs), Station No. 1 booking office (19 ticket windows), and temporary booking office (15 windows). The first two ticket offices are to sell high speed train tickets only.

Types to Trains (from Wikipedia)
The letter prefixes on train numbers indicate the type of train. From fastest to slowest, the fast trains are:
C: intercity high-speed rail. Top speed 380km/h (237 mph).
G: latest generation CRH, all with top speeds of at least 330 km/h (over 200 mph) and some up to 380 km/h
D: earlier generation CRH, with top speeds of 250 km/h (155 mph)
The slower trains are:
Z or T: intermediate-speed non-CRH trains. Some of these get up to 160 km/h (100 mph)
K or no letter: slower, cheaper and more crowded trains

On most trains, there are just two classes of seats, first class and second class. Both classes are comfortable, though first has noticeably wider seats. Some trains also have a limited number of VIP sightseeing class or private seat cabins. Some long-distance runs have sleeper cabins.


There may be even be vendors selling some food and drinks, but you can bring your own to save on the cost of traveling as some of these could be higher in cost.

There are a few lines in service, the schedule is also available to check here or here

To get from Suzhou to Shanghai, one should look out for the Shanghai-Nanjing line
Shanghai - Suzhou - Wuxi - Changzhou - Zhenjiang - Nanjing.
As Wikipedia would put it, the Shanghai to Nanjing is the busiest stretch of railway on Earth

It is important to note that at the moment of posting, there are two types of trains operating on this line; which is the D and the G train (refer to the prefixes and types of trains above).
(Quoted from Wikipedia)
a. The D train from the main Shanghai station to Nanjing was one of the first CRH lines and is still in service. It takes a bit over two hours.
b. A new G train line opened in July 2010, running from the new Hongqiao Station in Shanghai, right next to the airport and on subway Line 2. Shanghai-Nanjing time is now 73 minutes for non-stop service; some trains also make intermediate stops.

There is a newer line which was completed in 2011, and the travel time was reduced to less than an hour.


We took the G train; and followed the directions to the gate/platform.



A typical scene on the train platform on a normal working weekday


The seats are all assigned, but still there are times when you may find your seats taken up but rare.

The train offers comfortable seats and a smooth sailing ride through all the different stations to Shanghai, and honestly, I find it a very enjoyable train ride and it barely feels like I was on a train; yes, it was that smooth!


It took us about 30-40 minutes to reach Shanghai Main Station from Suzhou Railway station, and I recommend this as the mode of transport to get to the city as the traffic is just horrendous getting into the city most of the days; especially on weekends.

A few final pointers:
1. Beware of your belongings as there may be pickpockets around in busy areas such as the train stations.


2. There may be many 'black' or illegal cabs around the stations (in Suzhou), do be careful and only take licensed cabs at the level B1 where the taxis are gathered. (Follow the signs).

As always, travel safe, and follow the signs, although the directory and the railway routes map can be confusing.
For further information, you can check some of the travel sites, or you can send me your questions, I could try to answer or get the answers for you, if I can :)

Arrival at Pudong International Airport and Car Journey to destination

The flight from KL International Airport was approximately four and a half hours before we finally arrived at the Pudong International Airport.
I can't believe that it has been 5 years since my last visit to Shanghai and that I came to this place again; but this time not on business.

The airport has not changed a bit, but then again, don't all airports look the same?



Still, I just can never resist to take out my camera and start snapping photos to beat those flight blues away and feel cheerful immediately that I am on vacation!
Yeah, it's a me-thing :)

Despite this not being a business trip, I was still pampered with the luxury of being picked up by the airport by a car which was pre-arranged by my brother-in-law to ensure a comfortable journey to his place.



Lovely car, which offered a good view!

There is really no need for A/C as it was winter, instead we really need the heater! :p

Our journey took another 2 hours to my brother-in-law's place, and do you want to guess our destination?

The sights during the journey





I guess it will be a little hard to guess the destination, as it turned dark really soon, although these photos were taken at 5pm!



We finally arrived, and despite this being one of the shorter flights (compared to 8-20 hours type), I was still exhausted as it took us the whole day to reach our destination in China!
Welcome to Suzhou for me :)