Travel: Taiwan - Taipei
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mfseng:
Thank you so much for the info. Oh dear, now I am worried I will get blamed by hubby for wrong choice of vacation destination. :gloomy: actually I read that Dec-Feb is the driest months for Taiwan that's why decided on it. Will shop for water proof jackets with hood this weekend for the kids. :thankyou:keroppi:
We're thinking of travelling to Taipei next week (the usual itinery to sun moon lake/toroko gorge, kaoshiung) . I am wondering what the weather condition is like now, so that I can pack the right clothes for my kids. Is it cold and rainy? Thanks.
Hi,
I just came back from Taiwan one week ago. The first day weather were good and we could enjoy the beautiful scenery, but the subsequent days were drizzling the whole day, it was rather inconvenient. It is advisable to bring the the water proof jacket with hood. -
keroppi:
We're thinking of travelling to Taipei next week (the usual itinery to sun moon lake/toroko gorge, kaoshiung) . I am wondering what the weather condition is like now, so that I can pack the right clothes for my kids. Is it cold and rainy? Thanks.
hi
Just came back from Taiwan. I only had 1 non rainy day out of 8 days. For Taipei and all lowland, adults wore short/long sleeve shirt w a good windbreaker cum raincoat/umbrella, long pants plus waterproof shoes. Key is waterproof shoes. Rain is light but non-stop. Sneakers wont do unless u don't mind having wet, cold feet and socks. Kids had additional long-sleeved sweatshirt. For hehuanshan definitely need thicker winter clothes, thermal wear for kids - but one normally stays 1-2 hours only, so if kids cant take the cold, just hide in the car w heater on. We piled on clothes progressively from Taroko to hehuanshan and started \"stripping\" when we reached CingJing. Daiso sells cheap earmuffs and gloves that was helpful for hehuanshan. 7-11 everywhere in Taiwan sells umbrellas, disposable rain coats, shoe covers, thermal wear. Night markets/shops in Taipei sell so many adorable earmuffs, scarves and gloves.
We hired a driver to get us from Hua Lien to Taroko to Hehuanshan to CingJing. There were numerous landslides along the way that were cleared - so it was passable - but the driver said anytime there is a bad landslide, road will be closed. IMO, it is NOT SAFE to drive ourselves unless u are familiar with the route, very taxing for the driver. At Taroko, road is very narrow and at parts can only take one car. Up to hehuanshan and CingJing, the clouds were so dense it was foggy and visibility was really bad at parts. Could not even see the car in front. At night in CingJing same thing. -
Thanks, mummyv for such detailed information. Will bear in mind to pack umbrella/raincoat in. So on the whole, was it still an enjoyable trip for the family? Actually I haven't paid up yet (going down to tour agency either tonight or tomorrow night to do so) so I still have the option of calling off the trip. We are taking up a tour package. All these mention of landslide & Alishan bus crash worries me, not sure if it is because of the rain :gloomy:
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if you have time in taipei before you start your tour around Taiwan, you may want to consider to change your $$$ at DBS Taiwan.
The exchange rate at Taoyuan Airport was S$1 = $23.31 but DBS Taiwan was S$ 1 = $ 23.596. In Singapore the rate was $23.22-23.30.
Only if you need to change a lot of money then can see the saving. Only DBS Taiwan have better rates. We had to change $$$ for 16 people so we had some decent saving.
For the local line, we did not buy the package for unlimited usage. Unless you need to be on data plan 18hrs of the day, then maybe worth to buy the unlimited usage. It was NT1000 at least…
Instead my Taiwan colleague suggested to me to buy the SIM Card from any 7-Eleven for NT300. Very cheap. To buy the card, you will need your IC AND passport. We bought 2 of these cards. At the end of 16 days, using the phone to call local calls and my private driver, I still had NT200+ left on each SIM Card.
Honestly at every minsu and also hotel, wifi is available everywhere. Personally i dont think we need to buy the data plan if you are not always on FB etc. -
SarChar:
I paid NT800 for 10-day unlimited data usage + NT550 of voice call.
For the local line, we did not buy the package for unlimited usage. Unless you need to be on data plan 18hrs of the day, then maybe worth to buy the unlimited usage. It was NT1000 at least... -
cos we were there for 16 days so it is NT1000+…
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ter_wen:
We didn't go to Taroko or Hualien. We stayed 2 nights in Cingjing and went to Hehuanshan during one of the days. After Cingjing, we went to Taipei by backtracking to Puli. From there, we use Freeway 6 and then Freeway 3 (instead of Freeway 1), based on local advice that we got.
oh so u drove from cingjing through the central hwy across to taroko? hows the road condition?
yours is clockwise, ours is anti clockwise.
here's my iti, any comments?
Taipei -> hualien. rest.
-> taroko, hehuanshan, puli. rest.
-> sun moon lake day trip
-> cingjing farm. rest
-> flying cow. hshinchu. rest.
-> leofoo. taoyuan. rest.
thks for your advice, we also intend to reach destination before sunset.
Your itinerary looks fine. Only comment I have is, cingjing should come before sun moon lake as cingjing is like 1 hr from Hehuanshan. Sun moon lake is 2 hrs away from cingjing if you go via Puli using provincial highway 14. And if you use freeway 6 and then freeway 3, it should get you from sun moon lake to flying cow pretty easily. Don't use freeway 1. We were in xinshe and we took freeway 1. The gps took us out to Miaoli quite early and led us to that horrid mountain road... -
Busymom:
thks.
We didn't go to Taroko or Hualien. We stayed 2 nights in Cingjing and went to Hehuanshan during one of the days. After Cingjing, we went to Taipei by backtracking to Puli. From there, we use Freeway 6 and then Freeway 3 (instead of Freeway 1), based on local advice that we got.ter_wen:
oh so u drove from cingjing through the central hwy across to taroko? hows the road condition?
yours is clockwise, ours is anti clockwise.
here's my iti, any comments?
Taipei -> hualien. rest.
-> taroko, hehuanshan, puli. o/n in puli.
-> sun moon lake day trip. o/n in pulu
-> cingjing farm. o/n in cj.
-> flying cow. hshinchu. o/n in Hshinchu.
-> leofoo. taoyuan. o/n in taoyuan.
thks for your advice, we also intend to reach destination before sunset.
Your itinerary looks fine. Only comment I have is, cingjing should come before sun moon lake as cingjing is like 1 hr from Hehuanshan. Sun moon lake is 2 hrs away from cingjing if you go via Puli using provincial highway 14. And if you use freeway 6 and then freeway 3, it should get you from sun moon lake to flying cow pretty easily. Don't use freeway 1. We were in xinshe and we took freeway 1. The gps took us out to Miaoli quite early and led us to that horrid mountain road...
added in red the night stay.
ya i agree with u that we shd go cj before going down to sml.
unfortunately we cant get a room at cj so going to stay at puli instead. then double back up to cj after we are done with sml lor...
bo bian. -
BigDevil:
up at taroko, congaing and hehuanshan still got reception?
I paid NT800 for 10-day unlimited data usage + NT550 of voice call.SarChar:
For the local line, we did not buy the package for unlimited usage. Unless you need to be on data plan 18hrs of the day, then maybe worth to buy the unlimited usage. It was NT1000 at least...
data speed?
any refund for unused value? valid for how long? -
allseasons:
Hi all,
I am planning to visit Taiwan (Taipei, Taroko Goorge, etc) during Lunar New Year Feb 2013. We are 2 adult, 2 children. But recently I read, Taiwan will have one full week holiday during Lunar New Year 2013.
My questions are:
1. Is it a good time to visit Taiwan during Lunar New Year? Will it be very crowded? Or maybe all shops, restaurant, museum, attraction places will be closed whole week?
2. Will the hotel be fully booked during that period? More expensive?
3. How about transportation? Will it be difficult to catch buses / taxis? If we go out from Taipei, will the highway fully jammed with cars?
Hmm... really want to go holiday during the Lunar New Year. But do not know where to go.. I am thinking some alternative destinations e.g. Korea or Japan.. but I heard that both Korea and Japan are very cold in February... :((. Please give me some advises... :))
Thanks a lot
Hi,
My family just came back from Korea last week, the weather is freezing right now. My half-day tour guide told us it is only the starting of winter. It may go down to -15 degree next two mths. Food choices is quite limited in Seoul. You can stay 2 nights in Alpensia areas resort, its great for skiing.
We went to Japan 2 yrs back which is before the earth quake, but if you are bringing children to Japan maybe you want to wait for another 2-3 yrs due to the radiation.
Last year Nov, we went to Taipei/Hualien/Yilan. We took train to Hualien and we stayed in Minsu for 2 nights. The minsu owner helped us to arrange a mini-bus that can seated 8 pax to drive us to Taroko Gorge.
You will have to pre-book your accommodation and train tickets earlier if you intend to travel on festive seasons.
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