Travels in Taiwan - How to Travel For Less

One consideration when traveling is how to manage costs.  Here is a short guide to the costs of a trip in Taiwan.

First, getting here.  If you book early enough, you can get a round trip from Vancouver to Taipei for under $700 CDN, that being the price in mid-2017.  There are two major airlines that are headquartered in Taiwan, EVA Air and China Airlines.  I'd recommend either one.  Their equipment is new, the service better than North American carriers, and generally, they are less expensive.

Second, getting around.  Taipei has a great subway system.  It's easy to figure out, fast, safe and cheap.  Most rides will cost about $1 CAD.  That's only two $10 NT$ coins.

Getting between cities around the outside of the island is best done by train.  I've written about that in another post.

Then there are buses.  I did take a few bus rides.  Some scenic areas have shuttle bus service.  Examples would be Taroko Gorge, the east coast line north of Taitung and around Sun Moon Lake.  Also, the only way to get into the island's interior is by bus.

Taiwan has a high speed rail system down the west coast.  I didn't take it because, other than the excitement of going that fast, it was more expensive and the stations are further outside of each city they stop at.  Sometimes 15 to 20 km outside.  Not convenient for the hiker/backpacker.

Regular restaurant meals are somewhat similar in price to Canadian establishments.  Perhaps a bit cheaper.  However, you can eat from street vendors and small food stalls.  I've written about food elsewhere.  If your accommodation provides free breakfast, use it.  You can pick up steamed buns on the street for 25 NT$ (about $1.25).  Instant noodles are cheap here and there are many varieties.  Hot water is available many places.  Fruit is cheap and good.  The island is noted for it.

Accommodation is next.  I booked everything through Expedia, in advance, and I generally used hostels, picking cheap places close to the train station in each city.  Per night costs could be around 500 NT$ per night, which is around $25 CAD.  Some offer free breakfast, some don't.  All have free WiFi, most have kitchens, boiling water machines, fridges, showers with good hot water, but often no towels supplied.  Because of the time of year I was there (late Oct early Nov), dorms were not often busy.  In some cases, I was the only person there.

Travels in Taiwan - Sun Moon Lake

After a quick trip to Mt Yushan and a climb to the summit early Tuesday morning, it was off to Sun Moon Lake.  The bus ride took a couple of hours and the route from Yushan National Park down to the valley took us on torturous roads and a major loss of altitude.

Sun Moon Lake is Taiwan's largest body of fresh water and is a tourist center, ringed with lush forested hills and dotted with temples.  Despite this, I found it quiet and peaceful, at least early in the morning.

The best deal is to get a day pass on the shuttle bus for NT$80 (about $4 CAD), which will take you around the important bits, getting off and on as the inclination strikes you.

A Confucius temple where students go to curry favour before exams, to a pagoda built by Chiang Kai-chek in honour of his mother, with a commanding view out over the lake.

I hiked up to tea plantations on the hillsides above the Lake and I explored temples and wandered on trails along the Lake.  It's normally a very busy tourist location, but it was quite calm and relaxed when I was there.

After 3 nights at the local hostel, it was time to take the bus to Taichung, the last new city on my round-the-island tour.

Travels in Taiwan - Taking the Train

This is a new experience for me.  In all my years, I can count only three real trips by train.  Two in Canada when I was a high school student, and one a year ago through China to Tibet.

In Taiwan, all the main cities are connected by train.  One could probably go around the whole island in a bit more than a day, all on the train.  That was my route, just stretched into 3 weeks.

They are cheap.  A 4-hour ride will cost about $20 CAD.  They run exactly on time.  They are comfortable. You can pay by credit card.

There are different rates depending on the time of day, and one essential app for the traveler's phone is called "Taiwan Railway", adless train schedule, by DIN Lab.  The only thing you can't do (yet) is purchase tickets, although they say that's coming.

What I would do is find the departure time I wanted and just show that screen to the ticket agent.  Although most of the agents spoke some English, it seemed less confusing to use the phone app.

Trains in Taiwan - More comfortable than a bus and, in my limited experience, better views.

Travels in Taiwan - Food

This is one area where language really is a barrier. 

My experience so far is that there is little English spoken, at least a lot less than the guide books would lead you to believe.  Few menus are in English.  In fact, at any eating establishment selling a number of items, there is full page checklist, all in Chinese characters.  Not exactly foreigner friendly.

Some places have an English menu.  Usually this will have pictures.  You can order by pointing. 

Many of the smaller street stalls only sell a few items.  These are usually on display.  A glass steamer full of steamed buns, for example.  Point, indicate how many you want and the merchant will post the price on the register, or use fingers.

Of course, there are stores like the ubiquitous 7-11s, Family Mart, etc., But you wouldn't want to try and live like that for very many days.  Most cities have stores in the Carrefour chain.  You can get anything you want there.

And, if you want to spend more, you could try regular restaurants.  I mostly avoided them.

One food source I did try several times was the night markets.  I first read about them, and then "Waterfront Cities" mentioned them in their episode on Taipei.  These markets seem to have almost everything.  A few of the things I was even able to identify.

I tried a couple of buffet-type places, but they were disappointing.  Items you thought should be hot were actually cold. 

And if you were really desperate, you could always resort to a North American import...