Taiwan 2018 Itinerary

We had a free and easy 5D4N trip to the southern part of Taiwan, and it all began with the 6am flight to 高雄 Kaohsiung Airport via Scoot. We had managed to get a pretty good deal for about $150 per pax without seat selection, luggage or food 🙂

Sleepy-eyed as we were awake since 2am, we were initially a bit disappointed that we were assigned the middle aisle seats in the last row, meaning that the seats could not recline 😦 We were also slightly concerned that we would take much longer to clear customs and all, given that we would be the last to alight, and we were on a rather tight timeline to try to catch the 12 noon ferry.

However, minutes before the flight was due to depart, a flight steward came by to inform us that due to an error, we were incorrectly assigned the least preferred seats which could not recline, and he would be able to shift us to another row of seats after take-off. Wow! We were very surprised by this lovely gesture, since we would have been none the wiser if he chose not to inform us. Hence, the flight had 3 very happy passengers; me who got a window seat, hubby who had 2 seats to stretch his long legs, and the passenger with us at the same row who proceeded to occupy the original 3 seats as his bed 😛

Thus, I had a very good snooze during the 4-hour flight 🙂 The weather did not look too promising though…

Despite the less-than-ideal weather on the first day, it was rather sunny for the rest of the trip.

As we had booked a package with the minsu in 小琉球 Xiaoliuqiu Island which included quite a few activities, and also a driver for our day trip to 屏東 Ping Tung, we did very minimal planning for the trip.

In fact, we booked our accommodation in 高雄 Kaohsiung after seeing 头等舱 Airline Inn being featured in one of the TV shows 😛 We had a very enjoyable stay here and would love to come back here 🙂

Looking back, we, especially me, had quite a few first-time experiences, and also did stuff that we had not done in ages. This was indeed a very memorable trip!

Our itinerary as follows:

• Day 1: Scoot to 高雄国际機場 Kaohsiung International Airport. We arrived around 10:30am, breezed through customs, picked up our pre-booked WiFi router and met our driver 許大哥, who would ferry us to 東港码头 Donggang Ferry Terminal. After obtaining our return ferry tickets, we hopped onto the ferry to 小琉球 Xiao Liu Qiu Island, where the 民宿 minsu (aka bed-and-breakfast) owner picked us up at the meeting point. Grabbed a quick lunch before the 潮间带 inter-tidal zone tour at 1pm, followed by 浮潜 snorkelling at 3pm. Next, we picked up our 電动自行车 electric scooters, and spent the evening and night getting used to the ride and finding dinner. [More on 小琉球 Xiao Liu Qiu Island]
• Day 2: Spent the morning exploring the island. Caught the 11am ferry back to 東港 Donggang and went to explore the 東港華橋市場 Donggang Seafood Market. We did a car pool back to 高雄火車站及捷運站 Kaohsiung Station, and manage to do an early check-in to our hotel room at 頭等艙飯店高雄‧站前館 Airline Inn – Kaoshiung Station just before 2pm. Good thing that the hotel offers 24-hour free self-service laundry, so all we had to do was to obtain the detergent powder from the staff and quickly dumped our clothes for a quick wash and dry, while we used the waiting time to freshen up. By 4pm, we were ready to go explore Kaohsiung! We went to 巨蛋 area to check out the 鬲离咖啡館, 瑞豐夜市, and 漢神巨蛋購物廣場 Hanshin Arena Shopping Plaza.
• Day 3: We met up with our driver 王师傅 for our day trip to 屏東 Ping Tung. He was the alternative driver which 許大哥 offered to us, as he had a last minute assignment and could not rush back in time for our day trip.
• Day 4: Half day trip to 旗津 Cijin Island, followed by food hunting in 鹽埕 Yancheng district. Visited Ling Ya Night Market (aka 自强夜市 Zi Qiang Night Market) and 六合夜市 Liuhe Night Market.
• Day 5: We slept in after breakfast, while Ms K visited a nearby bookstore before checking out of our hotel. Had a light lunch at 許記蒸餃, and did cafe-hopping at 羅斯朵。晴天 咖啡 and Cafe AL. Took the MRT to 高雄国际機場 Kaohsiung International Airport, had a quick dinner at Homee, before rushing to catch our flight back to Singapore.

Being Ms K’s first trip to Taiwan, we were glad that she had a great time 🙂

Useful website:

• Taiwan railway (new website): https://tip.railway.gov.tw