At first, I planned my route to be TAIPEI > TAICHUNG > NANTOU > HUALIEN > TAIPEI. But later on I found that it would take half a day or even A DAY to travel by bus / car through the central mountain range from NANTOU to HUALIEN. Another way would be to take HSR back to TAIPEI first then take direct train to HUALIEN which would also take around the same amount of time. It is so time and energy consuming. So, in the end, I was left to choose between TAICHUNG or HUALIEN. I really really wanted to see the Taroko Gorge :( but because I've paid for the AirBNB in Taichung, I had to give up Hualien.




So, if I'm going to Taiwan again, I would probably plan my trip for at least 7 days I think for a more relaxing and enriching experience. And try to just focus on one area like just the North of Taiwan, or just the South of Taiwan for each trip.





ACCOMMODATION

I've also booked my accommodation as early as 2 months before my trip which was when I've decided on my destinations and route. I've used AirBNB and Booking.com for all my bookings. Staying in AirBNB would be more cost-friendly compared to hotels in Taiwan and so far I feel Taiwan's AirBNB are generally safe, clean and convenient. Only for Alishan we stayed in a hotel because there were only a few hotels that were strategically located near the Alishan train station.

I've compared across a few platforms like Agoda.com, Hotels.com and even one platform that's widely used by Taiwanese (forgot its name) but I found that Booking.com was still the cheapest and had the widest base of hotels. If you found a homestay at AirBNB you can also try to look for it in Booking.com coz sometimes they offer at a cheaper price!

After comparing AirBNB and Booking.com, I found that if you book a place in AirBNB, you'll have to pay the full amount during booking and it is usually non-refundable after 2 days of booking, depending on the host. Whereas for Booking.com, I didn't have to pay during booking. I've booked two hotels with Booking.com and one required me to pay when I check in whereas another one will deduct 50% of fee from my credit card 1 week before check in date and the balance was payed during check in. So I like Booking.com more because I didn't have to pay first as I was so uncertain whether Taiwan will be hit by typhoon during my trip.



TRANSPORTATION

We've also took High Speed Rail (HSR) instead of normal trains because well, we're short of time!!! I bought the tickets from KLOOK (KKday is a similar platform but I used Klook just because I've got discount vouchers) because I get more flexibility than buying directly from the official website and a 20% discount for all tickets (only for foreigners) no matter how early I buy.

If you buy from the official website of HSR, you might get an early bird price up to 35%. However, not all tickets have discount as some direct trains which take shorter time to reach destination compared to normal trains will be selling at regular price no matter how early you buy. Besides that, for high demand trains, you'll have to compete with so many Taiwanese because the early bird tickets are very limited. Buying on the official website also requires you to choose a specific departure time to secure your seats. You have to collect your tickets and board on the train before the departure time or you'll have to just take the other trains in the rest of the day but you're only allowed to take the non-reserved seats (this was what I eavesdropped  from the conversation at the counter next to me when I was waiting for my tickets to be printed). Non-reserved seats are the cheaper seats where you can take any seat you like in the "free seats car", but if someone comes on board with a ticket of the seat your taking, you'll have to give over the seat to that passenger. Yeah, quite troublesome I would say. You are also allowed to modify / cancel booking if you have not collected your tickets, at least 30 minutes before departure but with handling fee of NT$ 20 per ticket.

On the other hand, buying on KLOOK just requires you to choose the specific date. You can choose any train on that day at the counter when you reach the HSR station. The only downside of buying from KLOOK is that you must collect your tickets through the staff counter and must go through the manual ticket inspection at the platform gate. You cannot collect tickets from machine. That's why we have to allocate time of at least 30 minutes for queuing and other unforeseen circumstances. Besides that, cancellation fee for KLOOK is 10% service fee.

I've used HSR for three journeys: TAIPEI > CHIAYI (RM108/ticket), CHIAYI > TAICHUNG (RM41/ticket), TAICHUNG > TAIPEI (RM75/ticket). I've used KLOOK to buy all the tickets because buying from official website gave the same amount of discounts (I'd really waited in front of my computer at 11.59 PM to compete for the early bird tickets but sadly all the tickets I wanted were in high demand so they didn't offer more than 20% discount).

Summary: After you've chosen departure time for the HSR, check the price at the official website (Taiwan HSR 24 Hours Online Booking) which is usually available as early as 28 days before date of departure. If you see >20 % discount for your tickets, BUY IT! If not, I would just go for KLOOK because of the time flexibility that I've mentioned.

Don't have to worry about availability of seats as HSR tickets are a lot more expensive compared to the normal trains so not many Taiwanese would use it, unless it's during a peak season like long holidays for Taiwanese. Also, HSR departure time are quite frequent so if you miss any train, you can just take the next available train.


INTERNET

Also booked a Taiwan prepaid traveler 4G SIM card from KLOOK at RM62. I assume it's a little cheaper than buying directly from the telco provider when you reach the airport. It is available in 3,5,7 and 10 days package. I opted for the 7 days package that comes with unlimited data and NT$ 150 credit for calls and texts. It's very convenient as you can collect it just outside the arrival hall at the airport. The coverage and speed of 4G internet were good.


I chose SIM card instead of portable wifi because:
1) it's always very useful to have a Taiwan phone number for emergency such as when you couldn't find your AirBNB, 
2) don't have to return anything before you leave Taiwan, 
3) one less device to charge means less worry about limited charging ports!


ITINERARY

Of course, not forgetting the itinerary. I made one that's comprehensive in excel form. Sometimes I feel it's overly detailed until I lose the spirit of backpacking lol. Anyway I made it in Chinese because duh, it's Taiwan!



Although I thought that I was 100% prepared to start my journey, I still felt anxious on the few days before the flight. After all, it's my first self-planned trip! Anyway, I'm glad it turned out to be an enjoyable trip.



Next: TAIWAN TRAVELOG 2018 臺灣寶島之旅 DAY 1: TAOYUAN AIRPORT > TAIPEI MAIN STATION