Since we needed to be at the airport relatively early to catch our flight, we planned our route the night before. Fortunately, things went pretty smoothly as we headed to Fukuoka Airport. We arrived at one terminal, but had to take a 15 minute shuttle to the other terminal for our flight. Security took a while, but we managed to get through with lots of time to spare. It also helped that there was a delay with our flight. Due to the amount of time we had, we shopped around the duty-free stores for souvenirs. It was here that I discovered Royce chocolate-covered chips. Who knew you could combine chocolate and potato chips to create a wonderful, yet life-shortening, snack? I typically do not like white chocolate, but it was a delightful combination of sweet and salt.
We also bought some breakfast from the 7-11 near our gate. The line was relatively long at this 7-11, but we managed to get through in under five minutes. Once it was time to board, we gathered our belongings and headed to our flight. It was my first time flying with Tigerair. Despite being a budget airline, the seats were relatively comfortable. After about two hours, we arrived at our next destination: Taiwan.
There was a long line waiting to go through customs, so I took my time to savor the sights. I've never been to another country in Asia besides Japan, so it was interesting to compare and contrast the differences. In terms of Taoyuan Airport, it seemed very similar to Japan in terms of service and speed. I don't know a lick of Taiwanese, but fortunately, my girlfriend is fluent. Once we got through customs and immigration, we headed to try our luck for some money that the tourism industry was handing out on IC cards preloaded with 5000 NTD. Apparently, there may have been a way to increase your chances of winning, but I clicked on the first item I saw on the screen (you have to click on falling balls on a screen to see if you won or not) and got a message stating that I did not win anything. My girlfriend on the other hand, was able to win, so at least we had 5000 NTD to spend! 5000 NTD works out to be around $200 Canadian, so I didn't think it would last that long. Boy, was I wrong...
Once we converted some money to get NTD, we headed down to their metro. I got a Yoyo card (equivalent to Suica in Tokyo) and two purple tokens. These tokens were one-way tickets, which was quite unique! We were fortunate enough to grab seats, as we headed to Taipei from the airport. The ride was scenic, with a lot of greenery on both sides. I cannot recall how long it took, but it didn't seem too long to get to Taipei Main Station. Once we left the station, we took our luggage to our hotel. It was quite hot, so I was glad when were able to make it to our hotel. Our room was extremely tiny with no windows. I opted to save money on accommodations (there was a Citizen M hotel which was not much more, but it was further from the station), though was starting to regret it when I saw the room. The shower had no separate wall from the toilet, meaning that you'd have to aim the showerhead in a way to prevent flooding the bathroom. Apparently, it's common in Asia, but it was a new experience for me. Fortunately, as I later found out, wasn't too difficult to shower (First World Problems).
The a/c blew cold, which was nice. After we rested for a bit, we headed out. Despite the small rooms, our hotel was located in a prime area of Taipei. There were a lot of small shops and restaurants around us. We started off with bubble tea. If I remember correctly, my drink, with pearls, was under $2 Canadian. I was expecting a mind-blowing experience, but it tasted similar to bubble tea that I could get in Canada (just not for that price). We walked towards a busy shopping street that had a pinball arcade. There were two different games, but we had no idea how to play initially. After getting instructions from the staff member on-site, my girlfriend explained to me how to play both types of machines. It was surprisingly addicting, and we managed to win some small prizes after spending... CAD 10 each or so. I believe we also spent nearly 90 minutes in this arcade, so it was money well spent.
It was time for dinner, and my girlfriend made plans to meet up with one of her friends. We had dinner at a hot pot restaurant. The two of them had fun catching up while I enjoyed the food and the sights from our table (the restaurant was up on the second floor of a building). The hot pot broth was savory while they had unlimited rice. The meat they ordered was also top quality with a lot of marbling. There was also a juice/drink we got which was sweet and tangy. And the best part: it was CAD 100 for 3 people.
Once dinner was over, we walked around for a while to digest. We parted ways near our hotel as her friend took the metro back to her place. We headed to a nearby 7-11 to purchase some snacks for the night. It didn't seem like there was as much selection compared to Japan, but everything was reasonably cheap.
So far, I've had a good experience in Taiwan. Everything is affordable and the area we were in wasn't overly crowded.
What I noticed about Taiwan in comparison to Japan was the vast amount of mopeds. I would say on anecdotal evidence that there's an equal number of mopeds and vehicles in Taiwan!
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