Planning Taiwan Trip (Part 3)

A friend recommended someone in Taiwan who can assist me in planning my Taiwan trip's itinerary. His name is Mark and he is providing chauffeur services. He provides many information and ideas about traveling in Taiwan. As a foreigner like me, we usually depend on tour operators to bring us around.

Some ideas that he shared which I never think off . For example to watch the flower Sakura at Yang Ming Shang at night. I believe it will be a different view at night with spotlight shine on the flowers. Another ideas is to travel by boat to Danshui which I think is cool ideas. Taiwan is famous with packages that provides dinner with free SPA and many more. 

Mark gave a lot of websites so that I can study them to give my options open. Even I use Google search, I won't be able to connect with so many good and relevance websites.

I am in the midst of digesting all his ideas. Hopefully, I could finalize soon to share with you.

I search Facebook for travel tips and ideas to Taiwan but discovered limited Like Pages created under English version. Therefore, I created my owned Like Page called "Visit Taiwan 916". The objective of the Like Page is to share my research about traveling @ Taiwan. It helps me to document all my findings . It will become my living diaries and I can access it wherever I go. It also aims to be a sharing platform so that others can get information  about visiting Taiwan. Hopefully, in return, others who have the knowledge about Taiwan could contribute some information to us.

By the way, don't ask me the meaning of 916. It neither any major events had happen on that day nor slogan  to invite people visit Taiwan on Sept 16 . For us Malaysian, it is a Malaysia Day and a public holiday. I use 916 because I created this Like Page on Sept 16 and out of convenient. I 'm try to differential  from other common name Like Page.

    May 2006 at Yang Ming Shang

Planning a Taiwan Trip 台灣之旅 2 之初步行程表

Since my friends mostly read Chinese and since this is a Taiwan Trip, I will write my post in Chinese.

经過多天的研究... 以下是初步行程表:-

15/3/2011 星期二(捷運)

9.30AM 齐集在ICCT, 乘AIRASIA客机飞往宝島之都-台北.

CHECK IN KDM 酒店 (设在忠孝新生站)

淡水站, 在淡水街品嘗小吃, 去淡水漁儿碼頭看日落.

晚上坐捷運去士林夜市 (劍潭站)

16/3/2011 星期三 (包車)

北上 陽明山, 參觀野柳地質公园, 遊九份. 晚上住礁溪温泉泡湯.

17/3/2011 星期四 (包車)

大魯閣之旅 (好像太遠) , 一路从宜蘭经北橫公路, 參觀风景特定區到新竹市.

18/3/2011 星期五 (包車)

迭1遊 : 六福村主題遊樂园 or 小人国主題樂园 or 新竹楓育樂中心 or 綠世界休閒農場 or 香格里拉樂园, 晚餐后直回台北

19/3/2011 星期六 (捷運)

早餐后,  参觀中正紀念堂 (中正紀念堂站 )，去西门町(西门站)走走, 参觀西门紅樓.

中午 去忠烈祠(劍潭站)‧ 后去故宮博物院.

晚上,台北101(市政府站), 信義新天地 SHOPPING, 臨江銜觀光夜市

回酒店KDM HOTEL

20/3/2011 星期日(捷運)

自由活动,  5.30 PM 搭飞机回家

注) 相關网站:

遊淡水(source : http://pretty88house.myweb.hinet.net/tsh/)

淡水位於台北的西北方，處於盆地之地型，北鄰三芝，南以關渡和台北相接處，西瀕台灣海峽，與八里只之間只隔著淡水河，淡水鎮人口數十二萬六千六佰六十六人，行政區域劃分為33里，有562鄰，東西長11.138公里，總面積70.6565平方公里 。

古時淡水是個地方的總稱，在以前的年代是指整個台灣北部，滬尾是村落名稱，後來淡水與滬尾互為並用，淡水是在日本時代才正式取代滬尾的名稱，一直到現今。

淡水轉變的非常多，從老舊的街頭到現今成為觀光勝地，淡水有著名勝古蹟淡水紅毛城、牛津學堂、埔頂洋樓、滬尾砲台、忠烈祠、淡水禮拜堂、滬尾偕醫館...等，情侶們來淡水必去的淡水漁人碼頭，吃了讚不絕口的淡水小吃、阿給、蝦捲、魚丸湯、阿婆鐵蛋、魚酥...等各式各樣的淡水名產，及介紹淡水河岸邊咖啡廳，讓旅客們能邊喝著咖啡，邊享受著淡水河岸的美景。

阳明山国家公园

陽明山國家公園緊鄰大台北都會區，是可及性最高的國家公園，面積雖然不大，卻擁有獨特的火山地質地形、多樣的動植 物資源，隨著悠久的開發歷史，處處皆可見早期留下豐富的人文史蹟，更因多變的微氣候，造就千變萬化的氣象景觀，如春天綿綿的細雨、夏天絢麗的彩虹、秋天浩 瀚的星空及冬天凜冽的東北季風，偶爾還會帶來令人驚豔的白雪。這一切造就了豐富、精彩的陽明山，也帶來每年超過1,200萬人次的遊客；因此，如何紓解龐 大的遊憩壓力、改善公共服務設施、加強環境教育、深耕自然保育理念、維護自然資源，避免遭受破壞、持續提昇服務品質，為本處施政的重要目標。

野柳風景特定區

本區為大屯山餘脈伸出於中國東海中的岬角，長約1700公尺，寬約250公尺。此處岩石因風化、海蝕作用顯得鬼斧神工，其中又以「女王頭」、「仙女鞋」、「燭臺石」等最為有名。野柳地區的地層主要為中新世野柳群大寮層，分布於龜吼村至國聖埔海邊，也是構成野柳岬的主要岩層。野柳的岩層主要是由1000-2500萬年前的厚 層砂岩所構成，顏色多呈青灰色、黃灰色，著名的蕈狀岩就分布在這層岩石中，同樣極富盛名的燭臺石與薑石也分別分布在二個不同的岩層中。這三層不同的岩層， 配合造山運動、海蝕和風化等作用，產生了許多罕見的小地形地貌景觀，如單面山、蕈狀石、女王頭、薑石與燭臺石等，具有教育解說、觀光旅遊與學術研究等價 值。

九份

位於台北縣瑞芳鎮的九份，處在山坡地勢上，過去曾因出產金礦而盛極一時。掏金熱吸引了大批人潮進駐，林立的商店與酒家到夜晚還是燈火通明，使這座山城獲得 了「小上海」、「小香港」的美名。除了帶來人潮之外，金礦亦帶來財富，九份當年的消費力甚至高過都會地區，因而有了「上品送九份，次品輸艋舺」的說法。後 來隨著礦源枯竭，人口大量外移，昔日繁華的景象便逐漸褪去。

現在的九份除了純樸的老街與殘存的掏金氣息以外，還可以欣賞到山海風光和四季變化的景緻。春天的時候百花盛開，夏天時清風徐來，秋天落葉繽紛，冬天雲霧繚繞、細雨棉棉。體驗歷史與自然的同時別忘了順便品嘗美食，九份傳統小吃絕對會重新喚醒您感動的滋味。


礁溪温泉

礁溪温泉位于台湾省兰阳平原上的宜兰县礁溪乡德阳村，主要分布温泉沟溪谷中。分类上属于沉积岩区的温泉，温泉热水储存于四棱砂岩层(变质砂岩)的裂隙中， 源头是自第四纪冲积砾石层中涌出。台铁宜兰线礁溪车站前即为温泉涌出区，站正前方温泉路至山边德阳路一带温泉饭店、温泉旅馆林立。一出站即可见到温泉路上 的足汤。

六福村主題遊樂园

六福村主題樂園位於新竹縣關 西鎮，是台灣著名的複合式主題遊樂園，目前有『中央魔術噴泉』、『阿拉伯皇宮』、『美國大西部』、『南太平洋』以及『非洲部落』等5個主題村，是一個趣味 活潑的適合全家旅遊休閒國度；六福村主題樂園的3隻吉祥物更是招牌，哈比、哈維以及瑪希薩兩隻猴子和一隻白老虎的可愛模樣，讓遊客爭先恐後和她們拍照留念 喔！ 


小人国主題樂园
小人國的『迷你世界』是以台灣、中國大陸和世界各國的著名景觀建築模型為主題，每座模型皆以原尺寸的二十五分之一縮小呈現，迷你世界園區景觀建築模型總計共130組，不論是建築或景觀都栩栩如生。『迷你台灣』展列了台灣的精緻之美，舉凡高速公路、總統府、紅毛城、中正紀念堂、國父紀念館、 傳統三合院等台灣建築；『迷你中國』包含北京紫禁城、雅園、拙政園和可愛的熊貓，讓您不用出國就可以看到中國大陸的風土；『迷你亞洲』包含台灣和中國大陸 的經典建築以外，還有日本東大寺、大阪城等等，讓您在這裡就能玩遍世界各國；『迷你歐洲』有縮小版的比薩斜塔、沙特爾大教堂、巴黎歌劇院、聖巴西爾大教堂 等等，讓您受到歐洲宗教的薰陶；『迷你美洲』則有美國四大總統塑像、NASA太空梭、自由女神像等代表美國自由民主精神的代表。

新竹楓育樂中心 

新竹楓的溫泉股份有限公司於 92 年投資設立新竹楓溫泉會館，並於 93 年 12 月正式開幕，以衛星探測、人工鑽井的方式，取得深達2000公尺，無污染、無地表水滲入的天然碳酸溫泉。 新竹楓溫泉會館坐落於新竹縣新埔鎮，緊鄰新埔義民廟，山林


香格里拉乐园简介
香格里拉在藏语里的意思是『老朋友，你来了！』，而在英语则是『Shangrila』即世外桃源；香格里拉乐园位于造桥乡公所的斜对面山丘，佔地约50公 顷左右，结合了水上乐园、客家文化村、大型综合乐园，香格里拉乐园是一个美丽的世外桃源，除外，还设有欧式浪漫的大花园、万紫千红的步道、许愿池、山训 场、亲子广场、烤肉区、游乐区等设施。

綠世界休閒農場

綠世界生態農場位於新竹縣北埔鄉， 面積佔地七十多公頃，全園採自然生態工法設計，為國際級的生態農場，農場內設有天鵝湖、大探奇區、水生植物公園、鳥類生態公園、蝴蝶生態公園五大主題公 園，以及金剛鸚鵡區、可愛動物區、亞馬遜雨林區、空中植物區、有毒物區、美食天地、綠野廣場、熱帶風情屋……等38個景點，此外，也不定期推出有趣多變的 活動，適合大大小小的朋友來此度過一個難忘的大自然生態探奇之旅。


Wow... I am really in headache, now I know it is not easy to plan .... need to cut down some locations, but which one ?????

I have not calculate the cost, it looks quite costly as it involve small group travel with 包車!!

(to be continue)
 

Planning a Taiwan Trip 台灣之旅 1

Finally, a few of my old classmates, 6 of us plus my 2 sons decided to go for a Taiwan trip in March in 2011 next year. According to research, the best time visiting Taiwan is in the month of March because it is in Spring Season and the weather should be cooling but not too cold and is in flowers bloomsome season, some said is the most beautiful season in Taiwan. 

However, we note that by following tour packages are hectic and rushing, we will not enjoy so much if we are to follow the normal tour agent package. Therefore, we all decide to do a DIY trip. As I have been to Taiwan a few years ago, it naturally become my responsibility to plan out the detailed itinerary.

First, I need to work out the flight details to Taiwan, I have 4 options, by Airasia, Malaysia Airline (MAS), China Airline or Eva Air. After comparison, as usual, Airasia is the cheapest one and no need to compare China Airline or Eva Air, both airline are more expensive than MAS. Since this is a budget trip, we aim to maximize value for money, we look for the most inexpensive way of travel. By comparing MAS, it is approximately RM250 cheaper for us to travel with airasia, it can save up to RM2,000. Each one of us need to pay at least RM862.00 only.

Therefore, without hesitation, I booked 8 ticket to Taipei on 15 March to 20 March 2011 via online booking.

Next, is the itinerary, it is not easy as Taiwan has many places to visit ..... I decided to aim at Taipei, northern part of Taiwan and a few interest places. I try to aim for more quality than quantity. ..... but again, it is hard to plan. 

See my next post for my "preliminary itinerary"  

Mid-Autumn Festival

You don't need anyone to remind you that the Mid-Autumn festival (known as Mooncake Festival) is approaching. You can read from newspaper or visit shopping mall, you will notice many places are promoting mooncake and lanterns. This year (2010) Mid-Autumn festival is on 22 September 2010 which is also the 15th day of the eighth month in Chinese Lunar calendar.

My childhood memories about Mid-Autumn festival were fantastic. I still remember I stayed at a terrace house which Chinese were the majority community. Almost every night during the festive month, a group of friends and I were taking our colourful and lighted lanterns and walk around the neighbourhood, we chit chat while we walking, we loved visiting dark alley, the colourful lanterns lighted the alley and we were having fun chasing away cats there. I really missed those fun times. 

I still remember I have a special made lantern with a shape of a butterfly, it has two rollers that I could push on the ground. When pushed, "ring ring" sound would came out and the wing of the butterfly will start flapping up and down, like flying, the body which made up by two colourful cylinders will start turning... it was very pretty. However, nowadays, I couldn't find this type of lanterns anymore. Most of the lanterns that sell in shopping mall are the hand carry type. Worse, some made by plastic and run on batteries. It has lost the true meaning of lanterns festival.

Nowadays, it is no longer safe to walk alone outside the road. Parents are worry about the safety of their children because many crime cases had happen. You cannot see children carrying lighted lantern walking around the neighbourhood anymore. Many children confined within their house while playing with their lanterns. The time that you could see group of children walking around with their lanterns is a history of the past.

Another thing I like about Mid-Autumn is mooncake made with traditional pure lotus paste with single yolk (even better with double yolk). Every year, I am sure buy a few boxes and enjoy this wonderful time with my family. Recently, I notice the many new type of mooncake in the market. It has wide variety and many flavours. From the newspaper promotion, you can see many hotels coming out with so many type of tastes. It is beyond imagination, I have picked out a few new taste in the newspaper that I want to share with you:

Dried shrimp lotus paste

Butter skin pandan lotus paste

Mango Lotus Paste

Spirulina Lotus Paste

Avocado with custard

Durian paste

Ping Pie Bird's nest with custard

Blueberry cheese

Yam cinkgo paste

Snow skill chocolate whiskey

Mango cheese paste

Green tea

Espresso chestnut

Pumpkin paste

Strawberry, blueberry, orange snow skin

Royal mocha and milt tea

Mint Almond Chocolate

Sweet purple potato paste ....  wow ... the list can go on....

Nevertheless, after said all these ...I still prefer the traditional made lotus paste with egg yolk mookcake. It is still the best. Nothing can be replaced.

Planning a Trip to Singapore

Many people don't plan for holiday in advance, they decide in last minutes but ended up with disappointment because either hotel accommodation full booked, high traveling cost due to last minutes purchase or can't get seats for the flight etc.

With September 2010's Matta Fair, I wanted to bring my family for holiday to Singapore. The best time to Singapore is Christmas season. Because of peak season, it is advisable to plan a head of time.

Let see what should I do .....

1) Transportation.

The normal mode of transport to Singapore is either by plane or by coach from Kuala Lumpur. I think the cheaper fair that we can get is Airasia or Tiger Airway. However, this round I decided to go with luxury coach. In Matta Fair, I managed to get special return coach promotion from Kuala Lumpur to Marina Bay Sands at only RM48 nett per person. I think is reasonable, four of us cost RM192.00 only.

The coach is inclusive of meals, drinks, on-board games, free Wifi. This is important to me as I can blog on the way to and back from Singapore..ha! ha! They also provide video-on-demand which my family members can watch their favorite cartoon or movie. Look like I', getting a good offer.

2) Let work out the place to stay.

Accommodation in Singapore is expensive because of the exchange rate. The current exchange rate is RM2.35 for S$1. If I book a normal S$150 room which is a normal 2 - 3 star hotel, it may cost me easily RM352.50 per room. In Malaysia, I can easily rent 4 star hotel.

To save cost, I decided to save on accommodation cost, therefore, I started selecting from the budget hotel networks. To my surprise, they are a few nice one and from the picture, the room looked okay to me. Finally, I selected a 3 Star hotel with each night comes with a complimentary entrance ticket to Images of Singapore and choose any one more attraction in Santosa Island.  i.e, Santa Grand Hotel Bugis. The room plus breakfast for 2 pax. The only concern I have is how far away from MRT. From Google map, it look not really far, but again, the map can be deceiving too.

3) Place of Interest

Many tour operators in Matta Fair are selling casino package. But for me, it is not my cup of tea, I am bringing kids for holidays and the younger one never been to Singapore. Therefore, going to Universal Studio is a definite-go destination. I was told I need to book in advance which day to visit U.Studio, we must book in advance, otherwise high chances that we unable to go in because of popular demand. The entrance fee is not cheap to U.studio. Although it's a Matta Fair promotion, I still need to pay RM144 per person and RM108 for child. The total cost of the entrance tickets is RM540.00 which cost  more than the transport cost.

Since my traveling period near Christmas season, I believe is going to be enjoyable and fun time to Singapore.