Travel With Me #3 - Off To Taipei (台北)

Yay, the long-awaited Taiwan trip has arrived! Packed up all my stuff and hit the morning ride with Hive account@jayjml at 5 AM, almost reaching KLIA then I realize something is missing. Yup, I forget my jacket AGAIN and is too late to return back home and grab it. I have no choice but to embrace the cold along the journey and that's not the only bad thing I had.

Reaching KLIA around 6 AM with lots of car dropping off passengers at the departure entrance, dropping my luggage at the check-in counter is less hassle as there aren't many people queueing. Grab a quick breakfast at the McDonald before going into the International Departure Hall for immigration clearance.

Over the past few months, immigration has somewhat started to use this E-Clearance machine whereby an individual will go into the machine, have their passport checked by a reader, match the fingerprint and off you go. This process will take less than 3 mins which are a lot quicker than the old method of having an immigration officer manually checking the passport

Reached my departure gate around 7.45 AM which is a bit too early than the estimated opening time, 8.25 AM. While waiting for the time to pass, I posted a short update on my trip, here ; soon the gate had opened and I proceed for the security check.

The aircraft I going to onboard today will be a Boeing 737-800, an upgraded version of the old Boeing 737-300 that Malaysia Airlines (MAS) used to operate with. It carries newer CFM56-7BE engines producing more take-off thrust, more durability, 8% more fuel efficiency and 15% reduced maintenance costs. It's my first time onboard a Boeing 737-800 mainly due to I travel more often on AirAsia which their fleets are mainly Airbus A320s & A330s.

For your info, I have paid an extra RM 20 to choose my preferred seat before the flight, which I choose 8A because it was supposed to be a window seat but MAS decided to troll me 😬 with their seat configuration and without letting me know about it in the first place. I'm not sure whether to be frustrated or give a thumbs-up to them for successful trolling me 😂 (Picture below for the troll moment)

Sorry folks, no take-off and landing videos this round, need to wait for my next flight which is 10 days later and hopefully not get trolled by MAS again. After boarding the flight, the captain announced that we will be having a slight delay as many flights are departing as well but luckily it's just a 5-10 minutes of delay which isn't that bad.

Luckily for me, this flight is equipped with in-flight entertainment (IFE) and USB ports on each seat at the economy class, which I won't be bored to death at least. Soon after taking off, I start to explore what this IFE has to offer, inside there are TV, Movies, Music, Kid Shows, Flight Info and Books.

An hour after takeoff, air steward begins to serve breakfast given the choice to choose between Nasi Lemak Chicken or Chee Chung Fun with Tofu. I opt for the Nasi Lemak instead since I need some spicy fun to generate some extra heat for myself 😅. Served on a tray together with fruits (papaya, honeydew & pineapple), cake (chocolate peppermint), a pack of peanuts, bread (honey loaf), orange juice and additional drink of your preference (orange juice, apple juice, tea or coffee)

Flight towards Taipei have slight turbulences which causing the seat belt indicator to occasionally popped-on by the captain and so does the landing at Taoyuan International Airport, but weathers on the ground have been nice sunny (22 Celcius) with some clouds overhead. Upon landing at the airport around 2.30 PM, disembark from the aircraft, get a local prepaid SIM before queueing up for immigration clearance.

I opt for the 台湾大哥大 prepaid sim 10 days value package which only cost NTD $500 for unlimited 4G internet + $100 airtime. This package is only available at the airport store, so the next time you visit Taipei, get it before heading out the airport.

Super fast 4G internet speed, when will Malaysia acheive such speed 🙄

After connecting back with the world, I proceed to the immigration which ends up in 30+ minutes of long queue due to many flights arrived at Taipei around the same timing as my flight. Only Taiwan citizen get to use the E-Clearance machine while us, the foreigner will need to queue for the manual check by an immigration officer. Hive account@joannewong told me that there was a 5.7 magnitude scale earthquake happened approximately 1.59 PM here at Beitou district which is 12.3km north-northwest of Taipei and she felt it too. Luckily the quake isn't strong enough to cause any major disaster, phewwww!

After the immigration, head over the luggage collection area to collect my luggage and off I went to catch the MRT to Taipei Main Station which will take about 30-40 minutes. I got myself an Easy Card (Touch n Go for Malaysia) preloaded with some NTD on it, the ticket fare from the airport to the main station is NTD $160.

Arrived the station around 5 PM, I've met up with Hive account@joannewong and checked in to the hotel and get some rest before heading out for dinner at a nearby Night Market, only 15 minutes walk. We went out around 7.30 PM, the temperature dropped slightly until 19 Celcius which is a little like Cameron Highland except windier. Carrying a nearly empty stomach, we quickly get ourselves to reach there for some food!

This night market isn't as crowded and long as the famous Shilin Night Market, but it still has various types of foods, drinks and games.

After a walk around the Night Market, it's time to go back to the hotel and call it a day! Here I am finishing compose this post at 2.30 AM 😂, time to hit the bed as well. Oh! Before I forget about it, here's a short video clip of my today's journey 😉.

Bonus - Not to offend anyone or religion, I apologize if you feel so. I find it a bit eye catchy to us, Malaysian when I'm walking my way back to the hotel. Apparently, it's a bank mascot for their advertisement which they name it, Malaysian knows what it means 😬