u can use ur credit card to pay for hotel, certain train fares, restaurants and shopping (in shopping malls)
others u still need lots of cash

the charges i got for withdrawing cash using cc:
RM2 for cirrus
RM52 for cash withdrawing
then the exchange rate which is 10.2xx

staying in ximending is good. ximending comes to life during evening - night time. no night clubs in ximending area. u have to be at the city centre.

i didnt manage to visit any night club during my trip due to over tiredness after whole day adventuring. haha
i visit during my very last day which is a monday. went to myst club. only 16pax are there. LOL
then i went to another bistro/restaurant sit down have some drinks

oh haha.. then better i either withdraw cash or i change cash before going. Wanna get some treatpoints for my card, if shopping which area is the best for those boutique? I am not fond of cheap stuff (not being materialistic, but self-syokness) If i were to go for luxury stuffs will it be cheaper in Taiwan or better i just grab them either in SG or KL? Then what is nice around ximending when u said it comes to life at night, but no night clubs, so should be night market or anything? I might be going around the northern part of Taiwan, but will go to Leo Fu Village theme park

btw, looks like u are from Miri too

hi!
yes i am from miri u are too?
i change NT$ in miri and i get 10.9 or 10.85 during my trip which is not good if compare to those forumer here changing their money in kl
i just change around rm2k in miri here. then remaining i use sg dollars change at airport. u get good rates if u using sg or us dollars in taiwan

boutique as off those branded? u could try taipei 101. but still i think kl/sg market more. haha. price wise im not sure coz im not branded kaki. haha
u can spend some time in the airport itself too for last minute shopping as there are many branded duty free shop also

ximending only can see more crowds during late afternoon/evening or night time. lots of small stalls selling food. lots of shops for shopping. lots of taiwan mei mei for u to wash ur eyes too. hahaha. there a place for drinks near the red house.

yaya from miri but i will going from KL as i am currently outstation in Klang haha. I hope to get better rates at KL Kk then i gonna look for some other ppl opinions about it

Looks like i pick a good place to stay, i believe i will be going back to Taiwan near future as i really interested in that country from what i've heard from my fren that ppl there are very loving and caring when he went for a solo trip. hopefully my first impression on Taiwan would be good. The lrt mrt stuffs in taipei is very confusing >< is google maps reliable? or anything that can help in getting directions?

i go to taiwan for 8 days. u can refer back to my itinerary which i shared here. everything went well except for some timing glitches due to not familar with the place thats why u will spend more time venturing. hehehe

during my first day i already spend 3hours itself in the taipei main station. LOL!

taiwanese to me a over friendly. LOL. the people are really really nice!

mrt is easy. hsr is easy.
only the train is confusing. as long as u know where u wanna go, u can get the train schedule from the information centre and they will advise u which train to take. from there, get the train number and timing. then go to the desired platform. definitely u will reach ur place

google maps is realiable. im using it as my maps

hows ur itinerary? maybe can share with me and i can advise u

Oh nice, i am already starting to visualize taiwan haha.. not yet finalize as actually it will be planned by my friend. Waiting for him to come out with one lol.. i hope it is not shopping spree one.. i would go solo if this is the case haha. But i wanna go their electronic plaza or something like lowyat

http://i.imgur.com/M659Rn8.jpg
only manage to take sakura...
the 3 season flowers is in a famous flower park/garden.. we can't go in as the entrance ticket already sold out.. TT we manage to witness some but my camera can't take the picture because too far.. don't have a zoom lens along.. TT

hahaha. my trip is more to sightseeing and exploring the nightmarket.
i only have 1.5 days for shopping. which is not enough for my wife. LOL
i skip 1 or 2 places in my itinerary due to time constrain. and raining days.
during my trips, 2 days were raining i mean it rain occasionally during other days but doesnt really affect my schedule.
only the 2 days does

i plan to visit taiwan again soon!

Just back from my Taiwan trip. Most Taiwanese are nice and friendly. Foods there mostly overated and not as nice as advertised for my liking. Except Ding Tai Fung at 101 really nice. I stayed at Ximending, I must say that this street is nice, plenty of sop and shopping centre to shop around, easy access with Cab and Metro.

Must visit places at Taiwan:
1. Guang Hua Electronic Mall (Sell a lot of 3C Products)
2. Ximending (Sell almost everything)
3. Cingjing Farm (Sadly it was heavy rain and fogged when I went there, didn't manage to walk around, only go there to overnight)
4. Taipei 101
5. Yehliu Ecopark (NT$50 entrance fee only)
6. Zhong She Hua Hai (NT$100 entrance fee)
7. Taipei Arena
8. Ping Xi (Playing lantern), foods from Hawker centre there not bad
9. Sun Moon Lake

Totally agree food is overated...Din Tai Fung also not tat great .Some of d dishes available r not available there.N if u hv tried Dragon i ....Dragon i xiao long pao taste much better.

Taxi is not cheap there.Cost me TWD220 fr ShihLin to XMD.

Ping Xi kind of quiet town...Went to shifen to release lantern near d railway which is interesting. Whn d train comes ...everyone move out then continue.Whn i was there...there were many Msian. Lantern cost from TWD100. N can play fireworks too.d ppl sell u d lantern will help u to take pic too.

to me certain food is overrated. but some is really nice. which can hardly found in msian.

i didnt manage to go play and release the sky paper lantern due to time constrain. hehe. i plan to go after my jiufen visit end up i only spend time in jiufen time is drag too long. due to weather

shifen and pingxi will be my destination in my next visit

yeah i hope they can come out with a plan that is more to exploring than shopping. Ah raining.. hopefully not much rain during summer time.. gonna eat until i drop

hye guys jz bk wit my hubby from taiwan

great trip???~~ =D

hows ur trip?

ya great n nice trip, but got some places, the time is a bit tight lo

so missed out ping xi and shi fern

i miss out ping xi and shi fen too
that day is raining day. no choice

no rain just that very rush , cz i was in the yeh liu then when i ask the direction to the jiufern, the visitor info counter said too rush for me to go shifern, so i chose to go jiu fern, but very worth it

in tai chung very hot leh,

few days rain during my trip. so sad

u just change money here b4 u go there , cz go atm very mafarn one la

u need go to shilin nite market , alot of nice stuff there n is cheap n u bargain kao kao there ....the ppl there will actually mark up the price , so whenever u want buy that time, u need to ask for discount , and they will give discount for u...so pls do ask , no need feel shy , cz they wont scold u

feng jia also is nice place to buy cloths, cz compare to xmd n shilin , the cloths there is cheaper de

eg in eng jia they sell ntd 170, in shilin they sell the same thing ntd 250

but in shilin take note : there are one auntie (wear spec , long hair , selling in the nite market , without a stall one

selling dress n cloths damn cheap ah ntd 150 per pc n bargain somemore with discount

haha