I'm in Taiwan until April 10th. Haven't traveled very far outside Taipei yet, but if you're planning to go so many places high speed rail is probably the way to go, you can buy online I think.

THSRC

Agree that you seem to have a very packed itinerary.

There will be many many concerts in Kenting the first weekend of April e.g. Spring Scream and Spring Wave, so you might want to take them into account.

This post has been edited by kyl: Mar 23 2009, 08:54 PM

For hostels, try Hostelworld or Hostelbookers.

Alternatively, give Couchsurfing a shot, I highly recommend it.

You can book EVA tickets online, or shop around for any special offers. Dunno about the different classes, just choose the cheapest one la haha.

if you go to 花莲 （Hualien), which you will if you're heading for Taroko Gorge, you'll see that 曾记 have a practical monopoly on the 麻薯 business, try the fresh hand-made ones, compared to the packaged ones, the difference is heaven and earth haha.

This post has been edited by kyl: Apr 17 2009, 01:26 PM

Definitely no visa required. You can stay for up to 30 days, but that is non- extendable.

If you have a valid motorcycle licence (an international one should do) you can rent scooters in Hualien (there are a couple of shops near the train station) for really cheap and make it to Taroko.

I don't have an answer, but I can suggest a place where you might find it. If you go to www.couchsurfing.org, create a profile, join the taiwan/taipei group and post your question there, there are a lot of Taiwan- based people there who should be able to help you out.

Hope this helps