10 Days in Taiwan!

My trip to Taipei, Taiwan was a 9 hour flight from Brisbane to Taoyuan with Eva Air. Admittedly I was feeling quite ill during the last hour before arrival, not really sure why as I've never had "flying-sickness" before. Eva Air was great, smooth landings and great customer service from the flight attendants, I would definitely recommend the airline. The cost of my flight was $836 with 30kg for luggage, and converted $620AUD which gave me $13000NTD.

I arrived in Taoyuan International Airport at 6:10pm and collected my luggage and out of customs at approximately 6:45pm.. All ready to start my 10 day Taiwanese adventure! My 7th uncle and his son picked me up and brought me to Banqiao, the place where I stayed for the first week in Taipei. Boy, was I excited! And a little nervous - I' had not seen my relatives for a good fifteen years!

I was amazed and excited to see the city, and discovered that it was still busy and lively late into the night! Shops were still open for business, food stores were still open for the hungry people. We went and grabbed my favorite drink.. BUBBLE TEA! aka Milk Tea - and some deep fried chicken to sooth and satisfy my grumbling belly.

Ok. The food. Into this journey of mine, you will see just how much of a "foodie" place Taiwan is known for, but for now I will just rant on about the deep fried chicken. The delicious, mouth-watering deep fried chicken... Honestly, amazing! It is definitely a must eat when visiting Taiwan. It was approximately $100NTD for a whole bag, and so approximately $4AUD. They were pretty kind with its serving size!
Originate in Taiwan, Milk tea normally cost around $5 for a medium size in Australia and I bought one for $50NTD, which is approximately $2AUD.

First things first. As much as I love getting magically lost in a new destination, I always make sure to have a SIM card or a working phone with data just in case of emergencies, obviously for safety reasons.
The SIM card I bought was $800NTD, for 10 days of unlimited data usage and it only cost me $33AUD. Bargain, right!

Although the city doesn't sleep until midnight, I went to bed early after all day of flying and spending it at airports. So, first night was an early night, ready for the first day of my adventure!Read more