Friday 21 March 2014

Taiwan trip: Day 1 ~ KLIA, Taoyuan Airport, HSR rail, Kenting(South Taiwan; beach)!!

Our flight from KLIA to Taoyuan airport is from around 1am - 6am (around 5 hours, Malaysia Time). Taiwan's time zone is the same as Malaysia and their sunrise is around 6am and sunset around 5pm depending on your current location in Taiwan.


As it was our first time to travel using Malaysia Airlines bound to Taiwan, we decided to go to the airport early to explore the satellite terminal. Flight to Taiwan was at the Main Terminal of KLIA.









 Boarding the shuttle train to KLIA satellite building.











The plane we board was Malaysia Airlines 737-800 bound to Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei, Taiwan. Unfortunately it was the older model, so nothing to watch/do at that time.


 They do provide headphones at that time but their radio/music player was not functioning.
At least they are considerate in providing a simple blanket and pillow for a medium-haul flight for economy class.

 My meal that day. Chicken with black bean sauce noodle. Wasn't too appetizing but it taste not bad. The other choice was something that has fish.
For medium-long haul flights, there will be extra food of a mini warm bun, fruits and a simple sponge cake.


 Still finishes everything though... :P

 Arriving Taoyuan airport.

Immigration is on the right side.


 Surprisingly, when you use trolley on their escalator, it STICKS on it and you cant push it even if you want to be faster, good idea..

 Very clean toilet

 For those who wants to charge their mobile devices.

 We decided to get the local Taiwan mobile prepaid unlimited 3G plan. Take note, the 'shop' only opens at 8am. Passport is sufficient and they do things very fast.. :)
I go for the plan B from Taiwan mobile and find the 3G quite fast at main places. Their call rates are quite reasonable actually, and manage to call back to Malaysia for like Rm0.50 per minute.



After that, we will be boarding the High Speed Rail(HSR) to the southern part of Taiwan for the beach, Kenting. But first, we'll need to board the HSR to ZuoYing station which is the last station of the HSR. Ticket was quite expensive at around 1500NTD ONE WAY! You can purchase it online in advance but bcoz we are going there directly after a long flight, we dont dare to book/purchase the ticket in advance. If you purchase the ticket in advance, you can save around 10-30% of the normal fare. Journey duration to Zuoying station is around 2 hours

After that we took the bus to Taoyuan HSR station to take the high speed rail that can go around 300 KM/h, all the way from the north to the south of Taiwan. Try walking around and explore the airport. To buy and board the bus to Taoyuan HSR station, go one level down of the arrival hall. You can always proceed to the tourist Inquiry table if you are a bit lost.




 Taoyuan HSR Sation


And we were rather excited to explore into Taiwan's 7-11which is one of the country that has the most 7-11s. You can simply get the food and tell them to heat it up during payment.

 Notice the blue/green signs? It means get this particular sandwich from the particular row and with drinks at such a price, in other words, Combo.







 Yellow light lighting up means the train is arriving, make sure you line up on the orange sticker box.

You can also buy food on board but for some reason, I only saw this once throughout the whole jounrney.




 Quite a wide leg room.

Quite nice scenery along the way.




You'll need to board a bus to Kenting which takes almost 3 hours of ride. Our driver that day was really cautious in driving and not speeding at all, so rest assure.. :)

 We bought the Kenting Express Bus ticket. Come out from the side station where you can see the word Uniqlo, and you'll see the small booth to purchase this ticket. The lady selling this ticket can speak a bit English(Dont worry).. Purchase the to and fro ticket is cheaper.






We stayed in Caesar Park Kenting hotel which is one of the first 5-star hotel here. We make our bookings after comparing the rates in tripadvisor.
 There's a beautiful lady playing piano at the lobby lounge that time.

 Seaview room!!!!!!!!!



 Our room features 2 queen beds!



Drinks in the mini fridge are also COMPLIMENTARY!
And if I'm not mistaken, you can ask for more.. :P





 Trying out their famous beef noodle, around 3ooNTD
p/s The beef meat is really big and thick!






 The hotel's own merchandise shop.

 There are 2 ways to go to the nearby Little Bay beach, we just walk across the road which is quite safe bcoz not many cars at all.




 There's the Beach bar!!! It's not that boring as there's music playing in the background.








The Kenting night market is just a store throw from our hotel.









 The fried oreo is more like our tokoyaki skin with a soft oreo inside it, interesting..





 A very common sight here in Kenting. I realize Taiwan pet owners really love their pets and always bring them out for a walk.





We bought pizza and sat at the balcony and enjoy the COLD(not cool but freaking cold at 19 degree celcius and wind was blowing quite strongly, and the sky doesn't look it will rain any sooner).
That's all for Day 1 and we slept comfortable on the queen bed for each of us..
My review of Caesar Park Hotel Kenting @TripAdvisor.

Drop by any comments/question if you have.


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