20hour Layover in Taiwan: My First (and 2nd) Hostel Experience

After deciding on the Taiwan layover, the decision to get a Taipei City hotel was easy - yet difficult. I never had the experience of staying in a hostel, and quite frankly I only hear about it from travel sites and the Globe Trekker (originally broadcast as Lonely Planet) series back in the 90's. Yay Ian Wright! Personal Tidbit: I was a short lived travel documentary writer.

I have to admit, I was a little scared, because the only thing I could book in my hostel of choice was a co-ed dormitory room for one night. In any case I didn't see any of my roommates.

Ni Hao Taipei is an EXCELLENT hostel. I think i paid a little bit more, but for the amenities, and the way it looked, and the location - IT WAS WORTH IT.

Know that if you are checking in late, you need to inform them - hostels don't operate 24 hour lobbies, as most small backpacker-type places.

Upon checking in, I was given a card key, and a small watch key. The card let me into my room, and the watch key opened my locker.

The beds are no ordinary bunk beds. They have custom built bunks for each person and it has a lamp, a socket and a curtain for privacy. It blocks out the light when others are there, and makes you feel you are in your own personal pod. Bonus points: If your top bunk bed faces the air conditioner, it blocks out the A/C and keeps you warm.

The mattress had the right firmness - not too soft and not too firm and the comforters are soft and fluffy! Just the way I like them.

My low bunk.

check out the "stairs" to go to the top bunk

The shower in this dorm, is absolutely AWESOME. With soap and shampoo dispensers for your convenience too.

On my layover going back to NY, I was in the girls' dorm, and I got a top bunk. See the curtain at the bottom? That's where I was the first time. This one had a ladder access because the room is smaller.

Hi!

This dorm had 2 shower and toilet combos. The shower, while not as complicated as the other one, is still awesome. It had the faucet option, the over the head option and a hand shower option. It also had body wash and shampoo dispensers on the side.

 

Electric Kettle, Washing board + laundry soap and hair dryer (in basket)
- provided at the girl's dorms.

NiHao Taipei does not own the entire floor of the building, but rather it rents various units within the building that it is housed. The lobby is on the 11th floor and I stayed at the dorm on the 12th floor and the 7th floor. It is housed in an office building, and has a 24 hour guard on duty at the building lobby. It felt safe and the location is prime. The building is 2 blocks away from the bus station to the airport (about 10 mins walk) and is on the next block from the Taiwan Main Station. This is close to the M7 exit of the Taipei Metro.

The door to my 7th floor dorm.

I've said it before, and I will say it again.
STAYING AT NIHAO TAIPEI IS EXCELLENT. I highly recommend it!

I am a happy customer taking a selfie at the elevator.

I booked my room via my favorite site to book budget accommodations - Booking.com.

For more pics and reviews - here's the link to NiHao Taipei on Booking.com. 
Make sure you print out the booking confirmation - it will have the name and address of NiHao written in Chinese Characters - this will be your lifesaver. When you ask for directions, just give them your print out.

NiHao Taipei
11F-5 No. 41, Section 1
ZongXiao West Road
Zhongzhen District 10041 Taipei City, Taiwan

20 Hour Layover in Taiwan: How to get out of Taipei Taoyuan Airport and Eating at Ning Xia Night Market

I finally paid Manila a visit after 10 years of living in New York City. Last summer, I went on a smorgasbord trip to Italy, Israel and France (and havent blogged most of it yet - soon, I will do it!)

I ended up in Taiwan because some flights to Manila involved 20 hour layovers. The choices were Japan and Taiwan. I picked Taiwan because I have never been there, and it was 20 hours both ways (as opposed to Japan having 20 hours only one way) and it was a cheaper place and the visa for Philippine passport holders with US/Schengen Visas/GreenCards were easy to obtain online. To me, the 20 hour layover is a "free trip"!

20 hours is good enough if you know how to get out of the airport like a pro. And i did it like a pro, thanks to this youtube video!



Note that there is the NT$90 and NT$125 fare. The difference is 30 mins faster. Kuo Kang bus lines will charge NT$125 but will be 30 minutes faster than CitiAirBus. It seems "a lot" but really, you are paying less than US$2 more. On my first try, I took the cheaper bus because I didn't know any better, and I was being a cheapskate. This proved to be lucky because the CitiAirBus takes you back to the bus terminal itself. The Kuo Kang bus let us out at a regular bus stop somewhere around the Taipei Main station, and it could be a little troublesome to find the bus terminal back to the airport. IF YOU GET LOST, JUST ASK!

Bus Ticket Counters

My Baggage Tag and Ticket. They stored my carry-on under the bus.

This was my bus, dont worry - the stands are numbered.
If you are still confused, just show your ticket to the drivers
and keep saying "Taipei Main Station."

The driver's cockpit. He has his own ticket machine.
My bus driver was doing some comedy while driving,
but I couldn't understand a thing and everyone was just laughing at the jokes.
After his comic stint, he started using the PA system
as a Karaoke and serenaded the passengers!

The bus will take you to TAIPEI MAIN STATION. If you are staying for the night, make sure that your hotel is walking distance from the bus station, because it's easier to deal with than finding a cab to take you there.

The bus ride is convenient, cheap and safe. I generally prefer taking public transportation out of any airport because it's I know it wont charge me extra, or do some touristy upsell. Take note, most airports are NOT IN the city itself, so it is cost effective to learn how to take the bus out of the airport and into the city.

One lesson to learn, HAVE YOUR HOTEL NAME WRITTEN IN CHINESE CHARACTERS SO DIRECTIONS ARE EASIER TO ASK. A lot of people in Taiwan speak English, however, the English spelling of the streets will be different from the street sign and different from the one you will get from Google maps.

As soon as I got off the bus, I didn't understand where I was, nor did I understand the orientation of the streets. First, I asked a bus driver where my hotel was, but he didn't understand my map. So I asked two twentysomething girls where my hotel was and they walked me to my hotel (it was about a 15 minute walk, and it was half past midnight!!!) They were mapping it out with their phones and such and didn't even think that my little hostel existed. I gave them both a hug and they thought I was brave enough to travel by myself.

After I dropped my stuff off at NiHao Taipei, I asked the building guard (the hostel is not the entire building, it just rents a couple of units in the building.) to find me a taxi to take me to the night market - mind you, the guard was apprehensive because it was already late. I thought I was going to Shilin Night Market - however the cab driver brought me to the Ning Xia Night Market.

And I ate my ass off.

The first stall I saw. OH MY! YUMMY!

IN. TEST. INES!!!! WOOHOO!!!

Get a basket, put your choices in a basket and they will grill it for you.

Mmm.

Mmm.

The night market was half empty and some stalls were closing.

I didn't eat these. I was too scared of deboning while walking.

I think this was the small intestine in large intestine. I didn't try it

Eggs beside mop and bucket.

Braised pork feet

I ate it on this table with steel chopsticks!

It is served with rice a side of tea egg and bamboo shoots.

Oh what an exciting time!

These in addition to fried chicken...

Plenty of yummy innards choose from!

 

IMHO, these had too much MSG, and i didnt even finish it.

In this trip, I realized that grilled is the way to go, and if you can point to a picture menu - you can order. People are happy to serve you food as long as you are not squeamish.

The stalls were about to close when I got here, so for the "full experience" in photos, you can go to My Kafkaesque Life.

Italy - Practical Travel Advice

Like most international airports, getting out of Rome-Fiumicino Airport and into Rome has a myriad of options. There is a bus that goes straight to Roma Termini from the airport. Look for the Terravision Bus / Atral Bus signs.

Roma Termini is the main train station of Rome and it connects to all major Italian cities and other European cities such as Paris, Munich, Geneva, Basel and Vienna. It also has bus and Roma Metro connections to get you to your hotel in Rome.

The bus is comfy, and costs €4 per person (one way) and it takes an hour to get to Roma Termini. If you aren’t in a rush, this is simply the most cost effective way to get to the center. There are trains that go from the airport to Roma Termini, but that is about €14 and takes half an hour. 

When travelling to anywhere in general, keep these things in mind:

Not everything is going to be in English – be sure to know the following words in their native tongue:
Ticketing/Ticket Office
Entry/Exit
Restrooms
Danger
The names of the cities/places you are going to in their native tongue. Ex: Firenze for Florence, Venezia for Venice. Extremely important especially when you are catching public transportation.

Currency – If possible, bring the local currency with you. Do it at your home bank/money exchange weeks before you leave. The Money Changers in Europe have VERY UNDESIREABLE exchange rates; bring very little US Dollars with you.

Credit and Debit cards – Call your banks to let them know that you are travelling and ask if they have partners in the country you are visiting to. (ex: Bank of America's partner in Italy is BNP Paribas. I didn't get charged anything by withrawing euros from their ATM) This allows you to withdraw money at the best rates from an ATM and you don’t have to carry much cash with you. Remember, the best exchange rates are transacted via plastic in Europe.

Learn how to read a map, and always carry one with you -If you are lost and the person you are asking for directions don’t speak your language, just show them the map and point. Locals are very friendly (for the most part) and will point you to the bus stop/train station even if they don’t know how to speak your language.

Learn how to take public transportation! – There are no ifs and buts on this one because when you are on public transportation it won’t go anywhere that isn’t on its route. It will show you the way the locals live and allows you to be part of the landscape. If you don’t know how, it is always good to practice on the New York City Subway and Bus System because if you can take the NYC subway like a pro – getting on public transit in any part of the world will be a cinch.

DON’T BE STUPID, AND DON’T ACT PRIVILEGED -The comforts you are used to back home may not exist in the country you are visiting or may not exist in the same manner you are used to. Take everything around you with a grain of salt and enjoy your surroundings. This is why you are travelling! Don't call any attention to yourself and be very careful of petty crimes such as pickpockets.

Public service announcement found
in Florence buses. IN ENGLISH!!
(they also have it in Italian, fyi)

Italy-specific travel advice

If you are riding Trenitalia (there are many train lines in Italy), remember to validate your ticket before getting on the train. If the inspector comes into your train and your ticket isn't validated, you will pay a fine. Rail Europe charges more money, so your best bet is to come up to the train station and just buy it from the machine or from the ticket window. The fares are the same price regardless of buying them in advance or 5 minutes before the train leaves.

Trenitalia train tickets are valid 6 hours after validation (not after buying). If you are travelling between Firenze Rifredi and Firenze Santa Maria Novella, you can still go back to Firenze Rifredi using the same ticket if the train you are taking is within the 6 hour window from validation.

Trenitalia serves a lot of destinations, however this is the slower train. This is the "Trains for Local Transport" in the Trenitalia website. The express trains are here. All trains are comfy regardless of speed; however the express trains are definitely much more comfier, it has its own bathrooms, a bar car and a table for your eating pleasure. They are also equipped with "free wifi" but it only accomodates passengers who have Italian mobile service. It didn't allow me to use their wifi without an account.

Sometimes the express trains are the only option you have - BUT MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHICH TRAIN YOU ARE TAKING BACK before you wander off on your daytrip. This is especially true if you are taking a daytrip to Venice (Venezia), the only option I had going back to Florence was the Frecciarossa.

When getting on a long train trip, try to eat before you get on the train - or pack a picnic to eat on the train. Sometimes, you get lucky and a vendor will come up to the train and sell prosciutto and cheese sandwiches (luxury! prosciutto!) and drinks. This is the only time I saw them and I took a lot of intercity trains.

If you didn't pack - don't despair. They have vending machines right by the tracks. But it is always good to have food with you.

Water is EVERYWHERE and is potable and FREE! Reuse your drink container and drink from any fountain in Italy! And you can even wash your face with it!

The bus system in Florence and Rome are very good, it is just a matter of learning how to use them. There are clearly marked bus stops and they say where they go, so just read them. Be sure to get your bus tickets from the Tabacci and validate them once inside the bus. They have different kinds of validating machines, one of them is this yellow one. If the bus is packed, and you cant get to the machine, you can ask a fellow passenger to validate it for you. I've seen this happen a couple of times.

Bus Ticket Validating Machine

The Rome Metro is just a big X on the city and you can transfer from one diagonal to the other at Roma Termini. It really is a no-brainer, especially if you are used to a public transit.

You will be walking a LOT wear comfy shoes. If you go in the summer months, keep your cool with Gelato. Preferably 3 times a day.

Don't worry about getting lost - the Italians are very nice people and they will give you directions gladly. If they don't know the answer to your question, they will ask another person for you and then point you where to go.

Ciao!

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Other blogposts in this series:

Daytrip to the Leaning Tower of Pisa from Florence for 9 Euros!