Hi readers who actually keep up with my blog entries and new readers who followed my links, a big thank you to you all for taking some time out of your lives to come here!
Here's a small introduction and what I have been up to lately:
I am 19 years of age now, turning 20 this year in October. Currently, I am starting my second year of uni, studying health courses that are like they all say, tough. A "pass" at the moment for me is a huge relief.
OMG season 7 of the Walking Dead is so intense!!! Especially the wait for season 7 after I finished watching season 6. Like, who dies? Well for freaks hole, one of my favourite characters is bashed in the head, and the other taken to a sht place being fed sht food that's not even edible. AND the main guy is now with the sword girl? wtf...
Other than keeping up with the new episodes of that, I have also been watching Taiwanese entertainment shows these days. Personally, I am very interested Taiwan, the little island beneath Japan. What I am most interested in is the place itself, the night markets, and of course the entertainment shows that are produced there. I can name more Taiwanese entertainers than any other places'.
I think it was the middle of last year, 2016, that I suddenly wanted to go to Taiwan. It was a fast decision with some process discussing with family, and then there I was, booking my tickets in September. My grandparents helped me with my return ticket from China to Taiwan and my parents helped with half of my payments from Aus to China plus the whole visa business. I had to pay for my hotel stay and everything in Taiwan, which brought my bank statement from four digits to three >>. I think since I have saved up from working, my parents were totally fine with me spending as much as I wanted to. LOL of course, since it's not their money :,D
After our exams finished for the year, me, my friend, and her sister planned the trip together. They are Taiwanese who went back to Taiwan for the long summer holiday. We had planned Taipei for ~3 days then Taichung for ~4 days. It was a very exciting process. I would definitely recommend yous to plan trips by yourselves instead of just going along with a tour group as you would have more opportunity to experience and learn about the culture and understand more about the local transport and hotels whatsoever.
The top reason I wanted to go to Taiwan was because of it's night markets and cheap road-side shops. Also, there were many places I wanted to visit, such as Show Lo's shop xD (the clothing and accessories were expensive, and he wasn't there around the time I went, but it felt nice to be in the area, where many of my favourite Taiwanese entertainers had been to).
Around the end of 2016, after my first year of uni ended, I went on my personally-planned trip to China and Taiwan. It was quite surprising that my parents were ok with me traveling to Taiwan by myself, but I did have to convince them that I would mostly be with friends while I am there so I wouldn't be alone and lost and kidnapped etc etc. I went to my hometown China first to visit my relatives, and a week later, I flew to Taiwan, Taoyuan International Airport. It was a 2-3 hour flight. As I was by myself, going to a place that I have never been to, it was scary, yet very exciting. Of course, I had done a lot of research beforehand so I knew how to get to Taipei, where I planned to go first, from the airport. It's not that confusing, if I recommend. From the airport, there are tour buses that go directly to many of Taiwan's most visited places. Conveniently, there are short-term use 4G sim cards that can be purchased at the airport, so there is no worry in terms of internet access and Google maps access. Best thing is that they are at an understandable price, around 20-30 AUD dollars for 10 days use at most, and they are unlimited 4G, plus some text+call credit which is not much use, to me anyways as I needed access to internet the most. I think I got the 10 day access one, can't quite remember.
On the bus from the airport, I contacted my friend, who was already at the hotel where we were staying at for the first 3 days. I was quite confused as to how to get to the metro station from the bus stop (bus stop was directly opposite from the metro station, as I noticed when I got there) so I was freaking out a bit. Of course, I would've used Google maps but like, it's sometimes not that trustworthy and doesn't show all the details. Thankfully, my friend told me all the details of how to get from bus stop to metro station and which line to take and which stop to get off at. It was not easy walking around with a huge suitcase, but I was glad the weather was not as cold as China's so I didn't have to carry or wear heavy clothing. It was like Australia's winter, just the right temperature to get around comfortably. Our first night at Taipei ended past midnight. It was real scary walking the quiet streets back to our hotel. If I remember correctly, we arrived back at the hotel around 1am or 2. The latest I stayed out without family.
Taipei is definitely a great place to visit, with many foods available everywhere and anytime and many beautiful places to visit. The people are also very friendly and transport is very convenient, as there is the metro and buses that can basically take you anywhere without having to walk much.
After the 3 days in Taipei, we went to Taichung, where my friend's family lived. I stayed with them for 2 or 3 nights (can't remember). They were lovely people, who took me to many places such as old streets of Taichung and the famous FengJia night market, where we spent most of our money on game machines lol...
The last few days in Taiwan, I stayed at a hotel by myself. It was quite freaky, with all the scary hotel tales I heard about, and my first night was with a lamp on. I was so glad that there was a TV that could distract me, and it was nice to be able to watch Taiwanese shows right when they were being played on TV rather than having to wait a few days for them to go online with the gossip on social media changing to the next episode. Those days were spent with another friend, who also went to Taiwan for a trip. So basically, I didn't spend a day in Taiwan alone :)
Leaving Taiwan was a little emotional for me as I had enjoyed my stay so much. I would absolutely go back again in the future and have a longer stay.
I was back in China for another week before I came back to Australia. My trip back was one less stop than my trip from Aus to China. Going to China, I started at Brisbane, stopped at Melbourne, got on another plane to Shanghai, then from Shanghai to Qingdao. The waiting times at the airport were not that long, however, trip back to Aus took me a whole day... I didn't make a stop at Melbourne on my way back (shout out to China Eastern airlines that started their first flight service from Shanghai direct to Brisbane on that day, I was able to take that first service). However, the wait at Shanghai airport was like 9 hours I think, and I almost was about to take a tour on the train to a nearby place till I realized that it was very risky and that I did not know where I would end up at.
Being back in Australia, I immediately started working to earn back what I had spent, in hopes of going on more trips in the future. I am in the early stages of planning an Australia tour for the end of this year, which I still need friends to join ;) And as for end of next year or after I graduate, I am planning a Japan-Korea trip :D
Ok that's all for now, please follow or keep an eye on this blog page as I will be posting more these days xD
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