Taiwan, Finally
About two years ago, J and I were in the middle of planning a trip to Taiwan, until we belatedly learned that Filipinos entering Taiwan need a visa. (I was a spoiled Southeast Asian, it seems; most of our neighboring countries do not require visas, and I just assumed Taiwan was one of them.) I already had a US visa at the time, which would exempt me from the visa requirement, but J, who had been rejected for a US visa twice, was not too keen on going through yet another visa application process.
So that plan was scrapped.
In April this year, the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Filipinos may enter Taiwan visa-free starting June, which revived our Taiwan plans. The same news appeared on the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines. We booked a flight for June, J's birthday month, and started working on the itinerary. We missed the news about the postponement, and only thought of double-checking the visa requirements two weeks before our flight.
Well, it turns out Filipinos still need to apply for a visa. But at least it's easier this time, since everything can be done online. J just filled an eVisa application and paid for a single-entry visa with his credit card. You can read more here. As mentioned earlier, I need not a Visa but a Travel Authorization Certificate (free) because:
Moreover Taiwan has eased its visa-free requirements for Filipinos who possess one of the following documents issued by ROC (Taiwan) Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, any of the Schengen countries, the United Kingdom, and the United States: (1) a valid resident or permanent resident card; (2) a valid entry visa (electronic visa included); or (3) a resident card or visa that has expired less than 10 years prior to the date of arrival in Taiwan. Successful applicants are qualified to apply for the ROC (Taiwan) Travel Authorization Certificate which allows multiple-entries to Taiwan valid for 3 months with every stay up to 30 days.
(Sometimes it's good to expect the worst in everything. J believed the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office; I believed shit happens. If we didn't check, we'd be making a big scene at the airport.)
The next hurdle was: we didn't know it would be so hard to get Taiwan dollars! We've only ever been to Hong Kong and Singapore, and the local money changers are practically coughing up their currencies.
I ended up calling Customer Service at Terminal 2 so they could give me the numbers to the money changers--which I suppose not a lot of people do, because when I started calling them up, the money changers became really suspicious. (A typical call: "Sino ho kayo? Paano niyo ho nakuha yung number namin?" It was bizarre.) I finally had some New Taiwan Dollars reserved the night before our morning flight (the Terminal 2 branch had to get some from Terminal 1), and off we went. (Finally!) By the way: 1 New Taiwan Dollar = 1.69 Philippine pesos.
I knew about Taiwan as a young girl because my father worked there as a blue-collar worker for five years. Taiwan, or the Republic of China, has been independent since 1950, but China still sees it as a rebel region. It has no seat in the United Nations. (It lost its seat as "China" when the People's Republic of China took it in 1971.) It voted its first female president in 2016, Tsai Ing-wen, who is pursuing Taiwanese sovereignty.
Relevant link: Taiwan country profile on the BBC
I loved Taiwan. The people are warm, friendly, laid-back, seemingly unburdened by city life. It has the accessibility of Singapore with the character of Hong Kong (another nation asserting an identity separate from the Chinese mainland), but with food prices my flimsy Filipino pesos can actually buy! Hallelujah.
Relevant link: The Taipei train system; The Taipei MRT Rapid Transit Subway
Taipei also has an extensive and reliable train system, the Taipei MRT.
We headed straight to Taipei 101 (Taipei 101 World Trade Center MRT Station Exit 4) so we could eat at Din Tai Fung.
We then wandered around the mall and got some juice.
We checked in at the Tango Hotel, a chain hotel popular with businessmen. It's near an MRT station and is centrally located. It's next to a mall and several restaurants.
It's actually a pretty cool hotel. The TV remote can dim the lights. The toilet is fully automatic. The bathtub doubles as a jacuzzi. At one end of the bathtub is a mirror that doubles as a TV. You can draw the curtains by just touching it. And--more importantly--the mini-bar comes free with the room. (No alcohol though!)
We enjoyed the room a lot.
Taipei has a lot of night markets, but we were only able to visit two: Raohe (Songshan MRT station) and Shilin. Shilin is busier, but also has more diverse choices. (Do NOT miss the pork buns.)
We had a free day before our flight back to Manila, and J had the great idea of visiting Eslite Bookstore, Taiwan's largest bookstore chain. The huge number of Chinese titles available just blew my mind. (Eslite is like FullyBooked on steroids.) I felt low-key envious.
Eslite Spectrum Mall not only has several floors of books, but also a music store, a coffee shop, a crafts shop, and a fashion hall.
So that plan was scrapped.
In April this year, the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Filipinos may enter Taiwan visa-free starting June, which revived our Taiwan plans. The same news appeared on the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines. We booked a flight for June, J's birthday month, and started working on the itinerary. We missed the news about the postponement, and only thought of double-checking the visa requirements two weeks before our flight.
Well, it turns out Filipinos still need to apply for a visa. But at least it's easier this time, since everything can be done online. J just filled an eVisa application and paid for a single-entry visa with his credit card. You can read more here. As mentioned earlier, I need not a Visa but a Travel Authorization Certificate (free) because:
Moreover Taiwan has eased its visa-free requirements for Filipinos who possess one of the following documents issued by ROC (Taiwan) Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, any of the Schengen countries, the United Kingdom, and the United States: (1) a valid resident or permanent resident card; (2) a valid entry visa (electronic visa included); or (3) a resident card or visa that has expired less than 10 years prior to the date of arrival in Taiwan. Successful applicants are qualified to apply for the ROC (Taiwan) Travel Authorization Certificate which allows multiple-entries to Taiwan valid for 3 months with every stay up to 30 days.
(Sometimes it's good to expect the worst in everything. J believed the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office; I believed shit happens. If we didn't check, we'd be making a big scene at the airport.)
The next hurdle was: we didn't know it would be so hard to get Taiwan dollars! We've only ever been to Hong Kong and Singapore, and the local money changers are practically coughing up their currencies.
I ended up calling Customer Service at Terminal 2 so they could give me the numbers to the money changers--which I suppose not a lot of people do, because when I started calling them up, the money changers became really suspicious. (A typical call: "Sino ho kayo? Paano niyo ho nakuha yung number namin?" It was bizarre.) I finally had some New Taiwan Dollars reserved the night before our morning flight (the Terminal 2 branch had to get some from Terminal 1), and off we went. (Finally!) By the way: 1 New Taiwan Dollar = 1.69 Philippine pesos.
I knew about Taiwan as a young girl because my father worked there as a blue-collar worker for five years. Taiwan, or the Republic of China, has been independent since 1950, but China still sees it as a rebel region. It has no seat in the United Nations. (It lost its seat as "China" when the People's Republic of China took it in 1971.) It voted its first female president in 2016, Tsai Ing-wen, who is pursuing Taiwanese sovereignty.
Relevant link: Taiwan country profile on the BBC
I loved Taiwan. The people are warm, friendly, laid-back, seemingly unburdened by city life. It has the accessibility of Singapore with the character of Hong Kong (another nation asserting an identity separate from the Chinese mainland), but with food prices my flimsy Filipino pesos can actually buy! Hallelujah.
Taipei also has an extensive and reliable train system, the Taipei MRT.
 |
| This token (160NTD) will take you from the Taoyuan International Airport to the Taipei Main Station of the MRT. There, you can buy a card or another token. We bought a three-day MRT pass (380NTD) for unlimited travel using the train during our stay in the city. |
We headed straight to Taipei 101 (Taipei 101 World Trade Center MRT Station Exit 4) so we could eat at Din Tai Fung.
 |
| We have Din Tai Fung in Manila, but I feel like they're more generous with the portions in Taiwan. |
We then wandered around the mall and got some juice.
We checked in at the Tango Hotel, a chain hotel popular with businessmen. It's near an MRT station and is centrally located. It's next to a mall and several restaurants.
It's actually a pretty cool hotel. The TV remote can dim the lights. The toilet is fully automatic. The bathtub doubles as a jacuzzi. At one end of the bathtub is a mirror that doubles as a TV. You can draw the curtains by just touching it. And--more importantly--the mini-bar comes free with the room. (No alcohol though!)
We enjoyed the room a lot.
It was June, monsoon season as well in this part of the world, so unfortunately I was not able to take a lot of photos. (I like taking photos, but I like having a phone more.) But here are some from J's phone:
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| Me in Ximending (Ximen station Exit 6) with potato croquette with cheese and the works. |
Ximending Market is a lot of fun, even if you just go there to window-shop.
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| Torched beef and chicken in Shilin Night Market (Jiantian MRT station Exit 1; yes Jiantian, not Shilin MRT station; just trust me) |
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| Eating candied tomatoes at Shilin Night Market |
We had a free day before our flight back to Manila, and J had the great idea of visiting Eslite Bookstore, Taiwan's largest bookstore chain. The huge number of Chinese titles available just blew my mind. (Eslite is like FullyBooked on steroids.) I felt low-key envious.
Eslite Spectrum Mall not only has several floors of books, but also a music store, a coffee shop, a crafts shop, and a fashion hall.
The night before our flight, we visited the mall next to Tango, got some (relatively) cheap truffle xiao long bao, and got these postcards.
You know I'll see you again soon, Taiwan!
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| Drank three of these cans on my last night at the hotel. For relaxing times... |
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