Taking The Train

My bro and his gf are heading to Taiwan in October. They're going for a week and I am soooooo jealous! Since I've been trying to advise them on where to go and what to do, I thought I should re-start my blogging on Taiwan. So sorry I haven't been updating as much as I'd liked as I've been caught up with work and other stuff.

Anyways, while travelling across Taiwan, you have the usual options of taking an internal flight or driving or taking the train. For us, we preferred the train as it is a more budget-friendly option as compared to a flight and also less brain-intensive than driving.

Before booking our train tickets to Hualien from Taipei, I came across this really good step-by-step guide on how to book the tickets! The good news is that since the guide was 'published', the payment website now has the option of instructions in English so if you jiat kantang like me, you won't have any problems navigating it ;) The bad news is that train tickets can only be purchased from 6 am to 11 pm and only two weeks in advance so it can be quite stressful trying to get the popular express train tickets - plus there is only a maximum number of tickets that you can buy a day, so if you fill up the details wrongly, you have to use another passport number to purchase your tickets or wait another day.

We didn't manage to get the express train tickets which we wanted (as we were travelling on a Saturday and the shortest duration rides got snapped up really quick!) but settled for an approximately 3 hours train ride tickets there and back. You can try out the different permutations on the website and decide on your train tickets before you pay for them.

On the day we arrived (i.e. one day before we were to take the train), we decided to be ks and get our tickets first so we could sleep in and take our time the next day before our morning ride out of Taipei. Thank goodness we were ks. The queue at the ticket counter was so lonnnnnng that we queued for more than 1/2 hour. I also made the mistake of not printing the ticket so I had to fill up a form with our booking details before I could make payment (the form is in Mandarin, by the way). Apparently you can collect your tickets from any of the convenience stores too, but I wasn't very confident going that route.

The ticket counter for our train (Tip: Do check with the information counter if you're unsure whether it's for the right train as the trains for the western coast of Taiwan are under a different operator)

Can you spot me?

That's me in brown!

Our trip to Hualien was on the Fu-Hsing Semi Express 684, which was 2 hours 35 minutes. Prior to our departure, we nipped down to the bento lunch store and were greeted by this sight! Lots of hungry people! They were mostly queueing for the meat bento boxes so we managed to cut queue by purchasing the less popular alternatives of vegetarian and fish bentos.

The train station also has a mini exhibition area chronicling the history of their operations and some cool models.

Down at the platform, we were pleased to see that our train was "ON TIME" :D

Do note which train you are taking because different trains pull up to different platforms depending on the length of the train.

Lucky us got the front seats so there was ample space for us to dump our bags! (No need to lug it up to the overhead compartments!)

Gorgeous scenery!

Train conductor checking our tickets

Mama and baby snoozing happily

Here's a look at our yummy bento boxes!

ZX's vegetarian bento

My fish bento

Family shot at the end of our train ride from Taipei to Hualien!

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Before we left Hualien, we dumped our bags at the station at one of the huge lockers and took a cab to Qi Xing Tan (read here). According to our cab driver, that was a mistake :(:( There is a cheaper option of the baggage room at the left of the station where you can place your bags. The lockers are for 'cheating' unknowing tourists. (Well, mission accomplished right?!)

For our ride back, we went back on the Tze-Chiang Limited Express 177 which was 2 hours 51 minutes. The train was more modern than the first one so we were quite pleased :):) This train also offers bentos (unlike the first) so there's no need to purchase food beforehand.

Bielet getting her iphone entertainment fix

And a last family shot for the album as we approached Taipei :) Funny!