Part 2 of our low-cost journey in Taipei.
Our Japanese-language reporter Go Hatori has a massive love for journey, however not a massive budget for his journeys. With simply 50,000 yen (US$370) to spend , Go challenged himself to discover round-trip airfare from Japan to Taipei, get a resort for a evening, and nonetheless come up with the money for left to take pleasure in superior sights and wonderful meals. Day 1 went nice, with a go to to the rumored inspiration for Spirited Away and the perfect fried rice in Taipei, however will Go’s luck/budget run out on Day 2? Read on to discover out!
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Go’s room on the Morwing Hotel Ocean got here with free breakfast. To be extra particular, it got here with a NT$60 (US$2) voucher to a close by restaurant, so Go headed there to begin his day. Interestingly, the place regarded like a hamburger restaurant.
A look on the menu revealed that Go may get the most well-liked sandwich for lower than NT$60, so he ordered that.
It was candy and spicy pork sandwiched with lettuce between toasted bread. It was fairly tasty, and simply the correct quantity of meals for breakfast.
Then, Go took a stroll across the neighborhood earlier than returning to his resort.
He knew that when he checked out of his resort, he wouldn’t be going again. His flight was scheduled to go away that evening, so he could be carrying round his backpack all day lengthy. After mentally making ready himself for that actuality, he checked out early and headed out.
Since he had solely about NT$80 left on his Easy Card, he determined to add one other $100 to it. He suspected he may need to cost it as soon as extra earlier than heading residence, however he left it at that for now. After all, as soon as you cost cash to the cardboard, you can’t get it again.
Then, Go hopped on a prepare, headed for…
More meals! This time he determined to eat a dish fellow reporter P.Okay. Sanjun extremely advisable: lu rou fan, or braised pork rice bowl. He headed for one of many two largest lu rou fan eating places in Tai Pei, referred to as Jin Da Lu Rou Fan.
Go ordered the set that P.Okay. advisable, which prices NT$85.
It was so good, Go thought he would possibly soften into a puddle of goo!
With one chunk, our foodie reporter knew it will have to go into the article. The pork had absorbed each molecule of taste. It was a complete different stage of lu rou fan, far surpassing something he’d eaten earlier than. The meat simply melted in his mouth the second he bit into it. It was tremendous scrumptious.
Go’s subsequent purpose was one thing a little totally different: to get his foot corns eliminated. He’d achieved some analysis forward of time and located a place that was fairly low cost with good opinions, so he returned to Taipei Station by way of the MRT and marched over.
The value of this process was NT$500. After a quick wait, Go was greeted by a man who had each look of being a professional. He surveyed Go’s calloused ft with a particularly severe expression, then began the method by reducing Go’s toenails with some type of sharp machine that regarded virtually like a knife.
Then it was time for corn elimination!
Go really discovered it type of entertaining to watch such a professional up shut.
Go couldn’t assist however stare on the man’s look of pleasure as he labored. Meanwhile…
The man eliminated a ton of calloused pores and skin from his ft! They have been child clean and smooth after.
On his freshly scraped ft, Go’s subsequent vacation spot was Machi Machi, a boba cafe.
It was such a trendy place, and busy, too, with a regular stream of consumers. Go ordered a boba for NT$95…
Which got here with a dango-style dumpling skewer on prime!
Unsure of how to eat this, Go requested the workers, who informed him, “First you dunk the dumplings into the drink, and when they’re soaked, you eat them. Once you’ve finished them, you put the lid on and enjoy the drink.”
The dumplings have been delightfully springy, and the drink really had a tacky taste. When Go regarded it up later, he discovered that Machi Machi is legendary for his or her rave-reviewed “cheese tea of the gods”. No surprise!
By then, it was 2 p.m., and nearly time for an additional meal. Go made an effort to go to eating places at barely off instances in order that he may keep away from the traces for the most well-liked locations he was visiting.
This time, Go stopped at a restaurant that P.Okay. Sanjun had advisable to him again and again referred to as A Cheng A Rou, which is a restaurant serving goose. Go ordered a set that contained meat, soup, and rice. The order sheet was all in Chinese, so Go didn’t perceive a lot of it, however he had a photograph from P.Okay. to reference, and when he confirmed it to the workers on the restaurant, they crammed the order out for him.
In no time, the meals had arrived!
This was it!! Go had been wanting to do this for years. Ever since listening to P.Okay. rave about it, he’d recognized in his coronary heart that sooner or later he would strive it. The worth, by the way in which, was NT$315 (or about 1,396 yen).
It was completely scrumptious!
Just as scrumptious as he’d anticipated. Go was stunned that the goose meat was served chilly, and that the soup contained one thing that appeared like coronary heart meat, but it surely was all actually scrumptious. And the rice, drizzled with goose fats, was ridiculously good.
Time was marching on, so Go didn’t waste a second determining what to do subsequent. The subsequent merchandise on his record was to purchase souvenirs, and he’d already determined that he was going to give everybody Taiwanese cleaning soap.
His store of alternative: the grocery store! There have been so many alternative sorts of soaps that Go had by no means seen earlier than. They had some that have been additionally offered in Singapore and Malaysia, however Go needed ones unique to Taiwan, and he picked up 18 bars for NT$447.
As he was skipping down the sidewalk pondering how excited all of his coworkers and associates have been going to be, he discovered one other grocery store. “Might as well check this one’s soaps too…” he determined and headed in.
There was extra cleaning soap he’d by no means seen earlier than! And they got here in good bins! He completely had to purchase some, so he purchased two totally different sorts that got here in bins of six for a complete of NT$204.
Altogether Go purchased 30 soaps. He was tremendous enthusiastic about it, however most of all he was excited concerning the boxed cleaning soap, which, judging by the characters used on the packaging, had a “brown sugar” scent to it. He couldn’t wait to strive it out and see what it smelled like.
With thirty bars of cleaning soap stuffed inside, Go’s backpack was now feeling a lot heavier than earlier than. It was additionally a lot colder in Taiwan than Go had anticipated.
He was pondering he’d get some sizzling pot or one thing to heat up with, however what caught his eye simply exterior of the grocery store was…
An excellent well-known shaved ice place that’s even talked about in guidebooks! Of course, Go had to go, and naturally, he had to order their well-known “Brown Sugar Shaved Ice” (NT$90). He left the toppings up to the chef.
It was enormous!! The photograph doesn’t even do justice to the sheer quantity of this dish. The bowl was concerning the dimension of a ramen bowl, and it was densely packed with shaved ice. It was most likely sufficient for 2 or three individuals, however Go had no alternative however to eat it by himself.
Just a little little bit of digging revealed many alternative elements hidden inside, which made it tremendous scrumptious. Sadly, it didn’t assist heat up Go’s freezing physique. It type of made it worse, really.
He had to do one thing about how chilly he was, so he tried strolling round to heat himself up till he discovered a therapeutic massage place that was “so big you don’t need a reservation to get in,” in accordance to opinions
The costs have been a little costlier than the corn elimination, however Go was chilled to the bone by that time, so he didn’t care. He simply wanted to be someplace heat for a bit.
He requested a full-body shiatsu therapeutic massage, and simply because the overview mentioned, he was ready to go proper in. And unexpectedly, the therapeutic massage certainly up being simply what he wanted. The masseuse used not solely their fingers but additionally their elbows (or one thing of a related dimension?), and it felt so, so good.
They additionally positioned a steamed towel over him incessantly, which helped defrost him considerably. In reality, he was sweating by the point he was completed. The workers on the therapeutic massage parlor additionally understood Japanese, and Go can’t advocate it sufficient. The therapeutic massage value NT$1,100 (about 4,874 yen).
Night had fallen by the point he completed on the therapeutic massage parlor. He’d already had three meals and two sweets and his abdomen was fairly full, however he nonetheless had a few hours left till his flight, so he figured he’d higher eat one thing first.
He selected to cease by one other evening market. This one was referred to as the Raohe Night Market, and was shut to Songshan Station on the MRT. There have been avenue stalls in all places, however Go knew what he needed to eat out of all of the meals on provide…
Fuzhou Black Pepper Buns!
The meals stall by the identical identify is definitely Michelin-recommended, and thus had a little little bit of a line, but it surely moved quick, and in simply 5 minutes, go had a black pepper bun in hand (it value NT$60).
It was simply as scrumptious as anticipated! As you would guess from the identify, it’s very peppery, however the crisply baked bun had an beautiful steadiness with the meaty filling. It was undoubtedly price attempting!
(*2*)
Now all that was left for Go to do was return to the airport. He had solely NT$50 left on his Easy Card, so he added one other $100, then boarded the identical Airport MRT prepare he rode into Taipei to head again. And when he arrived on the airport and checked the steadiness on his Easy Card…
Just NT$17 (about 75 yen) left! Nice.
In the tip, Go ended up charging his Easy Card with a complete of NT$600, with the preliminary $400 and two expenses every of $100. If you subtract the remaining $17, meaning his transport round Taipei value him a complete of $583 (about 2,573 yen [US$19.07]). For all the touring he did, that’s not too unhealthy.
In reality, all in all, Go’s weekend trip to Taiwan was extraordinarily affordable. Let’s see the breakdown of the whole:
Budget airfare from Narita to Taiwan – 25,117 yen
Hotel room – 4,222 yen
Transportation prices in Taiwan – NT$700 (3,102 yen)
Taiwan Railway Bento – NT$80 (354 yen)
Taro Balls Red Bean Tofu Pudding – NT$60 (266 yen)
Peanut Ice Cream Roll – NT$50 (222 yen)
Double Champion Shrimp Fried Rice – NT$100 (443 yen)
Wonton Soup – NT$50 (222 yen)
Soup dumplings – NT$100 (443 yen)
Braised Pork Rice Bowl Set – NT$85 (377 yen)
Foot Corn Removal – NT$500 (2,215 yen)
Bubble tea with Mochi – NT$95 (421 yen)
Goose Cuisine Set – NT$315 (1,396 yen)
18 Souvenir Soaps – NT$315 (1,981 yen)
12 extra Souvenir Soaps – NT$204 (904 yen)
Brown Sugar Shaved Ice – NT$90 (399 yen)
Full-body Massage – NT$1,100 (4,874 yen)
Michelin Recommended Black Pepper Bun – NT$60 (266 yen)
Total: 47,224 yen
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Remaining: 2,776 yen
As it seems, you can go to Taiwan for much lower than 50,000 yen! Go was ready to eat a ton of meals, go to Jiufen, and even have some luxuries just like the therapeutic massage and nonetheless have cash left over. If you plan your trip fastidiously, you can do it too!
Where ought to Go go subsequent? Sadly it seems to be like flight costs are rising throughout the board, so it would take a little extra watching and ready earlier than his subsequent 50,000-yen journey problem, however you could be positive he’ll be on the hunt for alternatives. And possibly when he will get to his vacation spot, he’ll comply with SoraNews24 custom and ask for suggestions from a native taxi driver!
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