A Cold Spring in Summer: Taipei via Jetstar, Kavalan Whisky in Yilan

[phaleesy]

Excellent report. I am tempted to do a copycat of your trip, including all the eating places!

A couple of questions.
1. all food and beverages are chargeable on jetair? likely skipping food (more delicious food in Taipei) but is plain water provided free at least? Don't mind paying for drinks on the flight, just want to know what's expected.
2. Is there a huge price difference between jetair and sq?
3. shopping. What to shop for? What exactly do people buy?
4. Braised goose and ice cream place - name? Address?
5. How did you get a driver in Yilan?
6. Just turn up at station to buy the rail ticket?
7. What's the bathing etiquette in Taiwanese hot springs? Does not seem to be like Japan? People seem to be fully clothed here?

I'm drooling over the food pictures. Am looking forward to visiting Taiwan soon. Thank you.

[yflyer]

Excellent report. I am tempted to do a copycat of your trip, including all the eating places!

Thanks, phaleeesy! By all means, do use this as guide! When I, and Mrs yflyer, plan our trips we also go to the internet for tips and the experiences of others.

Some responses below. For the others, like shopping, I'll need to ask Mrs yflyer as shopping isn't really my thing...

1. all food and beverages are chargeable on jetair? likely skipping food (more delicious food in Taipei) but is plain water provided free at least? Don't mind paying for drinks on the flight, just want to know what's expected.
2. Is there a huge price difference between jetair and sq?

Yes, all F&B is chargeable on Jetstar. That said, the ticket you buy may come with some credit that can be used for either F&B or duty free. You get plain water FoC, but other F&B has to be paid for either in advance, or ordered and paid for inflight. Best to pre-order if you know you want to eat. The Jetstar menus are online.

Regarding price differences between LCC's and full service airlines, there doesn't appear to be a hard and fast rule. If you book way in advance, then LCC's can be very cheap. But I would still check both full service and LCC's for the dates you want (and the T&C's) as sometimes because of competition from LCC's the full service carriers also offer very competitive prices. Also full service carriers with a one-stop vs non-stop flight also offer good fares to better compete with non-stops.

We flew Jetstar to Taipei because the fares were very cheap compared to almost all other choices. On the other hand, to Osaka, we ended up flying direct on SQ as their pricing was very competitive compared to Scoot, Jetstar and also JAL and ANA (JAL and ANA offer one-stop only).

The extras on LCC's also seem to add up (Baggage, food, seat selection etc...)

4. Braised goose and ice cream place - name? Address?

The ice cream place is called "Snow King". Google shows this as the address (It is quite near Ximending).

雪王冰淇淋
Address: 100, Taiwan, Taipei City, Zhongzheng District, Section 1, Wuchang St, 65號2樓
Phone:+886 2 2331 8415

For the Goose, I don't have the details, but it is at one end of Ximending, and is hard to miss.

5. How did you get a driver in Yilan?
6. Just turn up at station to buy the rail ticket?

The resort hotel in Yilan helped us hire a driver for the day. It should be quite easy to arrange for the driver once you get there.

I believe the rail ticket was booked in advance online, and collected on the day itself at the station, but lots of folks probably also buy tickets on the spot.

3. shopping. What to shop for? What exactly do people buy?

Hmmm...probably a question for Mrs yflyer! But the fashion and retail scene looked very vibrant...she and the kids spent a lot of time shopping for clothes...

7. What's the bathing etiquette in Taiwanese hot springs? Does not seem to be like Japan? People seem to be fully clothed here?

For the public hot springs (and cold springs), at least for the outdoor ones, it seems that wearing swimsuits is the norm. You are also expected to wear a swim cap at the public ones.

I'm drooling over the food pictures. Am looking forward to visiting Taiwan soon. Thank you.

The food was great! We really enjoyed both the street food and the restaurant dining!

[jhm]

Only just read the TR, many thanks, yflyer for an excellent writeup with lots of pictures!

I feel tempted to make another visit to Taiwan next year and venture outside Taipei (where I've been only so far).

The savoury sesame oil chicken-flavoured ice cream reminds me slightly (but only slightly) of Turkish tavuk göğsü:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tavuk_göğsü

Tavuk göğsü ... is a Turkish dessert (milk pudding) made with chicken meat. It became one of the most famous delicacies served to the Ottoman sultans in the Topkapı Palace. It is today considered a 'signature' dish of Turkey. [...] The [chicken] meat is mixed with milk, sugar, cracked rice and/or other thickeners, and often some sort of flavoring such as cinnamon.

[yflyer]

Only just read the TR, many thanks, yflyer for an excellent writeup with lots of pictures!

I feel tempted to make another visit to Taiwan next year and venture outside Taipei (where I've been only so far).

The savoury sesame oil chicken-flavoured ice cream reminds me slightly (but only slightly) of Turkish tavuk göğsü:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tavuk_göğsü

Thanks, jhm!

That Turkish dessert looks really interesting...who would have thought that chicken was an ingredient for dessert.

I've not yet been to Turkey -- not even Istanbul! Need to find some excuse to head there...

[phaleesy]

Thanks for clarifying my questions, yflyer.

I have been reading up, and there is a lot of food shopping too! Dried food stuff, pastries, sweets... Jade, crystals etc. I'm not likely shop for clothes but I'd def bring an extra suitcase for food!

[phaleesy]

By coincidence, a good friend of mine was visiting Taipei while we were there. He brought us to his favourite yakiniku/BBQ restaurant in Taipei, Dawan Yakiniku.

Dawan 看來很好吃。我想帶媽媽去試試。if we order omakase, do we tell the chef the max price we intend to pay? How much is the average price per person? I should be ordering what you had minus the rib-eye, would substitute it for something else.

I hope you can read Chinese. Sorry I just could not resist posting in Chinese. I'm been practicing my Chinese for the last week!
I have not written/read Chinese since my o levels which was more than 20 years ago. I don't speak mandarin here either!

谢谢您！

[yflyer]

Dawan 看來很好吃。我想帶媽媽去試試。if we order omakase, do we tell the chef the max price we intend to pay? How much is the average price per person? I should be ordering what you had minus the rib-eye, would substitute it for something else.

I hope you can read Chinese. Sorry I just could not resist posting in Chinese. I'm been practicing my Chinese for the last week!
I have not written/read Chinese since my o levels which was more than 20 years ago. I don't speak mandarin here either!

谢谢您！

Hi Phaleesy! I would strongly recommend Dawan! You should make reservations early if possible, because it is very popular.

I'm not sure how the ordering works, but there is an a la carte menu, and you can definitely ask for Omakase (which is what we did the last time), and it should be fine to specify an approximate budget.

I suspect the price would vary based on the dishes you order, as some of the premium cuts and dishes would be fairly pricey.

When I had dinner there, my friend treated us, so I don't know how much our meal cost, but another website estimates the cost per person to be "USD64 to USD 110" and that sounds about right to me.

My Mandarin isn't great either, but reading what you wrote was good practice for me too!

Much easier to get around in Taiwan if you speak Mandarin (Or Hokkien...) but getting around in Taipei should be fine with just English too!

[HUGE AL]

...getting around in Taipei should be fine with just English too!

Not if you're a male ABC.

[phaleesy]

Hi Phaleesy! I would strongly recommend Dawan! You should make reservations early if possible, because it is very popular.

I'm not sure how the ordering works, but there is an a la carte menu, and you can definitely ask for Omakase (which is what we did the last time), and it should be fine to specify an approximate budget.

I suspect the price would vary based on the dishes you order, as some of the premium cuts and dishes would be fairly pricey.

When I had dinner there, my friend treated us, so I don't know how much our meal cost, but another website estimates the cost per person to be "USD64 to USD 110" and that sounds about right to me.

My Mandarin isn't great either, but reading what you wrote was good practice for me too!

Much easier to get around in Taiwan if you speak Mandarin (Or Hokkien...) but getting around in Taipei should be fine with just English too!

Thank you, not worried about the cost as much. I don't like spending £ on hotel rooms but don't mind spending on food. Got my proprieties right.

I can speak/read mandarin and Hokkien. My mandarin must be so powerful. Uncle Charlies from the Alishan homestay thinks I'm a PRC from the Fijian province. My emails to him must be of an acceptable standard. Very tickled.

[yflyer]

I can speak/read mandarin and Hokkien.

Then getting around Taiwan will be a breeze for you!

[phaleesy]

I was going to get my NT$ here in the Uk. In fact, mom has got hers in Singapore. However,must reading from a guidebook now, it is advising people to get their NT$ on arrival at the Taipei airport because the rates are much better than back home. Just wondering if that's right?

[259850]

I was going to get my NT$ here in the Uk. In fact, mom has got hers in Singapore. However,must reading from a guidebook now, it is advising people to get their NT$ on arrival at the Taipei airport because the rates are much better than back home. Just wondering if that's right?

You can use your ATM card to withdraw cash anywhere. Taiwan probably has the highest number of ATMs per capita anywhere. Most convenience stores seem to have one in them these days.

The difference in the rates offered by money-changers in different locations are not high enough to matter unless you are planning to exchange a large sum. I generally rely on ATMs on my travels, but when I go to money-changers, it is usually at the country of destination (unless it is for a highly-traded currency like USD, EUR, etc).

[259850]

One thing to note about the EHR Resort in Yilan is that, apart from the online booking, Mrs yflyer had to do much of the interaction with the Yilan EHR resort staff on the phone and email in Mandarin, as they don't get many non-Chinese speaking guests.

But readers who don't speak Mandarin shouldn't let language be an obstacle -- get help from a Mandarin speaker/writer when making the booking.

It will be fine when you get there because there will almost always be someone around who can speak English to assist.

This is probably a late reply, but most Taiwanese I know seem to use www.eztravel.com.tw to book travel. But just two weeks ago, I got a much better rate on booking.com than on eztravel for a hotel in Central Taiwan, so you should try all options I suppose.

[yflyer]

I was going to get my NT$ here in the Uk. In fact, mom has got hers in Singapore. However,must reading from a guidebook now, it is advising people to get their NT$ on arrival at the Taipei airport because the rates are much better than back home. Just wondering if that's right?

In Singapore, if I am changing a reasonable amount of foreign currency, I would make a special trip to Raffles Place / Change Alley to change my currency at one of the money changers there, as the rates there are probably the best in Singapore. Definitely better than Changi Airport rates.

[phaleesy]

Thank you, 259850 and yflyer.

I usually get some changed back home the withdraw more from the atm in other countries. This is the first time that I've read from a guidebook telling us to change at the airport.

Anyway, my brother works near change alley, so he got all the nt$ ready for my mom.