We
managed to fine a tour that matched our requirement of travel dates at the
August NATAS Fair and we booked this 7 Days tour with Neway Travel. My
parents-in-law joined us for this trip.
The
travel date was set for 17 to 23 November, the package deal tied up with EVA
Air but as the returning flight was too early, we decided to change it to
Singapore Airlines and paid the difference. Luckily this was possible. So our
adventure begins…
Day1:
Saturday, 17 November: Singapore – Taipei
(SQ 878 1155/1630hrs)
Day 2: Sunday, 18 November:
Taipei àTaizhong
After a good breakfast, our first morning stop was
the famous Yangmingshan National Park (阳明山国家花园). It started drizzling when we arrived at the park and we quickly took a
few photographs at the Flower Clock before taking a hide from the rain. The
rain went off quite quickly and we took a walk around the park. The air was
fresh and the place was very quiet and peaceful.
The next place we visited was the Xiaoyoukeng (小油坑喷气孔）which boasted itself
as a natural hot spring and also its breathtaking view from the mountain. Due
to the rain and heavy fogs, we were unable to appreciate the nature but were
still glad we caught a glimpse of it.
After Yangmingshan Park, we visited Taipei iconic
hotel – Grand Hotel. (圆山大饭店) Its ranked one of the top 10 hotels in the world, built with its
traditional palace style architecture and brilliantly tiled roof. Then after, we had the chance to view Guard
Change at the Taipei Martyr Shrine. It was a very special and honorable moment.
Lunch was at a Ninja theme restaurant and we had a very nice Japanese meal.
Ximenting (西门町) was our after lunch stop for shopping and food tasting. As it was
raining and crowded due to a Sunday, we hardly had the chance to walk on the
street. So we decided to take shelter in a small shopping mall. There were
quite a lot of shops in the mall and Anders even had the opportunity to play
some games in the arcade while we shopped around.
Then we had a quick Macdonald’s tea break before
heading to meet up with the group.
It
was the right decision as our bus journey from Taipei to Taizhong Yizhong night
market was slighted extended due to heavy traffic on the highway. We left
Taipei around 4.45pm and arrived into Yizhong around 7.20pm.
Dinner was at the night market and we had beef noodles at a stall name 山西刀削面 and as the weather was quite cold due to the rain, the steaming hot soup was a welcome to our stomach. It was more shopping after dinner; we bought Anders a pair of black shoes as the one he was wearing was giving way. Then both of them bought a wallet on street side. There was also a small mall and my mother in-law managed to get herself some cosmetic from Face Shop which was much cheaper compared to Singapore.
The night ended around 9.30pm and we checked into
our hotel in Taizhong – Shinkansen. Needless to say, after a long, we were all
knocked out once we hit the bed.
Day 3: Monday, 19 November: Taizhong à Kaohsiung E-Da Theme Park
Our day began after a good break and saying goodbye
to the hotel. We were heading towards Kaohsiung E-Da Theme Park. Yes, this is
the newest theme park in Kaohsiung, according to the agency, so we were high in
anticipation.
En route, we had a stopover at another place of
interest – Tainan Ten Drum Culture Village. There was a guide who gave us a
very good introduction to the village and then we watched a Drum show. The highlight
of the visit was everyone was given a “crash course” on play the drum and all
of us had good fun at the drums.
After a good drum roll session, we headed for the theme park. Upon arrival at the park, all the children in the group were wide awake when they saw all the rides. Tony brought us for a self-expense lunch at the food court. There were great varieties and price was affordable. We had a good lunch before playtime.
The children had fun trying all the rides and we went for the 飞越台湾 ride and caught magnificent views of Taiwan various famous places. My parents-in-law enjoyed the ride too. Then they left us and checked in the hotel – Skylark for a rest, while we carried on to explore the park. We finally left the park around 5pm. Dinner was at the shopping mall with my in-laws. Tony recommend us to this restaurant “金色三麦“, it was a German restaurant and we had a very good meal at this place. We even managed to taste 3 different kinds of German Beers. After a full meal, Anders and I went for the Ferris wheel ride while the rest went to check out the shopping mall. Anders enjoyed the ride and he said it was his first experienced on the Ferris wheel.
Then we met up with Adrian and continued our
shopping spree. Finally ended at the hotel room at 10pm and called it a night.
Day 4: Tuesday, 20 November: Kaohsiung E-Da Theme Park à Kaohsiung Fu Guang Shang à Cing Jing Farm.
We had a good hotel breakfast before setting off for our day tour. The first place for the day was Fo Guang Shan (佛光山). The place was founded by Venerable Master Hsing Yun in 1967 and is popular among many Buddhist from different part of the world. We prayed for good luck and good health for the family.
Our lunch was at a Hakka Restaurant (客家餐厅) and the food was delicious.
The “arduous”
journey began after lunch. Yes, we were heading towards Cing Jing Farm. The road
up the mountain was very winding and narrow, sitting on the coach; we could
literally see the edge of the mountain. It was quite terrifying and both the
children got a little motion sickness. Upon reaching Green Green Grassland and
disembarked from the coach, we were greeted with fresh air and scenic wild
greenery. All these helped them overcome the motion sickness.
The most
interesting part was there were sheep wandering around the area, waiting to be
fed and the children had fun time doing that. The adults were busied enjoying
the Versant Mountains and the paradise of the mist.
We stayed the
night at Notable Vacation (名人度假村)
and as the night was quite cold, we had wine and fruit party in our room after
dinner. That helped to keep our bodies warm.
After a very cool night on the mountain, we checked
out of the hotel and started our day trip to the ever famous Sun Moon Lake
tour. (日月潭). We went on a guided lake cruise. The guide cum boat driver gave us an
introduction of the history of SML and we tried the famous 阿嘛茶叶蛋. It really tasted different from our own version. After the cruise tour, we disembarked and had
lunch at a nearby restaurant. Then it was another long drive to our next
destination – Evergreen Spa Resort.
Upon checked in to the hotel, we were all super delighted as the rooms were very spacious and there was an in-room spa.
Our first activity was SPA, yes; we wasted no time
in changing into our swimwear and headed straight for the SPA area. There were
different spa for different parts of the bodies and we tried all of them. To Anders’s
delight, there was a fish spa area, he had always wanted to do fish spa, so his
wish came true in Taiwan.
Then we went back to the room to rest and relax, both Anthea and Anders went for the room spa and soaked in the tub for another half an hour. We had a good night sleep after the good spa and meal. This was the highlight of the tour.
Day 6: Thursday, 22 November: Evergreen Spa Resort à JiuFen à Taipei 101
The hotel buffet breakfast was great and before we
set off, heavy rain poured in. Jiufen was our morning stop. (九份). This was the place to sample all the different kind of snacks such as 猪肉纸，芋圆，太阳饼，凤梨酥 and many more delicious and tasty snacks. We spend about 2 hours at the
place and finally left around 12noon with all the purchased.
Lunch was at an artistic restaurant known as Five
Cents Driftwood – 五角船板景观餐厅。The food was good and the interior decoration was
very unique. It was photo time after
lunch.
After lunch, Tony brought us to Wei Ge (维格) to buy the famous Pineapple Tarts.
Taipei 101 was our next stop, as our tour package
does not include the viewing gallery; we didn’t have the chance to view the
skyline of Taipei. So we ended up shopping in the mall while waiting for our
dinner at Ding Tai Feng.
Our final night was at Park City hotel and after checked in, we were busied packing all our purchased of goodies/snacks for the trip.
Day 7 - Friday 23 November: Taipei – Singapore (SQ 877 1410/1850 hrs.)
After a good and relaxing hotel breakfast, the
driver drove us to the airport for our flight to Home-sweet-home.
Overall we had enjoyed the 7 Days guided tour and found it an interesting experienced and we would be back for more....:)
台湾，真好游，我们会再重游！再见！
14 comments:
Lovely trip!
Hi,
May i asked how's the service with Neway travel? i am interested to book a taiwan tour with them but couldn;t really find any reviews about them online. May i asked if you could kindly share your experience with them? I'm travelling with a big group, youngest being 18 months old. :)
Thanks.
Kate
hi Kate,
This was my first time booking with Neway Travel. I had some "teething issues" during the process but we managed to resolve it. So be very specific with them on your requirement during booking.
The local tour and sightseeing in Taiwan was great and hotels accommodation were good. My whole family gave them credit for that.
Are you thinking of going on guided tour? As you have an 18th months old baby, it will be very tiring...:P
Hi,
Thank for your the info. Yes, we have to go on guided tour as my parents and other family members in the group travelling prefer to go for package tours as they say its hassle free, don't need to plan where to go, just follow the guide. Yes, i am also worried that my 18 mths old son will be fussy during the coach ride or be too tired at the end of the day.But i guess i just have to deal with it as it comes.
Can i ask if you have to spend long hours on the coach for this tour? And why didn't u consider more well known travel agencies like Namho, focal or newshan for taiwan packages?
Cheers,
Kate
Sorry, i forgot to ask what are the questions i have to ask Neway when i sign up their package? what requirements are u referring to?
Hi Kate,
We went "shopping" at NATAS fair and the reason why we chosen Neway was because they had our travel dates...haha. The other big guys dates didn't matched ours.
Yes, if it's a big family group,guided tour is ideal as all planned and settled, no time are wasted. One of my family relative whom went on F&E also said he felt better to go on guided as they went on F&E.
Yes, the tour we went on were about 80% time on the coach. Our group consisted of all families with children and our youngest kiddo was about 3 years old, i heard. I guess for kid, they are quite easily adaptable, it's the adult that will feel the tireness. :)
The requirement that i was talking about is rooms category. As Taiwan hotels are unlike Singapore, where we have connecting rooms and mixed room type on the same floor. In Taiwan, it seem like all Double-bedded rooms are arranged on one floor and King-sized bed rooms on other floor. So if you have such requirement, you will need to inform Neway specifically.
Other than this, we were happy with the overall arrangement. Are you going on EVA?
Hi,
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. I went down to Neway travel today during lunch time and enquire about the taiwan package. They quoted me SGD 1796 for SQ and SGD 1353 for EVA. Quite expensive as compared to other agencies like Namho, 5 stars or focal. We initally wanted to travel by SQ but to pay nearly SGD 1800 for a taiwan trip per pax is really very ex in my opinion. So if we were to go with Neway, most prob we will take EVA. Although, i've never travel with EVA before. hehe. Did any of your tour mates complained about EVA?
Its actually a long time to spend in the coach, 80%! that's alot of time.
Hi Kate,
If you chose SQ, the price is premium. The reason why i didn't want EVA is the return flight from Taiwan to SIN departs at 7.40am. The group morning call was around 4am and they set off for the airport around 4.45am. So i rather pay a bit more for comfort of the timing. Also SQ flight is a pleasure for the kids as the in-flight keep them entertained and keep me sane..haha. No complaint about EVA.
Yes, a few agencies fare are cheaper as some of the hotels are tourist class and also they fly by Transasia. When are you planning to travel, as long as not school holiday, then not too bad.
Good Luck to your planning.
Hi,
Yes,i agree with you SQ is premium. Actually, i don't mind paying more for comfort since i'm travelling with a toddler too. But i think the rest of the family, my aunties and uncles will say that it is too expensive. Ya, u are right, I suppose Neway packages are more ex as they offer better hotel stays and food i guess.
morning call at 4.00am is really very early, can't imagine how i am going to wake my son up for the trip to airport. I am so stressed up over this trip cos it is sooooo hard to please everyone. sigh! And i just can't find a package to cater to everyone's needs. I've went to a few agencies and i think now is a question of choosing a package with better hotels and food but travel via EVA or sacrifice on the hotels and food, but travel with SQ. Namho quoted me SGD 1600 on travel via SQ, but hotels i guess not as good as Neway's. Once again, thank u very much for your advices and suggestions. you are very kind and i'm grateful:) God bless.
oh, i intend to travel at end of march.
hi Kate,
You are most welcomed and it's always a pleasure to share, especially on travelling.
Yes, it's hard to pleased all,especially you have such wide age group.
One of my GF used SA Tour for her Taiwan trip and she highly recommended it as well, SA use China Airlines or SQ and i think timing is good with affordable price.
End of March should be a nice season for cherry blossom. Not too cold or too hot..:)
hihi,
Good day to you! i've discussed with my family and we have 2 choices, Neway or Dynasty travel. Dynasty travel brings us to more places but i guess accomodation is 4*-5* and we get to travel via SQ, wherelse i suppose Neway's has better food and lodging.
I compared your taiwan itinerary and the one neway gave me and i found that yours covers more places like taipei 101 and lunch at ding tai feng, which the current Neway's itinerary skipped all these places, including Yangmingshan. i am so tempted to sign up with Neway cos of your excellent Evergreen Resort pics and review. But my parents are abit apprehensive to sign up with a small agency. Headache, sigh!
Hi Kate,
We were also worried when signed up with Neway because we had also never heard of its name...haha. But we took it because it was the ONLY agency that had the date we wanted. Luckily, our gamble was well-rewarded. Yeah, many of our group travellers also said the same but they were happy overall.
Well, i had yet to see Dynasty Travel itin but if they have what you wanted and satisfied everyone, my take is Go with IT....once the agency is confirmed, the next job is pack and enjoy. :)
hi,
yeah, i can see from your pictures that your experience with Neway is positive. So, i've been trying to tell my parents, aunties and uncles that my frd has positive feedback about Neway,(hehehe) wherelse none of my frds went to taiwan with Dynasty before.
http://www.dynastytravel.com.sg/?/ch=group_tours_english&pg=country_english_taiwan&ac=AC_asj9F0Pj_20120223201124&depart=March 2013
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