台湾的朋友们，大家好！我又带来了一位新访客。

We left Kidapawan (and I was so glad to be rid of that hotel) and headed to Davao. We managed to get Davao Metro Shuttle (way better than Mindanao Star) and got off at SM Ecoland Mall. We had the customary KFC and then headed to the airport.

We were checked in, so really only had to drop the bag at the bag drop – though I found out that we also needed a document check for Taiwan.

The guy at the desk was asking Addy so many questions – like he was immigration or something. We were here for about 30 minutes getting it all sorted. He wanted to know when I arrived in the Philippines (even though he had my passport and could see the arrival stamp).

We went through security and just chilled. We got a notification that our flight was going to be late leaving Davao. We didn’t think it would be that much of a problem since we had almost 3 hours in Manila and that was enough time.

The gate agent was looking for bag volunteers, so we both offered (a problem as we would find out in Manila).

It came time to board and we were in boarding group 1. People were trying to push past me and I wouldn’t let them, but Addy is way nicer than I am and let the seniors/parents/disabled go ahead of him (it annoyed me a little).

We finally got our seats and it was just 2 of us in the row (we were near the emergency exit). We ended up leaving Davao an hour late, which cut our time in Manila to just under 2 hours. We didn’t have to change terminals; we just had to collect our checked carry-on bag.

We got to Manila and had to get a bus to the terminal. We also had to wait for our bags and this ate another 45 minutes of our time, giving us under an hour to get back through immigration and security.

I asked someone at the transfer desk about it and Addy got annoyed because they weren’t taking responsibility for the issues. They said they wouldn’t be responsible for getting us on another flight. Addy just said to leave it as we were wasting time with them. I have never seen him that angry before.

We got through immigration and security with about 5 minutes before our boarding announcement. Addy got through immigration really quick in Manila, which is a miracle since they usually grill him.

The flight to Taipei was ok until we were coming in to land. The turbulence was not so fun. Addy didn’t like it at all – I wasn’t a huge fan of it either, but I am used to it.

We landed and then got off. We got through immigration pretty quick and got our bags. We then got our Uber to the hotel. We ended up checking in around 03:00 and headed to the room. We went to the 7-Eleven around the corner for some drinks and some food, then came back and went to bed – we were both super tired by this point.

You can read about my last trip to Taipei here

Day 1

Today was a really late start because of the time we got to sleep. We set an alarm for 10:00 so we could go out and do stuff before the rain. We ended up leaving around 13:30 because we were still tired.
We headed to the metro and got our Easy Travel cards and then headed to Sonshang, as I knew there was a temple there and we both love the temples on this side of the globe.
We got out of the station and the first thing you saw was the temple. Addy liked it so much. We went to the 7-Eleven first for some drinks and some food and then we headed inside the temple.
The weather at this point was just overcast, though rain was forecast. As soon as we were walking inside the temple, the rain started. I was glad we were already there.
Ken and I got dropped off here when we were here in March 2025 (though we didn’t go in for some reason) and Ken went to the night market and I just hovered around the metro entrance.
Addy and I enjoyed walking around the temple. You were able to go up four floors and the views were really good. The temple is so ornate and the designs inside are so intricate. The rain got really heavy as we got to the top floor and we just sat and listened to it and enjoyed being there.
You can see some pictures of it below

We left here and decided that we would just head to get some dinner, as it was still raining. We went to get some sweet and sour pork from a place Ken & I went to. It was every bit as delicious as I remember at a price I don’t remember it being last time.
We left here and headed back to the hotel. We decided to have an early night as we have a day tour tomorrow and we need to be at Taipei main station early for it and it is a complex maze there!
Today was a good day – even though we didn’t really do much.
Day 2
Today was another early start as we had a tour booked. We had to be at Taipei main station for 08:45 and it can take an age and a day to get out of the station, so I wanted to make sure we had time to do that and meet the guide.

We got there around 08:15 and just had a walk around as we had 30 minutes until we needed to meet the guide.

We found the guide and got our lanyards and then headed to the Family Mart to get some drinks and snacks and then we got on the bus.

Our guide was called Sarah and she kept referring to herself as “Sarah…”. It was funny listening to her referring to herself in the third person.

She said our itinerary was as follows:

Shifen Waterfall

Shifen Old Street

Jiufen Village

Yehliu Geopark

We set off and she said that our first stop would be around an hour from the city. It gave us both a chance to just relax and enjoy the drive. Once you get out of the city, the drive is really scenic. Addy was loving it.

As we came through a tunnel, we looked right and could see Shifen. It was a really nice view. It’s set in the mountains, so it was good to see those in the background too.

We got off and headed down to the waterfall. It was still raining at this point – but thankfully not heavily. It was so nice to hear the river as we were walking to the waterfall. Addy really liked it, too. I’m not too sure he enjoyed the suspension bridge, though – it moved as you walked across it.

We got to the waterfall and it was really nice to see it. Sarah said there wasn’t much water yesterday because of the dry weather. She said the rain yesterday evening helped it.

We left here and started to make our way back to the bus. We stopped by a souvenir store and got a magnet each.

As we were at the top of the stairs heading back to the suspension bridge, Addy noticed that the train was coming. We both got our phones out and took a video.

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We then headed back to the bus. Sarah said that the missing group of 3 from the start caught us up.

Once we were back on the bus, we made our way to Shifen Old Street. She said it would take 15 minutes to walk from the bus to the sky lantern shop – I knew this was wrong, as Ken & I did it in 5 minutes last time I was here. The reason it took 15 minutes was that she would stop and say stuff about the shops there. Like, just give us our free time and tell us when and where to meet.

Addy had a chicken wing stuffed with rice and he said it was quite nice. It wasn’t appealing to me, though.

We got to the shop where the sky lanterns were and Addy wrote some stuff on it in English and Bisaya. He chose orange because it was the colour of love. I wrote our city names on it and that was my contribution.

The lanterns themselves cost NTD200.00. It was worth it to see how happy Addy was. We then went outside to take some pictures and then set it free. One of the guys from the shop took the pictures and video for us.

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We started to walk after this and the train was coming back. Of course, we got a video of that too.

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We walked a bit further and saw a sign for the Jingan Suspension Bridge. I said we should go there for some pictures and to walk across it. As we were walking across, Addy said to not jump. Being the upstanding partner that I am, of course I jumped.

We headed back across the bridge and made our way to meet Sarah and the bus. We took a nice, slow walk back too. It was nice to not be in a rush. We got back to the bus and we had to wait for 2 people who were late. Sarah had counted them at the meeting point, but they just wandered off and left us all waiting on the bus. I say she should have left them and had them make their way to the next stop.

We got to Jiufen and we had a LOT of stairs to climb. Sarah said there would be 300 to get to the old street of Jiufen. There were 415 stairs in total, but I had no intention of climbing another 115. There were some spots to take pictures on the way up, which helped break up the stairs.

We got our free time once we got to the old street and Addy & I just went wandering for the views and then found somewhere to eat.

It was painful ordering and then telling them our order was wrong. I wanted egg and bacon fried rice with no vegetables and they got it wrong and had the nerve to look at me like I did something wrong when I tried to tell them. We also got some pork that looked like it wasn’t cooked and it tasted so nasty.

We left here and had a look at a couple of the souvenir stores before heading back down to the bus. We got some good shots on the way back down, as there weren’t a lot of people at this time.

Near the bottom, I photobombed a group and Addy was sad he missed the chance to get a picture of it.

We got to where the coach was and took some good pictures there, too.

We got back on the bus and we had to wait again for the same 2 people from Shifen. Sarah was not happy with them. I reckon she should have left them there too. It’s so disrespectful to make a whole group wait just because you are bad at timekeeping!

Addy and I were tired at this point, so it was good that it took about an hour to get to the next stop as it meant we could rest a little. The last stop was the Yehliu Geopark.

Here, they have a couple of rocks that look like a queen and a princess. Not sure, but I say no.

We went here and had some free time, so Addy and I walked around. We didn’t want to wait in the queue to get a picture of the “Queen”, so we looked around and found somewhere to take pictures of said rock without people in them.

We then walked on top of the rocks and I wish we had more than an hour at this place, as it was better (we both thought so). The rock formations here were pretty cool, too. We also saw some fossils (not the aging human kind either).

We saw a rock with a hole in it that people were taking pictures of, so we decided we should too. We got in the queue and waited. I asked the people in front of me if they wanted me to take a picture of them, and they said yes, so I did. Another person asked me to take some too, after I took some of Addy though.

The ones I took the pictures of asked if Addy & I wanted a picture together, so we said yes.

We left here and made our way back to the coach to head back to Taipei. The journey back seemed pretty quick.

We got dropped off by the Raohe Street Night Market and we had a walk through it. Addy wanted some pasalubong for his mam, but we couldn’t find anything.

We left here and then headed for food at the restaurant we were at yesterday. Their food is quite good too.

In there, I said I had received 2 emails about our trip to Jakarta. 1 said the flights were rescheduled, the other said they were cancelled. I told Addy and he started thinking about taking his principal exam. I told him if it was cancelled, that he should just take the mock exam on May 10th and then the exam on the 17th and I would go to Manila myself and then I would see him in December. He wasn’t overly happy with this and we seemed to be at an impasse about it.

I’m now headed online to see if I can make sense of the emails and get the true story of what is happening with the Jakarta flights.

All in all, today was a good day (minus the Jakarta flight issue).

We are glad to be back at the hotel and giving our feet a rest and to relax too.
Day 3
Today wasn’t such an early start to the day – thankfully. The only thing we had planned for today was to go to Taipei 101 and then to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall.
I had a look out on the balcony and the weather seemed otherwise to be holding out for us. It was clear and there was no rain. The forecast said it wasn’t due to rain until around midday. I thought that was pretty good, as that would give us time to get to Taipei 101 and get some pictures before the clouds rolled in and it started to rain.
Dear reader, this was not the case. We got out at Taipei 101 and the rain was just starting and the clouds had already rolled in by the time we got to the 89th floor of the building.
We spent around an hour here. The views weren’t so great because of the weather and there were lots of stupid people about. In true Chris fashion, I spent a lot of my time tutting. I’m sure Addy wasn’t impressed.
They had an exhibition on there too called “Monday Bruce”. Bruce is a rabbit and there were statues of him around the floor. Pretty cool. Addy hugged Bruce and got some funny poses amongst the rest of the exhibit.
I had to tell a local off because they were taking pictures of me as I was posing for Addy to take some.

We got the super-fast lift down (see the video below for the speed) and made our way outside.

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We wanted to see if we could get some pictures of the whole building. Addy also wanted a whole body shot of him with the whole building in the background. You can see the evolution of those attempts below!

After the last picture, he said “You finally did it right”. The cheek of it! No more rice for him!
We made our way to find some food as it was still raining. We ended up at McDonald’s – mostly to get out of the rain.
We left here and then went to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. It was starting to rain again, so we didn’t want to spend too long here. We had a walk around and decided the rain was too much to stay, so we headed back to the metro.

We got back on the metro and went to the electronics mall. Ken wanted me to look for some things for him, but we weren’t able to find anything he wanted.
As we got out of the metro, I looked at my phone and was greeted with the following alert:
We did feel a little shaking as we started walking. It wasn’t anything of note, though. I wanted more shaking. Addy said he didn’t as it would start to bring back the trauma of the 2019 earthquake he experienced and that caused him to be displaced.
We went to the Don Don Donki here so I could look for some of my favourite Japanese sweets. Alas! They didn’t have any. How very sad for me.
We decided to head back to the hotel as Addy had a sore foot and was struggling to walk.
We stopped at the Starbucks near the hotel first and I got him his very first drink from there. He had a mocha. He said it was nice.
We rested for a bit back at the hotel and then went to our favourite restaurant for some dinner.
We got back to the hotel and I was able to sort out our Jakarta flights – I think. It was a struggle, though.
Even with the rain, today was a good day.
Day 4
Today was one of those get up late, do not do very much, lazy kind of days.
We left the hotel around 12:00 and made our way to Ximen Station to see the rainbow crossing that was there.
We were glad to do it today as the weather was perfect for it: sunny and no rain.
We got there and the place was heaving. The Taiwanese love the warm weather, it seems.
We got our obligatory pictures of and with the sign and we also saw some girl band doing their thing on the crossing, so we had to stop and watch that.

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We carried on walking and then we found a temple and had a look inside it. It was quite busy, with it being a Sunday. It was also very unassuming and small from looking at it from the outside.
We left here in search of food and we found a McDonald’s close by and had some food and sat in there for a couple of hours. It was a nice break from the heat outside.
We were walking back to the metro station and Addy pointed out a sign – so I had to frame him ready for a picture.
We were both tired and headachey at this point, so we just headed back to the hotel to relax.
After a couple of hours, we decided we were hungry enough to venture out. I couldn’t go to our usual place here as they only take cash and the little I have I need for our laundry tomorrow. We decided to just go to Dominos instead and bring it back to the hotel. We sat on the balcony for a couple of hours just having our food and listening to the sounds of this part of the city. It was really nice to sit and relax like that.

This was our last full day here in Taipei and we didn’t really have anything planned. The only thing we needed to do was laundry. We spent about an hour doing that. I’m proud of Addy as this was his first time doing the laundry himself.

We went back to the hotel and just chilled for a few more hours. We then decided we were hungry enough to go to our favourite place to eat for one last hurrah.

We went back to the hotel, finished our packing and just stayed here until we left for the airport. We left around 22:25 and then went to get the train to the airport. I didn’t want to pay the cost of an Uber again- it was around £40 to get there from the hotel.

We got to the hotel and found where the check-in desks were. We also noticed there was a huge queue for the desks. It took us 45 minutes from the back of the queue to get to the front.

We got there and got our boarding passes. I checked my bag in and I was told I would have to collect it in Manila and then go through customs and give it back to the airline to go to Davao. It seems so strange that it’s done this way.

We got to Manila, collected the bag, went through customs and then gave the bag back to the airline representatives and went and had some food. We got some food from Wendy’s and I’m not sure if this was a good idea or not. They got my order wrong for one.

We went upstairs and went to the domestic security queue and Addy was pulled out. I stood there waiting and then he gestured for me to come over. He was pulled out of the queue because they said he had excess baggage. I was trying to explain to them the rules from the Cebu Pacific website, but they were having none of it. I tried to explain that it was not an issue from Davao to Manila and then from Manila to Taipei and then from Taipei to Manila. I asked why it was an issue now. They just kept saying excess baggage and ignoring the rules on the website.

She then also said that the domestic planes had smaller under-seat storage space and I knew at that point it was pointless saying anything more to them. It shows a distinct lack of knowledge about planes and spaces. The charge was ₱4,000.00 for the excess baggage. They were not going to budge. We just walked off and went through security and then tried to ask someone about it and they said that because it was flagged, nothing could be done. We were both so livid at the inconsistencies and the ignorance shown.

Thankfully, this happened at the end of the trip and not the start.

View all of my Jifen-Shifen-Yehliu media here

View all of my Taipei media here

chris | Saturday May 23rd 2026 | Travel| Addy, Asia, Jifen, Shife, Taipei, Taiwan, Travel, Yehliu | 0 Comments

台湾的朋友们，大家好！我又带来了一位新访客。

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