Taiwan: A whole day journey from Manila to Puli

It's November when we decided to spend the New Year in Taipei.  Of course, we don’t expect to get a promo at this time especially on a holiday/peak season.  But the lowest fare we could get is flight from Air Asia.  It cost us more than PHP7k ouch, almost double the price of our usual fare to Taipei plus a long and costly travel going to Clark, sigh...  Well, that’s what you can get on a sudden plan tagal  kasi mag-decide hehe...

Good thing is they have an early flight, ayos!  We left Manila around 7 in the morning for our 12nn flight and it took us more than an hour to get to the airport.  But if you are just commuting, you can take Philtranco buses from SM Megamall and Trinoma departing directly to the airport.

It was my first time here in Clark, hmmm not bad though I hope that an on going construction will be completed soon hassle kasi.  Fewer queues compare to Terminal 3 but there are no restaurants only kiosk are available.  And for a more comfortable and spacious area while waiting to get board, go to the second floor.

Whoa, to my surprise we arrived at Terminal 2! na-excite daw ako. This is my first time here kaya finally i'll get to see you.  Wanna know what I’m thinkin??? Of course it's the Hello Kitty and MG location shoot :-P weeee..... but sadly we’re in a rush.

Upon arrival, we decided to go straight to Puli from the airport to save time and money since Taichung is only 1 station away from Taoyuan Station via THSR. But we need to take the bus from the airport going to the high speed rail.   

How to get to Puli from Taoyuan International Airport:

Puli is an urban township located in Nantou County.  It is the geographic center of Taiwan.

We headed to the Bus counters and look for U Bus 705 service counter, fare is NT30 going to THSR.  Buses are located just outside the area, don’t worry about your big luggage’s because normally they have a place for it.  But if you intend to take a cab, it cost around NT300+ waley!

In the span of 20 minutes we reach the THSR (Taoyuan Station), it’s my second time here so I’m kinda familiar with the place.  We avail the non-reserve ticket to Taichung for NT520, actually a NT20 diff. from the standard seat.  No certain time and train but the down side is, it’s not reserved hehe... paunahan na lang well the train is not full so we’re lucky enough.  By the way there is a separate car for reserved and non-reserved seats, so you don't have to worry na ma-eject kayo.

Bought some snacks at 7-11 (dang, I miss this) before we get in the train, grabe gutom na ako.  It’s a 40 mins. ride before we travel by bus, i can take a nap pa.

We arrived Taichung before sunset, and it was breezy.  This station is bigger compare to Taoyuan so we have to ask where is Exit 5.  Nantou bus counter is located at the lower level near the exit door and they have routes to Puli and Sun Moon Lake.  Travel time to Puli is about an hour while SML is around 2 hours.  Bus leaves every 15-20 mins and fare to Puli is NT135.

Please refer to this table for the Nantou Bus schedules.

http://www.ntbus.com.tw/032.htm

So after an hour, but it actually feels like longer haha… we finally get to Puli.  Instead of calling a cab, we arrange a pick up with a charge of NT100.  From the terminal to Islet Inn it took us around 5-10mins.  

Whew... a whole day travel, more than 3 hours from Taoyuan airport, a very long trip and tiring day for us.  But... the night is still young may energy pa, so we went to a night market near us to buy some food for dinner.