I believe that Taiwan would not come across to the mind of many Malaysian (esp Malay) when it comes to a place to go for a vacation but think again!
I had a great experience spending 12 days in Taiwan, thanks to my university.
I was not really intrested at first as I did not know much bout the country or anything intresting that it could offer accept maybe the Taipei 101 tower. However, as its a school trip I thought, why not just give it a shot. I believe that I will never ever step on the land of Taiwan if it was not because of the trip. I did not really expect much from the visit so I decided just to go and enjoy my time there.
Landing in Taiwan, the 1st thing that I notice was the cheap price of cigarettes in the duty free shop which is even cheeper than the duty free shop in Malaysia's airport!
Later me n four other guys travelled nearly 400km to the south of Taiwan which is Kaohsiung and it took only 1 in a half hour with the high speed train that cost us about RM130. I believe it was a very reasonable price. Imagine having that kind of train in Malaysia. =P
Maybe we can start seeing Johor bussinessman or even Penang bussinessman in KL that travel daily to their hometown. hehe.
The weather was just nice as it was winter. It was ok but sometimes its kindda cold. In the 1st few days I can even wear my sleeveless shirt with a short pants going around the campus at night. And yes, by the way we stayed at National Pintung University Of Science and Technology (NPUST) where the hospitality was AWESOME!
Why awesome? if I explain everything I'll be writing a novel but of course it would not be a bestseller. hehe. The university tried their best in ensuring us to get the best out of everything and I cannot imagine something like that being done by a university in Malaysia to a group of foreign visitors (students) for FREE! but maybe... I'm not sure. =P
There is so much to share so I would only focus on a few stuff that I thought was intresting:
Safety.
Safety 1st! hehe. It is safe in Taiwan in the sense that you can just leave your helmet on your motorbike without locking or strapping it to the bike wherever you park (in the campus, town, or city, day or night) and nobody will steal it! try doing that in Malaysia. I'll pray that you only lose your helmet and not your motorbike. hehe. And before I forgot, people in Taiwan do not use motorcycle as we Malaysian do, they use a lot of scooters. It sounds sissy, but the scooters in Taiwan is cool.. maybe it is more advance and 'cooler' because the market is larger there.
People.
Basicly..... they are nice. Imagine chinese people with japanesse attitude (I mean the nice stuff, not the samurai that take of your head). They respect everyone very much. Everyone is just plain nice. My experience, me and my new friend from Thailand (se7en) who is studying in NPUST when out at night and my friend's bike ran out of fuel. Guess what? one of the stranger not only help to bring my friend to get fuel from the nearest petrol station but even ask if me and my friend have money! =)
now you know what I mean?
Cleanliness.
Its clean.. yep, clean. Thats all I can say. Everyone take care of the environment. There's not even a single rubish in the water when we went to the harbour.
Clubbing.
Have you ever heard about a club giving special rate for student? student price baby!! haha. It is approximately RM60 to get in and enjoy FREE drinks ALL NIGHT LONG! and it does not stop there, they will only charge you rm40 if you bring your student card! haha. Guys, next time do not forget to bring your student card if you want to go clubbing ya! =P
I share you more about my experience in my next post ya.. cheers!
