Cebu to Taipei Direct Flight

Let's go to Taiwan folks!

Yes this is still my Philippine Travel Notes blog. Sorry lang po, but lately, most of my trips are to our neighboring countries, as required by this thing called "werk"! Please roam with me anyway. As always, I'll relate my notes to our dear Pilipinas!

I "journeyed" to Kaohsiung City in Taiwan. But due to my personal circumstances and preferences, I flew to Taipei first, and tried the highspeed train to Kaohsiung. Well, this is a chance for us to compare things/events in Taiwan to what we have!

My route is described in that map at left. The blue arrow at bottom-right was my flight yesterday from Tacloban. Red arrow was the flight to Taoyuan International Airport (Taipei: TPE) that I'll talk about below, and that yellow arrow was my High Speed Rail (called HSR, para syang Shinkansen ng Japan) ride from Taoyuan Airport to Kaohsiung City.

Actually, there are direct flights from Manila (MNL) to Kaohsiung (KHH) - some are even on AirAsia too (I think) - but like I always say, my circumstances and preferences must be followed. Thus, that route!

Trivia: did you know alam nyo ba? Kaohsiug is the nearest international commercial flight destination that any airline flies-to from MNL. Yeah, pangalawa lang si Hongkong (HKG) at pangatlo si Taipei (TPE).

I said "from Manila" ha? Because Clark-Hongkong might be nearer (I'm not sure). And I mean only the regular scheduled flights din ha? Because there are also chartered flights from some places to Laoag.

Oh one more in relation to that trivia: in the past, there had also been regular scheduled flights from Davao to Manado (Indonesia) and Zamboanga to Labuan (Borneo, Malaysia). But they didn't last long.

Da! Ang haba na ng kwentong trivia ko! Tara balik na tayo sa biyaheng Taiwan ko!

But as I always do, let's start from the very beginning with this, the entrance to Cebu's T2 at 4:49AM:

Why so early? Ah, my AirAsia flight's departure for TPE was at 7:05AM. And as usual, Waterfront Mactan ensures their passengers are at T2, at least two hours before departure. Just like last time, remember?

Hey, masabi ko lang uli ha, ang pangit ng sahig 'no? Kahit ano pa ang sabihin ng contractor dyan, may mali silang ginawa. Pag ganyan ang sahig (remember it's some kind of a bridge), hindi yan magtatagal, pramis! Eh alam natin "it will never be corrected" dahil, baka friends sila, kaya nanalo sa contract. Da!

Haaay Pilipinas!

Anyway, my experience inside T2 was just like last time, here and here, so let's not repeat that.

Punta nalang tayo sa Haaay Filipinas! Hahaha, di ko alam bakit kayo mga babae brown na ang buhok!

Because of that picture, just to satisfy my curiosity, I looked inside the plane, hah, 99% yata ng buhok Pinay na nakita ko, ganyan nga ang kulay -in various shades of brown- kasama na ang stweardess. Da!

Nakakaganda at dagdag-alindog ba talaga yan? Ha?! O eh sabi nyo eh, di sige! Walang basagan ng trip! Baka masyado na nga lang akong outdated maka-luma tanders, kasi I like Pinay hair na naturally itim.

Black? Yes itim! Parang Hair Asia or Cebu Pacific Hair or Philippine Hairlines or Korean Hair. Ganun!

Anyway, bago tayo malihis nanaman ng usapan, balik uli tayo sa aking biyaheng Kaohsiung, Taiwan!

This flight, CEB-TPE-CEB, yes 'back-and-forth' or 'round trip' na was PHP6,855 lang. While my TAC-CEB-TAC was already PHP4,028. Enormously cheaper than if I flew to MNL first then to TPE or direct to KHH.

By the way, that already included my seat reservations and the tapsilog! As you can see in the picture collage above, I was seated 1A which has a fairly wide leg room, kaya ayun kita ko yung isang crew txt pa rin ng txt kahit paalis na kami ng Cebu! By the way too, this flight takes 2hrs40mins (daw) to Taipei.

Takeoff from Mactan Cebu International Airport Runway 04, still gloomy at 6:52AM

Nice early morning view of Consolacion, Liloan all the way to Compostela and Danao City.

And the highlands of Central Cebu Protected Area. Trivia: All towns and cities of Cebu are coastal!

That means any LGU of the province has 'ridge-to-reef' topography. Meaning, each has a beach. Wow!

And here came my breakfast, just 30 minutes after takeoff. Yes isa lang, umaga eh. Happy na!

9:10AM bumubulusok na ang aming edroplano palanding ng Taoyuan International Airport!

Buti naman me mga bintana ang hallways. You see the big curved roof at left? Doon tayo papunta!

This airport is rectangular composed of two terminals (1 and 2), but chances are, wherever your flight may dock, it will be a long walk to immigration. There are walkalators but at times, pabalik ang takbo!

Meron lang talaga sablay minsan. Ewan ko na sa ating mundong ibabaw. Parang lahat paurong! Basta, pag nakita mo na ang mga welcome welcome na yan, mga kalahati na ang nalakad mo to immigration!

Anong "Taiwanese kasi"? Well, baka nga hehehe!

And immigration is at left. Inside those dark-painted doors. It's wide in there pero bawal mag-kodak!

You see those people at the end? They are also passengers going to immigration just like me. You can pass there or here where I passed, as it's rectangular. Arrivals come from the left, behind those stores.

Be informed (hindi naman be alarmed hehe), that my picture above is rare - meaning bihira ka maka-kuha ng ganyan na konti ang tao! Usually nag-uumapaw yan ng pasahero (galing mainland) hanggang dito sa harap bandang lampas pa ng mga halaman sa kanan, ni hindi mo makikita lahat ang mga yan!

All passengers nag-uunahan yan to get inside (left) to clear with immigration, that's why I passed this way, eh hindi pa naman pala sandamukal ang tao hahaha! Maybe because I came on a morning flight.

FYI of all airports I have gone through, this is second (Bangkok Don Muang ang first) sa padamihan ng nakapila sa immigration. I cannot say these are the busiest airports. Baka sablay lang ang scheduling!

On that topic, we should applaud Philippine Immigration. Hindi sila ang pinaka-matagal at magulo!

Now, my dear Pinoy Travelers, be mindful of some quirks to watch out for - such as evening flights. Sa tagal ng pila sa immigration, baka pag labas nyo sa lobby, no more SIM Card stores or money changer or even banks. Why? Because all of them usually knock off at about midnight. Isama mo pa ang train!

Lahat yan N/A as in not applicable to me this time, since I came on a morning flight, I do not buy SIMs and seldom do I exchange money on arrival (there are ATMs at the arrival lobby, by the way). But I do have friends who took an evening flight from MNL na wala pang 2 hours ang biyahe, pero more than 2 hours pumila sa immigration! Paglabas nila, tahimik na! Nag-panic ang mga gi-ahak, nanawag at 2AM!

While on this my flight from Cebu, not even 20 minutes I was out of the building looking at this:

Those are postings on the walls of the airport. The one at right is how to access "iTaiwan", that's their free wifi service all over their country. Remember my friends na tumawag at 2AM in a panic dahil wala nang tren, walang SIM at walang NTD? Yan ang itinuro ko. I said meron sila free wifi sa dingding hehe!

Ayun, na-contact nila ang hotel that thankfully helped them to arrange everything. Syempre nag-send ako sa messenger saying "naka-roaming naman kayo, bakit pang-tawag sa akin nyo lang ginagamit"?!

Ambot lang, tihik o jologs? Peace dodong, peace!

Now see the left panel of that picture collage above:
They're serious about non-smoking BUT they have conveniently located smoking areas where needed -nasa dulo naman but just outside the arrival lobby. Dahil mapapayosi ka sa tagal mo sa immigration!

Napayosi talaga ako, ang tagal eh - mga 17 minutes lang hehehe!

Look at that signage again. The "23rd meeting point" na sinasabi, is the 23rd post. Parang sa atin lang yan, me number ang mga poste, para masabi mo sa sundo mo o sa Grab driver kung nasaan ka banda.

Having said all that, you of course know I was at the arrival curbside. But no, I was not about to leave this airport. I went back inside since the train (MRT) is connected to the building. How? I asked here:

Those people in that tourism information counter are very helpful. They bombarded me with detailed information/instructions on how to go about riding the THSR (Taiwan High Speed Rail), HSR for short.

I needed that help as this was my first time going to Kaohsiung by train, and my (excited) first time to ride their Shinkansen, ay HSR pala! It runs at 350kph, mala-Cessna Citation na yan! But, to reach their Taoyuan HSR Station is tricky for first timers like me! You'll need to ride the Airport MRT to get there.

Sayang naitapon ko. The girl even wrote (in English) some of her instructions on a piece of paper!

Tara, let's go na! Aw, better if in my next blog entry na!