I am finally coming to a close with our Taipei adventures and I would like to do so with a simple run through of the outfits I was able to document while we were there.
I tried to be as versatile with my outfits as I could, considering that we weren’t quite sure of how the weather would be while visiting. The forecasts said it would be sunny and rainy so that kind of left me in a pickle. Nevertheless, I made it out alive and with ootds to spare.
Here are some tips to keep in mind when packing and dressing for your trips:
1. Create your itinerary BEFORE packing
2. Do NOT pack cheap sneakers.
I made the mistake of packing P250.00 department store sneakers because they matched my outfits more than walking shoes did. BIG MISTAKE. Comfort over style lagi.
3. If the weather is iffy (jumping between sunny & rain showers), just be safe and pack a light sweater or cover up.
4. You may think a plastic poncho is cute but it’s hot in there.
5. Don’t under pack thinking “I’ll buy something there”. Instead pack around 2 extra outfits.
I initially thought I would under pack so I had a reason to shop but the outfits you wear when travelling and when you get home are completely different so I wouldn’t suggest it. I did end up wearing a shirt I bought at GU but that’s only because I wanted to match the graffiti wall outside our building. Other than that, I bought clothes that I wanted to wear to events and not something I most likely wouldn’t wear when I got home.
What are your dressing/ packing tips when on vacay?
If you’ve noticed the recent tones of my blogs, they’ve been focused around traveling since that seems to be the thing that’s been keeping me preoccupied the most. One question I’ve been asked a lot in lieu of my posts is, “how can you afford to travel so much” and “don’t you have a real job you have to be at?”
While I’m not exactly a digital nomad, I do have a handful of jobs that allows me to function wherever I am in the world. While this might not last very long, as I will be taking over something more permanent very, very soon, it doesn’t stray away from the fact that I have the attention span of a 5 year old. This means, no matter what endeavor I partake, I will always try my best to live a routine and obstruction-free life as much as possible. If I’m not making any sense, I simply want to work at my own time and I go where I want, when I want.
This might sound hard to believe considering that 1 of my jobs entails me to oversee production (see, www.citi-wear.com) but with the proper tools, effective time management and the right bits of inspiration [1][2], living the life of a digital nomad or in my case, living like one is easier than you think!
Here are some tools and techniques that I like to apply in my daily life:
1. Organize your tasks/ priorities/ things to do at the start of every week
Weekends are something that have been obsolete to me for a while now but the upside is, I get to take breaks whenever I want to. Although most of my time is spent in the confines of my home, I make it a point to sit down every week and organize the things I need to accomplish whether it be blogging, vlogging, event, office or personal related.
2. Make sure to keep your lines of communication open and to be responsive of inquiries/ emails
Wherever I go, I always make sure that my lines of communication are clear and open. I try my best to always respond to emails right away and if I’m dealing with a client who’s half way around the world, to let them know what times they can get through to me and the various channels they can get through to me.
3. Work virtually
Whenever I need to make slides for talks, presentations for clients and what not, I make sure to either make them on Google Documents or to save them on a cloud platform when I’m done. It saves me the heartache of software crashing and it also allows me to access them wherever I am in the world for as long as I have internet and a device.
4. Have a back up
I work very closely with a secretary who I leave in charge of all the things that I need handled remotely. My secretary is in charge of running errands, dropping samples and doing things that simply cannot be done virtually. This part really depends on what your profession is but as a supplier, there are still tasks that require a human touch.
5. Never stop learning
Technology is always changing, therefore I like to seek for inspiration from websites like Adapt RM. Whenever I need some sort of inspiration or if I need to catch up on something new, I like to scroll through their pages. They have a lot of interesting articles there which I find extremely useful whenever I’m looking for valuable information on being a digital nomad.
The trick is to never stop learning, sharing and creating.
Hi everyone! Recently, I’ve been telling you a little bit more about our travel adventures through blogs & vlogs– just to level your expectations, the blogs are meant to provide you with full details while the vlogs are meant to be more entertaining, visual and informational at the same time. I like to believe that both are supplemental to the other so if you’re reading this blog, please make sure to also check out my vlog. Also, liking, subscribing and commenting would also be highly appreciated!
Before I start, I think it’s important to share some tips and things I did in preparation for our trip. These are:
1. Book your tickets (duh)
We booked our tickets via a seat sale at Cebu Pacific Airlines for about P3,500.00. This wasn’t a sponsored trip but if you guys wanna sponsor us, be my guest! HAHA
2. Pack your things (after fixing your itinerary!).
Good that you’re here, cuz I’m sharing how I packed and where to go/ what to do all in 1 post.
I’m a little too organized when it comes to traveling and it might work to your advantage so indulge!
3. Prepare all the necessary documents
By the time we were off to Taipei, Filipino’s entry was not yet Visa free. I had to apply for my Visaonlinewhich I think has been a point of interest for many Filipinos who have shown interest in going there. Here is what I had to do.
3.1. Log into ROC-Taiwan, fill in the forms and a few minutes later, you’ll receive an email with another set of information to fill up. I was required to 1. fill up a form, 2. scan/ send a photo of my visa and 3. scanned ID’s of the credit card holder of whom I was using. I don’t own my own credit card so I had to use my grandmother’s but it was super easy for me to comply with.
After complying, I received my e-visa after a day and all I had to was print out my own copies.
EDIT!
“E- Visa online application will no longer apply to Filipinos upon the implementation of the visa-free treatment as from November 1, 2017″ Good for you!
Aside from the e-visa which you will no longer be needing, I also made sure to make copies of:
our tickets & passports. Just in case.
4. Download some useful apps: Our weapons of choice were: Google Translate, Google Mapsand Foursquare. Note: – GOOGLE TRANSLATE (make sure to download the language you will use, in this case, CHINESE (TRADITIONAL), so you can use it offline
– GOOGLE MAPS (make sure to download the map offline)
ITINERARY PROPER
DAY 1: ARRIVAL
Things To Do:
– Have money exchanged
** We were not able to have money exchanged in Cebu because the money changers we went to did not carry NTD. However, there are money exchangers at the airport (before & after immigration) and ATM machines.
– Pick up wifi/ sim card (cancelled)
We had read about portable wifiswhich we wanted to avail of. Unfortunately, since the pick up booth is only open with the times 5:30am-1:00am, we were unable to avail of this service. Our other options were Chunghwa, Taiwan Mobile or FarEastone sim cards (requirements: 2 ID’s) which we later realized that we did not really need and we spent the entirety of the trip without LTE and relied on free wifi.
– Buy an EASY CARD
EASY CARDs are basically prepaid cards (imagine, TIMEZONE cards) that allow you to pay for public transportation and for certain things at stores/ restaurants. We bought our cards for NTD$100 with NTD$100 in it and we loaded up NTD$300 before heading out to our would be home for the next 6 days.
GETTING TO YOUR PLACE:
IMPORTANT NOTE: Apparently, MRT’s close. Opening times: 6:00 AM – 12:00 MN. If you arrive any time after this, a bus is your cheapest option. Otherwise, you can consider private taxis or take an Uber.
With the use of Google Maps, I would pre-plan all our trips so I could list down the directions and not have to rely on the internet. Once we were out, we would then use our Google Maps to lead the way. It sounds simple, which it is, but it does take some getting used to.
WHERE WE STAYED:
Booked this room via AIR BNB, here’s the link to the exact room Our place was in the Ximending area (Ximending is basically the fun, hip district of Taipei). Our room had wifi, a washing machine, good ventilation, lots of closet space, sitting space, trash bags, a heater and even umbrellas since Taipei’s weather can be weird sometimes. It was all really good and our host was really accommodating and helpful!
DAY 2: Taipei Zoo, Ximending Night Market
1:00 PM
TAIPEI ZOO
Entrance: NT$ 60
Zoo Hours: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (no entry after 4:00 p.m.)
Air BnB -> Walk (700 m) -> Ximen -> Bannan Line MRT Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center Station -> Zhongxiao Fuxing -> Wenchu Line MRT Taipei Zoo Station
Cost: NT$50.00
Time: 43 minutes
Ximending Night Market
ATT 4 Fun -> Walk (1.0 km) -> Taipei City Hall Station: 212 Night Xicang Rd. -> Ximen Station -> Walk (140 m) -> Ximending Night Station
Cost: NT$25.00
Time: 26 minutes
Home
Ximending Night Market -> Head north on 漢中街 toward 峨眉街6巷 -> Turn left onto 武昌街二段
TAIPEI ZOO
Ok, I’m just going to be honest with you, I wouldn’t go back to Taipei Zoo nor would I recommend it. To be honest, we did not hear nor read anything compelling enough about the zoo but since I love animals (and yet I don’t mind seeing them suffering? It’s a bit ironic, sorry.), we decided to go anyways. You can check out the vlog for more information but if I had to give my most honest thoughts (at the stake of you hating me), the zoo is too big, with nothing really going on there. It seems to be on the brink of closing but with the entrance fee being NTD$60.00- I don’t really know what we were expecting.
XIMENDING NIGHT MARKET
As I said earlier, Ximending is the young people’s district of Taipei. They have their own night market which is also surrounded by good food and great shopping places that are mid range in price. We decided that our first night market would be here since we were butt beat tired from our zoo trip and we wanted to get it out of the way as soon as possible. Here were our favorite food stalls:
Drop by Joe Fu’s caricature stop for NTD$300/ person.
DAY 3: National Palace Museum, Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, ATT 4 Fun, Shilin Night Market
Air BNB -> Walk (900 m) -> Boai Rd -> Nei Hu Main Line: Zhongsan St. Entrance -> Dazhi Station -> BR13 Da Lun Wei Shan -> National Palace Museum
Cost: NT$30.00
Time: 1: 32
Sun Yat Sen
Entrance: Free
Hours: 08:30 am -5:00 pm
BUS
Time: 7 minutes
ATT 4 FUN
Taipei Zoo -> Walk (190 m) -> Taipei Zoo Station -> Wenchu Line MRT Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center Station ->
Daan ->Tamsui- Xinyi LineXiangshan Station -> Taipei 101/World Trade Center -> Walk (600 m) ->
ATT 4 FUN
Cost: NT$45.00
Time: 39 minutes
Raohe Night Market
ATT 4 FUN -> Song Shou Rd Intersection -> 611 Songshan Station (bus) -> Songshan Station -> Walk -> Raohe Strret Night Market
Cost: NT$15.00
Time: 18 minutes
NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM
Our visit to the NPM was definitely interesting! You can find more about it on my vlog entry!
SUN YAT SEN MEMORIAL HALL
Based on our research, SYSMH was the better memorial halls to check out as compared to Chang Kei Shek Memorial.Sure, I’m 1 stop short of a comparison but the interactive displays and everything else were pretty fun and I really did enjoy the experience.
ATT 4 FUN
We took a little shopping trip to ATT 4 FUN which also gave us a nice view of the Taipei 101 building. If you’re wondering why we didn’t drop by one of the world’s tallest buildings, it was because we didn’t want to line up and pay the entrance fee. It just didn’t seem like something we wanted to do but if you want to find out more about it, you can click here.
If you’re wondering why we chose this mall, it’s because they had UNIQLO’s sister brand, GU, which is slightly cheapers and us girls couldn’t pass off the opportunity to shop there! There are also a lot of cute shops to dine in and other international retail brands.
COMMUNE A7
Commune A7 wasn’t on the list but since we finished early, it was too early to go to our 2nd night market and it was literally across the street from ATT 4 FUN we decided to drop by here anyways. We read somewhere the Commune A7 was a bit underwhelming and is a more high scale, Western inspired food market more than anything else. We agree but we found ourselves there anyways. lol.
RAOHE NIGHT MARKET
Geographically, Shlin would have been the better option for us but since we were already in the shopping mood and read that Raohe was also another great shopping option, we decided to go there. We were definitely not disappointed and Raohe had turned out to be our favorite night market out of the 3 we visited.
DAY 4: VR GO, Shilin Night Market
October 8, 2017
(Sunday)
Itinerary
How To Get There
Shilin Night Market
Home -> Bannan Line -> Taipei Main Station -> Red line -> Jiantan Station -> Shilin Night Market
By the 4th day, we were so tired of walking we couldn’t care for any more adventures. So, we decided to spend the day exploring the Ximending area and we ended up droping by a virtual reality store named VR Go so we could experience it.
SHILIN NIGHT MARKET
I wasn’t able to take photos or videos of our trip there because the rain was quite strong that night but Shilin was one of our least liked night market. There are games novelty games (shrimp and fish catching which I hated) all around, a small section to shop & eat and it didn’t really have a defining starting or end point. I’m not telling you not to go, you still should but just don’t get your hopes up too high.
DAY 5: Juifen, Jinguashi Gold Eco- Park, Shifen
October 9, 2017
(Monday)
Itinerary
How To Get There
JUIFEN
TAXI
Jinguashi Gold Eco- Park
BUS
Shifen
Jinguashih(Gold Ecological Park)
788Keelung Station( Ocean Plaza ) -> Rueifang Station
Fuxing / Shuttle4744to Shi Fen ->
Shihfen
JUIFEN
Juifen is popular for being the inspiration behind Spirited Away and is a beautiful town in the mountains. It has small streets that have food, stalls along the way and a beautiful view. It is also called the Santorini of Taiwan.
JINGUASHI GOLD ECO PARK
I’m getting tired of writing. Here are photos. Please watch the video <3
SHIFEN
Refer to previous sentence
DAY 6: HOME
If you’ve noticed, our itinerary wasn’t fully packed because we didn’t want to tire ourselves out too much. Plus, we had 5 days to fill up anyways. If you’re looking to fill up your itineraries a little bit more, you can also check out Taipei’s hot spring & the geo park.
I hope this is beneficial to you and helps give you an idea of how you would like to spend your trip to Taipei.
I know a few of you are going to be pissed at me for only posting this at close to 11 o clock on a Friday night, exactly less than 24 hours before the event itself. Some of you are probably out partying and will chance upon this in the morning and completely hate me but it’s been a looooong week and by the time I was done with all the work that was piling up, all I wanted was to find a spot on the floor and make some Poppin’ Cooking sushi. It was a FAIL, btw.
But ANYWAYS, I’ll be giving a free talk on October 21, 2017 at Robinson Fuente for Cebu Creators Day!
I’ll be talking about how you can maximize social media platforms for your creative outlets and I’ll be touching on how you can promote your work and the like.
TBH, my slides are very short and bare because I have intended a sit down, chill sesh with all of you. Also, I had to make 2 sets of slides this week and I simply do not have the brain capacity anymore. But I still love you!
Lorraine, Paolo and I traveled to Taipei! If you want the FULL itinerary that you and your friends/ family can follow, I’ll be posting the blog on www.issaplease.com so make sure to check that out!
Enjoy!
Let me know what you would want to see in the comments below!
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It’s that time of the year again where our favorite shopping places are slowly filling up with people in preparation for one of the most festive times of the year, Christmas. With all that Christmas shopping that about to go on, I’ve developed the habit of saving myself time and money by simply doing my shopping online. Mid to late October is the perfect time to get a head start on your shopping so you don’t end up spending all your money in one piece and you don’t have to worry about the delivery time.
And while there are a ton of E-commerce websites out there, sometimes it’s nice to step out of the ordinary and get your loved ones something that will leave a lasting impression. If you’re looking for personalized gifts, baby gifts, wedding gifts and even gifts for men, GiftsLessOrdinary might just be the perfect place for you!
The hardest one’s to shop for, in my opinion, are babies and boys- mostly because they either don’t want anything or cost a fortune to shop for (which is probably why I never get Paolo anything. lol). I took it upon me to try and find the best gifts for these two categories and I was pleasantly surprised to find a handful of good pieces which made me wonder why I had never thought about these items before.
To be honest, the prices are a little bit on the higher end of the spectrum but then again, you can’t put a price on love! Also, considering that these items are customized, there’s a little bit more love put into it so I wouldn’t mind that much.
What are your thoughts about personalized gifts and what are your favorite items from Gifts Less Ordinary?
Went a little shopping crazy this weekend during the 35th Anniversary Sale at Metro Department Store and here’s the stuff I bought. I wasn’t very smart…. but at least I got my family some early christmas gifts, right?
Let me know what you would want to see in the comments below!
“E- Visa online application will no longer apply to Filipinos upon the implementation of the visa-free treatment as from November 1, 2017″
Drop by
Personalized posters for 
