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How to Visit Taiwan Visa Free for Philippine Passport Holders

March 7, 2017

guide to taiwan visa exemption application

(UPDATE October 18, 2017: Taiwan will be visa free for all Philippine passport holders starting November 1, 2017. So I guess this post is now obsolete. But still, Filipinos can now visit Taiwan more easily.

Why not visit my Taiwan travel itinerary instead? :D)

Back in December, I was itching to travel somewhere cold, foreign, and East Asian, lol. I didn’t have enough funds and it was almost Christmas, so I knew applying for a South Korean or Japanese visa would be problematic. When I saw a seat sale to Taipei, I had to book immediately. The next day, I already secured a round trip flight to Taipei for the Chinese New Year weekend with my sister and Marianne.

I had three reasons for wanting to come back to Taiwan. One, I fell in love with the country the first time I visited last winter. Two, the seats are usually on sale. And lastly, I could apply for a Taiwan visa exemption! I had to apply for a visa last time I visited, but now, Taiwan is now visa free for select Filipinos.

Last year they announced that they will waive the tourist visa for Philippine Passport Holders who can meet a certain criteria, such as having a visa issued by certain countries. I was ecstatic because visa fees for Taiwan are not cheap. It also meant I had to skip the process of applying for a visa and organizing all the requirements for it.

As much as going on adventures and conquering challenges are exciting, filing for necessary travel documents is not exactly fun nor exciting. But for my last visit to Taipei, I just applied for a visa exemption online and had a smooth transaction in the immigration in the Philippines and Taiwan.

I love Taiwan and I definitely wish more people will love it as much as I do. To encourage you to give the little country the love it deserves, here’s a step-by-step guide an on how you can enter Taiwan visa free. [Read more…]

18 Comments · Travel

Taipei Travel: Fangirling at Meteor Garden’s Ying De University

November 5, 2016

national taiwan university

[UPDATE 04/14/2018: Hello! I’ve been receiving messages telling me that the National Taiwan University wasn’t used as filming location for Meteor Garden. I doubt this post is popular enough to drive hordes of MG fans to the university just to take photos. But if my post, in some way, has contributed to that, then I apologize. Taiwan has recently been visa-free for many countries, and that might have contributed to the influx of tourist? I’m not sure.

In my defense, I did some research before going and some blogs did say that the university was used for filming. I’m still not sure what’s true and what’s not, so if you plan to visit the school, then please note that there’s a likely chance that it really wasn’t used for filming. Thank you and apologies for the confusion. 🙂

UPDATE 07/21/2018: A friend recently visited Taiwan and came back with proofs that the university was indeed used as one of the filming locations of the first Meteor Garden. She visited the exact spot used for this scene, and yes, it was in NTU. :)]

It was May 5, 2003 when a local TV channel first aired Meteor Garden. I was 12 and prepubescent and was deeply attracted to the four Taiwanese boys who ruled Ying De University. So when people asked me why I decided to travel to Taiwan, I wasn’t joking when I said it’s because I’m a Meteor Garden fan.

Surely, San Cai, Hwa Ze Lei and Pineapple Head no longer roamed the grounds of the fictional Ying De, but there’s no stopping us from visiting National Taiwan University, one of the campuses used to film Meteor Garden. It’s in Taipei and easily accessible from the subway, that’s why we opted for this instead of going all the way to Chiayi County for National Chung Cheng University.

It was our last day in the country when we visited National Taiwan University. After spending the morning at Yeh Liu Geopark in New Taipei City, we rode a provincial bus en route to Taipei that passes through NTU. It was a long and bumpy ride, and we almost fell off our seats a couple of times. We almost missed our stop, too, because we all fell asleep!

Since we had a flight to catch that night, we could only spare an hour to roam around the grounds of F4’s Ying De University. [Read more…]

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Travel Notes: Conversations Over Coffee at Shilin Night Market

September 28, 2016

coffee shop at shilin night market in taipei
Shilin Night Market is known as the biggest of its kind in Taipei. With hundreds of stalls and booths to explore, we only saw a portion of it when we visited the market that one winter night in January. We might have seen very little of Shilin Night Market, but it was pretty much my favorite night in Taiwan.

Before ending our day at the Shilin Night Market, we had a long day exploring cultural attractions in the city and spent even longer hours prowling the grounds of the National Museum. Dexter separated from us to meet an old friend, and Cherith, Marianne, and I spent the night shopping and trying various Taiwanese street food. It was my first time to eat xiao long bao and candied strawberries!

Running low in Taiwanese dollars and with no money exchange store in sight, we only bought a couple of souvenirs and spent the remaining time looking for a place to rest. The market was devoid of benches for tired tourists, so we were glad to see a line of small coffee shops providing warmth to passersby. We randomly picked one coffee shop, and we were pleasantly surprised when we realized that it’s not just good coffee the barista was offering. [Read more…]

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Taiwan Day 1: Historical Lesson at 228 Memorial Peace Park in Taipei

March 7, 2016

228 peace park memorial taiwan

Before I went to Taipei, I thought there’s nothing much to do in the city. But during the trip planning and the actual trip itself, we realized that four days are still not enough to see everything. But despite the lack of time to explore the capital, we still decided to go easy on ourselves and start our first day quite late instead of the planned 8:00 A.M. No regrets, though! We had an awesome first day.

After going around the neighborhood looking for a cheap place for lunch, we finally started our tour! 228 Memorial Peace Park in Taipei wasn’t part of our itinerary, but it’s right next to our hostel and it’s also where the nearest subway stations was located. So of course it had to be our first stop.

Too bad we didn’t know then what the park signifies, but it’s apparently the oldest park in Taipei! It’s been through so much history and went through so many name changes, and it still stands. It’s also a beautiful place, and we were lucky we saw it everyday during our stay. [Read more…]

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Taiwan 4-Day Itinerary: Exploring Taipei, Tamsui, and Xinbei

February 13, 2016

taiwan 4 day itinerary

Our trip to Taiwan was short, too short. Even though it almost didn’t push through due to unexpected events weeks prior to the trip (we got our Visas two days before the trip!), good thing we decided that the trip must go on no matter what! And we were so glad we did, because Taipei has only amazing things to offer and we definitely enjoyed the trip down to our last hour.

At the start of the trip, our planned Taiwan itinerary was jam-packed from 8:00 AM till late at night. It was far from what really happened, heh. This is indeed a leisurely trip, and looking back, there’s really no way I’d change any of it. From riding the wrong bus to losing and finding our way in the city, this is how traveling should be like. It’s the little detours and the events outside the itinerary that make it all worthwhile.

I really enjoyed Taiwain, and now that a whole month has passed, I can’t wait to go back. My friends and I are already planning a yearly visit because there are still so many places to go and so many food to eat. I’m not sure if it’s possible, but I want to give it a try.

Here’s our Taiwan 4-day itinerary. It covers not just Taipei but nearby cities, too, like Tamsui, Xinbei and Ruifang. [Read more…]

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Hello, I'm Janey. I'm a fangirl, a bookworm, a dreamer and a wannabe writer. I'm a couch potato and a traveler rolled into one.
This is my lame attempt to be a travel blogger, but honestly, this is just an archive of my daily reality.


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