Expert: Kuo-syn Liao - 10/22/2009

Question
QUESTION: HI, we will be travelling around taiwan for 12 days on our own, thus will be taking trains very frequently from one town to another, kindly advise any website to check the train distance and travel time from one location to another ? and also which train should we take from Shueili to chiayi,

actually we plan to go to changhua station from Shueili and take the bullet train to kaohsiung, but changhua station is not open yet.

hope to hear from you

Adeline

ANSWER: welcome to taiwan:

maybe you can buy TR-PASS,going to any station without extra-charge.

http://www.railway.gov.tw/index/index.aspx

http://service.tra.gov.tw/tw/TripPlan/TripPlan.aspx


In big stations you can ask the ticket seller to give you the schedule booklet(brochure, free or maybe NT20?)

it is more convenient.

shueili is in the sub line, so you have to go back to main line first,to er-shuei,or taichung,

if any questions, feel free to ask me



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi, thanks very much for your clear direction regarding the way from SML to Chiayi, can I seek your advise for a day trip from Taipei main station to yieliu,shifen,jiufen and keelung maiokou night market. what is the best sequence to go from one place to another ? Is the sky lantern also available during december ?

hope to hear from you again and thanks in advance
Adeline

ANSWER: welcome to taiwan:


yieliu,shifen,jiufen and keelung maiokou

I think you had better rent a car, or hire a taxi,
otherwise it is hard to go to these places in a day. about 150-200KM..


i suggest:yieliu=daytime
jiufen=15:00-18:30 you can enjoy both day view and night view,

the sky lantern is available anytime, but the lantern festival is the greatest day, hundreds of them

in the sky..

if no time, i think you can go to the night markets in taipei instead of keelung, they are almost the same.

if before 20 DEC. and I am free(not sure), maybe I can travel with you that day, drive you to these places,
and you pay all the meals , gas.....only 4 seats available in my car,

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Kuo-syn,

thank you very much once again for your tips and really appreciated your kindness to bring us around , we will only be in Taipei from 22nd Dec to 27th Dec, we intend to rent a car or hire a car with chauffer to drive up to yehliu,shifen,jiufen and keelung .

I've another questions to ask, what is the name of the Hsinchu railway station, is it called Zhongli ? bullet train stopped at Hsinchu and the city is distance away, as we are heading from Taoyuan to Hsinchu, and proceed to Leofoo theme park on the following day, so is there any direct bus to Leofoo theme park and how long is the travelling time ?

Hope I'm not a nusisance to you

Adeline  

Answer
welcome to taiwan:

the high-speed rail(bullet train) is for long distance,

if only 30 or 100km, sometimes it is not more convenient than taiwan rail.

you can experience the bullet train when long distance.

if from taoyuan(or hsinchu) to leofoo, just take taiwan rail to zhongli,then transfer.

taoyuan to zhongli=10km

hsinchu to zhongli=40km,

high-speed rail only chu-bei station(it means north of hsinchu)to hsinchu city=10km,,

high-speed rail is only convenient for taipei, kaohiung, and long distance over 150km