Welcome to Taiwan

I might have looked to the immigration officer like a person who would use whatever means necessary to enter his country. What rang his warning bells? Must have been my unruly mustache or the very handsome mugshot on my passport. Of the few countries I have been to, this is the first country where the immigration officer scrutinized my passport with an eyepiece.

After finding nothing wrong with my passport (hey, I'm an honest guy!), the immigration officer stamped my passport thru with nary a "Welcome to Taiwan". Nevertheless, I was happy to be officially out of his sight and officially in his country.

The plan. Take a Kuo–Kuang Bus 1819 from Taoyuan International Airport to Taipei Main Station. Kuo-Kuang buses depart every 15 minutes from 540AM to 1230AM. After 1230AM, there are only two other schedules: 1AM and 130AM. The bus ride will take about an hour and would cost NT$125 (about Php190). From Taipei Main Station, take the Taipei Metro (minimum fare NT$20 or about Php30) to my hostel.

The reality. I am a tightwad and it sucks being one. Being a tightwad means getting cheap airplane tickets. Which means getting stuck with sucky flight schedules. Which often means arriving late at night or in the wee hours of the morning. In our case, we arrived after midnight and got out of the airport after 1AM when there was only one bus bound for the city and the trusty Taipei Metro was fast asleep. Too lazy to do transfers (bus then taxi), whatever we saved from our plane ticket we spent for a taxi from the airport to the city (NT$1300; about Php1950).