Free gift from Taiwan Tourism Bureau

Before your departure date to Taipei, there is one thing which will be very useful if you can get it done in your country. Taiwan Tourism has been working hard to promote Taiwan as one of the tourist destinations all around the world and one incentive that they provide to whoever flying to their country is...some kind of gifts. =)

If you are residing in Singapore, make sure you pop by the Taiwan Tourism office at Chevron House, Raffles Place to get your tourist gifts (and some tourist maps too).

I brought my identity card and e-ticket to show the receptionist and after that, they give me this package.

And what do we have inside? Hmm~~~~Voila! It's an MRT card. And it looks so cute. ^^

Do note that no value is stored inside. You still need to top up the card's value. =P

If you want to, you can check with the Taiwan Tourism by calling their office to check if the gifts are available. Occasionally, you may get other things like 7-11 wifi voucher or zoo/ theme park voucher. Cool, eh?

The detail for Taiwan Tourism Bureau in Singapore can be found here: http://welcome2taiwan.net/en/news89.html

You can check the Taiwan Tourism website in your country as well to check if they have such offer too. =)

How to find the cheapest flight to Taiwan?

Once the paperwork is done, you still need to book your air ticket to Taiwan since the teleportation system has not been invented yet. Wish Doraemon was real, right? XD

At first, I did not really know which airline is the best to go to Taiwan. But I always prefer a direct flight to minimize hassle and waiting time. From Indonesia, this condition does not leave me with much choices.

For a start, I always go to Google and type "cheap flights from Jakarta to Taipei" (you can change the city with your own city). You will see a lot of links provided as a result:

http://www.kayak.com/Cheap-Flights-Jakarta-to-Taipei.JKT.TPE.co.html
http://www.farecompare.com/flights/Jakarta-JKT/Taipei-TPE/market.html
http://www.utiket.com/en/flight-tickets/jakarta-cgk-taipei-tpe.html

I clicked all of them and did my research. I found out that more or less they listed the same flights with the same prices. So I suppose you can just click on one of the above links.

From Jakarta, the cheapest choice is to take our national airline, Garuda Indonesia. It's a night flight (i.e. departed at 23.45) and it will reach Taoyuan International Airport at approx. 6.15 AM the next day. If you are not a fan of night-time-flying, you can opt for EVA Air which is not as cheap as Garuda Indonesia but you will reach Taiwan around 20.00 - 21.00 ish at night.

My friends said there is an option to take China Airlines but based on my experience looking for a flight, somehow it never appear as one of the cheapest flight on the website. Hmm, weird. Probably it's just due to my timing.

The cheapest price that I got so far is around USD 300-ish with the usual regulation of max 20 kg baggage allowance.

Another thing to take note, you will need to spend approximate one hour to travel from Taoyuan International Airport to Taipei City by cab. Or bus. Well, the MRT line has not reached the airport yet, but the Taiwanese are building it at the moment, so just wait for it patiently. =P

To end this post, please enjoy the sunrise view from behind the wings. This was taken on my recent flight with Garuda Indonesia. =)

Study Mandarin in Taiwan: Student Visa or Visitor Visa?

This is the next question which definitely pop into your head especially if you came from Indonesia. Yes, we need an approved visa to vist a lot of other countries and Taiwan is one of those countries. U_U.

I copy paste a sample of the visa from google.

Although it seems to be very 麻煩 (re: Máfan ) or troublesome, it should not deter us from studying Mandarin in Taiwan. So where should you start? This website will give you a rough guidance of what you need to do -> http://english.moe.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=8010&CtNode=3892&mp=1.

Okay, in summary, you basically need to get the following information/document to apply for the visa:

1. Completed application form (you can get it here-> http://www.boca.gov.tw/np.asp?ctNode=776&mp=2)

2. Confirmed plane ticket and seat reservation for incoming flight and departure flights (My visa approved before I booked my plane ticket, so I'm not really sure if this is necessary although you need to provide an estimate date of travel and return).

3. Two passport photos (your photo will be printed on the visa, so make sure to get a nice pic!)

4. Formal letter of admission from University (your language schools will provide you this once your admission is approved).

5. Bank statement showing minimum USD 3,000

6. If you are not working, you need to provide a letter of financial support from your parent/guardian (this need to be signed by parent/guardian). The parent/ guardian need to provide an employment letter from their employer or other documents to prove that they have their own business, if any.

7. If you are Indonesian, you will be asked to provide more documents such as a copy of your ID card (KTP), family registry (KK), and birth certificate (Akte kelahiran). Oh man!

Note: Apparently if you have an approved and valid USA visa, you don't need to apply Taiwan visa. I suppose this is only applicable for short-term staying (i.e. not more than 60 or 90 days).

WAIT A MINUTE!

The above is the criteria for visitor visa, but I'm coming as a student right? I'm studying Mandarin but why am I applying for visitor visa?

Guess what, if you come to Taiwan to study Mandarin, you can (initially) only apply for visitor visa (and not a student visa). If you decided to study for let's say one year, you can apply for a resident visa after 4 months of staying in Taiwan.

Yep, it's logically confusing but I suppose we can only follow since it's a Government's regulation. Oh well, don't worry once all these procedures are done, you can jump on the plane and fly to Taiwan. Whee~~~