Getting to the City from the Taipei airport

The Train Ticket
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June 11, 2006. Afternoon

The China Airlines plane landed in Taiwan at the Chiang Kei Shek Airport in Taoyuan. This international airport happens to be located at a county next to Taipei, which is the capital of Taiwan. From the airport, I have learnt that it will take approximately 45mins to an hour to reach Taipei city. It was my first trip to Taiwan although Esther has been to Taiwan a few times. However, the few times that she was there, she was being chauffeured.

So both of us began wondering around the airport, trying to find an economical way to get to Taipei city. The airport is not very large. I was kind of disappointed. I had expected the airport to be equivalent to Changi or even Hong Kong's airport.

At the Main Train station...departure and arrival schedule.
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We approached the information counter and learnt that we could take a coach that would be able to take us to Taipei Main Station. From what we researched, Taipei Main Station is the interchange for train and the MRT. From Taipei Main Station, it is only a MRT stop away from XiMenDing where our hotel is.

We paid NT$125 per person and board the coach heading towards Taipei city. When we arrived, both of us went into the station to explore. As we had planned to travel to Hualien (a county north east of Taipei), we went to check out the train ticket.

I have researched on the railway website and had already pick out the train and the timing to take. We reconfirmed again at the station itself. Just like at the airport, the departure and arrival schedule is clearly listed. So we went ahead and bought our tickets to Hualien.