Hello Bali Again After 12 Years!

Frankly speaking, I'm not a big fan of island and therefore, island holiday is not always my top priority. But when we found out AirAsia is relaunching direct route from Kota Kinabalu to Bali for RM293 round trip, it's really hard to say no to this island vacation. 

#1: Direct route from Kota Kinabalu International Airport to Bali Denpasar International Airport

[Too bad that AirAsia suspended this route again]

#2: This round we brought along our 14 months old boy for our 5D4N Bali trip

#3: Last year when we went Bali, we need to fill in the Health, Immigration and Customs declaration separately. But starting from September 2025, all travellers including both locals and foreigners need to download this mobile app called All Indonesia to fill in your arrival declaration.  

#4: After 12 years, I'm back to Bali again. My first trip to Bali was with my college friends and now, I'm back with my beloved husband and son. 

#5: We booked our airport transfer from Klook. The fares are depending on the area where you are staying. 

Throughout our 5D4N trip, we stayed in 2 different villas which I will blog with further details in the next upcoming post;

#6: The first villa we stayed - Rava Ubud

#7: Second villa we stayed - Dijero at Umah Bali

By the way, if you are looking for Bali guide such what to do, where to go, which restaurants, cafes or eateries to go - I'm so sorry that this post is not the one that you are searching for. This is because basically what we did throughout our trip was eat, sleep, swimming, eat, sleep, swimming and repeat all over again. My husband and I decided not to do any sightseeing since we're travelling with our little boy. The one and only place we went was Pasar Ubud (Ubud Art & Street Market).

#8: The one and only place we went throughout our trip - Pasar Ubud (Ubud Art & Street Market)

#9: Shopping place for Balinese handicraft and souvenirs 

#10: Balinese architecture 

#11: My favourite Indonesian food - nasi goreng with satay (fried rice with grilled skewers)

#12: Having our lunch at one of the restaurants nearby Pasar Ubud

#13: Found this eatery nearby our first villa which overlooking the rice fields. 

#14: As for this eatery, it's nearby our second villa

#15: We did order food delivery via Gojek, another popular e-hailing app besides Grab. 

#16: Our little boy is enjoying himself at the private infinity pool

And this wraps up our short and brief 5D4N Bali trip with our little boy. 

Share:

Summary of My 2024 Kaohsiung, Alishan & Tainan Trip [6D5N]

SUMMARY OF MY 6D5N KAOHSIUNG,  ALISHAN & TAINAN TRIP

DAY	DESTINATIONS	ACCOMMODATIONS
1 2 3 4 5 6	Kota Kinabalu ® Kaohsiung ® ChiaYi ® Fenqihu Day Trip To Alishan National Park from Fenqihu Fenqihu ® Kaohsiung Day Trip to Tainan From Kaohsiung Explore Kaohsiung Kaohsiung ® Kota Kinabalu	Fenqihu Deep Forest Inn Fenqihu Yeashow Villa AirBnB Kaohsiung AirBnB Kaohsiung AirBnB Kaohsiung

MY BLOGPOST

• To Kaohsiung Again! But This Time Flying With AirAsia From KK
• From Kaohsiung Airport to Chiayi & Fenqihu
• Day Trip to Alishan National Forest Recreation Area From Fenqihu
• Tainan Day Trip From Kaohsiung
• Kaohsiung 3.0
• Goodbye Kaohsiung International Airport

TOTAL EXPENSES PER PAX

PARTICULARS PER PAX	AMOUNT
	NT$	RM
Air Fares AirAsia Kota Kinabalu – Kaohsiung Add: Luggage 25kg for round trip [Shared]   Accommodations Fenqihu Deep Forest Inn [1 Night] Fenqihu Yeashow Villa [1 Nights] Kaohsiung AirBnB [3 Nights]   Transportation Trains Taxi from Fenqihu to Alishan [Shared among 3 persons] Buses and ferry in Cijin Island Attractions AnPing Old Fort AnPing Tree House   Food and beverages   Others E-sim Taiwan (10GB for 7 Days) – Hello1010 Shopping & travel haul	- -     900 750 -     1,886 533 275     70 70   -     - 2,657	533 119     124 104 278     260 74 38     10 10   232     32 366
	TOTAL	2,180

Exchange Rate as at November 2024
NT$1,000 = RM13.78

MY TRAVEL HAUL

#1: Bought some clothes for my brothers and my lil son from Nanhua Shopping Area Market

#2: Taiwan is famous for pastries such as pineapple cake and sun cake. So everytime when I went Taiwan, it's a must buy for family and friends. 

#3: Found this shop not far away from our Kaohsiung AirBnB 

I have to admit I was attracted to their packaging 

DOWN MEMORY LANE

Share:

Goodbye Kaohsiung International Airport

 << Previous Post: Kaohsiung Trip 3.0 <<

Although I've been to Taiwan like a couple of times before (to be exact 5 times), I have to say this is my first time flying in to Kaohsiung International Airport. Being the gateway to the southern part of Taiwan, Kaohsiung International Airport is consider to be the second busiest airport in Taiwan, after Taipei Taoyuan International Airport. If not cause of AirAsia, I will never have the opportunity to land in this airport at all cause almost all airlines prefer to fly in to Taipei International Airport. Unfortunately AirAsia suspended this direct route between Kota Kinabalu and Kaohsiung.

I did blog and share regarding arriving at Kaohsiung International Airport (here). Now, let me share about departing from this airport. 

GETTING TO KAOHSIUNG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

You can opt for either Kaohsiung Metro, public bus or taxi. Of course the most convenient and fast option is by taking Kaohsiung Metro under the Red Line. The distance from the major stations especially from the Formosa Boulevard Station takes nearly 15 minutes. The train approximately every 10 minutes. 

#1: Easy accessible from the city centre to Kaohsiung International Airport via metro or public bus

INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL BUILDING

Now, let's take a look at Kaohsiung International Airport's international departure area. 

Maybe due to this airport is less busier and less crowded, hence the check-in process, security and immigration processes were swift and hassle-free. However as for the shopping and dining options, there were pretty limited and not many choices. Probably you might need to consider to fill up your hungry tummy in the city centre before heading to Kaohsiung International Airport. 

Anyhow, there is one thing I love about this airport is that it is meticulously designed and decorated with several unique and interesting public art installations, light and an overall design that reflects the local culture and maritime atmosphere with specific notable works located throughout its terminals. 

#2: Always in awe of Christmas decoration

#3: One of the dining options we came across

#4: Anyone love to shopping at the airport before flying?

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11: Goodbye Kaohsiung! 

#12: My must order meal and drink whenever I'm flying with AirAsia - Grilled Peri Chicken with Jollof Rice and Pistachio Latte 

And that's concludes my 6D5N trip in Kaohsiung. 

Share:

Kaohsiung, Taiwan 3.0

 << Previous Post: Tainan Day Trip From Kaohsiung <<

Well, this is not my maiden nor second trip to Kaohsiung but it has been my third visit to this second largest city of Taiwan. 

• Trip to Kaohsiung in 2010 - post here.
• Trip to Kaohsiung in 2015 - post here.

OUR ACCOMMODATION IN KAOHSIUNG

We booked a studio through AirBnB where it comes with 1 queen bed attached with private bathroom. Location wise, it's just merely 5-minutes walk from MRT Formosa Station and Liuhe Night Market. The only small issue for those with huge and heavy luggage is that you need to overcome few staircases before reaching the lift. Other than that, we're pretty satisfied with this studio. 

#1: A cozy studio with one queen bed attached with private bathroom

#2: There's 7-Eleven right opposite of our AirBnB

#3: The only downside is the staircases before reaching the lift. So if you are carrying huge and heavy luggages, you might need to reconsider this.

Date Stayed: 29 November - 2 December 2024 

Room Rate: RM555 for 3 nights (Booked from AirBnB) 

WHAT WE DO & SEE IN KAOHSIUNG

Since this is my third trip to Kaohsiung, actually I should go and explore more places which I haven't been and experience before. But because my husband has never been to Kaohsiung and this is his first time here, therefore there are few places I repeated over and over again, except for The Pier 2 Art Center. 

1) The Pier 2 Art Center

Located on Kaohsing Port, The Pier 2 Art Center is an abandoned shipping warehouse converted into a unique and colourful art space and outdoor sculptures. This is my first time here and I'm absolutely love this place as it seems lively and manicured with colourful atmosphere. Besides that, you can even find cafes, souvenir shops and restaurants here too.    

How To Get to The Pier 2 Art Center:

Take the orange line of Kaohsiung MRT and alight at Yanchengpu (Exit 1); or

Take light rail tram to Dayi Pier-2 station. 

Opening Hours: 10am - 6pm (Monday to Thursday); 10am - 8pm (Friday to Sunday)

2) Cijin Island 

From The Pier 2 Art Center, we walked to Gushan Ferry Terminal which it's about less than 20 minutes of walking in order to catch the ferry to Cijin Island. Been to this island before in 2015 but would love to return again as my husband has never been here before. 

How To Get to Cijin Island:

From Sizihwan Station under the orange line of Kaohsiung MRT, head over to Gushan Ferry Terminal. Get out from Exit 1, turn left and walk to the end of the street. From there, turn right and you will able to see the ferry pier.

Ferry Schedule: 5am to 2am with the frequency of every 10-15 minutes during the peak hours and every 20-30 minutes during off-peak hours.

3) Love River

The reason why I'm back to Love River again is because I didn't get to experience the boat cruise during my previous second visit to Kaohsiung. Therefore, I took this opportunity to experience the Love River cruise with my husband and we decided to pick the departure time during the sunset time in order to enjoy the romantic sunset moment from the boat. We got our ticket from Klook (here) which costs RM18 per person. 

How To Get to Love River:

Take the orange line of Kaohsiung MRT and alight at Yanchengpu Station. Take the exit for Wufu road and walk east up Wufu Road toward Love River. 

Boat Cruise Schedule: 3pm to 10pm daily.

4) Night Markets 

A trip to night market is a must when one is visiting any part of Taiwan. During my third visit in Kaohsiung, we managed to visit at least 2 night markets - Liuhe Night Market and Ruifeng Night Market. The reason why we visited Liuhe Night Market was because it's pretty close to our AirBnB. However, I found it's just so-so and nothing seems interesting to me whereas for Ruifeng Night Market, I would highly recommend one to go and visit it. We found out many yummylicious and pretty good local food and snacks there that we didn't realise we had spent nearly 2 hours wandering around this night market which holds more than thousand stalls.  

HOW TO GET AROUND KAOHSIUNG

Most of the times both my husband and I were using EasyCard which make our trip around Kaohsiung is super convenient, faster and easier. You can use this contactless smartcard on any public transports such as Kaohsiung MRT, buses and even light rail tram. You can purchase and even topup an EasyCard at Kaohsiung MRT stations, convenience stores such as 7-Eleven and Family Mart.  

Share: