Take a boat to Taiwan, the first part of a 10-day trip to Taiwan (booking tickets and itinerary guide for Strait Cruise)

Since I decided to take a boat to Taiwan, I decided to write a Travelogue... Mainly because there is not much information about this on the Internet, and I was going to take a boat alone. There were many uncertainties before and during the Trip. I was very nervous. So when I was collecting information, I thought that after all, I had been getting travelogues for free for so many years, so I should write one myself to avoid being a bad person.

In the first part, I will introduce my confusing boat trip to everyone.

When I was in college in Xiamen, I didn’t know how precious it was to have a vacation to travel. In addition, students were poor after all, and I was embarrassed to always use my family’s money to go out and play, so I never thought about going to Taiwan. After graduation, I lived in a community in Shanghai for more than two years. Not far away from there are Taiwanese and Koreans living. Every day when I go out, turn left to see a Taiwanese coffee shop, turn right to see Korean barbecue, and go straight ahead to see Taiwanese braised pork rice and bento. Sitting in McDonald's in the neighborhood, I often hear Korean-speaking mothers and Chinese-speaking children communicating without barriers; the owner of the coffee shop I often go to specially left me a cup with the logo before he went back to Taiwan because of family matters. I often have a feeling of "Ah, I am really in an international city in my life", so I gradually became curious about Taiwan and wanted to see what this place is like.

Before leaving Shanghai, I paid social security and could apply for a free travel visa. In addition, my friend had a period of free time after graduation, so I decided to go to Taiwan. At first, I didn't want to take a boat, but I couldn't register for the IELTS test in cities around Shanghai at the end of April. I spent several days to get a seat in Fuzhou University, so I had no choice but to take the test in Fuzhou. In addition, my friend and I had agreed to leave in early May. After registering, I remembered the advertisements I had seen before that you can take a boat from Fuzhou.

To be honest, I think my friend and I are very bold. It's the first time for both of us to go to Taiwan, but we didn't go together. We went to the port and the airport respectively, and then met in a strange city where the phone was not connected. I felt very stressed just thinking about it.

So after deciding to take the boat, the first question I thought of was not how to take the boat, but what to do after getting off the boat. After arriving in Taiwan, the mobile phone number of China Mobile can't be used. My friend used the WIFI given by the entry permit to Taiwan. He didn't apply for a Taiwan mobile phone card or roaming, so I had to have a network. The initial idea was to get a phone card or order WIFI at the dock after getting off the boat, but when I checked the information online, the port didn't have these two things, which was far less convenient than the airport. I had to turn to the omnipotent Taobao for help. I looked for several days before choosing one. I was very worried that there would be no signal at all in Taiwan as mentioned in the comments. After all, if the mobile phone can't be used, I will not only be unable to contact friends, but it may also be a problem for me to get out of Taipei Port.

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After the dividing line, ding ding ding ding! We are finally getting to the point of today! If anyone has read this patiently, I must express my gratitude to you for enduring so much of my nonsense!

Let me introduce several ways to get from the mainland to Taiwan:

1: Airplane. This is the most popular and convenient way. Basically, you land at Taoyuan Airport, and then you can complete the necessary procedures such as changing money, applying for mobile phone cards, and applying for EasyCard at the airport. However, if the flight arrives too early or you are worried about delays, you must also prepare in advance, because these places are not open 24 hours a day. I have heard that someone booked a red-eye flight and arrived in the early morning, but forgot to change money and couldn't take the bus. He looked for ATM machines everywhere in the airport in the middle of the night. And this is based on the fact that his card can withdraw money abroad. There are many bank cards that cannot withdraw money abroad, which would be really funny.

2: Mini Three Links: When I first said taking a boat, my friends thought I was talking about this. This is taking a boat from Xiamen to Kinmen, and then taking a plane from Kinmen to Taiwan. The ticket price will be cheaper, but because it is transferred in Kinmen, the cheap few hundred yuan does not seem to be very cost-effective.

3: What I mean by taking a boat is taking a boat from the mainland to the main island of Taiwan. There are two types of boats:

One is the "COSCO Star" departing from Xiamen. This is an overnight trip. You board the boat at night and arrive in the morning. Since I watched Titanic, I dare not upload at night...

The other is the one I took this time: the "Haixia" from Pingtan to Taipei/Taichung. From the mainland, you depart from the pier of Pingtan County, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province. Pingtan is a county under Fuzhou. It is an island. Some distance south of the county is the brand new pier for taking the boat.

1. Buying tickets

When buying tickets for the Haixia, you need to provide the numbers of the mainland pass and the Taiwan Entry Permit, so you have to wait until both of these certificates are issued before you can buy. The Taiwan Entry Permit is generally issued later, but you don't have to worry about not being able to buy a boat ticket after the Taiwan Entry Permit is issued too late. Take the Lina ship I took this time as an example. There are about 800 seats in total for the business class and economy class on the ship. On that day, there were less than 100 people on board. In a word, it was: very, very empty!

I bought the ticket on the official website of the Strait, the address is this: Strait: Fujian Pingtan Strait Booking, Strait fare and timetable inquiry Payment can be made with Alipay, so easy!

PS: The difference between buying a boat ticket and buying a plane ticket is that you need to print the cabin confirmation letter to exchange for a boarding pass.
Another PS: No one will ask you how you will come back before boarding, but you need to confirm the return boat ticket or plane ticket before boarding the ship and changing the boarding pass. If it is a plane, show the staff the text message received when you checked in. The text message content needs to include: name, flight number, time, mainland pass number. Only in this way can you exchange the ticket smoothly.

2. How to get to the pier

This is a more troublesome place. If you are not near Fuzhou, you probably don’t know where Pingtan is. For example, I went to college in Fujian for four years, but I had never heard of Pingtan...

Actually, I decided to take a boat because I happened to be in Fuzhou for something. Here is a map:



So the route by boat is: residence → Fuzhou → Pingtan → wharf

Pingtan is a county in Fuzhou. It is actually quite far away, almost to Putian. The red line above is the route I took.

Fuzhou has two major bus stations in the north and south. Among them, Fuzhou South Station is also called Fuzhou Station. It is closer and more convenient to Pingtan. There is a bus every 15 minutes. The Journey takes about two hours. Of course, I sleep for a while.

After getting off at Pingtan Bus Station, you will feel that you have arrived in an unknown small county town. Even the sidewalks are bumpy, and it is very inconvenient to push the box. If you don’t have friends who can exchange money, you can exchange money near the station. There are also small banks in the county town. Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and Agricultural Bank of China are within 200 meters, which is very convenient. Don’t wait to get on the boat to exchange like me, because sometimes there is no one at the exchange point on the boat.

Still at the Pingtan Bus Station, near the gate of ICBC, there is a "Pingtan-Dongxing" minibus, which is very old. You can get on the bus after you have prepared your things. It will start at the appointed time. You can buy the ticket after it starts. Just tell the ticket seller which pier to Taiwan is right away and they will know. It costs 5 yuan per person and the journey takes about 20 minutes.

When on the bus, you should focus on feeling the atmosphere of the road without pedestrians!!! This way you won't be too confused after getting off the bus...

Because it is very, very, very desolate there.



3. Take the boat

After getting off the bus, go directly to the lobby. An hour in advance, a staff member will appear to exchange boarding passes. Show the printed ticket reservation letter, entry permit to Taiwan, Datong Pass, and return boat/ticket certificate at the window, and you can get a boarding pass just like when you take a plane. Take this to the lobby to go through security and customs, and then you can go through customs!

I took the newest ship, Lina. The ship is very beautiful and well decorated, beyond my imagination. The staff are all Taiwanese. Because there are too few people, the restaurant bar and first-class cabin are not open. I want to try the afternoon tea at sea and bring my own food. Because all the luggage is portable, it can be packed anywhere.

In fact, before the boat set sail, the weather was very good and I could see the blue sea. I was full of gratitude for the clear sky that day.



So before setting off, I thought I could enjoy the sea for the next three hours. Maybe you can also see seabirds, dolphins jumping and so on. Like this:


Beautiful on the deck

Or like this:

Many seagulls and seabirds

Or this also works:

Waves

Five minutes after the boat started, we were completely immersed in a thick fog. There was no hair in front and behind. The fog was so thick that I thought I went to Beijing on a smoggy day.

For three hours, until I saw the cranes in Taipei Port under the gloomy weather, my vision could not reach the water surface...

The boat was very fast. We arrived at the dock before five o'clock, but I don't know what went wrong. We wandered outside the dock for half an hour before docking. Because the boat was very large, it took another half a day to dock. Finally, it was five forty-five when we got off the boat.

After getting off the boat, there was a shuttle bus to the customs building. We went through a small door to pass the security check and customs, and then we could officially set foot on the land of Taiwan.

3. Taipei Port

What can you do in Taipei Port? Nothing.

Taipei Port is a new port. In the past, most ships going to Taipei docked in Keelung. If you ask in Taiwan, nine out of ten Taiwanese people don’t know where Taipei Port is. So you can just go directly.

Before I went there, I judged from the few online information that Taipei Port did not sell EasyCards, did not issue Youth Cards, did not sell phone cards, and did not exchange Taiwan dollars, but there was an ATM. In fact, I did not even see an ATM.

After leaving the Customs Building, I originally planned to take the bus, but the only bus that passed the Customs Building, Red No. 22, only bypassed Taipei Port during rush hour, and did not come at other times until I got to the stop. When I arrived, it was already past six o'clock, and the next bus was at 6:45, which was not rush hour anyway...

I hesitated at the intersection for three minutes, and during that time I found that the Taiwanese uncle who vowed to take me to the bus had betrayed me and took a taxi. Fortunately, Taiwan Telecom was reliable, and the Baidu map function on my phone was normal, so I walked to the bus station according to the information I saw in advance.

The following is my walking route. It is not long, only about 15 minutes. However, it was already 6:20. In early May, the sky starts to get dark at 6:30 and it is completely dark at 7:00. So I was actually a little scared at that time. After all, when I came out of the port, I saw nothing but desolate surroundings. It was getting dark. I was still in Taiwan, a place I had never been to before. I was really a little scared at that time. I was not in the mood to take pictures, so I can’t show you the actual appearance.



The red circle is the location after I passed the customs. The circle is the bus stop with only one bus. The red line is my walking route. It can be seen from the picture that I was too anxious and walked too fast. Baidu positioning did not keep up with me, so I passed it.

In this picture, all the way to the location of Xuntangli, there are empty spaces full of weeds, which scared me. After passing there, there are stores. At the intersection of Zhongshan Road Section 2, there are more people, and there are many convenience stores. It looks exactly like a street in the city. I bought a bottle of drink at this intersection, which is super unpalatable.

It was not me who found out that I took the wrong road, but the Taiwanese guy who got off the boat behind me. The guy went from Beijing to Fuzhou alone and then took the boat back. After chatting with him all the way, the guy complained that he couldn't find the "Pingtan-Dongxing" bus I took, and was asked for 50 yuan by a black motorcycle taxi; he also showed me the nearly 300 yuan of counterfeit bills he received along the way...

After arriving at Guandu MRT Station, you will feel that you have set out at nine in the morning and it took ten and a half hours to finally return to the city.

Then I met up with my friends at Jiantan MRT Station very smoothly, and the two foodies went directly to Shilin Night Market.

My confused first day ended here, and the next nine-day journey in Taiwan will begin. If anyone has the patience to read this, I want to say to everyone, see you next time~

Finally, I will tell you a few problems I encountered along the way that I think need to be paid attention to:

1. Exchange RMB in advance, exchange it in Fuzhou or Pingtan, don't be like me and believe that you can exchange it on the boat. There was no exchange on the boat that day.

2. Because there is nothing in Taipei Port, in order to facilitate your movements after leaving the port, it is recommended that you buy a SIM card and EasyCard on Taobao in advance. I only bought a SIM card at the beginning, but I remembered that I needed change to take the bus in Taiwan when I arrived at Pingtan Port. At ordinary money exchange points in mainland China, you basically cannot exchange for Taiwanese coins. If you don’t have a charged EasyCard, you will be stupid enough to take a thousand yuan to take the bus. Of course, this problem was solved smoothly by me later~ I am really proud of doing this with social phobia.

3. Apple mobile phone users must remember to bring the pin for changing the SIM card. When I bought the card, the customer service told me that I must not insert it into the phone in mainland China to try, otherwise the SIM card will not work. I have to change it after getting off the ship. I was very obedient. I took the card and put it in my bag without touching it. When the ship was about to stop, I found that I couldn’t open the SIM card slot without the pin. Without a SIM card, there is no network. Without a network, I can’t find friends. If I can’t find friends, I can’t find the hotel she booked. It’s terrible anyway.