Couchsurfing in Taipei, Taiwan

It was not until the very last week before traveling to Taiwan I started arranging things with some of the CouchSurf hosts who's staying in Taipei City.

I have made a few contacts and thankfully the response was positive and very quickly, a few hosts were confirmed.

There are couple of things to communicate with the host before you leave on the plane.

• Date - it's important to communicate your arrival date accurately so the host can get prepared prior to your arrival.
• Time & place - while the arrival date is important, it's also crucial to know what time and where is the place to meet your host. The meeting place could be a famous landmark or MRT station located nearby your host's house.

Communication is the key, grab a local sim card with data plan from the many service providers, start communicating with your host either through voice call or there are a lot of handy apps you can use to make sure the couch is available.

While email is usually good at earlier stage of communication such as brief introduction between you and your host, and a check briefly if the dates are available for hosting, I use mostly Whatsapp and Line messenger to communicate directly with my host on further arrangements.

It's essential to check with the host a day or two before your arrival to avoid miscommunication. You don't want to end up without a place to stay.

Yi-chun, our host in Shida, Taipei - 师大, 台北

It's unthinkable that Taiwanese have such lovely characters with them, they are extremely friendly and polite, Yi-chun is no exceptional!

The classic beatles photo frame nicely hung on the wall

The fragrance pot, whatever you want to call it =)

Yi-chun and friends are seemingly well-organized persons

A view into the dining area and the kitchen, the couch was ours for the night

It's clearly having an advantage to stay with the native host, the excitement of meeting new friends and understanding their cultures aside, they are usually very helpful when comes to giving you some travel advices.

Their suggestions are very helpful knowing where to go, when to go, and how to go about the local travel hotspots, sharing things you can't miss. It's going to be really interesting and fun.

Exchanging cultural and travel experience are always the most fun part in our first meeting. We got a lot of travel information that night from Yi-chun and her boyfriend.

My mom was very shy at first, but she settled down quickly feeling the warmth reception from our lovely host.

Yi-chun, our Taiwanese native host in Taipei in Shida

The Next Day

The next morning we were up early for Yangmingshan national park and National palace museum at the north of Taipei city.

Morning walk on the street to the Technology building station

As we walked towards the nearest Technology building station, we found our little wonder at the cross of the housing areas.

Resting at the garden, yeah resting before we even started our trip haha, this cup noodle, 面线, together with pork sandwich enlightened our day for only $NTD 60!

Sweet time at the relaxing garden

Mianxian 面线, irresistible noodle soup

The unforgettable pork sandwich!

They were just two of the many irresistible and humble-looking food we'd definitely recommend anyone to try it, it's unbelievable!

And we could defnitely use a little time for planning our route to our next destinations.

Rock n' roll!

It's a quiet morning, it's always good to start the day slow to enjoy every moment of the details before we got busier later.

Next up,  The colour of Yangmingshan national park.

My First Couch Surfing Experience in Hanoi

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I recalled it was one of the most anticipating year end short get away trip that I eagerly awaited.

This was also my first solo backpacking trip couple of years back, decisions during travel was always easy to make though not all were perfect like deciding to avoid the desperate taxi drivers and to walk 30 minutes to Hanoi Old Town from the train station 5am in the morning with the weather well below 20 degrees wasn't really pleasant. But that's what made the experience so exciting!

It was a nine days trip Hanoi trip, research on budget hotels and packages to Halong Bay and Sapa trekking were all done before hand, and booked locally when I was there.

The legendary Turtle Lake, where the keeper of the sword is a Giant Turtle at Hoan Kiem Lake. This was where I took time leisurely walk around

How it felt to be first timer?

It was a little nervous at first, about everything, you know, like not able to book things in advance, not able to go according to plan, decisions were so impromptu and last minute changes were normal no matter how much planning I had. Unlike any other trip I had before, it was absolutely the sweetest experience ever!

The budget hotel rates range between $8-15, the better appearance from the look the more expensive it is, and always easy to get a budgeted hotel in Old Town near Hoan Kiem Lake. Be sure to check the room condition before you commit.

I had to stay at Dr. Tuyet’s, the arrangement with Dr. Tuyet was quite last minute as my other Couch Surfer, Fred said she couldn’t host me on the first night at the very last minute before I left for Vietnam. Unexpected things just happened, that's quite normal.

Dr. Tuyet, my sweet host during my backpacking trip in Hanoi. She loved the roti canai I brought from Malaysia.

What is Couch Surfing?

CouchSurfing is a hospitality exchange online network and the renowned website is supported by an enormous 2.6million members from 245 countries and territories, where travel enthusiasts can choose to host guests or being hosted when they visit specific countries or places.

The arrangement between the host and guest is solely based on merit, and early arrangement. To date, there are 3million successful host and surf, and operating just relying on donation from its advocates.

CouchSurfing's mission is quite inspiring quoted as:

"At CouchSurfing International, we envision a world where everyone can explore and create meaningful connections with the people and places they encounter. Building meaningful connections across cultures enables us to respond to diversity with curiosity, appreciation and respect. The appreciation of diversity spreads tolerance and creates a global community."

There were a few considerations before I made my embarkment to Hanoi to stay with my host, these are usually the considerations from both parties such as the background, spoken language, condition of resting area, preferred gender, distance from tourist hotspot, pets, smoking.

Another consideration for me was the status of the host, whether they were parents with kids or students or working adult like me. Mostly parents would apply stricter rules for such I had to get home by 11pm staying with Dr. Tuyet where some would pass you the key so you won't need them if you come home late.

You might have more flexibility on arrangement with younger adults as some might stay up late, but my advise is to get home earlier, try to be considerate to repay the host's generosity of the free hospitality.

The Couch surf experience was rather unique, my hosts were generally very kind and helpful with a lot of insights about Hanoi and trip recommendation.

Make sure you do what I did, I brought roti canai and durian kuih for my host as token of appreciation. It's the greatest way of showing gratitude to your host by giving some food, snacks, or other souvenirs that symbolize our country. It's not necessary to be expensive items.

Dr. Tuyet is a half retired psychologist, a Vietnamese who's married to an ex-US diplomat, having two children who now live in the States. She spent 2 hours rescheduling my itinerary, cooked me breakfast she didn't have to, I couldn't have asked for more from her!

We had great time exchanging our stories from our own cultures and countries.

The weather was just nice, it was probably around 23 degrees with the Sun poking in and out in the cloudy sky.

Taking the cab from Hanoi International Airport to town was easy, with standard rate of $15. Look around and you will likely to find some Europeans to share the ride to town like I did.

Dr. Tuyet's apartment

Dr. Tuyet's apartment was situated at Kim Ma Street, the streets were getting busier as I passed the Old Town. It was an overwhelming experience to walk the busy streets, I wasn't surprised by my travel book's recommendation to readers to sit down at the restaurant, downing a beer and watching the world goes by... It's simply magnificent!

Oranges @ Hanoi old quarter street

Tien, my motorbike driver took us off for one of the famous local food in Hanoi, Bun Cha. The experience on the bike roaming in the busy Old Town streets wasn’t particularly comfortable with the excessive motorbikes and didn't help by the confusing traffic system.

Tien, my trusted driver

I was quite uneasy at first, but had quickly adjusted to the mind blowing traffic condition in Hanoi, anyone would be easily blown away to see how the locals mobilized around the town at such rate, they probably had developed their own traffic system.

The bikes would avoid and go around me when I crossed the street, like ants surrounding me.

But don’t get fooled, watch where you are heading and always pay 110% attention to the situation on the road, especially when you travel a lot on foot.