Hello, I'm back from my trip! It has been a fantastic trip despite a bad bout of gastric flu for 2-3 days. Here is a review on the cab drivers and tour guide I engaged for my trip. This is a follow up of my earlier post on engaging cab drivers in Taiwan. :)
包车旅游is a competitive business among cab drivers in Taiwan, what makes the difference will be the personal touch in service. Some do it just to earn a living, whereas others enjoy introducing their country to visitors while making a living. Some just drive you from Point A to B, while others go the extra mile to make sure all is well.
Note there are those who are purely cab drivers whereas others are licensed tour guides who drive their own vans around. My review is as follows:
1. Cab drivers 刘奕铭（小奕）、李嘉信（阿信）、杨钦贵（杨大哥）、安哥（宜兰）
I engaged a cab driver by the name of 小奕after surfing the net for some recommendations. Though not all comments were positive, I decided to go ahead since all I needed was someone who will keep to his engagements and fulfil his duties as a driver. His charges are lower, if not comparable to most drivers. What is good about him is he did not require us to pay extra charges for the extended hours he served us. Some cab drivers will charge for every extra hour. Do check with the drivers on this before you engage their services.
小奕 is very punctual and this really helps us in maximizing our time for sightseeing. Unfortunately, I fell sick during the trip. He offered to send me to the doctor though it was beyond his working hours. Though he may not introduce the different places like a tour guide, I think he is still fine as a driver. The places we visited in Taichung did not require much of a introduction anyway. As a young driver in his late twenties, I think he is a good choice for young adults around his age. Should you fancy a karaoke session, he will also bring you to a cheap and good place to sing your hearts out. A young chap working hard to earn a living.
小奕helped to liaise with 李嘉信（阿信）to pick us up from Jiufen to Taipei HSR station for our ride to Taichung. The trip cost NTD1000. During the one hour journey or so, we had a good chat with 阿信 and we found him familiar with Taipei and New Taipei City area. He is approachable and very punctual as well. We chatted about the different places in Taiwan and he even showed us pictures of his children. Knowing we were in a rush to catch our train, he reminded us that safety comes first. A kind and friendly chap.
As 小奕had to attend to some matter on the last day of our stay in Taichung, he arranged for a stand-in driver, 杨钦贵（杨大哥）. He is much older but knowledgeable and offers alternatives to our itinerary after we realised there was nothing much to see at one of the places we stopped at. We took his advice and had a pleasant day with him.
Here's 小奕's name card. He can be contacted by Whatsapp/ Line / WeChat.
Other name cards...
安哥宜兰包车旅游 (Updated on blog post 3 May 2014)
While planning my post working holiday trip to Yilan with my hubby, I chanced upon this driver online. After looking through his website and seeing some positive reviews on Tripadvisor, I decided to give it a try. Since my initial post on engaging drivers, it seems more and more cab drivers have joined the 包车旅游 industry. Some are able and willing to bring tourists around Taiwan while some prefer to stick to familiar grounds. I am glad I picked Mr Lee for my Yilan tour this time round. Not only is he an experienced and safe driver in Yilan, Mr Lee (安哥) is able to provide alternative suggestions when we met unforeseen circumstances. In his cab, there is an enlarged Yilan map with attractions clearly crossed out. Mr Lee is not a tour guide, however he has gone beyond a driver's job by introducing the attractions to us. He is quick in replying emails and lists out itinerary with the breakdown of costs for each day. I emailed him a list of places I wished to visit and he helped with the planning of the route and offered suggestions. Mr Lee has his list of best photo spots for each attraction. No regrets in following his advice. ;p During our visit to Taipingshan, we met very foggy weather and visibility was very low. We were glad to be in safe hands during the drive up and down the mountain. :)
2. Tour guides 陈宗喜（小喜）、陈建铭（Y铭）
I toured Yilan, Hualien, Taichung area with 小喜 last year. It was a family trip with my parents and my hubby. He was highly recommended on Tripadvisor and I checked out his blog. 小喜 has good photography skills and is experienced in planning various trips in Taiwan. We were glad to engage him despite his busy schedule. My dad had great conversations with him throughout the trip and 小喜 was also mindful that we had to slow down our pace due to my dad's age. Thanks to 小喜, we had authentic and good food at cheap prices. He is also very knowledgeable about Taiwan's history and culture, and explains thoroughly to us. I really loved the candid photos he took for us. If I am not mistaken, he is also able to converse in English, not an asset many Taiwan guides have.
This year, I toured southern Taiwan with Y铭 (Ah Ming). He used to live in Kaohsiung and is now residing in Hualien with his family. Both 小喜and Y铭used to be classmates when they were studying to be tour guides. I chanced upon his blog while reading 小喜's additional blog for like-minded tour guides. Y铭 brought us around Kenting, Hengchun and Kaohsiung area. Along the way, he brought us to many food places he has been visiting ever since he was a child. Like 小喜, because of their love for travelling and a desire to leave a mundane 9 to 5 job, they started making a living as a tour guide.
Y铭has plenty to share about Taiwan and enjoys sharing his life stories with us. He is also sensitive to the needs of his clients, always proposing different choices for us to choose from. He is also flexible in moving our itinerary around so that we can make the best out of it. Y铭 is very sporty and often joins us in posing for funny pictures. Over the 5 days we toured with him, he took quite a lot of photos for us using his own camera. When we parted on the last day, my friends and I were actually quite sad. Haha. After we returned to Singapore, he dropped me an email to thank us for trusting in him to bring us around southern Taiwan. His passion for travelling and nature, together with his genuineness make him an excellent guide!
Here are their contacts:
陈宗喜（小喜）
http://www.wretch.cc/blog/tzongshii/20736277
陈建铭（Y铭）
