Surviving New Zealand: The North Island version

The route:
Flew in and out of Auckland (4 days)
- Bus ride to Paihia + Cape Reinga day trip (3 days)
- Bus ride to Whitianga (3 days)
- Bus ride to Rotorua (3 days)
- Bus ride to Turangi/Tongariro Crossing (3 days)
- Bus ride to Taupo (3 days)
- Bus ride to Napier (3 days)
- Bus ride to Wellington (2 days)
- Bus ride to Whanganui (3 days)
- Bus ride to New Plymouth (4 days)

Total number of days: 31 days

Cost:

Transport	Accommodation	Food	Activities	Misc.	Total	Average/day
NZD292	NZD676	NZD297	NZD308	NZD71	NZD1644	NZD53
SGD310	SGD716	SGD315	SGD327	SGD75	SGD1743	SGD56
USD250	USD578	USD254	USD263	USD61	USD1406	USD45

P.S. Figures are rounded off to nearest whole number.

Day tours are expensive, any tours will cost at least NZD100. Sky diving (Tandem) in NZ is the cheapest in Taupo according to my research and costs around NZD239 for 10,000ft, NZD249 for 12,000ft and NZD339 for 15,000ft.

Hostels cost around NZD25 per night for a dormitory bed.

I cooked quite a bit in NZ so the amount I spent on food were mostly for buying groceries and Subway after I fractured my arm and couldn't cook anymore.

Getting around New Zealand:
I know that driving is the best way to discover New Zealand but what if you can't drive? Have no fear, you can still enjoy NZ like I did! There are two cheap bus companies (NakedBus and Intercity) that offer bus services to most towns in NZ. And if you book early enough (like 3 months in advance when the bus timings are just out), one trip can be as cheap as NZD 1!

I didn't feel that there was any difference between the two bus companies though some people say Nakedbus uses the old buses from Intercity. I just booked whichever is cheaper and most of the time it was Nakedbus. After you booked your seat, write down the booking number and tell the driver.

Getting around the towns in NZ is another story, there are usually no buses except in big cities like Auckland and Wellington. You have to either walk or cycle. I recommend walking. The small towns are usually small enough to discover on foot and walking around is a fun way to discover a place! :)

Supermarkets:
PAK'nSAVE is the cheapest supermarket around because the interior is like a warehouse, so no pretty shelves to browse around but who cares when you get cheaper groceries! I always get very excited when I spot the huge yellow sign of PAK'nSAVE, you can't miss it!

Countdown which is green can be cheap sometimes when they have offers.

New World which is red is the most expensive out of the three big supermarkets I've visited.

Four Square is a smaller supermarket, a little like 7-11 but bigger. Some of the smaller towns only have Four Square. Price wise, well it is definitely more expensive than PAK'nSAVE but still alright if you have no other options.

WiFi:
Most hostels do not provide free Wifi. So you can get a SIM card with data if you really need WiFi, one of my hostels in Auckland gave out free SIM cards so all I had to do was to top it up with value. But I didn't because... you can get free WiFi at all public libraries (within opening hours) and most Burger Kings!

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Sharing a video I made on my trip to New Zealand!

Surviving Cambodia: tips and cost

The route:
Flew in and out of Phnom Penh
- Phnom Penh (2 nights)
- Bus ride to Battambang (2 nights)
- Bus ride to Siem Reap (4 nights)
- Bus ride to Kampot (2 nights)
- Bus ride to Kep (1 night)
- Bus ride to Phnom Penh (1 night)

Total number of days: 13

Cost:

Transport	Accomodation	Food	Activities	Misc.	Total	Average/day
USD37	USD38	USD88	USD90	USD47	USD300	USD23
SGD46	SGD48	SGD110	SGD113	SGD59	SGD376	SGD29

P.S. Figures are rounded up.

Hotels/backpackers are really cheap. A twin room cost around 5~10usd a night and food is cheap as well if you eat at local foodstalls. Restaurants obviously cost more and cost varies depending on where you go. I bought a lot of snacks for the long bus trips so I spent more than I expected on food.

From Phnom Penh Airport to City center
The only way is by tuktuk or Taxi. Apparently the tuktuks inside the airport are all the same price but if you go OUT of the airport, you can bargain for a lower price haha. If anyone tried to do this, let me know if it works!

Getting around Cambodia:
Travelling across cities is easy, you can buy bus tickets from your hostel and the bus picks you up from there. Or you can go to the bus ticket office and buy directly from there, it's cheaper by a bit. There are two kinds of buses; one is local (Soya), has quite a bit of bad reviews about service and stolen luggage, takes longer/has more stops along the way to pick up locals, no WiFi and toilet on board. The other is owned by a bigger company (Giant Ibis) which is more high-class, WiFi (doesn't work all the time though!), toilet onboard and a bottle of water and snack is provided. I took both and the only difference I felt was that the local bus was indeed slower and not as er shiny as the bigger company.

Cambodia is really tourist friendly but due to the lack of public transport, you will need a tuktuk to get to some places. Most tuktuk drivers speak English, some even know basic Chinese/Japanese/Korean. So no worries about that.

Surviving Taiwan: tips, costs and everything else

The route:
Flew in and out of Taoyuan
- Bus ride to Zhongli (1 day,1 night)
- Car ride to Taichung (1 day, 1 night)
- Taxi ride to Sun Moon Lake (2 days, 1 night)
- Bus ride to Cingjing (2 days, 2 nights)
- Bus ride to Taichung (1 day, 1 night)
- Train ride to Tainan (2 days, 2 nights)
- Train ride to Kaohsiung (2 days, 2 nights)
- Train ride to Hualien (3 days, 2 nights)
- Train ride to Taipei (5 days, 5 nights)

Total number of days: 18
P.S. the number of days don't really add up because sometimes we spent half a day in one city and the other half in another.
P.P.S. doesn't Taiwan look like a sweet potato?


Costs:

Transport	Accommodation	Food	Activities	Misc.	Total	Average/day
NT4200	NT3200	NT5400	NT2000	NT3700	NT18,500	NT1028
SGD180	SGD135	SGD230	SGD85	SGD160	SGD790	SGD44
USD145	USD110	USD185	USD70	USD125	USD635	USD35

P.S. The figures are rounded up.


Getting around Taiwan:
1. Trains are the fastest and most convenient way of traveling around Taiwan. It's clean, air-conditioned, pocket friendly and train timings and prices are all available online.




2. Buses are available right outside Taoyuan Airport to take you to Taipei or Zhongli in our case. So no worries about getting stranded. The first bus begins operation at around 7.30am. You can pay by cash but please get your coins ready because no change will be given.

Bus companies such as Nantou Bus (南投客運) have buses for shorter distance travel, such as from Taichung to Sun Moon Lake and Cingjing. You have to do a transfer at Puli (埔里) though. So our journey was like this: Taichung -> Puli -> SML -> Puli -> Cingjing -> Taichung. But we ended up sharing a cab with two other travelers from Taichung to SML straight because the cab driver gave us a discount and we reached SML waaaay earlier than planned.

Taiwan Tourist Shuttle (Taiwan Hao Xing/台灣好行) is another bus company that brings you to most of the tourist attractions. This bus is the only form of transport in places like Hualien where there are no public transport (I think) to bring you to Taroko Gorge. We also took this bus service in Zhongli to get to Ci hu.

3. Public buses are available for intracity travel but most locals are clueless about bus routes because everyone gets around on motorbikes. In Taichung, you get to travel for free if your journey is less than 8km! Again, get your coins ready.

4. Metro/MRT is only available in Kaohsiung and Taipei. You can buy a token to tap in and out from the machines at Kaohsiung MRT stations. I think it's the same in Taipei but we had the EasyCard so we didn't have to get the single trip tokens. Read more about the EasyCard in Useful tips #4.



Useful Tips:
#1. If you're between 19 to 30, you can apply for a free Youth Travel Card at the Tourist Information Counter at the airport. The counter opens at 7am and you just need to show them your passport. With this card, you can get discounts at various attractions and even offers for some accomodation, like our minsu in Cingjing.


#2. You might want to consider getting a local SIM card if you're going to be in Taiwan for a prolonged period of time. There are three telecom companies competing for your attention at the airport, the counters open at 8am. I don't know which is the best but we got ours from Taiwan Mobile (which is the biggest local telecom company), a non-3G SIM card with NT345 credit. 3G SIM cards are of course available but you can easily get free WiFi at hostels/Starbucks.


#3. If you're a student and planning to travel around Taiwan mainly by train, get the TR-PASS. You can get it at most train stations but remember to bring your student card! The TR-PASS holder has unlimited access to the Chukuang Express, the Fuxing Express and commuter trains before the expiration date of the pass. However, the holder is not allowed to travel by No.1, 2, 51and 52 Tourist Trains, No. 71, 74, 73and 72 Groups Trains, special passenger trains, Cruise-Type Trains, and other trains that are specified by TRA. Yes, that can be confusing but the Chukuang express pretty much gets you everywhere so no worries. If you're not sure, just ask the ticket office which train you can take with the TR-PASS.

Options available:
(1) 5-day pass/NTD 599.
(2) 7-day pass/NTD 799. (We got this one)
(3) 10-day pass/NTD 1098.


#4. Taiwan Easycard can be used for MRT rides in Taipei, buses trips in Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan, and Taichung and some but quite limited train journeys. You can get one and also do top-ups at all Taipei MRT stations and convenient stores. Adult and Student card cost NT$500, consisting of a NT$400 disposable amount and a NT$100 deposit.

Just tap in and out and the fare will be deducted based on distance traveled. The confusing/interesting thing happens when you use this card on buses. You do not tap in and out all the time! Some buses you just tap in, others you just tap out. There will be a neon sign when you board the bus which states whether this bus operates on a tap-in-tap-out (上下车收费) or tap-in only (上车收费) or tap-out only (下车收费) system. I can almost see the blank expressions going around hahaha.



Couchsurfing experience:
We couchsurfed across Taiwan except for Sun Moon Lake, Cingjing and Hualien. This was the first time for us (though we didn't really sleep on couches, we slept on tatamis, beds and mattresses) so we were half expectant, half worried. Luckily, we were blessed with wonderful hosts. All of them were extremely welcoming and made time to bring us around. They showed us hidden gems, good local good and treated us like good old friends.But as much as I enjoyed my CS experience, I was quite glad to take a break from CS in SML, Cingjing and Hualien because I need my own time/space/freedom.

If you decide to couchsurf, please comb through your potential hosts' CS profiles thoroughly, read all their references and you can even message people who have surfed with them previously. Like I've got an email recently asking about my stay with one of the hosts. Go with an open mind but be alert.