Back from my Taiwan trip, will be posting details of the drivers I hired for my trip.
For 1 and 3, I contacted Ah Hui but he was not free.
For 2, Wang Chi Chieh agreed to be the driver but several days before he texted that
his taxi was damaged and he will reccommend a replacement.
Both contact person were pretty quick in answering all queries, but I have to give the
edge to Ah Hui as he replied faster than Wang. I used whatsapp to correspond with them
and had to use Google Translate, lol.
1. Hualien to Cingjing
Contact person: Ah Hui 阿輝
Tel: +886988090976
Actual Driver:
姓名:邱于倫
Terms: 6000NTD for 10 hours, no overtime mentioned
Arranged time to meet: 8.30am
Actual Time: 8.15am to 6pm
For this trip, I did not specify the places to visit but left it to the driver. The driver was pretty courteous and took photos using his handphone which he then whatsapp to me after the trip. Along the way, he stopped us at a spot where he brewed some local tea for us. He drove really slow but safe. At the start of the trip, I mentioned that its alright if we miss a 1 or 2 places. As a result we visited only a few spots.
The last place he brought us to visit was Lushan Hot Spring to soak our feet, but the entire place was pretty desolute and apparently the feet soaking area was closed. Pretty much a let down. The good thing was we left some honey in his taxi, and he offered to delivered it to us at Taichung.
Rating: 8/10
2. Sun Moon Lake to Taichung
Contact person: Wang Chi Chieh
Tel: +8860917522616
Actual Driver:
姓名:林憶瑩
Terms: 3500NTD for 12 hours, no overtime mentioned
Arranged time to meet: 9am
Total Time: 8.30am to 8.30pm
This time around, I specified the places that we should visit, lol.
日月潭>埔里元首馆>薰衣草森林>新社古堡庄园>中社花市>逢甲夜市>高铁台中站
Sun Moon Lake>Puli King's Garden>Lavender Cottage>Zhongshe Sightseeing Flower Market>Fengjia Night Market>Taichung HSR Station
The driver was a female, very young, about 20+. She was really good, opening the door and driving us as close to the destination as she could possibly can. She helped us take photos using our camera and also followed us in every single attraction except Fengjia Market, which we told her not to as it was really crowded. At the end of the day, she gave us 2 boxes of local strawberries! They were grotesque, unlike the normal strawberry you see but really sweet. From King's Garden to Lavender Cottage took almost 2 hours as she followed the GPS and drove on a very narrow and winding road, only a car and half width wide which is probably due to her inexperience. However, according to her, she is not doing this full time, only helping her father as she is working.
Rating: 9.5/10
3. Taipei
Contact person: Ah Hui 阿輝
Tel: +886988090976
Actual Driver:
姓名:楊錦文
Terms: 3500NTD for 8 hours, overtime 1 hour 400NTD
Arranged time to meet: 9am
Total Time: 8.50am to 5.30pm
十分大瀑布>十分瀑布放天燈>九份老街>金瓜石>黄金瀑布>阴阳海>台北
Shifen Waterfall>Shifen Old Stree>Jiufen>Jinguashi>Golden Waterfall>Taipei
The driver drove us to the places we requested but did not accompany us nor did he take any pictures for us. Only at the last place did he accompany us for a short while. All in all, he is a competent driver, but if you are looking for more, then its better to look elsewhere. We were over the time limit slightly but only paid 3500NTD.
Rating: 6.5/10
If you are in Taipei and want to engage a driver to bring you around, there are plenty available to Ximending as shown in the picture below. However, remember to negotiate the fees in advance, including any overtime if incurred.