跟著風遊台灣 Taipei One Day Tour - Cola 可樂 Recommended Driver: Mr 潘品中
Taipei One Day Tour
Initial plan was to engage Cola for a one day tour in Taipei but due to his overwhelming popularity he is fully booked. He thus recommended his 师傅 (Master) 潘品中 (Mr Pan) to take me on 15-March-2018 for 3 pax (My mum, GF and me). Fees and contact as per below.
Cola Whatsapp: +886 989 835 979
Fees: 4000 NTD for 10 hours, no overtime charge
Driver: Mr. Pan (潘品中)
Speaks: Mandarin
Driver Whatsapp: +886 930 605 379
Driver Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100017796498378
Below is my final itinerary on that day, travelled in the following order. Start 9am, can meet any place in Taipei. Total time was about 11hrs 45mins. Mineral water and usb charging port provided for us in his car.
1) 八斗子 railbike (Mr Pan proposal, unfortunately no more tickets, did not visit. Advice those going to book tickets online) See scenery around there.
2) 陰陽海 | Yin Yang Sea
3) 長仁三坑坑口通風管 + Mini water stream from mountain (Mr Pan proposal)
4) 陰陽海景觀台 + 水湳洞選煉廠遺址 (Mr Pan proposal)
5) 望幽谷 | Wangyougu
6) 黃金瀑布 | Golden Waterfall
7) 九份老街 | Jiufen Old Street
8) 十分瀑布 | Shifen Waterfall (Mr Pan proposal)
9) 平溪老街 | Pingxi Old Street and train station (Mr Pan proposal)
10) 平溪 local fruit and vege 24hrs supermarket (Mr Pan proposal)
11) 基隆廟口夜市 (Keelung Night Market)
Mr Pan actually proposed even more locations to visit like; (a) Shen’ao Elephant Trunk Rock, (b) Houtong Cat Village and (c) Sky Latern at Shifen station. He is concern about safety for location (a) as it rained previous night and it is slippery, furthermore it is our 2nd day of 7 day trip so told us he will not bring us there. We rejected location (b) and (c) as we are not a fan of these location and activities. He did not follow for locations 7 and 11. His planning of route for location 7 Jiufen old street was good, I did not have to walk back to the entrance instead went down the stairs pass Shenping theater to the police station opposite to await his pick up. He even treated us shave peanuts powder with ice cream popiah at location 9 and fruits (pineapple, mango and mandarin oranges) at location 10 which we even insisted to make payment ourselves.
Mr Pan is very knowledgeable as he has worked in a local publishing house as script and research writer. His wealth of history cum knowledge on above locations are in depth and very detailed. He showed us local ants nest up close, pointed bee hives from afar, showed us geological formations, explained the railways was built due to gold, coal and mineral mining in the 1900s and picked wild raspberry like fruits for us to try at Shifen waterfall really shines new never seen before spotlight on this touristy spot even though I have been there before. For average tourist like me, it is a eye opener. He is very flexible with the timing and emphasised that overtime there is no charges so we should take our time to enjoy these locations. His brother died before 50s I think and his mum at that time was devastated. His counseling and positiveness to help his mum accept his brother death was encouraging. Now his mum is in her 90s.
He uses his Iphone 8 to take photos for us and even teach us how to frame the shots at the various scenery locations using his phone. He uses iphone camera software control to enhance the photo quality while shooting. He will also ask you to do poses and stand at locations that gives the best view. Time was allocated for us to explore and ownself take photos. His best photos were sent to us via whatsapp chat.
We enjoyed the trip, he was a great tour leader with master class knowledge, we tipped extra to him but he refused instantly and swiftly put the tips back into my opened bag. His love for knowledge and integrity on living his life left an impression on us. Thank you Mr Pan!! He is highly recommended for those who like local history / knowledge lessons with scenery visits!!
Location 4 scenery view. Credits to Mr Pan.
