Tips Naik MRT di Taipei, Taiwan

Bagi pelancong, kota Taipei di Taiwan termasuk destinasi favorit. Dengan segala kemudahan seperti keramahan, kemampuan berbahasa Inggris masyarakat di sana, majemuk, variasi makanan termasuk ketersediaan makanan halal, dan tentunya kemudahan transportasi publik.

Taipei 101 dari Daan Park

Kali ini saya akan berbagi sedikit tips ketika anda di Taipei dan ingin mengelilingi sudut kota ini dengan transportasi favorit. MRT atau mass rapid transit.

Pertama, Cari Pintu Masuk Stasiun

Setelah anda tiba di Taipei, misalnya sampai ke Taipei Taoyuan International Airport, anda bisa menuju ke Taipei Main Station dengan MRT. Atau kalau anda menggunakan bus, anda juga bisa ke Taipei Main Bus Station.

Taipei Main Station

Untuk naik MRT, anda bisa mencari pintu masuk MRT, dengan mengikuti peta atau petunjuk yang ada. Mayoritas MRT di Taipei adalah di bawah tanah, sedangkan kalau di Kaohsiung, sebagian di bawah tanah, sebagian di atas.

Pintu masuk stasiun MRT

Ketika anda sudah masuk atau turun dari pintu masuk, yang berikutnya harus dilakukan adalah berjalan menuju area stasiun, karena tidak semua stasiun jarak area stasiun dengan pintu masuk / keluar dekat. Ada yang jauh sekitar 300 meter.

foto-foto sepanjang jalan menuju stasiun

Kedua, Beli Tiket, Pilih Bahasa Indonesia
Bahasa Indonesia ternyata dijadikan salah satu bahasa pengantar di mesin penjualan tiket MRT di Taipei, sehingga ketika anda belum punya tiket anda bisa membeli di vending machine ini.

mesin tiket

menu di mesin tiket

Selain itu, anda juga perlu memperhatikan jalur MRT yang akan anda gunakan. Di Taipei (2018) ada 5 jalur MRT dan menjangkau hampir seluruh area Taipei.

jalur MRT di Taipei (2018)

Menuju Platform

Setelah mendapatkan tiket, langkah selanjutnya adalah menuju platform, cukup dengan tapping di depan gate yang sudah ditentukan. Oya jangan lupa setelah masuk stasiun pastikan platform yang anda tuju adalah benar. Karena beberapa stasiun terutama stasiun yang memiliki 2 jalur MRT punya platform yang berbeda, lihat petunjuk warna platformnya warna apa yaa..

pintu menuju platform

platform sebelum naik MRT

Setelah sampai di platform, pastikan lagi anda menunggu di jalur yang benar, karena biasanya ada 2 jalur dalam satu platform dan saling berkebalikan. Di dekat pintu ke MRT biasanya terdapat tanda arah perjalanan MRT, dan stasiun berikutnya yang akan dilalui.

jalur MRT setelah ke arah keberangkatan

Keempat, Naik MRT dan turun di stasiun tujuan

Setelah dipastikan benar, jalur MRT yang akan dinaiki di platform, tinggal menunggu waktu MRT datang dan naik ke MRT. Yang patut diperhatikan adalah di Taipei, yang diprioritaskan untuk naik turun MRT adalah penumpang yang turun terlebih dahulu, setelah selesai romobongan penumpang turun dari MRT, kemudian penumpang yang akan naik dapat memasuki MRT.

MRT di Taipe dilengkapi dengan AC dan papan informasi posisi stasiun yang akan dituju serta stasiun dimana MRT sedang berhenti. Setelah sampai di stasiun tujuan kita turun di stasiun tujuan. Kali ini saya turun di MRT Daan Park karena akan melanjutkan perjalanan dengan jalan kaki ke Taipei Grand Mosque, salah satu masjid yang berada di Taipei dan termasuk dalam 100 situs religius bersejarah di Taiwan.

platform di stasiun MRT Daan Park

area stasiun Daan Park

area stasiun Daan Park

Masukkan Kartu untuk Keluar dan Cari Pintu Keluar Stasiun

Setelah kita naik menuju area stasiun, kita perlu mencari pintu keluar stasiun yang ditandai dengan "出口" atau Exit. Satu stasiun bisa mempunyai banyak pintu keluar yang juga terhubung dengan halte bus.

Mumpung masih di dalam stasiun, pastikan pintu keluarnya benar, karena kalau sudah di jalan dan ternyata kita perlu ke bagian lainnya ya, harus jalan kaki lagi...

rambu di Stasiun MRT Zhongshan, terhubung ke MRT Taipei Main Station

Kalau haus, hampir di public area Taipei menyediakan tempat pengisian ulang air minum. Bentuknya seperti ini.

Namun hati-hati jangan asal pencet kalau tidak ada bahasa Inggris dalam petunjuknya. Ada 3 level temperatur air biasanya di setiap mesin dengan simbol seperti ini

熱水 = air panas
溫水 = air hangat
冰水 / 冷水 = air dingin

So.. Selamat berpetualang dan mengelilingi Taipei...

Tips : Kalau mau lebih leluasa, bisa membeli kartu Easy Card / iPass card di convinient store terdekat, seperti Family Mart, 7-Eleven atau Hi-Life

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Tips of Jakarta Transportation : Asian Games 2018 Special

Yeay!.. Asian Games in Indonesia will be started soon.. All of the fans from Asian countries will be supporting their country. This my first blog written in English special for all the sports fans, Asian Games supporters..

To City Center

You will be arrived in Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, in Greater Jakarta, there is a lot options for you to go to your hotel from the airport vice versa, such as :

- By Bus

The most frequent bus for you to go to several places in Jakarta is provided by DAMRI Bus, you can take one destination in Jakarta nearest to your hotel or your destination. For the reference, you can use this picture this DAMRI website.

DAMRI bus service, airport - Jakarta city center, copyright of damri.co.id

- By Taxi

Jakarta have different grades or services of taxi, Premium, Normal and Economy. As far i know Tiara taxi, Golden Bird and Silver Bird taxi is premium service taxi. Gamya, Blue Bird is normal service taxi (around 0.5 USD/km), Express taxi is economy taxi (low tariff taxi, around 0.3 USD/km), all of taxi fare was not include toll tariff and others. You can take the queue after you exit the terminal to catch taxi

There also available online taxi, similar to Uber but it's called Grab and Go-Jek. But you must install their application first.

- By Airport Train

This option was convinient, with the price around 70000 Indonesian Rupiah (USD 6) one way, it's only take you to the city center around 40 minutes. You can go to the train station in airport by using sky-train in every airport terminal.

sky-train platform

inside the sky-train to Airport Train Station

After you reach Airport Train Station, you can purchase ticket directly or before you travel to Indonesia you can book in railink.co.id, official website of the train operator and then redeem the ticket in the station. 

boarding to train; destination city center

BNI City (Surdirman Baru) train station, picture taken from Sudirman commuter train station

Information for Airport Train Station in city center at Sudirman Rd.

In city center you will be arrived at Sudirman Baru BNI City station.


Traveling Around Jakarta

Traveling around Jakarta is challenging, especially during morning and night, I mean before working hour started (5am - 8am) and after working hour (4am-8am). Using taxi around this time will cost you a lot, especially when you stuck in traffic jam. Do you ever read this news?

Only Transjakarta operated even in Car Free Day and no restriction whenever the date (even or odd)

Public Bus and Commuter Train

Jakarta have their public transportation, bus called Transjakarta Busway and electric train called Commuter Train. Especially for bus, they have a lot of bus lane provided and their lane is around Asian Games venue. This bus have no restriction, even in Car Free Day area or in restricted hour and date. Yup! Jakarta have several area (road) which has restriction by date, odd date is only for car with odd number and even date for even number... :)

Transjakarta bus stop

inside Transjakarta, they provide women space in front of bus, mixed space at the back

For you who want to use this transportation you need a prepaid card because this kind of transportation is cashless. For buying a bank-issued prepaid card, you can go to nearest Transjakarta Busway bus stop (in Bahasa Indonesia called Halte) or convinent store such as "Alfamart" and tell the officer that you want to buy a card. They may provide various type of prepaid card, but for me, i prefer two types, Mandiri E-Money and BCA Flazz card; but if they don't have this two you can use BNI Tap-Cash card, BRI Brizzi card and BTN BLink card.

bank-issued prepaid card; e-money

bank-issued prepaid card; flazz

Prepaid card is cost around 40000 to 50000 Indonesian Rupiah, around USD3-4 with pre-loaded amount around 20000 Indonesian Rupiah and cost for using Transjakarta Busway also cheap, 3500 Indonesian Rupiah (in July 2018) or around 0.3 USD. It will be deducted once you tapping in the bus stop. You can reload it to in nearest Transjakarta Busway bus stop or nearest convenient store.

Transjakarta route, copyright of transjakarta.co.id

The venue of Asian Games in Jakarta is located in several area, such as :

• Gelora Bung Karno, most event is held in this area. Nearest Transjakarta bus stop is Gelora Bung Karno (1-4), Polda (1-5), nearest commuter station is Palmerah
• Jakarta Convention Center, nearest Transjakarta bus stop is Senayan JCC (9-16)
• Bulungan Sport Hall for volleyball, nearest Transjakarta bus stop is Blok M (1-1)
• East Jakarta area, (Velodrome and Equestrian Park), nearest Transjakarta bus stop is Velodrome (4-6) and Pulomas (2-3) for Equestrian Park
• Ancol (5-1)
• Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, nearest Transjakarta bus stop is Garuda Taman Mini (9-2) but i recommend you to take bus 9H from Cawang UKI bus stop and directly to TMII
• Cibubur, take bus 7C line from Cawang UKI bus stop
• JI Expo, Kemayoran, should take bus 2C line, or nearest bus stop is Landas Pacu Timur (12-11) and commuter line station is Rajawali. Walking distance from this last two is still quite far.
• Pondok Indah, nearest is Pondok Indah 2 (8-4)

If you are football fans, want to see your team in Bekasi or Cikarang, it is located in greater Jakarta but don't worry. You can travel there by Commuter Train. Best option is from Jatinegara station or Manggarai train station, both of this station is just walking distance to Transjakarta bus stop.

You can use your prepaid card for using this transportation by tapping in at departure station and tapping out at destination station. If you forget to bring your prepaid card, no problem, every station have ticket vending machine, just follow the instruction to buy the ticket.

Commuterline Train route map, copyright of krl.co.id

Taxi

Taxi is also available in the street, as i mention before,  Tiara taxi, Golden Bird and Silver Bird taxi is premium service taxi. Gamya, Blue Bird is normal service taxi (around 0.5 USD/km), Express taxi is economy taxi (low tariff taxi, around 0.3 USD/km), all of taxi fare was not include toll tariff and others.

Motorcycle Taxi called Ojek

If you want faster option, Jakarta have motorcycle online taxi, called "Ojek" the easiest one is use Grab and Go-Jek app (from Apple Store or Play Store) and you can use it. But their limitation is language barrier, not the application language but the driver language, mostly use Indonesian language.

Appointed driver may chat with you in Indonesia, but as you already mention the your position, what is your dress, the driver will easy to spotted you. An example when you are wearing brown polo shirt, carrying a backpack, stand in front of south exit gate of train station, you can write :
"Saya pakai baju kaos coklat, membawa tas, berdiri di pintu selatan stasiun" or in English mean
"I'm wearing brown shirt, carrying a bag, stand in south exit of train station"

If you are usually use app similar to this app, it will be easy for you to spotted the appointed driver by matching its vehicle number in app with the real one, most of Jakarta vehicle number was combination of alphabet and number in black plate, example "B 1234 XYZ"

Shuttle Bus for Asian Games

Special for Asian Games, Jakarta government will provide shuttle bus. The bus will stop at several location such as in front of FX Senayan, Gate 6 to 11, in front of Ministry of Sports, Gate 1, in front of Senayan City mall and loop to FX Senayan. Inside the venue they provide Royal Trans shuttle bus, it will stops at Jakarta Convention Center, Istora Senayan, Aquatic Center, Hall Basket, VolleyVenue, Archery, dan ABC Field.


Useful websites :

• railink.co.id - for purchasing airport train ticket, 
• kai.id - for purchasing train to other cities, such as Bandung, venue of football match.
• Official instagram Asian Games 2018, and official website Asian Games 2018
• kiostix.id or blibli.com - for buying Asian Games ticket
• trafi.com or transjakarta.co.id/peta-rute/ - for Transjakarta route map
• krl.co.id/ - for commuter line train
• https://www.grab.com/id/ - online taxi, online motorcycle taxi, official partner of Asian Games 2018

Useful download :

• Your first seven-days in Indonesia 
• Transjakarta map

Selamat Datang di Jakarta.. Welcome to Jakarta... and before you leaving Jakarta, try at least one time using Ojek and Bajaj, that will be awensome..

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you want to kiss my wing? nope..

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"歡迎來臺灣, Welcome to Taiwan"

Sebuah kalimat dari pilot ketika hendak mendarat di bandara Kaohsiung, Taiwan.. Landing di Taiwan bagian mana itu merupakan pilihan pribadi masing-masing. Untuk yang menyasar daerah Taiwan bagian selatan, seperti ke Kaohsiung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi memang lebih nyaman dan dekat melalui bandara Kaohsiung.

Kaohsiung International Airport

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Disneyland?

Mungkin ini salah satu theme park yang menjadi favorit banyak orang. Di kawasan asia sendiri, terdapat Disneyland Theme Park di beberapa kota seperti di Tokyo, Shanghai, dan Hong Kong. Salah satu yang termudah aksesnya adalah di Hong Kong. Bagi pemegang paspor biasa Indonesia bisa langsung saja pesan tiket pulang pergi ke Hong Kong karena bebas visa, kalau ke tempat lainnya harus ngurus visa dulu atau ganti jadi e-paspor dulu, hee...

Disneyland Castle

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