Pre-wedding Shoot + Holiday in Taiwan

WJ and I just got back recently from our pre-wedding shoot (and holiday!) in Taiwan. We booked the package earlier this year since we already had plans to go to Taiwan for a holiday, so why not do the shoot at the same time and kill two birds with one stone? 😀 Anyway, here’s our itinerary.

Day One
We took Scoot so we had an overnight flight and reached Taoyuan Airport around 6am with no sleep and panda eyes. After collecting our luggage and taking a short shuttle bus ride to the train station, we boarded the HSR (High Speed Train) to Kaohsiung. The train’s seats were more spacious and comfortable than Scoot’s seats, and we were happily asleep within minutes.

We realized we’d booked the wrong hotel after trying to search for it around Formosa Boulevard station. A friendly uncle told us we’d booked the Kindness hotel at the wrong place. He helped us stop a cab and gave directions to the uncle. Turns out that Kindness hotel has many chains in Kaohsiung!

We found out that they serve free food too! Free ice-cream, free tao huay, free baos, free dumplings, whattt…. They also had bicycles outside the hotel that you could use for free to ride around the city.

Day Two
Things we had to get for the shoot:

1. Nubra
2. Heels
3. WJ’s white shirt
4. Dress shoes
5. White socks

We also bought a blazer for the wedding at just 2,800ntd whoo!

After roaming around in Xinjuejiang (新堀江), we went to Ruifang night market to eat some snacks and play games. I love the games at night markets (although I never win)!

Day Three
To collect our awesome Taiwanese tribal outfits, we took the train, walked 15 minutes and got lost. Turns out, the guy was waiting for us in his wife’s beauty salon which we were standing outside of! But they were a very friendly couple and they even offered us a Taiwanese bento! After checking the items carefully, since any beads dropping would incur a cost, he drove us back to our hotel out of goodwill!

In the afternoon, we headed down to Cangai (藏愛) to select our gowns and suits for the shoot. We could select 3 gowns and 2 suits.

I tried on 9 gowns and selected these 3. The assistant had a bit of trouble finding suits to fit WJ, haha!

There was another Singaporean couple trying on outfits when we went. When we left, they were still undecided! I think our assistant must be thanking her lucky stars that she served us instead, haha!

We went back to Xinjuejiang to get WJ’s shoes and white socks for the shoot the next day. And found an interesting restaurant for dinner!

We went back to Cangai at 8pm to speak with our photographer for the shoot, Zero. Yup, that’s his name! We had to fill in a questionaire about our personality and what we wanted for the shoot. He told WJ that if he wanted to wear his glasses for the shoot, it had to be without the lens. But he called someone up and told us he’d settle it for us 🙂

Then it was back to the hotel for a free supper again, and sleep time!

Day Four
Calltime = 8am
Paranoid of being late, we took a cab and reached the doors of Cangai almost 30 minutes earlier. They hadn’t even opened!

The makeup artist finished both our makeup in just under 2 hours; we got dressed and off we went! It was almost a 2 hour ride from Cangai to Kenting, where our shoot was. I was asleep for most of the journey.

After a tiring day shooting at 3 different locations, we went back to the hotel to put our barang barang down then left to find someone to wash our stiff hair. Too much hairspray = helmet hair. But by the time we found the hair salons, they were all closed or closing! We had no choice but to spend an hour washing all the gunk off our hair.

Day Five

We went to return the tribal costumes to the friendly guy, had a quick bento set and hurried along to Cangai to choose our photos! Our package was for 28 photos, and we chose 36 in the end. We were really strict while choosing and cut down to exactly 28 at first, but the assistant told us that it wouldn’t be nice for an album with so few pages. Plus we really liked some of the photos we rejected. She also gave a much lower price (900ntd) than the $70sgd per photo we were quoted when we signed up for the package in Singapore!

Day Six

Off we went to Jiufen! We took the traditional choo choo train to Ruifang, then took a short cab ride up to Jiufen, where it was raining as usual. I tripped and fell, and scraped my knee. But thank goodness the shoot was already over, I guess!

On the way up to our B&B, we passed by many other B&Bs which looked way cooler. Maybe for a future trip? 😀 Anyway, the lesson is to not bring bulky luggage to stay at Jiufen. It’s a nightmare due to the cobble roads and masses of people.

Day Seven

After enjoying a misty morning in Jiufen, it was time for Taipei!

Day Eight & Nine
The last two days were spent roaming Taipei and eating, and eating, and eating… Then all too soon, it was back to Singapore once again 🙁