TR-Pass, A Dirt-Poor Student's Savior in Taiwan

I forgot (to be exact) how many times I've been using TR-Pass in a habitual manner, this past few years. Too many times, I supposed XD~~~. Yes, this insanely cheap train ticket "destined" for students under age of 30 in Taiwan has always been my savior. Imagine you must continuously traveling in between cities, -not for leisure activities-, during a specific period of time. Well, it doesn't cost me an arm and a leg, though. But still, it's a pocket drainer. Hence, TR-Pass is such a win win solution for a dirt-poor student who doesn't mind spending hours of hours of their time in a local train, just like me :D. 

As I've ever posted before, Taiwan offers a tantalizing traveling options for students. The what so-called Youth Travel Card can always be a hocuspocus warrant to save your money. However, before can be categorized as an eligible TR-Pass buyer, you must register yourself at the "Information Visitor Center" (IVC) which can be spotted at some major train stations in Taiwan. After filling a form at IVC, you'll get a YTC (in a form of a key chain). Show your YTC, passport and student ID card to the ticket officer (in every train station here) and you'll be able to buy international students edition of TR-Pass (*shown on the image below, first row/above). Too lazy to bring passport and YTC ? Then, just buy a local students edition of TR-Pass (*shown on the image below, second row/below) by merely revealing your student ID card. Don't forget to tell the officer about which type of TR-Pass you want to buy; the 5-day, the 7-day, or the 10-day tickets. They cost NT$599, NT$799, and NT$1099, respectively. Trust me, the price is EXTREMELY CHEAP and REASONABLE. Okay, let me make an avouch comparison. A local train ticket price from Chiayi to Taipei is NT$390-something, thus, return ticket price will be nearly NT$800. Bus ticket is approx. NT$100 cheaper, but I hate to travel by bus. So, well...yeah...it's a personal preference. I usually go in between cities from Chiayi to Zhong Li and then Taipei, sometimes to Hualien and then head back to Taichung or directly to Chiayi, or sometimes to Tainan or Kaohsiung. Just count how much money I must spend if I don't buy TR-Pass @_@~~~. Counting money always makes me dizzy =)).

All in all, with your personally selected TR-Pass, you can travel all around Taiwan by three types of designated trains (*local train, local express train, and chu kuang train [see here for "trains in Taiwan"]) for unlimited times during the validity period of time (5, 7 or 10 days) of your TR-Pass. You can choose direct route by get on until get off on the same train or manipulate your route by changing trains. The second one is undeniably a lot more challenging and less boring. I usually choose this mode :D. So, for example, I want to go to Taipei. I'll get on from Chiayi train station and get off at Taichung train station, continue my journey to Miaoli, then Zhong Li and finally get off in Taipei. Fun isn't it^^? Ergo, have an earthy way of traveling in Taiwan ^^!

Moved

I'm moved. Touched. Seeing my dearest brother standing like that while cheering up his students in one of the school's events, still looks MAGICAL to me *blowing nose. Life is definitely full of mystery. We will never know what will happen in the future. As for my brother's life, it is indeed full of surprise. Graduated, married, worked in one of the syari'a banks and ended up teaching in the nearby SDIT. Who would have ever thought that he will be a father at the age of 23? Who would have ever thought that he will turn out to be a teacher? Three things I MUST learn from him are a DECENT, REALISTIC and FULL OF DEDICATION's figure he's constantly shown. I'm so proud of you, dearest brother...I always do^^.

Finally, I would like to wait and see things await me in the future, as Allah already planned. I would like to stay khusnudzon to Allah for those things :D.

Affectionate

Source : http://www.tychb.gov.tw

B : Papa, selamat hari ayah^^. Love you, Dad*** :*
P : Subhanallah...ternyata orang Taiwan menghargai ayah. Terima kasih, anakku.

^^My father is definitely doesn't know that there's a father's day in Indonesia celebrated every November 12 XD~~~

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Yesterday was father's day in Taiwan. Unlike many other countries that celebrate this day on the third Sunday of June, Taiwan government proclaimed August 8 as the day to honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. Why it has to be August 8? Because "father" in Chinese language (爸爸) pronounced as "bàba" which happens to have the same pronunciation as "eight" (八; bā). Hence, every "八八" or "day 8, month 8" (= August 8) people in Taiwan celebrate father's day.

Nonetheless, yesterday, I was kind of "tempted" to text my father and expressed my longing for him :D. Honestly, I become "cheesy"*** (*better be read : "affectionate") after I'm getting closer to Astri. Previously, saying or texting three words as in "I love you" or "I miss you" to my parents, -two most important persons on earth-, still sounds ticklish to my ears. I used to think that it's a very tacky (*norak) way to express my feelings. I'd rather "act" than "selling words". It's always been my nature. There are a lot of times that I couldn't express my feelings through words too. So well, yeah...it just happened to be like that^^. Despite the fact that I was being affectionately raised by my parents, I'm growing up as a girl with unnecessary amount of dignity XD. All in all, I'm getting realized that those kind of "cheesiness" is somehow NECESSARY when it comes to CHERISHING precious people around us. Superfluous dignity must be thrown away. Yeah...alrite then. Let's be more affectionate^^!