Taipei, Taiwan - Hospital (Cost Breakdown) - Day 10

April 5, 2018

Long story short, ended up in Emergency.

It was super early in the morning and I barely had any sleep including my sister as I was vomiting throughout the night. In the morning, I vomited bile and I knew it was severe. I could not even lift my head as I was so dizzy as well. This was around 6-7 AM in the morning. My sister was messaging her friend for Chinese translations of my symptoms in case they don't speak English.

I had to message my brother through WeChat and ask him to gather my insurance information. My sister went out and bought breakfast for later and once she was back we headed to the lobby to make a toll-free call and for some reason it did not go through. I felt like the front desk dialed it wrong as it is toll-free. No choice. Still had to proceeded. My travel insurance on my credit card stated that if I needed to go to ER, I need to let them know that I will be initiating a claim. I ended up claiming the cost with my work insurance instead.

I was very hesitant going to the Emergency since I would not be able to enjoy my trip. My sister was right though, if I didn't my symptoms would continue and it could've have been worse and would prolong my incapability to get better and move around. 

Experienced my first panic attack as well. It was very scary. The rapid breathing and inability to calm down leading to tingling of my arms and legs as well as tears streaming down my face. (T⌓T) It was a nightmare. 

The hotel helped us call a taxi and once in the taxi we showed the driver where we wanted to go. The ride was pretty cheap as it was very close by, perhaps around a ~5 minutes ride away. I went to Taipei City Hospital - Zhongxing Branch. Taiwan hospital have some good reputation so nothing to be afraid of versus the ones in China. 

TIP: Make sure you purchase a medical certificate from the hospital if you plan to submit your claim for reimbursement. I had to send in all my original documents (receipt and medical certificate) to my insurance company by mail for them to start a claim. 

Taipei City Hospital - Zhongxing Branch

No. 145, Zhengzhou Road

Total Cost of the ER visit

The taxi dropped us off in front of the main entrance to the ER. Once inside, the nurse will triage you. But first you will have to register at the front with your passport as well as surrender your passport to them till you paid your hospital fees. 

The consultation with the Emergency doctor was pretty quick, less than 10 minutes. There is a little language barrier but he did speak good English. I was not able to convey to him the fact that 2 days ago I started feeling sick with a fever after exercising in the heat. He only checked my throat and told me that it is swollen and red and I probably have tonsillitis. It should've been "heat exhaustion" and the tonsillitis should be a manifestation of that.  But whatever. I asked him for a IV fluid as I was so dehydrated as well. But they also gave me medication for my fever and another shot to help with my nausea. 

I was escorted to a bed in the ER department but me and my sister was worried about the cost as the staff did not give us an estimate. A nice elderly gentleman saw that we were worried and showed us the cost if we were a citizen but we were not so it made no difference. It was a nice gesture though.

I had to give them a urine sample as well. The only negative is the washroom. It was nasty inside. I had to do it in one of those squatting toilets with a hole in the ground. Mind you, I can barely stand as I felt like vomiting and was beyond weak. Once that was done, I was strolled in for a CXR. Once inside the room, the nurse and the radiologist was there. The nurse said I had to take off my bra and it was taking a while and the radiologist walked in and the nurse said not yet and he walked away embarrassed. LOL. (*≧艸≦) It was not like I was naked, I had a gown over top... Once the xray was done I was rolled back to my bed area to rest and wait for the results. My sister had to eat her breakfast next to me in the hospital, so sad. Once the results came out, everything was normal I assume since they didn't say anything and just told me to pick up my medications at the pharmacy which is next to the ER. The doctor prescribed me amoxicillin (which I am not sure why as I did not even get a throat swab and I don't think I have pneumonia), Tylenol-3 and another medication for vomiting.

The dispense fee includes the medications as well. I was shocked because it was so cheap. Less than $5 CND. Shocking. So after we picked up the medication, we had to go back to the front to pay our hospital fee and retrieve my passport once that was processed. 

If you do need to go see a doctor urgently and you don't have coverage, it is still fairly cheap compared to the States or Canada. A doctor visit in Canada without coverage will set you back ~$80 CND and a chest xray will cost ~$55 CND. Once I returned from my vacation, I submitted my paperwork and did get the entire amount reimbursed by The Great West Life. 

I was in the hospital for maybe less than 5 hours as we went in the early morning so there were not a lot of people but by the time we left in the early afternoon, it has tripled. I felt well enough to walk back to the hotel which was around 15-20 minutes away. Once back at the hotel, my sister went out to explore while I rested for the rest of the day. 

Kaohsiung to Fo Guang Shan to Taipei, Taiwan - Day 9

April 4, 2018

Finally, the day we head over to the largest Buddhist monastery in Taiwan. But not without setbacks. We had originally planned to take the bus to Fo Guang Shan but that ended miserably as we did not know which bus to take and if you miss one of the bus it takes around 30 minutes for more for the next one. 

From Formosa station we took the MRT to Zuoying station to take the bus. You can either take:

1. Purple Coach EDA bus #8501 (~45min) - not sure if you need to buy a ticket or can use easy pass

2. Bus from Kaohsiung main stn #8010/11 (~1.25 hr)

At the bus loop, we could not find the bus stop and everything was written in Chinese. As we were lining up for this one bus, a random man came up to us and asked if we wanted to carshare a taxi ride with three others. My sister and I discussed for a while and the taxi driver told us we had to make a decision soon otherwise he will offer it to somebody else. We ended up saying okay as we were not even sure if the line we were in was the right one. The only caveat was that we had to wait for this one middle aged lady who took 15 minutes to arrive. The Taxi ride took around 30 minutes or so as he had to drop 3 people off a two different areas. His last stop was to the temple. He was actually really nice as he grabbed a map for us after dropping us off at the temple.

Fo Guan Shan is very enormous, you can spend hours here as they have plenty of museums, temples, gardens, etc. They even have a shopping area as well. So don't worry about food. You will be walking all day so make sure to wear comfortable shoes. The entire place is free admission but make sure to check the opening hours for the temple as well as the museum.

Fo Guang Shan Monastery 佛光山

Just up these stairs and towards the back, there is a washroom. A squatting toilet. I recommend you try and not use the washroom just because it is quite dirty and a bit creepy. I had no choice since I was holding in for at least an hour.

The Great Buddha Land

The landmark was built in 1975 with over 400 statues of Buddha surrounding and guarding the 40 meter Great Buddha. You can even see the Great Buddha from afar.

Buddha statues lined up the entire way

Huge bronze statue of Buddha on top of a lotus flower

This area have relatively few people walking around. There is a shrine inside of this building, when you enter it will slowly become very quite and on the walls there are many pictures and statues of Buddha. It is a place of worship and people are not allowed to take pictures inside. Please make note. The monks will offer you a flower so you can pray and place it in front of Buddha as well. You are welcome to make a donation too. 

There's a lot of ground to cover, unfortunately, we were strap for time as well so we had to skip some areas. Mainly the other side of this monastery. Once we walked down the stairs and away from this area towards the direction of the Memorial Center we enter the Main Hall. If you want to only go to the Memorial Center then it would be around a 15-20 minutes walk from here.

The Main Shrine and the Way to Buddhahood Path

Up these stairs you will enter the Main Shrine. 

Next to the stairs, there is a mini garden you can walk around and take a rest.

Main Shrine

There is a museum inside the building, free of charge. It is quite big inside. 

"Jeweled Shrine of the Great Hero"

The large concrete area is called "The way to Buddhahood" and it leads to the Main Hall. It is very clean and quiet here. Even the entrance looks so grand like the Beijing Kingdom. 

Afterwards, we continue onward and made our way up another slope and ended up in an area that's like a observatory. At the top, there are many statues of Buddha. There were a few monks tending to the garden as well. 

I am not sure why there is an ostrich... why hello there...

Look at the view!! That place looks sooo BIG!!! Look at how long that hallway is.

We headed back down the stairs and long the road. I walked along the side of the building and it is just full of greenery even mini waterfalls as well. 

Unsure why there was a peacock along the road. The peacock looks so sad.

The lanterns are pretty cute. 

Spring is not just a season, but a state of mind.

Life is not in body only, but also in the mind.

Old age does not mean living many years, but thinking you are old.

Our lives are measured by eternity, not years. 

- Ven, Master Hsing Yun

We walked up the killer stairs and found another viewing platform. There's TOO MANY STAIRS HERE. At the very top you can get a glimpse of the surroundings. There is also a little garden at the top. 

From the observation platform we can see Fo Guang Shan Buddha Memorial Center. It looks so surreal. I just love how there so little tourists in this area. WOWWWWWWW. ٩(●ᴗ●)۶

Finally arrived at the entrance of Fo Guang Shan Buddist Memorial Center. You can see lions and elephants on each side of the entrance. The lions represents majesty while the elephants represents whole Buddha entered the womb. When you enter this building, inside is essentially a shopping and dining building. There is a Starbucks on the bottom floor, 7-11, BBT, etc. There are a lot of shops as well so you can buy souvenirs. Best of all, there is AC inside!!! I had to wipe my sweat while sitting inside Starbucks.  

OMG. This is seriously the BEST Starbucks frappucino I've ever had!! It was the Strawberry honey blossom frappucino (which I could not find in Japan). Limited edition. So expensive though. It was almost $7 CND for a tall. After finishing our drink we headed back into the heat. 

Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Memorial Center

There are 8 pagodas aligned leading to the bronze Grand Buddha sitting on top of the memorial. When you first step outside, you can tell how magnificent it looks. As you walk towards the Buddha you can't resist being mesmerized by the scenery around you. Apparently, you are allowed to enter the pagodas has it has different exhibits inside. Each Pagoda has a name (Teaching, Assemblies, Givings, Goodness, Harmonies, Perfections, Admonishments and the Eightfold Path). I did see some pagodas that was closed as well. Too bad, I didn't know we were allowed to go in otherwise I would've. The path leading to the Great Buddha is called "The Path to Buddhahood."

Each pagoda is 7 stories high

You can either walk through "The Path of Buddhahood" or you can opt to walk to the Grand Buddha through the hallways on either side. The walls in the hallway have different paintings of Buddha and his teachings. 

Finally arrived at the Entrance. SO GRAND.

It was very sunny that day, don't be tricked by the clouds.

This is the opposite view of the pagodas from the Buddha Memorial Center.

Inside the Buddha Memorial Center. There are 3 floors and the top being the roof where you can see the Grand Buddha up close. There are a lot of museums and exhibits in this building. On the first floor you can see ancient artifacts of statues of Buddhas as well as dragons from centuries ago. There are also exhibits showcasing bowls and chopsticks from ancient times as well as paintings and calligraphy, etc. There's so much to do. I had to do a brief walkthrough as there was not enough time to enjoy myself. If you are somebody who takes time to admire things at the museum then you should plan for the entire day here. My sister and I decided to split and meet up later as it is difficult to enjoy the exhibits if you have to wait for the other person. 

Here you can see a donation box but it is missing an "I". 

Once I made my way up to the roof, I had a lot of trouble making my way back down. Not sure why, but I did get lost. The place is just too BIG and some paths are one way as well. 

Tallest bronze statue of Buddha

There are four pagodas on the rooftop and you are allowed to go in and say your prayers as well as place a flower to offer for Buddha. The four pagodas represent the "Four Noble Truths" and each pagoda houses one main Buddha (Oath, Mercy, Wisdom and Practice). Make sure you give an offering as well (not mandatory, but a bit awkward if you don't). There is a monk attending to each one of these shrines. There also sacred melodies inside each of the pagodas which makes the entire ceremony all the more sacred. 

The view of the pagodas from the rooftop.

You can write wishes here too. I think.

After this I made my way back to the second floor to check out some more exhibits and then went back to the main floor to wait for my sister and apparently she was waiting outside while I was waiting inside. Wow. Bad communication. No WiFi. My sister said she ate lunch already while I starved. She ate a Buddhist lunch so the meal is very light and it is by donation as well. 

The bus loop is right outside the entrance. If you get hungry there are also food stalls there too. We took the purple coach bus back to Zuoying station. And then from there we took the MRT back to Formosa station and headed back to our hotel where we had to quickly gather our luggage and head back to take the MRT back to Zuoying station. We then took the TSHR from Zuoying station to Taipei station (~2 hours).

TAIPEI, TAIWAN. 

We had to walk ~10-15 minutes to our hotel. The walk was quite far if you are dragging a luggage plus a duffel bag in the heat. But at the same time it was a nice experience looking at the housing area. Taipei station is so big with so much underground shopping as well as food stalls. It just stretches from one end to the other. We will be back. Food is very cheap there. 

Lan Ting Business Hotel (No. 64號, Taiyuan Road, Datong District)

I've booked the hotel for 4 nights and it cost me almost $300 CND. It was $73/night after taxes for a deluxe double. Breakfast not included. No windows. At least we get a fridge, AC, WiFi and two bottles of water. Yay. The bed is big enough for two people. And it is a walkable distance to the main MRT station and also perhaps a 15-20 minutes walk over to Ximending. 

The bathroom is a relatively reasonable size. There is enough space to move around and get changed. But my issue is with the tub, there is no drape so when you take a shower, water gets sprayed all over the ground, sink, toilet, etc. It creates quite a mess. Another issue is the table underneath the skin; it is so dirty and there's all these bits and pieces of I don't know what on there. Hopefully not mold. 

After admiring our room, we promptly dropped off our stuff and headed back out to explore the area. We headed back to the underground shopping area inside Taipei Station  aka. Taipei City Mall.

Ice cream is so cheap in Taiwan!!! I bought a two flavored ice cream. One is mango and the other I believe is cookies and cream? It came in a waffle cone was well!! I wanted to taste test the different flavors to see which one is good and I tried to ask the employee and she looked so confused but still shook her head so I guess it was a no go anyways. (≖͞_≖̥) Little did I know, the popular ice cream store which has a huge line is just a couple of stores away. Ice cream was around $1.50 CND.

Duroyal - Ice cream stall 

OMG! This is the stall you want to buy your ice cream from as it has a huge selection! There's always a line and the scoops are bigger as well. My sister got her matcha and something something ice cream. The price was the same 25NT for one scoop and 35 NT for two scoop.

After eating the ice cream and resting for a bit I started to feel unwell again. I felt very dizzy as well as nauseous again. Good thing I didn't feel like that in the morning otherwise I would not have experience the famous Fo Guang Shan. We promptly headed to our next destination, Ningxia Night Market. We found the famous taro balls. The queue was extremely long, had we had to wait around 30 minutes for this. We only bought one two ball. One is with a yolk and the other is just a fried taro ball. Most people were buying a bag full except for us. I actually did not like it. 

Even though it is night time, it was extremely hot. I was dripping in sweat and I felt like vomiting as well. As my sister waited in the line, I headed over to a Family mart to buy a bun since I don't think I would be able to eat much. I proved myself to be correct. 

Conclusion: Do not buy. Not worth the money. OK to buy to try once.

I bought a bread at Family Mart. Just a plain custard bread that cost 25NT (a bit over $1 CND) and I wanted a bag to put it in but they told me I had to pay for the bag so I opted out. 

We headed back to our hotel afterwards as I could not take it anymore. The crowds and the heat and the nauseous feelings.

AND SO BEGINS MY MISERABLE TRIP. I woke up in the middle of the night and vomited, not once or twice. But more than 10 times. I had nothing to vomit and I ended up vomiting "bile." The entire night till early morning I was vomiting. I went online and chatted with a doctor and had to scramble to check out my insurance polices. In the end I had to go to the hospital since I believe I was experiencing heat exhaustion. IT WAS A NIGHTMARE.