Wednesday, December 17, 2008
I'm back!
Hi, i'm back from Taiwan le, so you can start smsing me again. Had nice week there, went to many different places of interest and experience the temperature different from singapore, especially when on the mountains. Lets start the post, day by day. Btw, some photos i will post on another post, as some were taken using digital cam, not my phone and i dun have the digital cam with me currently so u get the pic....
Day 1
Woke up at 5.30 am in S'pore, not Taiwan, got ready and went to T3 to check-in. Businesss class leh..., just joking, it was free, my dad used his kris flyer points or something. We then ate at the lounge for a while then boarded the plane at 8.05am. Realised that the business class we were seating was the old type one... Nvm. It was a 4hrs flight with a 1 hr delay so we arrived at Taiwan at about 1pm. There isnt any time difference between the 2 countries. Took a taxi to TaiBei's Leo Foo hotel (六福). Had a rest at the hotel for a while. Took some pics, showing the room view and how uniquely big the room key is... and heavy too.
Turn your head....
So thereafter, we went to TaiBei 101, its the tallest building in the world (supposedly). Not much shops there, but we visited the building's observatory at its 89th floor. Of course, we had to buy entrance ticket. Amazing view 360 degrees, sadly i forgot to bring my fone so not pics.
Thereafter, i went to Shi Lin night market (士林夜市). Quite of a rowdy place, many different shops. Bought some stuff, like shirts and blah blah. Didnt really explored the place fully as we were all tired. Went back to hotel at 8pm. Thats it for the first day.
Day 2
Early in the morning, went to eat breakfast at the hotel's cafe, then took a taxi to Yang Ming Shan (阳明山), which cost us a freaking 220 NT, S'pore 11 dollars. Super nice view and the perfect temperature of 15 degrees. And the whole place is covered in a thick freaking fog so cant really find our way around that good.
Just how thick that fog is.... Just wandered around aimlessly, and finally found the tourist centre. Asked around for directions and soon we found the mountain's Xiao You Keng. (Not so sure of the chinese word, i only know 小油...) The whole stink of sulphur and it smelt like century egg... There were small holes on the ground and on the mountain walls which were emitting lots of smoke, probably contributing to the fog. Just some pics...
The above pic was supposedly a small hot spring, very small, so i doubt u all can see it clearly.
Thats all the pics for the smoke holes. Thereafter wandered around again and found a bamboo path which lead us to a viewing area.
Quite a nice view. Thereafter, took a bus down the mountain and the MRT to Dan Shui (淡水）. Played at lots of game stalls which include dart throwing at balloons and shooting bullets at balloons using guns. (Technically, real ones...) Won some balloon weapons like spike mace and a giant hand and a spike ball. Spent a lot of time there, buying stuff. I also saw a shop with lots of those "Insert coin and out comes a capsule and toy inside" machines. Tried my luck there and in total i got 2 Doraemon Keychains, 1 mini game and 1 sword, somehow a big one. It was 5 pm when we left and the sky was somehow dark already, it was like... wtf?. Took MRT to Xi Men Ding (西门丁）. Nothing to shop there, as the things were freakin expensive. For example, a freakin shirt cost 1400 NT, S'pore 70 dollars. Ate dinner at a road side "restaurant" (its not really a restaurant...) and i had the most disgusing experience there, i found a fly in my bubble tea, and plus i sipped it up through e straw and plus, i spat it out and plus i threw my bubble tea away. You will never want to know how it feels like... (Felt like grass in your mouth....) Btw, people seriosly know how to advertise...
It was on the bubble tea cap.
Thus ends the day.
Day 3
Spent the whole at Leo Foo Village Theme Park (六福村) Took up a lot of frightening rides and felt dozzy one after another. Temperature dropped as the day grew darker. Took pics only on the animal tram ride.
Its only a few pics, the rest of them are in the digital cam. Nothing much to write about this day as the whole day was spent right here. So i went back at 7pm, 2 hours bus ride and thus ends this day...
Day 4
Today, my dad's Taiwan colleagues brought us around out of TaiBei. We went to JiuFen (九份） around the mountainous areas and the temperauture was
FREEZING COLD!!!!. Some more got the stupid wind blowing so strong that i fell on one situation. A baby can fly like the wind there! Photos in the digital cam so.... The view was great and spent some time exploring around. Thereafter, we braved the wind and as we drove to a gold mine museum. Got lost while finding the place, very narrow roads but still found the place there. Btw, i saw some large "houses" each covering stone tablets and found out that they were actually gravestones... Omg...... Found the museum after lots of turning and driving. Explored the place and gained new insights. Thereafter, we went to Kee Lung (基隆) and had lunch there. Found S'pore's Koi Shop in the name of 50 lan. The lan in chinese is fan ti. Bought milk tea. Thereafter, drove of to Dharma Drum Mountain, Buddhist Training Area or something like that. Saw very strong waves while on the journey, some even swept up onto the road. Hehe 小海啸... Had a view around the Buddhist Training area and gain new insights in a religious way. Thereafter, thus ends the day. Overall it was a freaking freezing cold day.
Day 5
Not much to talk about this day as we have already went to a lot of places so we went to random places and revisited Shi Lin Night Market at night. Nothing to talk so ya, that day was kinda boring
Day 6
I am back!
So thus ends my journey. Photos most probably will be posted tomorrow or so. Thats all for this LOOOONG post. Bye
