Welcome to Taiwan!!

Hahaha after 5 long months, I'm finally here to blow away the dusts and of cos the algae and fungi on my blog and to update on my trip to Taiwn with Aun June and Ronny boy.

On the whole I guess it was fun, before the trip I had a few wishes: eat my favourite ShiLin fried chicken, drink bubble tea and look at shuai ge. All these were slowly fulfilled (more on these as we go on, haha!) in the days I was in Taiwan. Though it was only a short trip of 4 days, I guess i ate so much that could have lasted me for a week haha...


1st day/night

Hopped onto the plane at 2.45pm, flight was delayed and took off at around 3.45pm (supposed to be 3.15). Reached Taiwan at 8 plus at night, waited for the travel agency's rep to fetch us to the hotel. Took a 1 hour drive from TaoYuan International Airport to Taipei. Cool night ride on the roads of Taiwan. We finally reached our Qi Lin Hotel and took a rest. After I bathed Ifought with Ronny for the remote control for the tv... I finally could watch my Taiwanese shows after Ronny was dragged to go to bed. Hahaha... From then on every night in taiwan I watched Da Xiao Ai Chi, Yu le Bai Fen Bai, MTV channel and channel V. Shiok man... hahaha...

Ronny boy watching the tv in the room (I took the picture secretly, haha)

Day 2

Woke up at 7, washed up and went to the restaurant in the hotel for breakfast, after which the tour guide came to fetch us for our day-tour. First stop was to the Chiang Khai Shek Memorial Hall, which coincidentally was to be closed down 2 days after we visited there. Unfortunately it was raining for the whole day due to the typhoon, we could only spend 10 min there to take 1 picute or 2, din even have time to explore the place. Well at least I got the chance to take a picture there. Next stop we went to the Yuan Zhu Min's (Taiwanese aboriginals) residence where they sell their products to earn money to rebuild their home in the mountains after the 21 Sept in 1999. Aunt June bought some cosmetics made of the natural resources from the mountains, Royal Jelly and some honey. all natural products which are good for health, and of course not cheap. Hehehe... i took a picture with the princess of the tribe! Pretty lady. Hehehe...

After that we went to the National Palace Museum, where the exhibits were brought to Taiwan by Chianh Khai Shek when he escaped to Taiwan. The exhibits were cool, many were very well conserved. We weren.t allowed to take any picture inside. Quite sad. Well, at least I got a chance to see them, all intact as they were in the Palace during the Qing dynasty. Next up we went to the place where the soldiers who died in the war or sacrificed for the country were buried. There i took a photo with one of the guard on duty. Shy!!

Ther were 2 guards on duty I chose to take with this one cos I tot he looked like Don Lee... Hehehe... So windy my hair was messy... hehe... Next was lunch, where we ate at a Mongolian BBQ restaurant. It was similar to our Marina steamboat style, only that the BBQ meat had to be given to some checfs behind a glass window to cook for us. Those we could cook ourselves were those for the steamboat. Quite a cool place for lunch, and one of the waiters there was quite handsome also. Hehehe... After lunch the tour guide brought us to a shop which was famous for its pineapple tarts and other snacks. [The pineapple tarts were really nice, but mama said it's very fatty so Aunt only bought one box back. It was gone in a flash when we returned to Singapore hehehe... ]. We then went to this place called Jiu Fen (where I bought the mua chees) where there's supposd to be a scenic spot on the peak of the mountain which we din climb up to cos of the rain and it was foggy so couldnt really see anything. Along the roads up were many shops selling local products. We were told by the tour guide to only buy from this shop which was supposed to be the best and belonged to the person who started bringing in business to this place. Spent NT1500 at this shop buying local products like tidbits such as muah chees, Sun biscuit and Guo dong (jelly). I also bought some clog keychains there for my frens. =) Our next destination... was to the HOT SPRING!!! It was supposed to be an all-naked kinda hot spring, of cos the male and female public pools were separated. Went to the public pool, while ronny boy and Aunt June went to a private room cos we couldnt let Ronny boy go to the public one by himself. It was quite shiok, jus immersing myself in the hot water and relieving some stress. It was very very very cold, so the hot spring helped to keep warm. And it's said to be therapeutic, good for the skin. Hehehe...
Photo of the Hot Spring centre's entrance. dont the rain drops look like snow? Hahaha actually the raindrops were really fine and small, not those big raindrops we have in Singapore. Well, the last stop of the tour was to Shih Lin night market, the place I wanted to go most for this trip!!

Woohoo!!! There are actually 2 sides to this market, one is the clothes side, the other the food side. Of cos my desire is to go to the food side!!! Hahaha... even though the food side was sheltered, many stalls weren't open due to the rain. On the other hand, even if all stalls were open, many of them would be selling the same things, so it doesnt really matter. The most important thing comes.... Wat I ate!! Wahaha of the few shops that were open, we chose one that looked as if they had more customers, we ordered Bak Kut Teh plus minced meat rice and Fried oyster which were different from Singapore's, and SMelly toufu!!! Wahahaha I tot that it was smelly at all, but Aunt June said that it smelled horrible. Hahaha... Ny the time I remembered to take a photo of these food, they were all in my tummy, so well too bad. Hehehe... After eating at this stall we continud to walk around the market for our next target. Tada!! Something I wanted to try as well, the cua bing (crushed ice, something like our ice kachang) of Taiwan, despite the cold weather!! Hahaha Wei Ling askd me to bring some back for her, I told her it's all in my tummy. Hehehe... I ordered Mango Milk Ice... Wahaha as Ronny and I were eating, Aunt June went to queue for my much coveted Fried Chicken of the famous Shih Lin!!! Hahaha... It's really amazing how it can taste so nice!!! *dream fulfilled!!* this one I told myself I must take a picture of it... Hahaha...

After eating we went to take MRT from the Jian Tan station to the Long Shan Temple station back to our hotel. At the MRT stattion we bought the one-trip ticket. It came in a very cool form, in the form of a coin which we had to tap on our way to the platform and insert into the slot on our way out. This is it, the blue little thing Ronny boy is holding.



At the MRT station near our hotel there's also a mini supermarket, outside which stood a board of the advertisement of Wu Zun endorsing for a brand of instant noodles. Of cos, I took a picture with it. Hahaha isn't it cool...

We took a 10-min walk back to our hotel, along the way we had to ask 2 people how to go back. And we had to cross many many streets. Saw many things along the way, like typical Taiwanese shops in the hearltand and some peddlers that sold 2nd-hand goods etc. Well that's it, back to the hotel was all rest and TV. Slept at around 3am in the morning. Hehehehe... Woah I typed so much and it's just for one day!!!

Day 3 (free & easy!)

That morning all of us woke up at 10 plus in the morning, and we missed the breakfast time!! So Ronny boy ate cup noodle and I shared a cheesecake that we bought at the pineapple tart shop, with Aunt June. Then we made our way to the Long Shan Temple in a taxi. the trip took less than 5 mins.. The weather from morning till night was very good, unlike the previous day on which it rained the whole day. Hahaha... then we took nearly an hour by the MRT to Danshui, which was by the sea, where there was a pier. It was very very very windy cos it was just by the sea. Wanted to search for the restaurant where Aunt ate at the last time she visited Taiwan, after serching for quite long we couldnt find so in the end we ate at Macdonald's. Hehehe Ronny was exceptionally happy. Something interesting was the Mac's there don't serve chilli sauce, there's only ketchup sauce. Oh wells. During the search, we walked really far from the MRT station and I saw some girls selling Bing Lang (beatle seeds)!! they were'nt really secy, but at least I saw some. Hehehe... It was along that stretch of roads where I tlaked to a shuai ge!! He's an emplyee at the petrol station, and I asked him for directions. Talked for quite some time, and he was quite helpful! Hahaha too bad din take photo with him, but that would have been weird right... Hehe... *another dream fulfilled!!* With the directions from the handsome guy, we went back in the direction of the MRT station. After that we took a walk at an old street beside the pier, there were many shops selling local delicacies as well, as snacks. then we took a walk along the pier. Nice scenery.

Doesnt Ronny boy jus look cute... Haha there's a mountain behind us!!

Left Danshuiat about 3 plus, then took MRT again to Zhong Xiao Dunhua station, to shop at Sogo. there were many Sogo stores around the the Zhong Xiao stations so we went to almost all of them. Wanted to shop at these stores, but the things there were expectedly expensive, so we din really buy anything there. Only that I drank my bubble tea there!! Shiok! Haha the pearls were really nice. Instead we shopped at the East Metro Mall, an underground shopping centre just outside one of the stations. the things there were cheaper and there were quite a number of shops there. I bought 2 pairs of shoes at the mall. Poor Ronny boy had to wait for Aunt and I to finish shopping before going for dinner... Hehehe... Went back to one of the Sogo stores' food court for dinner. Ate pork chop and chicken chop rice at one of the small shops around the food court. Quite nice, and reasonably priced for Japanese food. the miso soup was nice too. Hehehe...


Look at that crowd. Many people are queueing to buy the mee sua.

The last shop we went to was like THIS FASHION, wude variety of clothes in there. For this trip I din really buy clothes cos all the clothes there were selling were for the winter season, those kind with fur and very thick. This was the only shop which sold clothes for other periods of the year, and I bought a skirt there. Hehehe... Wonderful... After this, we went to take MRT for one station back to Long Shan Temple station. And that marks the end of our shopping for that day, and for this trip. when we went back to the hotel, I drank a packet of fruit tea endorsed by Farenheit, yes I bought it because it was them, and felt uncomfy after that. And I knew that I had to visit the toilet. So as I watched Yu le Bai Fen Bai I waited for it to come, and truly, I went to the toilet a few times. Slept at about 3 plus am too... Hehe..

LAst day

Nothing much for this day, only that we woke up at 5 plus to do last minute packing and wait for the bus to fetch us to the airport. Reached Singapore at about 2 plus, after a bit of delaying here and there, we reached home at around 4 plus. Still had a bit of stomachache, so I slept until at night 8pm... Hehehe...

Conclusion
I guess this was really a cool trip, and I thank Aunt June (and Ronny boy) for bringing me to this trip where so many of my dreams were fulfilled. Hehehe and I think I'm going back there again!! Soon I hope... when I have money... Hehehe... Oh well, I hope to have a sisters' outing to other countries!! Will have to wait tho... Meanwhile, I shall enjoy my holiday!!