Lost in thoughts

台湾之旅 =D

Sunday, September 4, 2011 making-sweetness

It has always been one of my dreams to visit taiwan, eat all the nice food at the night markets, buy cheap but trendy clothes and (of course) see my idols!!!!! Well, I got to do just that (other than see my idols) and much more over the course of my trip there with just S$1100!!! Not including my airfare of course, since my parents kinda insisted on me flying with the national carrier (hurray!)

Since pictures say a 1000 words, I shall let the pics do most of the talking. ^^

Day 1: Took the MRT to changi and flew off to Taipei in the afternoon!!! Eventually reached the hostel in Taipei pretty late in the evening with the help of nice aunties & uncles on the street. Didn't have much time to do anything else other than go up Taipei 101....

and have a bird's eye view of Taipei at night.

Also managed to find my 'new boyfriend'! Isn't he the cutest yellow round mascot around? LOL Fine, winnie the pooh is cuter.

Day 2: Woke up very VERY early and began our packed tour of taipei. First stop, Yangmingshan.

Went to visit 阳明书屋, one of chiang kai-shek's villas where he hosted foreign dignitaries & hid from the 'badguys'.

Too bad the weather on that day wasn't very good...so all we did was sit in the bus round yangmingshan and look at the misty scenary through the fog. xP

Rewarded ourselves with some decent Taiwanese beef soup noodles after that. =D

Then it was on to the palace museum to see the 小白菜jade and the 三层肉rock. Sorry about the absence of pictures - strictly no photography allowed in there!

The last stop for the day was at Shilin night market! Filled our hungry tummies with deep-fried chicken chop, smelly tofu, oyster omelette, shaved ice dessert.....YUM.

Day 3: Yet another fun-filled (& somewhat patriotic) day in Taipei that began at the Chiang Kai-shek memorial. Climbed up a looooong flight of stairs to see THE MAN HIMSELF and the changing of the guards. Just like every other tourist in Taipei. Walked around the free sections museum downstairs too. =D

Lunch nearby consisted of xiaolongbao!!!! YUM. The rest of the dishes were decided by copying the order forms of the other customers sitting round us. TEEHEE.

Fully recharged, we WALKED to the president's office, stopping for some well-deserved bubble tea along the way. I blame the blazing sun that day for making me spend money on bubble tea & for my Taiwan tan.

Of course, a tour of the president's office would include meeting the current president, 马英九! (even if he's only a cardboard cut-out)

And 国父孙忠山! Incidentally, it was also the 100th anniversary of the fall of the Qing dynasty, so we got free badges! hehehe

We moved on to some old temple (sorry, forgot the name. clearly, my interest doesn't lie in temple-viewing) that was PACKED with devotees...

And went to the nearby huaxi street night market to gawk at snakes destined for the pot. =(

At least we had 八宝冰 to cool us down! ^^

Day 4: Travelled from taipei to kaohsiung via the high speed rail in 2 hours. Of course, we tried the cheap & good railway bento (which is SUUUUUUPER value for money) and enjoyed the scenary as it 'wooshed' past us! =D

Ended that long day by going to Dream Mall for some retail therapy and food! It's the biggest shopping mall in taiwan & it's got a mini-amusement park on its roof. Yes, INCLUDING the ferris wheel.

Days 5-9: Started our 2 week medical attachment with the TCM department in 高医, which was an eye-opening experience. Being the good girl I am (sic), I didn't take pictures of myself looking smart and following the docs around as they did acupunture, tui-na, pulse-taking, etc. This was our favourite stall there...10生煎包s for TWD60 (arnd S$3)!!!! 4 of us ate 30 shengjianbaos, 8 xlbs and 4 bowls of soup noodle each time we went there. And there was ALWAYS still space for a nice cup of gongcha. HEHEHE.

On other days, we tried going to the liuhe night market for food....

And going to the Love river (more like cleaned up & beautified kaohsiung canal) to look-see.

OH. We also celebrated this uncle's birthday since it fell on 1 of the days we were there. Midnight birthday surprise complete with cake & candles lor!

We even brought him to Cijin island for seafood dinner! =D Nice scenary & good food, but I shall spare someone the pain of re-living the near-death experience by not putting up pictures of seafood (especially fish). xP

Day 10-11: The weekend saw us making a wee stop in Kenting to enjoy the sun, sand & sea! My flatmate went surfing too...while the rest of us lazed in the room with the tv.

All of us did go sightseeing with 1 of the dudes running the hostel though. He drove, we sat around in the car, getting off at certain scenic spots to take some pics. Soooo...here's the sail rock (also called the richard nixon rock coz of the 'big nose')...

...the coral beach (it's protected, hence empty. lol)...

...the southern most lighthouse in taiwan...

...and the wind-swept plains by the sea. There's our tourguide & his wife taking forever to take pictures. HEHEHE

And what better way to wrap up a day under the hot sun with a GIGANTIC MANGO ICE!!!! =9

This is the coolest sight in Kenting btw. This like the ground is naturally on fire due to the natural gas coming out from the ground, giving little blue flames that dance around this tourist site. PRETTY!!! Or you could just have instant BBQ & ignore its aesthetic side. lolol

So, that's sunny Kenting for you. The night market is also very happening but I was too busy eating grilled cuttlefish to take pictures. OOPS.

Days 12-16: Went back to finish up that hospital attachment with the newly acquired tan. But we did find time to go shopping (especially me) and sightseeing! I think this is the coolest place in Kaohsiung & it's definitely cam-whore haven. Pity that the village where all these 'graffitti' is on will be pulled down at the end of the year so visit it while you can! It's in zuoying btw.

We also went to the most happening night market in kaohsiung, ruifeng night market, for some cheap beef steak with noodle. Cheap, good and filling. Satisfied my craving for giant tako-pachi as well, but again, my hands were too busy putting food into my mouth....so....xP

Day 17: Made it from Taichung to Puli after staying 1 night in Taichung. Super ardeous journey btw, involving waiting for many buses....but we made it! Not much time to do many things other than looksee at the shaoxing wine factory....

And eat seafood. Again. There's also fish & prawns which were still being cooked when I took this. I think we paid about S$40-50 for these 6 dishes. Not bad eh!

We did pop by a mini-concert at a cafe after dinner just to pass time. The singer was not too bad...but we spent most of the evening argueing whether the violinist was female or male. I still maintain that the violinist was female, mainly because of this random taiwan band called Misster. You be the judge. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56CQKYyrOns

Day 18: Daytrip to Sun moon lake! It probably has good fengshui with all that mountains & water around...

Hence, it's no surprise that there's a temple there. It's the famous 文武庙 there, hence the insanely large amount of tourists there.

Oh...if you ever visit the temple, don't be fooled by these stairs. It's 366 stairs down & 366 stairs up; you'll really feel as though you've aged 2 years once you climb down and up again.

A short trip round the lakeside bus and a verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry long wait at the cable-car terminus later....we get on the cable car to the formosan amusement park thing. Of course, being somewhat broke by this time, we took the cable car straight back. But the view is worth the wait! (even if the 'scare factor' was a lil too much to take for this girl with acrophobia. lol)

No trip to sun moon lake would be complete without a boat ride on the lake itself and seeing the island in the middle that gives the lake it's name. =D

Days 19-20: Spent the day in taichung, where we visited Fengqun night market and ran around looking for money changers (we were that broke). But...as usual, my mouth did most of the work so I apologise for the lack of pictures of night markets once again. hahahhaha. The last day (for me anyway) pretty much involved only travelling and slacking at the airport waiting for my flight. SQ ftw!!!

All in all, twas a fun, fulfilling trip with lots of lessons (and shopping things) to take back home!! Now that I've checked taiwan off my travel list, the next must-go-in-the-next-10-years place is KOREA! =D I can carry on wishing that it turns into a reality man....

POSTED BY mysticmalady AT 10:15 PM |

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