Taiwan Trip 07 - Taipei (part 3 - Final)

11th September

Slept through the whole morning and took our own sweet time to have lunch somewhere near our hotel. Took a real slow walk nearby and decided to head down to Ximending (西門町) during the evening. It’s a place where you could easily find Japanese influences – from clothes to kawaii accessories and cosplay café.

It’s also where we stumbled upon this supposedly famous Japanese (amongst travel magazines) eatery where the food’s tasty and reasonably priced. Have a look at the pix below for what we had ordered. The bill came up to no more than S$11 (for 2 people altogether). Considering the location, it’s cheap.



Night. We headed back for one of Taiwan’s well-known ice dessert stalls. Luckily, we have one just near our hotel. And you know what? The business was so good that the crowd just kept coming…



The serving’s really huge so it’s best to have at least 2 people sharing a bowl! And depending on what you order, each ice dessert usually cost between S$5 to S$9. But because the serving’s really huge and there’s plentiful of fresh fruit toppings, you wouldn’t find it expensive to gobble down the whole bowl.


12th September

It’s time. Haiz…

As ours was an evening flight (and we overslept as per usual), we only had a few hours to shop area for mooncakes and local delicacies to bring back to Singapore. So we decided to head for the departmental stores instead (which was quite a disappointment coz’ things that were expensive and not quite what I was looking for).

And of course, since it was our last few hours in Taiwan, I just had to get my favourite milk from the nearest convenience store… it’s a brand you wouldn’t be able to get over here:



As the minutes passed by, it was soon time for us to leave and to end our vacation. The journey to the airport was exceptionally slow that day and we fell asleep on the cab. Then it was time for us to check in only to find out that we had exceeded the baggage limit by 2kg and we had to pay S$36 for that. And guess what? Who would’ve thought that 6 boxes of biscuits (太阳饼) would’ve weighed that much?

Haiz…

With a heavy heart (partly because of the S$36), we zoomed across a million miles (just a simile) and back to our homelands with our barang barang…

Till the next journey…

Taiwan Trip 07 - Taipei (part 2)

9th September

Ahhhh!!! Overslept again.
Didn’t get to try out the boutique hotel’s breakfast feast.

Never mind… decided to head to one of the famous beef noodle stalls near our hotel instead.



It’s nice but a little expensive. Each bowl of beef noodle can easily set you back by S$8 though. :P

What shall we do today?

To Tien Mu (天母)! It was there that we “accidentally” discovered this interesting café…



Doesn’t the setting looked kind of familiar? Think harder! This was actually one of the scenes featured in the Meteor Garden (流星花園) – the scene where Barbie Hsu and Jerry Yen first dated. :P We didn’t even realize it ourselves till we saw the numerous signatures on the board. There were signatures from S.H.E, Jerry Yen and many more!

Needless to say, we started taking “MTV” shots of ourselves again. Of course, there were only two couples, including us, in the café then (the other couple were tourists from Hong Kong). The owner must be thinking that we were a crazy bunch of people. Hahaha…

By the way, they served mainly pastas and spaghetti there. Quite reasonably priced as compared to Singapore standards – probably about S$6 – S$9 for a plate of pasta.

After lingering around Tien Mu for some time, we knew we had to head off to somewhere cooler. Hey! Tien Mu’s a high-class residential area and things could be pretty expensive around there. Plus, it was summer and not suitable to linger outside for long.

That’s when we decided to head over to Danshui (淡水).

Danshui’s well known for its beautiful sunset sceneries and the nearby pier (漁人碼頭).



We even attempted the local games (i.e.: shot the balloons with fake guns). The sound of the gun going off sounded real alien to me as I tried to steady myself with one hand and the other to cover up my ears. So, based on this scenario, my result wasn’t exactly brilliant but hey, I still managed a six out of ten score. So don’t play play. You haven’t seen my full potential yet.



Some of the recommended snacks/ drinks there included:
- Black beancurd (as per shown in the pix above)
- Sour Plum drink from the above featured stall
- Smelly Toufu

P.S: Don't be fooled by the black beancurd. It's not really black :P

Over at Danshui, you could also get cheap accessories and more if you look closely enough :)

But this… YOU MUST TRY…



The above’s the “lengendary” Jay Chou set of Danshui. The set consisted of a bowl of wanton and a really big drumstick. Not recommended for people with small appetite as this could be extremely filling. For me, I dived in straight for the wanton noodle. To put things into proportion, the wanton there was probably twice the size of those you’d ever eaten in Singapore (at least based on my experience). The ingredients were fresh and real filling. Couldn’t remember exactly how much it cost for a bowl of wanton noodle, but it’s definitely less than S$3. Guaranteed to make you feel full and satisfied!

As if that wasn’t enough, we rushed down to Shilin Night Market (士林夜市) for another round! :P

But first - a quick beginner’s guide about Shilin. Should you ever tell the cab driver to bring you to Shilin Night Market, they would most probably drop you at the Shilin Food Centre. But fear not, the food centre’s only a stone’s throw away from the Shilin Night Market. The food centre bustled with life too, especially on weekends.

And just to correct some perceptions over here… the famous chicken chop stall was not really Shilin, but Hao Da (as shown in the pix below) instead! :P



TIP to eating the chicken chop – eat it while it’s hot/warm to really taste the crispiness and goodness of it! But be careful of your tongue, of course.

And oh!!! Look out for the soda drink (弹珠汽水) too! Personally, I strongly recommend this Ruby brand (with the pink rabbit) coz’ it just taste soooooooooooo nice! And cheap too. The soda couldn’t be found in convenience stores and the only channels where you could stumble upon were the roadside stalls. Each bottle cost NT20, which is less than S$1! Remember, once you popped it open, you need to drink it. Otherwise, the effervescence would be gone and what’s left behind would be just another sweet carbonated drink.

TIP to shilin: It’s a good place to hang around and get hands on on the food. But definitely a no-go for shopping, especially on weekends. The crowd’s gonna crush you to death (almost). However, behold an interesting sight. Should the lanes ever get too crowded all of a sudden, it usually meant that illegal hawkers (from fashion to food stalls) were stationing on the walk lanes, obstructing the human traffic. And if the traffic became smooth again all of a sudden, it simply meant that plain clothed cops were there to arrest and give summons to the illegal hawkers! By the way, the hawkers there seemed to have very strong “networking system” over there. They would all disappear together and come back on again within minutes. :P

And if you happened to be pet lover, head over to the street opposite the action area (Shilin night market) and you could find yourself starring into the many cute faces of puppies and kittens. The pets ‘showcased’ there were usually a few weeks or few months old…

TIP (before I forget): The locals would refer to cabs as 小黃 (little yellow) from time to time. So the next time people asked you if you were looking for 小黃, you should know what it meant :P


10th September

Woke up at 6am. Tired. Lucky we had our Mister Donuts with us for breakfast. Rushed to catch the 7am train to Dou Liu (斗六). It’s another 3-hour journey from Taipei station again.

Finally! After 3 long hours did we reach Dou Liu. But hey! We got to catch a cab to get to the Janfusan Fancy world (劍湖山世界) as the next shuttle service was only available 2 hours later. The trip cost us about S$15. Reason? The amusement park was situated on top of a mountain.



Ahhhhh~!!!! So excited. Finally a “REAL” trip to a “REAL” amusement park. The tickets cost us S$50 though (per person). It’s only worth it if you took up both the land and water rides. None of us knew how to swim and we didn’t bring our swimsuits either. So as you could’ve guessed by now, we parted with the bills a bit reluctantly and with a short pang in our hearts.

As it turned out, G5 was under maintenance (Darn!) and we could only try out the usually roller coaster, inverter and etc. What a disappointment.

But the roller coaster was damn fun… in a way. Imagine. You were on the top of the mountain. Meaning, the roller coaster was too. So… if you ever fell from that, you wouldn’t land on concrete. You would tumble down the mountains as your screams fade in between the increasingly dense bushes and trees…

So… you could imagine the disappointment I had when we learnt that G5 was under maintenance. ‘Coz that particular ride was situated higher than the roller coaster, more steep turns and drops… wuuuuu~ a killer.

I was actually quite amazed to see the vomiting area (where they actually set up a basin for you to throw up after your ride) and the washing area side by side. And almost all the exciting games (including those that couldn’t make you stop turning around and faint from seeing too many stars) had one.

And oh! People do actually threw up. But I wasn’t one of them :p

And just a piece of advice - don’t try the ferris wheel as it stunk like hell. It was summer and all the sweat smell from previous passengers was trapped in a tiny container. Ventilation was bad and the windows were pretty dirty too. And if you thought that wasn’t bad enough, try baking yourself in an oven for more than 15mins. It felt that way as we rose up in the skies with the sun slowly toasting us to near absolute dehydration…

Ewww… another 3-hour ride back to Taipei just to get ourselves cleaned up. But nope. We didn’t ‘bomb’ the train with our smell. That was settled in the cab ride to the station as we pleaded with the uncle to turn up the aircon. Lesson learnt.



To be continued…

Taiwan Trip 07 - Taipei (part 1)

7th September
Yeah! Taipei!
Check out this hotel that we stayed in while we were in Taipei:


It’s basically a boutique hotel called Hotel 73 (新尚旅店) located at No. 73 Sec. 2 Sinyi Rd. Jhong Jheng district (100台北市信義路二段73號) where you stepped in to find a “stylo-milo” lobby greeting you. For free internet access, you just need to head over to the Mac at the lobby any time. Out of the many rooms it offered, there were 9 designer suites for you to choose from as well. If you check-in during the of-peak season, it would cost you NT$2100 (less than S$105) per night for a 2-person suite. :P

We were unlucky on the first night as all the designer rooms were taken and we had to put up in the classic deluxe room (designer rooms were dependant on availability). But lucky for us, someone checked out the next day and the hotel staff helped us with the shift. For the record, we didn’t stay in the “fish-themed” room as it wasn’t available then. We stayed in the other where’s there’s cityscape design instead :)

There wasn’t any time to lose so we headed for Wu Fen Pu (五分埔) almost immediately after check-in! To put it simply, it’s a shopping paradise for girls as it’s basically an area made up of a few streets of wholesale clothing and accessories. If you arrived at this area at the right time (for us, it was during the summer sale), you could get tops as cheap as S$4 and Japan imports between S$15 to S$40 as well! :P

Imagine. I’m usually done shopping within an hour or two. But with Wu Fen Pu, it simply wasn’t enough! I’d spent approx. 6 hours before beating a retreat and went back for another 3 hours the next day just to make sure that I didn’t miss out anything!

But sorry guys! There were only a handful of shops dedicated for guys. But if you search closely enough between lanes, you could actually stumble upon some shops that imported clothing from Japan – cool and stylish. However, don’t expect the price for guys’ clothing to be as cheap as those for girls. The price was usually reasonable. And when we talk about a top for guy, it usually ranged about S$20 and above.

For guys who were forced to accompany girlfriends there, just keep a look out for the street food/ snack vendors and the following drink station (my favourite) where cheap but good food and drinks can be found!



And for the gluttons out there, you could just head over to the nearby RaoHe Night Market (饒河夜市), opposite the Songshan train station (松山車站), for some delicious yet cheap snacks and food! Plus, if you were lucky enough, you could bump into some small street stalls selling exotic animals as pets. For the record, you could find yourself marvel at piglets, tarantulas, huge beetles, lizards and etc…

For us, we bumped into this guy who was queuing up to get some delicacies with his pet – but I have absolutely no idea what’s this creature! Do you?


Other must try food at RaoHe included Hu Jiao Bing (it might look small but it was extremely filling) and the ice desserts!


8th September
Morning… got ourselves some Mister Donut (yummy :) ) and headed to the nearby bus terminal or the bus to Yeliu Cape (野柳地質公園) for a date with mother nature. The journey from Taipei to Yeliu Cape took approx 2 hours…



It was there that Tuk fell on the slippery rocks and almost hurt himself in a bid to save his EXPENSIVE camera. With his khakis dirtied with patches of mud and a strong desire for food after spending more than 3 hours at the location, we headed for Jiufen (九份).

The place’s situated at the top of the mountains and the easiest way to get there was to actually take a train to Re Fang Station (瑞芳) and a free feeder bus afterwards. Tuk was fascinated with the old streets and the mountain top view…



While you were there, do try out the stalls featured above, especially the fish ball stall. Trust me, it’s simply the best fishballs (and the biggest) I’ve ever tasted. It’s simply mouth-watering and sure to make you crave for more!

Another must try dish would be the following dessert:





To be continued…

Taiwan Trip 07 - Yilan

5th September
Any idea why Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (中正国际机场) was renamed as Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (台湾桃园国际机场), but it wasn’t reflected on our air tickets? For a moment, I was confused. Were there 2 airports in Taiwan? Nay. It’s referring to the same one. The reason for the renaming? Political sentiments.

Anyways, it was a battle between the train and the long-distance bus. To take or not to take? That’s the question that bugged us once we reached Taiwan.

Tuk picked up his phone and called the homestay owner.
She was surprised that we really turned up.
Well, you see… the homestay’s newly opened and she had been receiving the locals only to date.

Took her advice to take the train instead. But in order for us to take the train, we need to first get to Taipei Main station (台北車站) via a bus service (which you need to pay) from the airport (which is based in Taoyuan). The journey took us approx. 45mins. Man… we were starving and freezing cold in the noisy bus as it made its way through the wet night amidst busy traffic.

Finally! Taipei Main station…



For first time travelers to Taiwan, it’s important to note that there are different categories of railway trains. If you choose the wrong one, you either end up missing a lot of sceneries or you end up spending 3x the time to travel from one place to another.

普快車 – The slowest in the category
復興號/區間車
莒光號
自強號 – The fastest in the category if you don’t include the bullet train.

For us, we took the earliest possible train (區間車). While waiting for the train to come, we headed to 7-11 to grab bentos! Oh! Do bring your bento instead of buying on the train as it is slightly more expensive if you buy on board. Or worse still, the train you took does not offer bento (which happens most of the time)!

Here’s the bento we bought. Doesn’t look very appetizing but you will be surprised that it turned out pretty delicious!



The journey took us approx. 2 hours, from Taipei to Jiao Si 礁溪 (Yilan). The homestay owner was very kind to come pick us up at the station. Knowing that we were starving (despite having the bentos 2 hrs before), she actually went the extra mile to fry some nuggets, made us some hot tea and gave us a big plate of watermelons to munch on!

For the record, we are paying less than S$50 per person, per night for a stay in a place that offers great service and different theme rooms:



Let me see… you get a really huge bed, nice cable TV, great service PLUS your very own personal hot spring bathroom! Shiok man! Yippeee!!! :P

Too bad we had to vacate this room the next day for another theme room which is less “fairytale-like”. But no worries, we still have our own personal hot spring bathroom!


6th September
Headed down to the living room the next morning and a delicious, healthy and extremely fresh breakfast awaited us!



Couldn’t resist to take some “MTV” shots… well… some of these were taken in the rooms the night before though. :P




But who was to know that drama was to unfold…

We’d spent more than 2 hours traveling up and down via railway to get to Tuk’s nature reserve only to realize that the only way to reach the place is to take a cab… which will cost us more than S$50 because of the distance. In the end, we dragged ourselves back to the train station and switched plans to head to another county in Yilan… Luo Dong 羅東.

It’s here where we discovered a wonderful mountain top café cum restaurant. But be warned… most of us can only afford to go for its high tea session (pricing’s about the same as NYDC). Set dinner with steak will cost you a bomb at approx S$60 per person. This café is also well-know amongst the locals and they usually refer it as one of the high-class eateries. So play it down you are only going there for the tea session which is not that expensive... so that you won't be left in a situation that your money got swindled unknowingly. The only way up and down is to take the local cab which will cost you approx. NT$250-300 (not more than S$15) per trip.

Too bad it was drizzling the whole day. Strange. It’s summer. It’s not supposed to rain that much. Even the locals lamented about the weather. But the view was still stunning and the tea session was great. The service was fantastic too.

Before we even stepped out of the cab, one of the waitresses actually walked out into the rain with an umbrella to chaperon us into the café! The environment’s quiet and peaceful as you overlook the mountains and the tea fields… ahhhh~ paradise… Want to order or call for service? Do so via the wireless tencard cum service bell… made you go “walao… damn hi-tech”.



Oh!!! The fries! The fries! How could I even forget that! It’s the first time in my life that the moment you bit into the fries, it’s so crispy (yet not oily) that you hear it crisped inside your mouth! :P

Oh! The rose tea too! Simply wonderful and fragrant. So far I haven’t tasted anything close to that in Singapore. Over here, I need to add a lot of sugar and rose petals just to achieve the same effect.

After spending more than 2 hours there, we decided to make our way down to the famous Luo Dong Night Market before it got too dark.

The rain never stopped. It just kept drizzling. But it didn’t dampen our excitement to tour around the night market and had our hands on the different street gourmet. Too bad I was still feeling sick. There’s a lot of dishes I couldn’t eat. For instance, the well known goat soup…

After much deliberation, decided to have some icy desserts with Tuk. I wasn’t supposed to eat that but after much thoughts about what Tuk had ‘sacrificed’ over the days on the food he would’ve luv to try but couldn’t because I wasn’t allowed to, I took a gamble.



And I lost. Terribly.

Imagine. It’s cold and the streets were wet. People jostled against one another and you had to dodge the umbrellas. Amidst the chaos, my stomach cramped and started a revolution on its own. I could barely move.

In the end, we had to call the cab driver that drove us to the café earlier (yes, he gave us his namecard) and asked if he could drive us back to our homestay in another county. He agreed. While waiting for him to arrive, I squatted down along the main road (seeking shelter under the post office) and wallowed in pain. Walao.. damn drama…

When he finally arrived, he was in shorts and a casual tee.
“He must’ve knocked off work and came from home,” I thought to myself.

The trip caused us close to S$50.

The homestay owner greeted us at the living room and asked us if we were hungry. Tuk told her my situation and within the next half hour or so, she buzzed our room and had her daughter brought up two choc waffles. Awwwww~

After bombing the bathroom, took a quick shower and a short dip in the hot spring bathroom, we were ready for bed when it all happened…

Oh man… don’t tell me I was that sick. I was swaying and feeling slightly giddy… then it struck me. Earthquake!!! Instincts took over and I glanced up at the ceiling while the grounds shook… no cracks… safe for now.

When it stopped, one other “homestayer” from the second floor (we were on the 3rd) came out to do a quick security check. Coast clear. As a precaution, I placed my valuables in one bag beside the bed just before I sleep. In case it happened again or when the need arises, I could just grab and go.

Next morning, the first thing we did was to on the TV and stay tuned to local news channel. Apparently, a 6.6 earthquake had struck the county (Luo Dong) just 2 or 3 hours we had left. The tremors we felt were great. Imagine if I didn’t have that stomach situation, we might still be in that county at the time the earthquake struck… guess it was a blessing in disguise... though a painful one.


To be continued...

Prelude to Taiwan Trip 07

August 30, Thursday (Night)
Working late in the office. Unwell. Must be the apple struddle. Had left it out on my table for too long before I ate it. Tuk came. Sent me home. Went down to get some dinner for us while I wallow in pain on my bed. Too weak to even walk. Tried one sip of fishball soup. Walah! Merlion... Took some left over pills to stop the nausea and the vomit. Ended up eating nothing at all.


August 31, Friday
Doc gave me a day MC. Felt bad about abandoning all my work to my colleague. Went back to office to finish up whatever I could and did a handover. Supposed to stay till lunch but ended up leaving aound 5.30pm. Without having any breakfast and lunch. Survived on a can of sweet non-carbonated drink before I left the office. Felt slightly better than the day before though.


September 1, Saturday
Felt a lot better and decided to go extract my wisdom tooth (the only one left - right upper jaw). The doc was good. It was done in less than 5 mins. Went home and washed that tooth and soaked it in bleach before I could store it with my other teeth :P


Let me see... I have my wisdom teeth in there plus 2 decayed teeth and 4 teeth that I had to extract before I could do my braces the other time. Yeah! Trophies of my life.

Gung-ho enough to go meet up with Wanlin and Adrian to watch that Rat show. Not too bad. Makes you think that cooking gourmet dishes is easier than you thought. Had pop-corn and ice lemon tea too (which I shouldn't have after wisdom tooth extraction just less than 3 hours ago). :P But I was starving and we were almost late for the show.


September 2, Sunday
Merlion resurfaced. Trying to be extra gung-ho about myself. Decided to go ahead with my hair cut at Novena. Damn. I felt weak. I could barely brace myself against the wind as I tried to flag for a cab to fulfill my hair cut appointment on a rainy day. Stumbled back to a neighboring block to rest and called tuk. I'm down again.
Couldn't take it. Family doc's closed. Had to take a cab down to Mount Alvernia instead.

Doc said: "Could be the anasthetic they gave you when you went for wisdom tooth extraction. It can cause some patients to vomit and the effects of the drug can actually last up to 36 hours. So maybe you have gotten it as your stomach's already weakened so all the symptoms set in at one time."

Ahhh~ lesson learnt.

Decided to take doc's advice and go on MC on Monday. Didn't want to risk my health and trip although I felt really, really bad about leaving my colleague in the lurch when we were really busy.


September 4, Tuesday
Weak. But gathered all my strength to get to work. Couldn't take it by lunch. Couldn't even touch my fishball noodles. Only managed to force myself to take the fishballs. Otherwise, I swear I would faint. Poor colleague of mine had to take over work from me and I left for Mount Alvernia again around 3 plus.

Another doc said: "There's still virus left in your abdomen. You should come back tomorrow for a blood test to see if the virus had attacked your liver."

Poor me said: "But I'm travelling..."

Doc said: "Then I'll give you stronger dose and hope that helps during your trip."

Then he gave me half day MC. Hid the new dosage in my bag so that my parents won't discover that I'm still very sick and disallow me to travel...


September 5, Wednesday
Weak but well enough to travel :)

My travel journal - Final installment

Day 9 (Sunday, 24th Sep):
- Tian Mu: Went there around mid-afternoon via MRT. Had to walk quite a distance before i reach the true shopping district. It's very peaceful over there. As you cross over the bridge, you can see a real stream flowing underneath you - with real mini rapids and water that flows down from the nearby mountains. Wow!!!!

- Went into one of the shopping malls and bought my Astro Boy watch (around S$150). I'd been eyeing for it when I was in SG. But that costs abt S$200 in SG. Hahahha. The mascots from "The Opening Season" were there to promote the movie as well. The bear mascot was soooooo huge that it occupied the entire escalator width. Watching it clammer the escalator from teh ground floor to the sixth was a really a funny sight. Well, you might be asking why it didnt take the lift instead. They (the mascots) couldn't! They had to lure the crowd up to the sixth floor right?

- Had eel soup for lunch. Quite nice, except that there was quite a fair bit of bones too. Went around shopping and head back to the MRT station. Decided to just cut and dye our hair there and then at a nearby salon. Damn cool. They had a TV screen embedded below each dressing table and they're all connected to the cable stations. So I was happilly dying my hair as I watch CSI. My hair cut + dye + treatment costs S$150 in total. A lot cheaper than if I had done it SG.

- Headed down to XimenDing. Things were expensive over there than Wu fen pu. Ended up having dinner at McDonald's instead as it was late and the stalls had closed.

- Next stop: 24Hr book shop - Chen Ping @ DunHua street. Spent about 2 hours there before heading back to the hotel.


Day 10 (Monday, 25th Sep):
- Oh! Did I mention that I discovered a fresh milk brand and fell in love with it? I had it for breakfast everyday ever since (until I came back to SG that is). :)

- Went to the post office with PC so that he could arranged for the Slum Dunk comics to be sent back to SG. They weigh a hefty 16KG!!!! Heavier than your normal pack of rice btw. Spent abt S$35 to have it sent via sea and he'll have to wait for about 25 days. Air parcel would cost more than S$100 but would reach prob abt a week.

- Headed for SOGO & Breeze ccentre before I finally had my Mr. Donut there. Too tired from all those shopping the night before and headed back to the hotel (btw, we'd changed to another business hotel due to budget constraint) for a short afternoon nap.

- Went to Shilin night market again for food and bought 3 pretty hairbands. It was too hot for us to eat outside. So we decided to bring the food back to the hotel and eat them in the hotel room.

- Past midnight. Decided to venture out to find a cyber cafe. Came out of the lift and bumped into 3 businessman and 2 girls. It was definite. They were there to do 'something'. We stepped out onto the streets and realised that it was very lively. Apparently, our business hotel was situated in the midst of some hidden night clubs and etc. So the shops around were opened from late afternoon to early dawn to cater to the alternative crowd. No wonder most of the hotels there displayed two rates: Daily room rate vs. Hourly Rest rate (literal translation).

- Saw a sign board that read something like comic cafe. Halfway walking up the stairs, a well-groomed man (rather big size though) came out and ask "May I help you? What are you looking for?" We asked if it was a cyber cafe and he said no. Then he stood firm in his path and we knew - it was just another shop, one that is decent in the day and different by the night.

- Finally found a cyber cafe and spent 1 hour there clearing my emails before trotting back to the hotel.


Day 11 (Tuesday, 26th Sep):
- No time to go anywhere. We had to check out in about 3 hours' time. So we decided to check out early and leave our stuff at the hotel reception area. Went in search of another cyber cafe and surfed for about an hour before we head to nearby MOS burger for lunch.

- We's asked the hotel to arrange transport for us as we were carrying too many things. Spent NT900 (abt S$45) on that. It was a good choice even though it was a bit costly. We could have chosen to take the public transport to the airport at only NT150 per person (abt S$7) but we had to walk a distance before we can reach the bus stop.

- Spent another NT2140 on snacks to bring back to office and family.

- Lousy jetstar. Ran out of meals (on an evening flight!!!) and we had to survive on 2 small vegetarian cup noodles. And heck! We were sitted at row 15. How about those poor passengers behind us???

- Touched down at 11pm. So damn tired yet so awake. But what to do? Got to work the next day!

My travel journal - Part 3

Day 6 (Thursday, 21st Sep):
- Woke up damn late due to late night arrival the day before. Spent some time to explore our tiny hotel room. Hmmmm.... there's the toilet bowl.. not just any toilet bowl... itz THE toilet bowl that can help you wash either a tiny part or the whole of your buttocks. You can even choose between the 3 different levels of water pressure and also the duration. Didn't try that though... I find it too funny to stomach.

- Travelled down to Danshui via the MRT. Tried out their famous soya bean dessert (black soya beancurd + other ingredients), Jay Chou's favourite wanton stall (the wanton's damn good, big and cheap!) and bought 5 pairs of shoes from one single shop.

- One of shops along Danshui Lao Jie (DanShui old street) even sold tarantulas and etc... EEEEEEEEE!!! Go figure.

- Went down to Shilin night market for dinner cum supper. wahahhaha!!! A lot of cute puppies (in the pet shops) and a lot of jap-influenced cutie stuff. But I didn't buy much 'coz I'm getting too old for that.


Day 7 (Friday, 22nd Sep):
- Went shopping around Taipei the whole day. Can't even remeber which are the places. hahaha. But I did met up with my Taiwan counterparts (colleagues) for dinner near their office. The Thai food's not bad and the it was drizzling outside.

- Went back to hotel room after that and went to another night market for a quick stroll. There! We found one of the food stall owner's daughter keeping a little piglet as pet. Damn cute. But i wonder where it will go once it grows too big for their comfort. :(


Day 8 (Saturday, 23rd Sep):
- Went down to Book Street and bought a lot of cutesy stuff, including a lot of Jimmy's collectibles (i.e.: cups, namecard holder, musical ball, card holder, bookmarks & etc). I must be mad. Just one shop alone where I bought all these Jimmy stuff, I spent more than S$200.

- Bought a lot of jap fashion magazines as well. A lot cheaper to buy there than in SG. I could get one at S$7 there while it costs abt S$13 over here. And PC bought the entire set of Slam Dunk comics for abt S$200. Well... he mentioned that he would spend a lot more over here. Prob around S$400???

- Damn hungry. Didn't have breakfast. Went to one of the lanes and had black pepper beef for lunch. Verdict? Dun ever try black pepper stuff (be it chicken, pork or watever) in TWN. Most of those that I'd tried was well... really not to my taste.

- Had the beef noodle (recommneded by one of our ex-colleagues) in Book Street too. Not too bad. But I still prefer the one I'd tried along the roadside in Kaoshiung. And that was a lot cheaper too.

My travel journal - part 2

Day 4 (Tuesday, 19th Sep):
- Walked down to one of the bus stops along Kending street and waited for the Kending feeder bus.

- Alighted along the main road and waited for a cute penguin van to pick us up and send us to the Aquarium - it’s so big and nice! The shipwrecks (the fish’s homes) look so real and they really have baby whales… We’d spent about 3 or 4 hours there before heading off.

- Took a cab to a kending harbor. Damn… the driver took the long route and we ended paying NT450 for cab fare. So expensive!!! Lucky thing the shoreline was beautiful – unlike anything you’d seen before in Singapore. Add to the fact that it was a protected area (meaning to say that picking a stone is also considered a crime), it’s definitely a sight to behold!

- Keeping in mind that the rest of the journey will be really hectic, we decided to take our own sweet time, doing one thing at a time… really relaxed!!!! Ahhhhh~ wish im back in Kending now (even though the food variety is limited and if you want something filling… you got to pay a lot more).

- Also, as we’d overspent in Kaoshiung, we decided to eat cup noodles on our last day in kending. The hotel staff (wearing t-shirt and bermudas – beach boy style) was like… “Aiyoh!!! What happened?” Hahaha…


Day 5 (Wednesday, 20th Sep):
- Woke up damn early to take a long-distance bus from kending to fangliao. Itz approx. 1 hr journey and costs only abt NT150. From there, we’d to take a train to Taitung (approx 3 hours) at only NT174! And from there, we took another train (NT42, approx 20 mins) to get to our destination – Lu Ye.

- With our haversack and barang barang in place, we had to walk up a steep and winding road. Mind you, it’s a really really really small town and there’s only one cab in sight. But the driver was not around. So we walked about 1 or 2km up the slope before we see farms (flora or tea farms) right in front of us. You could hear birds chirping. Cool breezes from the mountains and a distant chime (it’s actually the siren of garbage truck somewhere). Lucky for us, we bumped into a middle-aged couple by the roadside and they volunteered to drive us up to the mountain top. We hopped onto the back of the lorry and the scenery was brilliant and the air was so fresh as they drove on! Wow!! It was a good 8km or more up the mountain. Lucky thing we weren’t so gung-ho to insist on walking up. Hahaha…

- Waited for 2 hours before I could take on the para-gliding. The wind pressure and speed was too low previously and the coach would not have been able to fly us both up then. Paid NT1200 (inclusive of insurance) and wore the gear. Hehehe… first attempt was a failure because I almost tripped and had to restart. 2nd attempt was a success and it’s not as scary as I thought. Glided in the air for about 15mins and I certainly felt like Peter Pan. It was like a dream and I felt very relaxed. “It’s such a pity”, the coach said. The wind wasn’t at its best that day. Otherwise I would have flown higher and reach the base clouds. Damn!

- When I landed at the pasture down the foot of the mountain, we realized that someone was hanging at the cliff, but was later pulled up by the rest of the people. Apparently, the guy weighed 90kg and the wind wasn’t strong enough to carry both the coach and him. In the end, instead of gliding, they had a free fall landing… hahhha

- Guess what? I was so hyper for the rest of the evening that I was beaming from ear to ear. Hehehe.. do give it a try if you can and you’ll see what I mean.

- Last minute change of plans. Decided to head for Taipei straight instead of Taoyuan. Thus, we bought train tickets to Hua Lian (NT249, approx 3-4hrs) and transfer train to Taipei from there (NT445, approx. 3hrs). It was really close shave. We ran on board the train once we reached the station. The moment we’d settled down, the train was on its way  Lucky us!

- Forgot to buy dinner and we had to starve our way to Taipei. We didn’t book any hotels and we didn’t know where to turn to. So the starving souls dragged their feet across streets after streets to find hotel for the night. It was close to an hr later before we decided on this Japanese hotel. So tired that we both fell asleep after bathing…

My travel Journal - part 1

I know.. I know… I haven’t been updating my blog for the longest time. Am really stressed up and tired these days, having started on my new posting. Haiz… what to do … am hanging the best that I can over here. It’s almost like I wake up to do the same thing all over and over again…

Missed those days in TWN (S$1 = NT20). If only I have a sugar daddy then I can go on an all-expenses paid trip. Hahaha…

Day 1 (Saturday, 16th Sep):
- Touched down at Taiwan’s CKS airport. Took Jetstar and my verdict? Jetstar = cramped seatings + lousy food stock-up and management + pure discomfort (except for smooth touch down) = extreme budget airline.

- Got my backpack only to found that my shampoo had leaked and soiled my backpack. Damn suay. Best part is I don’t even know why it leaked. The bottle was intact and etc.

- Spent 20mins in the ladies’ at the airport to empty my bag, wash the affected areas and rush out to catch the long-distance bus to Kaoshiung (NT450). Watched the TWN stations live telecast on anti-bian situation. Raining….

- Good Samaritan guided us on where to change the bus. Had a 10min dinner break at one of the make-shift bus terminals before changing to another bus. On route, we only have about 5 mins toilet break every few hours. Took us 5hrs to get to kaoshiung.

- By the time we reach the city, it was way past 2am. Checked into a budget hotel (NT980 for 3 days 2 nights) and went downstairs to buy some snacks.


Day 2 (Sunday, 17th Sep):- No MRT in kaoshiung. So either you have to go by foot (which we did), bus or taxi. Walked a long way away from my hotel and went to a lot of shopping malls and streets.

- Huge crowd gathered at one of the shopping malls. Kay-poh me went to see what happened. Jay Chou was coming. Waited for 1 hr before he appeared on stage. Took lots of photo. Learnt something new: my stamina not as good as last time…. can no longer fight with those meimei for a better location. Jay Chou can sing live. Understand how people can get heat stroke. If you feel giddy and hot but you’re not sweating? Congratulations! You’ve just got yourself a heat stroke.

- Managed to take a few photos and squeezed my way out to another shopping mall. Finally found my Le-Sportsac toki-doki bag!

- Went to those street markets and chanced upon a popular pastry shop. Desserts look damn good. Maybe I had my expectations set too high upon looking at them. They tasted ok only.

- Quite disappointed with the variety of food at the night markets 

- Ai-he (Love River – one of the tourist spots) was a complete waste of time for me. Nothing to see except boats, people and a variety of dogs (people took them out for a night stroll). Think Clarke Quay but take away all those outdoor tables and minus half the crowd.


Day 3 (Monday, 18th Sep):- Perhaps I was out all night… too tired. Woke up only when it’s close to lunch time. Pack our stuff (one big haversack and a bag of shopping ‘trophies’ each) and took a cab to the Kaoshiung Tourist information center and asked for directions to Kending.

- Took a long distance bus from kaoshiung bus terminal to Kending (Approx. 2-3 hrs at NT300). Along the way, we went by shabby towns, fields and districts. Very 80’s. But when we were nearing Kending, you could see the very beautiful coastline and the sun that shines through the clouds. It just takes away all the pressure from you and you just feel so relaxed and romantic. Think Full House – house by the sea.

- Stopped at the wrong bus stops. In front of us were two very comfortable and grand hotels. And yeah! They don’t come cheap. Minimum NT3780 (approx S$200) per night!!!!

- Walked a long way back to the town area with our barang barang. Almost every shop owners beckon us to stay with them (shop-house type of rooms available for rental). Although they can’t be classified anywhere close to beach-resort types, they seem more comfortable and classier than your usual cheapskate one-night stand motels. And the best part? You get the room for as low as NT400 a night.

- Chanced upon a hotel in one of the secluded road corners. Damn nice deco and extremely comfortable bed. What’s more? You get a big LCD screen + DVD player and radio!!! Well.. like I mentioned earlier. The place just makes you feel so relaxed. So we decided to spend a bit more for hotel this time round. It’s those kind of hotels that have only about 8 room max. But it’s so homely and comfortable!!!! Spent about NT4000 (price after 45% discount as it was off-peak season) for 3 days 2 nights. Cash payment only.

- Went down in the evening to get some food. Had wild boar meat and sausages, weird dessert drinks and most of all, I’d discovered Fried fresh milk. Basically it’s milk-made cubes that got deep-fried. Damn nice and cheap. But nothing to shop coz it’s a small street and the things there are what you can find in SG and Thailand. Very beach-related kind of stuff.

- Sat at out hotel room balcony to enjoy the breeze. But there was a lot of cheering and loud music. Sounded like that was a concert near by. By the way, kending is a hot spot for summer concerts. Hurried down with our cameras to see who was it. We searched high and low for the source. Finally! Basket. It was a huge group of youngsters having their own medley of songs in front of their fellow classmates. Because the speakers are muffled and the cheering was damn loud and fun, we had expected something huge.

- Took a turn. Damn!!!! There’s a row of very nice hotels right in front of us. Cheaper some more!!!! Each hotel has like about 5 rooms max? They have different themes like designer suite hotel, zen hotel and etc.Haiz.

- Things I’ve learnt? Asked to view the hotel room first before you move in. They usually allow you to do so or even invite you to do so. During off-peak seasons when the occupancy rate is low, you can take your time to check out the hotel rates. They will actually hang something like “today’s rate” outside their sign board. How it works? They lower their price with each growing hour to entice you to stay with them.The rates vary with season as well. But here’s the catch. If you keep on waiting and waiting, the rooms might be taken up by others instead.

- One more thing. Can hardly find any rubbish bins in Kending.

That's all for now. Need to go rest so that I can have some energy for work tomorrow.. at Tuas :'(