So four of us plus Tat's gf Geck Woon embarked on our Taiwan trip. Kudos to Tat for doing most of the planning. The trip went smoothly and we had a lot of good fun.
Day 1 - Arriving at Taoyuan airport
飞轮海 Fahrenheit are the official tourism ambassadors for Taiwan! Saw this life-sized pic of them at the airport.
Yi Ling and I boarded the plane from Singapore to Taoyuan airport. Aijia, Geck and Tat were already in Taiwan as they finished exams before me =/ After reaching the airport, we caught the High Speed Rail (HSR) to Chiayi. Chiayi is the entry point to Alishan. We spent the night at a motel in Chiayi. The lady looked us strangely because we weren't driving, yet we chose to stay at a motel. Haha.
Day 2 & 3 - Alishan
It's cold up there in the mountains!
girl with extremely long hair
We met up with Aijia, Geck and Tat at Alishan! Together, we would complete the rest of our journey.
Alishan is a gorgeous place. Alas a few visitors smoked and littered, polluting Alishan's natural beauty. Sigh.
Day 4 - Taichung, Sun Moon Lake
Dance by the Shao (邵) aboriginal clan at Sun Moon Lake
Shao language!
kaiwaii-ne!
Sun Moon Lake (日月潭). A place with gorgeous natural scenery and enriching cultural experiences.
Day 5 - Road Trip to Hualien, Cing Qing Farm, Taroko Gorge (Part 1)
On our way from Taichung to Hualien! We hired a tour guide who drove us through the mountains.
First stop: Cing Jing farm!
We left Cing Jing farm and continued our journey through the mountains.
We are among the clouds!
on top of the world
10 year old boy who lives in the mountains!
By the time we reached Hualien, it was 7pm! We were famished.
HEAVENLY buns from a roadside stall in Hualien!
If you go to Hualien, you must try the muah chee sold here!
Okay, I am drooling already.
Day 6 - Taroko Gorge (Part 2), Yilan
Our tour guide drove us to Taroko Gorge again the next morning!
Mother Nature's gift to earthlings :)
Then we bade our friendly and helpful tour guide goodbye and boarded the train to Yilan - land of hot and cold springs!
Day 7 - Yilan, Jiufen
weeee!!!
Then we went to Jiufen, where the producer of Spirited Away got his inspiration.
See those red lanterns and narrow passageways?
potato crisps!
Day 8 - Taipei: Sun Yat Sen & Chiang Kai Shek Memorials, Ximending
Taipei! The place that I have been dreaming to go to for a long time. I guess I've been heavily influenced by the liveliness of Taiwanese dramas and variety shows which are mostly shot in Taipei. So my impression of Taipei is that of a fun and happening city :) And I wasn't disappointed! The city does has its vibe and charm.
Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall. Reminds me of Singapore's Esplanade because there were many youths dancing hip hop around the area. I could feel the liveliness of Taipei's youths!
I sat on Sun Yat Sen's lap. May he not turn in his grave.
Beautiful aerial shot of the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall compound. We had to climb a large flight of stairs to see Chiang's statue.
Taiwan is a democracy :)
Then we headed to Ximending for food and shopping.
Super huge ice cream! I saw this on television before, so I was excited when I saw it at Ximending!
Lotsa creative stuff in this shop! We bought a lot of fun gifts for our friends :)
Yummy oyster mee sua! It is a must-try if you go to Ximending! There are no seating areas, so people stand around the shop to enjoy their oyster mee sua. This also serves as a wonderful publicity move since passers-by will notice the crowd standing around and slurping every single bit of their mee sua... and be enticed to get a bowl for themeselves too!
Day 9 - Taipei: Yeliu, Ding Tai Fung
Yeliu, the land of numerous beautifully-shaped rocks!
Do not cross the red line!
Hor hor... Yi Ling crossed the red line!
My mouth too big -_-
See the irony?
Taipei 101. But we didn't go in.
Cute bus!
Yummmm... Din Tai Fung! Better than the ones in Singapore!
Day 10 - Forbidden Palace, Fisherman's Wharf
As that day was International Museum Day, we got to enter the Forbidden Palace for FREE! Value for money indeed.
Learned a lot about Chinese history in the Forbidden Palace. There is so much to learn about our Chinese heritage...
Then we went to Fisherman's Wharf. Didn't take many pictures as it was too dark. It's a nice place to chill out.
Day 11 - Bai Wan Da Ge Xing live recording
My first time attending a live recording!
The TV station staff giving us a briefing before we entered the studio. He is a very hilarious guy. His job is not easy as he is supposed to be in high mode all the time!
Again, he had to entertain us with lame jokes during the intervals. The Taiwanese are really good at lame jokes :)
Penny Tai! She is sitting at the extreme right. My favourite singer since Sec 3. The girl in the blue dress sitting next to Penny is Guo Jing, another young singer with lovely vocals. She isn't very popular, but I still like her :)
Close up of Penny! My best shot of her :)
12 days in Taiwan with much fun and laughter. Yet there were also times where we encountered tricky situations and had to make decisions. Taiwanese people are generally warm, polite and friendly, but we met a few unpleasant people. We were ripped off by a cab driver in Taichung. Now we learn how to defend ourselves against such people. We also learned how to negotiate with sellers and not be fooled into parting too much money for our purchases.
I always believe that in order to grow up, one must venture out of his comfort zone. One good way is to travel. To me, travelling is not all about fun. It's much more than that. If I meet with an unsavoury situation, I try not to dwell too much into it but instead see it as a valuable learning experience. There is a difference between a tourist and traveller and I very much prefer to be the latter.
I am definitely going back to Taiwan again! :)There's so much to see, do and learn here!
No comments:
Post a Comment