day1(25/11):
i woke up at 0430. left house at 0515. reached airport at about 0600. this was the first time i'm boarding a plane. was super excited.my sister had the window seat. i was sitting next to her. but still, i could see what's outside. the flight was about 4h+. watched dark knight. reached taiwan taoyuan international airport. met our tourguide, mr 蒋(jiang). he asked us to call him xiaojiang. a humorous man. he was saying that taiwan has 4 seasons while singapore has only two kinds of weather, hot and very hot. the 1st place we went to was 九份(jiufen). ate some of the food xiaojiang reccomended and went shopping. proceeded to 台中(Taichung). the ride was about 2h+ with a toilet break in between at 新竹(Hsinchu) if i'm not wrong. the expressway in taiwan looks almost the same as that in singapore. common vehicles. toyota, honda, nissan, mazda, lexus, bmw... buying a car in taiwan is much much cheaper. probably about 2 or 3 times cheaper. something different about the vehicles is that the driver seat is on the left. the direction of the road network is also a bit different. see diagram below. went to 逢甲夜市 (fengjia nightmarket) in 台中. the place was quite crowded. a lot of teenagers around. they have those kinds of stylomilo hair style. hahaha. ate some snacks like 大肠包小肠 (small intestine wrapped in big intestine). the small intestine refers to sausage while the big intestine refers to. eh. i also dont know la. it's edible la. hehe. headed to deBAO business hotel. watched cartoon before sleeping. some funny character in a show said '快乐的时光总是一下子就过去了'. very true.
bernard's favourite shop?
胡椒饼 which i dont like. it tasted a bit weird. haha.
the brand of the radio xiaoxin is listening to is 'hony'. LOL.day2:
set off to 阿里山 (ali mountain?) to see 阿里山的姑娘. hahaha. no la. just kidding. on the way, mr tourguide talked about earthquakes. evacuate to a field when there's no building. he mentioned about protecting one's head is the most important. since there are a lot of motorcylists in taiwan, they can wear helmet when earthquake strikes. those sleeping can use pillow. if no time to evacuate, go to the corner of the room. never stay in the middle of the room. the corner is the most stable part of the building. someone asked what if the ground split open when we are in the field. xiaojiang replied: 双眼开开，准备投胎. the trip up the 阿里山 was quite long. on the way, i felt rather threatened. it's because of the fallen bamboos which are sticking out. i wondered if they would pierce through the bus if they were to slide down suddenly. we reached the top and had lunch 1st. the weather is super cold. it was drizzling. took a walk in the forest before we boarded the bus and travelled to 高雄 (kaohsiung). went to 爱河 (love river). took some photo there. had dinner at some restaurant before going to the hotel. metropolitan hotel. as it was still early, we went out to the street and walkwalk. ate. went back to sleep. ZzZzZz.
on our way up 阿里山
bamboos poking out.
happiness from golden pig?
meimei and the big tree
love river
bought 豆浆. forgot to buy 油条.day3:
a windy day. headed towards south. 台南 (tainan). went to 鹅銮鼻(oluanpi) to see the lighthouse. southernmost tip of taiwan. nothing much to do there except taking photos. oh. and we went to the wrong toilet. didnt see the male toilet behind. saw the female one, but didnt see the female sign. so we all thought it's unisex. hahahaha. after visiting the lighthouse, we went to 海洋公园 or smth like that. i have no idea what it's called. it's like underwater world. there were many people there. mostly kids from some primary school. so noisy. haha. (to bernard and lejun), i took a photo of a chiobu. her name is iva. you can refer to the picture below. hahaha. went to 饶河夜市 in the evening for dinner. ate ate this, ate ate that. ate so many things. shopping at dream mall (梦时代购物中心) at night. largest shopping mall in taiwan. there is a Ferris wheel on level 10. rode it with my family. aiya. if only yongbiao was here with us man. gathered and then went back to the hotel. packed our stuff as we are leaving for another hotel tmr. our luggage are getting heavier and heavier. xiaojiang talk about staying healthy today. he tried burning a piece of potato chip on the bus. the flame just kept on burning. i think he did this to show that the potato chip contained a lot of fats. 健康最重要.
ohh. there's a male toilet behind. hahaha.
lion fish.
two manta rays swimming together. so sweet.
presenting the chiobu, IVA! 3~4 years old. weighing 256kg. 2.56m long. moto moto.
cunning ice-cream man. haha.
day4:
we brought along 大包小包 up to the bus. pieces of luggage on the lower deck while we sat on the upper deck. we were on our way to 龙虎塔 (Dragon and Tiger Pagodas) in 高雄. there is a tiger and a dragon. -.- lol. stayed there for a while before we headed to 佛光山 (Fo Guang Shan). many golden statues. there was a ceremony going on. monks and nuns were in the temple chanting. left and had lunch at a foodcourt-like place. ordered charsiew wanton mee. it tasted different from that in singapore. the charsiew has been fried. after the meal, we went to Janfusun Fancyworld, an amusement park. 1st ride i sat is diving machine G5. woo. if you have no idea what it is, you can click here to know more.
Drop - 179 ft (55 m)
Length - 1,250 ft (380 m)
Max speed - 68.3 mph (109.9 km/h)
Max vertical angle - 89°
- adapted from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving_Machine_G5)
the ride was really scary. especially when you were stuck at the edge, preparing for the 89° downward chionging. haha. i screamed. but i couldnt hear myself. woo. i thought i was going to die. haha. best ride i ever had. just once and it's enough. hahaha. wanted to try the turbo shot aka space shot, but in the end i didnt. to me, it's worse than the G5. your feet would be dangling in the air. somemore one is brought to a much higher point than the G5. woo. later i die how. hahaha. went for some other rides. my sis and another kid wanted to ride the viking ship. so we sat. we rode the 海神号several times. fun afternoon at the theme park. travelled to 台中 (taichung) for dinner. steamboat at shabu shabu. ate until shuang. woowoo. stayed at plazza international hotel. there's a grand piano in front of the reception counter. watched mr bean and also 七剑 (seven swords).
cool tour guide.
呕吐槽?
viking ship
Mr Bean.
day5:
today's breakfast was not very nice. the variety of food was limited. went to a tomato farm. so many different kinds of tomato. taiwanese black beauty tomato. european bulb tomato... tomato mantou, tomato juice. everything is about tomato. visited the 石门水库 (Shimen Dam). xiaojiang said there's a 外库(裤) and a 内库(裤). he also mentioned a 三角库(裤) because of the triangular shape. everyone laughed. although there was sun, the weather was rather cold, especially when the wind blows. ate lunch at a restaurant and then took bullet train from 桃园 (taoyuan) to 台北 (taipei). went to mao's house. famous for their lingzhi and honey products. royal jelly. they cost a lot. up to $700+. there are also two princesses of the tribe in the shop. visited 国立故宫博物院 (national palace museum). cannot take any photo there. to view some of the collections, do visit the webpage of NPM. it was a bit boring. haha. visited the 士林官邸菊展 (2008 cShow, an annual event held in the garden of the Shilin Presidential Residence), but it was quite dark already. so xiaojiang agreed that we go there tmr morning again to take nice nice photos. on the bus, xiaojiang talked about children and many other stuff. someone mentioned: 金不笑，银不笑，小孩让你哈哈笑. haha. interesting. spent our night at 士林夜市 (shilin night market). ate and shopped. some of the things there were cheaper than in singapore. but the night market was super crowded. 人山人海. 进退两难. back to hotel. sheraton hotel. other kids came over to my room. we played uno. had a really fun time. it's around this time when the kids began to interact with one another. xiaojiang told us his life story today. the darkest period in his life. depression. suicide thoughts. i think i had learnt a lot from this trip. from the tourguide. he should go be a gp teacher. haha.
one of lejun's 8 pcs chicken? haha. inside joke.
if this is what you see when you look to the front
and when you look behind, you know you are stuck in the middle.
the piglet caught my attention. just the piglet.
day6:
went to 貔貅馆. had a mini lecture there about fengshui. hahaha. amazing fact: if you are in the northern hemisphere and you flush toilet bowl, the movement of water will be in clockwise direction. if you are in the southern hemisphere, the movement would be in anti clockwise direction. i didnt know that. it's not so good to have your name (not including your surname) to have 16, 10, 20, 30 (ending with 0) strokes. for example, 陈小明. 小 has 3 strokes. 明 has 8 strokes. add together is 11 strokes. there's no 16, or anything ending with 0. the master also mentioned some not so good characters (all 10 strokes). 疾病，匪徒，鬼，衰... the best is the have 4, 9 or 13 strokes. after the lecture, went back to the garden to see flower, mainly chrysanthemum. visited a tea shop and tasted the different kind of tea. green tea + yakult tasted nice. had lunch at 鼎泰丰. the fried rice is extremely delicious. i will eat it again someday man. we then made our way to taipei101. on the previous night while playing with the kids, i said beijing101 instead of taipei101. -.- so malu. hahaha. didnt get to go up the level 101. just walked around the shopping mall only. then we went to some open space. i have no idea what place it is. just took some photos. there are also several groups of cheerleader there practising. went to some 西门丁 place to shop. but we just wandered around and sat at a cafe to talk. haha. gathered some time later and went to 蒙古烤肉 bar.b.q. sounded nice. but the food there wasnt nice at all. a bit disappointed. at night, we travelled to spring city resort. they got private jacuzzi in the room. there's also a public hotspring outside. cool. but i didnt go. the water got some weird smell which i dont like. haha. the kids and the 2 mj guys came over. we played uno. and ended up playing 'pig'. i had the chance the teach them. hahaha. we had fun. they left at around 2330. i went to bathe and then watch tv. there was this pool trickshot competition. i watched until i 傻 diao. uber cool. slept at around 2.
tea appreciation lecture?
xiaojiang. supposed to look cool. but.. haha. a bit funny.
bachor? minced meat? turn on the tap and bachor will flow out?
guguji!
day7:
last day. didnt have to wake up very early. slept until 8+. had breakfast and went back to the room to pack my stuff. slacked around and continued watching tv. watched 赌侠II dont know what shanghai stephen chow and also nine ball competition on the sports channel. left hotel. bidded to the tourguide and checked in. ate at some cafe together with the rest. everyone seemed to be addicted to the game 'pig'. we even took out the uno cards and played 'pig' in the cafe. the adults watched us play. waited for some time before boarding the plane. home sweet home.
i had gained a lot from this trip. the tour guide taught me things which i never knew. it wasnt all about eating and shopping. although much time have been spent on the bus travelling from one place to another and it was like 上车睡觉，下车尿尿, i still enjoy the journey very much. beautiful sceneries which you will never get to see in singapore. i'm so tempted to go overseas again. probably with friends the next time if i had the chance. yeahyeah.
