so long since i last blog! (: alright will try not to be so lazy to turn on e com...

recently went on a hols with family to a beautiful land named TAIWAN! Pee told me just the day be4 my trip that i will expect a boring trip, well, it didnt! haha.. though much time was spent on travelling but for me, being first time in Taiwan, is worth it!

1st day:
we reached Tao Yuan Airport(Taipei) @ abt 7+pm. the weather was so COLD! 12degrees!
after being received by the tour guide(eric), we headed to ShiLin night market. I was looking forward to it, especially since they brought it over to Singapore. It's layout is like a market(wet market) with many little stalls abd many games stall. btw, FYI, Taiwan has alot of games stalls, common games played - Jia Gong Zai (those machine u insert coins to try and catch small litlle dolls etc!) and basketball (throwing balls into e net). Initially thot it was quite silly why it is so common, well, after that towards e end of my trip, i got addicted!!! haha, my cousins and bro spent practically all time at the machines during all night market. Eric passed this "virus" in them! He brought them to e shop and showed them how he managed to catch 20 over! (imagine, with a coin inserted, u can catch up to 4??? not in Singapore!)

First night stayed was at Hao Jing Hotel (Taipei) – Hotel Riverview

2nd day:
We came to Taipei Xian and visited Zhong Zheng Ji Nian Tang. it was built to remember Chiang Kai-Shek. In it exhibited everything abt him and Song Mei-Ling(the woman who stir up an equility among men and women). It was really exciting to hear abt it - provided u like to listen to history. (: Next stop, we came to Taipei 101. It is a big shopping centre that u can lost yourself in it! it is 508m tall, and hold the record of the world's tallest building! We had a chance to take the lift up to the highest floor within 44s! it is sort of a viewing gallery, seeing Taiwan in a bird's eye view. the scenary is beautiful. The building has alot of departmental stores, like Gucci, Giodano etc. We got ourselves lost after going to Page 1 (bookshop).

after lunch we head down to Dan Shui - Yeh Liu. on the journey there, we travelling along Pacific Ocean! the waves is very strong that it is too dangerous to swim. Coming to Dan Shui, revealed the beauty of mountaineous and sea view of Taiwan. we reached Yeh Liu by 5pm (the latest time that Eric wanted us to reach if not it will be cancelled!). It is a view not to be missed! We came close to Pacific Ocean to experience the beautiful waves and natural scene created. know why we must reached by 5pm? in Taiwan, the sky starts to darken @ abt 530pm, so if we go after 5pm, it will be too dark. Walking on the rocks and all will be very dangerous. Thank God we made it on time and managed to catch e view!

stayed @ HaLa Hotel - coming to Taiwan, must try the hotsprings! especially in the cold weather. In this hotel, they have a public and indoor hotspring aka in the individual hotel room.

3rd day:
we headed down to Jiu Fen.
Went to shop @ this shop called "Ah Shin de Dian". from the shop, we bought alot of tibits stuff like Muachi and Tai Yang bing and some mango pudding. If in future u have the chance to visit Jiu Fen, should settle most sovenirs here! haha, we bought some, thinking will still be able to get them later, but we cant! Next we proceed to RueiFang Station to catch a train to Hualian. Instead of alighting at hualian station, we alighted @ HePing station, due to itinery. the train ride was 2 hrs long neh! if we take bus, it will be 6 hrs!!! -_-'''

Visited Chang Chun Ciao, Dong Xi Heng Duan Gong Lu and more mountainous scenery! next we came to DaLiShi, a factory that deals with stones, jade and all. Bought a necklace at S$45! Then we went to watch YuanZuMing performance, there are alot of different erm tribes i think under YuanZuMing, we went to watch the Ah Mei tribe performing. not sure if the singer Ah mei came from here, but she is definitely from one of it ah! YuanZuMing's "hello" is "Naluwan!" (: the performance is quite so-so i guess, not much energy and the steps are simple. my sis, cousin and I were sitting in front to catch a nice view, but I was dragged to dance with them, to perform a wedding dance! heh.. next was dinner, dinner was alright, uncle said that is my wedding dinner! -_-'''

*Celece – u can take a train up to Hua Lian, journey also abt 2 hrs plus ah.. (: but not sure wad bus goes to tain station.. sorry.. (:

Stayed at MeiLun Hotel (Parkview Hotel) – SHIOK! The best ever stayed! Nice view and great facilities! That night also had a great night, suddenly all became hyper/high and start to make a din in my room! Haha, felt like some party going on..

4th day:
Visited the LingZhi Factory, however was too expensive! So mom didn’t get any. Guess e whole grp of us didn’t get any at all.

Begin our 8 hrs journey to KaohSiung… departed abt 10 plus. However, thank God that it only took us 6 hrs! instead of predicted 8hrs! reached abt 5 plus..

Came to Dragon and Tiger Pagodas, nothing much except for the two tall temple structure. Climbed up to the 6th storey and then down. One funny thing abt the temple is that all movements flow in one direction, u doesn’t walk back the path u came from to get out. (: u enter from the dragon and out from the temple. Temple in Taiwan is enter by most right and out by most left!

Next we came to Aihe (love river), we took a boat ride to visit some night scenery, is hard to capture onto cam. Anyway, there aint much stuff to see too, except for how the love bridge came abt. Realized Taiwanese love to offer cold jokes. The tour guide for the boat ride told us a joke that no one laughed! Think no one realized it was a joke la! -_-‘’’

The best part of the day came – LiuHe night market! (: another shopping spree! This night market consist of food and more food! (: Taiwan night market really serves much nicer XiaoChi (delicacy) compared to Singapore. Tonight is also the 4th night, my sis and some of us had our Zhen Zhu Nei Cha(Pearl Milk Tea). Some differences are that, here the pearls are really QQ and cant chew those hard hard stuff u eat in Singapore. And they are not stingy with their pearls!!! (: the milk tea is really nice too! Ever since I m back, haven bought any of the bubble tea yet for the Taiwan’s bubble tea is still in my taste bud! (: in the night market, we also spotted a lot of JiaGongZai like I said earlier. Again, bro and cousins caught a lot! Saved $ on souvenirs! (:

Stayed at Hua Guo Hotel (Hotel Holiday Garden).

5th day:
On the way to Tai zhong…

Visited the Pearl Factory and got aunt a ring.. at S$50.. here u can get the ZhenZhuFen and some pearly necklace.. the price is alright I guess.. anyway originally the ring was selling at S$90! So me and mom managed to bargain to that price. mom also bought ZhenZhuFen worth like S$200 plus la!

This day began our journey with Fo Guang Shan (temple). This temple is really huge! Cover a large area – maybe due to it holding a school – for nuns and monks. It also has a lot of statues of Buddha ard..

Then came to Ri Yue Tan (Sea Moon Lake), didn’t manage to climb up the tall tower due to time constrain, only catch a glimpse of it.. then enter the temple and saw a weapon used by one of the ancient warrior. Didn’t stay too long here.. we left with eric bought tea leaves egg for the children.. I didn’t get, not that I m old! But is I dun eat tat! (:

Next headed to Feng Chia night market. This night market is bigger than the Liu He night market..but Taiwan is very cold hence not much clothes suitable… then we had a night stayed at Plaza International Hotel.

6th day:
Headed back to Taipei…

Visited a farm(Tai San Xiu Xian Nong Zhang) and pluck our very own fruits – tomatoes, capsicums… they also have passion fruits and other vegetables but is not available due to not yet ripe.

After lunch, we headed to Zhong Lie Chi to catch the soldiers from the Sea(Army) to watch their performance.. they are not exactlty performing.. just doing their normal routine.. however, it seems like it became a tourist attraction cos they did it so smartly and all.. (: there were markings on the floor due to the metal pieces under the boots of the soldiers and marching on the same path for over 30 yrs!

Then next we came to Gu Gong Bo Wu Yuan (Museum) , here display a lot of ancient antics of the ancient China.. it is currently under upgrading and all, hence wad we saw is not complete… cant take photo so u wont be able to see anything…

Our last night of shopping was done at Xi Meng Ding. It is quite a big area, has abt 8 streets altogether. The shops will start to pack up and all will close by 12 am. We had a great night, shopping, eating and of cos playing Jia Gong Zai again… (:

Last night stayed was same as 1st night – Hao Jing Hotel (Hotel Riverview)

7th day:
woke up as early as 5am to catch our flight scheduled at 9am! wow... had to pack breakfast and eat on the journey to Tao Yuan Airport... the sky here brightens as early as 6am! i really meant bright... yeah... reached Singapore abt 2pm! Home sweet Home...


Alright… end of summary… to some, the trip may seen very taxing due to traveling and all.. I do enjoyed myself on this trip, at least I caught a glance of the whole Taiwan and can pick the county that I will want to go back again! (: still missing Taiwan now.. haha.. photos up soon k… (: