Taiwan Trip Ep 3 (09.12.2008)

The first place of interest that we went was 忠烈祠. This was a place of commemoration of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives to protect the country. We went in the morning and we managed to witness the ceremony in which the soldiers march from the main entrance of the place to the interior and in which the soldiers each took their own duty positions.


I really pei fu these guards cuz they have to stand under the scorching sun, even during summer, in their thick uniforms for hours and hours. And they are really very 敬业 cuz they stood very very stiff and solemn and they are really expressionless. As a visitor, the help that you can offer them is simply not to disturb them, by trying to tickle them etc.















After gracing the ceremony, we went to

for a historical trip. Saw many artifacts inside and some really 令人叹为观止, I've finally seen the real 翡翠玉菜 (think that's the name of it).



Next is the much anticipated Taiwan High Speed Rail journey!









The seats can actually be adjusted, and by adjust i mean the whole row can be turned in such a way that it's facing the window! Isn't that amazing! And I know why each ticket is so expensive, costing around NT125 (around S$6) for a trip just from Taipei to Taoyuan which is like 4 stations away. One of the reasons is of cuz the speed of the train, the comfy of the train and they provide you with services on the train too, to ensure that you have a smooth, comfortable and enjoyable ride, just like on a plane. Services I meant food and drinks. But you gotta pay lah, a coffee on the train costs around S$4 bah.


We've reached Taoyuan in just 20 minutes! I must say their timings are really punctual.



Next, we went to

where we saw many pottery and this very interesting eatery which allows you to bring back all the bowls and cups after you have finished eating.


We went to 三峡老街 after that. As we all know, Taiwan has many many temples and we went to this very very grand temple near 三峡老街 that night. The whole temple was like made of gold, so glam, so striking to the eyes. the carvings on the walls were very very exquisite and fine, wonder how long people took just to carve a figure out.



三峡老街 is a place that is filled with very 浓的异国气息, as can be seen from the buildings and shophouses.





Dinner of the day was at...



It's a very famous 豆浆 shop in Taiwan, selling many kinds of snacks such as 油条，烧饼，小笼包，etc etc, so much so that you'll spend some time thinking what you wanna eat. The 豆浆 is really 赞, so 赞 that I fall in love with it and for the next few days I kept having 豆浆 during breakfast. Heex..

Then shopping again and we dao bao desserts back to hotel again!


The desserts from this shop is really very nice, the 芋圆，芋头，番薯，大红豆, oh no, my saliva are dripping now! The shop assistants are really nice too. I remembered Papa and Mummy wanted green bean with 芋圆 but I don't know why I went too order 芋头 with 芋圆. So I asked the girl at the counter if I can change my order then after she checked out she said cannot le cuz they have already starting preparing it. Then I jiu said okie lor, cannot help it also. But she actually offered to add in green beans for me lor! It was so super nice of her. I mean I was the one who made the mistake in ordering the wrong thing but she sounded as though it was her fault, that she could not help me change to what I wanted. If a similar situation occurs here in Singapore, I bet I'll be facing a black-faced assistant right then bah. The service standard here really needs a lot of improvements.

Taiwan Trip Ep 2 (08.12.2008)

The morning call was supposed to be at 7.30am but we woke up super early and we went down for bf at 7am.


There was still ample time left before the meeting time so we decided to walk to the very famous temple nearby to bai bai.

The traffic lights in Taiwan are very cute cuz you'll get to see this lil green man "walking" on the screen. And the time allowance for each traffic light varies, the longest that I've come across was 70 or 90 seconds lor. Can you imagine how long you gotta wait just to cross that stretch of road? I guess you'll never ever find such a time allowance in Singapore cuz the pace of our society is just too fast le, who would bother to wait such a long time for the light to turn green?



On the way back to our hotel, we spotted a very interesting underground passage.


The whole underground passage was lined up with a whole array of fortune-telling shops, side by side. Wonder how they can operate under such stiff competition from one another.

Convenience stores are located all around Taiwan, not just 7-11, there are also Family mart and another one which I cant recall the name. We went to 7-11 to purchase a phone card, planning to call my grandparents. Funny thing was we asked the cashier guy how to use the card then he blah blah a whole chunk of instructions which none of us understood. So we decided to read the manual inside and figure it out ourselves. We tried a couple of times but it didn't work so we asked the tour leader and ta da, the line got through! You cant imagine how happy we were when we heard those familiar voices coming from the other end. Heex...


By right the first place that we were supposed to go was to 阳明山纱帽温泉 but the tour guide decided to bring us to this very grand and famous hotel to see see since he said it was on the way.


The interior of the hotel was very grand, just like a palace. According to the tour guide, this hotel is just like the heart of the country. Many years ago, the roof top of the hotel was damaged by a fire and not long after this fire, the economy of the country suffered badly. Since then, the people believed that this hotel has very much a feng shui legend and are doing all they can to safeguard this place.



Then off we go to 阳明山纱帽温泉!!! I've been so looking forward to this 泡温泉 experience. Will never get to experience this kinda spring in Singapore, not even in Sembawang. That is only 小巫见大巫 compared to those in Taiwan and Japan.