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.