Taiwan, Touch Your Heart!
( Their slogan, but not really true. )
( Their slogan, but not really true. )
Day 1 ( 27.1.2009 )
Woke up a bit late because the night before slept around 4 a.m as Bea, Karen, Ray and Michelle came over to see fireworks and we gambled while chatting. Daddy fetched us ( Mum, grandma and I ) to the airport around 12 p.m as we gotta check in at 1 p.m. Walked around KLIA and finally got on board around 3 p.m. Seriously, I'm those people who can't seat still for few hours. That's why I find it really boring in the plane, and I don't like the food they served. =(
After 4.5 hours, the we finally reached Taiwan and it was a great relief for me. I wanted to get down asap. =P The weather there wasn't cold actually, just a bit cooling and it was just nice. We took a 45 minutes ride to Taipei and went to our hotel. The hotel which we stayed in Taipei was the best among all of them. =) We were all starving and the tour guide decided to bring us to the nearest night market. Duh, it was the 2nd day of CNY, so only few stalls ran the business as usual. We ate noodles which they named them as 担仔面 and tau-fu-fa which was different from M'sia style. And that's my first day!
Day 2 ( 28.1.2009 )
The phone rang around 6 a.m waking all of us up, and if fact I only slept around 5 hours. We got ready quickly and off we headed to the restaurant for breakfast buffet. I still prefer breakfast back in M'sia that time. After that, we started our journey of the day, one day tour in Taipei. Firstly, we went to 总统府 and 白色恐怖政治受难者纪念碑. I guess the name said it all, unless you can't read mandarin. I'm pretty lazy to talk about it. =P
We just loitered around 15 minutes there and we went to 中正纪念堂. The weather that time was nearly the same as M'sia just that it wasn't that hot yet. All of us took off those extra clothing and yet we still can spot tourists from HK and China in thick clothing as if they were in Harbin. LOL! There's nothing much to see there, but the plants were really pretty. The tour guide actually freaked my mum out when he said we gotta climb 88 stairs, but actually it wasn't so scary, just a small distance.
We then went to 故宫博物馆. I seriously don't like that place, there was too many people. Everywhere was crowded and they will just push others away to see something without apologising. Gosh, so uncivilized. And since there was a big number of tourists there at the same time, they gave a headset to everybody and gave the tour guide a small microphone so that we can listen to explanation about the antiques there. I quickly ran outside with mum and grandma when the tour guide gave us free time to walk around.
And finally it was time for lunch. We went to 伍角船板 and the design of this restaurant amazed me. The owner of this restaurant is an artist herself. How cool is it? There was a big crowd there too and it was also impossible to get in if somebody didn't book the place. The food there was okay also. =P
Nest destination was 忠烈祠 and the main purpose we went there was to see how those soldiers take over their shifts. They gotta march pretty slow and play with their guns throughtout the short distance. I wonder how will it be if they accidentally drop their guns. =P
After standing under the sun for around 10 minutes, it was really great to be in indoor. 袖珍博物馆 was much better than the previous muzium. The items inside were mainly really small and the effort of the craftmen who made them can be seen. All of them were really nice. =P No wonder it was so expensive, they were all hand made and need lots of time just to finish one of them.
深坑豆腐街 was not in the town and we gotta stuck in the traffic jam for more or less half an hour just to get there. So, in conclusion, we used 1.5 hour to get there. Again, the people there was uncountable. I didn't walk at all, it was the force from people behind which kept me moving ( Pushing me loh! ). And the most of the stalls were selling 臭豆腐, claiming themselves as the best or oldest stall there. I didn't eat because I can't stand the smell. =P
Of course, we can't miss Taiwan's landmark, Taipei 101. It is currently the tallest building in the world and the idea of its design came from bamboo, panda's favourite dish. We walked around and bought somethings there since it was supposed to be shopping time. I wanted to go other malls nearby also, but too bad my mum was really lazy to cross that pedestrian bridge. We went to 士林夜市 after dinner. I can hardly breath there, there was too many people. We just walked wherever the crowd pushed us to. Bought some snacks and quickly went back to hotel.
Day 3 ( 29.1.2009 )
Gosh, woke up at 5.30 a.m because we gotta leave the hotel around 7.30 a.m. We took a really long ride, which I forgot how long to Taichung. Weather was fine and we went to strawberry farm. Unlike those in M'sia, these strawberries had a strong smell of milk. According to the owner, they watered their plants with milk instead of water only. We plucked strawberries of our own choice and they were really cheap compared to those we bought in M'sia. =)
The road to 日月潭 was superb duper jam that I got fed up sitting in the bus for that long period. The lake was pretty unique as it's on the hill. Oh yeah, we were lucky enough to see Sakura on the way there too. =) We dined in a restaurant there and it was the only building around the area which didn't collapse during the 921 Earthquake. Even 文武庙 which was located opposite collapse and it was built again with the donations from everybody. There was a 福禄寿 wishing pond there and I tried more than 6 times to throw my coins into the bowls. =P
We were stuck in the jam even longer this time to get down of the hill. 4 hours! That's why I didn't enjoy much this trip. =( We finally reached 麒麟峰温泉 around 7 p.m. The only funny thing was nobody dare to enter the cold pool. They will just dip their legs and without doubt, runaway. =P Then, it was time for 一中街夜市. The crowd there wasn't as big as yesterday's. We didn't want to eat snacks again and hence went to a restaurant, 好功夫. The food there was pretty okay also and everything inside was about PANDA! That's the end of Taichung.
Day 4 ( 30.1.2009 )
Again, woke up very early in the morning to prevent massive jam from Taichung to Tainan. And luckily there wasn't traffic jam and hence we reached Tainan around 10 a.m. The first destination of the day was 春秋阁. It was visiting temples again but in conjuction of CNY, there were many stalls there, selling accessories or food. Had a quick tour to temples around and we walked along the streets to shop.
The next place we went was temple again, 佛光山. I only know that it's very famous in Taiwan because of a famous monk who contributed for this temple. We only managed to walk to the Guan Yin statue and didn't go anywhere else as the weather was killing us. It was really hot and warm! We quickly went back to the bus. =P
Next, we headed to 美浓客家村 which there wasn't much thing there also. Can simply see the whole place in a galnce but still there was a big crowd there. Ice cream popiah which they were selling taste good too. =)
Since it was still early, the tour guide took us to 西子湾. Obviously it was really cooling there as we were near to the sea. Gotta climp up high to look at the night view of KaoHsiung. And we were lucky to the max because we saw fireworks coincidentally. And there was a 真爱码头 nearby. LOL! 六合夜市 was where we got to hunt our food that night.
Day 5 ( 31.1.2009 )
The trip was coming to its end and we returned to Taipei. First of all, we went to 士林官氏公园 for snapping pictures session because it was well decorated as those politicians always had to stay at home to keep themselves alive. =)
Then we went to 淡水老街 and 渔人码头. they said Meteor Garden was filmed there but I had no idea about it at all. The only interesting part of the day was we sat LRT to the restaurant we were dining in for dinner. It was because of the massive traffic jam and we wanted to shop longer there. So the tour guide asked the bus driver to wait for all of us somewhere nearby the restaurant. Haha. Basically, that's the end! =)
Day 6 ( 1.2.2009 )
Woke up very early again because my flight was around 9.30 a.m. We reached the airport around 7 a.m and loitered around again. Seriously, I think that Taiwanese really love Hello Kitty a lot. Wherever you go, you will get to see stalls selling Hello Kitty merchandise. Maybe it's because Taiwan is considered pretty near to Japan. =P And there's a Sanrio Gift Shop in the airport and the items were all really cute. Reached home around 3.30 p.m. =)
P.S: Captions will be added when I'm free. =)
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