mY tHoUgHtS

Thursday, December 10, 2009

10 December 2009
Came back from Taiwan...

I went for a 6-day trip to Taiwan and just came back yesterday. Let me just briefly describe my 6-day journey...

Day 1
This day is all about going to the airport and you know... Flying... 4 hours and 20 mins of flight... During the entire journey I slept and ate and watched movie from the tiny little screen in front of me... I think I need to change my glasses after all that... I reached Taipei at around 8+pm and needles to say, by the time we reached the hotel, it was already 10+pm... And so, the day ended there...

Day 2
We started off early in the morning after breakfast to 台中 in a bus ride that took approximately 3 hours... We were going to see the famous 日月潭 which was a lake that was said to look like the sun and the moon... It was rather cold there as the ground was higher... We also went to this temple, and I forgotten what was it called but there was one very amusing thing in this temple (temples are rarely amusing...) There was a terracotta warrior at the side of the temple, and I saw people taking pictures... All was normal until it starting moving lol... It was actually a person in there, and I think he was rather successful in getting attention and donation from the public...

Lets see, later I bought this sausage from a small stall near the temple which cost only NST 30, it was quite delicious and a little sweet... Haha, this was the beginning of tasting Taiwan street food (other than the breakfast lunch and dinner)...

Later on, we went to several places which I cannot seem to remember at this point in time... But I think it was quite fun for the first day with the cooling weather and all... Nearer to nighttime, we headed to the hotel which was some sort of a resort on the mountains... We sang karaoke till 10pm and went to bed (after taking a nice hot bath in the hot spring which was available in each room)...

Day 3
I woke in the refrigerator... Brrr... It was just so cold! And we went for a morning cycle around the little town... This was probably the longest cycle I have ridden for about 5km? I'm not sure how far we went but I'm positive that it was rather challenging to go up hill... But of course, after going up hill, you have the immense pleasure of going DOWN hill... weeee~~~ haha... I have long since forgotten what perspiring feels like since coming to Taiwan, but after the cycle... Whoo...

After a short rest and some breakfast, we headed even further uphill to a place called 埔里... Yet another small and even colder town... I feel like some frozen product...

Here, we were given the privilege to walk up the hill for a short distance... The tour guide told us that we were going to climb at least 400+ steps at one point in time... And while we walked and climbed and made short visits to the little stalls nearby, I was sure there were already more than 400+ steps we have taken... But to our horrid surprise, we came to the mouth of a tall and long flight of steps which was called 499 steps, signifying 步步高升... I was like OMG! SOMEMORE?! So we started the long climb up... And proud to say, I reached up 1st yay!

When everyone arrived, we walked for another few minutes while enjoying the surrounding scenery of Maple trees (I plucked a few leaves hehe) and soon arrived at a ticketing booth in the middle of nowhere... weird huh? Well it's true... beyond it was a short (maybe not really that short) stretch of road which led to a sheep farm... You can guess already, we had a chance to "interact" with the sheeps... hehe...

That's about all for today... We then proceeded to our hotel for the night...

Oh, did I mention that we bought some super long fire sticks... I do not know what it is called but it gives out this sparkles when lighted up and you can hold it... It was really very long... And we had a great time playing with in out in the cold at the top of the mountain... Brrr...

Day 4
Today was all about traveling back to Taipei... So it was not really a very interesting day... The ride back was about 4hrs or so and I basically slept through it all...

At night, we had dinner at a really special restaurant which was uniquely designed by a designer(who was the owner of the restaurant) It was well just special... It was not normal, and asthetically pleasing... That's all I can describe... I might post the photos on facebook if I feel like it...

Then we went back to the hotel which was really grand and just beside Taipei 101... Cool huh! It almost felt like a 6 star restaurant but it was only a 4 star restaurant... I really could not believe it at first... it was sooooo nice!

Day 5
After breakfast, we went to some place which sells pottery and like porcelain or clay items... I bought some sweet potato balls here haha... It was quite nice, but I prefer those in Cameron highland which are bigger in size and sweeter^^ My mum bought like 6 tiny teacups to go with the tiny teapot at home... Lol, the teacups were cute!!!

After that we went to this place called 五分铺( not very sure about the name)... This place is like a warehouse retailing kind of place which have a surprisingly large amount of little shops selling huge amounts of clothings at a very low price... Not really my kind of place or my family, so we ended up just looking without buying...

For dinner, we were left on our own at this place (shi ling ye shi ~I do not know how it is written) which sells food food and more food... It also has a games corner which attracted lots of teenagers... Like shooting and throwing darts or something along that line... I did not think the food here was particularly good but we HAD to eat and so we bought this huge piece of chicken fillet as big as your two hands opened wide and another oyster omelete (o jian in hokkien)...

With dinner done, we went back to the hotel for a short rest and for the first time during the trip, enter Taipei 101... It's a little like KLCC and maybe ION Orchard, whichever best gives you the idea on how the interior feels like... All the branded goods and overpriced things... But our main point was not to shop... So we went up to the 89th floor which gave us a view on the city's night scape... as well as to explain how Taipei 101 was build with the largest damper on earth... (a damper helps to stabalize and balance the building during strong winds... and usually it shifts ever so slighty so you cant see the movement) We went up to the 92nd floor (I think it was 92nd) to the outdoor observatory where the cold wind hit us even harder... It was windy and cold, multiplying the freezing effect...

After this experience, we went back to the hotel in preparation for tomorrow's flight home at 4am in the morning... YAWNS!!!

Day 6
Took the plane and arrived safely back home shortly after noon... ^^