Taiwan Day 3 - 22nd March 2011

So, today is our third day. Since we came here by our own and do free and easy, we actually took some time to leave our hostel. Weather yesterday was fine, not too hot, not too cold, so I decided to just wear my bermuda short today. Had a bad feeling about this since inside our room is quite cold around 22 degrees. Anyway, still went on with the 3/4 pants. Stepped out of the room, cold air welcomed us. Since I prefer cold rather than hot, it's actually felt very nice for me. Proceed to Jiantan MRT Station to take MRT to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall Station since that's where our first stop going to be. At the Jiantan MRT Station, while waiting for MRT to come, saw the temperature displayed at a building nearby. 15 degree celcius. OMG, things doesn't look good but so far, I can still cope with the cold weather. It doesn't really help with the occasional wind every now and then. But we still move on.

This is the famous gate of Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. Actually took the picture wrong side. Should take the picture from the other side into the hall. Anyway, still can see the name clearly.

One of the halls there.

Tree House?

Flowers!

Nice looking trash can.

The main hall. This is where all the exhibitions is.

Another closer shot of the hall.

Guards are changing shifts. The guards will need to stand like mannequins without moving for 1 hour.

The guard.

Same guard, front shot.

The statue of the man himself, Mr President, Chiang Kai Shek.

We visited the gallery that shows the history and life story of Chiang Kai Shek. Took some pictures but I thought you'll get bored with them if I posted them here. There's some section that exhibit information regarding green and energy saving and more. Very nice showroom, must visit at least once if you are an environment friendly person. After spending few hours here, we went back to MRT station and head up really north to Danshui. Journey took approx 45 minutes from Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall Station. Bad timing to come here. When we reached, it's raining. Not heavy but very very cold. Can't find a building with temperature display to know the current temperature. I guess will be about 9-10 degrees. The final station, Danshui Station is just by the seaside, so the wind is exceptionally strong. So so so so so cold. Bad news with the short pants now :p We didn't bring umbrella so we had to get one from 7-11. They don't have the small foldable one that we can put inside the bag, but since there's no choice, we had to grab the next best (smallest) umbrella. Just nice to put in our luggage to bring back later. We headed to Danshui Old Street to grab something to fill our stomach since it's about 2pm already. Made a wrong turn and had a little detour. Lucky managed to turn in the street from another way. We had Fried Prawn Roll, some fried quail egg with fish, saussage (pic below) and Ah Gei, fishball soup and noodles.

Saussage. 3 stick for NT100.

The famous Tie Dan. Taste not bad. Well, the egg white tasteless and elastic but the yolk is ok, like herbal tea egg. NT100 per pack. We bought the chicken egg one. They have quail egg too. I think this is the most popular in Danshui since a lot of people are queuing to but this thing.

The journey to Danshui won't be completed if you don't visit Danshui Fisherman's Wharf and the ever famous Lover's Bridge. Well, it still rains and the wind is getting stronger and stronger. Feels like almost flying away. We need to take shelter from one of the building here to cover from the strong wind. In the end, we only took the bridge's photo from far which is not too bad. We still had an appointment later that day so we didn't spend too much time here. Bad weather doesn't help also.

After our appointment, feeling tired and cold, we just each had a mixed vermicelli noodle each to warm our body. This taste not bad...can't really recall where this is already. This concludes our third day here. I still have something to update on this post, which is to include the chinese translation on each place. Also will update on the previous 2 posts also. Bye.

Taiwan: Day 2 - 21st March 2011

It's day 2. Weather is wonderful. Not too hot, not too cold. Just nice. Woke up quite early to catch up with our appointment at 7am. Managed to take out the camera and start shooting some views. Bought some sandwich and drinks at 7-11 for breakfast.

Flowers while on the way from the hostel to Jiantan MRT Station Exit 2.

From Jiantan MRT Station.

Minqian East Road intersection with Zhongshan Road.

We went to Tatung University for a visit. Look at their surroundings. Nice and pleasant place to study. CCTV also everywhere, even fixed on trees.

This is the main building at the entrance.

If you went up the stairs(see previous pics) on the right hand side, this is what you'll see below.

Then we went to Shilin Official Residence which is just few minutes away(walking) from Shilin MRT Station. Just as we went past the entrance, you can see beds of flowers out there and loads of blissful couples are getting their wedding photoshoot done.

I try not to take photos of other people, just want to take the pictures of flowers only. Hehe.

A Rose.

Lavender

Various flowers that I don't know the names but beautiful.

Close up shot.

Believe it or not, these are what cherry blossoms looked like before they blossom.

This dog actually follows us around in Shilin Official Residence. He's not exactly friendly, just quietly following us around, and relax while we stopped and took pictures.

Bed of flowers.

Next stop we went to Yangmingshan. The Floriculture Experiment Centre. More flower pictures taken here.

Cherry Blossom!!

Cherry Blossom close up shot!

Looks like orchid but don't think so since the overall plant doesn't look like orchid.

More flowers.

Another unidentified beautiful flowers.

Found another nice Cherry Blossom tree.

Maple Tree/Leaves!

Coniferous Plant (As written at the signboard)

Our next stop is at Beitou. There's a lake here, surrounded by sulphur and thermal gasses. It smells here, not that bad, still acceptable.

Here's the lake and the side of it. Notice the steam? Next photo is a zoomed view.

The yellowish part at the side (not that visible) are sulphurs.

There's a waterfall nearby the lake, just about 10 minutes drive up the hill and you'll see this waterfall.

Another waterfall shot.

After whole day travelling, we decided to go back to Shilin Night Market and grab some snacks for dinner as we didn't really finish exploring this night market the night before.

Not bad. You can find a lot of sausage food in Taiwan, everywhere.

Noticed Ah Chong Mien Sien Shop in Shilin Night Market, so bought a small portion of which cost NT45. Personally, not that nice. Had one Mien Sien that taste nicer at Taichung. But forget to take pics, and I don't know how to go since it's the van driver who brought us there.

So, there goes day 2. Tiring but fun. More exiting visiting coming soon in day 3. Watch out :)

Signing out.

Ciao.

Welcome to Taiwan: Day 1 - 20th March 2011

Finally the time has come. Been waiting for this time since I booked the flight ticket via Air Asia promotion in September 2010. That time, it's kinda painful to race to be the first one to book once the clock went past 12am. Managed to get in but the price is not updated...yet. Tried again 30 minutes later and still not updated. The same thing also 1 hour and 2 hours later. Frustrated, I hit the sack.

Later that day, I tried again in the morning and still not updated. Been browsing through Air Asia Plus and no update yet. Sien. After lunch I tried again and walla, it's there. Without any hesitation, I quickly searched for the right date that fits in with the promotion price. Finally managed to secure bookings from 20th March 2011 to 26th March 2011, Sunday to Saturday so that I have an extra day off after I come back. Finalizing the booking, paid via CIMB fund transfer(save the convinience fee that you need to pay if u pay by credit card) and there you go. I managed to get RM174 per way per person. Altogether with tax, meal and baggage charge, it's RM1084 return for 2 person all in.


Most Air Asia flights are the same. The plane will depart from LCCT at 10.00am (mine was 9.55am) daily and will reach Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 2 at approx. 2.30pm. Since I couldn't find anyone to fetch me to LCCT, I had to actually book a taxi to LCCT from Puchong. Airport Limo taxi from Puchong is RM56.40 one way to KLIA/LCCT. The return journey will be RM64.60. So, return ticket will be RM121.00. I scheduled the taxi to fetch us about 7am. He reached 5mins past 7am which is not too bad considering he's first time coming to my area. Departed at 7.15am and reached LCCT about 7.5oam.


We don't fly a lot and this is the first time we fly by ourselves and first time at LCCT, so there are a lot of things that we need to explore ourselves. Went to the self check in kiosk and printed out our boarding pass. We didn't buy the seats, so we let the system chose for us. The seat is next to each other, so we thought we're lucky not to be assigned far from each other. Then we proceed to check in our luggage. Quite a queue as Taiwan is a hot package at the moment. Even the radiation risk from Japan doesn't affect our travel to Taiwan. When it's our turn, I only realized that I can straight get my boarding pass here instead of doing it at the kiosk. Must remember this next time.

After checked in our luggage, we went to McDonalds for breakfast since there are still some time before they allow us to board. After breakfast, we proceed with the SOP to get to the plane. There were a long queue at the boarding gate so, it took some time there. Finally reached the place, searched for our seats only to realize that we were separated by the aisle. Well, it's not too far away right. The place took off at 10.15am. The journey there was ok, nothing bad happened. There were small turbulence here and there but no big deals. My neighbour was an elderly couple who are with tours. Had some small chat with the auntie as her husband was quite a quiet person.

2.15pm finally touched down at Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 2. Slightly earlier than expected. Went through all the necessary clearance smoothly. Baggage was a bit slow to come off the tunnel. Anyway, after everything is cleared, went to the Tourist Service Centre to collect my Digital Tour Buddy which includes a telephone and a sim card, preloaded with NT100 for you to make call to service centre. I used it to call my accomodation people. If you are 30 years old and younger, you can apply for this for free. There are other services also. You can check it out at Taiwan Youth Travel website.

After getting my free phone, we head towards the express bus counter to purchase ticket to Taipei. We get our ticket at Kuo Kuang Bus Express. It cost us NT125 per person. We boarded the 3pm bus to Taipei city. In the bus, we called Kevin, the owner of the Fun Taipei Backpackers to let him know that we're on our way.

Since Fun Taipei Backpackers is located within walking distance to Jiantan MRT Station, and with the bus passing through Yuanshan MRT Station, we request the driver to drop us at Yueanshan MRT station. It's only 1 station away from Jiantan MRT Station compared to from Taipei Main Station where the bus' final destination will be. But the bus didn't drop us directly in front of the station, we still need to walk awhile to the station. Stopped halfway to buy mineral water from a convenience store. Small bottle charge us NT18.

At Yuanshan Station, there were a lot of people there because it's near one of the entrance of Taipei International Flora Exposition. Since we're rushing to check in and have an appointment later that day, we quickly hop on the MRT and head towards Jiantan Station. At Jiantan Station, I'm quite familiar on the route to Fun Taipei Backpackers as I can see the real photos through google map. After researching for weeks, it's not hard actually to locate the hostel. But first we need to stop by at OK Mart which is one of the convenient store. Kevin left the keys with them, and we paid the balance of the room charge to the store. The hostel is actually 1 minute away from the store.

Front door of Fun Taipei Backpackers. Closed all the time. Got one uncle sitting inside during daytime. It does looked a bit rundown outside but CCTV is everywhere. You'll feel safe walking at night. Even the lifts have CCTV. The room is at 5th floor.

Room a bit small but the bed is soft and comfortable. That's a 22" TV if I'm not mistaken with DVD player. There is a small window just by the racks(hidden on the left side) with mosquito netting. If you close the window, you don't need to close the net. Taipei was cold when I went so I didn't use the aircond at all, not only here but for all my nights there :) The remote below the airond unit has indicator to show the temperature of the room (I think :p) It hovers around 21 to 23 degree at night.

Small little table with kettle and cups. I requested for universal adapter since I need to charge my phone and camera. Taiwan's power socket is different from Malaysia. So please request for Universal Travel Adapter whenever you book a room. They sure have it.

This is the bathroom. Quite ok. Surprising to see that their toilet bowl comes with water spray to spray your anus after completing your big business. Not bad for a hostel huh. (Other 2 places I went don't have this). And they don't have toilet rolls, more like tissue paper(see the yellow plastic bag). Hairdryer is included. The box above the toilet is their water heater.

Shampoo and bath foam is included also. One not good thing about this room is the power for the heater tripped quite frequently. So, you may suddenly get cold water in the middle of shower. If you experience this, just open the fuse box and reset the tripped power. Caution: This may happen few times. So don't shower too long.

This bread shop is just opposite the entrance for Fun Taipei Backpackers. If you see this bread shop, you're in the right place.

Fun Taipei Backpackers is just minutes away by foot to Shilin Night Market. Jiantan MRT Station is the place where people stop to go to Shilin Night Market. When you walk from Exit 2 of the Jiantan MRT Station to the hostel, the building on your right which looks like a car park is actually Shilin Night Market indoor part where mostly are food items. This 豪大大雞排 is one of the stalls in there.(See pics below)

Prepare for a long queue here. NT55 per piece. You have option to choose spicy or black pepper. We took the latter. Not bad. There's another branch stall at the outdoor part also.

Basically, I think you can find lots of news and details about Shilin Night Market in the internet, so I won't elaborate more. You can just stroll along the road and just buy/eat what your instinct says. Whether it taste nice or not, it depends on people. One man's meat is another man's poison.

I'm signing out on my day 1 experience in Taiwan. Weather today is not bad, not that cold. A bit cooler than KL at night.

Bye.

Procrastination

I need to stop procrastinating... need to really update this blog regularly... Check out for new postings soon ya :) Real soon :)

Acting Your Age

Long time didn't update liao..paiseh..haha.. here's something to ponder...

Acting Your Age...
Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.

"How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.

"How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life . . You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony . YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone.

But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would! So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30 ; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; "I Was JUST 92."

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!" May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!