Day 4 @ Taiwan

Our first stop of the day was 国父纪念馆 or SYS Memorial Hall:

Was impressed by this massive painting of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen and other revolutionary figures, as was Run:

Was strolling down a corridoor, viewing exhibits detailing the life of Dr. Sun when we heard people stomping up the stairs - happened that we were just in time to catch the change of guards that guard the big statue of Dr. Sun in the main hall:

I think the way that these soldiers march is very tiring.

This batch of guards are from the Army - apparently the Army, Airforce and Navy take on guard duty here on a 4 months rotationary basis.

There was an instant whereby one noisy kid kinda tried to climb up to the base of the statue - the guard standing on the opposite side immediately rammed his rifle on the metal platform on which he was standing. Needless to say, the kid was frightened to bits. This kinda got Run and I musing what would the guards do if someone fainted right into the area which was corded off. muse.

There were exhibits of those 山水画 in the various exhibition rooms. Was blown away by how the artists have managed to capture things like the fall of the water, the rush of the rapids, the blooming of the flowers and plants, etc. Especially loved the combination of mountains and water.

Back outside, we had a little fun posing with the statues of Dr. Sun:

...not to mention imitating the pose of the statues like this:

...and this:

I quite like the post of this statue though. haha.

On our way to Taipei 101, we spotted a rare motorcycle among the hoards of scooters:

Taipei 101 - although no longer the tallest building in the world, is still a feat of outstanding building and engineering:

Tickets to the indoor observatory costs NTD350 per person, but we got a NTD50 discount off each ticket with our youth pass.

While waiting to enter the world's fastest elevators that would take us to he 89th storey in 37 seconds.

We could get the free handheld audio guide:

...and 'dong' NTD10 to view a close up of the surrounding buildings:

Sad to say, the heavy cloud cover makes for poor viewing; we could barely make out the landmarks described in the audio guide, which makes for a sore disappointment. Decided to save NTD100 by skippin the outdoor observatory.

Went over to New York New York for lunch:

The snowman whose face my camera recognised, but not mine. -_-

Our most expensive lunch in Taiwan.

Poor as we are, we decided to skip the famous shopping area for the rich and head straight to 五分埔，which had loads of good bargains cuz of the concentration of wholesale fashion retail shops in the area. The guidebook says that famous pop stars often drop by the area to get their outfits, but we didn't run into any that day.

I think I would have stayed in the area for a couple more hours if awaw were here. haa.

Our feet were killin us, hence we decided to head on down to 绕河夜市 (Raohe Night Market), which was a not-so-short walk away. Walked pass this scooter park, which got me wondering how long does a person take to locate his or her vehicle in this place since most of them are of similar colour and make:

Welcome to Raohe Night market:

Oh yes, the Taiwanese are so hooked onto this that there's a kids version of it:

投篮机

I saw this monster of a 投篮机 @ 西门, but failed to take a picture of it. Basically, it consists of 3 rows with 3 baskets each. Think the goal is to aim for whichever basket that lights up. Cool eh?

The food

Somehow, we weren't very hungry after the lunch of Jap curry porkchop with rice, but nevertheless, went ahead to stuff ourselves with the night market grub:

There's the barbequed squid, fragrant with sesame seeds sprinkled on top:

... and the fried mushrooms - my absolute fave, athough it was hard not to choke on the golden mushroom:

Tried a couple more stuff like some super sweet banana crepe thing and drinks before we headed home to pack for tomorrow's trip to 花莲.

Day 4, out.

Labels: taiwan, travel

14:37;
- vagabond -

Day 3 @ Taiwan





and

2) 菲力早餐配套, which consists of salad, sunny side up, pork chop, bacon, sandwiches and your choice of drink (this set is supposedly more powerful):

Properly fueled, we headed to Shihlin Station to catch a bus to Yang Ming Shan National Park. We decided to give the hair clay/wax a break and don on beanies for the very first time:

After navigating our way to Yang Ming Shan Visitors' Centre and getting the required information from the very helpful uncles on duty, we started our hike up the longer and more demanding route to 七星山 @ 1435hours:

This is us, fresh before the climb:

After a while, the beanie comes off while we trudge our way up the never ending (and often precarious) steps:

It was obviously a tiring climb:

The weather was cool and we stepped right into the fog 'nearing' the top:

After about 2 hours of climbing, we finally reached the peak:

...where the temperature was 14 degrees celsius and the wind was blowing:

...and this old uncle was half naked, whereas we donned our windbreakers. Sure makes us look lousy.

Due to the heavy cloud cover, the supposed panaromic scenary that we were supposed to see only looked a disappointing collective white to us (and Run nearly murdered me for draggin her uphill for nothin). However, heaven was kind to us late-wakers and we got to catch the sunset on the way down:

Needless to say, it was beautiful.

It was a mad rush downhill, slipping on the moss-covered rocks and breathing in the rotten-egg odour of sulphur, in a bid to catch the last bus that leaves 小油坑 for the Yang Ming Shan terminal at 1730hours. We sure did not want to be stranded in the ulu place after sunset.

We reached our destination at 1726hours:

...and the sun was already disappearing off the horizon:

...and we MISSED THE BUS! Horror of horrors! It was barely 1730hours... was there one more bus? (We were told that the last bus departs from the terminal at 1730hours.) The darkness rapidly decended upon us and coupled with the heavy fog, the scene could be taken out of a horror movie (you know, like a person walkin straight into and disappearin into the fog? yeap.). It didn't help that my torch light was on the dim side and both of us were wearing dark/khaki colours. Got me wondering whether the bus would see us poor souls when it arrives - IF it arrives.

Thankfully, after 20mins of waiting, the last bus came and picked us up.

Made our way to 士林夜市 (Shihlin Night Market) to reward ourselves for the climb:

It wasn't exactly the wisest choice of place for tired, impatient and hungry souls, seeing that the fame of the place meant huge crowds of people thronging the narrow streets, and I haven't even mentioned the scooters which appeared EVERYWHERE.

Managed to settle down at a stall and tuck into some grub:

...the unfried version of 甜不辣, which was rather decent:

...and oyster mee suah, which was surprisingly good:

We then searched high and low for this Jap food stall that we had passed earlier:

This actually consists of loads of cabbage and some stuff, topped with 4 different toppings (that's cuz we chose the 宗合口味, or all-mixed version). Very yummy and great for the diet. haha.

Mainly walked around, tried some food here and there and browsed some shops before heading home.

Spotted this temple in the middle of nowhere:

Thought temple + modern clock + food stalls + famous night market makes for an odd combi. ah well.

Day 3, out.

Labels: taiwan, travel

06:20;
- vagabond -

Day 2 @ Taiwan

We woke up on time but were late in meeting May (sorry, May...) at 公馆 for breakfast. Nevertheless, she brought us to have a delicious meal of 刮包 (the 青蛙撞奶 opposite the shops is really good too).

刮包 - a soft bun stuffed with marinated pork, some sort of vege and topped with peanut - an absolute gastronomical delight:

Following a quick and quiet breakfast, we took a short walk to NTU, along the famous coconut trees-lined driveway...

...to watch Taiwanese basketball.

I must say that the standard is much higher than that in Singapore. I concluded that Taiwan can probably afford to invest more in this sport as compared to Singapore. Not very encouraging for budding players at home =\

After an exciting match, we had hot desserts nearby, then Run and I checked out the 公馆 area, which is good for sports stuff. Along the way, we chanced upon a parking warden doing his job. I really do seem to share a strange affinity with the people in this profession huh?? This Taiwanese version does his work by first snapping a shot of the offending vehicle with a digicam, then issuing a summon:

Evidence in case the offender begs ignorance?

Got ourselves a couple of good buys, then headed to 中正纪念堂 (CKS Memorial Hall). Got a chance shot of a cyclist cycling along the pavement:

The Memorial Hall:

自由广场 or Freedom Square:

They pulled down the original CKS one in a bid to 'erase' their past. How not history-friendly.

Made our way to 师大夜市 for our first night market experience:

This night market is more low key, but does sell pretty decent food. We were kinda famished, so skipped the photo taking during dinner. Here's a pic of the dessert I had though - peanut ice. A bit on the sweet side, but the peanut was soft and delicious! yum.

A couple of interesting things:

This shot was taken in a public toilet. In fact, every toilet that I've been to in Taiwan has this little red button.

In case of a toilet emergency, I guess.

An advert at the Metro Station:

A campaign against pre-marital sex? hmm.

Spent the night watching basketball on TV - solid stuff! Singapore should really learn from Taiwan in this aspect =\

Knocked out after fitting in our ear plugs snugly.

Day 2, out.

Labels: taiwan, travel

04:55;
- vagabond -