TAIPEI (13)

23 June 2009
台北後車→西門町→士林夜市

some pictures before we leave for Taipei again...

awesome breakfast!!

look at yx hahaha

Kaohsiung was good! if only the weather was better...

YUMS :)

Bian Dang!

we forgot to alight at Taipei.

yes we FORGOT!

Kaohsiung to Taipei was a loonngg 5 hours ride, we didn't want to take the bullet train because it was a bit more expensive (actually come to think of it it's just 25 bucks more for half the time...)

so i think we were drowsy after such a long sleep... and also because they announce Taipei as the next stop just before the train reach the current station... (opposing to Singapore which announces the current stop, so we took it as the NEXT stop after that was Taipei) so it was like,

Announcer: "下一站:台北"..
Us: Oh.. next stop.. let's get ready..

so we were getting ready and i stood up to straighten my clothes and stuff and glanced out of the window...

(sign reads Taipei) "Oh Taipei.. hmm so there's a little Taipei in the stop before.. or do they show the name of the stop before you reach? that's good...."

"no,wait.. Taipei? ...Taipei!"
(looked at the digital signboard: Next stop - Songshan)

HUH?
by this time the train was picking up its speed already....
choochoo...

We then panicked and the impact was in our face: we missed the stop -__-"
now, what can be the best situation and worst situation:

Best: Alight at next stop (mins away)and take another train back
Worst: Alight at next stop (HOURS away)and take another train back

we took our train schedules and checked. it's amazing how people work under pressure..
efficient.. haha

and so we realised Songshan was 7 mins away from Taipei (THANK GOD!!! what if it was 2 hours? we could have wasted 4 hours in total then)

upon reaching Songshan we rushed out to find the platform back to Taipei.. and we were in time for the next train.. phew :)



The afternoon was scheduled to get souvenirs for family and friends in Singapore - imagine! an afternoon just to get the souvenirs.. and there were not enough to spare despite buying so much..... (we bought about 10 boxes of pineapple tarts, 6,7 packets of muah chee, 2 big packets of nougats, 3 and more boxes of Tai Yang Bing.... like New Year like that...)

We split ways today so we could achieve more...

brought my mum to Hou Che Zhan to get some clothes and stuff...

The exit Y13 I was talking about in an earlier post..

my mum and her prized pineapple tarts.. travelled here JUST for the tarts...
But I must say there is a reason why they were awarded for the tarts..
值得排!!! awesome stuff


Met Bro and YX at Ximending.
We were like."Once you arrive at XMD,switch on your walkie so we will know each other's locations". Yes,we brought walkie talkies to Taiwan and I'm sure we saved a lot on phone bills..

we shopped around till evening when we proceed to Shihlin, our favourite night market.

the famous mee sua in front of the temple..

(yes i really like mee sua and i requested mee sua and bubble red tea on the last night...)

more shopping... i spent my remaining NT$$ here..
sad to say i was ZERO NT$$ by the time i got back to singapore..
so did most of us T.T
(we brought S$800, S$1000[including hotels] so you can see the damage done)

the shopping and food killed us....
but we enjoyed them... hahaha

Chicken not Little

random video we took - it was funny for all of us...
and my mum was acting la, she wasn't angry..

TAIPEI (10)

20 June 2009

花蓮→(台北)西門町
Hualien→(Taipei) XimenDing


Morning before we leave for Taipei..

Taiko drums!

Relaxing man...

Owner's daughter, Winnie

Off for a cycling trip!!

being the noob i am.. the kids bike again

Video taken while cycling

even the dog is more zai

the 铁马 gang!!

we can take merry go round as many times as we like. FREE! because, owner's daughter is our friend.... HAHA

i wish i own a castle..

brinjal-looking dessert. shop owned by owner's relatives. LOL

BACK TO TAIPEI!


Our hotel was situated in Ximending - nothing fancy, but cheap and has good location.

today's agenda is to shop, so not much pictures..

You can see filming almost anywhere, I think it's kinda cool to see such stuff, we don't get to actually see the workings in Singapore..

I don't know who they were, and what programme..
but there were many onlookers..

Ramen because we couldn't decide what to eat.....

what a fake smile, haha

in action..... hahaha

warm bubble tea is so cool...

fried sweet potato balls.. our childhood snack.
the vendor was quick to sell - the police may come any time.

Xie xie You Yu Geng...

...and Ni hao You Yu Geng on the same street -_-"

團團and圓圓 are the pandas from China.

They like to give out pandas to foster good relations, don't they?
poor pandas..

Limited number of people can see the pandas each day (restricted to 10 mins).
If you take the train, on the occasion where the tickets for the panda enclosure is sold out for the day, they will notify you before you reach so if you are going there just for the pandas you can have a change of plans..

our tour guides said Taiwan "traded" pandas with their Taiwanese Mei Hua Lu (Plum Blossom Deer??). Trading treasures for good relations...

Another filming while we were having a snack. Some Singaporeans got interviewed.. can hear them and see from their fashion style. Well, I was game for it but my companions all shunned into the sports shop nearby.

anyway this meesua is really quite nice...

amazing retired professor who draws for charity...
can u believe it? we stood there and watch him paint and listen to his ratters for an hour....
he does those Shan Shui Hua (Mountain Water haha) on the spot so it's kind of new..
his paintings are amazing and he draws out of nothing.. if you have time you should check him out at Ximending...

"I am their doctor, if there is anything wrong you can bring them to me...."

Street Performer. She's really good.. To bring all these equipment here, must be quite established...

Dinner. It was rather bad..and it was in one of the You Yu Geng shop.

Almost about to go home, this guy stopped us.

Guy: 我是吳宗憲 (I am Jacky Wu)
Us: .....HA??? (he looked nothing like the Local King)
Guy:我我是吳宗憲的徒弟..
Us... Okayyy... (it wasn't even funny...)

In the end he was giving out vouchers for a dessert shop nearby..
he made some jokes about the shop name(三兄弟and三兄妹.. not funny AT ALL.. how can they actually say such things and think that they are funny???)

but we went... cos I wanted to eat Tau Huey...
but we ate Ice in the end... (free pearls, courtesy of the voucher..)