Thursday, May 31, 2007
Yup, It's about time to start my Taipei Travelogue onto the blog.
We first arrived in Taipei and took this 国光号 bus to Taipei Downtown. It was a grueling 1 and a half hours ride, and little did we know that this was one of the shorter travelling times we've had in Taipei Province altogether.
Arrived in the evening and I was really surprised with how near our hostel was to the Taipei Main Station. And Taipei Main Station is like the freaking hub of ALL public transport in Taipei City.
This is our room
(Le Tea is the drink that Mayday 代言 for, that was my first drink in Taipei)
and this is the view from the door step of the building we stayed in
To the left is the Taipei Main Railway Station and to the right is the MRT. And even more to the left is the Taipei Intercity Bus Station, power rite?
So on the first evening, famished, we rushed off to Shilin! Wooohooo... Here's some photos
The best chicken cutlet in Taipei! Juicy meat, crispy outside. And HUGE!!!
甜不辣
Check out the size of that sausage!
Guess who we met....
Day 2 Train ride to 小人国
The all so popular and delicious railway lunchbox!
This is the paradize for all young and young at heart! I really loved 小人国, really very fun. Everything there were miniatures, so damn cute. It's like going to see all the wonders off the world, in just one place.
So having the little guard for tea...
Giants, one good, one bad...
This is an underpass shopping mall, many many of these in Taipei
西门町
Dinner at Xi Men Ding, Baobei got the nicest order of them all, Baked Rice with Curry and Cheese
Other food at Xi Men Ding
Did I mention that the girls went into every shoe shop? So while they hunted for shoes, I went off looking for food
This is some fried meat patty that's really good, should try the one with cheese...
CKS Memorial Hall
Chiang Kai Shiek was the man who led the 国民党 (Kuo Min Tang) during the days when the 共产党(Communist party) chased them out of China and they fled to Taiwan to set up the Republic of China. Anyway, CKS was like the symbol of democracy and there's some stir about changing the name of the memorial hall, note the ladder that goes up to the name plaque.
(On a light note, Baobei posed with the mini-CKS memorial too, it's earlier in Travelogue, quite cute hor)
The politicians kaopehing at one another saying that they are not respectful of CKS and democracy altogether
Oh yeah, there was this auntie who appeared from nowhere to scold the Chen Shui Bian and his team and that there's no more democracy and such. This is the real Taiwan, with the crazy politics! Damn glad I witnessed it.
五分埔 (Wholesale clothing centre of Taipei)
Wu fen pu is a wholesale centre for clothing. Also, it's a no driving zone, motorcycles and pedestrians only. So what happens when a buyer need to get a load of stock from a shop inside. Engage the couriers of course, this is how it works. The buyer goes to the shop and orders this this this. The shop then packs the stock into bags or boxes. Then the buyer goes to the courier office and tell them what shop to collect there stock from. And pooF!
(here we have a bike that can transport alot of stuff, their maximum capacity is super, but I didn't manage to capture and sharp enough shots with the bikes at full capacity)
Yeliou
A place of natural stone formations and a fishermen harbour.
According to the literature placed around the park, people say that those stones look like women's nipples. You see for yourself.
The local goodies, made from the fish that comes from the port, so they say, but I doubt so. But the dried codfish strips are really delicious.
九份
Jiufen was a gold mining area. Where this little town grew from. And this is the Old Street.
(effects of globalisation)
Leofoo Village
This is the original Taiwan Railway Lunchbox, this one has a more traditional flavour to it. Can see long queues just before the long distance trains set off
Leofoo Village, really nice themepark. With alot of kids running around. There are four themed worlds, namely Wild West, South Pacific, Arabian Nights and Safari World with many rides to take, this is one of them.
Safari World! I'm scared of touching any living thing other than human beings
The mighty white tiger and his wife (who's got a recessive white tiger gene). Oh, and we managed to talk to the vet in charge of him. Really nice chap.
Taiwanese Spicy Hotpot
It's nice but just not my type, I loved the curry and clear soup base though
乌来
We slept in late for the next day, and went to Wulai, another freaking long journey. "Wulai" is actually an aboriginal word for hot water. So yah, it's the hotspring area! We checked in to a really posh and nice resort. It's really, wow! Price was quite steep though
(the purple color on the mountain is called purple fringing. It's an inherent noise produced by the JPEG compression in areas of extreme contrast. Another lame and bo liao fact)
The super nice resort even has super nice toiletries.
Danshui & Yu Ren Ma Tou
This is the super famous sunset
Lovers' Bridge
And of course, the highlight of my Danshui Trip, the super famous Danshui Yu Ren Ma Tou free concert area. It's a Taiwanese culture for the stars to organise free concerts. Like real concerts with fireworks and really good systems. I believe everyone in tune with Chinese pop would've heard of this place. And we were so freaking lucky to be there for Elva's 1087 CONCERT!
Luo Zhi Xiang was the special guest and it really made the girls go mad. Cynthia, Wendy and Pauline were in ecstasy. I was just awed with Xiao Zhu's dance moves.
Xi Men Ding on the last day again. For last-minute-before-boarding-flight-shopping-and-eating
Braised duck that's soooooooo ooooomph!
That's the general idea of my Taipei Trip. I really loved the culture and sights in Taipei. I took about 1003 photos during the trip. Will maybe upload them onto Google Web Albums someday, not so soon though. I will want to visit Taipei again, maybe this time to Kaohsiung and other cities. Someday...
Posted by NuhC at 3:56 PM
