Flowerspot

DAY 05 (Part 2/2) - 03th May 2008, Saturday

Kaohsiung Day 1

Kev and I now set off for Kaohsiung. From now on, the trip left the 2 of us... Actually more people more fun and can help one another take pictures, but there are also some advantages traveling with fewer number of people. We can decide where to go and what activities to do much faster.

Gear Hotel is the best hotel that we had stayed throughout the Taiwan Trip. Besides located slightly further from the Main Station, its services and facilities are the best! Nice bed, LCD TV, breakfast buffet, nice lobby, a room for depositing ur baggages on the last day of your stay.

There a food street just around the corner of Gear Hotel...

Many online forum will say that you should go to LiuHo Night MArket, but i think that LiuHo is a bit small...

They are selling piglet! So cute... looks like a puppy right?

DAY 06 - 04th May 2008, Sunday

Kaohsiung Day 2

Breakfast at Gear Hotel, the only hotel that provides buffet breakfast throughout our Taiwan Trip.

We had wondered what is this place about since the day before when we walked passed it the day before... So we went to take a look and it turned out to be a place selling... dried food, not very suitable for us i guess...

Walking to the Main Station... looks nice but got a lot of mosquitoes, perhaps it's because summer has arrived.

Kevin donating the receipts. At taiwan, donating your receipts and the less fortunate and elderly will get to benefit!

Their MRT looks like our NEL because it is relatively new at Kaohsiung...

I like their ticket machine, it has a more friendly user interface as compared to Taipei's and Singapore's. You just need to touch the destination and the number of tickets you need, insert the amount required and out come the boarding chip. In Taiwan, their boarding chip looks like the chip used in Casino :)

There, we took a ride from Kaohsiung Main Station to the SanDuo Shopping District. Similar to Japan, they have cabin for the ladies at night but i think they forgot to mention that it is for the ladies in their English translation...

Visiting their Shopping Centres...
Here is their Bai Yuan Da Da Bai Huo (Mega Shopping Mall), 12 levels excluding Basement!

McDonald's @ Taiwan gives you Dilmah tea and not Lipton tea! And they give 2 packets of tea bag for each cup of tea... Their tea really tastes better and it is cheaper too...

What is 12 levels? SOGO over there has 15 levels!!! "Yi shopping centre hai bi yi shopping centre gao"...

Went back to the hotel after that coz my camera batterey went flat...

In the evening we came out of the hotel. 1st thing 1st is to satisfy our stomach... Here's quite a small bowl of rice but it cost less than S$1.50 only so can't ask for more...

Temples are everywhere in Taiwan...

Here is JianGuo Bridge along the Love River.

Listen to the Music @ Kaohsiung Music Centre... I think we were there at the right time as it was one of their music festival.

Taking the Love Boat... It's cheap, so just give it a try :)

Here's the Kaohsiung Museum of History. By the time we reached there, it was half an hour before they were closing for the day. So we could only take a look at the exhibits on the 1st level.

Singapore has Merlion. Taipei has.... "MerDragon"??? Haha... Looks similar to our Merlion right?

At the Cinema Library next to Love River... a nice place to be creative, be crappy.

Pirates of the Taiwan Cinema Library... Mask is provided by ourselves...

Be imaginative! Give the best expression and make it look real ;p

Bought some drinks and food back to hotel for supper... Their pancakes have much more flavours as compared to those sold in Singapore.

I like this drink!!! Why is it not sold in Singapore??? It does not taste alcoholic at all, maybe it is not... haha, i can't remember.

Many people in Taiwan wear masks, so in Taiwan, we do what the Taiwaneses do :p

DAY 07 - 05th May 2008, Monday

Kaohsiung Day 3

We went to Zuoying Station and took a bus to Lian Ci Tan (Lotus Pond).

Only to find out that the pond has now become a large pile of mud...

They have been cleaning the pond... for almost half a year, when will the pond reappear again???

We went to the famous Dragon and Tiger Pagodas. For some reason, we were supposed to enter by the Dragon Pagoda and exit from the Tiger Pagoda...

This is the newly opened temple, we managed to catch a glimpse of its opening ceremony.

Other Temples that we had visited, they looks more grand if you get to see the actual buidlings...

Some disappointments... Closed on Monday - Chun Qiu Ge and Confucius Temple

After that, we went back to the hotel before we made our way to Cheng Ching Hu. By the time we reached there, it was closed for the day! Wat a wasted trip... But we found a nice bakery shop which is about 10min walk away from Cheng Ching Hu. Its Po Luo Bao is very nice!

What a tiring and disappointing day... but still life goes on, we went to makan at San Duo Shang Quan Station.

The Japanese food stall. Reasonable price, food taste all right.

And over there, we realised that the night market that we had been looking for is just a stop away from San Duo station! So there we go and set off for Central Park Station and look for our XinJueJiang Night Market. Not a bad place, consider the best among all the night markets that we had visited in Kaohsiung.

Back at Kaohsiung Main Station, we had some supper before we went back to our hotel.

DAY 08 - 06th May 2008, Tuesday

Kaohsiung Day 4

We took Kaohsiung Bus to Fo Guang Shan. A place that looks really grand and peaceful.

We wish we wish we wish....

Our free lunch. Looks not bad right? Vegetarian meal but taste quite nice wor~

Last photo before leaving and before my camera battery run flat.

We took a cab from our hotel to the Fisherman's Wharf in the evening, a very nice place for relaxation...

We had our dinner at Xiang Yang Ju Zi. The food is cheap and nice! And their service is good too :)

We took a boat to Cijin, a place where the waitress told us it is for cheap seafood. Anyway, we just go there and take a look.

Scooters are everywhere... even on their boat... haha!

It may be worthwhile to take a look but must go there earlier.

After we came back from Cijin, we had Dessert at Da Wan Gong. There's a cute fortune telling toy on the table so we played around with it. The worst luck that you can have is "so-so", no such thing as "bad". Haha!

DAY 09 - 07th May 2008, Wednesday

Kaohsiung Day 5

Our last breakfast at Gear Hotel, Yuan Qi Zao Can!

We went to Cheng Ching Hu early in the morning at Kaohsiung before we left for Taichung.

As shown in the ticket, the only more special thing ay Cheng Ching Hu is the bridge...

This is the Shui Zhu Guan... but there are not many fishes in there... nothing much to see.

Here's the place where you get free fruit tea... It tasted nice, sweet but light...

Here's the Bridge shown on the tix

Personally, i think you may consider skipping this place if you are in Kaohsiung... Nothing much to see, feels like Bedok Reservoir in Singapore as you are able to see apartments at the other end of the lake...

This place is right outside of Cheng Ching Hu, where I think is a good place for having meal and hanging out.

Taichung (Returned Trip) Day1

Moving on, we took Guo Guang Bus to Taichung.

We are back at Good Ground Hotel! Taichung... a relaxed place where there are not many places of interest within itself but more of shopping.

The hotel is small, but at least they are really thoughtful... At least, they provide internet access and a computer for their occupants :)

Back to "Yi Zhong Yi Jie"... Eat eat eat... shop shop shop...

We had been too exhausted after running around in Kaohsiung, so we planned a very relaxed schedule for our Taichung stay.

DAY 10 - 08th May 2008, Thursday

Taichung (Returned Trip) Day 2

Breakfast at Subway... All fast food restaurants at Taiwan have at least 2 levels... for those who have mobility problem will have a hard time over there...

We wanted to catch a movie here at Di Yi Guang Chang. After entering the building, we decided that it would be better that we catch the movie at Taipei instead. It felt like the building had been abandoned for some time. Only 1-2 shops are occupied out of every 10 shops... I think it will be really scary if you try going in at night, feels eerie...
Walked around the nearby area like "yi zhong yi jie" and managed to buy some books from the newly opened book store. Along the way back, I bought a pair of shoes, too ;p
Here's Good Ground Hotel (doesn't look like hotel from the exterior right? haha! but the service there is really good.)
After resting for some time, we went to the bus terminal and took a bus to "FengJia" Night Market. I think it is the biggest night market in Taiwan that we had been to so far.
We had dessert @ "Xian Yu Xian" which seems to be quite famous in Taiwan.

They pass you a pager when you make an order and you will have to collect your food when they give you a beep and shout out your number. Interesting...Looks delicious??? I think the one at Kaohsiung taste much better...

DAY 11 - 09th May 2008, Friday

Taichung (Returned Trip) Day 3

Our last breakfast @ Good Ground Hotel. Simple but nice :)

Our ride from Taichung back to Taipei is so CHEAP!!! We managed to be there at the right time and the tickets were selling at NT$100 only!!! Which is less than S$5!

Taipei (Returned Trip) Day 1

We are back at Taipei again :) The weather here is cooler than Taichung and Kaohsiung wor... Relaxed day at Taipei...
Makan at Ximending 1st before we set off for Yang Ming Shan. We had our breakfast at Pasta Bar. I forgot what we had ordered but it taste good, the sweetness of the cranberry juice is just right too.

Took bus no. Red5 at JianTan Station to Yang Ming Shan. The place is very big.... You can try walking by yourselves... you will take the a day or 2...

We tried walking... and looking for the Visitor Centre take a very long time, it is located about 1km away from the entrance of Yang Ming Shan...

We gave up, we decided to take the internal bus no. 108 as it was getting late...

As it was too late, we did not alight the bus, we just "tour" Yang Ming Shan on the bus. Managed to take a few pictures of the scenary while we were on the bus... The bus ride was terrible even though kev loves it... I felt like we were filming Initial D...
The bus driver knows the route so well, every turn is so fast and furious. I felt like vomiting after the bus ride... I very weak hor...
Went to Shilin Night Market to eat 1) chou tou fu (Smelly Bean Curd), 2) Guan Cai Ban (Coffin Slab), 3) Peanuts Mian Mian Bing, 4) Niu She Bing (Taste like Tai yang Bing)

Here is LiLai Hotel near Ximending...

Midnight Movie at Ximending at night, "Ironman"! Nice show!

DAY 12 - 10th May 2008, Saturday

Taipei (Returned Trip) Day 2

We bought the one-day MRT card for NT$200 each, NT$50 is refundable. So we went to many places today to make the card a worthy one...
First stop is the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall.

Then 2nd stop is "Gu Gong". We went to Shilin to take a bus to "Gu Gong". But we had our breakfast 1st before going to "Gu Gong"...

Off to "Gu Gong" after the meal, the National Palace Museum where you see the artifacts left behind from different dynasties. The carvings on those artifacts were very detailed, you wonder how long they took to create those artifacts. The calligraphy were really neat and the force exert when writing each word was just right everytime it looks like characters printed using the computer!
Too bad that no photography is allowed in the museum...

Our 3rd stop: Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. It is now a library cum Arts Gallery Hall....

There are even students pratising dance right in front of the door step of the Memorial Hall... Maybe Mr Sun Yat-sen like to watch pple dance...

4th Stop: Met up with Julia and Kuang Yao at HouShanPi. We had our lunch at Hu Xu Zhang Ru Rou Fen before we go to WuFenPu Commercial Zone.

After the meal, we went to Wufenpu and shopped around... Guess who we met? It's Meng San and her boyfriend, Terence... again. Throughout the 4days we were back at Taipei, we met them by chance for the 1st 3 days. What a coincident :)

After shopping, it's time to fill our stomach again... Here's RaoHe Night Market.

The Bah Kut Teh is very nice!!! But my stomach was not feeling well, so i couldn't eat...
Another "Mian Mian Bing"... hee...

5th Stop: Julia and Kuang Yao went back after dinner, whereas Kev and I went to Danshui to buy "Yu Shu" for my sis, which is the famous foodstuff from Danshui.

DAY 13 - 11th May 2008, Sunday

Taipei (Returned Trip) Day 3

Our breakfast from LiLai Hotel... Looks pathetic but Tastes ok... i like that packet drink, Lipton milk tea. If you are staying in that hotel, kindly note that you have to order breakfast the night before. If not, no breakfast for you, too bad. And breakfast will be sent to doorstep between 8am-9am. If you are not in, it will be hung on the door knob.

Stop over at Zhong Lie Ci, the memorial hall which was built to remember those who sacrifice, may it be for war, for SARS, etc.

A model of the "Zhong Lie Ci"

Everyone takes picture with them, coz they can't move...

We went to Jioufen, an old town at one of the hilltop in Taiwan. They said that there used to be only 9 families living on that hill and they were closely knitted. Therefore, everytime they went down the hill to buy things, they will buy nine sets. There, the name of this place derived from this story.

1st time eating the meat of wild pigs... less fats

We set off to YeLiu which is about 50 min away from JiouFen.
I like YeLiu, cooling breeze, beautiful waves and rock formations.

My Favourite picture. It was an Indian lady who helped us to take this picture after we had helped her. Didn't expect that she can take photos so well ;p

This is their most significant Rock at YeLiu, name "Nv Huang Tou" which is the Empress Head.
The "neck" of this head is getting thinner by about 0.2cm every year, so they have estimated that this head will be gone in about 14 years...

They are VERY protective of this head. The security will yell at you if you put your bag, climb or do anything that endanger this head's life... It's true, you can try if you don't believe me.

We ended our half day tour at Shilin. So we went to makan at Shilin Night Market Food Centre 1st. If you are at Shilin, then u must always eat there... i dunno why too.
Ru Rou Fan and Bah Kut Teh. The Bah Kut Teh at RaoHe is so much nicer...

Tried the "Tian Fu Luo", always thought that it means Tempura but we were wrong... I am not sure what it is even after i ate it. It is fried...fish with no meat in it??? can't really tell.

Kev loves the "Mian Mian Bing" from Taiwan...

Met up with Julia and Yedi at Ximending as she wanted to pass her mother's mother's day present to me. Kev and I ate the famous "Ah-chong Mee Sua" finally after so many days in Taipei, haha! We find the noodle taste all right only though...

Kev's cousin and uncle were in Taipei too! We met up and went to the HuaXi Night market which was closing by the time we reached there. So we ended up in McDonald's at Ximending chit chatting.
Their camera was spoilt when they went to Sun Moon Lake that afternoon... Luckily it was already the last few days of their tour...

DAY 14 - 12th May 2008, Monday

Taipei (Returned Trip) Day 4

Went to Lungshan Temple, a famous temple amongst the locals. There are alot more ppl in the temple as compared to the Guanying Temple at Bugis.

Having a light meal before we went back to the hotel to get our baggages.
The seats in this cafe are swings hanging from the wall, quite special right?

One funny thing is that its kitchen is located somewhere else, so you will see your food being delivered from outside the cafe.

Their medium size milk tea is quite large. One bad thing is that they require us to spend minimum of NT$xxx (i forgot how much le, haha!)

We are going back le... Photos at Taoyuan international airport.