| 28.7.05 |
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here are the taiwan photos as promised... didnt take too many photos... coz i was trying hard to blend in into the environment... without being an obvious tourist... so a lot of the photos are taken with the camera beside my stomach... or when there was no pple around... added to that... photos with the guy in obvious view is banned from this site... and i'm not good with photoshop... so i cant mosaic his face or something... no photos of his wonderful family either... oh well... maybe i should have been more thick-skinned... and take all the photos i want... DAY 1  leaving Changi International Airport... in a window seat... on an SQ flight... beat that! it was an early flight... 0835hrs... wah lau... his dad had to pick me like even before the sun rose... and send us to the airport... first time i went overseas without my parents sending me off... Note: Taiwan is, thus far, the furthest north i've been to so far... just goes to show how ill-travelled i actually am...  this is his grandma's place... which is directly behind what we would consider our Orchard Road... the next street sells Ralph Lauren, DKNY, etc... expensive stuff... eeks!  our bed at his granny's place... huge... brought sleeping bags too... really comfy to be wrapped warm in your own sleeping bag... with the aircon on... Taiwan is freaking hot at this time of the year... as hot as sg!  our main mode of transport... though his cousins did drive us around a lot as well... documenting my first time riding in a Mazda3 and a Lexus... plus rides in cabs... and one bus ride... this was comfy... very spacious... no singapore MRT kinda rush hour squeezing...  something we ate for supper EVERY night we were at his granny's place... deep fried... but really yummy stuff... you choose stuff and the lady deep fries them with chopped garlic and basil leaves, i think... i love the yan shu ji... and he loves the tian bu la... DAY 2 spent most of the day around Taipei's city hall... where Taipei 101 was... plus a lot of expensive shopping malls... watched Coach Carter there too... not bad a movie... great bball moves... and who doesnt love Samuel L. Jackson? dinner was at Chilli's with the cousins... not very nice... and quite expensive too... went on to visit tong hua nite markets too... didnt buy anything i think... was just too tired after the whole day...  Taipei 101... pretty majestic a building... though one wonders why they built something so big... so high... so green... with so much glass on an earthquake zone... heard it was build to withstand quakes... but hey, who knows?  inside the shopping mall of Taipei 101... you can even see part of the main 101 building here...  long queue outside their Mister Donut... heard it's really popular... and people queue to buy 10pcs a person... which was the limit... guy was right... Taiwanese go crazy over the weirdest things... they go nuts over donuts...  a pink house near his granny's place... with lotsa machines for you to catch stuff toys with... crazy stuff... you'd wonder how such shops survive... but they do... Taiwanese are crazy over these... or so i heard...  rows and rows of scooters... at first i thought that they were selling scooters or something... coz all so one-design one... until i saw it on EVERY street... apparently they ride it a lot there... even traffic junctions have stipulated areas for scooters to wait... parking cars is a terrible chore over there... and pple practically park all over the place... first time seeing people (his cousin) parking in front of other pples' cars... and leaving his HP number on the dashboard... so that pple can call him to move... something unheard of in sg... DAY 3 had pai ku fan for lunch... then made our way to xi men ting... the Far East Plaza of Taiwan... all the young punks shop around here... dinner was thai with the usual suspects... the cousins plus a da biao ge... who was really really funny... the ultimate was... (imagine in mandarin) "my wife and i speak english at home too..." *everyone raises eyebrows* "come here, bitch." *everyone laughs and threatens to report him* "ya, she says that to me." after that we made our way to his uncle's empty home in xin bei tou... super far away...  one of the streets in xi men ting... loads of shopping... but kinda expensive too... someone quoted me SGD50 for 3 pairs of earrings... probably hearing us speak english and concluding we werent local... we managed to get one of the three somewhere else for 5 bucks...-_-"  xin bei tou MRT station... the one at his granny's place is underground...  really pretty mountains... on the train ride downtown... love the way the hills/mountains contrasts the buildings... something you will never find in singapore... took a lot of pictures like these... DAY 4 woke up pretty late actually... it was a saturday... and we were supposed to meet the gang at xi men ting... so that one of his cousins, a xi men ting regular, could bring us around... into the littler alleys... but it was like 4 cousins and one girlfriend and us... shuffling around just for MY belt and MY bag.. can you imagine how paiseh i was? bought on impulse la... but i love those purchases... lunch was Yoshinoya... we HAD to try the fast food there... must see whether got difference or not what... went shih lin at night... for the food and abit of shopping... superbly crowded... but it was an experience...  the view from his uncle's place... really pretty... minus the dilapidated buildings... plus the green hill on the side... it struck me how un-green Taipei was... despite the occasional tree and such... Singapore is REALLY the green city... really appreciate the air here...  the hot spring tub... which had a pipe that brought in REAL spring water... that was murky and smelly... but supposedly good for the skin? had to heat it up using a heater... and it was TOO HOT for me... guy went it first... for a good few minutes... before i decided that it cooled off enough for me... before you guys start having weird thoughts... i WAS wearing my swim suit...  the pretty sky roof above the hot spring tub... have a thing for sky roofs... just found the idea of natural lighting in a house damn cool... am so gonna get something like that... when, and if, i have the money...  walking to the MRT station from his uncle's place... long walk... prespiration was practically dripping from my earrings... damn gross... stupid me wore my black top... coz i stupidly let the guy choose my outfit for me... i failed to recall that it was his favourite top of mine...  inside Shih Lin night maket... where i bumped into Changdun... chou dou fu is REALLY smelly... and not that nice after all...  oyster mee sua... prefer the one from the shih lin franchise in singapore though... this was weirder than i thought... got pig innards inside too! but oni NTD30... which equates to less than SGD1.50!  prawn rolls and chou dou fu... didnt take pictures of the fried oyster omelette though... that was yummy...  the nite market from the outside... bought a bing tang hu lu... strawberries one... sweet + sour... yummy! but i didnt finish it... threw it away coz i rather shop with empty, non-sticky hands... hiaks! DAY 5 went over to his granny's place pretty early... apparently his da biao jie drove up all the way from tai chung to see him... the lunch was a very interesting experience... the house was really rowdy and all... ordered bubble tea in... which was really cheap by the way... about 15 bucks for 10 cups... the zhen zhu nai cha was splendid.... and rice or noodles... they played a number of rounds of mahjong... whahahaa... and the guy won some money to fund our shopping... the inventory includes boardshorts... teeshirts... bags.... brown belt... earrings... skirt... wahhahaa.... after wu fen pu was back to the Taipei 101 area for Ruby Tuesdays... yummy western food... huge portions... watched The Island there too... guy misplaced his tickets over dinner... so we had to buy another pair... coz we din pay by card... nor did we remember the seat numbers... movies are more expensive there... student rate was still about 12 bucks per pax... took a cab back from there to xin bei tou... cost us more than 20 bucks... suddenly i feel so xing fu living in sg...  wu fen pu.... really cheap clothes... funny part was that it was actually like a wholesale centre... so fashion buyers from xi men ting actually come here to buy stuff to sell there... you'll see loads of them with trolleys and huge bags... damn funnie... but i really wonder how come the locals dont directly come here... especially since it's so much cheaper... his cousin's gf told us abt how she found a jacket that she bought in xi men ting for NTD2000... oni to find it in wu fen pu going for NTD1000... apparently, the salesgirl told her the jacket was brought in from overseas... yeah rite... -_-"  our huge dinner at Ruby Tuesdays... beef steak skewers, onion rings, prawn fritters, chicken chops and ribs... yummilicious! had potato skins as well... those were topped with sour cream and bacon bits... utterly heavenly! DAY 6 had lunch at ding gua gua... yummy fried chicken... and sweet potato fries that i didnt quite like... cousin picked us up to go back to granny's place... made him bring me back to wu fen pu again... got hooked on buying fake billabong, quiksilver, abercrombie, levis... wahhaha... =X shhhssh! dont tell anyone... went with his female cousin and gang... so we tooked the bus there... shopped quite abit... then dinner was at nei hu... in a foodcourt at some miramar shopping centre... with Asia's largest ferris wheel... went to a 24hr bookshop ourselves... to get last minute gifts for his cousins... who were so sweet to bring us around... and we were contemplating getting harry potter... the entire series thus far... but ney... not his kinda book, we concluded...  public buses.... only took them once... less than SGD1 flat... quite comfy...  inside their public bus... shiok aircon... especially after considering the heat outside... got their version of TV mobile too...  the ferris wheel... really big... and green again... nothing much to see though...  the nite scene from the ferris wheel... saw taipei's domestic airport... Taipei 101... saw a lot of lights... fullstop... the trip was, indeed, everything i expected and more... the idea of living with him 24/7 doesnt seem that enticing anymore... especially after the hell i been through trying to get him up from bed... but then again... despite being able to speak the same language as the locals there... he was indispensable throughout the entire trip... SHOPPING: 1. giving me advice abt the things i wanna buy.. (UGLY-OKAY-NOT BAD-LOOKS GOOD) 2. helping me bargain coz i just cant do it... i'll just select pieces, pass to him, "your job"... 3. the money in his wallet... but i got return him when we got back... though i not sure whether it was enough to cover everything... EATING: 1. bringing me around to eat his favourite food... which are really yummy... which i probably wouldnt have tried if not for his recommendation... 2. helping me order stuff... coz they probably wont understand my 'fluent' mandarin... i'm too cheem for them... 3. pestering the air stewardess for me... for apple juice... GETTING AROUND: 1. his connections, a.k.a. his cousins... to give us directions... or send us from place to place... loaning us MRT cards... 2. his fluency in the language... to ask for directions... 3. his always-knowing-what-to-do... so that i can even close my eyes, grab his shirt, walk on the streets and know that i'll be safe... COMPANY: 1. his limited vocab... you think you very funny? i want massage. you want me to tickle you? scratch my back. wat the crap. look at those spare tyres... eat eat eat. 2. his being there... thank you. ----Stef stopped rambling at 01:43 --Link to Post |
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