Haha.. finally had time to blog abt this. Lol. Ok, I'll try to remember then see wad I can blog. Lol. Ok, this trip I went with my best fren, pz and also cyndy, a new fren I noe thru pz. :D It was really a great trip. I think it would definitely be different if it was not the 3 of us and we had someone else joining in. Lol. OK, get to the main pt then...
Day 1: We arrived Changi airport at around 1100 to check in. Then after that we went to eat Popeyes (yay!) and finally decided to board. Took pictures, say our byes then we made our way inside le. Met up with a fren of pz and cyndy's who was working in the airport for attachment then we finally boarded the plane at around 1245. Sadly the plane was a budget airline so we had very little space and there's no food and water allowed. :( The only way is to buy and almost everything costs money such that it becomes pretty ridiculous.. Becoz we were sitting juz in front of the emergency exit, we cannot tilt back our chairs so pz went to sit in another sit more comfortably then the flight attendant came and told her that she'll have to pay extra to sit there becoz it is a sit with more legroom. -_-''' freaking rubbish... Which is way I suddenly found pz sitting back next to me. Haha.. Super funny. LOL. And there was this annoyed look plastered on her face. HAHA... At around 1840, we reached Taipei's Taoyuan International Airport (also known as Chiang Kai Shek Airport...) and felt really glad to finally arrive at a strange place, or rather a unfamiliar environment. We decided to go check out the prices separately for the taxi and bus and decide which one we shld take is safer. So as we were walking to check out the bus's price, this 50-ish uncle approached us and offered us NT$1000 (abt S$50) for a trip to our hotel. We had no idea wad to say and since he said he drives a taxi we tot it's fine la. So we went to the car he showed us to. When I saw the car, I had a very bad feeling. All of us felt really weird. Coz it wasn't a taxi at all. It was a red "private" car driven by a china man. I was almost freaking out la. Coz it feels so mucj like those commonly seen malaysia illegal 'taxis' that is really dangerous. So we decided to not take that car and go for other options. As we walked away, the uncle from earlier came over to stop us. So we made up some stupid excuse like we aren't leaving the airport yet, wanting to grab a bite and stuffs and at the same time, continue dragging our luggage as we walk to sorta run away from him. Whew! Lucky he din come chasing after us. We quickly went over to the bus counters and found a bus that goes to our hotel, realizing that for a 2-way trip, it is only NT320 (S$16) per pax. Tt's like almost half price! We thankfully bought the tickets and boarded the bus. The bus travelled under the night sky for a long time then finally it stopped. Most of us were told to alight and board another bus, which we did and the traveling continued. Almost everyone alighted le and we were still on the bus. Then we started worrying and thinkin if we did miss our stop but fortunately we did not. As the last grp of ppl left the bus, the bus driver turned back and said "成都大飯店對嗎?" (he confirmed our destination...) We sighed a relief and nodded our heads saying yes, yes. Then he smiled and drove us to our hotel, on the way introducing us to this very famous beef noodle store. Haha.. We finally reached the hotel, gone through the check-in process then the manager start telling us stuffs and giving us information. really very friendly, a lil over-friendly in fact. Haha.. It was very funny la. It's like we listened to him talk then as he finished we wanted to walk away then he talked somemore kind. And this repeated several times. Lol. But we were really glad for his friendliness and hospitality. :D We threw down our luggage then we decided to go to the 龍山寺, a famous temple juz one train station away from us. We went to the mrt station, with the hotel manager's directions and bought a card each. It works like an ez-link but they call it 悠遊卡. We travelled to that station and decided to visit the 華西夜市 first coz it's juz nearby. However, it was pretty disappointing la. nothin much de.. We ate 甜不辣, and some dessert thingy. We also went to play arcade for a while. We got owned by the machine. Haha.. dunno 3rd round or sth then game over le. Lol. Finally, feeling full and satisfied, we made our way back pass the temple. They were preparing for the national day coming in 2 days time. All feeling patriotic, wishing for the country to continue to prosper and such. Haha.. Suddenly I have the urge to walk back so we decided to use the map and find our way back to the hotel. It was kinda fun la. Haha.. But i think pz they all pissed with me coz i made them walk so much. lol. finally back at the hotel, we bathed, watch tv, then slept.
Day 2: Early morning, we woke up and went to 淡水. It is a place next to the seaside. We arrived there hungry so we visited the Dunkin' Donuts there. The donuts they sell there is really different from the one at Malaysia even though it is the same brand. They have ones with mochi in them and some that's like a puff exterior and many other different de. Very interesting. Then we went to 淡水老街 and practically spent the rest of the day there. In between going over to 八里 and walking on the other streets, me even getting lost. Haha.. What happened was, we were returning from the boat ride to 八里 then they went into watson's, leaving me outside coz i was eating.. then I went in to look for them but i dun find them. Apparently, i found out later, they were at level 2 but I had no idea. Haix.. So I walked to and fro a few times then finally found them waiting for me outside Watson's.. lol. In the end we wanted to go a lot of other places but no time le so we decided to go back to hotel, put down our bags then come out to 西門町 to shop. Spent another big sum of money then ate Yoshinoya for dinner. then hotel sweet hotel. :D
Day 3: Early in the morning, we went to the 國父記念館 and watched some soldiers marching and changing shifts. Coz they have to stand at attention next to the statue of the great man, father of taiwan, so they will change shift every hour. As they change shift, they go through a routine which is very interesting to watch, so we waited for it and video-ed it down. :D After that, we went to 新光三越, a very famous and high class shopping centre that sells all the branded stuffs... We also went to New York New York, another shopping mall. After which we went to Taipei 101 to look at the view of taipei from the 89th storey, taking the world's fastest elevator up. It was some experience man... After that, we went to 五分鋪, did some really crazy shopping there man! All the stuffs were so worth it! Juz walking a few streets and we had our hands full of bags of clothes, bags and wad not. It was pretty crazy.. After shopping for very long and feeling really tired, we decided to return. On the way, we spotted a 涮涮屋, a shabu-shabu store. Pz has been saying for the past few days that he wants to eat it so we went in to eat. Ordered mixed meat platter with sugarcane soup (it is said that it is refreshing and healthy...) I ate very slowly then end of the day all I had left was meat so I had to eat all the meat at one go.. Scary... So we spent some time eating and then, made our way back to the hotel. I had to call my auntie to inform her of our plans tmr, coz intitially wanted to meet her de.. So i went outside on my own to make the phone call. Had to walk very far coz the ones nearby are cardphones. Unfortunately, I finally found the coin phones and tried to call but dunno y cannot call out. So I kept trying. Until a man came to ask me for money. Then i abit scared to stay outside on my own le la. So I went back to the hotel... Brrr~~ Scary...
Day 4: Early morning we left for 基隆, somewhere in taiwan outside of taipei. We took the 台鐵 for an hour and arrived there. The weather was not very good. It was raining quite badly... We realized we have to take a bus to our destination. Then in order to go to another place, we have a take the bus back then take another bus there. So we first went to 野柳's geological park to see rocks. Haha.. Sounds weird, it is. Lol. go so far juz to see a few pieces of rocks. Haha.. but we did take some pretty nice pics la. However, on the bus on the way there we actually missed the stop so we went all the way to 金山 then turned back. lol. Finally alighting at the correct stop, we tried to walk to the park. The whole day we did a lot of embarrassing stuffs. Lol. First, cyndy accidentaly stepped on some poo but luckily the weather was wet so nothing got stained on her shoe. then I stepped into a puddle of water and practically soaked my shoe. Haix.. really very sad. And also, the ground is very slippery from the rain so we had to walk carefully, especially when we were walkin down the very steep and long flight of stone steps... We were so afraid that we'll juz tumble down. Lol. So after visiting the rocks, we wanted to go to 九份 but it was really raining cats and dogs. We approached some of the locals to ask how long it takes to go there then they say abt an hour but because it is raining very heavily, maybe even longer... Sad la. So in the end we did not go and went back to taiipei instead. We decided to go to the ferris wheel (the one that appeared in 換換愛) since it was still early. So we made our way there. Actually, we also wanted to visit 忠烈祠 but unfortunately it is closed le. So we took the free shuttle to the ferris wheel mall. On our way there we saw a very very nice rainbow, and it was near where Arashi stays. It is really nice because it is a full arc, instead of the quarter that we always see... really very pretty. Then we were wondering if Arashi saw it. Haha.. Arriving at the ferris wheel, we went up on it, the transparent one (which means we can see what's under our feet) and we got a nice night view of most of taipei. the ferris wheel is not very high up, only 14 mins a round so we did not see alot. Plus the weather that day was really bad so we could not see much or even take pictures.. But it was kinda cool standing in it la coz it's transparent ma. Haha... After that, we shopped in the mall and I bought a few books to read.. Stuffs lidat. :D After a long while, we took the free shuttle back to the train station, next to it is the shilin night market. So we went in there and shopped more, buying a lot of stuffs. Again... Then I embarrassed myself again. Coz I wanted to eat this 胡椒餅 so we bought one then it was really very hot. As we walked in the crowd, I accidentaly dropped it and yelled a lil. Really very pai seh lo! Coz everyone moved away to let me pick it up then ppl around were all staring and looking to see what has happened. In the end, it's juz me picking up some food from the ground. Then I saw some of the guys nearby like smirking and laughing inwardly la. Argh!! Embarrassing! Fortunately after that, I did not do anymore of such embarrassing stuffs le. Whew! After shopping the night market, we decided to go back le. So we took the train and went back to rest.
Wow.. it's really tiring to relate a week's events at one go.. Shall continue some other time. Haha... Wait for part 2 -----> attending some exciting concert! :D
P.S, if u're too lazy to wait, great cyndy has already done it with pictures! Credits to her!!! Haha... http://www.cyndycsy.blogspot.com/
How easy it is to lose contact...
Saturday, October 18, 2008
