my mercurial world.

taiwan trip! (6th may - 13th may)

Monday, May 19, 2008

Day 1 - Arriving at taiwan, taipei train station, hwansi nightmarket

finally arriving at taiwan..an adventure beckon!

first stop..taipei train station!

the first nightmarket on the first night in taipei..where the eating begins!

prawn oyster egg..

the teppanyaki chief who share with us alot of places tt we must visit

bitter pork rib soup and wintermelon pork rib soup..

some hot dessert which i dunno wat is the name but nice..

the best muachi we ever eaten in our whole life..is really tt good

Day 2 - Taipei 101, Warner Village, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store, Wu Fen Pu, Luxy

first breakfast in taipei

the whole building is bookstore!

inside the 24 hour bookstore

the paragon of taipei

watched ironman at warner village

the famous taipei 101

scenery from way above

one of the four mascots of taipei 101, known as damper

inside the exhibitation hall on lvl 89

at the top of the world

After visiting the tallest building in the world, we move on to "wu fen pu"..this is where clothes are sold at warehouse price and there is where we start our shopping spree..good deals can be found everywhere..

club in taiwan still use the old-sch method

1st clubbing stint in taiwan at "LUXY"..the atmosphere there is totally different from the club in singapore..they have events every hourly..1st hour: luxy girls doing their move on stage, 2nd hour: bartender showing their stuff and free shots for everyone there, 3rd hour: dancing competition..a totally new experience!

Day 3 - Beitou, Dan Shui, Miramar Entertainment Park, Shilin nightmarket

searching for the ideal hot spring

on our way to dan shui after soaking in the hot spring..honestly speaking, we dun feel any effect after the hot spring..maybe soaking once wun have any effect..haha..

we came to a common conclusion tt this is the worse food we tasted in taiwan

having teabreak..

on the ferry to 鱼人码头

this pic took numerous attempt to get it right..

the story of this pic..this cute little girl was running across the bridge when i spotted her..so i decided to take a pic of her..she saw mi taking out my camera and straight away stop to pose for mi..cute eh!

cheers to the sunset!

the lover bridge at 鱼人码头

ferris wheel on top of a shopping centre, miramar entertainment park

after the ride, we headed down to the much anticipated shilin nightmarket, where all the good food come together! once there..the hunt for good food begins..there were identical stalls selling similar things..so how do you know which is nice? easy..by seeing which stall have queues and just join the queue..we were so engrossed and busy with eating tt we didn't even wanna take pics of all the famous food there!

Day 4 - Hualian

waking up at 6am to catch the 3 hours long train to hualian..by the time we reach there is around 10 plus..our tour guide brought us to a famous dumpling soup shop..where taiwan's president visited before..we found our tour guide through recommendation on the internet and he only charged $90 bucks for 1 whole day..may sound expensive but it is very worth it!

breakfast time!

dumpling soup..

our ride!

at the start of the tunnel..what lies ahead of us is the nature of hualian

chilly water running under our legs..refreshing

landslides?!

help help..the rock is falling!!

the swallow nest

see wat i'm trying to do to the "face" under the guidance of our tour guide

towards the end of the hike..

the dangling bridge of hualian..

all still having the blur look after just waking up

penny for thoughts while looking at pacific ocean..

sashimi for sale!! 14 thick and big slices for onli $9..super cheap

simple fare at hualian..cheap and nice!

our final farewell at hualian together with our friendly and nice tour guide-cum-taxi driver. he is really good and will definitely recommend him

Day 5 - Ding Tai Feng, C.K.S memorial hall and Club W

ding tai feng was our destination for our first meal of the day after waking up late..this particular ding tai feng is the main and first branch and is located like 1km walk away from the nearest train station..good food definitely deserves a bit of effort therefore we begin our long walk..luckily for us, the weather there is windy and not like singapore so hot and humid!

from far, we could see quite a big crowd and this is the scene tt greet us when we reach!

the original and authentic "ding tai feng"

our bill..which include 40 xiao long bao for 4 ppl!

i must comment on the service there..it is definitely first-class! something tt will nv be experienced in singapore..really..and the ding tai feng there taste so much better than in singapore..if u tink singapore branch is nice..can u imagine the real quality of the food served there? heavenly is the only description!

after that..we were craving for dessert and starting looking for this highly-rated dessert shop which is quite near ding tai feng

the highly recommended "ice-monster" shop

Looking good but tasting average

before entering C.K.S memorial hall

C.K.S

this picture is taken after we tour the whole C.K.S memorial hall and realised that there is a board stating berms and slippers are not allowed inside.

check out what calvin is trying to do

the big and famous SOGO

some japanese butter cake that can be smell from far and taste equally good!

At night, it was time for our 2nd clubbing stint in taiwan..this time was at "club w". the entry is around $20 and it's drink all u can! wow..that was something we didn't expect..imagine this happening at zouk and u will see alot of ppl lying on the floor outside dead drunk! haha..furthermore it was bikini party..taiwanese girls turning out in bikini top..be it slim or fat..and there was this dancing competition for girls..

all they have to do is pour water on themselves, dance and win over the crowd and the winner will walk away with ard $500..wat we didn't expect was the girls really do everything to win..including turning to the back to take off their bikini top and dance only covering with their hands..really a eye-opener..

what surprise us was the culture they have..they will queue up to get their drinks and not crowd all over the bar and though is a drink all you can thing..u dun see anyone getting drunk or vommiting..talk about self-discipline..

the only one who was drunk and vomitted was our good fren, wai kit..haha..singaporean..

Day 6 - Ximending Shopping and Modern Toilet Dining Experience

The visit to the modern toilet restaurant was the highlight of the day..enough of shopping in the morning..we decide to have our lunch at this unique restaurant..it was very popular coz we have to come back like 1 hour later..in the meantime while waiting, we managed to catch a mini concert just somewhere near the restaurant

Soda Green (Su Da Lu) holding a mini concert on Mother's Day

the popular modern toilet restaurant

while waiting for our turn..

first time having experience sitting on this and eating

being a modern toilet restaurant..little surprise on how the food is being served

preparing to "attack" the mini toilet bowl!

chocolate milk tea in this cute "container". the chocolate milk tea there kick ass!

dessert in the modern toilet setting

visited shilin nightmarket once again..this time we went earlier so there is more shops open and more things to eat! keep shopping and eating non-stop..we visit the mango ice shop again and we r very sure that it taste so much nicer than the "ice-monster" that is so highly recommended.

we decide to try out the ktv there in taiwan after our initial plan of watching the final game of man u match failed..in taiwan, soccer is like not popular at all..main sports being baseball and basketball..there is this taiwanese guy currently playing the New York Yankees and he is so famous that everywhere u can find his stuff!

the ktv session at "holiday ktv" from 1am to 5am have been great and cheap! paying $16 for 5 hours of ktv which includes buffet..and their sound system there is so much better than singapore with each room having a personal toilet!

Day 7..guess guess guess..

we arrived at the venue of recording for GUESS GUESS GUESS episode #599..

the cab driver bought us to the wrong recording station..but nevertheless still got the time for some fun first..

arriving at the set..

familiar face? i must say he is really very good at what he is doing..all his jokes just come to him like tt..no script involved..top notch

the guests on this particular episode..most popular being wang dong chen from Fahrenheit.

On the set of the show after recording have been completed..

teppanyaki for dinner at tonghua nightmarket..cheap and good! quite quiet there for a nightmarket..guess coz is not as popular as the rest of the nightmarket in taipei..return to hotel quite early to start packing up..spent damn long trying to squeeze everything into the luggage..bought too many things..haha

on the last day of the trip..

the hotel receptionist tt had been a great help to us throughout the whole trip

the famous "ma-la" steamboat tt leave the lips numbed..

2 random pics taking at the airport to kill our time there..boring airport

The whole trip have been fun..so much fun that all of us were reluctant to come back..the weather is great, the service there is exceptional, culture there is excellent and last of all the food there is outstanding!! definitely worth going there again..

calculating the damages back home, i realised the whole trip i spent ard 1.5-1.6k..minus away airfare, accommodation and food expenses, the rest of the money is spent on like 6 tees, 4 polo tees, 1 shirt, 3 berms, 4 accessories, 1 slippers..haha..enough shopping for the time being i guess..looking forward to the next trip abroad!

signing off with this picture we took at the highest building in the world!

living for a new tomorrow 12:32 PM;