last day at taipei

finally its our last day in taipei. our flight is at 3 pm, so we have to catch the 12 pm bus to the airport. rainbow hotel and a few other hotels in taipei provide airport shuttle bus service, cost NT200 per person, around 10 sing.

in the morning, we ate the mediocre breakfast provided by the hotel. our stomachs dun feel satisfied, so we decided to find other stuff to eat at ximending.

西门町红楼

this place is for performing arts. at night, it becomes very happening, cos there's a pasar malam. the vendors at the pasar malam design and make their own stuff to sell, ranging from tshirts, earrings, keychains, stationery and many other stuff. very affordable and very nice.

and then we stumbled upon this restaurant:

recognise the symbol? my ex-workplace in sg. haha. btw there's no more of these restaurants in sg le.

we still haven eat anything yet, and so we go to this restaurant which have very special seats.

we went up to the restaurant at 11 am, and we were the first customers. so we asked the waitress whether the restaurant is open for business, and she said yes, so we sat down and ordered our stuff. we were really looking forward to eat the food cos we were a bit hungry, but at 1130 the food is still not here, and our bus is coming at 12 pm, so i asked the waitress whether is the food coming, then she said is coming very soon.

one of the dishes that i ordered is mushroom spaghetti, and then at 1140, the chef tell the waitress: "喂，帮我开蘑菇罐!"

wah biang that's the last straw for me already. i decided to be the bastard and tell them that i dun want the food already cos i have to catch the bus. i worked in the service line before, and i noe that is a shit job, so i always very nice to waiters/waitresses, no matter how cock up they are. but this one i really buay3 lun4. waiting for my food for 40 min is seriously too much.

the chef explained that early in the morning they need more time to prepare the ingredients, but all these they should tell me right at the moment i entered the restaurant wat. i told them that i will pay for the food, but the manager said nvm. ok that makes me less angry.

in the end we bought 葱油饼 from a roadside stall, and it taste very nice! ok makes my mood a bit better.

1150 pm, we checked out of the hotel, and walked to the bus pick-up point. at 1215 pm, the bloody bus still haven come, so i get a bit stressed and pissed. i was so scared that we missed the bus, but we reached the pick-up point at 1155. so i walked back to the hotel to check if the bus will reach early. the woman at the counter called up the bus company and then told me that the bus haven reach yet.

so she walked with me back to the pick-up point, and at 1225 the bus came. and there were quite alot of pple in the bus.

AND THEN HOR, the bus nv send us straight to the airport. the bus still got drive to a few other hotels, picking up tourists like us. no wonder the bus took so late to come to our pick-up point.

AND THEN AND THEN HOR, the bus still nv send us straight to the airport. instead it drove us to a central location, get all of us to come down the bus with our luggage, and then another bus will send us to the airport. wah damn jia lat.

and when all of us got into the bus, some pple do not have seats, then the bus driver tell them to get down, cos cannot have anybody standing, and the next bus will come ten min later. wah then those standing refused to go down, said that they cant catch the flight on time. the whole situation was so tense that i thought there will be a fight. thank goodness dun have, cos the bus driver relented and get those pple standing to either sit on the floor or squeeze with other pple on the seats.

wat a negative experience, and it has to happen on the final part of the trip. :(

so next time if you go taipei, and you want to go to the airport, see if you can negotiate a good price with the taxi drivers. if one person have to pay NT250 or lesser, i will be more than willing to take their taxi.

when we reached the departure hall, we found out that the flight will depart at 345. and then when we reached the boarding gate, we were told that the flight will only depart at 430, cos either got some cock up at changi airport or some thunder god in the sky, which made the aeroplane arrive late. damn screw up.

luckily nothing goes wrong throughout the flight. and now china airlines also got in-flight entertainment service, so the 4.5 hours of flight is 很容易度过.

this taiwan trip has been a really nice and fun trip. most importantly, its my first "honeymoon" with darling, and for 24/7, we can be with each other, and i think its really great. thank you darling for all the fun and company. hope you enjoyed the trip as much as i did. love you~

taipei day 3

our second last day in taipei.

we packed our things and left taiwanmex. our destination is 长虹饭店 at 西门町. we reached 西门町 at around ten am, although not all the shops are opened, but its already crowded with teenagers.

we checked in our hotel, but the standard check-in time is 2 pm, so we left our luggage with the hotel management and went to walk walk.

and behold, the famous 鸭肉扁 shop. this is my first time eating the food here. wanted to try the food during my previous trips, but its always crowded with pple. 难得 the shop so few pple, i immediately pulled darling into the shop. haha.

this meal quite ex. the plate of duck meat (or ghoose meat) cost 10 sing. the bowl of noodles cost 2 sing. although the duck meat very little, it taste very delicious, especially after dipping the meat in their secret sauces. must dip in both the red and black sauce!

we took 捷运 to 市政府站. visited 台北 101, and shopped at 纽约纽约, 威秀影城 and 新光三越. all 4 places are connected with a sky bridge. and the 新光三越 is much bigger than the one at 中山站. cos got 4 buildings, the one at 中山站 only got 2 buildings.

saw this 2 very interesting posters at 威秀影城. definitely must take photo. haha.

its the korean version of brokeback mountain. damn cool rite.

when you go taipei must try their mister donuts. very nice! this outlet is at new york new york. we bought the strawberry flavour and red bean macha flavour.

next, we go to 五分埔. it is a wholesale centre for clothes, which means the clothes there are selling at very cheap prices. must avoid going there on monday and friday, because this 2 days the clothes will be sent to shopping centres in bulk, so the shop attendants will be too busy to attend to you.

we went to a cafe to meet up with darling's xqrj friend, cos he is doing exchange in one of the taipei universities.

(i purposely dun want to put up a picture of him. hahahahaha.)

finally, we go back to 西门町 for a glorious night of food and shopping.

the super popular 阿宗面线. the only shop that has customers standing on the streets of 西门町 eating bowls of mee sua.

this is another popular shop, which sells super nice 碳烤鸡腿, 甜不辣 and 卤味.

we also bought quite a few stuff for ourselves. darling bought a very nice red bag and a pair of earrings. i bought a pair of jeans and a chain watch. and hor, we saw this onitsuka tiger shop! and inside the shop got the very very cute sneakers!!! (http://yytellmewhy.blogspot.com/2008/10/cutest-asics-sneakers-i-have-ever-seen.html)

i was so tempted to buy, but the shop assistant told me only got female size. haiz wat a pity. nvm lah, i get to touch it and hold it in my hand i 爽 already. haha.

staying at a hotel right in the middle of 西门町 is very shiok, cos when we buy too many things, we can go up the hotel put down our things, then continue to shop again.

the last place that we went to is a supermarket. my little sis ask me to buy 当归鸭面 instant noodles, and trust me, they really taste damn nice! next time if any of you go taiwan must buy those back for me ok!

and then darling saw something which really thrilled her to the max.

(behold burger king tidbits! haha.)

FINALLY, we go back to our hotel, and spend our last night in taipei.

(stressed because we bought too many things, very difficult to pack)

(happy because darling bought so many things for herself, family and friends)

强烈的对比. haha.

演

life is full of drama.

一个我 一个你 在一起
一点情 一点意 一出戏
点个灯 开扇门
我想要扮演爱你的人
编剧你的一生

有时吻 有时恨 太传神
有时假 有时真 我难分
你的心 你的深 你的唇
都隔着幕一层
好让我永远的迷惑
看不清

每一次离离分分
痛的那么逼真
谁能改编故事里的人
也曾想找个替身
换你身边的人
陪你反复这一程

才发现导演是你
我只是个布景
我的出现都由你决定
我的爱剪接随你
我只是个声音
分秒由不得自己
表演一生都为你

sung by jacky cheung.

taipei day 2 - 阳明山 and 九份

today, darling and i decided to 走哈日路线.

we went to this 豆浆油条 shop for breakfast. it is very near to our hostel. i stared at the menu for quite some time, wondering wat to eat, then the aunty spoke to me:"oei, 不会看啊，你是日本人啊?"

upon hearing this, i feel both frustrated and happy. frustrated because she say i dunno how to read chinese characters. happy because she thought i was japanese, which means my 哈日穿着 quite convincing. hahahaha.

so in the end, we ordered 豆浆, 蛋饼 and 小笼包. we thought its just a small cup of 豆浆, but we got a very very big bowl instead. -.-'''

after our super full breakfast, we set off for 阳明山. me and darling took bus 260 from 士林 station. you can also take bus R5 from 剑潭 station, where both buses will bring us to the same bus stop.

as we are walking towards the bus stop from 士林 station, we came across a monument park and took some photos.

we reached the 阳明山总站, and before we proceed to the 阳明山国家公园, we took a very very long and steep flight of steps up to the 观景亭. once we were on top, we were panting like mad. haha. really super shag. wat's worse is that the wind is super strong at the top, so strong to the extent that it is preventing us from moving forward against the wind. i was so scared that will kenna typhoon, so i immediately sms my friend in sg to help me check the weather conditions in taipei. he told me that there is no typhoon, but just that the wind speed is 30 to 50 km/hr. -.-'''

阳明山国家公园.

(deeply influenced by the WO/OD practises. haha.)



(statue of mr wong yang ming)

after 阳明山, we took bus 260 again, and this time we alighted at 台北车站, where we took the 捷运 to zhongxiaofuxing station, and then we took the 基隆往金瓜石客运 bus to 九份. the bus comes in 20 min intervals, and there's always alot of pple queuing for the bus, so be prepared to wait for quite some time if you just miss the bus. btw the bus ride is around 80 min.

i noe the conventional method of going to 九份 is to go taipei train station, take railway train to 瑞方, then take the 九份 bus from there. i think taking bus from zhongxiaofuxing is more direct. i learnt of this method thanks to some travel magazine that my sis lent it to me. haha. but of course its up to individual preference on which method you are choosing.

once we get down the bus, we were shocked by the super huge crowd. there is really lots and lots of pple. got the locals, got singaporeans, got hongkies, got japanese, and also got koreans. so 夸张.

the first place we went to is the popular 面 shop. went there 3 years ago, and it still looks the same now. we ordered 阳春面 and 姜母芋圆豆花.

pictures of the beautiful 九份

next we went to 阿妹 teahouse. 3 years ago i went there to drink 泡泡茶. now it has become a super atas restaurant that serve atas chinese cuisine and atas chinese tea. but its really shiok to drink a cup of nice hot tea with your loved one, in this cold weather, and admiring the scenery outside. :)

(来，我敬你一杯!)


(我也敬你一杯!)

when you go 九份, you must definitely buy 太阳饼 and 凤梨酥. there's 2 shops that are famous for that. one is 张师傅, which is located at the start of the 九份老街, right opposite the popular noodle shop. the other one i forgot the name already, it is opposite the 7-11. 3 years ago, i bought my 太阳饼 and 凤梨酥 from that other shop. this time i bought from 张师傅. 凤梨酥 taste around the same for both shops, but for 太阳饼, i prefer the one from the other shop, cos the crust is softer, and the melon paste is more sweet.

after 九份, we went to this shopping centre called 新光三越 which is near our hostel. the shopping centre sells many nice clothes and shoes, but the prices quite steep. but we still cant control ourselves and bought some tshirts with very cool designs . haha. these tshirts cost 22 dollars each, so still not that ex.

we shop until 10 pm, that's when the shopping centre closes, and i feeling hungry, so we went to mos burger for supper. i quite sad that they dun have mayonise, so i have to use thousand island cream to go with my fries. btw in taiwan, mayonise is called 美乃滋. not 没奶滋, not 蛋黄酱. ok?

hahahahahaha.