Sunday, November 06, 2005
Naruwan... WELCOME to Taiwan! - 2:45 PM
I'm currently watching the WAN QUAN YU LE variety show... cos Jielun was on it to promote his new album! I shan't go into how funny the show is cos I know not all of u can appreciate it...AHHH... everytime I watch WQYL, I always have this urge to go live in Taiwan. Not because Jielun lives there LARH... its cos of F4 LA. (just kidding!)... And so, when fate presented a chance to visit Taiwan the past summer before I went home, BOY was I excited. Whats more, meeting friends from Singapore whom I haven't seen in 9 mths in Taiwan to go travelling together makes it even better! In the Taiwanese shows, we always see many many bakeries, amusement parks and historical sites. So by January, Shiyun and a few of my former HSBC colleagues like Chloe and Ailing were already making plans for our summer vacation.
When I landed in Taipei's Chiang Kai Shek airport on 9th May at 8am, Shiyun was already there to greet me. In order for our schedules to meet, she had to depart Singapore 5pm the day BEFORE. She had to survive on BREADTALK mian bao (which wasn't much cos she swallowed them 10mins into the flight), and had to guard her posessions while trying to sleep at the arrival area of CKS airport. VERY FUNNY. haha.
We had to LUG our luggage (hers was small case but MINE WAS HUGE) EVERYWHERE cos we were stupid. We didn't know there was an airport shuttle to our hotel, so we TOOK MRT with our luggage can! TOTALLY DIED. Rainbow Hotel, right smack Ximending, the Cineleisure of Taiwan. The hotel.... mmm considered budget cos it wasn't that great, esp to a Hospitality major who took a semester worth of classes to be able to differentiate the RIGHTS n WRONGS. but HEY, location was FAB and it was all worth it.
The first day, Shiyun and I took in the sights of the Longshan Temple which was featured in Meteor Gdn 2, the National Palace Museum where we saw the treasure CKS brought from China, the majestia of the CKS Memorial Hall where the Taiwanese pay tribute to their founding father, and of cos, the famed SHILIN NIGHT MARKET, where we mai dong xi, chi dong xi until buay dong liao. (I was suffering from jet lag hor!)
MAN Taiwanese food is unhealthy leh and how they all remain slim is simply unfathomable. The famous HAO DA DA JI PAI (XXXXL Chicken chop) lived up to its name. and the company that owns it is super smart. They have another bubbletea store liek a stone's throw away from the Chicken Chop cart. So liddat, you eat their food until sore-throat, den wash it down with bubble tea... SHUANG RIGHT?! hahaha That, in a nutshell my friends, was what we did the entire evening.
Ailing, Chris, Ailing's sister and Chloe joined us the nx night and we continued to explore what northern Taiwan had to offer. We went on a tour to Jiu fen, this quaint lil settlement on top of the mountain, and took a train to Hualien where we viewed the famous Taroko Gorge.
Now, Taiwan's weather is kee siao. WAH BIANG nv give face. Its either blazing hot or raining nonstop. We had to purchase those NT30 YELLOW plastic raincoats from 7-11. (OH, TAIWAN'S 7-11S ARE GREAT! Shiyun was aggressively collecting Hello kitty magnets haha.) The raincoats eh, damn gross lor. we had to wear them while SHOPPINg at the wholesale center, sightsee in them cos it was raining, TAKE PICS in them cos of the same reason and listen to this: CYCLE in them hahahhaa.
While in Hualien, we decided to be gungho and cycle to the beach and hopefully find the place well known for their FISHBALLS. WAH MAN. Haven't left the hotel already the tyre no air. And the Taiwanese apparently dun have laws for driving, thus resulting in us nearly dying on the streets of Hualien about 197461015 times. Then it started RAINING damn hard halfway but we were determined to find the Fishball stall. (the lengths we go to for FOOD) MANNNN but still cannot find. We cycled to some TRAIN TRACK LOR. @*$^&$!!@$&*^. I bet we were a sight for other people who saw us. 6 people in their yellow cheapo raincoats. Ducklings cycling on the roads of Hualien. Idiot. @!*$&^!@*$
AHHH the Taroko Gorge didn't disappoint. We had this tourguide who brought us all over the place, and at lunchtime, he brought us to this very posh looking restaurant with accents of the Taroko tribe (aboriginal). Upon reaching that place, Shiyun and I looked at each other and went 'HUH? It looks expensive leh... we don't have money... what are we supposed to eat here?'. Shiyun said 'eat CAI-TOU (carrot) lor... they're here to chop our cai-tou' HAHAHAHHAHA. OK la, turned out that the meal was included in our package. BEST meal we had in Hualien, in fact, not just Hualien, IN TAIWAN. haha
Taiwan has so much TV channels to watch that we spent our nights watching TV. about 100 of them, no exaggeration. But oh, only 99 of them are watchable cos 1 of them was a FREE PORN CHANNEL. oh gawd. U know how in most countries, you press a RED/BLUE button if you wanna watch 'extra'. Its free in Taiwan! Now tell me, how often do you come across FREE things huh? First time we were surfing we were like WTH is that (cos it was fuzzy), then came the realisation. OHHHHHH ok... but with 99 other channels to watch, WHO HAS TIME TO WATCH porn?!! mannn now I know why the Army always send their boys to Taiwan for 'training'. yeah, some 'TRAINING'. Partyworld KTV was beyond words. It operated like a hotel, 24hrs, the ENTIRE building was Partyworld, and they had a checkin counter. Their chao1 xiao3 (extremely small) room was not xiao at all lor! It came with comfortable seats, 2 plasma tvs, a STAGE with PROPS (the lighting n all) where we could sing like we were Jielun or whoever else. and there was a bar table (for bored folks who wanna play cards I think) and AN ATTACHED BATHROOM! WOOHOO so shuang. Drink too much honeywater also don't have to go outside to pee. haha.
So Taiwan has its downsides as well. First of all, their fashion is very HARAJUKU-ish. MANNn LACE? FRILLS? oh gawd. and the schoolgirls AND boys all sported the same hairstyle.. THE XUXU TOU! latest FAD LEH. U're OUT if you don't have xuxu tou!! Shopping wasn't all that cheap though FOOD WAS! and it was all that mattered. But food was unhealthy and we all ended up with sore throats. =P Weather was bad during that season when we went (Shiyun says its her fault cos it rains wherever she goes). And ah.. its so weird. Cos we feel perfectly fine when you hear Taiwanese celebs sprouting Chinese on TV, but when you hear Taiwanese in front of you in their very teh voices, u just wanna cringe. HAHAHA. but oh well, You're in Taiwan, WHADDYA EXPECT?! Nevertheless, we left Taiwan with boxes of GOODIES (its the best!) packed in cheapo XIAO DING DANG ruffle bags cos our luggage no space, bloated stomachs, sore throats and a happy heart. All's good, all's good.
So how, are you going to Taiwan next?