hello! gonna blog bout my taiwan trip! no pics at the moment cos they're all in my sis laptop. and im using dads. but ok yea i cant rmb what happened on which day actually ahah!
day 1
excitement started on day 1! even before checking in the flight! cos.. my stupid passport expires on 1 june 2007. and today (the day i left sg) was 9 december. and u know requirements for overseas flight is 6 months validity on ur passport. so ghey i just missed by 8 days! but the guy at the counter say if i take the flight to taiwan, immigration there will just reject me entry and send me back to sg. what the. actually i wasnt panicking much. hahaha! cos the idea of staying in sg wasnt that bad anyway! rather than going to hot springs in taiwan right! but anw, took a cab from airport to home to take my IC, then continued by cab to the immigration building in lavender to extend passport. u know normally u must take a queue no and wait a few hrs just to do that? haha dunno how my dad talked to some lady at the counter and we jumped queue to the next in line! haha must run in the genes eh :p yea which was great cos theres still a flight to catch. cabbed back to airport and made it there with like half an hr to spare to the departing time! whoo! can select your own movies to watch on the plane! not like those one tv in front of one whole section kind. yea watched SCOOP! haha so-so movie la. and u could select from albums of music on the plane! there was the latest albums of muse, keane, paris HILTON!, scissors sisters.. yea great stuff. by the time we landed in taipei airport, was abt 7pm there i think. same time zone as sg. given a ride to the hotel and dropped of there. dinner wasnt provided so we roamed nearby the hotel and found several steamboat kinda shops. and we ate in this one like seoul garden/marina bay that kind of buffet steamboat/bbq thingy. wah eat until damn full!! but it really think its nicer than singapore seoul garden!
day 2
the day with the only decent buffet breakfast! btw the first hotel was wierd and lousy and smelly. actually ALL except 1 were lousy. ok yes we met our tour group for the first time! we didnt meet at airport cos ppl came in diff flights and stuff. got some malaysians in the tourgroup also. got a hot stufffz from sg! haha but she speak chinese wan leh errr. went to several landmarks. its damn stupid la tour groups. pay money just to sit the coach for 2 hrs, reach destination, get down and take pictures for 15min, get up bus again, sit another 2 hrs. thats exactly how i think i get fat on the trip la. eat breakfast, sit on bus, eat lunch, sit.. even worse if i doze off on the bus la.
went to this place which supposedly produces the best lingzhi in the world. and sold wierd stuff including a deer foetus. its damn sick! supposed to be able to cure many kinds of long term illnesses. and my mum has morning sinus so she ask the salesgirl to recommend. of course they recommend the most expensive thing right. so she bought 1 deer foetus, which was actually a real life size thing at first! then they put in the machine and grind on the spot into powder! urgh. and i had to try 1 scoop of it. yes and they bought lingzhi too. just like that time go korea buy so much ginseng, until now still not half finished yet. yes and i think the lingzhi and stuff cost more than the entire trip to taiwan man. lots of beautiful scenery as well during the bus journey. travelled by the mountainside, which was facing the sea. really nice stuff! pictures soon yea. can see the horizon some more! had a cultural performance at night at this village. supposed to be traditional dance kinda thing. but the woman kept shouting yeeha! and yoo! like cowboy like that la. and the last segment was the everyone come and dance together segment. haha obviously i didnt.
3
first night market! there were 3 night markets in total throughout the whole thing. this one was the smallest. they all sell mainly chains and pendants and that kinda stuff. and bags and caps and shoes and girl clothes. urgh so non guy-friendly.
4
hot springs! had to wear shower cap to enter haha. and trunks of course. theres a medium hot pool, a hot pool, and a COLD pool. the cold pool was a killer!! especially right after coming out from the hot pool. night market again after that. and went to the worlds tallest building or smth, the taipei 101. but didnt go up the tower cos it was rainy and at the top, u wont be able to see anything cos the clouds would be covering. and the entrance fee was abt $20 singapore. so went to the shopping complex side of the building haha. got espirit, fcuk, giordano, hangten.. kinda similar to sg. and the prices are about the same also after conversion. and there, the discounts are damn wierd. its like everywhere 7% or 8% or 5% kind. seldom above 10!
5
remember them taking us to some wierd fortune telling place. the guy went on and on bout fengshui and how to improve ur luck, prosperity, wealth, etc. he said something bout the name u give ur children is impt. cos got smth to do with the number of strokes in each chinese character. 9 strokes are excellent cos both HUANG and DI in the emperor has 9 strokes. so lame right! but anw the rong in rongzhao (or rongrong for that matter) is 9 strokes if u write with the 2 "huo" on top! haha yay! but my zhao is 10 stroke in the traditional writing. and those 10 or 20 are supposedly bad cos got a zero behind which means.. bad! and some trivia: he said lee kwan yew wanted singaporeans to carry gd luck everyhwere they go, but it would be ridiculous to give everyone an amulet of some sort to carry around! so he made the $1 with 8 sides! yea. and even more, he said smth bout some buildings in the cbd built in a shape like a hand, and the merlion was what spitting water into the hand, symbolizing throwing wealth into ur own hand. hahahah! and duh after the talk session, he ask everyone go and write their chinese name for him then he will tell you more about what ur name means and stuff. i didnt go cos i dont think all these are right in the first place. and then also u find out u supposedly have a bad future ahead of u, u will keep worrying if its true and when its gonna happen and stuff like that. so no point right? same for going to temple to get divinity lots to predict ur future. dont sue me for this man im just saying whats on my mind haha! and yes for those ppl who went to write their names, it was actually just a ploy to cheat our money la! hahah cos for every bad thing they predict for u, they have amulets ready! to wear them on ur neck or keep in pocket or smth to ward off the bad luck. and they cost thousands! (i think taiwan is out to cheat our money)
also went to this place specializing in producing royal jelly and bee pollen. another out-to-cheat-your-money place. yes and my parents got conned again. "health is wealth" they will say haha. and i gotta eat that sick royal jelly every morning. it tastes like sour cheese! urgh. and its stored in the freezer. supposed not to come into contact with any hot things or it wont be effective. so i told mum "i so hot if i eat not effective right hahaha". at night we had the last and biggest night market! at shihlin! where the shihlin street snacks xxl chicken originated from. yes the xxl chicken there is really one piece of chicken and they dont cut it up for u. and with all the chicken bones intact some more. hahaha so mar fan to eat! and ate smelly beancurd! and those taiwan sausages thingy which are so-so. and drank bittergourd with pineapple juice. totally gross! and yea many more snacks. and the non-food section of night market had really little guy stuff! so was kinda wasting my time there. and with my 2 sisters there, its practically impossible to find any stuff for me. cos they stop at EVERY stall! so irritating. stop and stop but nv buy anything. and not only that, throughout the whole 5 days, they will stop at any wierd location to pose for pictures. i think my elder sis took with every christmas tree she came across in taiwan. ha.
6
back to singapore! wokeup at 4am. we were the only family leaving on that flight cos some extended their tour an extra day and others took the night flight. watched step up on the plane haha its stupid i think. brainless show as i say.
YAY finished all 6 days!! oh ya and on a random note, my tour bus driver is called lao fu zi. and on the bus, its printed lao fu zi as well hahahah!
more on singapore excitements soon!
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