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Received my driving license! Fudge. NTU scholarship interview next week. Pa4 Pa4~ No stress. It's just free money. Skipped mambo last night. marina barrage with JSPS this sat ktv with sheena and random peeps on sat night wahahahaha. dreamt at 4/30/2009 10:16:00 AM, 0 comments Day 5! Today we go home! Wanted to walk Xi Men Ding after breakfast... but most of the shops were closed cos it was too early. Bah, so went back hotel to pack up... wash up, and watch TV! The bus came pretty soon though. Transferred to the main bus at Taipei station, and it was a 40 min ride to the airport... Ahhh it's time to leave Taiwan again. Hopefully will be back sometime soon to tour other places! Took a video of the plane taking off, climbing and descending... Watched 2 movies this time round, The Day the Earth Stood Still and High School Musical 3. yay, watched my worth. 4 hours later, our Taiwan trip was concluded with some ice wine and belvedere purchases haha... dreamt at 4/30/2009 09:57:00 AM, 0 comments Day 4! Felt pretty bad for not getting to shop last night, parents didn't allow due to the fact I was down with Floo. But today shall be different! Mum did planning for today, since I was really unwell last night, Mum looked at the map and circled out places of attraction we were to visit today. First stop is Zhong Zheng Ji Nian Tang, I think I was here 14 yrs ago or something, can't really remember, but this place sure has changed if my memory doesn't phail me. Anyways, saw their military recruitment exercise. SG could do the same thing too, use cute mascots and of course, cute girls in navy uniform, catchy slogans to recruit people. They also had rifle drills, and TW military rifle drils are sweeet. Watched the rehearsals for awhile, and asked a cadet what time was the actual performance. Since it was around 1pm, we decided to leave for other places first, and if there was time, we would come back! Next stop, we took mrt to Jian Tan again, and transferred to a bus to Gu Gong, their museum. Nothing much there, since it was really hot, and we didn't want to pay to go in, just quickly snapped a few photos of the exterior. Haha, this is how I show that I've been to a lot of places, while on a budget. ^-^ By now it was a little after noon, and with tummies rumbling, we set off to find some food. Before that, our bus passed by Zhong Shan station, and this was the underground shopping area which was under construction the last time I came here. This time, we managed to locate it, and it was open! The underground street is realllyyyyy long, like can't see the end, and we walked all the way from Zhong Shan till we reached Taipei underground street. Can imagine the size? It's like an underground street covering from somerset to newton, or maybe even more. Amazing. Of course in the shopping district there were toy grabbing machines, and I grabbed my toys! Once we reached Taipei station, we took another mrt to Jian Tan again -_- and transferred on free shuttle bus to Miramar shopping mall. Been here before, so roughly knew where the foodcourt was. Had omelette rice and a roti prata. The prata is like huge and expensive, because inside got potato and mutton fillings, cost around 5 sgd o_O but twas good haha... since miramar had nothing much, just snapped a few photos of the ferris wheel, and off we went. See? Budget ftw haha... Next stop! Guo Fu Ji Nian Guan. By now its already 4+ close to 5pm, but the crowd at GFJNG didn't dwindle at all. It seemed to be a giant park. You have lovers on benchers, old people doing tai ji, people walking dogs, young people doing hip hop (oh btw, if u wanna know why their dancing scene is so hot, they have a LOT of people dancing hip hop), people flying kites etc etc. Really crowded and happening. Took a couple of nice pics of 101 and the GFJNG, before moving on to Wu Fen Pu and Raohe! Yay, nothing to say here. Just shopped. And oh! I caught a lot of toys, haha, just keep hopping from machine to machine, shop to shop. FUN! =D and with that, my taiwan trip is almost coming to an end! dreamt at 4/29/2009 01:16:00 PM, 0 comments Day 3:   Today we go... mountain climbing! After the first two days in Taipei, I gained enough confidence and familarity with the Taipei transportation system. Basically it's very much the same as Singapore, just that 80% of the information is in mandarin. Other than that, figuring out how to get to anywhere is pretty simple. So much so that even Taiwanese ask me how to get around -_- Mission of Blending into Taiwanese Population SUCCESS. haha.. So... we had breakfast at TS, walked to Xi Men Ding mrt, and took to Jian Tan Station, before transferring to a bus to Yang Ming Shan. The bus name so cute, not only got number, but they're colour coded too! We took Red 5, alll the way to Yang Ming Shan, and on the way.. something happened =/ Basically their system is almost the same as ours, having priority seats. But their sets are actually colour coded, meaning the red ones are priority and the blue ones, are for normal passengers. I didn't realize this, so upon boarding the bus, thinking that it would be a very long ride to YMS, I dashed for the nearest seat, a red one. After sitting for a few stops, an old lady boarded, but I couldn't really see due to people blocking. (The bus was really crowded btw.) Soon after a lady told my in a agitated tone to ask me to let the old grandma sit, so I stood up. Then another uncle behind said "Don't stand! You queued hard for this seat, so no need to give it up!" I just mentioned it's okay then proceeded to stand. Actually kena called up not so paiseh one, but people argue on your behalf makes it worse. Zzzz weird sia Taiwanese. Anyways i stood all the way to YMS, but luckily it wasn't far, only 20 mins ride.   YMS was cooolld. Not only was it windy on the mountain, it was drizzling. Temperatures were around... 16? We whipped out our brollies and jackets and proceeded to walk all the way to the park. It was quite a distance, and there was actually a carpark far inside, although pubby buses dun stop inside. Sooo we took pictures of flower clock.. etc etc.... Scenery was good, there was fog in nice places and made it all look quite surreal. We then enjoyed a cup of (very expensive) hot tea in one of their teahouses. It was a ripoff, next time, bring your own hot tea. But anyways, after trekking for sooo long, it was around 11 am, and time to head to our next destination: Dan Shui. We took the same Red 5 bus all the way down, but this time, instead of stopping at Jian Tan we stopped at Shi Lin, because parents wanted to check out what was there. Basically nothing much, just ur normal shopping district with normal shops. But since we were hungry, we decided to stop by in one of the Hot Pot Shops. Like oh my goodness (refer to pic below)... Damn nice can, when its cold and rainy, w00t. SAIGO DESU!  After finishing the hot souup, tummies filled, we headed out to Dan Shui! By this time the flu kicking in, so I felt really fatigued and dozed off on the MRT. Reckoned it was a pretty long ride because Dad also kun haha.. When we stopped at Dan Shui, what we saw was not what I had in mind. Probably due to the fact that it was raining, there were no outdoor stalls like it used to be and there were really few people. It was probably because it was a weekday too. Anyways we just walked the same Danshui Old Street, the one I went to everytime I came, and bought myself some Quail Eggs on a Stick! I lovvvve it. Qual Eggs ftw.   I also showed my parents the Jay Chou Breakfast shop, where he had breakfast frequently there as a kid. They even have a Jay Chou Set Meal, quite cool, good marketing. After finishing the entire street, we had a doll I caught, and some tidbits bought, and it was around 4pm. Too bad it was too cloudy a day, and there was a low chance of a nice sunset to be caught on camera, so I faked some pictures! Using sunset mode.   Anyways we didn't manage to get to Fisherman's Harbour, it was a tad bit far for my parents to walk there, so we skipped it. But next time I'll definitely bring a special someone there, because they say it's really beautiful! Who else to share it with but you right? Haha, so we took the loonnngggg mrt ride all the way back to Xi Men Ding, where we rested at the hotel for a lil while before having some jap food at a nearby restaurant. The wasabi they give damn pathetic, and since I'm Wasabi King, I had to ask like 5 times zzzz. Is wasabi that expensive? Bah, but it was pretty delicious and not overpriced, so not much complains. By now felt pretty bad already, so we stopped by Watsons in Xi Men Ding and bought myself some panadol to curb the flu. And we had an early rest! Tomorrow 2nd last day!!!! 0 comments Day 2!
dreamt at 4/23/2009 11:13:00 AM,Woke up earrrllyyyy in the morning, didn't really have a good rest because I was still having the adrenaline rush from my driving test but never mind, today we're going Jiu Fen! Jiu Fen was one of the scheduled attraction we should have visited the last time I was in TW but then due to heavy rain it was shifted to Miramar shopping mall, sooo, so excited! Saw Jiu Fen on TV before, seems pretty interesting, so should be a good day ahead!    After finishing breakfast at the teeny weeny eatery, the bus was already waiting for us. It was a minibus with a driver and a guide. Other than the three of us, the minibus went on to pick another 4 Hong Kong tourists. The daughters chio haha. Anyway that's besides the point. We stopped by the Pineapple Cake shop, the one I went to 3 times before, and to a tea shop! New place, new discoveries. The boss introduced the methods to enjoy tea, and held several quizzes along the way. My dad got one right, that is Papaya Milk Tea was the famous drink 30 years ago. (Fyi: He was training in TW 30 years ago too). I got one, that is who sips his tea the loudest. :D So we won 2 tea packages! yay, bought some dried longan, and went on to Martyr's Shrine. Martyr's Shrine, Zhong Lie Ci. Third time I'm here, same ole routines by the soldiers. Nothing much to say here, took some pictures, and set off for Jiu Fen! 1 hour minibus ride till we reached Jiu Fen, on the way saw some tombs in the hills. Man, the air was fresh, sitting on hills, facing the sea, what more could the departed ask for? Winding roads for around 20 minutes before we finally reached Jiu Fen.    A lil trivia, it's called Jiu Fen because about a hundred years ago 9 families lived there, and whenever shopping, they would buy 9 sets to help each other, hence the name Jiu Fen. Weather was only cloudy while we walked through the streets, taking pictures of scenery and random stuff. Then it got reallyyy windy, but luckily, our time spent there wasn't really long, just enough for us to eat some fermented tofu, chicken cubes, buy some love letter biscuits, a flute, and takoyaki! After around 2 hours, we departed from Jiu Fen, the City of Sadness due to the frequent rains and the movie Tony Leung starred in, aptly named City of Sadness.    Then, it was another 1 hour ride to Yeh Liu Geo Park -_- Situated at the northern coast of Taiwan, this place boasts it sole attraction, that is, weird volcanic rocks. Weathered by rain and wind, the rocks from really weird shapes. The most famous of all would be the Queen's head. Heard that the neck might break anytime, so ladies and gentlemen, take pictures with it as soon as you possibly can! Nothing much to do here again except take pictures. The scenery is really nice here, and u can get creative with poses eg. climbing a rock wall, splitting a rock into two, playing chess on a rock table. After fooling around till around 4pm, the guide signalled for us to board the minibus, which then took us on a 1 hr plus ride again -_- to Shi Lin Night Market.  A lot of people have this misconception that Shi Lin is a damn fantastic Night Market. Not really, the food is alright, and shopping, might as well be done in Wu Fen Pu or Rao He. So really, there's nothing much fantastic here. Had oyster fry YUCKS, prawn fry YUCKS, hotplate beef noodle YUM, and Lu Rou Fan YUM. TWnese like to put some thick flour in their fries, so taste damn yucky, but the rest are really nice! Since we were already shagged out from walking the whole day, and it was still some time before Shi Lin truly lighted up as a night market, we decided to go back to the hotel to rest first. At around 7pm, we left the hotel for Shi Lin again. Now that it has started drizzling, we all whipped out our jackets and brollies. Mum and Dad had Green Bean Soup, I had another XXL cutlet with some lime juice. Caught my first doll from the famous toy machines in TW,those which u use a claw to pickup. It's a Ponyo. These machines cost 10 NTD per try which is... 50 cents. So I manage to get the toy in 2 tries, which means it's only 1 SGD! haha, cant find a better deal than that (over the course of 4 nights I caught 5 dolls, spending 7 SGD). But anyways like I said, Shi Lin wasn't that fantastic, and since my itenary has Yang Ming Shan on tomorrow, we headed back to the hotel early for a good rest, just in case the visit tomorrow required some SERIOUS mountain trekking. =D Stay tuned for day 3! 0 comments I am bored in the office. So I shall blog. About my 5 day 4 nights taipei holideh!
dreamt at 4/22/2009 11:33:00 AM,Special request for peektures, fulfilled! Day 1:   First time I'm in Changi Airport Terminal 3! Can't blame me, I'm not that frequent a traveller. Of course, being curious I set off to explore. Terminal 3 has two wings, one atas wing, and one cheapo wing, so choose carefully! Anyways, we went in quite late so it wasn't long before we boarded SQ876 to Taipei, hurrah. My flight time was spent watching Transporter 3, sleeping, eating, sleeping. After 4 hours, finally landed at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport. Since I was supposed to be the familiar one, I brought my parents around the airport, claiming baggage and moving through a long queue at customs, finally reaching the bus ticket area. There were so many bus services/shuttles, but luckily I managed to spot a tiny sign that says "Direct service to TS Hotel". Bingo! Paid 420 (from now on all currencies will be in ntd) for 3 adult Freego tickets, and off we went on the Freego bus.     Again, sleep and sleep until we reached the bus interchange, where we transferred to a smaller bus which brought us to the hotel in Xi Men Ding. Since I was no stranger to the pathetic size of hotels in the city area of Taipei, I set off to check out the lobby, finding out the internet table, the mini dining area. After checking in, it was a little unpacking and resting time. The room was, as usual, tiny, with a queen size bed and a futon. They call it tatami, but tatami is a mat luh, they gave me a thin mattress, and I think futon would be a more accurate description. At 4pm, we set off to explore Xi Men Ding, and of course to find some food to satisfy our grumbling tummies. Since we were already hungry, and I knew that Xi Men Ding didn't have much Xiao Chi to satisfy us, we stopped by a random Teppanyaki shop to have dinner. Price and food were average, but at least we managed to fill our stomachs. Then we took a quick tour around Xi Men Ding, during which I pointed out where were the toilets, and various attractions like cinemas etc. Parents can't wait to go to the famous Night Markets, so we bought tickets to ride their MRT, and the first night market I had planned to go was, Wu Fen Pu and Rao He.   After taking around 9 stops, we stopped at Hou Shan Pi, and took a walk around Wu Fen Pu. Once again I showed the locations of the toilets, and the various streets. Since it was a weekday, Wu Fen Pu didn't really have a crowd and I wasn't really in a mood to buy anything. Hence we sort of skimmed through Wu Fen Pu, and made our way to Rao He. Walking past the familiar Song Shan Train Station, I expected an overhead bridge, but this time, the construction was already completed and we could just walk straight through. After we reached Rao He, the first stop was Mango Ice! This is the best dessert I've eaten in Taipei, but maybe my expectations were too high, the mango ice didn't seem THAT nice this time around. Anyways, mum bought fermented tofu, and I got myself a XXL cutlet. Saw some nice T-shirts, but didn't stop to buy because we might spot cheaper ones at other night markets. With purchase on hold, we just walked around until we finished both streets. Seeing a long queue, mum and dad decided to get themselves Pepper Pancakes, which tasted pretty good with a lot of meat! Going back to the hotel, we decided to enrol for a mini 1 day tour to Jiu Fen and Yeh Liu. 800 per person. Not too ex, and since I was lazy to plan for the itenary, we signed up for it. Day 2 will be left to another time ^^ 0 comments "According to our news reporters on scene, at exactly 11:24 am this Tuesday morning, an extremely dangerous driver has been let loose again on the roads. Huge crowds gather outside Kg Ubi Driving Centre, carrying banners and boards proclaiming angry messages against the passing of the practical driving test by this dangerous driver. Despite strong pressures from the top brass, the examiner later gave a statement explaining that he did try his best, but just couldn't exceed the 20 failing points. News update tomorro...." Yours truly. Bullshit la. Had my tp today, passed with 16 points. Nabeh if the car in the circuit didnt block me I might have gotten less. Anyway, passed, so shouldn't complain. $1309 spent. Bloody ex, can imagine how much i contribute to GDP already hurhur. Ok now, Light Aircraft Private Pilot's License (check), SM-1 Tank License (check), Class 3 Driving License Check. Left helicopter anndddd boating. Think boating first, who interested? <500 bucks, plus, in the sea, no one jam brake in front of you one haha... dreamt at 4/14/2009 04:34:00 PM, 0 comments Here I am, wearing blue, on a Monday, in my office with nothing to do. So instead of doing quizzes on facebook like I've always done, I decided to check out channelnewsasia.com. Asia is a pretty exciting theatre right now, especially the north eastern sector. The N.Ks have gone and done it. And I must say that if there is a first, there will be a second, there will be many. It's true. "Rules must be binding, violations must be punished, words must mean something," US President Barack Obama earlier said during a speech in Prague about ridding the world of nuclear weapons. But no one will do it. Or rather no one really can. The power balance in the world has more or less split across two great nations, and neither will budge an inch, neither will be able to enforce anything on the other. Oh well, anyways, the damn payload fell into the ocean according to US authorities, which if we take it as the truth, it's pretty damn stupid. People in your country can't even feed themselves and you build a rocket that falls into the ocean? The hell you need a comms satellite when your people can't even afford a television proper. Respect for the Japs who sit tight through this tension, having a potential ICBM flying over your neighbourhood isn't exactly a comforting thought. So this episode is actually closing without any major incidents. But hey, if no hammer falls on the N.Ks, we in for a good show. Ahhh, the feeling of going back to school. Looking at the course requirements, I'm starting to doubt my choice to go into D.D. Man, it's gonna be tough going back to school, if the girls that are going in with me can forget most of their stuff hell I don't know what am I supposed to remember. Still got my notes from JC, hopefully that will recondition me into the student I'm supposed to be. I'm disappointed in Apple, because my ipod nano 4th gen from aussie died on me. Couldn't even charge the damn thing. Hopefully ernest can get it changed, or damn, my 183 bucks fly sky high. zzz. dreamt at 4/06/2009 09:59:00 AM, 0 comments Ah I just love it when I come back to this same old place, it's just about the only place that doesn't change, or perhaps it's just all relative... because it changes with me, it all seems constant to me. A space where I can reflect while listening to some thought invoking music, ah the only solace I get from the daily rumbles of life. I just received a letter from NTU notifying me of acceptance into the double degree course for aerospace and engineering. I thought I wouldn't really care about it anyways, but the news actually made me happy. And there I was expecting an interview haha... I guess this course if just not that in demand eh? Well ST released the courses with fresh grads commanding the highest mean salary, and sadly to say, aerospace is not one of them. I guess it's the same with engineering everywhere else less chemical though. Job prospects are down and out now, and probably will remain the same for the next 3-4 years. It'll be my time when I graduate. Ah the doldrums of economic recessions, I wonder how many more of these cycles will I have to slog through before eternal rest. Damn I owe someone a special letter too haha... supposed to be written in chinese to remind her of the need to remember roots! But her traditional language still remains pretty much intact, so I don't feel that guilty haha. Ooh your present is beside my computer now, haven't guessed what is it right? Driving test is next next tuesday! hot damn, hope i don't screw this shit up. Because I'm going taiwan the next day! Better bring some happy feelings hurhur. Well this is gonna be a trip of thought too. ^^ dreamt at 4/04/2009 09:44:00 PM, 0 comments |
Age: 2 0 School: JSPS/RI/RJC/Armour/NTU Location: Singapore
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Sheena Lining Clarence Jacqueline Stephanie Vivian Winfred Zhao Han |