Taipei Trip 19/7 - 23/7 2007

Wat can i say about this 5 day trip??

Hot - becos we gotta endure the scorching heat under the sun over the 5 days, and the highest temperature reached was on 22/7 at 38 deg C. but felt abit blessed cos there was not a single drop of rain which could haf hindered our sight seeing schedules.

Tiring - 2 blur sotongs going on a free and easy tour alone without any help or guide. getting lost along the streets and frantically searching for the coorect directions on the map were common. 'topo' exercises more siong than wat i get at the army was a test of physical endurance and fitness as well...esp under the hot sun. Everyday i go back to the hotel, i would just lethargically dip myself into the bath tub and immersing myself in the cooling water and even dozing off for 30mins.

I tink pictures will tell u almost everything about how much i've enjoyed from the trip. Hope u will enjoy watching it:

Taipei Stay Video

here are some other highlights of the trip and some sentiments which i felt the video might not have fully conveyed:

People:
The people are generally much more helpful, friendly and polite than SGreans.

I remembered on the 1st day we got lost on the streets, and there was this particular uncle who noticed us and specially crossed the road to assist us voluntarily. Many MRT stations are also equipped with a “Tourist help center" and most of their officers are reali helpful and kind in giving us the directions to and information about certain places.

The general MRT discipline and conduct of the people had reali impressed me. People will really faithfully stand behind the yellow line while waiting for the train to arrive. and during peak timings when the station was flooded with people, people will reali faithfully queue up by the sides of the door, wait for the passengers to totally alight, then board the train orderly. People will also readily give up their seats to people who need it more than them (this applies to bus rides as well). For all these, i reali admire the general Taiwanese citizens.

I also remembered on the 2nd day when we went to 阳明山 for sight seeing, this particular almost 70 years old 阿伯 chatted with us and very happily gave us alot of advise on the places of interest in that area, and after chatting for about 15 minutes, he even offered us the red grapes he brought for the trip. We were touched by his kindness and friendliness.

P.S: there r reali many pretty ladies in Taiwan!! very pleasing to the eye "p


Food:

In general, though many varieties of food are sold there, but they generally dun suit my taste. Food there are generally very starchy, sweet.....and spicy food is reali quite rare there.

Scenery:

Nothing very beautiful or special. but juz felt that july is not a good season to go sight seeing there due to its hot weather.

We also need to conquer many high hills or long flight of stairs before we can reach certain tourist attractions. reali walk until leg super pain.

Clothings:

generally closer to japanese fashion. so the clothings which i bought r reali quite limited.

Nightlife:

It was until the last night when i wanted to visit the night places so badly. and it was reali by fate/ chance that i landed on one of the best pub in Taipei. -- ez5. y dat statement??
the initial plan was to go to a pub named Brass Monkey....but unfortunately when we got to the correct street, we still could not find the place , instead, we ended up passing by the Westin Hotel of Taipei (super high class) . So i decided to gif it a shot to inquire the receptionist about nice pubs.

I spoke to him in mandarin, u noe wat?? he replied me in english initially......but reali thanks to him that we finally got to ez5. This pub is famous for Chinese pop/ rock live band. was very fortunate to be able to hear and see taiwanese singers like 光头杰，李度，阿飞, of which i oni knew 李 before then. after hearing them sing, the only sentiment i got was: How can St James Dragonfly "七月歌台" standard hold a candle to those 3 singers????? It was reali a pleasure to hear them sing. and i secretly took a video of each singer on that day. u might want to listen:



光头杰--if i'm not wrong, the song is called 《早餐，晚餐》



李度--her 成名曲 《为爱犯了罪》. sad to say this song was quite terribly sang...seriously out of tune at the low key areas. but she did win back my respect when she wonderfully sang english songs like "because you love me" etc..



阿飞--a 原著民singer. the 1st look i looked at him reminds me of 动力火车. reali nothing to say abt his singing. it's simply splendid. the word is 磁性. was simply attracted to his voice. and i can't help but to give him the loudest applause out of the 3.


Bonus encounter

The one most worthy of mentioning muz be the "ANDY LAU" encounter. i remembered i walked towards the trolley area to return my luggage trolley after checking in, when i saw a group of women crowding around one person. initially i thought it could be some 2nd/3rd line stars cos the crowd reali wasn't alot (abt 20-30 pple). then this group of people suddenly walked past me cos probably i was in their line of obstruction due to the trolley station location. Then this star opened his mouth to speak. and i lifted my head to look at him, and was extremely surprised to see the ANDY LAU face. i cannot doubt that he still looks extremely handsome, but....abit plastic....lol...muz be the botox..


Overall, this trip is still very enjoyable and memorable. it was a good balance between sight seeing and shopping. reali many thanks to XY for being an excellent companion, without a single word of complaint from the exhaustive schedule. To all, forgive me if i might be too long winded in this post, cos it's also for the sake of being able to recall all the memories juz in case my memory was to fail one fine day.