Taiwan Trip Day 5 (07/07/2009)

Day 5 :) I'm amazed at how I manage to find the motivation to continue blogging since I'm lazy to upload photos haha. Woke up quite early in the morning and ate some 豆浆. Went to the bus terminal to buy my tickets to Tai Chung since I'll be there for my Day 6 and 7. Was quite surprised that the bus ticket is only 188 NTD for a super luxurious bus! More on the bus that I took in Day 6.

The bus terminal for express buses

Met up with Jian Wei and Jia Wei to go 龙山寺 in the evening. It's supposed to be the most famous temple in Taipei I think. I just went to take photos haha, with lots of people looking at me as if I'm someone weird as I'm taking photoes everywhere. I would say that the architecture of the temple is quite unique :)

The center building of the temple

They had this artificial waterfall in the temple which makes the whole temple cooler. Downside is I can't take a close up photo as I didn't want my camera to be exposed to the waterfall's every spashing water lol

After that we went to Hua Xi Night Market. We're supposed to see people kill snakes on the spot and eat them. Maybe because we went too early, we didn't see any, since we didn't want to try it ourselves haha. One interesting finding is there's super a lot of shops which sells *ahem toys here. Now I know why they say this night market is 龙蛇混杂, because it really gives me those underground gang sites kind of feeling which I always see in HK dramas.

Hua Xi Night Market's "gate"

We tried this 肉羹, tastes like dumplings without the skin though

After that, we went over to Xi Men Ding since Jia Wei says she wanted to cut her hair. After visiting a few saloons, we decided that it's not worth the money to cut a fringe in Taipei. Hence, we went to the computer street to find Samsung's service centre so that Jian Wei can fix his phone. However, we didn't send in the phone for servicing since it's going to cost money, and Jian Wei can't live without his phone by his side XD Hence, we went to 八方云集 to eat. It's black soy bean milk is so so in my opinion, but the dumpling and 锅贴 are nice :)

Me and Jian Wei with the food (and the shops's name)

That's for day 5 :)

Taiwan Trip Day 4 (06/07/2009)

Before I became lazy again, updates for day 4!

JW X 2 need to work during the day, so I became a lonely traveller until late afternoon :) Went out to eat 永和豆浆 in the morning before heading back to the hostel for a short nap (Pig sia, but what to do, Taiwan shopping areas only open after 11am for most of them). Set out for Xi Men Ding around 12pm. I literally walked around Xi Men Ding until I met Jian Wei in the afternoon. It's the most in place in all of Taipei, with lots of 帅哥 and 美女.

Xi Men Ding is very Harajuku-like, except minus the funny cosplayers. I saw a quite good looking couple wearing wolf ears though...

Met Jian Wei after his work, and we went over to Shida Night Market for more yummy food :)

We tried this 鲁味, quite nice imho, but JW X 2 was saying the other neighbouring shop tastes better.

We went for some Mango Ice before we head back to our respective hostels. That's before Jia Wei bought a super nerdy pair of specs though. For more info, refer to her blog XD

That's another day gone :)

Taiwan Trip Day 3 (05/07/2009)

It's a Sunday! So where will the good little Chern Yih go? To the Church off course :) I visited Taipei's New Life Church on this fine Sunday morning. It's main service is held in Fu Xing Primary School's Hall. Feel welcomed when I was there looking for seats, and the ushers were kind enough to give me a seat nearer to the door :) And I forgot to buy the new album that they've came out with ..... argh!

Taipei's New Life Church

Fu Xing Primary

Inside Fu Xing Primary

Met up with Jian Wei, Jia Wei, and Susan in the afternoon to go Wu Fen Pu. The things there were cheap for girls, not really so much for guys though. Luckily I didn't suffer much damage there. No pictures as we were busy shopping.

Hou Shan Pi Station, where we walk to Wu Fen Pu from.

After much shopping, we decided to eat some sushi, so in we went into 争鲜Sushi. It's 30 NTD per plate, including the sashimis. Sounds cheap right? In the end I ate 10 plates lol.... That concluded the day and we went back to sleep, since the rest have to work on the following day.

Stay tuned for Day 4 :)

Taiwan Trip Day 2 (04/07/2009)

Before I lost my blogging urge, I shall continue to day 2. We (me + Jian Wei + Jia Wei) went out with Po-min and Devin to Jiufen. It was a nice morning :) On the way to Jiufen

First stop of the day - Jiufen Old Street. Now that they erected the signage, looks super touristy la...

We also tried things like ice cream crepe, abalone mushroom, and had beef noodles for lunch. All shown below.

We also ate the yam ball (literal translation), which is chewy and yummy yummy. See what happened to Jian Wei and Jia Wei after they've tried it.

Went crazy hahaha. Or more accurately, transformed into Domo-kun! After the yam ball, we went further up the mountain to look at the scenery. It's super beautiful la!

Before I left Jiufen :)

After Jiufen, we went to Jin Gua Shi, where it is previously famous for being a City of Gold (okla just a gold mine lol). Look at the gold bar below. It's worth a whooping 218 570 000 New Taiwan Dollars!

Ok dreams aside, we went to Kee Lung in the evening by bus (a super zai driver on board), just to eat the super famous nutritious sandwich! (It doesn't look like a sandwich though, but the taste is extremely addictive)

After a whole night of eating and squeezing in the night market, we departed for Taipei through train. Well, I think this is the first train that I've ever boarded (MRT excluded). Stay tuned for Day 3! (It's gonna get shorter and shorter due to laziness to post photos haha)

Taiwan Trip Day 1 (03/07/2009)

I should really start blogging about my Taiwan trip before it became a super big backlog. Now that people mentioned it, I think it's super cool to travel alone to a foreign land, even cooler if you have friends to bring you around :) A mix of independence and restriction certainly makes a seemingly monotonous trip into a colourful and fulfilling one.

Was thankful that I'm not down with H1N1, although a lot of people that I've come into contact with got tested positive... I think I scared the living hell out of Jian Wei and Jia Wei. Thank God for His divine protection throughout the trip, and the favors along the way. It's cool to make new friends, given that I'm too shy to initiate a conversation most of the time... Thanks lots (JW) X 2 for bringing me around :)

Without further ado, I shall let the pictures do the talking. Introducing AirasiaX's Airbus A330, which took me to Taiwan :)

First stop after I checked into Taipei Hostel. Shilin Night Market with Jian Wei and Jia Wei! Yummy yummy food! Here's the super big Shilin Chicken Chop. As big as my face sia, dont play play.

Next up, the fried oyster omelette and tempura (pronounced as 甜不辣). I love the oyster omelette in Taiwan; not too hard, has big oysters, and most importantly, does not cause over-gelakness. The tempura is uber nice too :)

Then, we bought the WAH!青蛙下蛋. It's unique and super nice!

After that is the stinky toufu. Actually we bought the seemingly least stinky one around. Should really challenge the non-fried one someday.

Next up, the 绵绵冰. The ice is soooooooo soft that I can't even feel it except the cold sensation when I ate it. Prefer it over the normal ice kacang type of ice anytime.

Also ate 冰糖葫芦. Didn't really like it though, too sweet and sticky for my liking.

Last item for the day, the fried milk (something along the line). Super creamy!

To be continued: Taiwan Trip Day 2