Taiwan is Love!

九份 (jiu-fen)

2010-05-14T01:31:00.000-07:00

There used to be only 9 families living in this little town. Whenever someone goes into the city to buy groceries or stuffs, they will buy 9 portions back for everyone. Soon after, they were known as 九份 (which means 9 portions in Chinese).

Later, they found Gold in this little town, and soon, everyone flock here to mine Gold. It became a prosperous place over night. Gradually, all the Gold were dug, and soon, everyone left, and it became a quiet little town again.

In the 80s, after the show "City of Sadness" 《悲情城市》 was shot in 九份, it became a tourist attraction. The little town found it's prosperity again.

Old school looking little town

Yummy Sausages. If you love sausages like me, you can eat your fill in Taiwan. It's everywhere!

野柳 - Food

2010-05-14T01:14:00.000-07:00

The market at Yeliu, targeting mainly at tourists though.

Yummy Taiwan Sausage! Really nice and juicy!

Fried mushrooms. Yummy!

One of the many many tunnels we see and pass through everyday.

野柳 - Yeliu Geopark

2010-05-14T01:08:00.000-07:00

Next up, 野柳. It's one of those must-visit places of interest in Taiwan. A place of beautiful scenery, rocks and water. A nice place to slow down, and enjoy life.

The parking area

Look at all the tourist coaches!

We're here!

From now on, it's lots and lots of pictures of beautiful rocks, sea, and the scenery!

What did you see?

The legendary "fairy's shoe"

Another Fairy Shoe. The story behind these shoes is, long ago, the fairies decided to come down to earth to play. They were discovered, and in their rush to return, 2 fairies dropped their shoes...:)

The famous Queen's head 女皇头. Due to harsh weather, the queen's head is in pretty bad shape now. They were saying in a few years time, probably the head will break and drop...

中正纪念堂, National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

2010-04-19T04:30:00.000-07:00

中正纪念堂, National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, is built to commemorate the passing of Taiwan's ex-president Chiang Kai Shek 蒋中正 also known as 蒋介石.

自由廣場. It used to be called "大中至正", until Chen Shui Bian (陈水扁)'s government decides to change the name to 自由廣場in 7th December 2007. However, it's been reverted to 中正紀念堂 in 20th July 2009 though the signage is still unchanged. you can read about the news here (it's in chinese though).

Beautiful Flowers

Taipei Metro 台北捷运

2010-04-17T00:25:00.000-07:00

Taipei Metro is a rather established network, and easily brings you around Taipei. It's our main mode of transport in Taipei since it's so convenient and cheap! It also allows us to experience up-close-and-personal, the lifestyle of the locals. We only take the Taxi, known as 小黄 by the locals as the cabs there are all yellow, when necessary.

Regardless if you want to go to Xi Men Ding (西门町, Wu Fen Pu （五分谱), or Dan Shui （淡水), you can get there by Taipei Metro. The frequency is quite good, so there's minimal waiting time, and no worries of traffic jams!

The bilingual signs telling you which way to go to take your train. This is taken at Taipei Main Station 台北总站, which is the main interchange to bring you around, similar to our City Hall MRT Station & Raffles Place MRT Station in Singapore.

the route and the price. The most expensive fare from Taipei Main Station 台北总站 is to Dan Shui （淡水), which is NT$50 (ard S$2.30). Quite cheap rite?

the DIY ticketing booth.

Up close and Personal.

some random notice.

Signs showing estimated arrival of the various trains. It's bilingual.

in the train, with signs showing the upcoming stations. It is bilingual too.

To find out more about Taipei Metro, you can visit their website at http://www.trtc.com.tw/

Taiwan High Speed Rail 台湾高铁

2010-04-16T23:47:00.000-07:00

台湾高铁 have really allow the Taiwanese to go to the various cities easily. From what I heard, a trip from Taipei 台北 to the southern part Kao Shiung 台南高雄 used to take like a couple of hours by train (I think it's around 4 hours? correct me if I'm wrong). With the high speed rail, it only takes 45mins! WOW! Really saves alot of time, especially for those who wants to go home to spend the weekend, or wants to go home daily. But the rates is quite steep though. A trip from Taipei to Tainan costs around NT$1145 (ard S$52) for a standard ticket. Business class tickets is NT$1780 (ard $80). But well, as the old saying goes..time is money! :)

Ticketing Booths.

Or you can get it from the DIY machines! Just like Singapore's MRT. :)

the gantry! told you i take pics of everything and anything! it's the same tap-and-go kind!

the railway at Taoyuan （桃园)

self explanatory.

the platform, where everyone is waiting for the train. It's 8+ am! look at the queuing dividers! The Taiwanese have a really good culture of queuing up. This is something you cannot find in Singapore. I've more examples in the later entries. :)

here comes the train!

no smoking!

the board on the back of the sit in front (right in your face), showing the layout of the train, where's the toilets etc.

If you're keen to find out more about Taiwan High Speed Rail (台湾高铁), you can visit their website: http://www.thsrc.com.tw/en/

Day 2: Random Street Shots, Taoyuan Morning

2010-03-22T03:47:00.000-07:00

Early morning in Taoyuan.

Another random street shot.

Cute snack I bought from 7-11 to snack in the bus. Doraemon sponge cake! NT 20 (around $0.90). so cute rite!

closer look. it's 3D! :)

Another packet with heart shaped sponge cake. It's super Q, and delicious, with butter flavored. yumz! This cost only NT12!

Look! heart shape butter sponge cake with smiley face!

We're on the bus ride to Tao Yuan High Speed Rail (台灣高速鐵路, commonly known there as 高鐵 ), similar to Japan's bullet train. Going to take the train down to Taipei (台北).

Here are some random street shots on the way there. You're going to see tons of random shots i took everywhere throughout this blog. I strongly believe that these shots is the best way for us to understand the city better, and the best way for us to remember the places. :)

One of the many wedding boutique. It's so huge! Sophia Wedding can also be found in Singapore. It's along the stretch in Tanjong Pagar (Tras street I think), that's full of wedding boutiques. compare the size of the shop if you're there! :)

One of the schools in Taoyuan. They even have student guards, who will salute when some big shots (probably their teacher, or principal) enters.

I can't remember if this is an apartment or office building. This is a common sight in big cities like Taoyuan, KaoShiung, Taipei etc. You don't get to see these in the more rural areas.

One of their second hand car-dealer. The grey car is only NT40,000 (around S$1818) and the green car is only NT100,000! (around S$4545)!

Another second-hand car dealer

Sad looking tree..I actually thought this is a beautiful shot. :)

Street markings

Road under construction. Please slow down.

Day 1: Taoyuan Night Scene

2010-03-22T03:24:00.000-07:00

one of the random night street shots in Taoyuan.

Another random shot in Taoyuan.

Look at the Watsons! The Watsons store in Taiwan are all so huge. The smallest I've been to is 2 storey, and the biggest is 4 stories high!

PartyWorld KTV 钱柜. not sure if it's under the same management as the one in Singapore. Heard it's a very popular (and expensive) joint in Taiwan.

PartyWorld KTV price list.

Day 1: Taoyuan Street Food

2010-03-22T02:47:00.000-07:00

After putting our luggage in the hotel and freshening up, we went for a walk at the nearby night market (夜市). The weather was so good! It was around 20 degrees, and compared to the heat in Singapore, we welcomed the cooling weather with open arms. You may need a sweater, or a little scarf. It felt so good! Felt like you're in a aircon room, just that this is natural, and the air smelt alot fresher.

This is one of the many mobile food stalls that you'll see everywhere in Taiwan. The food is usually cheap and good! The owners are quite hygienic too, so you can eat with ease. The stall in the picture above is selling deep fried spring onion pancake (葱油饼). It taste like Roti Prata, with fillings. You can choose the fillings you want like ham, cheese, chicken, etc. Cost NT40 - NT45 (around S$1.80 to S$2.00)

deep fried spring onion pancake (葱油饼)

the very popular Taiwan street dish 卤味. You can find it everywhere in Taiwan, and we've tried it at different stalls in different parts of Taiwan. So far, this stall in Taoyuan is still the best!

It's abit like yong tau fu in Singapore, where you get to choose the stuffs you like (eg. vegetables, muschroom, sausage, fishcakes （甜不辣), fishballs, meatballs, seaweed etc.), and they will cook it in a very delicious soup/gravy for you. This stall in Taoyuan is the only one we've tried that cooked it in soup. The others are all served in gravy.

*slurp* I'm hungry just looking at this picture now! And it's super cheap! Only cost us around NT100 (ard S$4.50) for 2 big bowls!

the very delicious yam cake from the 卤味.

this is a MUST-TRY. that is also sold everywhere in Taiwan. Hot Chin Chow (热仙草). Singapore only sell cold chin chow, with bits and pieces in the drink, but not in Taiwan. I still remembered my first comment when i first tried it. "It taste weird!". But soon, I got hooked! When first served, it's watery, and looks abit like herbal tea. The interesting thing is it will slowly hardens to jelly form. Very interesting dessert that got me super hooked on it. You can choose to have it in plain form (just the chin chow), or add it with small little dumplings etc. Nice! Highly recommended. Must try if you're in Taiwan. Cost around NT 35 - 45 (depending on size and locations.)

Day 1: Taotyuan 桃园

2010-03-22T02:10:00.000-07:00

First night was spent in Taoyuan. Can't recall the name of the hotel now (will go check and update). when we arrived, the exterior looks really disappointing and we had to climb stairs to get to our storey! thank god it's our first day and we didnt have too many luggage.

However, when we reached the room, we were WOWed! 3 of us were staying in the same room so we need an additional bed, and look! we had a mini suite!

the miscellaneous table we saw when we first went in...

The additional bed

the cupboard

the sofa

the bed

dressing corner & TV

the bathroom. look at the showerhead! shiok!

there's a steam bath in the bathroom! right in our room! shiok rite? here's the switch, for you to set the duration preferred you can't set the temperature though.

the seats in the bathroom for you to enjoy your steam bath.

overall, we conclude the climb up the stairs worth it. quite a not-bad hotel. no views though.

Day 1: Singapore Changi Airport -> Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport

2010-03-22T01:51:00.000-07:00

3 March 2010, SQ 878, 12:20pm
Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3 to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

Singapore Airlines. Singapore's Pride.

In-flight food

tadah! chose the international menu. quite good, considering it's plane food.

Arrived! Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport 台湾桃园国际机场