14th July 2007 Saturday

Finally fulfilled my dream of going to Taiwan last week. Well, not the whole Taiwan but did spend a good deal of days in Taipei. Have wanted to go to Taiwan ever since I was in Junior College. And I even planned it to be my Junior College graduation trip. But it didn't manifest. Then I planned it for my University graduation trip but ended up procrastinating again. So finally after one year into the working society, I finally went. Here are some photos that I (or rather, my sis) took over at Taipei.
A sight taken from the plane on my way to Taipei. Brilliant isn't it? Like a sea of clouds with the sun shining brilliantly on them. Wonder if this is what heaven looks like. Are there angels out there? Hello. Any of you out there?
This is the famous Ah Zong Mian Xian in Ximending that we ate during our first night in Taipei. If you were wondering why those people are standing, that is because they don't offer seats to their customers so for those having the food there, you need to stand to have it. Despite this, the queue was ever so long. The Mee Sua was so nice that we went back for it on our last night in Taipei. Singapore's Mee Sua is nothing compared to the real thing. For those of you who are going to Taipei, be sure to catch it. It is a turn left when you see 101 Ximending and the big KFC in Ximending.
The pie that Doraemon used to eat are sold quite widely in Taiwan. Comes in all sorts of fillings including ice cream fillings which tasted marvellous in the hot weather over there. And the best part, they had Doraemon's face printed on the pie. Cute right?
We stopped to have desserts at this shop which was supposedly owned by Jacky Wu. Didn't really see Jacky Wu's face over there so couldn't confirm if he is the boss but this restaurant is definitely fanchised from Hong Kong. Oh and by the way, the words on the signboard was written by Jin Yong, the writer who wrote Condor Heroes and stuff. Cool! And the desserts that we had are below.
Before eating - Cool delicious Tau Huey with loads of pearls.
After eating - See? Told you it was delicious.
This is a view of Kee Lung that my sis took from Jiu Fen. It is an hour's ride from Taipei and that is where we bought quite a few packets of Mua Chees. Nice right? Luckily it didn't rain when we were there else we wouldn't have captured this nice view.
Sandwiches from OLE Cafe recommended by my favourite singer - Fish Leong (For those who are protesting that she is my favourite singer, to clarify - SHE is my favourite band. Fish Leong is my favourite singer). Caught a couple of cups painted by her over there and apparently, she celebrated her last birthday there. Nice cool place to chill out on a hot afternoon and read a book or two over there.
Taipei 101 - The supposed tallest building in the world after the Twin Towers collapsed. But our tour guide said that China is supposedly building a taller one. Oh, and this building is supposed to be built for Feng Shui reasons too as it overlooks Ma Ying Jiu's (Contender of the next presidency of Taiwan) office. Cool. But we didn't go up as it costs as much as SGD17 just to sit the elevator up and no phototaking is allowed.
Partyworld - Yup. The same partyworld that you sing KTV at in Singapore. But in Taipei, they don't come in shops but come as a whole building. Cool right? A whole building full of KTV rooms!
Had lunch at Yu Wo in Ximending. Cool place where they had swings as seats. And the ambience is perfect. You can also scribble on their walls. Left my signature on one of those walls, just for remembrance. The statue like guard in front of Zong Lie Ci. And I mean they are really statue like because they do not move unless they change shift. Something like our guards in front of Istana. Oh, and their change shift drill is cool. And they do those drills when they change shift every hour. The studs on their boots made long marks on the cement floor due to the frequency of their drills. Oh and the tour guide said they are supposed to stand there even if there is typhoon or rain. I don't know about typhoons but the weather was real hot when we were there and they were sweating like mad. But they are not moving. Tough training huh?
Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall - Didn't dwell long here so nothing much to say.
Loads of convenience stalls over at Taipei. You can probably see one at every street corner and they have loads of street corners. Best part about them, you can see my favourite SHE in every 7-11 stall. Kawaii right - my favourite band!
A rather cool poster that I caught on their Metro trains. Probably Singapore should have them too to minimize those "jump-rail" suiciders huh? Maybe they should make it in poster size and hang them around the station? Oh, and I must mention that their Metro train system is much more advanced than Singapore with countdowns of train arrival accurate to the nearest 5 seconds. And their people are much more disciplined than us - all obeying the rules to stay in line and wait for others to alight from the train before boarding. Made me a little ashamed of us Singaporeans. And they do really keep right (Taipei's rule is to keep right) on the escalators when they are not climbing the escalators. Sigh. When will Singaporeans learn such manners?
Taoyuan International Airport - our last view of Taipei before our plane back home took off.