DAY 1 (06-07-08) - TAIWAN HERE I COME!

On the 6th July 2008, 4 of us, (Da and I, Cheryl and her BF Maveric) set off to Taiwan, Taipei...Unsure of what to expect, but hoping for the best...

Little did we expect that it turned out to be one of the BESTEST (if there ever is such a word) trip of my whole life... I really, really enjoyed it.. Words can't even begin to describe how much I loved the trip...how much I enjoyed myself..

In the next few entries, you would see the places we have visited, and the things that we have done.. Be patient though, because there are so many many photos, and I only have so much time because school has already started... =(

At the Singapore Changi Airport... da and I..

Here's Cheryl, with our boarding pass..
People used to tell her, and also me, that we looked like sisters...
Looking lost upon arrival.. haha.. In the group of 4, only I and Maveric could read chinese.. The other two of them were literally in no man's land.. hahah... For once in my life, I felt really needed.. In this country, everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is in Chinese.. haha..
For the fun of it...so cute right?

After we arrived at the airport, we had to buy tickets for another independent bus company to take us to the main taipei city, where the hotel was located. It was called "freego"...translated from chinese "FEI GOU" (which literally means flying dog...) and hance the picture on the pretty bus.. haha..

The very friendly hotel staff.. The common area outside our room.. really, really, really nice place. Highly recommended! This inn is really self sufficient. The rooms may be very small, but cozy. Instead of having ovens in each rooms, they had a common area where guests could get drinking water (which is a GREAT thing because I ALWAYS get dehydrated on trips as I do not dare to drink water that is not from home. It's great that they have the water there...), hot water, a fridge for you to store things, and even a laundry room with washing machines and dryers so as to allow guests to clean their clothes. The best part? It was free! We washed our clothes twice in the days we were there. Luckily we brought our own detergent, so... =)

This is our room. Very small, but REALLY SUPER COZY... the one thing that all 4 of us agreed on, the TV in the room is enough to make you wanna stay in the whole day! They have hundred over channels, which showed really good movies! They even have blue films (not the type that you would have to pay for...) All I did was channel surfing...and came by the channel... hmm..interesting.. aha... I miss the TV programmes there.. !

Very cozy bathroom... Check out the shower.. I like! No bath tub, but I think this is better... =)

Everything in the room is clean, white and nice!


Check out the contraption on the toilet bowl... Mind you, this is inside each and eevry room. I guess it's not cheap to install them... haha.. you can wash your front or back with this thingee.. really clean. The whole bathroom was really clean.
At the underground mall of the Taipei main station, there were 2 or 3 such shops. In them, the whole shop was just full of the machines where you could "catch" soft toys and stuff... cool.. The diff is that the things in there are really cute. On the way to take the train, despite being really hungry, we actually managed to get stuck here for about 30 minutes. haha..

In their MRT train. See the railing that we are leaning on? It's actually for bicycles... Passengers can bring their bicycles on the train and "park" it at one of these metal contraptions. Cool!

And you see the poster behind us? The whole train was full of them. In each cabin of the train, there would be several dark blue seats, which were reserved for the old, handicapped, pregnant women and children. Just like Singapore, you would say....well...pretty much, except for the fact that people actually NEVER sat on these seats, even if it was obvious that there were none of the above category people in the train. They were really self disciplined... and to think that in Singapore, people had to beg for seats... and no one would even give up their seats...

We were seriously amazed at the people in Taipei. Everyone queued while waiting for the train to arrive. Not just stand around the platform and wait, but QUEUE! It was a refreshing change from the stoopid people we have in SIngapore, who would clamour to get into the MRT train when it arrives, like their lives depended on whether they could try to smother the people trying to get down from the train.. I was impressed...truly..
Here's the "single trip" coin. Really cute.. What's cuter is that it even works as the EZ link card as well.. You just scan it on the sensor...
They have freaking 8 interchanges! WHen you want to go somewhere, you really have to patiently try to figure your way out, and which freaking line to take. To get to ShiDa night market on the first night, we were lost 3 times before we finally got on the right line..

Haha...one thing to note though: if you're lost, just ask around. The people there are super friendly. Just make sure to double check the directions that they give to you. SOmetimes it might not be very accurate.. coz i think they are not sure as well.. haha.

On the way to the night market...there was this wonderful cake shop, and all the cakes looked delicious. Mind you, we were already starving...

And so, we stumbled into the first shop that crossed paths with us.. It was a teppanyaki shop, and everything looked cheap to us.. haha...

We ordered, each couple, the set for 2. There was chicken, beef, SCALLOPS (as seen in the pictures), prawns, vegetable, free flow of drinks and free flow of rice...

Per couple was only NT$499, which works out to be S$25. When we went to pay, I was shocked to find out that it was NETT! no plus this, plus that.. I was already starting to love the country.. hee hee..

The streets of ShiDa night market...really really crowded...

After having the teppanyaki dinner, the crazy Cheryl wanted more food.. OH MY GOD! can't believe it... I knew then that this trip to Taiwan would not only be "fruitful" literally.. it would be FOODFUL! haha... sigh..there goes the months of workout at the gym...

And so, our search led us to this shop where the queue was insanely long.. Wherever you go, it makes perfect sense to line up where the crowds are... can't go wrong... so we went to take the number for this shop..selling "sheng jian bao", some dumpling with pork fillings inside... Our number was 195...

The ladies crowding around the fillings, wrapping the dumplings. Talking at the same time...Hmm...something that would be frowned upon in Singapore...flouting too many hygiene regulations.. haha.. NO GLOVES! EEWW!! haha...
Everytime they steam, they only make about 30? coz they make on the spot, so it makes the wait all the more unbearable...can't wait for our turn!
Trust me.. it's definitely worth the wait.. oh my god... the soup that comes pouring out of the smooth skin of the pau... oooh..makes me drool just thinking of it... *slurp*!
When we got back to our TAIPEI main station that night, we figured it made more sense for us to jus purchase the EZ link card kinda thing as we would be there for one whole week. Works pretty much the same way as well.. travelling there was really quite cheap...