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Friday, June 09, 2006
Taiwan Trip Day 3
after 2 days in Taipei, we finally moved out to go to other areas of Taiwan. This is our first time, so it was pretty exciting, carrying our full backpacks on our backs as we got ourselves to the bus terminal.
the bus we were going to take is not public buses actually. technically, well, they are, but they are more like tour buses in Singapore that travel to Kuala Lumpur or Ipoh. Think 草原快車. ya. except that their counters (for purchasing tickets) look at freaking airport check-in counters.
woah~ ok la. this is because the terminal is new, that's why it looks freaking nice. we were supposed to go to the counter, tell the counter where is our destination, and den they will recommend which timings to take and so on, pretty much like the airport. then, on the tickets that you buy, you'll know what is the timing and where to go to to board your bus. cool huh?
In the full backpacking spirit
the bus was very good as well, comes with tv. the only thing lacking is meals, but we bought 便當 for lunch on the way, which tastes great. it's amazing how cheap stuff in Taiwan can taste great at the same time.
oh yar, i haven't talk about our destination, 日月潭 (Sun Moon Lake). it's a preserved lake, like a national reserve. anyway, after the disappointing 漁人碼頭, i wasn't really expecting much though, thinking it's just another of those tourist sight-seeing. Being a typical Singaporean, well, tourist sight-seeing locations aren't very attractive and mostly reminds me of the Singapore Zoo.
the journey there was freaking long. initially i tried to stay awake and admire the scenary as the fields there are really vast and 遼闊, and also to chit-chat wif JH, but after a while (especially after boring hong kong films on the tv), i fell asleep...
...and when i woke up...
... it was raining quite a bit, but when i looked out of the window, woah~ a great lake was in sight and the gloomy sky made the whole picture very... is 'serene' the word? the whole picture was grayish, and you really cant see the left or right edges of the lake, making it like a great magnificent dragon sleeping. and immediately the first sound that came out of my mouth was...
yesh! i 'fwah'-ed very very loudly! i tink even the bus driver and other taiwan passengers got a shock from my 'fwah'. my frens all laughed out loud sia~ so paiseh!
after we checked into our 飯店, the rain stopped and we went out for a walk around the lake. woah, the view of the lake while standing at the edge of it was... breathtaking!
Just have to take panaroma for this! Look how small yeok and cl are inside the pic!!
Do click to enlarge and enjoy the full magnificent picture!
日月潭 is a very secluded area, not much ppl are here. it's like 桃花園 you know, even the 飯店 owners havent been really heading to town for years. they are damn courteous and nice as i chit-chatted wif them that night.
anyway, back to that afternoon... we walked arnd part of the lake (the whole lake wud take days~!) and everything here is pretty much very countryside, as u can see in the pictures:
This one's for display, but there's a really working one as we walked further
as we walked, we could hear the water ripples padding softly on the lakeshore; the leaves rustling lightly with the wind blowing. woah~ it's like a total zen environment. i wished i could be here to study for my semestral exams everytime!
we walked back to the little town after that, and it started raining again. after having dinner, we went back to hotel, praying for the rain to stop so that we could go see fireflies.
wait... wait... wait... and woah, our prayers were answered.
it was pretty scary, cos on the way, the locals kept telling us it's very dangerous and advised us not to go. but the craving to see fireflies was so strong, nothin was stopping us. and anyway, most of us brought torchlights too. (we're damn clever, aren't we? wahaha~)
it was night and it was pretty dark already at 9something. we walked up this slope and followed a trail without any street lights, so we really had to rely on our torchlights. and suddenly, in the distance we caught a single firefly floating around in the air above us. it was pretty eerie, but nice. kinda reminds me of my firefly experience in ubin, except this is more ghostly... haha... as we walked deeper into the woods, we saw more, and the gals were thrilled. ok, so was i too. it was kinda nice to see a whole bush full of twinklings. :)
sorry no pictures. this blogger bo skill at capturing these kind of pictures... haha~!
anyway, after that, we safely returned back to the town and went to the convenience store to buy supper. whoot! our first night feast! there's beer, cup noodles, tidbits, etc etc. feasting time!
the night went well, altho i must say sharing a toilet with 5 other ppl was quite troublesome. i was the last to shower and by the time i came out, all the gals were asleep.
[to be continued]...
the bus we were going to take is not public buses actually. technically, well, they are, but they are more like tour buses in Singapore that travel to Kuala Lumpur or Ipoh. Think 草原快車. ya. except that their counters (for purchasing tickets) look at freaking airport check-in counters.
woah~ ok la. this is because the terminal is new, that's why it looks freaking nice. we were supposed to go to the counter, tell the counter where is our destination, and den they will recommend which timings to take and so on, pretty much like the airport. then, on the tickets that you buy, you'll know what is the timing and where to go to to board your bus. cool huh?
In the full backpacking spirit
the bus was very good as well, comes with tv. the only thing lacking is meals, but we bought 便當 for lunch on the way, which tastes great. it's amazing how cheap stuff in Taiwan can taste great at the same time.
oh yar, i haven't talk about our destination, 日月潭 (Sun Moon Lake). it's a preserved lake, like a national reserve. anyway, after the disappointing 漁人碼頭, i wasn't really expecting much though, thinking it's just another of those tourist sight-seeing. Being a typical Singaporean, well, tourist sight-seeing locations aren't very attractive and mostly reminds me of the Singapore Zoo.
the journey there was freaking long. initially i tried to stay awake and admire the scenary as the fields there are really vast and 遼闊, and also to chit-chat wif JH, but after a while (especially after boring hong kong films on the tv), i fell asleep...
...and when i woke up...
... it was raining quite a bit, but when i looked out of the window, woah~ a great lake was in sight and the gloomy sky made the whole picture very... is 'serene' the word? the whole picture was grayish, and you really cant see the left or right edges of the lake, making it like a great magnificent dragon sleeping. and immediately the first sound that came out of my mouth was...
FWAH!
yesh! i 'fwah'-ed very very loudly! i tink even the bus driver and other taiwan passengers got a shock from my 'fwah'. my frens all laughed out loud sia~ so paiseh!
after we checked into our 飯店, the rain stopped and we went out for a walk around the lake. woah, the view of the lake while standing at the edge of it was... breathtaking!
Just have to take panaroma for this! Look how small yeok and cl are inside the pic!!
Do click to enlarge and enjoy the full magnificent picture!
日月潭 is a very secluded area, not much ppl are here. it's like 桃花園 you know, even the 飯店 owners havent been really heading to town for years. they are damn courteous and nice as i chit-chatted wif them that night.
anyway, back to that afternoon... we walked arnd part of the lake (the whole lake wud take days~!) and everything here is pretty much very countryside, as u can see in the pictures:
This one's for display, but there's a really working one as we walked further
as we walked, we could hear the water ripples padding softly on the lakeshore; the leaves rustling lightly with the wind blowing. woah~ it's like a total zen environment. i wished i could be here to study for my semestral exams everytime!
we walked back to the little town after that, and it started raining again. after having dinner, we went back to hotel, praying for the rain to stop so that we could go see fireflies.
wait... wait... wait... and woah, our prayers were answered.
it was pretty scary, cos on the way, the locals kept telling us it's very dangerous and advised us not to go. but the craving to see fireflies was so strong, nothin was stopping us. and anyway, most of us brought torchlights too. (we're damn clever, aren't we? wahaha~)
it was night and it was pretty dark already at 9something. we walked up this slope and followed a trail without any street lights, so we really had to rely on our torchlights. and suddenly, in the distance we caught a single firefly floating around in the air above us. it was pretty eerie, but nice. kinda reminds me of my firefly experience in ubin, except this is more ghostly... haha... as we walked deeper into the woods, we saw more, and the gals were thrilled. ok, so was i too. it was kinda nice to see a whole bush full of twinklings. :)
sorry no pictures. this blogger bo skill at capturing these kind of pictures... haha~!
anyway, after that, we safely returned back to the town and went to the convenience store to buy supper. whoot! our first night feast! there's beer, cup noodles, tidbits, etc etc. feasting time!
the night went well, altho i must say sharing a toilet with 5 other ppl was quite troublesome. i was the last to shower and by the time i came out, all the gals were asleep.
[to be continued]...
