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Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Taiwan Trip Day 4
after a great breakfast, it started pouring again. Still, the shop owner offered to drive us to 九族文化村, and the best part was that it's totally free. we offered to pay but she rejected. omg, she's really really nice.
In 老板娘's van
九族文化村
I tink those who went to taiwan for ASLC shud have been here. it's an amusement park cum exhibition, much like a cross between our singapore's Escape Theme Park and Haw Par Villa. at the entrance is the amusement park with rides and stuff, then as u walk further upslope (into the clouds!) there are different made-up 村 (villages) to educate foreigners and travellers on the different villages that make up Taiwan and their various characteristics. at each village, there are shops selling the most significant produce of that village, like hand-woven items, wine, etc. it's pretty educating and fun, and even more fun if it wasn't raining and the cable car was working (it's closed for annual maintainence! bah!).
At the entrance
It's raining, and all of us were avoiding the puddles by walking along the side
The various made-up villages (no one's living in them fyi)
The girls learning hand-weaving using the simple manual machine
Us wearing the products from the shop at the hand-weaving village called 泰亞族村
Good packaging sells. Each of us bought at least two of these.
Breath-taking view at the top of the tower at the highest point of the whole theme park
There are also shows (like the Jurong Bird Park show) and it was pretty good, especially how a certain tribe holds its weddings. The bride will be holding onto a rope dangling from a very tall celling and the groom will have to swing the bride until the bride is almost like parallel to the ground surface. woah~
after a whole half day (from morning until around 2pm) of walking, we had lunch at the amusement park, played a few rides (the 2-storey carousel was intrigingly fun for a bunch of 20somethings) and left for 台中. we waited at a bus stop outside the park, and there were lots of... mosquitoes. i tried to write my journal there, but gave up half way. the girls started dancing salsa to avoid being stung by mosquitoes, a ridiculous but effective method.
Me, trying to write a journal with a screw-up face
Great skyviews and scenaries on the bus to 台中
When we reached 台中 (very long bus ride), it was night time, and everyone was still not awake. but on the first sight of it, the first impression was it's pretty gloomy, not much life. and the bus stopped us at a point very far away from our destination in 台中 but very close to the train station. tinking that the only thing we're gonna do here was to 逛夜市 (shop night markets), we decided to forego this city and go directly to 嘉義.
Our train trip to 嘉義, our first maiden train trip in Taiwan
The train trip was a bit uncomfortable, not saying the quality of the train. the train was GOOD! the seats were really like those in airplanes! juz that i was sitting beside a taiwanese and we all knew he happened to be eavesdropping on our conversation ever since we waited at the train station. on the train, he seemed to be very responsive to everything i do, be it, eating something, taking out something from my bag, or me writing my journal (i swore he was reading while i was writing)
嘉義, on first impression, was definitely more 'happening' than 台中. the shops were still open and the streets were still full of ppl. we roamed around trying to find a hotel and we settled for a less-sleezy one (tho the name still... well... it's the best of all liao~)
嘉義夜市
we went to the night market, and wow, it's pretty happening. the traffic WAS happening too. cars and motorbikes were supposedly not allowed to enter the area, but nobody cared, so while u were standing by the road buying ur favourite snack, a motorbike may brush by your back anytime. scary but wildly exciting.
i saw a jacket i liked (mentioned in 'My Wish/Buy List' entry... see below), but it costed S$64 (NTD$1280). it happened to be only our fourth day and i had not really started spending yet, so i did not buy it. a bit regretting that, but hey, nvm. ;p
we started having the courage to try out new food, tho strictly speaking the item i tried is available in Singapore. but, HEY, i really NEVER seen it in Singapore before and i tot it was exciting... what is it? it is...
脆皮濃湯!! (Crispy Bun Soup!!)
脆皮濃湯 consists of a crispy (really really crispy) bread-bun stuck on top of a styrofoam cup of soup. how u eat? u use a spoon, puncture the top and part of the bun u've punctured will drop into the soup below. then, u scoop up the soaked piece of bun (and some of the soup) with the spoon and send it into your mouth while it's all warm and cosy. woooah~ i liked that feeling!
we walked and walked until the shops were all closed. bah~ had to end a day with us still energetic. watched 康熙來了 on taiwan TV and became a fan of it. wahaha~
[To be continued]...
In 老板娘's van
I tink those who went to taiwan for ASLC shud have been here. it's an amusement park cum exhibition, much like a cross between our singapore's Escape Theme Park and Haw Par Villa. at the entrance is the amusement park with rides and stuff, then as u walk further upslope (into the clouds!) there are different made-up 村 (villages) to educate foreigners and travellers on the different villages that make up Taiwan and their various characteristics. at each village, there are shops selling the most significant produce of that village, like hand-woven items, wine, etc. it's pretty educating and fun, and even more fun if it wasn't raining and the cable car was working (it's closed for annual maintainence! bah!).
At the entrance
It's raining, and all of us were avoiding the puddles by walking along the side
The various made-up villages (no one's living in them fyi)
The girls learning hand-weaving using the simple manual machine
Us wearing the products from the shop at the hand-weaving village called 泰亞族村
Good packaging sells. Each of us bought at least two of these.
Breath-taking view at the top of the tower at the highest point of the whole theme park
There are also shows (like the Jurong Bird Park show) and it was pretty good, especially how a certain tribe holds its weddings. The bride will be holding onto a rope dangling from a very tall celling and the groom will have to swing the bride until the bride is almost like parallel to the ground surface. woah~
after a whole half day (from morning until around 2pm) of walking, we had lunch at the amusement park, played a few rides (the 2-storey carousel was intrigingly fun for a bunch of 20somethings) and left for 台中. we waited at a bus stop outside the park, and there were lots of... mosquitoes. i tried to write my journal there, but gave up half way. the girls started dancing salsa to avoid being stung by mosquitoes, a ridiculous but effective method.
Me, trying to write a journal with a screw-up face
Great skyviews and scenaries on the bus to 台中
When we reached 台中 (very long bus ride), it was night time, and everyone was still not awake. but on the first sight of it, the first impression was it's pretty gloomy, not much life. and the bus stopped us at a point very far away from our destination in 台中 but very close to the train station. tinking that the only thing we're gonna do here was to 逛夜市 (shop night markets), we decided to forego this city and go directly to 嘉義.
Our train trip to 嘉義, our first maiden train trip in Taiwan
The train trip was a bit uncomfortable, not saying the quality of the train. the train was GOOD! the seats were really like those in airplanes! juz that i was sitting beside a taiwanese and we all knew he happened to be eavesdropping on our conversation ever since we waited at the train station. on the train, he seemed to be very responsive to everything i do, be it, eating something, taking out something from my bag, or me writing my journal (i swore he was reading while i was writing)
嘉義, on first impression, was definitely more 'happening' than 台中. the shops were still open and the streets were still full of ppl. we roamed around trying to find a hotel and we settled for a less-sleezy one (tho the name still... well... it's the best of all liao~)
嘉義夜市
we went to the night market, and wow, it's pretty happening. the traffic WAS happening too. cars and motorbikes were supposedly not allowed to enter the area, but nobody cared, so while u were standing by the road buying ur favourite snack, a motorbike may brush by your back anytime. scary but wildly exciting.
i saw a jacket i liked (mentioned in 'My Wish/Buy List' entry... see below), but it costed S$64 (NTD$1280). it happened to be only our fourth day and i had not really started spending yet, so i did not buy it. a bit regretting that, but hey, nvm. ;p
we started having the courage to try out new food, tho strictly speaking the item i tried is available in Singapore. but, HEY, i really NEVER seen it in Singapore before and i tot it was exciting... what is it? it is...
脆皮濃湯!! (Crispy Bun Soup!!)
脆皮濃湯 consists of a crispy (really really crispy) bread-bun stuck on top of a styrofoam cup of soup. how u eat? u use a spoon, puncture the top and part of the bun u've punctured will drop into the soup below. then, u scoop up the soaked piece of bun (and some of the soup) with the spoon and send it into your mouth while it's all warm and cosy. woooah~ i liked that feeling!
we walked and walked until the shops were all closed. bah~ had to end a day with us still energetic. watched 康熙來了 on taiwan TV and became a fan of it. wahaha~
[To be continued]...
