Erina's Great Taiwanese Escapade 2009

The background

2009-11-18T17:28:00.001+08:00

Okay, fixed!

Where is my background picture???

2009-11-04T14:30:00.001+08:00

My background pic is gone =(

I'm back.

2009-05-28T01:12:00.003+08:00

Like a day ago?

I hope the H1N1 thingy didn't creep up to us, because while we were there Taiwan got new cases already. And this morning Singapore had its first case.

And I didn't update the whole time I was in Taiwan because internet access was scarce.

Anyway, I'll blog really slowly because I'm lazy. =D

Day 11.2

2009-05-22T08:13:00.000+08:00

Inaugural breakfast at Chin Pin Lok!

Man, blogging this now makes me miss the food. Authentic Taiwanese home-cooked fare.

Mould for ang ku kueh, also available in Singapore.

Sunny side up =)

Along with homemade steamed wholemeal buns, pan-fried pork, and also some cucumbers to balance things up.

And we licked all the plates clean.

Day 11.1

2009-05-22T06:44:00.001+08:00

Morning walk

Good morning Taiwan.

This was taken at 0514hrs. Imagine waking up to see a clear sky above you. 爽.

苏阿姨 brought us for a walk around the vicinity.

We woke up at around 5 a.m. for this, haha.

豆豆 came along too.

This beetle is gross but well, yea, it's part of nature.

Reminds me vaguely of the Gatti's dog in Besana. I can't remember its name now.

(went back to my fb and recalled that his name is Wolf.)

The quaint house.

Bananas not in pyjamas.

Furry plant.

The sun was coming up further.

Papaya I think.

No idea what this was.

Look at the mushrooms.

Not that I was interested in eating them anyway.

They won first prize for something, something I forgot.

Pottery class.

Another cute house.

They had a small factory to create charcoal-related products too.

From this...

...to this.

Neat eh?

Things were growing everywhere.

Oh mama look at the sky.

That's 苏阿姨! She brought us to a small temple.

Two heart-shaped ponds.

A village restaurant.

This little building houses the toilet.

Signage to Chin Pin Lo.

Mailbox.

Day 10.5

2009-05-21T18:30:00.000+08:00

Rustic lodging ♥

Upon reaching we had to walk down this very long road to...we don't know what.

Just because we don't know what, we took a cab instead. HAHA.

We were heading to Chin Pin Lo B&B 清平樂村居. It is located in Seshui, Dayan Village, Yuchi Township (I think that's how they call it), Nantou County, Taiwan. Phew. That's really long. 南投縣魚池鄉大雁村涩水社区.

I forgot to take photos of the exterior that evening, I guess I was too tired from the whole travelling thing. It took us almost the whole day.

The photo of the exterior will come next morning okay.

But here's how the house / our room looks like from inside.

Our door. The name of the room is Blue Tadpole. So cute right. Haha.

Nice double beds!

Check out the view!!

No high-rise buildings blocking your enjoyment.

Imagine walking out of your bedroom and you get to enjoy this view. Every single day!

The owner of this B&B is 苏阿姨 and she keeps two dogs. However while we were there only Doudou 豆豆 was around.

She also has a pond in the backyard.

Later we went down for dinner.

And 苏阿姨 cooked dinner for us!!!!!!!

And it was a HOME-COOKED DINNER. Exactly what we'd been missing for a week. HURRAY!

Her workstation.

We ended dinner with tea. It was one of their produce in Seshui. I bought two boxes home.

And jambu.

How familiar. Haha.

In her yard there was also a place where you could do some barbecuing.

I love the lights and the entire atmosphere. Too bad we couldn't prepare any BBQ!

And there were a lot of stars.

Okay my camera isn't good for low light and I don't know how to adjust so that's the best shot I can give you.

I love staying at this place. Except for the flies.

I mean it.

Stay tuned! I think this B&B is the one that I kinda enjoyed most in this trip.

Day 10.4

2009-05-21T18:12:00.000+08:00

Journey from Chiayi to Taichung to Nantou to Seshui

Aboard the train.

Gloomy.

And it rained.

Due to H1N1 fears.

We walked quite a bit from the train station to reach this shop where you get your bus tickets. And then wait for the bus. The lady in the photo was nice that she told us where we should alight.

Yummy skies.

After quite a bit of a bus ride (I think it took 2 hrs plus)...

Here we are, our destination!

Day 10.3

2009-05-21T13:36:00.000+08:00

Goodbye Shizhuo!

I must say due to the night before, I didn't have a really good experience in Alishan. I couldn't be happier to leave. I suppose next time I'll come with a tour group and see how. Maybe there are more things to see. Maybe not. Then I won't.

Lady boss sent us to a bus stop and left us there.

Hopped on a coach that would bring us back to Chiayi main station.

We stopped for a snack at the station.

The bubble tea was not bad la. Haha.

Okay, this is a pretty meaningless post.

Day 10.2

2009-05-21T10:07:00.001+08:00

Fen Chi Hu

Hey doggy.

We went there on an awkward Thursday morning, there was almost no crowd, and not everything was open. So it was rather quiet, not as bustling with activity as I hoped it to be.

And it being Fen Chi Hu, where the 'hu' translates to a lake, there's no lake there.

I don't really know what is the correct term to describe it, but to me it's like a village town that kinda thing.

I can't remember what made us go there also. I think it was just one of those attractions there.

Preserved stuff.

Some recording going on. Best time to do so due to little crowd.

I wish I can live in a place like this, where I can see the mountains and a big chunk of the sky instead of concrete.

Oh and I wanna be able to see the sea too.

Sea the see. See the sea.

The camera refused to focus on the bees even in macro mode. Failed on me this time.

=(

And they say that when you come to Fen Chi Hu you die die must eat the Tie Lu Bian Dang i.e. the railroad bento.

So we went to the restaurant that was supposedly famous for it.

They came in tins like this.

But nothing exactly special la.

And this marked the last stop of our time in Alishan. Time to go!

Day 10.1

2009-05-21T08:30:00.001+08:00

Breakfast

We were on our way to Fenqihu, and the lady boss drove us to a 7-11 along the way to have breakfast.

We didn't talk about the night before.

So they have a cafe in almost every 7-11 there, as long as it's big enough. And I got....some milk tea. I forgot exactly what already. Haha. But I think it was a milk tea. Or at least, teh-o.

And I bought a sandwich to go with it. That was for breakfast.

Lobster salad okay, don't play play.

Quite lovely actually.

Tummy warming on a cool morning.

Day 9.9

2009-05-20T18:26:00.000+08:00

This has got to be the suckiest experience in the entire trip.

There's always one big danger when travelling in a group of all females.

Things like rape, molest, tee ko peks, robbery etc.

They happen in a higher percentage. Somehow.

So. What happened was. We city girls didn't know that the men on the mountains are tee ko peks.

Every single one of them.

After lady boss sent us back to our room, she said she'll call us at 6pm plus and drive us out to dinner.

Who knows instead of lady boss calling us down to dinner, it was the boss who knocked on our door.

He said he cooked, so he asked us to go to the dining area.

So fine, we went.

Lady boss wasn't at the table. There were the boss and other men. And an aboriginal auntie who obviously can't be bothered to protect us. They drank beer, smoked, played games etc. And it was fine. Until they used really crude words to talk to each other about us (as if we don't understand, suckers). That was when we knew something was wrong.

One uncle even told us that his wife ran away and asked us what he should do.

LIKE I CARE.

They were talking among themselves, like out of the three of us who they'd choose etc.

Come on lo, you choose liao then you make the decision meh. f off!

So we got really scared and finished our (lousy) food and ran up.

We couldn't lock ourselves in because the lock of the door was just a normal, dangerous bedroom door lock. The kind that you press the button on your side but still easily opened on the other side with the extra keys.

So we did this.

And then swore to each other that we'll keep a lookout and take turns to stay awake.

But please be reminded that we woke up at 4 am plus or something.

So we all fell asleep.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA.

In the end nothing happened la, the luggage remained at the same position as we left it.

But still.

Be careful!

Day 9.8

2009-05-20T16:05:00.002+08:00

Bamboo shoot packing factory & the area around it

Tea and bamboo shoots. You can never get enough of these in Alishan.

Anyway.

This is the inside of the car.

It was my first time seeing a gear that was on the side of the steering wheel.

Here was where they packed the bamboo shoots.

It wasn't the most hygienic of places, trust me. Simply because one of the uncles was smoking while packing. I don't know which packs had the ashes, don't ask me.

Some were deployed to weigh the boiled bamboo shoots.

Then put them on a curved piece of plastic.

And someone else would slot the bamboo shoots into the packaging.

Done.

Ohhh, sunset soon.

A deserted and discarded bus.

Totally cui, pollution of the environment!

The endless tea plantation.

And I pretended to be paparazzi to my friend who thought she was a celebrity but no. HAHA.

"Oh no don't take pictures of me, I don't have make up on!"

"RUN RUN RUN!"

And she did.

"Wa I run very far liao leh"

*peek*

"Wa still there!!!!"

It was getting late, the clouds are coming! Time to go back before we couldn't see anything on the roads.

Day 9.7

2009-05-20T15:28:00.000+08:00

Tea appreciation & the flora in the area

Lady boss then drove us to her friend's place for a session of tea appreciation.

The homework of a little girl who stayed there.

So the tea was placed in a slim cylindrical cup.

And a teacup was placed on top of it, then turned over.

What you had to do is to take the cylindrical cup up, then smell it. Let the aroma of the tea take over you.

It didn't la, I'm just trying to portray. =\

And the tea will be on the teacup now and you drink it.

Somewhere nearby was a place that you can live and eat and sing song.

And the cloud was coming in.

Lady boss stayed at her friend's to chat while we walked around on our own. At least that's how I remembered it. HAHA

We stumbled upon something like a little garden.

The sign asked you not to litter and leave a clean environment for the next user.

Some kind of berry - I don't know what. It was randomly spotted.

Day 9.6

2009-05-20T14:26:00.000+08:00

Fruit plucking

The lady boss brought us to meet her Aboriginal friend so that we can pluck fruits at her plantation!

For city girls like us, it's really a first time lo. The closest I experienced this was plucking a fruit out of a garden. =\

But first, we had to get through a lot of trees/foliage.

Oh look!

Many many peaches. 水蜜桃! (no 姐姐 okay, not funny.)

Furry.

Then we walked further and plucked prunes.

Look at the number of peaches we plucked =S

It was more than we could finish. (In the end we really didn't)

We went back to the car to go back, and along the way, a dog chased us!

They have a lot of black dogs around.

Somehow I like this picture.

Day 9.5

2009-05-20T12:55:00.001+08:00

Touristy touring

Later on the lady boss drove us to bamboo shoot factory. I don't know if it's considered as factory, but it's like a factory. =\

Guess what were beneath this sheet of plastic?

Answer:

BAMBOO SHOOTS!

*SHUDDER*

Yuck man. Totally yuck.

I didn't like the smell at all, to me it was overwhelming.

They were boiling loads of bamboo shoots in this huge pot before packing them up.

Nearby there were loads of tea!

In the itinerary later in the day we visited the location where they packed the shoots. Stay tuned! If you're interested.

Day 9.4

2009-05-20T12:12:00.001+08:00

Lunch

I didn't really enjoy lunch. Maybe because I don't like bamboo shoots which were very common in Alishan. They practically grow along the roads.

The lady boss ordered a bowl of bamboo shoot soup to share.

I drank very little of that.

At least my main course was a little more palatable.

It didn't help that later on the lady boss brought us to a small bamboo shoot package factory. =\

Day 9.3

2009-05-20T09:39:00.000+08:00

Alishan National Park

The lady boss drove us up to the park and left us there to roam around ourselves.

It was colddddd. At least better than it being hot, like what we experienced at Kenting. Haha.

Map of the routes we could take.

I somehow wished I live somewhere that is surrounded by trails and trees like this.

China cedar is...

This.

Like cannot see anything right. Haha.

Next attraction. Sister Ponds.

This is the Younger Sister Pond.

I'm kinda amused by the sign below.

It says no swimming at the top.

I don't know why anyone will want to swim in it.

I wouldn't want to.

It just doesn't feel right.

And next, the Elder Sister Pond. Or Older Sister. I don't know.

Cold but still very sunny.

Here's what they tell you about the Sister Ponds.

Word for word -
These refer to two high mountain lakes in the Alishan area. The legendary story goes like this: Once upon a time, there were two aboriginal sisters falling in love with one special man but neither of them wanted to break their own sister's heart while herself not being able to say no to the same handsome fellow. So they each jumped into one of the lakes to end the story. People were deeply touched and called these two lakes Sister Ponds.

I laughed while typing that. Sorry.

I mean, if the guy's so special (and handsome) he wouldn't allow this to happen right. He should just not touch BOTH of the girls, end of story. Why must the girls jump and not him? Maybe if he jumped into one of the ponds we'd have a Handsome Pond to see.

Tadpoles?

This is the Three Brothers.

And the Four Sisters.

Check out my cold friend.

And me.

A stump which looked like a pig.

Forever One Heart. Hahaha. This was an attraction of two trees which grew into a heart shape between them. Win.

I don't know why so many of these things come together at one place, but still.

RC is supposed to be in the left of this picture below!

Tall trees.

This is the only school in Alishan. Siang-lin Elementary School.

And a temple.

Mochi.

There was a dodgy bridge along the way.

The sign in Mandarin stated that only six people are allowed on the bridge, obviously at any one time.

And the sign in English says, don't overtake 6 men. But you can overtake 6 women.

Or you can overtake 5 persons, even if there is one guy in front of you. HAHAHAHA.

Okay, okay, enough.

Now say hi to...

Yes No. 21. Say hi to No. 21.

Then we waited for the train to go back to where we started.

神木车站.

Choo choooooo~

Some dodgy looking flower that tells you not to touch it.

But I don't know if it's poisonous or not.

The trunk of the Alishan Sacred Tree.

It was supposed to be standing until 1997 that it fell apart, thanks to lightning and rainfall.

Oh here comes the train.

Simple interior.

Inside. Wa lao my lips damn thick.

The ticket.

And the main station.

Since we had time to spare before the lady boss picked us up, we took photos here and there.

2.17km above sea level.

And we went back.

Day 9.2

2009-05-20T06:39:00.000+08:00

On the way to Alishan National Park

The lady boss drove us to the national park on her Toyota MPV.

She bought us breakfast.

It was past 6 am and very sunny.

When we went to catch the sunrise earlier on, it wasn't cold. So we put back most of our warm clothings in our room and left.

In the end the Alishan National Park was quite cooling. Extremely cooling, in fact. -_-

We didn't go to Yushan because it was complicated, something to do with the need to attain a pass before we go up or what I dunno. =\

The next post will be about when we entered the park!

Day 9.1

2009-05-20T05:36:00.001+08:00

Sunrise at Alishan

We caught the sunrise at about 5 am near our minsu, the area is called Shizhuo, not far away from Alishan park.

The brightest point in the sky, where the sun would be rising.

The moon was still in action.

But it was cloudy, so I got distracted.

This is the part where the sun got to the hills on the other side.

Nice.

Come on, sun, come onnn.

At 0542hrs.

At 0549hrs.

At 0550.

A group of photos at 0551hrs. Check out the rays of the sun!

At 0552.

At 0556hrs.

This is how it looked like from the other side.

Okay, the end of the sunny pictures! =D

Day 8.4

2009-05-19T20:01:00.000+08:00

Home-cooked dinner in Alishan

We had dumplings for dinner.

And they made us drink Taiwan beer.

Of course we did, as a form of courtesy.

The boss and his friend were working on a section of a tree trunk.

And later they peeled the bark off the trunk. It looked really easy. Looked.

I can't remember what this was, but I remember it was something gross. Twiggy dared to eat it.

YUCKKKKK.

People on the mountain were really free, and laid back.

They sang karaoke...

Played games with each other...

They also hunted pangolins and then preserved them.

And kept antlers too.

I doubt I'll like life in the mountains. =\

Day 8.3

2009-05-19T17:13:00.000+08:00

Our room and its surroundings

The room was quite dirty. Apparently no one had stayed in it for donkey years.

And as usual, Jingyi parked herself in front of the telly upon stepping in.

There were lots of insects resting in peace on the beds. Multi-yuck.

Here was where we could hang our towels/clothes.

Toilet.

And we went out to walk around and explore the area.

Sunset!

Be warned that the rest of this post are mainly pictures of scenery.

I like, and I wanna share =Þ

I reckon you could see how cooling it was! Away from hot hot HOT weather!

This makes me feel as good as I'm the only smokin' hot one around. Hoho.

The address of our lodging.

And its signboard. Level 1 was a tea shop, the beds were upstairs.

Day 8.2

2009-05-19T14:12:00.001+08:00

Along the way to our minsu

Upon reaching Chiayi station, we went to find out where we could take a bus to our lodging. How should I put it. Some sort of teahouse?

That's Chiayi railway station.

And the area around it.

We had milk tea.

And went on the bus.

Poor bear.

Up, up, up, we go!

I don't know if I would dare to cross that bridge.

Hillside roads, looking into nothing =S

Day 8.1

2009-05-19T14:06:00.001+08:00

Off to Alishan!

Woke up, packed up, and left our lovely apartment at Kaohsiung.

My breakfast.

The police & fire station that made the area all the safer.

Looks similar to Singapore's green line underground MRT.

The notice on the door says that if you are heading towards Daliao, please walk further up the platform as there won't be any train stopping for you there. In other words, the platform was longer than the trains.

I kopped this.

Single journey coin.

This was what you could hear when the train was arriving.

We took the KMRT from Xinyi to the Kaohsiung Main Station where the railway station was.

My train ticket. We were supposed to take the train to Chiayi where we'd take a bus to our lodging at Alishan.

I bought a lion purse.

But I forgot where I placed it. I promise I'll find it. Someday.

I think it's on my bed along with the other lions.

Okay, off we go!

Reached!

Day 7.11

2009-05-18T23:54:00.000+08:00

It's a store and more!

Next stop was Kenting Street (I think, can't rem the exact name) 垦丁大街. The bus could drop us off either here or back at the terminal. Since they said we HAD to go there else it'd be like we've never been there, we went.

I sound really grumpy right? Nah, I wasn't unhappy about it. I think it's just the hour that I'm typing this.

I don't know why I'm doing this anyway.

Who's reading this.

HAHA.

Okay okay, enough crap.

This is an example of how the shops along Kenting St looked like.

It's like where many different cultures come together.

Which erm, we've experienced enough of that in Singapore BUT WELL we were in Taiwan, that's different!

*clears throat*

We had baked potato for dinner. It was quite nice!

Man I'm hungry.

And finally we boarded the coach to bring us back to Kaohsiung.

Another two-hour ride.

At last, back in Kaohsiung.

Did you see that? Glitter on their cement.

It's common in Kaohsiung.

It was 11PM already. We walked past Liuhe Night Market, so why not indulge in some more good food yahoo.

I can't remember what this is called, but I remember that it was quite nice! Yums.

Day 7.10

2009-05-18T17:46:00.000+08:00

Guanshan 关山 for the sun that was setting but didn't

The sun didn't set on us at our next location, simply because of the timing of our tour package. We had to be back to the bus terminal before sundown. How nice and thank you very much.

Oh well.

It was pretty crowded, maybe everyone wanted to get their fair share of the sunset and I was sure I gave my share to them.

We left when the sun almost set.

Wanna know how glaring it was??

Here's how:

And it was so sunny, we tried

and tried

but still didn't manage any nice photos of ourselves against the sunset.

Too bad, we had to leave already.

Day 7.9

2009-05-18T17:14:00.000+08:00

Not hard rock but Cat Rock

Wow, it's been a really long time since I last updated =\

I kinda lost touch. But I'll try!

So after the museum, we continued with our route, next stop was to this place called Cat Rock 猫岩. It's the 2nd southernmost point of Taiwan, the southernmost point being Eluanbi, which I mentioned about a few posts below.

As you people might guess, it's a rock in the shape suspiciously like a cat, totally natural, and the area is called 猫鼻头 Maobitou, i.e. tip of a cat's nose.

And the land you see in the following picture is Eluanbi.

And that's kitty looking out into the ocean.

That's the end! So fast right? Well there's nothing much to write about this place =\

Day 7.8

2009-05-18T14:10:00.002+08:00

National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium

Got on the bus and moved off to the aquarium.

The entrance.

We checked out this part of the museum first. Coral Kingdom.

Reminds me vaguely of Underwater World.

Every night in my dreams, I see you, I feellll youuuuuu.

There was an area where white clothing became fluorescent.

My fishkind.

This is what she enjoys doing, no one can stop her.

Say hello!

Basking in the sun.

Looks like you're pregnant. Found a gynae?

Stop poking them, Twiggy.

Prawns. Shrimps. Whatever.

*hungry*

Sea cucumbers. Now I've lost my appetite.

How did anyone know that they're edible in the first place? I won't pick it up to eat it, looks gross enough.

Starfish.

Ouch.

Don't worry, it'll grow.

*goosebumps*

I think this looks somewhat like the Rafflesia.

Oh my appetite is back.

Jellyfish.

I like taking photos of those jellies...they're so...special and interesting and intriguing.

Other than the fact that they sting.

Next part.

Scorching weather.

海面闪著泪像梦境.

Not.

Horseshoe crab.

Penguins.

This is what Twiggy likes to do.

I so wanna bring you home!

Don't poke my fats!

Damn hot damn hot.

And the coach finally came and we hopped on, enjoying the cool air-conditioning.

On to the next stop.

ZZZZZZ.

Don't worry, the photo is blurred.

No one will know who you people are.

Don't stay tuned, I dunno when the next part will be uploaded. =Þ

Day 7.7

2009-05-18T12:12:00.003+08:00

LUNCHTIME!!!!!!!

With not so nice food.

Because of the super-hot weather, we were dying for some cold dessert but decided to have something proper first.

So we had rice with meat. Mine was with fish.

I think I didn't really like it haha but it's edible la.

And the people were friendly too, so never mind lo.

Freeflow drinks and soup too.

Later on we headed to a soya beancurd shop. Tau huayyyyyy!

I think I had my tau huay in green bean and red bean soup.

The decoration of the shop is rather retro-like.

Then it was time to return to wait for the bus.

Day 7.6

2009-05-18T11:00:00.000+08:00

Shadao Shell Beach 砂岛

Sandy.

I want to take also!!!

I like to move it move it.

And this marks the end of the morning tour.

Day 7.5

2009-05-18T10:12:00.000+08:00

Eluanbi National Park 鹅銮鼻公园

Sorry to bore you out, but today is mainly heavy scenery sight-seeing.

Eluanbi is the southern most point of Taiwan.

Some watch tower or what. I can't remember.

Watch Twiggy-woman fly to it.

The sea scenery.

A very special tree.

Twiggy Riding Hood.

Bye Eluanbi.

Day 7.4

2009-05-18T10:00:00.001+08:00

Fongchuisha 风吹砂

In winter, wind blows sand from the coastline to the cliffs and form unique landscapes. Too bad and good that I wasn't there during winter. I wouldn't want to see so much sand flying around me. I wouldn't enjoy that.

In summer, rain washes the sand into the waters. And so I came in the summer, with nothing much to see.

I think I prefer green to brown.

Probably that's why I've never intended to visit any deserts.

The sun was not gonna let you off.

And thanks to the medication I was feeling better and all ready for jump shots.

One more.

Of love and clean armpits.

Sengek.

Twiggy you call this love???

Ping Tung Bus.

How I wish I'll get to live somewhere that I can wake up and see vast plains.

(and then everything else will be inconvenient already.)

Day 7.3

2009-05-18T09:30:00.000+08:00

Chuhuo to Fengchuisha

Some random bridge. And birds.

There are a couple more chio scenery pictures but I think not many people know how to appreciate, so I'll just leave them out.

When I take pictures I love to take photos of scenery. However when I look at photos, I like to look at those with people sometimes. I like to look at how touristy they looked. =Þ

Day 7.2

2009-05-18T09:19:00.002+08:00

Chuhuo 出火

Got on the bus to our first stop, Chuhuo.

Passed by a cemetery.

Reached!

It is so named because. It releases flames. 出火, you see.

So you come here to see these.

See the flames? 出火咯！The flames are released from the ground naturally. Some geographical phenomenon that I don't remember what.

On top of the heat from the flames, the sun was super hot too. Hot and sunny.

Even I needed an umbrella.

That's it for Chuhuo!

Day 7.1

2009-05-18T05:40:00.003+08:00

To Kenting/Hengchun

We woke up at 3 a.m. plus in order to get to Kenting by say, 7? We booked a day-tour package which starts at around 8.

Took a cab from our apartment to somewhere near the Kaohsiung main station where we could book a bus.

And set off, at around 5 a.m.

It was interesting to see how the city looks like in the wee hours of the morning.

It's quite bright for a 5 a.m. sky too.

Our ticket.

Ah, looks like we were gonna reach soon!

Part of Hengchun.

The bus station at Hengchun where we waited for the tour bus.

Arcade machines that were no longer in use still within the station.

Police station.

And this was where we had breakfast.

Damn yucky.

The food weren't good, the drinks too.

So next time if you ever come, don't go to this place!

Day 6.3

2009-05-17T19:20:00.000+08:00

Dinner at Blanc De Chine 金禾别苑 - the food

Here's the salad bar.

Some of what I got from the salad bar. I think I went two rounds. I think.

Dessert bar.

Sweets.

The bread that is part of the meal.

The cutlery set.

Butter to go with your bread.

Carrot soup. I think.

Main courses.

My stuffed squid.

Annie's fish.

Twiggy's squid ink risotto. Hers was the best tasting among all.

The messiest too.

Wa, I'm hungry again though I just ate some stuff.

Before taking the photo this was what I was doing.

Thanks to Twiggy.

Look at the wonderfood!

The squid was easy to cut with a normal dining knife and not tiring to chew. Just the right doneness.

Tea time.

And now the sweets and desserts.

The creme brulee was not bad!

This is the inside of the teacup. Damn pretty!

The plate is very pretty too. I so wanted to bring it back =(

Of course I didn't.

And we paid up (SGD 30+ per pax) and went back.

Day 6.2

2009-05-17T17:01:00.001+08:00

Dinner at Blanc De Chine 金禾别苑 - the place

The restaurant is opened by Jeff Chang (you know, the Taiwanese singer) and I think it's quite a lovely one.

The menu.

Says here, you can make it a set by adding NT$180 (SGD 8+) inclusive of an appetiser, salad bar, soup of the day, bread, desserts, and a drink.

Of course it's worth it to add! But I don't remember the appetiser. Is it because I didn't take a photo of it or it's not included in the course that I/we ordered? I don't remember la, doesn't matter haha =Þ

Oh and there is 10% service charge. I bet you can read that. Haha.

I was interested in going because of the crockery that they serve their customers with, and the entire setting of the restaurant.

It looks a little like a colonial house. Haha.

And it sits in the middle of high-rise buildings.

Here's the interior.

So pretty right.

Here's the toilet. Ladies.

I didn't use it though.

Cam-whoring in the pretty toilet.

This is where you wash your hands.

There's even a dressing table.

Cute lamp.

Some more cam-whoring.

Finally, level one of the restaurant where we ate at.

Day 6.1

2009-05-17T10:59:00.001+08:00

Shopping at 新崛江

I bought this from Liouhe Night Market last night.

Watermelon! Part of my breakfast. It was super expensive, I can't remember how much. SGD 4?

Later on we went to 7-Eleven to get more breakfast.

For me it was a milk and california raisin bread affair.

One more photo of Formosa Boulevard Station.

I think that's the prettiest station I've ever been to.

And we walked and walked and walked, and finally got here.

We might had taken an hour.

It was mainly shopping.

So I was busy with shuffling in between clothes, I didn't take many photos haha.

But here's something.

That's Jie Ying and I side by side.

HAHA.

This shop sold everything from caps to helmets. As long as it's something on your head.

I'm not sure if they had scarfs though.

I liked this -

it was 爱玉柠檬, some kind of jelly with lime. A drink. It was nice, not overly sweet and refreshing. But not everywhere will give you the same standard la, so be aware.

There was some roadshow going on.

And most people in the audience were male.

Well, it's a telecom service's roadshow, and those on stage were hot females, so there you go. Hahaha.

The other side of the shopping area.

There was some kind of protest going on =S

They practically blocked the roads that we wanted to cross.

My parents were worried because this protest is a big-scaled one. They asked me about it and I was shocked. Haha. Because it wasn't anything much. They were just shouting or holding placards or walking. I was in practically no danger.

Day 5.5

2009-05-16T23:06:00.001+08:00

Liouhe Night Market 六合夜市

YUMMYLICIOUS FOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!

Can put it as, one of the best food places we went to. Look at the crowd!

Well, not that we've been to a lot actually, haha.

This is a packet of erm, fried sweet potato and yam balls? Something like that.

My dad said it's being sold in Singapore too, but I don't know where.

For this stall

you choose from a variety of grilled food, there's chicken wings, kebabs, chicken hearts, sausages etc. Then the lady will season it with some salt and chilli if you want.

And I'm telling you, it's super duper yummy.

Oh man I'm craving for it now.

Twiggy went to get her 黑轮 - I don't know what it's called in English.

But it's nice.

And Annie and I got this hotdog thingy - mine was a sausage in the crust, Annie's was yam in the crust.

Mine was alright, she didn't really like hers =S

Twiggy bought 四神汤,

and we shared an oyster omelette.

It's not nice. Hahahha. The soup was good though.

They display what they were going to add to your omelette.

The omelette was disappointing because it's too starchy!

Look - look at the gluey thing.

I had coconut.

Just in case you were thinking, a night market doesn't sell only food.

They sell apparels too.

Like lingerie.

I bet you've never seen any old man sell lingerie so happily.

I wouldn't want to buy from him, it's kinda scary. Haha.

Afterwards I had watermelon juice.

To get to the night market you take the KMRT to Formosa Boulevard. Exit and you'll see the bustling market.

We wanted to take the KMRT back to where we stayed, and at the station there was music playing so well that I thought it was through the radio throughout the station.

But no, it was live. It was some busker.

And the trombonist was super good, you get goosebumps listening to him.

But when we reached he was ending his performance already =(((( so we only managed to catch a song.

Oh by the way, the station is pretty right. I'll share some more photos in the coming posts. I think.

And I bought medicine from a pharmacy at the night market.

Very cute, they were wrapped up in thin pink paper. Sweet.

Day 5.4

2009-05-16T17:23:00.001+08:00

Love River

Kaohsiung seems to be all about love.

Kaohsiung Bridge.

Say hello to Love River.

There was a marathon going on when we were there.

There were small shops and restaurants along the river, the whole place was boringggggg. Seriously. I don't know why they recommend us to come here.

We were there on a Saturday!

But Singapore's Clarke Quay and Boay Quay are vibrant even on weekdays!

So I dunno. I like to think that we went there on the wrong day.

Afterwards we hopped on a bus to get to our next destination - Liouhe Night Market.

We asked for directions to take a bus there, and when we got on a bus, it was pitch dark.

And there wasn't a single soul on the bus except for us and the driver.

Good thing we sat in front.

Next will be a post on FOOOOOOOOD.

Day 5.3

2009-05-16T16:56:00.002+08:00

Xiziwan 西子湾

The staff at the KMRT stations are a friendlier bunch, compared to their Taipei peers. Maybe Taipei is too developed, people move to fast to bother about everything.

The stations in Kaohsiung are more pleasant to move around in.

I say this because a staff at the KMRT station near our place helped us with getting to our location.

Thank you very much.

Anyway.

I bought this cultured milk drink from 7-Eleven.

It tasted really good. I think the Uni-President brand can really come up with a lot of quality products.

Our first stop was Xiziwan - I don't remember how they spell it - Shihzihwan? Can't remember la.

It was kind of recommended to us by our landlady.

There were lots of scenery. As well as people.

We wanted to catch the sunset, but unfortunately it was too cloudy. =(

Saw some activities going on that are banned in Singapore.

Xiziwan is actually located within the property of a university.

But being a university, usually anyone can enter.

It's just that hardly anyone bothers to tour NUS, you see.

See, the sun's gone.

And we walked on a pavement along the coast.

People fished there.

It actually is a restricted area, you had to climb over some barriers to get to this part.

The university.

Looks more hilly than NUS.

There was some museum that we didn't go to.

And we hopped on the bus to head to our next destination.

The buses are very friendly.

Every time the driver makes a signal or hit the brakes, you'd be warned.

We got onto a special KMRT.

It was so romantic, we decided to play along.

Some people choose to go in pairs.

Some...alone.

They even tied ribbons to the railings.

Buay tahan.

I don't really understand the point of the whole thing, but quite special also la. If this is gonna happen in Singapore, I can expect the ST forum to be flooded with letters telling the authorities that the whole idea is sick.

But I think I like such ideas =D haha very cute ma.

Brings a smile to your face, no?

Day 5.2

2009-05-16T14:46:00.000+08:00

To our room!

This is somewhere in Zuoying station.

It looks soooooo nice, their Taipei/Taoyuan airport should do something about itself.

It's like, a station catered mainly to the Taiwanese can look better than what is offered to the country's international customers. Just doesn't make much sense. At least give foreigners a good first impression.

We went on the subway KMRT to get to where we were going to stay at.

Very clean. And no weird smells.

We had to change trains at a stop called Formosa Boulevard 美丽岛, and we saw this suspicious-looking blue box on the platform.

Ahhh, I see.

I don't know if you can see it, this little girl has got interesting hairdo.

Now who says Singapore is a fine city? Kaohsiung is one too!

And ta-daaaaaa. We got to our room. The door of the studio apartment is nicer than the door of my house.

The toilet.

A small living area with a big telly.

That's the double bed atop the steps.

In the end I got it all to myself! Because the air-conditioning doesn't blow to that area well enough, so the other two would rather sleep downstairs. I'm fine with it, so yeay.

Day 5.1

2009-05-16T11:24:00.002+08:00

To Kaohsiung!

Finally we were leaving Taipei for Kaohsiung, via Taiwan's High Speed Rail (HSR).

That's the waiting area in the Taipei station.

Now the platform.

The inside of the train.

The threesome again.

Obviously we had troubles waking up.

Bye bye Taipei, see you again!

We had our bento lunch aboard the train.

That's a 铁路便当, it tastes fine.

There was an insect hanging on to the window at Chiayi.

I was glad it's outside the train, not inside.

And after two hours, we reached Zuoying, the stop you alight at to go to Kaohsiung. In fact, it's the terminating stop.

More to come!

Day 4.3

2009-05-15T22:52:00.001+08:00

The Answer Is...

We bought tickets to Stefanie Sun's concert in Taipei Arena last March, it was NT$4000, and about SGD 180+. The second most expensive tickets. (which ultimately didn't turn out to be that nice seats anyway.

When they started to advertise her concert in Singapore, the most expensive ticket was like SGD 168. Tsk.

We still had a bit of time before the concert and we haven't had dinner, so we went around nearby searching for food to eat.

By the way, I was really unwell that night, the fever was on and off. It scared me a bit, the 'H1N1' thought kept flashing through my mind. (but most probably it wasn't la, cos Twiggy and Annie were very healthy)

There was this roadside stall (it occurred to me that I dared to eat it without thinking. Maybe I wasn't.) selling noodles and I didn't know what was what so I asked Annie to order some random noodles.

It turned out to be spicy.

And I don't remember the name.

I didn't finish it anyway.

I asked them to go to a pharmacy nearby with me and I got some panadol. I guess it helped a bit with the fever.

And we entered the arena.

This is the stage, blocked by some cables.

The floor.

The threesome.

We caught Stefanie Sun's family members within the crowd.

Well they were easy to notice la, front row seats ma.

That's her parents. Her sisters in the previous previous photo look really like Stef Sun right.

And they turned off the lights.

Soon after, the concert started.

Stef Sun came out in several nice costumes.

That's the last photo I have.

Because we weren't allowed to take photos and I decided to cooperate.

And partly because the crew were walking up and down the aisle to check if we were doing any illegal recording.

I don't understand how anyone can record the concert and put it online. I think it was just on my side =Þ But never mind la, Stef Sun needs to earn some bread too.

After that we went back safely, gotta prepare to leave Taipei the following morning!

Day 4.2

2009-05-15T14:42:00.001+08:00

Hanging around Ximending

We wanted to get some food actually.

We went back to Mister Donut for some food, I bought this basil-tomato thingy,

Jingyi got this indian curry thingy.

Which was tasty. Because she said so. I can't remember if I tried, maybe I didn't.

I know I shouldn't have eaten fried stuff. But I don't know where to find and didn't have the mood to.

When we came out with our food there was a fire atop a building nearby.

The fire engine(s) arrived.

And it was getting really smoky.

But we got ourselves bubble tea anyway =Þ

The weather was too hot for me to find a hot drink. Excuses.

And we headed back to our room (the smoke got into the hotel as well) to rest and to get ready for what we've been looking forward to.

Day 4.1

2009-05-15T11:03:00.000+08:00

Yangmingshan 阳明山

The next morning we headed via MRT to

then took a bus

and saw many scooters.

Well, they're EVERYWHERE in Taiwan.

We bought some breakfast earlier

from a shop at the MRT station.

And we finally got to Yangmingshan.

I don't know and don't think the tree in the following picture is a coconut tree. It is too cute to be a coconut tree. The leaves are so cuteeeee.

At least I think so.

And I only noticed the tree when I was browsing my photos.

I tried to take a photo of a really pretty girl but as you can see, I only managed to take a bit.

What to do, she was running up and down. But that's enough for you to see that she's actually pretty!

Here's the flower clock.

And by the time we reached it was especially sunny, we didn't have the mood to go anywhere and everywhere.

If Chen Shui-bian went all out to clear everything related to Chiang Kai-shek, there'd be a lot to do.

Chiang Kai-shek is everywhere.

We saw a very handsome dog too.

Walked quite a lot.

And took a bus back to Taipei Main Station where we changed to the MRT to Ximen Station.

It was only later when I returned to Singapore that there are actually a lot of things you could do at Yangmingshan. Somehow or the other I think we missed out quite a bit =S what a waste of time to travel all the way there to marvel just at the clock and the fountain. And a lot of green.

Day 3.6

2009-05-14T22:44:00.001+08:00

A-zong Mee Sua 阿宗面线

DELICIOUS!

Well Annie didn't like it. I attribute this to the fact that she was uncomfortable with standing while eating. And that she wasn't hungry.

I think Twiggy liked it.

I liked it!

So go try if you go to Ximending in Taipei.

We returned from 101 and went back to Ximending rightaway, thank goodness in time for mee sua. It was quite near our hotel anyway.

I hope I can bring my folks to eat that someday.

Day 3.5

2009-05-14T18:12:00.002+08:00

Taipei 101

And we left the NTU area for Taipei 101.

Took the MRT to Taipei City Hall.

And you could see Taipei 101 peeking at you from behind.

Not really actually.

It's standing there to let you and everyone else know that it is there.

As if we can't see, it's so bloody tall.

The sun was setting on the other side.

If you are poor like me, the only point of going to 101 is to check out the observatory.

If you are touristy like me, the only point of going to 101 is to check out the observatory.

Which was what I did.

Which was what we did.

The ticket which set us back by NT360.

And then we had to queue.

You have to walk through the detector before you can ~~try anything funny~~ enter.

After passing through the gantry you gotta take a lift which was rather fast, but I didn't sense the speed.

We went all the way up to check this out.

They give you a portable audio to play descriptions of the scenery you see.

Just key in the area number you're at and play.

This should be Taipei Arena if I'm not wrong.

Other than the scenery and the bar and the expensive gift shops you could also write postcards to your loved ones.

The postcards were bought from an expensive gift shop.

I'm poor. But touristy.

So I sent a postcard home.

And we shared postcards to send to the rest of the 7.

I also sent a postcard to RC.

*shy*

Hahahaha.

Afterwards we went back to scenery-viewing. This time, the sun had already set and darkness fell.

But being a city of course there are lights around.

We went up to the top - i.e. the rooftop, where you could view without a window in between.

It was bloody cold.

But I still managed to take a picture.

Nicer, 'cos no reflection ma.

a.k.a. Super Big Wind Damper.

The only damper in a building in the whole world that is open to public.

Other buildings hide their dampers away.

I don't know what the big deal really is anyway, however it's still an eye-opener.

Else I wouldn't know how a damper looks like.

Right???

This is one of the mascots of Taipei 101.

It's called a baby.....baby damper or something? I can't remember.

(this is what happens to you when you start blogging more than a month after you return. damnit.)

The shopping area.

But by the time we came down the shops were closed.

Not that we were rich enough to buy anything anyway =Þ

There was something on the floor that I didn't understand what it was for. I went to find Singapore anyway.

I don't know I don't know.

And we headed out to another shopping centre. New York New York. For some reason it was still opened. This is the link bridge from 101 to NYNY.

M!ne - All Malt Beer.

I tried to take a photo of 101.

Eslite - the 24-hr bookstore in Taipei.

If you wake up in the middle of the night and you can't go to sleep and wanna read something, here's the place for you. We went in to see-see.

I remember calling home and telling my mum that I fell sick. She got quite worried =S

That's it for 101!

Day 3.4

2009-05-14T15:33:00.000+08:00

台一牛奶大王

This dessert shop is near NTU, of walking distance.

Before that, we saw a 7-Eleven along the way and I went into get medicine.

I found 枇杷膏! And I bought Vitamin C tablets as instructed by mum.

I thought I'd see a bottle when I open the box but hey, it's in sachets.

And I got happier 'cos this would mean more convenience for me. I didn't bring a spoon, if you don't know yet.

Anyway. Back to the Milk King.

There are both cold and hot desserts served at the shop, good for me. I was dying to eat up one big bowl of Eight Treasures 八宝冰 but I shouldn't eat cold stuff.

So I had rice balls.

(Twiggy's 八宝冰 is at the back)

It was delicious! And big!

But I think 八宝冰 is better. =( In its own way la.

I wanna eattttttt.

Day 3.3

2009-05-14T13:23:00.004+08:00

National Taiwan University (NTU) 台大

Disappointing too. Nothing much =\

That's the Main Library.

This is an open field in front of the Main Library.

The chairs are usually not there, they're there just because there was a couple taking wedding photos down the field.

This is what I assume to be the Yusof Ishak House equivalent of NUS.

This is its canteen.

Sigh, the difference.

I bought honey green tea, a small sized one;

and 担仔面.

I hate being sick while touring.

And guess what.

That's it for NTU.

I really hate being sick while touring.

Did I say that already?

Day 3.2

2009-05-14T12:41:00.003+08:00

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. 中正纪念堂

Finally, at our destination. The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.

Erm.

This actually isn't the memorial. It's the National Theater.

I knew I should've invested in some wide-angle lens.

Now this is the memorial.

自由广场, I loosely translate it (trying to dig out what I learnt from CL2280) as Freedom Square.

Opposite the National Theatre is the National Concert Hall.

We didn't enter though.

And I was too sick to make them go in with me anyway.

Here's a satellite image of the C.K.S. Memorial Hall area. Blow it up!

And then comes a series of jump-shots.

Must I put them here?

Ok, maybe I'll just put them here.

Oh did I mention they were all FAILED jump-shots.

Seriously.

The sky was too sunny for me to have any mood to take photos, and my shivering didn't help.

I bet I didn't mention that I only recalled later on that my camera has got the multi-shot function.

It got left out of my sick pea brain.

Never mind about failed jump-shots.

I have to apologise to my two ~~lovely~~ friends that the posed shots didn't come out well too.

Thanks to yours truly.

I walked too slowly. I don't know why that happened. I really don't know.

Upon entering, the statue of Chiang Kai-shek 蒋介石 greets you.

With a very 慈祥, soothing expression on his face.

The Kuomintang logo on the ceiling.

This was just the ground level, there were other levels that you can tour.

There was a museum somewhere. This was one of his cars. 1955 Cadillac Bullet-proof Sedan.

And because I was sick and unwell I didn't take many photos.

Not that I was really interested in it ba. Haha.

And there are other photos but doesn't matter.

This was at the end when I took from the C.K.S. Memorial side.

I like.

Day 3.1

2009-05-14T10:47:00.007+08:00

Breakfast and a walk.

This was my breakfast.

We got it the day before from a traditional cake shop, it was somehow a little too sweet.

And then we set off.

Walked past the Office of the President 总统府. I'm not sure if it's equivalent to our Istana but I think it's roughly there.

The entrance of Taipei First Girls High School 北一女. There was nothing much to see, disappointingly.

Well a school is a school, it's not a museum.

The difference between the roads in Taipei and other countries is that they have a box for motorcyclists, so they can zoom off first when the light turns green.

Okay, boring moment. tbc!

Day 2.7

2009-05-13T19:20:00.000+08:00

Hwahsi Night Market and after.

Also known as Snake Alley Night Market.

It was DISAPPOINTING.

Totally.

I think it really depends on how much you're interested in snakes. And boring food.

The entrance.

Inside the market.

The food was boring, the street was boring, the people were boring, even the snakes bored the hell out of me.

We bought these cold sweet balls from a mute who was grumpy and couldn't tell us what this is called. From another night market.

We headed to another shopping area.

I think we headed to nothing.

Bought bubble tea.

And we headed back to the hotel to rest.

That's it for day 2! Phew. I'm taking forever.

Day 2.6

2009-05-13T18:47:00.000+08:00

Longshan Temple. 龙山寺。

It's good that we went to different kinds of attractions.

Longshan Temple MRT is just one stop away from Ximen MRT, so it's really quite convenient for us.

See. Even Longshan Temple also have underground shopping at its MRT station okay. Don't play play, even temples can be very modern.

But being a temple-related shopping area, the stuff sold inside were mostly Buddhist-related stuff. Like statues and crystals etc. Feels a little like Chinatown/Bugis in Singapore.

I think temples in Singapore - at least those that I've been to - are lagging behind in terms of technology.

LOOK!

Longshan Temple has got an LED display. It says there 'Amitabha'. After that it would say things like wishing the candidates for a particular examination good luck etc. So nice right.

If you don't know that's Longshan Temple you really have to find the tiny words on top.

This is after zooming like dunno how many times.

Through the gates and into the main square.

Man-made waterfall.

Annie and I paid some respects.

Photo kopped from Twiggy

There were many devotees. As well as tourists.

Another building at the back.

月老

I bought this bracelet from two nuns outside Longshan Temple. This is supposed to give me good health. In the end I fell sick the next day.

I stopped wearing it.

Day 2.5

2009-05-13T16:36:00.001+08:00

Walking around Ximending.

We went back to the hotel to rest, then went out again to visit other places.

The motive for the rest of the day was to shop for shoes and visit some tourist attraction.

But of course, first and foremost, dinner first.

No.

Actually we went to Show Luo 羅志祥's shop first.

And it looked like this on the outside.

Photo kopped from Twiggy

No photography inside.

Thanks to Twiggy and Annie, I'd have walked past the shop without noticing it. Nothing much to say about the shop though.

We had dinner at this eatery called 温州大餛飩, i.e. Big dumplings of this place called Wenzhou. Or Wen Continent. I don't know.

Anyway.

That's the menu.

A well-known Taiwanese actress called Chen Meifeng visited this eatery before too.

Introducing our orders.

Annie's 炸酱面.

Twiggy's delicious 红油炒手. Too bad I'm not very good at tolerating spicy stuff.

My 温州餛飩面. Simple and yummy. The dumplings were really nice.

And off we went to our next destination, known as Yuanling Shoe Street. It's just a street with shops selling shoes. Need I explain? Haha.

When we were walking there from the eatery we passed by a few street stalls selling snacks, and we decided to try some.

There was muah chee,

and pancake.

The pancake was too rich with the red bean filling, it was kinda over. However you can really taste the red beans in the paste much unlike the totally grounded kind in Singapore.

That's Yuanling Shoe Street for you.

Another nothing much place.

They have these big shoes at the entrance at the other end.

That's it!

Day 2.4

2009-05-13T14:00:00.004+08:00

Back to Taipei.

This is nothing much, really. Just more glimpses of Taiwan.

I tried to focus but it was hard. This is an IU-equivalent in the car pool we took from the farm to the railway station. It was NT$50 cheaper than the previous cab ride. And the driver was a middle-aged woman who was talking on the phone most of the time telling her kids off.

Anyway.

That's the Zhongli railway station.

Chiang Kai-shek is everywhere in Taiwan.

Their public phones. I used them a couple of times as I had an international calling card. In Taipei especially, I was paranoid about the germs on the phone that I cleaned it before using.

Return ticket.

Sometimes I wish Singapore has this much land. So that I don't have to suffocate alongside four million others. And growing. They ought to know their limitations and not hope for five million people.

They really should take the public transport often, or the population will just become unhappier.

Okay I digressed.

Inside a typical MRT in Taiwan.

See, we aren't the only people who sleep on the train.

They really know how to maximise a pole.

We should learn this.

Soon.

Like real soon. Because instead of sitting space, sometimes we have to fight for a 'gripping' space.

Bak kwa, anyone?

This is so Singaporean:

They HAVE to let you know that they come from Singapore. This is in Taipei Main Station if I'm not wrong.

Okay, end of post. More to come!

Day 2.3

2009-05-13T11:57:00.006+08:00

Under the midday sun at a sunflower farm.

Finally we got ourselves here.

Map of the farm.

Play the video to see this twinkling thing.

This building housed a restaurant selling some sunflower-related stuff.

The patch nearest to the entrance was lavender.

Spot me.

With that comes a very suspicious sunflower beside the many rows of lavender. The sunflower fields were quite a distance away, so maybe somehow or the other some sunflower seed landed there.

We can assume that sunflowers' mode of dispersal is by wind, or some visitor was munching on some sunflower seeds and a few landed at that spot.

There was a pond...

...some goats...

...ah finally the sunflowers.............

.......which were kind of disappointing. I think we were there at the wrong time. They were blooming but wilting too.

Look at how bad some patches were.

Sigh.

But that of course didn't deter us from finding a good spot to take a picture. We were there already anyway.

One more.

And this one was kinda funny because in the end I blocked them and Twiggy blocked Annie.

More sunflowers.

And some had yet to bloom.

There were other breed of flowers around.

Snapdragon.

Nice.

There was a souvenir shop which was kinda uninteresting to me. Didn't buy anything.

We then trotted to the restaurant for tea. =D

The interior of the restaurant.

Ice water.

Our cakes!

The set consists of a drink, a cake, and their sunflower jelly.

Everything was not bad =)

The sunflower jelly was yummy.

I prefer it without the creamer.

And my drink was some sunflower ice blended drink. It wasn't too sweet and it was refreshing! Perfect. =)

That's about it for the farm!

Day 2.2

2009-05-13T09:39:00.002+08:00

On the railway and cab.

I met a nice lady called 雅婷 on the train and she advised us on going to 九份 Jioufen and later brought us to the place where we could get a cab at Zhongli. I think she brought us there just in case the cab drivers named a high price to bring us to Sun & Green 向阳农场, a sunflower farm somewhere in Taoyuan. Thank you!

On the train.

Some random scenery. Apartments. Tall ones.

The cab driver was super talkative. Like never-ending.

But well you get to watch some telly.

It's of no use if the driver talks too much though.

Another random scenery.

Next part will be on the farm itself!