Tuesday, December 26, 2006
alrights, i'm finally in a mood to blog about my holiday! but from experience, i'm not the kind who can conjure up a lengthy essay, so it'll just be a summary! hahah.
first day (19th dec), woke up at damn early at 4plus am to catch the 815am flight to taipei. but then my dad was taking a risk because the flight was overbooked. we only have confirmed tickets on the 20th dec. blame the tour agency and my dad's bad luck in balloting only a 20th dec ticket. FORTUNATELY, we managed to secure our seats! otherwise we can say goodbye to our tour. hahah. after the 4 hour flight, we arrived at taoyuan airport- one of taiwan's 2 international airports (40km from taipei city). we were picked up by a pretty tour guide. then she brought us to some place, i haev no idea what it's called to kill time (the tour supposed to start in the evening. the other group members' flight arrived only in the evening. our SQ flight touched down at around 1pm) crap. lol
it was raelly boring looking at potteries. really really boring. and then the tour guide brought us to another shopping mall. WORSE. the entire mall was devoid of customers, practically a ghost mall. i guess that's a reflection of how boring that shopping mall was. it sells CRAP. rubbish clothes, furnitures blah blah. then finally we were picked up at around 6plus pm and sped to the airport to pick the other members up. alas. the group was about 27 ppl big. and there were quite a few ppl who are around my age, but i hardly talked to any of them. there was this one girl who's studying medicine in NUS. really quite pretty! but i think she's attached already, smart and pretty. this kind of girls quite hard to come by. okay, that's not the point. anyway, we were brought to TAIPEI 101. the TALLEST BUILDING in the world. woot. but it's raelly crap la, you have to pay 17 bucks each to go up. and it was friggin raining. took a few pictures and went window shopping. you know you wont be buying any stuffs when u see brands like LV, chanel, d&g, gucci etc etc. it's like a ngee ann city, with many levels. not my kind of shops.
second day was okay. we went to a place called keelung to look at the marvellous pacific ocean. yes the waves were magnificent, but with the rain battling down on your umbrellas, you know things wont go so well. i saw some group members with your umbrellas wrangled in a wirey mess, several umbrellas flipping upwards. it was like a mini-mini typhoon. lol. interesting shit. the went jiufen, shops and shops. nth much there. then we took a 2hours plus train to hualien. i dont really like taking trains though, it's not like the train is that good. if you want excellent trains, you've to go europe! the trains are super modern and clean and cheap too. you just get a euro pass and u can travel all around europe for a fixed price! damn cool right? so yea, go europe! like switzerland. omg, the most beautiful place i've ever been, only slightly better than the picturesque NEW ZEALAND. shit i went out of point again. lol. at night was some aboriginal cultural performance. my mum was cheated of 20 bucks for buying some photo. it's all bullshit.
third day we visited the taroko national park. the scenery's quite nice, but not spectacular. nz's scenery beats tw's hands down. but it's different la, taiwan's mountains are mainly made of marble. different compositions i think =s took some really nice pics! then next was the crap marble factory. you know these tours always have these factories where the sales ppl will force you to buy their shit. yes this was exactly what happened. i know my mum doesnt want to purchase any, but in the end, their persistence succeeded in persuading my mum in parting with some cash to buy some necklace and rings. bullshit. i know these "attractions" cant be rid off (due to the revenue for tour agencies), but they should be reduced a little. total waste of time. next came the 7 hour bus ride to kaoshiung! omfg, 7 hours including a 1 hour plus mountain route. the bus is a double decker btw, and we all had to sit on the upper deck. it was rocking like a rocking horse, imagine sitting on it for 1 whole hour. i nearly puked due to motion sickness, blame myself for not sleeping.. visited some night markets at kaoshiung at night. nothing much also la. oh just something to complain, i hate the smell of fermented beancurds (chou dou fu). it reeks of shit, literally. SHIT. hahah.
forth day started with a visit to some pavilions. boring stuffs. went through some dragon and tiger tunnels, like those at haw paw villa in sg. the fun part came when we were brought to janfusan (jian fu san) theme park. it was a day of many firsts! i conquered my fear of heights by trying the first roller coaster. it's sorta like a short ride, where u have to take 3 escalators up, and when u reach the ride, you take a peek down and you will be amazed by the wonderful drop. it's like 10 to 20 storey drop downwards. 90 degrees. okay maybe not 90 degs, but 80 plus degrees. it looks friggin intimidating i tell you. and yes i tried it. at the highest point, the coaster had a hang time of about 3secs. and you just hang there, staring at the dark cave many floors below. and whoooosh. it was omfg-scary. the first second was pure adrenalin. rush till when i stepped out, my legs were wobbly and i had a stomachache. the second first was when i went on a "floorless" cockscrew rollercoaster. i haven been on one that goes through those somersaults. i'm sure you know what i mean. it was fun! can feel the g-forces pushing back on you. exhilarting ride i have to say. hahaha. the rest of the rides were just normal, not too bad. after the visit to theme park, we headed for taichung and visited another night market -_-
oh man im getting bored at blogging. and it's not really summarised quite detailed.. sigh. okay fast fast
day 5 was shopping. then went some 6 star spa resort
day 6 back to taipei already. visited the beautiful fisherman's wharf. went ximending which isnt as good as i thought it'll be. singapore's nicer to shop!
day 7 taipei back to singapore. refer to previous entry! hahahha. BUSINESS CLASS. omg. a memorable flight back home.
ALRIGHT, I'LL UPLOAD PICTURES ANOTHER DAY. nice pictures =)
{/11:10 PM}
Signed by Yours Truly.
