DAY 1
We had to wake up hellishly early to meet up with the rest of our tour group. Did the meeting at the airport at 7:30am, however, the flight wasn't until 9:30pm. The plane ride was a short 1 1/2 hour trip. I watched Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares on our way there. XD We landed in Kaohsiung and wooow it was getting kinda hot! We all hopped into this cheesy, orange frilly draped windowed bus that screamed nammer. However, not a nammer in sight, mind you.
In Taiwan, instead of cars, you see MAD SCOOTERS. Scooters are EVERYWHERE. They're SO everywhere, it's actually kind of annoying to walk around with them.
Our first tour spot was a temple (go figure :D) beside a University (direct translation is: Country stand middle mountain university), which the bus driver did a U turn inside and came out. So this temple... made us walk up these super steep, slippery steps (in which all the old geezers either had trouble going up or were too scared to even try - incase they break neck) that zig-zagged back and forth. And for some reason, we were by the water but there was no WIND and no CLOUDS so it was HOT. When we reached the top, we all bought water (good money). Ok so this temple was actually a battle fort when it was under Dutch rule... there just so happens to be a mini temple beside it. And a modern cafe.
Oh yeah, there was this taxi advertising this URL when we were heading back to the bus: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bibo5544.
Next we had our first Hakka meal mid afternoon and witnessed the biggest, most longest melons ever... outside of their restaurant. They also tried to sell us peanuts. Some people bought it.
Next stop was a temple-ish place. There were these two towers, one entrance had the mouth of a dragon and the other was the mouth of a tiger. The story was you had to walk in through the dragon's mouth and walk out of the tiger's mouth for good luck. Me and my mom took our pictures at our respective animals. ;) The area was actually under heavy renovation so the water surrounding it was extremely dried out (much like a desert). Since there was time, we also visited another temple-ish place a bit farther with the same idea, plus a few goddesses and what not.
Then there was this wonderful temple:
The next stop was at yet another historical location. Zeelandia was the name. Which means we were in Tainan. The timing was so good, we had a giant swarm of kids on a field trip there as well. They had a number of displays of real weapons behind glass which was cool.
The first day's hotel was decent of course. For the entire Taiwan trip, I shared a room with my brother so we each got our own bed! Oh, there was a phone by the toilet (for those who like to cook phone congee). After settling down, we visited the nearby 7-11 and also visited the riverside walk. It was insanely windy outside, so we decided to retreat early. They had anime on at least three channels at a time AND they had an MTV channel. We mainly watched the MTV channel though. :D
DAY 2
Weather was a bit poopy and cloudy. We continued on our bus traveling fun, passing by signs which said that violators will be clamped down if you're a peddler. Our first stop was a temple (woohoo). However, it was not your average temple. This temple was ginormous. The detailing of not only the sculptures, but the decorations (basically everything) was so intricate and detailed. It was awe-inspiring more than anything.
Next stop was the Taiwanese aboriginals (who would've thunk it?). A side note, they had this cute feather coming out of their headpiece~ They tried to sell us that expensive mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum) and royal jelly.
Because of the crappy weather, the peacock farm didn't release any of their birds out that day. However, there was one particular peacock who decided to show off a few things or two and I was able to take some good shots of him. Then I took a lot of pictures of chickens. Cuz that was the rest they had at their farm.
After some more driving, we arrive back into the city and we get to experience our very first Taiwanese night market!!! I tried out this strange lemon and aloe vera drink mixed in with grass jelly, white (coconut?) jelly/tofu, and black cored white fuzzy seed stuff! That sounds great doesn't it! :B
The night market was as we imagined but MORE. More food, more shops, more sales - it's just BIGGER and starts so much earlier in the day... AND it happens EVERY. DAY. And the worse thing was, they didn't give us enough time to shop and look and everything! We soon had to leave to get to our hotel. :/
K so the second night's hotel was crappier as expected. There were even less tv channels (no mtv!), that already tells you enough. We took a walk around the area and bumped into this random guy selling designer bags on the street. Fishy you'd think, but the designer bags were LOCAL designer bags and the dude marked them down like mad. So there was nothing to lose (except a bit of pocket change ;)) so me and my mom dug a bit and found something nice (for me~). The guy basically just pulled them out of this giant bag and just threw them all on the floor (covered in cardboard, cough, but still). On the way back, we also got some 7-11 oden (!) munchies.
DAY 3
We visited this "DIY" recreational farm which were famous for their rather insane (20 some odd different) collection of TOMATOES. Now, I love tomatoes... but when they tried to make it into a vege drink (20+ types into one), it was really kinda ick. They also sold little cacti plants, and other types of fruit.
Next stop was Neiwan's street market. We first had the traditional Hakka food once again which featured this cartoony lady with bun hair, who's actually featured everywhere on this street (trademark of some sort perhaps...). After food, we walked halfway across the bridge that lead to (I think) a temple on the other side. We also tried out this ice cream made from real fresh milk - which actually didn't taste that great... but everyone bought it anyways, just because of the hype. There was also this traditional restaurant that had the theatre built-in to watch while you eat.
We get to a mini night market. This time they gave us way too much time, too early in the day, but too close to dinner. There was nothing good at this night market, so we ended up wandering in the area. Due to our awesome wandering skills, we find ourselves at FE21 Mega Mall on Ximen Street, for our a/c leeching pleasure.
188 "Just For Fun" Hot Pot. THE BEST HOT POT RESTAURANT EVER. It's all you can eat, you get your own hot pot pot, pick your own soup base, all you can drink pop AND Mcdonalds chicken mcnuggets! What more could you ask for?? The place was great... the name was questionable though.
That night was the best luxury hotel @ Lakeshore, Taiwan. They had fancy building names like Windsor Castle and Leith Castle. We each had our own Queen-sized beds, movable tv, own kitchen built with hot water boiler, giant closet, and giant bathroom. Of course, we used the place to our full advantage. Me and my mom headed down to the health club and enjoyed dry/wet sauna-ing, turbo jet jacuzzi's and massage chairs. That was the life.
DAY 4
We bid the wonderful hotel goodbye and made our way to the day's first destination. Freedom... something gate. At the front were towering entrances that lead you to an open concrete area. On the two sides were temples of some sort. On the other side was a giant shrine to Dr. Sun Yat Sen. To get there, you had to traverse under the deadly rays of the sun... which was quite painful actually. On the two sides, there were people rehearsing their singing, and on the other, they were rehearsing their dancing (huh?).
When you make it to the other side and climb up the stairs to the actual shrine, you can head down to the ground floor to visit the built-in museum.
Next step was Taipei 101. The famous building with 101 levels. Basically we visited Taipei 101 up to floor 4 and headed straight out again. My mom had been dying to visit the bookstore, as you know, Taiwan is known for their cheap and plentiful collection of books. We walked right past New York New York and went straight to the 4-level Eslite bookstore. Unfortunately for me, they didn't have any Japanese comics I was interested in. However, the building was nicely made. It was roomy, and the escalators were customer friendly (as in the in-out flow was nicely organized).After the short visit, it was already time for us to return to the meeting point.
Taipei 101 has a visitor counter that tells you how many people are in the building at the time. The most ever was 24481 and when we were there, there were about 4000.
After the hefty book shopping, we headed to food. This time, we were brought to this restaurant called Din Tai Fung which was famous for their steamed food. The place was insanely packed and even us tour people had to wait outside under the blazing heat for a quite a while for a seat. And when we did get seats, we were forced to sit separately to accommodate all of us. All in all, it was pretty good but I feel the food we have back home is just as good, if not better. The waitresses knew Japanese here (on top of Taiwanese).
It wasn't particularly filling but this tour has never failed to fill us, knowing that we knew there will be chances later. After food, we had some time so we walked a bit and bought ourselves some good old bubble tea, which we actually had to wait a bit to get due to the lineups. Next the tour brought us to a teahouse (Royal Teahouse) where we were introduced with the different types of teas they had, were famous, for and what Taiwan themselves were famous for. We ended up getting green tea powder which tastes rather interesting with a common Chinese kid's boost vitamin drink "Yut lick doh" (roughly translates to one strength more).
After washing our hands in dried tea leaves, our next stop was the National Palace Museum (NPM). After researching museums and doing a final project on museums last semester, going to a well established one was rather exciting. The entrance was made of glass and was an automatic slide open door. The lobby was big and welcoming. Really roomy for multiple tours and groups, which was what it was filled with. As a visitor, you get an audio headset which was totally what our museum project had as well! If you were in a group, you all had your own exclusive audio tour in your own radio frequency where you are your own tour guide. If you weren't part of a giant group, they were audio tours where you'd use a similar headset but you got to punch codes into the gadget of the exhibit you wish to know more about.
Ok so the actual museum wasn't that exciting, as everything was just presented you in facts and behind the glass. The closest thing to interactive was their "touch the drawing to have it projected in a cartoon on screen in front of you!" However, as for eye candy, the museum was packed full of it. Intricate sculptures, equipment - basically everything of Taiwan history. Each era was divided in their sections and you got to go to each area to put a stamp on your map to show that you've been there. The place was jam packed in three levels, and they were presented in English, Chinese and Japanese. Unfortunately the museum did not allow photography, so I was unable to take any pictures of the place. Except in the beginning when I didn't know I wasn't allowed to <_<. The main thing I remember of it was their famous jade lettuce which apparently holds great significance. To the point that my mom had to buy something related to the jade lettuce in the gift shop.
Speaking of the gift shop, the jade lettuce merchandise was cheesy and lame. They made the jade lettuce and the little "bug" in the cabbage cartoon characters, so it ended up hard for my mom to buy the jade lettuce as a normal jade lettuce. Oh and their gift shop was HUGE.
Also, listening to the tour guide drone on about each exhibit piece for an hour plus was extremely tedious. To divert our attention elsewhere, me and my brother played around with the radio frequencies on the headset and picked up neighbour tours speaking other languages.
Finally, after touring for about two hours in that museum, we headed off to another marketing scheme - Asian Feng Shui. They lectured briefly about placement of certain guard lions and then focused on the significance of Chinese names. They brought multiple examples of famous people who's fate was somehow intertwined with their names. So depending on the number of strokes there are in your name determines your future (last names don't count cuz it's predetermined). IIRC, lucky numbers were 4, 9, 13. And unlucky are 16 and 0 (if double digit, the 2nd number is a 0). So mine are 10 and 9. Good and bad apparently.
I was surprised no one stayed to buy their merch after their lecture. I would've expected at least one or two feng shui believers.
Night comes... and that's when the best stuff happens. NIGHT MARKET.
They drop us off at this super packed night market area where we bought a GIANT piece of fried CHICKEN MEAT (breast) for 50
After the unfortunate short visit, we made out way to the hotel. Not the greatest, nor the worst of the hotels. It had this really cool (and scary) balcony and for some strange reason, a partially tinted giant window looking into the washroom where you take a dump (aka. the toilet). WHY?
Ok so our night market days were not over yet, fortunately. There was another night market in the area so, of course, we headed there as soon as we dropped our stuff.
DAY 5
We were prompt to leave the hotel in the morning to catch the "march". So at this official military station, the guards stationed at their posts will change after standing there without moving (same ones in England) for an hour or so. And when they do, they put on a whole show. I filmed the whole thing (it's a whopping 20 minutes long!) and then there's lots of stupid, stupid people getting in the way of the camera, in the way of the soldiers, in the way of everything. The soldiers' movements were so precise and look so simple, yet not. It was truly interesting but weird how we'd have to follow them (in a giant crowd of people) to watch the whole performance.
After chasing them for the good 20 minutes, we headed to "The World of Pearl" (it's what they wrote on their sign!). So this marketing scheme was to try and sell us real pearls, depending on the type, you can eat, "cure" certain aliments, or wear them like you know pearls best. Nobody bought it. Unfortunately for them. Everyone walked straight out after they were done talking.
Then it was time for souvenirs and sweets time. We stopped at this bakery called "vigor kobo" famous for their baked goods. They also had testers for you try out. Not my cup of tea.
Ok food time. Our last food place was an insane looking building that looked like it came out of Zelda... for real. It had the feel of Rainforest Cafe, minus the annoying, random thunderstorms and animal noises. They used clay, metal, and lots of brown, nature colours. They also had decoration pieces which was also made by the designer of the restaurant, which looked like they were influenced by Native culture.
So the story. This crazy designer lady one day saw a floating wooden 5-edged plank with a coin in it and bam! She was inspired by that piece of floating wood and made this restaurant! True story! It's even called the 5-edged wooden plank restaurant. For serious! I am not the one crazy!
Either way, she's hella rich and famous now.
After that enjoyable meal, we headed to our last street market. Apparently this place was extremely popular, as they'd have a park and ride stationed at the bottom of the mountain. Now, about the ride part... the bus drivers were extremely aggressive going both up and down the steep mountain. There wasn't much road room to share two lanes (one going up, one going down) but there was a lot of traffic. So there was more food and cheap shopping galore, but we were running out of Taiwanese money, so we spent cautiously to finish it up. When going back down the mountain, I had to endure some nasty BO in the stuffy bus while the crazy bus driver drove down like a mad man.
There was also a special order for duck tongue, apparently Taiwan was famous for their fresh duck tongue that even included part of the esophagus. We got a few orders for ourselves and as gifts.
Everything must come to an end. We headed to the airport to finish up the tour by rearranging our goodies into our luggages. My dad, as usual, stressed out like mad trying to fit everything in. But that's another story.
While we waited for our plane back, my mom spotted an ad on the Hello Kitty decorated gate! Immediately, she had us follow her. Luckily our gate was only a few away from the Hello Kitty one. Besides the gate, they had a nursery room, which just gave a small taste of the Hello Kitty goodness that was to come. Pink and cute as hell.
At the gate, indeed, it was pink and cute as hell. Their gift shop was jam packed with Hello Kitty goods. There was also a play area... and did I mention pink benches with Hello Kitty's head on them?
On the plane ride back, I watched the Spice Girls documentary. lol.
In conclusion! I'm glad we went to Taiwan over Korea! I really like how Taiwan has the Japanese culture built into their own now. I never knew Taiwan has such close ties with Japan even now.
In HK, everyone has their hands full with shopping bags.
In Taiwan, everyone has their hands full with FOOD.
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