25 June 2009

Fell in Love with Taiwan- Part 4

Yes, I am not done with my Taiwan posts yet!

Still wanna read about my journey in Taiwan?

Well, since you are looking at this now, why not?!

After watching the amazing sunset in Alishan, we continued our journey to exploreYu Shan National Park. Bear in mind that we only had 3 hours of sleep, and therefore there aren’t that many photos taken! Everyone is just so tired! If not for our lack of energy, we would have enjoyed the park more!

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Let me recall what’s in the park!

giant tree at yu shan

this giant tree with a hole which Yoshi climbed on without any hesitation

Jenny and I

Jenny and I were having little chat..I like this picture!

sisterlake

Sisterlake – think this should be the elder sister (Bigger haha) as there is another small pond nearby

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It was sunny!

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the guys! I thought the ray of light at the right hand side of the photo is cool, no?

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What does this look  like to you??? make a guess!!!

GUESS PLEASE!!!!

STILL CAN’T GET IT?

pig

Can you tell now?!

YES PIG! hahahahaa…….Iquenna and Yoshi are born in the year of BOAR!

Seems like Iquenna still wants to maintain her image, unlike Yoshi!

and…….I didn’t made this up ok! See my evidence as below!

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flower at Yu Shan

special flower found in the park

That’s it for Yu Shan National Park! Very few photos I know…Sorry I was really too exhausted on the day !

Next up….Tania and I were in Tainan !

 

16 June 2009

So You Think You Can Dance Season 5 is BACK!

O M G!

I really can't describe how excited I feel right now after watching Top 20 of Season 5 performed for the first time!!!

IT WAS BLOODY AMAZING!

It's so amazing that I am going to throw up hahahahaa


AND THIS IS MY FAVOURITE PERFORMANCE....... with the song that I fell in love with ever since I first heard it on the radio!

Please watch it before Youtube removes it!



What do you think?

The dance reflects the lyrics of the song perfectly and it really brings out the suffering couples have to endure when they are in a fight!

I AM LOVING IT!

Can't wait for the next episode!!!


But then again.....I think Joshua and Katie danced better last season in Jordin's "No Air".. miss watching them!


This is one of the performance that I really like from last season

The other unforgettable performance, which is also a hip hop routine, is this! Sabra and Dominique in Season 3!


I realised that I really love all the hip hop routines!

But then I think I am too old to be learning it already hehe..

Hope you guys like these videos too and start watching So You Think You Can Dance!

15 June 2009

Fell in Love with Taiwan- Part 3

We had dinner at the hostel. after resting for a while and it was such an unforgettable dinner! The food in his picture may not look yummy to you guys cos it looked so plain but you are wrong! Each and every single plate of the dishes is so yummy and healthy! As老板娘call it, 养生菜也!we really can’t get enough of the vegetables especially the bamboo shoots!

Dinner at Hostel

After the dinner, the hostel boss arranged a very special activity for us at night time- fireflies watching!

We were very excited about it! Innocent us did not know that in order for us to get close with the fireflies, we actually had to walk in total darkness!

The road was muddy and slippery, however, luckily no one fell or slipped throughout our activity!

It was my FIRST watching fireflies!!!

Too bad there weren’t many fireflies on the night as it rained a bit during the day.

I was really excited when I started seeing the first one…second…third… I remembered Yoshi and I kept screaming and pointing the fireflies out for each other!

It was a really special experience for all of us. As it was too dark, there is no way for us to take picture but we did take a few!

Fireflies pic

Sorry that i looked weird as the flash is too bright for me to open my eyes! Jenny is holding the fireflies caught by the boss and the rest! Again, of course you can’t see because of the flash.

Fireflies pic-group

After happily taken the picture, the boss announced that the steps going back up the hostels would be 600 steps!!! GOSH….but no choice lah…really had to climb the steps in order to get back…

After we went back to the hostel, we played cards and drank taiwanese beer until around 12am, knowing very well that we had to wake up at 3am to go watch the infamous sunrise at Alishan!!!

I couldn’t sleep at all..maybe too excited after the fireflies and excited about watching the sunrise!

Very soon, we had to wake up and started our journey up to hill to watch sunrise! As we go up the hill, the weather becomes colder. I didn’t exactly wear enough but somehow I survived hehe! The drive was about 2.5 hours and I still couldn’t sleep in the van.

We stopped by the roadside to take photos of the beautiful scenery in front of our bare eyes!

scenery

Felt so close to heaven!

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Gorgeous isn’t it?!

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I was wearing Iquenna’s hat as it was really COLD! Thanks to sweet Iquenna for lending it to me!

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Group picture – Iquenna taking it for us

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Iquenna in the picture now! I think the guys’ head blocked the beautiful scenery but nvm the scenery is already engraved in my heart!

Soon enough, we got to the sunrise spot! and it was full of cars!

sunrise crowd

and those ppl already taken the good spot!

Luck is very important when it comes to watching the sunrise. If the sky is cloudy, then chances are you won’t be able to see the sunrise clearly. Lucky us the sky was only slightly cloudy on the day so we managed to see quite an amazing sunrise!

Everyone is waiting for the egg yolk to jump out!

I hope you can see the gradual change of colour of the sky through the pictures below…

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then FINALLY! THIS!!!

sunrise finally

The wait was worth it, watching the sun popping out from the backdrop of mountain…赞!Shiok in english !

sunrise group

a priceless photo taken at D moment….I wish i can remove those ppl behind us tho haha

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曲终人散----------everyone left after the sunrise….

After watching the sunrise, we are not done yet!

We still had to walk around the Yu Shan national park! To be honest, I was exhausted and zombie-ish at that point of time already. Didn’t take many pictures…

To be continued………..

stay tuned!

07 June 2009

Fell in Love with Taiwan- Part 2

Our journey to Alishan continues..

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Next up, we were brought to the Everlasting Bridge by our driver.

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Introduction to the Everlasting Bridge…

Us being the tourist!

After one hour +, we have reached our hostel at Alishan.

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Our hostel is also a tea plantation and there is a factory processing the tea leaves. We paid NTD1800 for a night stay, transportation from Jia Yi to the hostel and food.

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Meet the boss! He was very enthusiastic in explaining the whole tea production process! *YAWN*

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See? Still going on….The process seems tedious and boss told us that it is much more time consuming than the tea in China. They do not export their tea as it is only enough for domestic consumption.

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Competition of Manhood! The guys test their strength by carrying the 20-30kg tea bag!

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oh Forgot to introduce our lunch, 铁路便当!The meat in red is pork meat, which I didn’t eat as I was still having flu then, otherwise, it tasted not bad. I like to eat taiwanese rice, its different from those in Spore and Malaysia.

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After outdoor explanation, we get to taste the tea!

You can even try to 泡茶yourself!

The boss took us for a tour around the Alishan area which includes Fencihu, one of the rail stations along the Alishan Forrest Railway.

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奮起湖 without 湖 ~~

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As you can see, loads of tourists!

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The environment is so serene and calm around Alishan area. It was a beautiful walk!

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There are many stalls selling vegetables, fruits that they planted themselves.

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Wasabi!

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bamboo shoots..these are yummy..crunchy and sweet if you cook it in the right way..

lovely flowers found in the area…

Next post will be on the amazing Alishan sunrise which we had to wake up at 3.30am for!

I have been resting at home for this weekend, even the Great Singapore Sales cannot get me out of my house. I suppose that’s because I have spent a lot in Taiwan + My leg & feet better rest after all the walking in Taiwan!

Hope my body + mind can recover soon for work! :)))

04 June 2009

Fell in Love with Taiwan – Part 1

Hi everyone, sorry for the lack for updates lately.

I just came back from a fantastic 6D5N trip in Taiwan and I was so busy and sick previously therefore I had no mood to blog whatsoever before my trip!

I was worry that I couldn't even pass the immigration in Taiwan as I was having flu and feeling feverish the day before I was supposed to go. Luckily everything turned out to be okay and I enjoyed myself very much in Taiwan!

This trip is also to visit my friend, Tania, who started working in Taiwan last Oct. It was a good chance to spend some time with her and seeing her settled down so well in Taiwan.

As it was Duan Wu Jie 端午节public holiday, she was able to spend some time with me and planned the trip for us to go Alishan together!

The Alishan trip is also the highlight to my Taiwan trip. So, the six of us, two Malaysians, one half Malaysian half Taiwanese, One Taiwanese, One Japanese and a South African Chinese went together! Although we are a multi-national group, it doesn't deter us to bond with each other pretty quickly from the starting of the trip! It’s just so amazing that people from different background would be able to click so easily!

Jia Yi Train Station-Group

First Group photo taken at Jia Yi High Speed Train Station…

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First stop: Bei Men old train station in Jia Yi

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You can take train from here to Alishan but we got the hostel boss to pick us up and drove us up Alishan.

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Second Group Photo at the Bei Men Train Station

Expect loads of pictures ahead!!!

After visiting the train station, we were fetched to try out a local delicacy in Jia Yi- the chicken rice 鸡肉饭. Basically its chicken meat which has been torn plus the sauce on top of rice. Its kind of special as compared to the chicken rice in Singapore.

After the early breakfast, we continue our journey to Alishan.

AND..We had to ask the driver to stop when we saw THIS!!!

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A sunflower field by the roadside! An amazing scene!!!

GOSH I was really excited and these lovely flowers light up my mood immediately!

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The girls!

Yoshi with Sunflower

The guys- Yoshi with sunflower!

Charlton with sunflower

Charlton too!

AND next to this sunflower field…….there is a Lotus field!

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lotus

Beautiful Pure Lotus.

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The lotus leave can really hold water! We were playing with it! No wonder people use it to drink water last time..

This is the end of Part 1.

Stay tuned for Part 2~

Hope everyone have a nice weekend !!!!!!