Fell in Love with Taiwan – Last Part!

As requested by Dune, I am going to sum up my Taiwan trip last year with today’s post.

After visiting Alishan (see HERE),  the rest took the train back to Taipei where Tania and I went to Tainan for a quick visit!

Not many photos but here you go! I was feeling real exhausted and the weather in Tainan was a killer! Bear in mind it was Summer when I went over last year!

 

We had 铁路便当 (Railway Bento) in the high speed train! It tasted sooooo good I tell u!

Then we visited Chikan Tower, one of the tourist spot in city centre

Built in 1653, during the Dutch colonial rule, Chikan Tower was initially called Provintia which meant eternity in Dutch. However, the tower was renamed by the Han Chinese as 'the tower of savages' or 'tower of the red haired Barbarians'. The Chinese called it in different names such as Chikan Tower, Fantselou and Honmaulou.

We then walked around the city centre. I was amazed at the amount of food shop there, especially shop selling prawn rolls! Prawn rolls are definitely a popular souvenir in Tainan!

It was quite crowded the other day as well.

tried some street snacks!After trying some snacks, we took the train back to Taipei!

The next day, I met up with Anita, my ex flatmate in Manchester.

Anita and I in front of Sogo, take care babe!

Tasty Taro dessert near Tania’s house!

refreshing taste but very filling!

On my last night in Taipei, we went to a local restaurant, Taiwanese called it the 热炒店！Oh my, the food there was simply yummylicious! They sell dishes in small plates.

Gosh I  miss the food there!

We had so much fun eating the food while drinking the Taiwanese Beer!

From Left: Ivan, Tania, Iquenna and Vanessa!

Yoshi, me, Chi Chi and Charlton

Met some friends from Sabah too!

Ivan and me

Tania and me!

Iquenna and me, looking red

Yoshi and me

I had soooo much fun in Taiwan because of these guys!!! They are fabulous and so fun to be with!

Too bad Jennifer was unable to come.

I wanna thank everyone for giving me such a wonderful trip in Taiwan. I shall try to visit again this year!

Wait for me!!!

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!

Let me recall what’s in the park!

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

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

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

It was sunny!

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

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

GUESS PLEASE!!!!

STILL CAN’T GET IT?

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!

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 !

 

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!

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!

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.

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!

Felt so close to heaven!

Gorgeous isn’t it?!

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

Group picture – Iquenna taking it for us

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!

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…

then FINALLY! THIS!!!

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

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

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!

Fell in Love with Taiwan- Part 2

Our journey to Alishan continues..

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

Introduction to the Everlasting Bridge…

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Us being the tourist!

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

After outdoor explanation, we get to taste the tea!

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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.

奮起湖 without 湖 ~~

As you can see, loads of tourists!

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

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

Wasabi!

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

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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! :)))