Taiwan Day 2: Taichung Tour (Night)

Takes about half an hour from Tainan to Taichung using the HSR(High Speed Rail), the bullet train I was mentioning about in my previous blog is call HSR in Taiwan, so I better say everything properly in case someone reading this blog for Taiwan information. Cost NT$650(S$30) to travel.

Once we arrived in Tainan, we met up with uncle Raymond and family, so the first place we went was to look for dinner, so you can imagine everywhere I go is eat and eat! Haha.In the car, while uncle Raymond was driving to our destination he gave us a short introduction of Taichung, but I guess me and Dhana was busy chatting with his two sons(Damn again! I forgot their name!). Cracking lame jokes, teaching them how to speak english and poking fun at them. Well, Raymond's family are more western cultured so they can easily blend in with our lingo and are more open to various topics. Raymond himself studied in the US before and his eldest son is studying at a Catholic school(learning to speak basic english there), but as you know when Taiwanese try speaking english, it really sound damn funny lor!

Ok enough of their english, we arrived at Taichung famous 精明一街 to have our dinner, for your info this is where the original Bubble Tea originate from. Uncle Raymond's wife, auntie Maggie, picked a restaurant and we ordered our food, it's basically an open air restaurant that serve asian cuisine but western style, nothing interesting about except they have songs dedication and someone will sing live for you.

So after dinner, auntie Maggie told one of her sons to buy "Mai Ya Tang"(Malt Candy) for us to try, is actually about the same in Singapore but theirs are slightly harder and they don't have two sticks for us to twirl around, so we taught them how to eat "Mai Ya Tang" the Singapore style, some cultural exchange over here. So while uncle Raymond and auntie Maggie relax one corner, me, Dhana and their two sons started walking around 精明一街, nothing much for guys because they sell alot of ladies fashion. DAMN! After a short tour, we head back to the restaurant to look for uncle Raymond and auntie Maggie and we shifted to cafe nearby. How not to grow fat! But this cafe is different, it is the originator of Bubble Tea! The cafe or should I say their tea house is called 春水堂. Wow, so the one in Singapore is copy from here one lor! Auntie Maggie ordered a large cup for me and Dhana, I thought it was nothing, but was stunned by the size of their large! Just take a look!

She ordered some side dishes to go with the bubble tea, imagine the side dish is "Feng Zhua"(Chicken Feet) and "Zhu Xue Gao"(Pig's Blood Cake - is actually steamed glutinous rice mixed with pig's blood), very wierd lor! Anyway it tasted quite nice, so no complain. We chatted for quite a while and soon it was getting late, so next we checked into the hotel uncle Raymond have arranged for us, not as glam as the first one but it was fine for us.

Alright, done with the Taiwan Day 2: Taichung Tour (Night), as promise, the video of the HSR(nothing special actually, just see how fast the things outside zoom past only). Enjoy!

Taiwan Day 2: Tainan Tour (Day)

Is my eyes playing tricks on me? It is like 7:30 am in the morning, but it's bright and sunny outside already! It looks as if it is 11am man! If it's 7:30 am in Singapore, the sun looks as if it is still half asleep lor!

We contemplated on staying another night at Tainan because of the hotel we are staying(it was damn comfortable lah!), but we decided to stick with our travel plan. The next morning after having breakfast at the hotel, we met up with Xiao Kang, who was waiting for us at the hotel lobby, his plan is to head down south to Kaohsiung City, which takes about an hour ++ to drive down from Tainan.

But before we actually head to Kaohsiung City, we went to pick up Mei Mei (Xiao Kang's daughter) and his wife from his home and later his son(Damn! forget his name liao...something Wei one...) from another place. Once everyone is present for the trip, we proceed to the train station to buy train tickets from Tainan to Taichung first, just in case we can't get the evening tickets, after which we headed down to Kaohsiung City.

According to Dhana, Mei Mei suppose to be very talkative and bubbly but maybe it's been awhile since Dhana last saw her, she was like all quiet and shy. It didn't take long before Mei Mei returned to her own self again after a few ice breaking conversation with her. All I could say, she is damn cute! Along the way to Kaohsiung City, I played finger guessing games with Mei Mei and her brother, and Mei Mei taught me a new game call "Hou Zi Quan"(Monkey Finger Guessing). I didn't quite get it at first but after a few rounds playing with her, I got the hang of it.

First stop over is lunch, I guess Taiwanese like to show their hospitality by treating their guest to a "Ma Han Quan Xi". We arrived at one of Kaohsiung City famous restaurant, which was near to their fishing harbour, where we ate the freshest seafood you can find, yes it is direct from the sea, all alive and kicking! Xiao Kang have the honour of selecting the seafood and we just went along with it, it is only when the dishes are served then we realized the amount of food he had ordered can feed up to ten people! There is only 4 adults and 2 children lor! By seeing the amount of food on the table, me and Dhana already full liao!(I need to get the picture from Dhana then you know what I mean) Anyway here are some shots we took before we left the restaurant.

After lunch, Xiao Kang drove us to one of Kaohsiung City coastal beach, the sand on the beach is not the normal white sand we see in Singapore but it is black in colour and alot finer! The weather is getting hotter, so we decided to have some ice cream at an ice cream shop beside the beach to cool ourselves down. One big problem the shop had was that they didn't even have a ceiling fan to ventilate/create some wind! The summer heat is like trapped in the shop, everyone is like perspiring while eating ice cream lor, we try to finish our ice cream asap just to get out of the shop fast. Who knows, maybe it's the shop business tactics. From the photos I have uploaded, you can see the beautiful blue sky, means no clouds, means very HOT!

Next stop is the biggest shopping mall in Kaohsiung City, if you think Vivo City is big, think again, this shopping mall is even bigger! It even have a Ferris wheel at the top of it! Because it was a weekend, finding a car park was a problem, so Xiao Kang dropped us off first while he went searching for a car park lot. According to Xiao Kang's wife, this shopping mall was completed sometime last year, and it is so far the biggest in Taiwan.

Since I haven't got anything for myself, I bought a Coach mobile phone strap which cost about NT$1400(S$65) from their Coach boutique, it was one of the lastest collection which was out not too long ago. It was a good buy because a new collection in Singapore would cost up to S$90+. Paid up and walk out of the boutique a happy man!

Window shopping to about 5pm, then afterwhich we head back to Tainan to catch the train to Taichung, where over there we will meet another of Dhana's father's friend, Raymond.

Ok, that's all for the day tour in Tainan for Taiwan Day 2, will blog about Taiwan Day 2: Taichung Tour (Night) in awhile.

Here are some previews:

-bullet train ride video!

-very BIG cup!

Taiwan Day 1: Oppss...Sorry...

Ok..I think I miss out this part. It happened in the airplane on our way to Taiwan. I need to visit the toilet, nature call mah, so I made my way to the toilet. I didn't notice that there was an indication light that shows whether the toilet was being occupied or not, so I happily walked up to the toilet, there was one on my right and another one on my left, I tried pulling the toilet door on my right, it would not budge so I guess there was someone inside, then I tried pulling the toilet door on my left, it budge a little so I pulled harder and it opened. HOLY MOLLY! Right before my very eyes was a lady sitting on the toilet bowl, with her jeans and "inner wear" pulled down to her knees! I was soooooo paiseh man! The next thing I knew, she quickly pulled the door and I quickly slammed the door. I ran back to my seat and controlled my bladder for a good 15 minutes before I visit the toilet the next time.

Well, like I say everything in the budget airplane is falling apart, so that includes the lock on the toilet door. The lady might have thought it was securely locked but she was damn wrong! So next time when you visit the airplane toilet remember to check whether it it securely locked before you commit to do your "business".

Taiwan Day 1: Taipei to Tainan

Left Singapore around 1pm to fly over to Taipei.

Well, I was flying JetStar Asia, the seats are quite uncomfortable, the table and the condition of the seats are quite badly maintain and it seems like it's gonna fall apart soon, there weren't any much space for your legs to stretch so overall I give it 2/5 for comfort level. That's what you get for "budget" airlines.

Once we reached the airport, we took a taxi to Taipei main train station, any taxi from the airport to places in Taipei will be charging a standard taxi fare of about NT$1100(S$50+), abit expensive, so Singaporean better don't complain that Singapore taxi fare expensive ok! The taxi drivers there are like rally car drivers, they have the speed and the guts to weave in and out of the heavy traffic, I have to hold on to the passenger seat handle to keep myself steady most of the time. What I don't like about the driver was that he was chewing betel nuts and his cab smells very stale! After chewing the betel nuts he will spit the juices in a plastic cup and when it is about full, he will throw it out of the window, the scene is quite gross so I won't elaborate further. Comfort level 1/5. Choose a better taxi type like Toyota Camry or Wish, comfort level will be definietly higher.

Upon reaching Taipei main train station, we were quite lost about getting our way to Tainan. We went around asking people but apparently still quite lost, until we asked upon a beautiful girl which showed us the direction and gave us instruction on how to get there, then finally we saw the light! We are not "hum sup" ok, is just that we need some morale booster to help us through difficult times...

Bought our tickets, which cost around NT$1350(S$67.50), and off we go to Tainan, where we will meet up Dhana's father's friend Xiao Kang. There are business class seats but we of course choose the cheaper one lah, but it doesn't compromise the comfort lor. It is much more spacious compared to budget airline seats, which allow you to have more room for your legs to stretch. For a family of four you could even turn your chair around to face each other, amazing but true! The journey from Taipei to Tainan with the bullet train takes around one and a half hour compared to the old train system which will take around 4 hours to reach! We left Taipei around 715pm and reach there around 9pm. Along the journey there will be a lady(some of them quite pretty lor...hehe) pushing a cart selling drinks and snacks to passenger. If you do not wish to buy from her, there are also vending machines located at different parts of the train. Comfort level 4/5.

Upon reaching Tainan, we met up with Xiao Kang and from there he brought us around Tainan to have dinner. He suggested we don't have a heavy meal because he will bring us to a night market to try out different local delights. The first eating place we went is this famous noodle restaurant call "Du Xiao Yue" where we ate their famous dish "Dan Zai Mian". I can tell you this is the best noodle I ever had in my entire life! The portion is not very big but the taste and flavour of the soup and noodle will definitely lingers around in your mouth for a very long time! We also tried some of their famous side dishes but nothing beats their Dan Zhai Man! Next we proceed to their night market and tried various local delights like BBQ squid, "Tian Bu La"(is actually called Tempura but Taiwanese called it that way), ice cream ball and much more. Sorry I never take much photo on the food because I was too busy munching away!

I don't really know how long we were walking around the night market but I guess the tiredness starts to kick in. We then checked into the hotel that Xiao Kang have arranged for us. The hotel that we checked in was unbelievably beautiful! Check out from their website and the photos I took. Because Xiao Kang have corporate dealings with them therefore the rates are lower. I really felt very paiseh because this entire Tainan expenses(hotel stay, food, transport and showing us around) was covered by Xiao Kang, really owe him a BIG one! I guess this is how Taiwanese show their hospitality to their guest. Also show how "BIG" thier face are, not in a bad way. Comfort level 5/5!

Ok that wraps up for the first day...stay tuned for more...

Thank you for choosing JetStar Asia. Hope to see you again...

Touch down! After 6 days 5 night F&E Taiwan tour, finally I'm back home! It was definitely an enjoyable trip, especially when you are travelling with the right person, anyway a big thanks to Dhana!

Well, I will blog about the trip in my next few entries, so do come back and read about it.

Very sleepy now. See you guys again!