12 Days in Taiwan - Day Three (Taichung!)

Full of anticipation that we are finally leaving the "spacious" Taiwanmex, both of us could not get to sleep the previous night! 2 nights of iron bed have left us with sore bodies and heavy eye bags.




Look at the evidence and you will see two panda-looking humans! Hee! This is us on the train bound for Taichung! This is DA state that promises nothing short of paradise. It is not only a state, it is DA state in the middle of Taiwan [Just look at its name, ppl]! It promises a wonderful lake [Sun Moon Lake], numerous shopping streets & cafes and not forgetting, the "rumoured" chiobuS that makes everyone go weak in their knees! Remember the geisha look? Hee, that is exactly what I'm talking about. We are READY! :D




When we set foot on Taichung railway station, I was just thinking to myself what a well planned trip this is. Mr Low has certainly done a wonderful job of planning. Just when I was beginning to be impressed by what he can do with his spare time, we met with a situation! The round-island railway booklet that we bought for 7 rides only allow us to travel round Taiwan in a loop. But our next trip is actually a detour to Hualien, which by Mr Low's planning won't get us there with our booklet! But all thanks to this super helpful train officer that helped us plan an alternative route! We are after all going Hualien with our magical booklet! Hee, if not, you can imagine how shamefully Mr Low will die under my clutches for lousy planning! Haha, he should really thank his lucky stars! ;p

After almost half an hour of train booth chat with the officer, we were almost ready to be stoned to death by the people waiting in our line. Out of the station finally, we embarked on our next task on the agenda, to locate the bus stop for Sun Moon Lake! Directions are very lousy in Taiwan, totally not tourist friendly. With my tolerance expiring and the bus stop nowhere in sight, I gave Mr Low a resentful look! He always refuses to ask when in need! Bleah! So we ended up walking back to the railway station's visitor centre to ask for directions. The weather was humid, my sweat was dripping and my backpack was impossible, but luckily the gal at the centre was knowledgeable and gave us good directions! I told myself that Mr Low just escaped a bashing! :)




We finally made it to our hostel, Hero House! Initially, I thought Taiwan was trying to be funny by naming their hostel with this cheesy name. Only upon enlightenment by the cabbie driver that I realised it is a hostel for army officers which are branded heroes, hence the name! Haha. Whatever la. But this place is super worth it. It cost about S$30 each per night but it is equivalent to a 3 star hotel! Clean room, cheap laundry facilities, free sports facilities, cable tv and free breakfast. What more can you ask for? Discovery channel and animal planet here we come! :D

Hee, I mentioned sports facilities yes? We saw a notice that there is a table tennis table in the hotel. Mr Low, itching to get even with me for thrashing him at the game a couple of years ago, was dying to seek revenge. We set a deadly challenge of 3 sets to decide who is the Ping Pong Kid!

Match: Loser Low vs Winner Quek
Time: 830pm
Venue: Taichung Hero House




Set 1: To let Mr Low be complacent, I decided to reserve my deadly skills to the remaining sets and PURPOSELLY lost the first game. Look at the smirk on his face and you know he is a rabbit and I am DA turtle!




Set 2: Hah! See what I mean? I don't promise what I can't do! Tsk tsk, the rabbit has fallen! 1 more to go!




Set 3: Everybody, I present you DA winner, WINNER QUEK! HAHAHAHA...look at that pathetic botak! Apparently, he has wasted years of his life furiously practising ping pong only to realise that he cannot make it STILL! This reminds me of this saying: Ni yong yuan zuo bu dao, ni yong yuan dao bu liao! [You forever cannot do it, you forever can't reach it!] ;p

Being a SORE loser, Mr Low suggested going back to the room to have our cup noodles dinner to avoid yet another walk-over. Full of sympathy for the pathetic rabbit, I agreed. Where can you find such a kind soul right? :D

Documentaries after documentaries, we found ourselves staring into this box called the television till the wee hours of the night. With Sun Moon Lake on our mind, we forced ourselves to sleep for something more exciting awaits us tomorrow! Good night and good luck. ;p

12 Days in Taiwan - Day Two (Leofoo Themepark!)

Woohoo! It is finally the day of ultimate fun, laughter and joy! We are finally going to Leofoo Amusement Park, the famous theme park that boasts itself to be better than the renowned Disneyland! Armed with discount coupons that entitled us to 30% off the normal ticket price, boundless enthusiasm and anticipation that resembles that of small kids fantasising about Macdonalds breakfast, we embarked on our journey to LEOFOO!




See how organised the Taiwanese are! They even bother to queue up while waiting for the MRT to arrive. But hold and behold, they are such hypocrites! The moment the train arrives, things work the Singapore style: CHEONG AH! Before you know it, you are like some squashed tomatoes on the floor. Hahaha...It's sad, but it's TRUE!




Look at how spastic Mr Low is? I mean, his surname just illustrates his character: LOW! He always goes to extra miles to bring out the ugly in people. I was a pitiful, tired traveller. All I wanted was a rest on the bus, yet I still must be humuliated in this way! Somebody help me! :(




Tada! We finally arrived! See how many buses are there! It is truly a magical place where dreams come true! Haha..But life ain't a bed of roses, we realised that our discount coupons require foreign identification but we forgot to bring our passports! What followed were two adults blaming each other and threatening to skin each other alive should we not be able to get the discount! Determined to attain our cheapo goal, we decided to be act kelian, yet another Singaporean tactic. When asked to provide our identifications, we just act stunned and said we didn't bring our passports. Then, we just stood there looking perplexed and disappointed. Touted as TCS's up and coming starlets, we emerged winners! The Leofoo personnel said it was okay and gave us the discount nonetheless! BRAVO! It already sound like a perfect day! :D




Scaryyy! Leofoo actually put their lions out on the loose without a leash! They claim that all their wild animals have been tamed! Look how sleepy and lazy this lion is. Truly amazing man, the things Leofoo is capable of!




This is one of the four worlds in Leofoo! Aladdin land, here we come!




Touted one of the most scary ride in Aladdin Land, it took us on 360 degree turns umpteen times, till we were almost ready to wet our pants! But still, I rate it 3/5 for its adrenaline rush. No kick no kick! ;p


Next up is Safari Paradise!



Look at the camel! Apparently, it's first love is eating tree barks. I dare say that Mr Low is very brave to stand beside the greedy camel. I heard they pretend to laze around you and when you are not on your guard, they will just nibble your ears off! Scary animals I say!




This is the WHITE TIGER! Apparently the Singapore Zoo has cheated me into believing for almost 2 decades that white tigers can only survive in aircon climate! This white tiger before me is living well in the outdoor summer climate of at least 27 degrees? The Singapore Zoo are such childhood liars! Bleah!




Seated on the train for the ultimate safari tour! You see the kuku guy in pink on the right? Apparently, taiwanese love to choose entertainment venues to talk shop. Here this pinkie was, with his friend, complaining about their workplace and criticising about how others should do their work better. I mean, if they got the balls, why comment in a themepark? Do it at the workplace! LOSERS they are!


Now, for the real good stuff:





As our train moves, our guide speaks in a monotonous voice. The taiwanese have a knack for making ultra act cute comments. For instance, the guide, in his monotone voice said: 'Bu yao kan rhino na yang lan san, ta shen qi qi lai shi hen ke pa de o!' [Don't see rhino so nua, when it is angry, it is very scary O!] HAHAHAHA, super act cute right. Classic!




Now this is called the mountain goat. I can truly identify with it. I am invincible and in my position, I am lonely for few are friends but countless are enemies. As the saying goes: Gao chu bu shen han [High area very cold].




Haha, this is what we call billy goat. Mr Low loves to touch anything with fur or hair. In fact, he just loves to touch ANYTHING. Do you know that the shit of billy goats are just like oversized papaya seeds? And they can shit without expression and emotions! Truly billy goats! :)





Now this is the Jurassic Park aka Lost World! But seriously, it is just a small area filled with lame gigantic dinosaurs models. All we could manage was just this "scary" cave pic because two Hongkie gals were kind enough to take a picture for us.




See this ride? The disgusting thing is that people can pay to shoot canon of water at you to make you doubly wet! We wanted to open our umbrella to escape the splash but being Singaporeans, pride was one of our greatest weakness. We decided to just stay cool and be splashed by evil maniacs. :'(




Hah! This ride is evil! Being true adventurers, we managed to siam all rapids that attempted to wet us. But Leofoo is a scheming themepark! They placed a WATERFALL towards the end of the ride. Hence, even if we are skilled, there is NO way of avoiding being wet! Except if we have an umbrella! Which we only realised we have after we got wet! :'(




As if we have not had enough of scary rides, this one beats hands down! Rating 5/5! It is so scary I nearly thought I was gonna die. I never want to jump off a building to commit suicide no matter how desperate I am. Just thinking of it makes my hair stand. :S




A perfect storm hit us when we were departing Leofoo. Suffering the ripple effects of Pearl Typhoon, we were like poor wanderers roaming the streets of Taipei, cold and hungry. Until we saw this shop! Finally! Our long awaited dinner. Just from the look on my face and you know how tasty the steamboat was!

Hee, the end of a fun filled day! Taichung beckons tomorrow! I'm all ready to kiss Taiwanmex farewell and embrace Hero House [Our next hostel]! :D

12 Days in Taiwan - Day One (Singapore/Taipei)

Upon arriving in Taipei in the evening, we checked-in to our "super-sized" room at Guest House Taiwanmex. It was so "big" that when we try to open the door fully, it will hit either the chair, the double-decker bed, or Michelle's head. But then again, we can't really expect much from a S$30 hostel room. You get what you paid for.



After settling all the admin stuff like unpacking the bags and giving Michelle her daily disobedience spanking, we traveled to the famed Shihlin Night Market. There were fewer food stalls than we thought there would be and we were a tad disappointed because of all the hype. Nonetheless, we immediately cheered ourselves up by feasting on local delicacies like Taiwanese sausage, barbequed meat rolls, oyster omelette, cuttlefish stew, fried chicken chop, bubble milk tea and mixed fruits. Among all these, we were most impressed by the chicken chop: not only was it nicer than the Singapore version, not only was it cheaper, it was also exceedingly larger!
(To understand its enormity, refer to the photo below for a comparison of the chicken chop to a human's face.)



Taking a stroll after our gluttonous meal, we chanced upon this place known as "Pet Street" where all sorts of animals were being sold, from the cute to the monstrous. Deario was delighted by the puppies, freaked out by the lizards, and enraptured by the star turtles. Must be an emotionally tiring night for her, haha. I had lots of fun too, being a nature and animal lover.



After that, we took the train back to Taiwanmex to have our beauty sleep.

Commentary from our Ubin adventure!



All excited and raring to explore Ubin! Just look at my dreamy eyes and you know I'm fantasising about cool hunks, big coconuts and lobsters! [Lionel said we are gonna have the time of our lives at Ubin that will blast our minds! :)]




All's well! Ubin on first hindsight, looks like slightly better than the one on "LOST" [featured every thurs at 10pm]. See the bicycle, it is just so fabulous! $3 for the entire day! The boss even gave us a discount when we were considering other options! Hmm, maybe the real charge should be what my finger is gesturing, $2! :'(

Anyway, this pond is really cool! We saw crabbies, pencil fishies, lots of luohans and the uncle fishing beside us even caught a puffer fish the size of my hand! I never knew puffies had such big mouths! The one which was caught swallowed an entire prawn by itself! My GOODNESS!




This is the work of famous Lionel! He is supposed to know the way around Ubin, yet he brought me to this scary place where it looks as if a murder scene is about to take place [He killing me and nobody can hear me because it is too secluded!]. On the way out, I was freaking my mind out with thoughts of wild boar charging towards me or komodo dragons surrounding me and eating me up. I only realised that all was well when I got out of that scary path. But look what happened? My t-shirt got stained with muddy water! :(




Back at the safe jetty! Halfway through our cycling expedition, Mr Lionel killed an Ades mosquito at our resting point, which freaked me out! So we decided to run for our lives! But being clumsy, he slipped from his bike and spoilt it! So we were resting while he recovered and got bitten by lots of mosquitoes! :'( So we had to toll our bikes back on foot and it had to rain! Luckily we were near the bicycle shop, if not, I'm so gonna kill him!

Hee, see the victory sign and you will know how thankful I'm to be at the jetty once again! :D




See the abrasion on his right shoulder? Ha, the result of his clumsiness! Ok, I admit I was evil when I laughed at him when he fell down, but then again, looking at that sight, who wouldn't laugh right? That dazed expression, I think he probably feels grateful to be back at the jetty too! Must be dreaming about playing computer games again! Bleah!




Hee, the storm out there! See! My hands are longer than him! HAHAHAHA...Those who beg to differ, you got COCK EYES!




On a happier note, we decided to take more pictures to entertain ourselves while the stingy boatman waits for more people to fill his boat up before taking us back to Changi jetty. Now, why does he always have that dazed look when he's around me?




This is NOT MY IDEA! Mr Lionel FORCED me to take this picture! Always wanting to bring out the bad in people, see! But still, I look chio in it! HEE, can't help it la...wahahahaha all the boats are MINE MINE MINE! ;p




Yet another classic photo! Don't you think Mr Lionel looks like 'lao fu zi' with his spectacles worn so low? So kuku leh!




This is a side glimpse of Ubin. So undeveloped, huh? Look! How many boats are there? And the uncle still made us wait for 20-30 minutes to get enough people to fill ONE boat! Goodness!




Back at the Changi jetty! Woohoo! Civillisation, I like! Look at that smirk on his face! He has succeeded in playing a prank on me by taking me to scary Ubin! Such a scheming person!




So shack I decided to sleep while waiting for the rain to stop so we can walk to the bus stop. Haha, that cardboard was NOT my idea! It's the idea of the photographer!




WAHHHH, evil! Magnify how many freckles I got! DISGUSTING! :'(


Overall, it was a fun day. But I don't think I'm going back to that scary island anymore. Call me a city gal, but hey, I didn't know this fact till today k! ;)