Tourist For The Day

The first night went far better than I had expected. Waking up in an unfamiliar place, I managed to shut my eyes till morning until I was awoken by the noise made by the girls. That’s the good thing about them, free alarm, especially since I am not the morning person.

First up for the day is none other than FOOD! I’m normally not a breakfast person-never wake up in time for it. However it would be a real pity if I were to miss breakfast here. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed we followed Michael and Po Po to his usual breakfast haunts.

Breakfast!
First breakfast meal
Pau with vegetables
Soup dumplings
Pan fried dumplings

Similar to what you can find in Singapore but fresher and tastier and all the more traditional. The soy bean milk is much more fragrance and it comes with a thick aroma of soy bean and natural sweetness thus eliminating the need for much sweetener. Served either in hot or cold servings, it is a must try for all. Others that we tried are the Pau, soup dumplings and omelet rice. From the five foot way front shop to the golden red paper writings in the shop to the bubbly middle aged staff and hot steaming food, it is evidential this is a place not lacking any form of tradition.

Amiable staff

To know about Taiwan, we would have to start from history and what better place to view it all than the National Palace Museum of Taiwan – 古宫博物馆 (http://www.npm.gov.tw/). Apparently the artifacts displayed were all shipped from China when the people fled to an island off the China Sea and named it Taiwan. Unfortunately for you, photography is prohibited in it, the only way you can see those history filled artifacts is to go personally.

National Palace MuseumPo po doing her movesAnd she got us to follow herThe 5 of us

Next up, we head to another highly publicized attraction, Lung Shan Temple - 龙山寺 (http://www.lungshan.org.tw/). Taiwan like many Asian countries still holds its religion dearly to its heart. Unlike other cosmopolitan countries where foreign aspects influences the religious culture and inject many other Gods and deities into daily lives of the people, Taiwan is still predominantly a Buddhism based country. I remember sitting in a car of a park ranger and passing by a huge hospital beside a university which I couldn’t see the other end and asking him what is it. He told me that under the Buddhism community, people had donated to fund every single dollar used to construct and run the institutions. He also added that the power of the Buddhism community in the country is so powerful that it even influences the political scene.

Chess - A common Sight in the vicinityHigh tech temple Lung Shan Temple
Many devotees
From the young to the old
Serenity
Blessings
Our lunch - Fish bee hoon, Pork meat, Vegetables and Pork Tongue!!

Next we hopped onto the bus and rode our way to the landmark of Taiwan – 台北 101 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei_101). Instead of heading up the tower like every other tourist, we went to the nearest mountain to ogle at the marvelous architecture – 像山. It was almost totally deserted except for the rare passerby and we went crazy up there.

Long bus rideFollowed by a long climb up
Po Po & Audrey
Michael and Audrey

Taipei 101


The mountain where we had so much fun on

The last stop for the day, we took a long bus ride to oh so famous Shi Lin Night Market - 士林夜市.One thing to note when travelling there by metro, the stop to alight is Jian tan station – 剑潭站and not Shi Lin station - 士林站. The whole night market is divided into 2 parts, the sheltered part where it’s full of food stalls and the back alley streets where apparels, snacks, food and pets could be found. This place is so huge that I barely scrapped the surface of it and even so, I discovered many gems in this rug sack. A rule of thumb for all, if in doubt do as the locals do and eat as the locals eat and you will never go wrong. This is a place that you can revisit day after day and discover something new each time.

Top 3 recommendations:
1) XXL Chicken Cutlet from Hao da da Ji Pai – 豪大大鸡排 (Look for a blue signboard with a long queue)
2) Pig intestines rice vermicelli Ah Zhong Mian Xian – 阿忠面线 (A shop where many people crowd around with a bowl in hand)
3) Smelly Bean curd Chou tofu – 臭豆腐 (Lots of ‘em around, all tasted the same to me…smelly)

Hordes of people
Busy back alley
Ah zhong Mian XianAh zhong mian Xian
XXL chicken (expect long queues)
Alight the metro at Jian Tan when you see this
Smelly bean curd

Mango Shaved ice

There are even puppys on sale there which i suspect are from puppy mills...

Easy card, the 1 thing you will need to tap on the extensive public transport network in Taiwan

Finally at the end of the day, we broke the news that we could speak and understand Chinese. It was a grueling day trying to act like we don’t and we were all very very relieved that we don’t have to put on an act anymore. Nonetheless, it was a great day out with our Taiwanese friends.

台湾！！！

Awhile back in May’08, Audrey and Amelia and I went backpacking around Taiwan for 2 weeks. It was a trip full of ups and downs which is what made it more unforgettable.

It started with the thought of camping overnight on the Great Wall of China and it eventually drifted to become a backpacking trip to Taiwan. Extensive research was done 3 months prior to the day of departure with the help of lonely planet guidebook, wiki travel, tripadvisor.com, youthtravel.tw, Cs friends and many more. Along with sharing what our 2weeks had been like, I would also try to make this as informative as possible for those intending to fly there.

For those intending to travel Taiwan on their own, I recommend this site Youthtravel.tw(http://www.youthtravel.tw/youthtravel/indexMain.jsp). This is the site you definitely have to visit, especially if you are travelling free and easy.

Benefits include:
Free Youth travel card (for discounts on certain admission, tickets, food etc)
Free Digital Tour Buddy (A loaned mobile with sim card with a 200NT of free talktime)
Discounted Taiwan Rail Pass
Free half/full day tours by students of different University
Recommendations for hotel, hostel, Guesthouse (Min Su) and home stay
List of outdoor activities you can do in Taiwan
And many many more information

Of course there are many more sites and resources that are very useful as well but listing them all here would take up the whole day so if anyone wants to know more, feel free to ask. I won’t bite.

The whole 2week trip cost me about S$1300 inclusive of air tickets which is freaking cheap if you ask me. Flight was by Jetstar(www.jetstar.com.sg) which cost about S$350 return. Seats were alright, but the price of the food was as high as the flying plane. Think S$5 for a cup of unknown brand instant noodle.
The trio!
Sky View

Arriving in the evening, we were supposed to meet Kimble from CS (www.couchsurfing.com) at the airport. CS is all about meeting new people and travelers, not just from other countries but also your own. If you would like some company in a new place, you can easily find willing people in the community who would be more than glad to show you their home. It is all about experiencing life in an alternative way and culture exchange between 2 or more different people. Topped with the options of staying over at the host’s place, this site is rendered the ultimate backpacking site. Check it out and if you ever decided to join, remember to add me.

Kimble is a father of 2 and stays at Miaoli with his family. He is a professor at one of the private university (万能科技大学) and also the teacher in charge for the hiking club. He is a very good teacher and friend and it could be clearly seen by the way he interacts with his students.

It wasn’t difficult to spot him at the arrival hall, he looks exactly the same in the picture he posted on CS. We went to pick up our youth travel card and digital tour buddy before setting off in his car to his university for tea. Together with his student Alger, we had lots of questions about each other and we filled the car with lots of laughter.


In Kimble's OfficeIts this size for a private university, imagine how the local 1 would look like

Weeks before, I had arranged to meet kimble and stay over at his house for a few days, unfortunately his daughter fell sick and it was not convenient for his wife as she has to take care of her. He could have just apologies and drop us off at Taipei but instead he went a step further and asked his students to host us. He had asked 2 of his students living at Taoyuan and Taipei respectively and asked us our preference! Alger who came with us was the 1 living at Taoyuan. However due to location and convenience, we choose to stay at Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. We discussed about our plan to travel the island country and he asked his ex students who populate different areas to host us!!

With our plans for the night settled, we head to our first night market in Taiwan. I can’t remember the name however I remember it was populated by the students from the neighboring institutions. Snacks in Taiwan night markets are the most characteristics in the country, I made a mental list of all those I wanted to try before I come. First on my list is Fried Oysters (Oh Ah Jian). Even though Singapore has it as well, the 2 versions were completely different from each other. The one in Taiwan comes with vegetables and a tomato plus soy sauce, unlike Singapore where it goes with chili sauce. There is also more gluey substance inside the Taiwan version which I personally do not really like. However the combination of all these makes the dish really unique, a must try for all.

Oh Ah Jian!

2nd food that we tried was the snake soup. There wasn’t much meat in it and the soup tasted weird but not in an unpleasant way. Audrey however could not stop being bothered by the thought of snake in soup. HAHA

Snake Soup!!I hope they are not endangered

Taiwan sausage was next! Apparently, it is such a popular snack that they even have it here in Singapore. They had many variety of sausages there like cheese, chocolate!, wasabi and many more. And instead of just the meat sausage, their version comes wrapped in a rice sausage cut in half. This makes it more filling, leaving you satisfied.

Famouse Taiwan SausageAmelia Loves her mushroomBread BoyMotocycle, commonly seen thereAlger, Kimble, Kai, Audrey, Amelia

Other food that we had was grilled mushroom, mua chi and fruits on a stick. Before we knew it, it was time to head to Taipei. On our way there, kimble gave us a task. He had lied to his ex-student saying that we do not know any Chinese and we can only communicate in English and he wanted us to play along with him.

After a 40mins drive, we arrive at his student Michael’s place. Michael’s home town is at kinmen, an island off Taiwan but had come to Taipei to work and study. Currently he lives with his roomie Flano and occasionally Michael’s girlfriend Po Po stays over as well. His sister is currently away so we get to have a room all to ourselves. Also present that night is Jimmy, a friend of Michael and also another of Kimble’s ex-student. It was really very funny when they tried to speak English to us, and even more hilarious was that we actually understood what they were trying to say in Chinese. A couple of times, we even blurted out a Chinese word or two, fortunately it went unnoticed. With that we retire for the night to fuel up for a 2nd day of fun filled activities.

The day they fly Home

Sitting in a car which was driven into the walls a while back by the same driver behind the wheels, we sped down the expressway at over 100km/hr. It was a daunting ride but is necessary if we were to say our goodbyes.

We saw them from a distance congregated in their usual cliques, some were already infected with red watery eyes. It was a 40mins of tears and laughter for both sides, together with quick snapping of pictures at every opportunity. It wasn’t an unfamiliar scene at the airport, yet every single time it felt different and unique like human thumbprints. They are on their way home.


Ai
Moe
Kai, Seki,Kyon, Takumi, Germaine
Eri, Haruna, Kai, Ai
Shintaro
Madoka(She reminds me of someone i haven meet in a long while)
The Teacher in charge who made all these possible(I cant remember his name!)