Bangkok day 1-6

Finally after such a long wait (1 month to be exact), i finally left home! Met XY and gang for lunch at this Italian place in vivo that serves weird pasta and sped(HAHA!) to the airport. Met up with my family and some of my other friends. Turned out all the guys that said they would come didn't turn up, making it a all-female party. Nonetheless, i met up with my 2 other friends who are going to Bangkok with me and checked in.

My family!
My "got heart" female friends

My singapore wall paper...

turned into thailand! Cool eh?

Basically, my first few days in bangkok were spent shopping and eating. Went to famous shopping places like chatuchak market, Mah boon Kong Shopping center, a few Siam shopping center and Puan Lum Night bazaar.

Loads and loads of cheap counterfeit goods here. Any brand, any merchandise you would ever want. I didn't want to add any weight to my bag and i only bought 1 fire man t shirt(

The place where we initially wanted to stay (New Joe GH) was full. We were there at 10pm so in the end, we had to settle for another place nearby called Top Inn (600B Dbl room $24). It was an average place for its price and we couldn't stand the small and cold shower. So after 2 nights, we moved to Sawadee Banglumpoo hotel (850B Dbl Rm $36), a place with bad reviews on the net. Nonetheless, we did not find any faults with the place after 3 nights. It had good shower facilities, tv, air con, mini fridge, free breakfast and is very close to the (in)famous Khao San Rd.

Phad Tai, many stalls selling this along khao san till very late at night(20B)

Khao San Rd is knowned for its happening night life and the many backpackers lodgings around. Walking down the streets, you see many foreigners especially westerners EVERYWHERE. Mostly making a fool of themselves. From my friends who went to the pub/bar, the girls(half girls) there are very easy to hook. All you have to do is to treat them a drink and they are yours for the night. Definitely not my kind of place to stay. So after they left home this morning, i switch to another GH for the remaining days in Bangkok.

Leg and back massage, was very good and not sleazy at all.(450+50B tips $21)
Internet cafe (10B 30 mins $0.45)

One of the days, we were bored of shopping (finally). We went to watch Ong Bak 2. The cinema was cheap at 120B ($5). Ong Bak 2, fortunately they had english subtitles
Cinema
Nachos (sucky) and drink
Mah Boon Kong, a place with many singaporeans
Big extinguisher :P
Then we chanced upon this shop with chopped bodies while we were walking....
Ouch
Looks real... i did a little editing on my camera for these 3 pictures.
All these faces are actually made of bread! If you like it, you can even buy it home
Talking about bread, this is Wong's room service. Skinny chicken wings on the left. Omelet egg from Khao San Rd (20B $0.90)

So i changed from Sawadee Banglumpoo GH to Apple GH(100B dorm bed $4). It is located a short walk from the main street and into the side alley. The place is not a nice clean hotel, instead it looked like the owners converted their homes into it. So i have to share my room with 3 others tonight. Haven't met any of them yet, i hope they don't snore.

My room
My bed

I locked my bag to the bed post and went out to do some exploring. Went to the river to take their boat. Unlike in Singapore, their boat is their public transport. It is much cheaper than taxis and tuk tuks (which i have not taken any yet). A ride cost 14B and you can stop anywhere along the river. A land ride would put you back probably 10 times that price. Boat
Many tourists and locals were on board
Monks use them as transport as well

I took the boat to Tha Tien Pier where the Grand palace and Wat Pho are. Was hungry so ordered something.

Bee hoon soup with alot of ingredients, very tasty (30B $1.30)
Reclining buddha
What is that? That is Wat
"Need guide for you sir? good price, best price, first sale"
Then i took another ferry (3B $0.12) across the river to Wat Arun.
And saw an older monk teaching a younger monk
Wat Arun from far

Next, i decided to stop by Thonburi railway station to get my advanced ticket for kanchanaburi on Saturday morning. The route map shows the boat stopping there...but it didn't... It only stopped at the next one. Great, now i have to walk back. Walk past a few schools and even went the wrong direction and ended up in a hospital. Quite interesting as i have never really been to any other hospital except for those in singapore. Interesting snack kinda like the ones we have in singapore except we have it with coconut or peanut and they have it with sweet cream and an unknown thing. Cost 2 baht ($0.10) cheap cheap!

After reaching the station, they said that i can only buy the ticket on Saturday itself :( oh well, at least i know exactly the time and location of the railway station. I ended my route earlier than i expected so i decided to try to take a bus back. Note: don't do this unless you are willing to risk getting lost. In the end, a guy sitting beside me kept looking at me when i flipped through my map and he helped me with the bus. He spoke very good english and said that he just came back from a friend's wedding in Singapore. There are lots of buses with different rates in Thailand, there are no bus routes written anywhere, just the number. Worth a try or two if you have the time to wander around. Funky bus interior (8.5B $0.30)
Char Siew Wanton noodle
Bought from a road side stall

I came to bangkok last saturday and will leave for kanchanaburi this saturday. A week in bangkok really is quite enough to shop and see all the main sights. Wong calculated, including air ticket, he had spent almost $1000 in these few days. Not exactly as cheap as initially expected with the many goods and apparels here.

For me, i had spend roughly $600 plus including my spanking new glasses and prescription sunglasses which cost 6000B ($260). Exceeded my budget a little considering i did not do much shopping.

Last stretch home

The last few days of our time in taiwan is spent in taipei. Thats where we are going home from. After a quick breakfast, we took a early train from hualien back to taipei. While me and audrey were busy snoozing away, amelia had stayed awake and enjoyed the fabulous scenery along the way.

Throughout our days in taiwan, we took the train quite often and i have to same i am impressed by the system and the experience as a commuter. Coming from a place where there is no need to take rail trains, i had initially thought i would need some time to get used to it. Instead i find that taking the train is far better than any bus, plane, Mrt or cars. The stability, comfort, space and view is truly one to beat. Talking so much about trains, i might have fallen in love with it.

Picturesque setting

Credits to Amelia
Toilet in train
So we sat from one toilet to another

One interesting restaurant in taipei is the Toilet Themed restaurant. I came to know bout this before we came, needless to say we went to give it a try. Interesting decor and presentation of food. However the taste of it is not even good enough for me to review it. My advice to all those wanting to try, go for the novelty and not the food.

Toilet restaurant

Back to taipei, we had chosen to stay in ximenting. It is the more happening place in taipei for young adults like us and everything we need from food to shops to cinemas, they have it there. We did not book any accommodation beforehand, not even a place to start.

After an unsuccessful attempt by the tourist information guy, who actually looked like a student on part time. We decided to walk around and look for a place to sleep.

15mins of futile walk later, we head back to the Metro station and bamm! we saw a neon sign just 1min distance away from the metro entrance. It points to a super narrow lane and goes by the name 金夜酒店. From the outside, it has the potential to be a dingy hotel. Nobody seems to ever walk the alley. The is no decor at all and nothing seems to be new. Upon entering we were greeted with weird stares by the 2 old ladies sitting inside. We asked to see the rooms and when the door opened, there is a "double bed" which looked like a single and a "single bed" which looked like half a single bed. The room is small and has zero windows, only the ventilation duct.

Me:Ok we will take it (好，我们决定要了)

You must be thinking, are you out of your mind! Maybe i am, but isn't life about neglecting the short comings and emphasizing the good points?

Written above is the negative first impression of the place. Now to the good ones. This place is super duper convenient. It is probably the closest accommodation to the metro(1min walk), the rest would take at least 5-10mins. We have a convenience store just 30 seconds away. The happening area of ximenting is just across the road. The rooms albeit small is very clean and neat. The furnitures, bedsheets and pillow cases are all very clean. We have a bath tube! We wont spend much time in the room except sleeping. The room is super duper cheap, 1000NT for the 3 of us, that is 333NT for each of us, try beating that. Most importantly of all, the aunties are super friendly and motherly!

So there you go, i would recommend this to those who are not fussy bout their rooms. For its price and prime location coupled by friendly staff, it is quite a steal.
Walk out of exit 1(or is it exit 6?) of ximenting metro. walk 1 mins(probably less) with your heads high and look for a yellow red sign with the name. Turn left immediately at the open after the convenience store.
Down a narrow and isolated alley
Feels like we have been transported back in time
Our small but clean bath room
Off to xi men ting, the one place you sure to go in taipei(if you need visual aid, we are walking in the direction away from the hotel. The metro exit is on the right)
This "passionate" guy was standing atop dancing without any care!! cool!
A temple sandwiched between shops
First up, More taiwan Sausage

Ah zhong Mian Xian, it is superb compared to singapore's mian xian

We ended our day with a movie at the cinema street in ximenting. Indian Jones!(Lame movie though)

Day 11. Sandy Day opps i mean sunny day

As a history buff, amelia suggested a trip to CKS memorial place and the presidential place. Once again, i learned alot from her explanations of what taiwan had gone through in the last few decades. These i wouldn't have known if not for her.
Early Qi gong goers
CKS Memorial Place
Notice the similarity? My hp changes wall paper to match where i am
View from the top

Finishing our visit, we had some time to spare and started to wander around aimlessly again. This time we wandered into a small alley(i think we have a thing or two for small alleys) which turns out to be their version of wet market. As we walked on, a fragrance smell drifted towards us. Near the middle, we found a beef speciality shop! Needless to say, we have to try.
We found it in this nameless alley market
Our big and delicious beef noodles
Along with it is a super big bowl of salted vegetables

Turns out this is a very famous shop in this area. Because of its location tucked in the side street, only people who live around here knows about this. We sat beside this 2 aunties(aunties and small alleys, my 2 loves) who were very surprised that we foreigners were there. We chatted about our trip and it was them who told us that this shop is very famous. (Lots of awards on the walls)

Next we took the metro to Dan sui to meet someone special.
They would get stomped in Singapore...

She is my last couch surfer that i had arranged to meet in taiwan. Prior to this day, i had chatted with her on msn for some time and we discovered we had many similarities. This time she brought her friend claire along.
Our gorgeous ladies from taipei, i miss you girls. See you in 6months time :p
Left to right( Claire, Sandy)

We took a walk along the water side talking ,eating and more talking and eating. We did not have any activities nor anywhere special to go. Yet it was my most enjoyable day. After 10 days of getting from places to places, i was both physically and mentally drained. We had a limited time and a list of places and things to do. Every single day was used to the maximum with hardly any time to take a breather. Now that we are coming to an end, our days were becoming more relax and by just sitting by the water, eating and talking, understanding each other, it really heightens the experience that we had gone through the last 10 days. Suddenly it makes all the time spent researching and planning this trip insignificant.
Plum drinks
Potato on a stick for you sir?
Traditional Buskers
Lover's bridge(If i remember correctly)
Food! (ah gei)Food! Food! (xiao long pau)
Food! Food! Food! (BBQ Squid)
Food! Food! Food! Food!
铁蛋(Metal egg)

Sandy told me that some taiwanese likes to buy metal eggs to go with their cup noodles. I am a fan of cup noodles back home and armed with the most popular cup noodles in one hand and metal eggs in another, plus the love of the hotel aunties by boiling hot water for me when they saw me walking to the water cooler/heater, i savoured every little bit of it. Yum Yum!

Next afternoon, we went to the recording of Guessx3 我猜我猜我猜猜猜. I have to admit, i was the only one keen on goings and had dragged the other 2 with me. One was anti Jacky wu, the other had no idea what it was. It was one of my must do there and i did enjoyed it very much.
The familiar dry ice used every single episode
Our guest stars for the day
Stars galore!
Jacky wu is really short....
Cameras! Set! Action!

At night we went to meet Jimmy and Michael(Our first host) for dinner at Shilin Night Market. We are leaving the next day and this was the last chance to meet up. While chatting we have this crazy idea of going to KTV in the morning before flying off. Crazy as well, the 2 guys decided to join us! Not only them, so did sandy and claire!!

We had a blast at KTV, almost rocking the roof down. Lots of laughter and smiles, lots of noise and music. Before we knew it, we were running late for our flight!! We rushed our way back our hotel and did our last minute packing with the help of our friends. Then off we go to the airport. We bade our goodbyes to sandy and claire before following michael and jimmy who accompanied us to the airport. All our luaggage
Not forgetting Amelia's best buddy

Once again, we had a blast on the high speed rail and bus. We were trying to get them to sing their national anthem but they were very embaressed to do it! At the airport, we were suprised to see Kimble and Po Po there!! We had no idea they were coming to send us off!!

We thought that yeah we are going home, so no more hiccups but NO! audrey had to pull her last stunt! Her bag burst at the check in counter, and what did we do? we used duct tape to hold it together.



And the cause of it all? This little "You Qie" After scouring more than 7 convenience store and buying every single 1 available, audrey manage to bring back 15 of it. And even before leaving, she was looking whether they sell boxes of them.
The culprit!

I was very glad that even on our last day, all our friends had managed to see us for the last time. It was the best way to end our trip.What they had done for us in this trip had far exceeded what i expected. The hospitality that we received cant be duplicated elsewhere. In this trip i made a lot of good friends and i had grown to know more about the world out there and how humans, no matter where you are, no matter how different you may physically look, are the same inside.

I wouldn't remember Taiwan as Taipei, Zhang Hua, Alishan, Sun Moon Lake, Hualien and Green island, instead i would remember Taiwan as Kimble, Jimmy, Michael, Po Po, Flano, Bo Shu and family, Sandy, Claire, the people we met on the trains, bus, metro, streets, love hotel family, catholic hostel attendent, fire flies guides, steamboat gas can runner, driver in the mist, Jack and wife, bbq owner cum night tour guide, puke girl on boat, people we met at the open air spring, national park ranger who gave us a lift, ghost boy, rafting team, xi men ting hotel aunties and many many many more who helped us in our trip.

And not forgetting the 2 most important people of all, Audrey and Amelia. I had a great time with you 2 and never would i trade the experience we had for anything in this world. We might have disagreements at times but it only made us stronger together. As cliche as it might sound, this trip would not be possible without you 2. I hope our paths will cross again and we can travel together somewhere in the future. From left(Jimmy, JK, Amelia, Audrey, Kimble, Michael, Po Po)
From left(Michael, Jimmy, Claire, JK, Audrey, Amelia, Sandy)

To everyone, Till We Meet Again

It is not down in any map; true places never are.