carpet anemone: tis is only one tt i took a pic of... got some in purple somemore. there are tons of it there!!! gerald dun particularly like it cos it is slimy, and its so tiring to avoid stepping on them-- cos there is so many
sea star: its so cool to see a living one (instead of those in RMBR)!!! haha... kaihrul lift it up and place it on my palm... and tt thing started to MOVE. I was so so so shocked, cos i dun quite like e feel of it--v ticklish and prickly :p
Depart Changi Airport at 1pm
was tingling with excitement that I finally can go somewhere really far with my frens :D
we took jetstar… its my first time on a budget airline… it wasn’t as bad as i tot… but its not as comfortable for a 4.5 hr long ride. We are not suppose to buy our own food up e plane, but weibin manage to sneak in a huge burger king cheeseburger!
Arrive Arrival @ Taipei - Chiang Kai Shek Terminal 1
Had a teensy weensy bit of headache after alighting… cos I dun like e change in air pressure. get a bit of shock cos we thought that the plane flew us to e wrong destination (Taipei International Airport ß e new name)
we collected out 'Tourist pass' - a funky looking keychain... *we almost forgot* and then took a minivan to Good Ground Hotel 国光饭店 for 1500NT (shared by 5) cos we got 5 huge luggage to bring along =x its nearly empty though (mine is only at 8.4kg) Our hotel is located at No. 6 Lane 27 Chen Du Road Taipei. Since this is a 3-star hotel, i wasn't expecting much. but the one crucial point it: it is right smack in the centre of 西门町 shopping district :D
After settling in, we get our Easy Card *similar to e ezlink we hav* (100NT deposit, 400NT fares)
おなかがすきました！we head down to Shilin Night Market for dinner :D
*take MRT and alight at jiantan station, walk out from exit 1*
we had e all-time famous 鸡扒 (chicken cutlet)… and a lot of 大饼包小饼 and 大肠包小肠… & my favourite is 冰糖-strawberry *grinz*
DAY 2 (Sun, 6 May)
We woke up late on the 2nd day cos all of us are feeling tired & weak from the flight… Had a yummy Brunch at 鼎泰风 at 194 Hsin Yi Road Sec. 2 Tapei (tts the main branch). we made a super super big mistake to walk to the restaurant cos the journey was longer than what we expected *by looking at the map*
was so glad we went early at 10.30am cos a long long queue had formed whilst we were having our meals :p Heard from emay tt the food served by the鼎泰风 in Singapore is equally nice... just that in Taipei, its lots cheaper :) haha… one abnormal thing tt happened was tt e waitress spotted a short strand of hair in our siew mai, n she quickly took e whole plate back—tink we get a whole new freshly made serving cos we had to wait quite long.
We shopped a while at tt location and I got a great BARGAIN!! If you guys see me in a brown umbrella with champagne-coloured polka dots n frills – I get that for <>
All of us decide to try e new feat of squeezing 5 ppl in a cab, n e uncle let us do tt!! Took a cab to kuang hua shang chang… a place just like the sim lim square in singapore. Supposedly selling cheap electronics n manga n anime n drama…… but then, the goods there are not as やすい as I tot it wld b. one eye-capturing thing to note is: they sell porn videos outrightly, even porn anime too. Goodness… all of us girls jus blushed and quickly U-turn when we unknowingly roam into those racks =x and these vcds are innocently placed beside the normal looking anime etc *pengz*
However, I din get anything from kuang hua shang chang though… But I bought 3 original taiwan series in a shop across a few roads :D “禄光森林”， “对不起，我爱你” and“真命天使”. Each for 250NT (less than S$12.50) how cheap is tt?!?! :p
If I din rmb wrongly, we totally skipped the whole of 忠孝region… cos none of us are really interested in jades =x
Off we go to WUFENPU at bout 3pm… the so called distributor district where there are a lot of clothes going far below retail price. I can say tt this place is so gigantic tt we get really tired after going through ½ of it. Furthermore, these shops are kinda like replica of one another, selling clothes of the same design *most are v bling bling n polka dotty kind*.
Since we are not buying in bulk, and they know tt we are tourist, some of the shop owners take the opportunity to mark up the cost… some of us unknowingly fell into their trap *only realizing it a few days after when we shop at shilin night market* :( awful ppl n their selling antics.
We took a nice little break at this shop selling dessert at the edge of wufenpu. Really yummy tiny tang yuan with peanut n ice *mayb cos I was hungry and thirsty after squeezing through the crowd*
After shopping for bit more, we set off to meet weibin at Songsang Railway Station. Never did we know that there are more than 1 exits which are located to faraway from each other (P.S. Songshan Railway Station is not e same as Songshan MRT). We make a huge detour cos we din spot the overhead bridge to let us cross e track… end up walking the long dark ulu alley… n a kind uncle escort us to our destination. On our way we had a scary encounter of an oncoming train *with e barricades coming down at the front and back of us* and nearby motorist ‘criticizing’ that “we walk so slowly and now had to run”
Finally meet up with weibin and we make our way to Raohe Night Market. Its so packed with ppl tt we decide to have our dinner in a quiet n air-conditioned Japanese restaurant =x roam ard A BIT before we decide to drag ourselves back to hotel… *muscle badly aching after all the walk*
p.s. im glad tt this trip let me prepare for my Vietnam ‘backpacking’ which is expected to b more shiong
DAY 3 (Mon, 7 May)
Our ever 伟大 mr hui actually woke up super early to get us breakfast of 馒头 w 豆浆 (cos he can’t find 豆浆油条) haha… and we manage to wake up pretty early too!
Initially, we planned to go Yang Ming Shan early in the morning. BUT… we never made it there :( our kind receptionist point us to e direction of our bus stop. But never did we know that e bus we are waiting for is going the wrong direction… waited 1hr for a BUS260 to come, and when e bus uncle say “洋明山要去对面搭” tt realize its e wrong way. *were kinda fed-up* but we had a more relaxing day w/o needing to rush to complete e rest of our itinery
We took photos at e red building in ximending *dunno e name*, if I not wrong it’s a theatre… and we dilly dally our way to beitou for hot spring. The train ride was exceptionally long, but I personally felt that the journey was worth it 
Found a hot spring hotel … I love the hot spring lots!!
Like e effect of intense heat of the natural mountain water soothing my tired and aching muscle after the shopping trip. The huge pool we were given, with a waterfall look-alike kinda setup at the corner, and the open-air greenery ambience, placed me in a state of peace… *except e occasion fastening of towels to prevent it frm slipping =x*
However, one very bad thing bout tis hot spring hotel we went to - poor weibin was given a super small room with only a super small hot spring tub with a big insect swimming in it. There is no easy access to cold water n no changing room *which we hav*… it wasn’t what we expected since the receptionist claimed tt e guys n girls place is separated only by a divider *which in fact is a wall*
We were on-time and on-target to Danshui *reaching at 3.30pm* as planned in e itinery. We had a great variety of 12 donuts from dunkin donuts… n gulfed it down in a pretty short time too, mayb cos we are hungry. Shopped at Danshui for a bit. My first purchase here is a super funky white movie-director-designed-hat, for only 50NT (~S$2.50) Love it to bits, but I lost it the next day :(
after tt, each of us 抽签 for 10NT *initially tot is some lucky dip kinda thing =x* mine seems surprisingly true n very real *shivers*… I also bought some おみやげ(souvenirs) here… nice keychains, tie dan, mua chee, crackers…
we get our boat ticket to Fisherman’s wharf (渔人码头) which is also e location of the Lover’s Bridge. The boat ride took about 30mins. This place is fabulous, super pretty n awe-inspiring… tink I’m bit 夸张, but I really love the simple scenery, e continuous wind *which gets very strong n cold in the night*, the incomplete sunset, the orange sky, the romantic bridge n everything bout this place…
Had a sumptuous seafood dinner too… which is pretty affordable
DAY 4 (Tue, 8 May)
Woke up later than normal tdy, had a super yummy-licious brunch at Tamago-ya (蛋蛋屋) in XMD *v near our hotel*… e drinks are awful tasting- esp the blue drink with bit of alcohol *emay say it tasted like detergent* lol…
I love the desserts LOTS!!
One with sweet chocolate topped vanilla ice-cream with cereals
e other with chocolate bits topped ice cream with nata de coco
and an alright cheesecake. *wildly thinking of entrepreneur opportunities*
The main dish is pretty awesome too… 蛋包饭 w chicken chop/beef patty. E 蛋 is in omelette style, cooked to perfect softness n texture, and the 饭 is nicely mixed with a special tomato sauce, so fragrant and sweet. Specially love the chicken chop which is one of the tender-est ive ever tasted :D
We went gai gai at XMD for a while… this place is so much like heeren- e things they sell are those BLING-bling kind, and its so hard to find a plain simple looking top =x haha…. but this place is so huge!! We merely cleared one little corner *cos we were stuck in this shoe shop* e shoes are super cheap… nice pumps with heels for less than S$15. so each of us got like 2 new pairs :D n I learnt that you can put 2 layers of 鞋垫 to get e shoe size u want :p
Went back hotel to deposit all our purchase…. & took MRT to Taipei main station to shop at the underground mall there. MORE shopping!! Bought lingerie at this Pierre cardin there *their design damn chio (colourful n lacy n got a lot of pattern n style), so diff from those in s’pore* I spent quite a bit of time here… sorry for delaying you guys. And I get another pumps with heel for S$10. its really OMG-nessly cheap la. If I had not run out on $$$ I would have bought more!!
We proceed on to Miramar ferris wheel - Take MRT to Jiantan, come out from Exit 1, and take a free shuttle bus there. Hmm…. Somehow wasn’t in e best of mood cos I lost my white cap which I bought yesterday *sadz* took bit of time to find tt ferris wheel which was inbuilt into a shopping centre, had to take tis ultra long escalator up. I find tt Miramar ferris wheel is over priced la. Jus an ultra huge ferris wheel ride of 17mins n it cost us 120NT with the tourist pass discount. E night view was indeed breathtaking, jus tt I was seated at the other side *not so much to see*- shd hav get 2 pax per cabin… poor emay, she get a huge blister cos of e shoe she jus bought.
From here, we proceed to SHILIN NM!! Haha… tis time, we went to e correct section of shilin (e right portion after exiting from shilin MRT) where there is a lot more to shop, eat and see. We really shop like crazy cos all the things here are even more やすい (cheap) than those we see at wufenpu (IMO). We shopped till 2am when most of the shops start to close, and took a cab back to hotel *which cost less than what we thought*
DAY 5 (Wed, 9 May) 
Its LEOFOO day!! Spent a major part of the day at this leofoo theme park at this faraway place outside taipei-> 新竹. Had to take MRT to Taipei main station and change a 电车 (their version of train). The ride was super long, and all of us jus zzzz on the way there. Seats wasn’t comfy, and I felt like lying down *if not for my image to upkeep :p*
p.s. can keep the 电车 ticket w/o returning to e ticketing person if you stamp your ticket before going out
had a pretty traumatizing experience with this group of uncle trying to offer us cab ride to the theme park – they quote us 900NT per person for the cab fare + entry. What they quote us was more ex cos we can buy e entry tic at a much rebated price cos of our tourist pass *though it was true tt we cld save some time on traveling*. They were super irritating, cos they kept pestering us… and I can see ting ren was fuming *she almost blasted her top at them- good tolerance tr :) * anyways, we bought out tickets at tis machine (which accept coins only- imagine us emptying out wallet to get all those shillings). And we almost missed our bus cos it was hidden in this corner of the station. e bus was supposed to have 冷气 but it turn out to b pretty warm though.
1hr long journey to leofoo.
Leofoo was pretty fun!! But was quite disappointed tt 2 of the most exciting rides (corkscrew n another plunge down ride) Basically, the park has 4 sections = 4 diff themes: Wild West, Arabian Kingdom, South pacific and Zoo and Safari Park. Its damn cool tt e ppl working in diff sections are dressed accordingly to e theme, and love e ambience with those intrinsic decorations and e background music playing behind dustbins?! :p
1st ride of the day: water rapids. So -_-“ cos the ride’s main purpose is to make us wet (really really wet)… weibin had to protect his camera whenever there is a big splash. not tt exciting, but its slow n nua though :D.
we are game enough to take screaming condor as our 2nd ride. This was e most shiong ride ive ever taken. It feels like a vertical plunge. *had my eyes closed during e ride =x* wanted to take tis again before leaving, but it was closed le *darn*
we managed to try almost all e rides in leofoo village, and even had time to take a stroll across the ‘zoo’. Tis is so dotz cos e animals all look v malnutrition and not v healthy. On the way, we took lots of farnie n lame photos.
Left leofoo village at bout 5pm and took a Freego bus to Taipei. Its so so so much cheaper and faster then taking e train. Jus that all of us were so concussed and deep in sleep tt we totally missed our stop and landed up in Taipei international airport- together with 3 korean girls. Sian-half… but then, we manage to figure our way to Taipei MRT. the most astounding thing about tis 3 korean girls is tt they are on a free n easy tour, they dunno 中文, their English is kns too, they din do enough research on tt place too, cant imagine how they gonna find their way ard =x
Cant find the shabu shabu which we were looking for… so end up havig dinner at tis tiny roadside shop near old SOGO cos we were ultimately hungry le. It tasted SO YUMMY and a lot better than we expected- din take down e name of e stall though. Absolutely love the minced meat and the very QQ noodle with their own-made chilli *mmm…*
Went back to shop at XMD!!
DAY 6 (Thu, 10 May)
Went to long shan temple early in e morning!! Tt place was quite crowded though it was a pretty off-peak time when we went
I get some 平安幅 for my family members. And took a packet of red strings from 月老, but now I dunnno wad to do with it =x haha…. was standing ard and figuring out how e pair of red wooden block works when you 求签.
Had a bit of trouble looking for CKS memorial hall- cos we dunno which exit to come out from the MRT station. This place is bigger than I thought, a bit zzz tt one part is under renovation- spoiler lor… view is still pretty nice nonetheless.
Sun was pretty strong, so we opened our umbrella. Never did we expect the wind to b strong too. emay’s umbrella flip over, and tr’s one is spoilt… and they jus bought it right before going to CKS.
We observe the changing guards ceremony *which takes place every hour*. The whole process is very nice and uniform. Really 佩服 e guards who have to stand there for so long… e funny thing is tt each of them hav a full-blast fan behind them to keep them cool. :p
We went to Taipei 101, the tallest building on Earth (am I wrong?! =x)
Had to pay 320NT to take the lift to go up. The lift up was super fast!! I particularly dun like e sudden change in air pressure- find it worse than tt in e plane. We went to 89th storey, n had a glimpse of the whole taipei area… all e buildings and vehicles look so tiny from up there. Pretty nice view, except for the strong fog/mist/wadeva blurry thing tt block our view. Had a telephone-like gadget to explain the little details of what can be seen there :D all of them completed exploring the place really quickly, I end up walking ard myself a bit longer =x
We continued on our quest for shabu shabu… n met this helpful group of insurance ppl. They direct us to this shabu shabu place台糖白甘蔗, along 松德路which served おいし (yummy) soup base with nicely sliced meat. *realize tt shabu shabu is very much like e hot pot / steamboat/ 火锅 tt we had in s’pore* the meal was super filling n v affordable too!! love it lots… p.s. I had tis 麻辣 version which was super-duper spicy- end up adding in their plain soup to dilute the spicy-ness :p
DAY 7 (Fri, 11 May) 
We went to基隆 in taipei country. Had to take MRT to taipei main station and change to电车 again. This time travelling time and cost is much lesser than to 新竹.
All of us bought some bread from e bakery in front of the bus stop as our brunch. So much nicer than our breadtalk. We actually missed a bus, but thank goodness e nxt one doesn’t take too long to come :D We then took a bus ride of around 45mins to 野柳. We figure our way ard e place- n we actually went to the other side (the wharf area) where we get to visit another temple and get to take a nice faraway pic of the rock formation. 
We then realize tt there is another part of野柳 which is catered to tourist, and we had to pay to go in. felt very relieved tt we din forego going in cos this place is totally amazingly-splendidly-mersmerisingly-pretty… one of the place which is the most unforgettable. Love the strong sea breeze caressing my face, love the variety of rocks formation….
Saw a lot of pufferfish in e water and ppl fishing it *and I get to see it puffed up like a balloon when it was caught*. saw their swimming pool- e very old old style kind. Went to tis market selling preserved things. N im most disgusted by tis preserved pufferfish ornament *ewww….*
Had dinner at tis seafood restaurant there. By right there shd b a good one- jus tt we din search harder. It was totally awful. Food served wasn’t even fresh… e rice was reheated de *saw lady putting in a packet of cooked rice into e rice cooker* e prawns so tiny and fish wasn’t very tasty either. No wonder tt place to rundown n empty (we are their only customer for e whole duration there)
Took a private transport back to Taipei main station. Even though its more expensive, but it save us quite a significant bit of effort and a lot of time :D had another look at Taipei underground mall as tr went to e washroom. Did a teensy bit of shopping… and continue at XMD.
I get to roam ard with tr. And after tt, we met up with 3 of emay’s fren. They accompanied us to roam ard XMD (which we kinda get lost) then we proceed to ShilinNM. Tr din join us cos she was sick. Most of emay’s fren went home shortly cos they decide not to join us in our crazy endeavour to shop till e wee hours.
We walked ard XMD and accidentally chanced upon e food section which we hav been religiously searching for whenever we are in shilin *but in vain*. Was so full after having food from the other part of shilin- but force ourself to try the popular 阿宗 mee sua, but we din get to eat the takoyaki *what a pity
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an INDULGENCE!!!!!!!
Ocean Pacific for Women :D
a perfume i just bought from sasa today,
& its e most ex i have so far =x
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