Back from Taiwan

I'm back from Taiwan-Taipei! Can't believe it... the trip was fun yet stressful.. thinking of what to buy for everyone, how much goodies to buy for people at home.. and what nots. But all the same.. it was really exciting to be overseas, looking at new places, faces and cultures.

People watching at places like XiMenDing, where we stayed, was particularly fun. You can just marvel at how many versions of wearing black socks and colourful sneakers there are. There're all kinds of coloured shoelaces, types of sneakers, and even types of socks. It's a wonderful trend if I were a teen once again.. IF! Haha.. Lixia and I were just quipping how we could never go back to dressing like teens.. duh.

Well during the trip, funny things happened.. like being silly and taking pictures with people we didn't know. We got asked by this weirdo lady at Changi airport to take a picture together, and before we even could think properly we snapped the picture. Same thing happened in Taiwan on our 2nd day while we were visiting the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall... a jap guy asked JAC to take pictures together.. hahaaa.. and we blindly went to snap again. But at least, I was quite sure they were tourists. Not weirdos. But then again, they thought we were Taiwanese.. wasn't that a bit silly? And the guy who asked us for the pic later walked away saying that he's stupid.. sheepishly.. we were quite amused at how it could happen a 2nd time again.. we're too nice..

Pity Davina had a bad stomachache right from the 2nd day. Must be after the stallside foods at Shilin on the first night.. Well, shopping was good.. we went to Shilin Night market for 2 nights in a row.. shopping all we could for what it was worth. And we missed visiting YeLiu coz we OVERSLEPT! But so we managed Yang Ming Shan Park with the intention of stopping at 2 visiting points (to see the sulphur gheyser, and the waterfalls). But after the first stop and a long and winding bus ride, we conveniently dozed off in the bus and found ourselves back at the bus terminal. What a waste.. So then it was already late afternoon, so we skipped Dan Shui that night and went for hot spring. We managed to get to the open outdoor public hot spring at xinbeitou.. but it looked really rundown and OLD ah-peks and ah-mas all around.. nah.. we decided not. In the end, we settled for an indoor one at the hotel nearby. But it was still cool.. soaking and watching Taiwanese drama.. which I may just decide to go catch - once again! Hahah.. get back into the Taiwanese-Korean drama season.. Finally that night, we shopped around our hotel (Rainbow hotel) for the next few hours even skipping dinner. Till our soles were hurtin.. at least, mine was really hurting! We then topped it off with supper at Macdonalds..haha! What a day!

On the last day (3rd day), we managed DanShui( Fisherman's Wharf at the North Coast). And a final bit of shops at the Taiwan Metro near the main station.. and then it was off back home. Dan Shui was nice.. old fishing village.. I was not very impressed at first, but now on hindsight, I really appreciated the walking experience through the little town,.. including the market to get Jac's dried roast beef, and all the sights.. while observing the way of life of the people!

All in all, it was a great but too short getaway! While I think what really works best for me is rather something more cultural, or scenic.. but for shopping, this is one cool place. Reminds me of Thailand, easy MRTs and lotsa night markets. The people are really fascinating.. and the fashion is just tooo way off for me, but it's fun.. and I won't mind going back.. at least just to complete more night markets and visit Ye Liu! But as of now.. I think what's next for me should be some kind of scenic area. I wanna take lots of cool photos and also things like slice-of-life styled stuff.. like photojournalism. Hehe.. check out my pics in the next blog!