Taiwan Trip 2008 Day 3: 中正纪念堂, 五分埔, 台北 101, 士林

I bet Charlott is going to be green with envy after reading this post.

Maybe she might even go to the extent of booking an air ticket to Taipei later and fly tomorrow.

Anyway, this time round, we woke up slightly later.

But still got out of the hotel by 9am. And we all made our way to 中正纪念堂, also known as Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall.

It was drizzling when we reached there.

And this is the Taiwan National Theatre.

And the 中正纪念堂 is just a 5-minute walk away.

Soon, the 8 of us, being STWC, started doing stupid things here and there.

We saw this National Geographic structure.

And this is the 中正纪念堂. Quite nicely constructed though.

The super big statue of Chiang Kai Shek sitting on a chair, looking grand. Must have took them ages to build all these.

Here is Elvis Chong, trying to be a politician. But instead, looking like one big buaya.

And by the way, if you don’t know what ‘buaya’ means, it is a Malay term meaning pervert.

A better sounding term will be ‘ti ko peh’.

I don’t know if anyone noticed, but as you look upwards, you actually see a Taiwan symbol like this.

The ones that really caught my attention were the 2 cars that Chiang Kai Shek took when he was President then.

We wanted to leave for 五分埔, but it was raining cats and dogs. And walked around here and there.

We got really bored. So bored that they decided to take some prank pictures of tourists blocking our views while we were trying to take the pictures of the buildings nearby.

In the end, we couldn’t take it, and we only had one umbrella and one disposable poncho, so Zi Cheng, Elvis, Jeremy and Kavin went to the National Theatre for shelter.

While waiting for Zi Cheng to transport the umbrella and the poncho back, me and Luis interacted with one Taiwanese guy called Sam, from 高雄.

He was speaking English to us since Luis‘ Chinese wasn’t really great. But Sam admitted that his English wasn’t really good as well.

I acted as the translator between them.

Apparently, Sam was settling some administrative matters for a few days for his university course in National Taiwan University. And since he was around, might as well go sight-seeing.

Quite a nice and friendly guy.

And he asked what’s special in Singapore.

We thought for a while. Because we knew there were nothing much special.

But we told him that the food was good, and there were many shopping centres as well.

Other than that, deep in our hearts.

Everything so expensive. No chio bus. So stressed here. Weather changes drastically. So sian here.

But I know Taiwanese people like to eat here in Singapore. As can be heard from the radio whenever the DJs interview those Taiwanese celebrities on Singapore.

They usually like Hainanese chicken rice, bak kut teh, satay, roti prata and pandan cake.

Yes. Pandan cake. Are you surprised?

According to them, they were fascinated by pandan cake because it is green, simple-looking and tastes sweet.

Anyway, by the time Zi Cheng returned back, the rain stopped.

And me and Zi Cheng walked barefooted to the 中正纪念堂 station.

Because I know the condition of my adidas superstar. Whenever it rains, and whenever I walk on wet grounds, both my shoes will turn into 2 mini aquariums.

The reason why there weren’t any fish in my 2 mini aquariums. You know the reason.

An instant and natural killer.

Feeling a bit hungry, so we got some sushis from the 中正纪念堂 station.

And Zi Cheng was acting dumb by rolling down his right sleeves and left side of his jeans.

And it’s Zi Cheng again. Wearing his shoes on the escalator.

Such nice friends around who provide great entertainment when it is boring at times.

I saw this nice S.H.E advertisement, so I decided to take this down.

But come to think of it, I didn’t see any Jay Chou advertisements around in Taiwan. Whereas in Singapore, Jay Chou advertisements are everywhere.

One thing though. Taiwanese people are proud of their entertainment industry.

I hear Jay Chou and Kenji Wu music everywhere.

We had a buffet lunch at Pizza Hut since it was raining at 五分埔. And our typical Singaporean traits surfaced.

Zi Cheng and his bottomless pit again. He just can’t stop eating.

And he remarked that he’s going to gain 5kg at the end of the trip. I strongly agreed with him. Just look at the rate at which he’s eating and you’ll know.

I think he might just scare all the Taiwanese girls away.

Should any Taiwanese girls see how he eats…

这是人还是怪兽啊？

Not that they are attracted to him anyway. Oops.

We started shopping for clothes at 五分埔. Started at 2pm and finished at 4.30pm.

During that 150 minutes of shopping, me, Zi Cheng and Desmond didn’t stop walking at all.

Really cheonged shopping. Go into one shop. If there’s nothing suitable, we just went out.

Some shops didn’t even last for 10 seconds. But we bought tons of clothes back.

I realised that I was actually looking for clothes and stuff more for my friends than for myself.

Those stuff that I got for myself were those that I happened to pass by and just grab, pay and go.

So you guys better appreciate hor.

And I saw this pair of spectacles that 罗志祥 wears on his latest album cover.

Zi Cheng gladly wore this and posed for me.

The next mega superstar in the making, Wan Zi Cheng~!!!

In the end, I had a hard time carrying all those stuff back. Heng I didn’t get shoes there.

I saw this chio bu 曾恺玄 poster advertisement while waiting for the rest.

Can you hear my heart melting?

So so so so so so so chio~~~!!!!!

After the cheongster shopping session at 五分埔, we proceeded to 台北 101 since it was on the way back to the hotel. Might as well visit the place before we go back to the hotel.

And we went to the toy shop first.

May I ask? Why is this not in pink????

But I find this Lamborghini police car stylo too.

Here’s a Ferrari radio-controlled car.

But I decided I prefer Lamborghinis better.

In the end I got myself a yo-yo. I’m a yo-yo collector by the way. Not many people know that.

So quite a number of people were stunned when they heard I bought a yo-yo.

But the things at 台北 101 were high-end. Too expensive already. Can forget it. Other than some toys like yo-yos.

Saw another S.H.E advertisement ourside McDonalds’ where Zi Cheng were waiting for us at.

And here’s the main thing. The 台北 101 building.

Look! It is so tall that the clouds can even cover the building itself!

So compare Westin Stamford to 台北 101 and you’ll see something like Kavin standing beside Zi Cheng.

The rest wanted to go to this club called Luxy to cheong. And you know that me and Luis are not those cheongster type of people, plus Zi Cheng has retired from the cheonging profession, we decided to go to 士林 to try to finish up our shopping.

Luis joined the rest for dinner first. While me and Zi Cheng decided that there was no time to waste, so the both of us went to 士林 first before Luis came to meet us.

Dinner of the night: 阿宗面线

Really shiok!

We shopped and shopped and we almost dropped.

Because we almost dropped, we decided to take a break, and have a bowl of 芒果冰.

Oh boy. Charlott is going to drool.

Actually, I think you all reading this are going to drool as well.

Even as I’m posting this picture, I feel like drooling.

OMG~!!! The taste is so heavenly!!!

It feels like I’m in love!!! WOOHOO!!!

And look at how they carve the ice out. It’s not like your typical ice kacang.

The ice is in little flat pieces.

It’s a die die must try, don’t try will die there.

Why don’t they sell this in Singapore?

And Luis met us later just when I was halfway into my 芒果冰. He said he will be reaching 10 minutes later.

So you can imagine how I cheonged my remaining 芒果冰 in 10 minutes. Bear in mind that the weather there is very cold at that point of time.

Just one mouth and I got brain-freezed.

But the taste is really unforgettable.

So Luis reached and we continued to cheong our shopping.

Saw this shop selling clothes for NT$133. And the clothes were stylo too.

And finally, I’ve bought my shoes.

My brand new adidas Campus. I didn’t see this design in Singapore before, thought it looked good and bought it.

I was searching for Nike Court Force. The one I saw at Queensway the other day. But I didn’t manage to find it.

That pair of Nike Court Force is really very chio. I think I’m going back to get that pair of Nike Court Force as well.

And that makes 2 pairs of new shoes.

And at the end of the day, I managed to complete most of my shopping.

Now there’s a big big problem.

How am I going to squeeze all these in my luggage?

As for the rest, they slacked in the hotel while we were cheonging our guts out at 士林.

And while we were on the way back on the Taipei Metro, Luis received a call.

It just turned out to be so suay for them. The Luxy club didn’t open.

Moral of the story: Be a good boy and don’t cheong.

Heng I didn’t go. Otherwise I couldn’t have completed most of my shopping.

Edit @ 12.59pm, 25 April 2008:

Yes Miss Lim Shi Ying.

That, in fact, is 芒果飘雪冰.

The normal one costs NT$80 and the 芒果飘雪冰 costs NT$90. It’s just NT$10 difference.

But still, it is worth it.

Seems like when we are not around there’s no one to wreck havoc in your blog.

It’s alright. I’m back. Kavin is back. We are all back.

Ok. I’m off to cycling. And to get that pair of Nike Court Force.

爱在哈佛

I chanced upon this drama while channel surfing in Taiwan.

And it got me and Zi Cheng glued.

And the female lead is so so so chio.

She looks kind of like 曾恺玄 and 徐若萱.

Taiwan Trip 2008 Day 2: 乌来, 淡水, 士林

It was a torture to get up at 6.30am when we all slept at 2am.

We managed to get up anyway. The most important thing is that we managed to get Elvis to wake up.

You know, when that guy sleeps, even Godzilla will not be able to wake him up. So if you want to kidnap Elvis, wait till he’s asleep.

We had our breakfast at 7am and by 8am, we were out of the hotel heading to 乌来. Where we were thinking of going to the hot spring.

Took train to 新店 station before kena scamed by the cabby there to get us to 乌来.

And the scenery there is spectacular. You won’t be able to see anything like that here in Singapore. Bukit Timah Hill will be a toothpick compared to the mountains there.

And we all saw this Starbucks lookalike sign. Confirm must be copy Starbucks.

And one snapshot of the Fake Starbucks.

Looks a nice place to chill out. But I don’t know about the food and drinks there.

I presume 乌来 is a tribal place as can be seen from the statues and carvings on the rocks and pillars. And it’s quite forested and natural.

I bet you all will laugh when you see this picture below.

Kavin is so handsome sia. So so so handsome.

They went for this free hotspring down the mountain. And since I’m lazy to take off my shoes and get my feet wet, I just sat down there and enjoy the sun.

And it is not that hot compared to Singapore.

Felt a bit hungry, so we went for some snacking. We bought 山猪香肠. After that, we proceeded to 淡水.

And on our way down to 淡水, one mini episode happened on the bus.

Our legs were tired from all those walking here and there, so me, Jeremy and Elvis squatted down in one corner of the bus.

Suddenly, Jeremy stood up and asked Kavin for a ziplock bag.

And this is what happened to the ziplock bag just 10 seconds later. I hope you will not be turned off by this image.

It smelt of the sausage we all ate. I guess the sausage didn’t agree with his stomach. And this stomach kicked all those stuff out including some concentrated hydrochloric acid.

By this time, poor Jeremy is very shagged from all those vomitting. All these didn’t stop until we reached 淡水.

Anyway, we took train from 新店 station 一路向北 to 淡水.

The Taipei Metro is faster compared to Singapore’s very own MRT. And the people there at least waited for all those alighting to get out of the train before entering.

Those who attempted to cut queue will kena from whoever is queuing.

Look at Singapore. All cheong in like nobody’s business.

This is one important point Singaporeans should learn from the Taiwanese.

And we reached 淡水. Where one scene of 不能说的秘密 is shot at.

Apparently, I guess this is the hometown of Jay Chou.

The scenery is nice as well. This is far better than East Coast Park.

And I urge you to take a look at these videos before you proceed on.

And yes. We went to that shop to eat. I suddenly found this place familiar. I was thinking where I’ve seen it before.

I mean, I’ve never been to Taiwan before and yet I see something familiar.

It later dawned on me. Yes. Because I’ve seen the above videos before.

But we didn’t order the 周杰伦套餐. We all ordered 鸡肉面. Now I kind of regret.

The noodles were so so. But the soup is super nice.

And the chicken drumstick. So big. So juicy. So tender. Just a slight tug at it and the meat is out.

The chicken is really very 赞.

And the 桂花荔枝冰 makes a good dessert after that hearty meal.

Somehow, Zi Cheng didn’t know that there were seeds in the lychees and he just bit through the seeds. He spat everything out because it was too bitter.

I don’t blame him. Because the seed is super soft.

And after that, we went to shop for some snacks. Bought 铁蛋, this super nice 芒果沙冰 with milk.

And this.

These are not drugs, underwear, condoms and Sofy Body Fit.

These are sweets.

Really creative and really cute.

We made our way back to the hotel for some rest. Otherwise, we all might need wheelchairs.

Because at night, we are going to 士林.

The 淡水 station. For a moment, I thought I was back at Lakeside MRT station.

And on our way…

I decline to comment. You see for yourself.

At 士林, of course, we tried the very famous 鸡排. It is so big that I almost couldn’t finish it.

We were searching for 芒果冰. But somehow it was closed or something.

And me and Zi Cheng went back disappointed.

But we had Taiwanese beancurd. And it was great as well.

There, we were looking around at clothes and shoes, looking around for food for Zi Cheng’s case.

You know, throughout the whole trip, he didn’t stop eating. Even at the hotel, he ate instant noodles.

A real bottomless pit. One really wonder how long his intestines are and how many stomaches he has.

And Jeremy has decided to wear this t-shirt. I think he bought it in the end.

Passed by this pet shop. And I thought these puppies were really cute.

And time really flies. The 8 of us went back 8 tired men.

Edit @ 8.04pm, 24 April 2008:

No Charlott. I didn’t try 炉肉饭. I have a small stomach. Eat a bit will get full.

But somehow I drink a lot. I don’t mean alcohols.

One of my friends, that guy with the bottomless pit, tried it through. And of course, he said it was super nice.

And Kavin. You were stuck longer than I did.

Apparently, they thought I managed to change my thumbprint, that’s why. But Elvis is the most jia lat case. Stuck at that gantry for so long. Making us wait so long.

Be careful Mr Poon.

Seriously, someone is stalking Mr Poon Kee Chun as well.

And of course, Mr Damien Ler too.

Taiwan Trip 2008 Day 1: 西门町

So I slept at 2.30am, thinking that since it was a 5-hour flight, I could get some sleep on the plane.

I woke up at 8.30am, got out of the house at 10am, and reached Jeremy’s place at 11am. And Jeremy’s dad drove me, Elvis and Jeremy to the airport.

The last to reach was Zi Cheng. We noticed that he has been very absent-minded lately, and his antics over at Taiwan proves this theory correct. We were worried that he might have forgotten that he’s going Taiwan, or that he’s frgotten his passport or change cash.

In the end, all went well.

Except for Kavin and Elvis.

Kavin was stuck at the gantry over at Changi Airport for looking like Mas Selamat. The height, the skin colour and the size fits perfectly.

And Elvis was stuck at the Tao Yuan International Airport for some passport problems. Making the rest of us wait for so long.

It was after 6 of us have cleared our passport check before he managed to get out alive.

And yes. We reached Taiwan!

The flight was posh. I was watching Kung Fu Dunk all the way with my various Jay Chou albums blasting in my ears.

But I was still questioning why some black sheep Taiwanese celebrities were mocking at Singaporean English when their English is really really difficult for people to comprehend.

We touched down at Taiwan.

Apparently, there was some transport problems that was supposed to fetch us to the hotel. In the end, we took bus and train to 西门町 where our hotel is located at.

We only reached the hotel around 9 plus, so we decided to hang around in 西门町 buying some snacks around.

The first thing we bought was 阿宗面线. It is so so so shiok.

Especially the weather was quite low compared to Singapore.

Really shiok. The pig intestines and the 面线 and the gravy. The taste was heavenly.

We got some other stuff and it seems that instant noodles is a must-try there.

But I didn’t try it. Because I was feeling quite full from all those snacking.

The Coke over there is not as sweet as here in Singapore. I like the taste of Coke there better. There’s a tinge of bitterness in the Coke there.

We realised that actually those push-cart hawkers were illegal. All of them suddenly disappear whenever the police make their rounds. And there were people keeping a look-out for the police.

And the way they disappear from the police is really tactical.

We noticed one hawker selling chicken organs. He was calm when he heard there were police around. But he increased the speed at which he was cutting the chicken with his scissors.

And when the police came, he hid in one corner. After the police passed by, he made a detour and went back to his original place.

It all took just 1 minute. And he was calm all the way despite the police was just 50 metres away from him.

Really power.

There was speculation that there was a murder case at 西门町. We saw one man dragging a guy around to one side. He seemed like he has fainted but I heard people saying that he was actually dead. I saw some blood on his body.

Ah Lye will surely faint when he sees this scene.

We hanged out till around 12am before we went back to the hotel.

I caught the match between Blackburn and Manchester United.

Blackburn scored just 15 minutes into the game via Roque Santa Cruz. And it was a defensive error.

The rest were taunting me by saying that it’s a losing match.

I was very gan jiong throughout that 90 minutes. And it was Carlos Tevez’s header in the 85th minute that secured 1 point for Manchester United.

Oh boy! I was so happy I jumped on the bed. Got this urge to shout GOAL!!!! but I understand that other people were sleeping.

But Zi Cheng shouted GOAL!!! anyway.

And woke Elvis up just when he was around to go to dreamland.

But Elvis, being Elvis, is a king when it comes to sleeping. Nothing can wake him up.

And it seems like we slept for only a few minutes when it was time to wake up at 7am.

Edit @ 1.36pm, 24 April 2008:

I realised that there are too many photos to be uploaded here on this blog.

So I’ll just upload those pictures I took using my handphone.

As for the remaining photos, I’ll turn it into a slideshow like what you see in my About the Producer page.

But you guys will have to wait as we are consolidating all the photos from everyone of us.