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| Tuesday, May 17, 2005 |
Well, it's just that i find it a chore to do so even when i want to especially when i know my coming entry will be really long! Just got back from taipei a few days ago....wasn't as fun as i would have liked....really...main reason was because my aunt and mummy dont share the same passion as me when it comes to shopping. Wanted to go to taipei since forever....main reason was to go and shop n eat! The first day we reached in the evening, and since our hotel is at Hsimenting's Rainbow, we had some time to go shop in Hsimenting. While we were shopping, my aunt dont look too pleased. Perhaps the stuff at Hsimenting were too kiddish for her ba, she kept walking off on her own. So i felt kinda bad shopping and neglecting her. Oh well....my mum was alright though, cos she just followed what i want to do. 2nd day, we went to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, followed by Wu Fen Pu. Today was the most fun day of my trip. Finally get to see the much-talked-about CKS Memorial, and visit the shopping haven Wufenpu!! Today was fun because EVERYONE had fun! Initially i was the only one shopping at Wufenpu. But later, my mum and aunt warmed up and began to buy things for themselves too! We started exchanging opinions, giving each other suggestions, and comparing buys.....like a normal girl outing! Cool! I kinda liked that! There were sooooooo many shops at WuFenpu...i love that place! So many lanes with sooooooo many clothes! There are alot of things i regret not buying though...cos my mum's there and she dont like me to spend too much on clothes....In the end, i bought: 1 pink lace cami 1 mint green shorts 1 cropped jacket in green short sleeve 1 3-quarter sleeve pink cropped jacket 1 yellop babydoll top 1 purple sequinned cami 1 light blue sequinned shrug Love ALL my buys! So pretty! Stuff that i see in FEP prior to my trip to taipei cost less than half the price at Wufenpu! So excited! Saw loads of fake abercrombie and hollister too. The fakes are sooo obvious....no standard one...haha. Although i did see a very nice Hollister San Clemente mini - fake though, selling for just $30 SGD. Mum and aunt bought cropped cardis and pants....and the cool thing is, we all bought the same lace cami, just in different colors!! Haha...the lace pattern is kinda different, but the style's the same....cute i think. Shopped the whole afternoon at Wufenpu. we reached at about 2, and only left at 7 plus. And despite that, i didnt manage to comb through all the stores! Saw quite a few nice bohemian skirts there....regret not buying now cos i dont see as much of that in Sg....sighhhhhhhhzzzz....huge regret now..... All was fine up to then..... 3rd day, we went to Beitou, followed by Danshui. We went to the hot spring museum in Beitou, which was pretty boring, then we went to Danshui. Danshui is reall a bustling place. Perhaps because it was a sunday, a holiday to the Taiwanese. The place is filled with people! I kinda liked the place though, cos it seems so nostalgic, so relaxing to be there. Everyone's enjoying themselves. I had fun shopping there too...not for clothes...but for food, like preserved fruits, tie dan, and some pastries which were really yummy! We ate "Ah gei", the danshui delicacy, which wasnt that nice, but it was alright...and i ate the barbequed squid...which was really nice! The whole danshui lao jie is just filled with food and more food! Everything looked so yummy. One thing i noticed was that the WHOLE street is filled with "Ah geis"! haha....no wonder it's a danshui delicacy.... After visiting lao jie, we went to Danshui yu ren ma tou, the Danshui Harbour. It is a BEAUTIFUL place, very scenic. I love the cool wind blowing from the sea, and the sight of boats at the dock, and seaside restaurants located at the harbour. It just gives me a sense of relaxation.....feels like i'm away from everything in the city. Love the cool breeze especially! I could just sit there ALL day................ After that we went back to the hotel, then we went to Shilin. Ate the "ji pai" at Shilin, cost only 45 NT. It was HUGE!!! I could only manage to eat half, and i was really full after that. My mum didnt manage to finish the other half. At Shilin, mum and aunt also ate oyster omelette, which they said was nice, but too bad i dont eat oyster. We also ate the "da bing bao xiao bing", which was good too! And "tian bu la"...very nice! Saw a few other delicacies i wanna try but didnt due to limited stomach capacity...haha. I saw "guan cai ban", which was fried bread with the centre cut out, filled with filling such as seafood, chicken, or other things you can choose. Also saw "shi quan ya", which looked yummy too! Had fruit juice, which cost only about 30 NT, cheap! And nice too! After eating, we went to shop at Shilin. Didnt see or buy much, but was really tempted to buy this pair of cute heels which cost 190 NT, cheap! Btw, taiwan shoes are really expensive. Normal shops sell the heels at $60 over. So i didnt buy shoes there. And there was this "hu jiao bing" that had a loooooooong queue there. TheFACEshop and Missha is EVERYWHERE in taipei. Especially in the night markets, the price is cheaper than singapore too! So i bought some sheet masks, an eyeliner and an eyebrow pencil, all for just 400 NT, which amounts to about $20SGD. Cheap! Walked thru Shilin pretty fast cos nothing much caught my eye...but it is a pretty long street. On our way back, i saw this place where a girl was recording her own album. She was singing inside this glass thingy, and everyone outside was looking at her sing! She sang really well i must say...so i was attracted too...and i stood outside to watch her sing..... Monday......this is our 4th day already. We booked a tour from the hotel lobby. Itenary states that we will be going to YEhliu, Jiufen, Martyr's Shrine, and Yangmingshan. Sounds really good! That made me pretty excited cos i can finally travel out of taipei city! We went to yehliu first...it's a scenic place, with many rock forms formed by air and water agents. There was this famous "Queen head rock", shaped like a lady with her hair all combed up properly, looking towards the sea....it was quite cool...haha. Being a geography student before, i've learnt how to appreciate such things...so i find the whole place quite interesting. We went to jiufen next. Jiufen is a small village i would say, situated in the mountains. Went there to eat the "niu rou mian", which was extremely good and yummy! Love the beef and the soup stock! We also ate the fishballs there, which was extremely big and yummy! Had a hearty meal there...happy after that! Shopped around a bit. Bought some muah chee, some pastries for relatives and friends, and i bought a duck-shaped whistle music instrument that i've seen on TV before. IT's really cute....gonna give it to Eileen...heh.... After that we visited Martyr's Shrine, and then proceed to Yangmingshan for hot spring. We had a private room to ourselves as we were too shy to strip in public. All pools in that particular hot spring requires us to be totally naked. Haha..so we decided to SQUEEZE into a room. Didnt dare to put too much hot water inside the tub so it was still pretty ok....the water was hotter than usual but not scalding. Very comfortable i would say....bt i started to fill a bit giddy after a while...so i got out. After the bath, the whole body felt really good. Blood circulation feels better....but was a little bit disappointed cos we didnt have much time at the hot spring.... We headed back to the hotel after that and went to a night market at Tong Hua/Linjiang..... Tuesday.....we went to Keelung to look for my mum's aunt. Took train all by ourselves. Was pretty confused at the Taipei train station....the staff wasn't helpful at all...and i kept being bombarded by students trying to sell me pencils. Finally, we bought our tickets and headed to Keelung. When we reached, it was raining, so we took a cab to my mum's aunt's house. Spent some time at the house before we head to the famous "Miao Kou" where they sell lotsa snacks. Ate "pao pao bing", which was just liked ice blended, but done in a diff way...very nice! Ate "ding bian cuo", "hua sheng lao", which was really yummy!, and "tian bu la". The food there's all very nice! And i ate this sandwich called "qian shui ting", or submarine in english, which was friend bread with mayo, topped with "lu dan", ham, tomatoes and cucumber. Nice! After Keelung, we headed back to taipei. Put down our stuff at the hotel, then went to visit night market again. Wednesday....this is our 2nd last day already. Went to Miramar Ferris wheel, Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, Taipei 101, NYNY, and Warner Village. The Miramar Ferris Wheel is HUGE!! Was pretty scared when i got on, but the effects wore off after a while and i was enjoying myself! The scenery is really good from the top! Everything seemed so small then...haha. Sadly, the mall had nothing to shout about. We ate at the food court which seemed like a nice place to have lunch. Ate this hot plate thing which consists of a squid and beef. The hotplate was HUGE too! The whole set cost us only like $6 SGD. Meant for one person but it's so huge the 3 of us had to share it. It was quite funny, cos the couple next to us had one set EACH. Wonder how the skinny girl next to us can actually manage to finish all her food....and she really ate it ALL up! HAha.... Went to Sun Yat Sen memorial. Sighhhhh....this is when my mum walked off on me. I have to admit it's my fault. I had been pretty difficult and stuck up throughout the trip. Cos i wanted to go shopping but was unwilling to insist on it cos my aunt dont seem to like shopping too much. So i sulked and gave her black face whenever i wasn't happy. My mum got sick of my attitude was walked off in a huff. I had to go chase her back and apologise for my attitude before she was willing to come back with us. Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.........this was the extreme down point of the whole trip... Luckily for us, her anger didnt last too long. We went to taipei 101 after that. Didnt go up the lift cos the tickets were ex....350NT, and on that day, it was cloudy so we might not see much after all. So we decided not to go up. Shopped around in 101....nothing much there except for all the branded shops. Went to LV, saw nice bags....Dior, where there's a sale, and Celine. The shops at the lower levels were more affordable. There's mango, FCUK, Baleno attitude, Gio and stuff. Saw some nice skirts over there too! But didnt dare to try cos im afraid of angering my mum...sigh...regret not buying the skirts too. Baleno attitude is one great find IMO. It's totally unlike Baleno. IT has simple clothes with a touch of class....and it much more ex as well! I love the black skirt i saw, the denim capris, and the cute puffed shorts!! I wished we had a outlet here..... After 101, we went to NYNY. Nothing much to shop there...same for WArner. This area is considered the Orchard Road of Taipei...and yet i find nothing much interesting here. Disappointed i would say. The upside was Mister Donut! There was a looooooooooong queue outside mister donuts. The range of donuts they sell is HUGE! And the donuts are really pretty! I queued for about 20 minutes before i could buy the donuts, and each person is only limited to 10 donuts. HAd a hard time selecting what i want cos everything looked so yummy and pretty! In the end, i bought 6. 3 we ate for dinner, and the other 3 i brought back for my bro and bf. Went back to our hotel after that. And we headed off to "Cheng Pin" bookstore after we put our stuff down at the hotel. Again, i was pretty disappointed. I've heard that "Cheng Pin" has a HUGE selection of books. But didnt see that much though. Went to the Dun Hua branch. Bought 3 magazines. I love the taiwanese magazines cos they have mags that feature clothes and accessories only! So it's one book FULL of clothes! Cool! i love that mag. I bought another one with Jolin on cover which gave me a free wristlet...which is really cute...it even has a heart charm! Other than that....i didnt see too much. Oh ya...another thing is it has a great selection of travel guides. Especially the ones on taiwan. Really tempted to buy them but i wasnt sure whether i will visit taiwan again anytime soon. Travel guides get outdated real fast too and it wouldnt be that useful anymore after a few years........ Last day...my mum and aunt wanted to have a good meal in taipei before we left so we checked out "Taipei WAlker" for nice buffets. We went to this place called "CAterpillar" for buffet. Food was so so only, cost us 299NT each. Not value for money i thought. Wanted to go to tata-u at miramar but it wasnt open for lunch on weekdays. After that, went back to Hsimenting for more shopping. Bought some CDs..makeup.....earrings....belts. Not much cos i only had like 11/2 hr left! So i shopped in a hurry and left in a hurry. Had a chartered car to send us to the airport....it was a nice car though. When we reached the airport and checked in....we were told that our flight has been delayed by 3 hours!! Sigh....i could have done so much MORE shopping!!! Arggggghhhhhhhhhhhh.....if only i was told earlier that my flight was delayed....sigh. In the end, shopped around the airport and read magazines for 3 hours. Nothing much to shop at airport....only the duty free stores...but our DFS are cheaper though. yup, that's about all. My flight home was ok....but experienced turbulence now and then. Other than that...it's fine. We even ta bao "ah zong mian xian" on the flight for dinner!! Haha....it's sooooooo yummy! I can eat it any day! Kinda miss the mian xian now....sadzzzz.... Yup..........the reason why i didnt enjoy the trip as much was because i didnt get to shop as much as i would have lked.....and the fact that my mum got angry with me during the trip also left me kinda sad.....but nevertheless....i love taipei and wanna go back again! Anyone game for another trip? Hehe...... |
| allie ♥ 5:01 PM |
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