Aloha!



I'm back from being a lazy couch bug ... time to get my ass off and do some travelling...


I love travelling, especially with different travelling companions. Why? because you discover people. not just people, but individuals - what they are made of. The most amazing thing, of course, is discovering yourself. Cliche for a travel blog? not at all. Touche.


The destination from 12 - 18 Feb 08 is Taiwan. (Notice i didn't change the blog address?).



*on the side note, i know i haven't blogged about OZ - my grad trip part I.


Back to where we were, let me first introduce my travelling companions:







He is undoubtly my favourite TC. He travelled with us in the bagpack to almost everywhere we went. He likes following us. a truly faithful dog.



He's so god damn cute he actually knows it himself. He loves the attention and he loves taking photos. Oh, did i mention his name? He's called Timbre - named after the pub with live music just beside the wonderful historical Singapore River. You will know that Timbre enjoyed every single moment in Taiwan, such an endearing one...

TC 2: Recognise her? Yes! Refer to this blog entry:

http://hobbitisineastasia.blogspot.com/2006/11/better-mood-bad-news.html

Yes! she's on my friend feature... we met back in Leeds in 2006 and reunited in 2009! Fion's the name, Taiwan's the game! She's still the same crazy Fion-san aka IwantIwant who's always so confident in front of the camera... Timbre's a little nervous though.

Look at Timbre, that's what he wore, even though he's a Husky, he's a tropical dog, so needed some clothes before he catches the cold!

TC 3: This is Karen - the smart one! My impression of her is that she's smart, the kind who's fast enough to react with wit... but Taiwanese in general are pretty witty... She really likes Timbre? Both so comfy with each other! How nice...

3 of us after 2 years. ( and of coz Timbre being new)

TC 4: Here comes the most valuable TC - RuN - travelled with me from the lovely island of Singapore! With her you feel absolutely safe and well-taken care of... being in Taiwan for the second time and armed with a relatively much better command of Chinese, she knocks the rocks and brained herself with a list of must-eat, must-haves and must-sees!

FIRST DAY!!! Timbre was so excited about his first overseas trip... he couldn't stop looking out of the window! He got his big eyes peeled at the vast skies and his curious mind intrigues me too...


and guess what were one of the first few stops we went? From Taoyuan airport, we took the Taiwan high speed Rail (THSR) down to Chiayi, and we got there in less than an hours! even the bus 190 takes longer to get from orchard to CCK! Anyway this is the second day, and we made a short visit to a 昆虫馆 (Bug museum). and speaking of a young curious mind of a 2 months old, he wonders what some bugs are trying to do...


HEhe... naughty sight! Next we throttled down to the cow farm! Correction, it was uphill up a loooong flight of steps... we were kinda short for breath by the time we reached the top... but we were rewarded with ice cream made from FRESH MILK! it had a very well mix with chocolate flavour and had just the right sweetness...


Just near the 天长地久 bridge, we sat around a while because the 天长 bridge was under repair! -_- so we sat around and decided to go a little trigger-happy!


That's myself and Timbre...


RuN's gentle touch on Timbre. He looks real, doesn't he? *p.s. he IS real.

That's us on a tea plantation excursion!



Behold the room! HUGE with a FANTASTIC VIEW!!!

Timbre's play mate.

See what I mean by Fanstastic view?

Timbre's the star TC!

Here we are at fenchihu - east of alishan. This place serves as a rest stop for train commuters who would drop by this cosy cafe -

It's also one of Timbre's favourite place and i think he found his favourite dessert here: The chinese name of this fruit is called ai yu, (Translates: love jade) which is actually the fig fruit. The inside of the fruit actually looks like a pomelo, all you need to do is to dry the fig fruit to store it for up till 1 year and when your craving comes, put the fruit under running mineral water and give it a good scrub and press until the seeds become soft and you can cook it like jelly.

ta dah! Timbre's favourite!

That's my dear boy, basking under the sun under the blooming tree....

Can you find the little dog? He's just standing right under the 2,300 year old tree - the sacred tree of alishan!!!! That makes him just as sacred... right Timbre?

Timbre: woof!

Of course the 2,300 year old tree wasn't the only bad boy around. We also made it up to the top of the World's tallest building (by far)! Timbre loved the surroundings i suppose... the mist was starting to gather, just thin enough for the little boy to enjoy some scenery...

Such a happy dog!

There you see almost a formation of a yun hai (Translates: sea of clouds). We needed more luck than this!

When you're up on a mountain, the sunset is a die-die also must stay and watch one.

Well, back to being in Taipei 101 - the little dog got really facinated by the big damper that is said to keep the building straight in the event of an earthquake... It moves in the opposite direction so the building won't get too dizzy... Good for us and perhaps it might have been a good marketing move - Taipei 101 has personified the lifeless big ball into cute toys that can walk and fly. comes in different colours of black and red as well - quite a grimace to me though- like how Ch*na gives silly names to 5 pandas that actually means "Welcome to Beijing". That's no wonder I wasn't too keen on getting souvenirs when I was there. Anyway, not to digress...

TIMBRE WAS HERE!!! WOOF!

You can NEVER believe that sashimi can be so much BETTER.

When you are in Taipei, drop your clothes and get to Shen Wang Hotel - all you need is a camera and a credit card.



We paid about NT5000 for 2. (excluding the dog - he can't eat human food) for sashimi this fresh, you know you get what you pay for.

The favourite - Japanese Yellow Tail Sashimi! I compared it with the Yellow Tail from Japanese Dining S*n and HELLLLLOOOOOOO.... JDS has a Looooooooooooog way to go!

Just look at the sushi presentation! We were having some troubles trying to take a photo of the whole length of the plate! Every dish that came never failed to amaze us... like part of the money we had to part was in good exchange for awakening our 6 senses...

and the most expensive dish of all..... at S$20 for this little piece of sushi.... TORO! Tuna belly with lots and lots of fish fats and being the most expensive dish of all, the Chef had to top it with a bit of gold leaf for decoration! but behold!!!! do not small see this gold leaf - The gold is a very, very thin sheet of 22-25 karat gold that is safe to eat. (Googled the facts) Scientists have claimed that eating gold would increase your IQ... which i think had some effect on both of us... coz we manage to find out way back despite the sake.

FYI: This is my 24th birthday treat. Thank you!

To all aspiring Taiwan Travellers... you'll enjoy Taiwan! Await my next blog entry till then!