TAIPEI Roadtrip!!

Finally, a four days Free & Easy trip to Taipei with my mum and sista! Kinda looking forward to it as it has been awhile since we went for a holiday together. My brother wasn't interested as he went to Taipei with his friends a few weeks ago. My dad? busying working, cant apply for leave and blah blah blah~
it's moi 2nd trip to Taipei ( the first one for work purpose). Im kinda lost on the sightseeing places and eating joints. Instead of spending S$30plus buying a travel guide to Taiwan, Moi decided to borrow one from the Library!! TATA!!

I would expect to find tons and tons of travel books on Taiwan since it is regularly visited by Singaporeans. HELL No! Instead moi managed to find just one measly book on Taiwan and it was published like 4years back!! Darn~

Armed with my precious "Lonely Planet Travel guide" and my fren's Clarissa advice, moi start to planned the itinerary for the journey ahead

On the day of departure, we just have to check in our luggage since we had selected our desired seats the day before

And this is moi in my seat!! Woo Hoo~
Its so nice to be served instead of serving people..

My lunch: oriential style Pork with Rice. Bleah~ (Actually, i gave mum my whole main course)
Truth is: I kinda bored with airline food! After having the same kind of stuff for 2 and a half years, i'm like "No more!! Enough!!"
Don't they all taste the same? too salty and too dry?? usu. its like the chicken with rice or fish with potatoes or mabbe the chicken with potatoes or the fish with rice etc

Upon landing in Taipei, we boarded a shuttle bus that took us from CKS airport to Taipei Main station in the city. Good luck to you if wanna take a taxi instead! Its gonna cost you a bomb.

My friend, Clarissa advised moi to take the bus to the city and then take a taxi to the hotel which was located in Ximending area. The bus ride was around 125NT and the taxi fare was 100NT

Our first stop:
华细街夜市 snake alley
This place is well lit lined with clothing boutique sweet shops snacks shops, foot massage shops, souvenir shops and restaurants. We pass by a number of snakes shops but the owners didnt allow moi to take a photo. 讨厌
Apparently, these shops sells snake meat. The meat ends up in soup or stir fried veggie while the bloood is miced with chinese liquor, a cocktail said to be good for the vitility and a host of ailments. *ewwww*

We passed by this store which sells 甜不辣 （direct translation: sweet but not spicy). It's probably one of the Taiwanese favourite snack judging from the long quene that was forming outside this stall. I didnt really fancy it though.

Day 2

Public Transport (MRT) Mass Rapid transit- It's advisable to buy an Easy card, similar to our Ezylink card. The price: NT200 for adults and a NT100 deposit. The easycard gives us a20%discout on MRT fares. Whe n you are done with using the Easy care, simply take it to an MRT ticket booth and your deposit plus any stored value will be refunded.

We decided to head up to Northern Taiwan for sightseeing

First stop was to keelung基隆, which is the second largest port in Taiwan

Next, we took an one hour bus ride (cost 60NT) to : Jiufen 九份, which is nestled against the mountains and hemmed in by the sea. This is one of the quaintest stops along the travel routes of Taiwan

In Jiufen, there's this famous street call Jishan street 基山街. It is a really long tiled lane but spending a few hours bere browsing the nick nack, curio and craft shops is a lot of fun
Check out these unique shoes!!! Haha..Nay, they are not meant for walking or the latest fashion in Taiwan. The owner of the shop told us wearing these shoes helps to improve blood circulation and gives us better posture. Yeah Yeah Yeah, we believe you... We came upon this newly opened Naraya shop in Jishan street! Cool~
I love Naraya stuff!!!!!!
However a price check turns out these baggie are much more expensive than the one sold in Thailand...
One of the most popular activites on the street is snacking. This is moi bitting into Ah Lan 草仔果 herbal cake)...This is nice! taste similar to our Ang Gu Kuei in Singapore

We also came across this interesting snack ==>Arcade - fist sized pouches of fried tofu filled with bean-thread noodles and served in a hot broth


From Jiufen, we decided to make a trip down to Bitou Cape 鼻头角, One of the three Capes along the northern coast known for its stunningly beautiful sea-eroded cliffs
The locals told us there's no direct bus from Jiufen to Bitou Cape and advised us to book a cab instead. The cab ride cost us 300NT.

The view along the way to Bitou Cape
The driver did a pit stop at this two beautiful sea-eroded stones.
Oh man! i wanna take a picture with the stone~
This is the start of the Bitou cape trial The trail includes a walk out to a lighthouse, joins the longer Longdong cape trail to the south to give you an hour or two of walking

With mutual agreement, all of us decided that the trail is kinda long and WE decided to drop the idea!

Time to head back to the city for dinner!!

士林夜市 shilin Night market. This Night market is considerd by many to be the king of Taipei's night markets and is just steps from MRT jiantan station. Its teems with stall sellling snacks footwear and game arcades

Yesh!! This is the famous Silin Fried chicken chop!!!! Let me tell you, the quene gets really long at night but moi still manage to get my hand on one!!! YAAY~~

This "big biscuits wrapped in small biscuits" is a pretty interesting snack. It's actually just a thin po pian skin wrapped in a bisuit ( The biscuit comes in many different flavors as well)

The more common snacks found in Silin are the smelly fried tofu, the oyster omelette, Oyster mee sua, bubble tea drinks etc etc


Day 3

Chiang kai shek memorial hall中正纪念堂, admission is free
up a flight of 89steps, denoting chiang's age when he died, an oversized bronze sculpture of the man himself occupied a cavernous hall and looks out towards the gate. he's flanked by two motionless guards with bqyoneted rifles and behind him, carved into the white marble walls are chinese characters reading eithics, democracy and science, the Three Principles of the People, was opened in 1980, five years after he died

Thats moi climbing up the 89 steps!!

an oversized bronze sculpture of the man himself

Change of guards! Happen every hourly...so get your timing right if you wanna watch the change of guards

Theother view of the memorial! Wow~ this place is huge...

Next stop: Longshan temple 龙山寺
This temple dates back to 1738
the waterfall outside the main hall

After Longshan, we decided to head down to Danshui 淡水. It was once taiwan largest fishing port. Across the river is the mountian Guanyishan and the town of Bali, a quick ferry ride away

It is also here that i found the longest ice-cream!!!! Check this out...
This is the nice lady making my ice-cream

TATA!! omg~ isn't this amazing???
AFter Danshui, we took the MRT to Taipei City hall to visit
the Taipei 101 台北国际金融中心. It is 101 storeys (hence the name), 508m tall and built to resemble a stalk of bamboo's nodes

Each ticket cost NT350 if you wanna go up the observatory deck located on the 89th floor.
I personally dun like the idea of them charging $$$ just to go up the building but Heck!

I cant even take a nice picture. SEE!!! *Grrrr*
(in case you're wondering abt the translucent images on the picture, thats my sista and moi! Not some floating apparition making themselves visible)

IN the end, moi had to be contented with taking a picture with a 101building poster!
*sheese*

Day4
Time to head to the airport! This is the bus that takes us from Taipei main Station to CKS airport!

and it only cost like 125NTD per person..OH boy, i was so exhausted that i slept in the bus

It had been a fun trip!!
I lurv Taipei....

A trip to...Taipei!!

Tom and Moi were in the MRT heading towards Chinatown when we heard someone gave a yelp!
Next thing we know, a guy was laying on the floor twitching, a metre away from when we were standing

He's having a seizure!!! omg~

Someone in the crowd immediately pressed the emergency button and informed the driver that a passenger was having a seizure
When the MRT pull into the next station, a couple of kind souls carried him out, while the station personnel rushed towards them..

i'm pretty stunned when it happened
At the same time, i kowtow to the Good Samaritans who helped the poor guy

It pretty much impressed me that when a situation like this happen, strangers will come forward and help...Aunties, Uncles, young and old. All those stories about Singaporeans being bo chap or don't wanna get involved are probably not that true...or mabbe lemme rephrase that..only a handful of them are bo chap and selfish, these are the minority...

I feel so proud to be a Singaporean all of a sudden..keke

So anyway, why am i heading to Chinatown?
Oh yeah, to collect my air-tickets!!
YESH!!! The Queen is going for a holiday with her mom and sista...
to TAIPEI!!!

Its gonna be so exciting!!!
Moi just checked in through the Singapore Airlines website and selected our desired seats (my sista loves the window seat..for me? im not particular about seating arrangements...as long as they got a seat for me, im a happy woman)
its kinda cool that we could check in without having to be there personally and to select our desired seats...SIA even allow us to print our own boarding pass! In this way, you don't have to be there like 2hours before the Scheduled departure time! talk about being efficient and effective..How cool is that?? *icy cool*

Too bad Tom couldnt join us for this getaway cause he has to send his sistas off on the 20th...
*sad*
the weather report doesnt look too good either...like rain rain rain for the next couple of days.. *sighz*

Well, i shouldnt let these dampen my happy mood!
gonna sleep now... and dream of happy Taipei trip..

Finally, my brother's Convocation!!

After so many years of studying, my lil brother FINALLY graduated..
he's not so lil actually, like 25yrs old this year (just 2 years younger than moi)
Phew~ "someone" can finally contribute some $$$$ towards our mounting household expenses... *hint hint*

That's him walking up the stage to collect his certificate...
Im really so proud of him

Im probably the most lazy among my siblings.....

Like my big sista, she has a degree with UOL
my lil brother just gotten his honours degree with NUS
and moi? Diploma in Accountancy with SP..

Alrite guys guys guys, let's not mentioned about my ACCA thingy k? just let me off for once =P

This moi taking a picture with my "just graduated=unemployed" brother...

He hates to take photos. At family outings, he would always volunteer to be the photographer and dodging left and right whenever we wanna take a picture of him

This is probably like one of the rare time we have a photo together
*treasure it with care*
Even then, he was like complaining that he's feeling hot wearing the gown and blah blah blah

Of couse we didnt let him get off that easily...

Pictures Time....

I thought changing it to black and white will look nicer, u know like those antique and old-fashioned kinda of look.
guess it didnt turn out as expected...
Oh well, nevermind

It's the Queen's Birth~Day!! Yaay

Yesh~
Moi and Tom's birthday are two days apart!!
that makes us both Cancerians *shake our pinchers in the air*

A gypsy fortune teller with her Magic ball predict our "crab" relationship to be : Dreamy
Hmm...huh? Dreamy? Is that good or bad?

A big THANK YOU to my family (especially my dear sister) who bought moi a birthday cake ...I Lurv u guys!! *smoochies*

And THIS is their "idea" of a BIRTHDAY CAKE =====>

Could someone explain to me why Tom's picture is on the Queen's birthday cake??!!
(Apparently moi's sista came up with the idea and my mom..MY MOM!!! chose this picture..)

It's more like an Engagement cake if you ask me~

and this is moi taking a picture with MY MY MY MY cake (not Tom's!!)
(guys guys guys, i noe i look half dead in the picture but its like 10am when i took this photo..at the pesistence of my family of cos!)


One thing for sure.. THE CAKE IS ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!!!! Smooth, Creamy and so darn chocolatey..i think i just went to heaven and back~

This is one of the presents from Tom~
a 500pcs jigsaw puzzle without any pictures or box!! so weird~
and Tom is keeping mum about the picture *zip it*
Moi could hardly wait to piece everything together to find the TRUTH!!!!

Happy birthday to myself !!!
may the Queen live happily in her crap..opsie i mean "crab" relationship with her Crab King..

Its Tom's birthday!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOM!!!

And may the Queen hereby bestow you with this Holloywood award for being the "Best Boyfriend"

kekeke..*funny*

and Seriously, Tom really gave a small lil speech

Tom : i wanna thank my family, my dear lil Jasmine and Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah bolah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah...

Time's OUT!!

Moving on ===> Tom's birthday gift....

*drums rolling*

TATA~~~

Check out the sleek design..

I hope he's happy with his new toy..
His old MP3 player is like just 200plus MB or something...

And this one?
30GB!!! inpressive huh??

30GB of fun, photos, videos, movies and songs!!
I sure hope he likes it...else i'll swop it with my measly 4GB IPod mini (without colour screen somemore!!) Muahahaha..

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus?

Finally, Tom is back in Singapore!!

Welcome back!! Tom~
We missed you..
Actually its just moi missing you..
Haha..but that's all that matters right?

While Tom was away, Moi was couped up at home for 3days straight!
An amazing feat, if you asked me!
sitting infront of moi's lappy for 15hs straight everyday! Day and night

surfing the net can be really fun
Checking out Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Coach website===> drooling at all the stuff that moi like but can't afford to buy

Oh boy, I even start reading xx's bloggie and realise we have one thing in common:
Our Boyfriends are not local...(duh~ like it matters)

anyway, for those who LOVES!!!!!! celebrities gossip (like me) but don't wanna spend good money on People, Intouch or OK! magazines should check out this bloggie:

http://trent.blogspot.com/ Pink is the new blog (PITNB).
Its updates it on a daily basis!

I simply love his funny styles of poking at celebrities! and all those Pictures!!! omg~~
*scandalous*
Anyone who thinks it's so great to be a celebrity, THINK again!
unless u want your personal life to be scrutinize by any Tom, Dick or Harry and paparazzi chasing you to every corner of the world

Anyway, while Moi was reading xx's bloggie, i happened to come across this beautiful gal, Dawn Yang.. A google search turn out more juicy news !
(at first glance, i thought she's probably from a mixed heritage i.e like how moi and Tom's kids will look next time...BUT she's 100% pure Chinese!!)

moi was mentioning to..ermmm..in case i get my arse sue or something..let's call the person Mr A...so moi was mentioning to Mr A how pretty this gal is:
AND this Mr A said :

Mr A says:
you think she's really pretty? oh my god
Mr A says:
she's so average looking i wouldn't even consider her very pretty for sure

*stunned*
its so weird sometimes..This reminds me of times when my guys friends point out this girl is so darn pretty and when i turn to look, i just find her "average, so-so, passable'?

They have the X-factor! my guy friends exclaimed
X-factor????

urbandictionary define X-Factor~
===> an indescribable quality or something; something about a person that you cannot put your finger on; je ne sais quoi
"I don't know what it is; she's not that pretty, but has this x-factor which makes her very hot."

Moi then asked my guy friend " So do i have the x-factor?'
to which he replied " you're not bad-looking, but nay, you don't have the x-factor"

豬八戒!!!!!! *stick my tongue out*


when moi mentioned that Dawn Yang is very very pretty==> the answers are like. She's okay i guess, average and blah blah blah???

im confused!! Someone help the Queen?

Do man and women have different opinion or view of what beauty is?
is this what people means by "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus?"

And the best part?
When moi mentioned to Mr A that i wish im prettier, better looking, no outbreaks, taller, slimer and etc etc
(i just casually mentioned that i feel depressed after seeing her photos AND cos my bestest bestest friend said i looked like i put on weight in my friendster pictures)
he actually replied

Mr A says:
if you seriously feel depressed abut your looks, then we need to find professional help. Coz that's really dangerous you know.

wtf!!!!

professional help? omigosh~

its just a harmless comment about moi being depressed about my looks! not like i really really mean it...you know how girls are...
we just love, or issit just me? to compare ourself with others and WE are never satisfy with what we have...

and i dare Mr A to leave behind a comment on this..
Hmmph *shake my fist in the air*

Universal Studios Hollywood!

This is gonna be a long bloggie!! 27 pictures in all!!
Happy scrolling....

Universal Studios!! here we come.....

We managed to get the discounted ticket US$35 (like $12 off from the published rate) from this place recommended by our hotel concierge..
Woo hoo~ To the Metro===> im pretty amazed to find the metro station as clean as the ones found in Singapore...

10 stops later...we arrived at Universal City. Time to get down!!
The good thing is: Universal Studio provided complimentary bus from Universal City station.
*phew* Save us the trouble of walking up the hills..

Finally..outside the entrance of Universal Studios...
Strike a post on the red carpet...

Its kinda weird to have 3 Jasmines' on this flight..
Seriously, i always thought "Jasmine" is a unique name (which was why i choose it in the first place). Only when i joined the airline did i realised that it's actually a very common name.
the Queen been duped!!
i've lost count of how many "jasmine" i did flights with..

The worst part : the crew just love to tease us about it..
Like they will call "jasmine" and all three of us will turn our heads..duh~
"Its not a game, children"

its also very weird to be calling each other...it's like calling yourself!!
not funny~
But u got to admit==> people who's named Jasmine are generally not bad looking!! HAHA
真不要脸！哈哈
and thick skin too
This is the view from the top of Universal Studios
However, the picture failed to capture the real feeling of the surroundings
Its really priceless~Universal Studios have a number of themes: Revenge of the Mummy: The ride, Van Heising, Shrek and so forth

"never believe what u see in a movie"

How true that is!
After visiting Universal Studios, i'm even more convinced that nothing is what it seem..
take the recent movie ====> The Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift" 2006

Most of the scenes were shoot....YESH...in Universal Studios, Hollywood!
Unbelieveable!! but true..
The cast just borrowed a couple of neon Japanese signs, Japanese vending machines and hey, pesto!! You're standing in Japan street!

This is how explosion in movies looks like!

Everything is computerised now
If you want the car to move right, left, turn or flip in the air..
Yesh, all with a touch of a button...how cool is that?

This is the car from the The Fast and Furious Part I ( i think)
nice~

OMG! a plane just crashed into Universal Studios!!!
nay..looks familiar?
This is actually the scene from "War of the Worlds" starring our mega star Tom Cruise!!
Look at the effort they take to make it look realistic!
No wonder Hollywood movie's budget are in millions!
Is that "Jaws" in the water?
Help! There's a person swimming inside!! OH NO!!!

Then we almost got attacked by Jaws! Arghh
*gasp*
(this is where they filmed the movie "JAWS"..and that's the same fakie shark they used in the movie)Ermm..do you think pple will actually believe i went there to the "Hollywood Sign"?
Alrite, i know it doesnt look THAT realistic..

And here i thought King Kong fell from Empire Estate in New York and went to Gorilla heaven!
"Yo, Buddy, what the hell are you doing here in Los Angeles?"

*You gotto move it, move it* song from Madagascar

Finally, night falls...

Universal Studios looks so vibrant with all the neon lights

Time to say our Good-byes..
We didnt have enough time to cover the whole of Universal studios..There's definitely much more stuff to see and do! Hope you will enjoy this recount of my trip to Universal Studios..because i know i had a really wonderful time there!

The only thing that inked me was:
WE DIDN"T GET TO SEE ANY HOLLYWOOD STARS!!! *darn*

Tom's sistas are coming to town...

I promised Tom that i'll pick up his sistas ===>Kimmy & Lucy from Changi airport..

All thanks to my brother and Tom's fault(indirectly), i landed up in T2..

FYI, Thai Airways do not land in Terminal 2!!

moi had to make a mad dash to T1 when the Arrival screen showed TG401 had "LANDED"... 10mins ago!!
Darn~ so much for making a good impression!

*phew*
Thank goodness they are not out yet when i got there ..breathless

hmm, the last time i saw them was like half a year ago when we celebrated Christmas together in Malmo, Sweden. They are both very pretty, very nice and sweet====>nothing like XXX
Haha

Anyway, it's their first time to Asia and of cos, to Singapore. They will be here for a month(includes going up to some remote part of Malaysia to get their driving licence as well) and living with Tom in his apartment (i dunno whether they can stand seeing him everyday, 24/7)
God bless them..and no air-conditioning in their room, mind you!

So what's their first impression of Singapore?
Clean and Green, they said
I probably heard this a zillion times

Scenerio:
moi: So how do u find Singapore?
Pax. Ohh, i like it. Its Clean and Green!

I mean..truly..Is Singapore really clean and Green?
If you looking at the mailers thrown all over the Letterboxs area?
or the trashes left behind by pple after a BBQ session at East Coast park?
or pple spitting in public?
(hmm...better to keep these thots to myself)

And moi think im not a very good host either. Like they were asking what's there to do? Places of interest? things to see?
And my mind just went *blank*..
Sentosa? Chinatown? Lil India? Zoo? Orchard Road? i mean, seriously, would they be interested to go to these places?

We brought Kimmy down to Orchard Road. Lucy had to submit her project due in 2days time which was why she didnt join us. We ended up having dinner at marche (Which reminded me of Tom and the Pizza..message to Tom: Get over it already! not yours, never will be!!HAHAHA)

That's Kimmy and Moi..

Tom and Kimmy

Caught! Tom looking at somewhere or (SOMEONE else)!!
nay, he's just ignoring what we were saying to him..(which is just as bad)

too bad i couldnt keep them company or show them around for the next couple of days. Moi had to fly up to Narita and then Los Angeles..
Sighz...and when im back from my trip, Tom and his sistas will be in Malaysia..at some remote resort having fun, suntanning, sipping martinis and watching hunks in boardshorts and babes in bikinis...ARGHHH...taoyen

Life's so unfair