Little Notice

Hello People!

I'm currently trying to update my blog whenever I can find time, and when I write new entries I'll set the dates to the very day when the event happened.

So, you might have missed out some newer entries if you only read the posts on top. Kindly scroll down if you want to take a look at the newer entries that are hidden within the old ones.

But for easy navigation, I'll make a notice here when the newer posts are up. :)

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NEW!
Day 72: 春天宜兰一日游

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Monday, February 25, 2008

Day 10: 板橋 (Ban Qiao)

I just carried two heavy mattresses from the Communication School located half-way along the mountains, all the way to my hostel, which is at the foot of the mountains.

So, my hands are trembling now. Helpful Gwen went up with me to assist me in carrying another two blankets, and on our way back, she consoled ourselves that we'll have lower chances of getting flabby arms.. Haha, what a way to tone our arms ehh.

I requested for more mattresses cos I was practically sleeping on a wooden board. I think there's some problems with my spine, so sleeping on a hard surface was a torture for me.

Thought I could get used to it after sleeping on it for one week, but no, the pain down my spine and neck (and sometimes head) still continues. I reckoned I better put a stop to it before I return to Singapore in a wheelchair, haha (OK, maybe not that serious-- just that I'm an extremist~).

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Yesterday was spent fruitfully at 板橋 (Ban Qiao). Shuhui wanted to have her book signed by Mayday Ashin so the four of us might as well go there and see how 板橋 looked like.


We alighted at 府中 MRT station and took a few minutes walk to 誠品. There was already a super long queue at level one. And guess what-- the start of the queue was at level eight! Shuhui joined the queue, while the rest of us went to shop at the stores nearby.

When it was about time, we followed the queue to find out where exactly the autograph venue was. We climbed a few storeys of the emergency stairways, gave up and took the escalator inside the building instead.

Perhaps we were lucky, we stood in front of a block the book shelves near the exit at the eighth floor. Ashin came in from the exit, that happened so fast that I didn't manage to take a snapshot of him in time.

But we experienced some cheap thrill by placing our cameras on top of the book shelves to take photos of him.

You know, taking photos during autograph sessions is an art-- so much so it requires skill. You need to press the shutter the moment the fans in front of the artistes move, otherwise the artiste will be blocked and what you captured are the backsides of his/her fans.

Since we got nothing better to do, we engaged in this cheap thrill activity for quite a long time while waiting for Shuhui's turn to arrive. So now, here're the photos:


Shuhui's book, autographed by Ashin. She told Ashin she is from Singapore and requested him to write her name, but he only managed to write a 慧 before his manager said that no penning of names is allowed -_-"


Kudos to Gwen for taking this clear clear photo of Ashin in action!


The wide angle.


The looong queue.


This was how we took photos of Ashin. How unglam. But that's cheap thrill~


Then we got bored and took photos with the books.


Many thanks to 家豪, 家豪's friend 泰權 and 泰權's friend 嘉徽. It's through this kind of indirect friends' referrals that we got to meet bubbly 嘉徽, who grew up in 板橋. We met up with her right after the autograph session; she was a huge fan of Ashin too.

嘉徽 took us to two food stalls that were very well-known at 板橋. I had 油飯 and 綜合湯圓.




The 油飯 tasted like glutinous rice / rice dumpling. NT25.




綜合湯圓 had peanuts, red bean, yam, glutinous rice balls, and other chewy bits. NT35. Yum yum!


嘉徽 kept saying that there's nothing much to see at 板橋, the more famous sightseeing place will be 林家花園 (Lins' Garden). According to her, this huge house once belonged to a very wealthy family in the past. There were man-made mountains etc to signify their status. And now it's become a tourist destination, for people who are interested to take a look at how a rich man's place was like in the past.

Entrance fee was NT50, we didn't really want to pay to go in, so we cheapo-ly took photos outside, haha.





See the broken glasses on top of the wall? That's to deter thieves from entering the house, unless they didn't mind being injured by the glasses.



嘉徽 told us the windows were made in the shape of an opened book (書卷) to add a touch of literature feel to the building.


Nice rows of lanterns outside the Lins' Garden.


A fire engine stopped outside there too, don't ask me why, haha.



Artistes make me high. That's Cherry Boom. I think they are the ambassadors for a blood donation drive. :)

We walked around, shopped around and I bought three clothes at NT300 and a pair of sneakers at NT100. I start to envy Taiwanese people. They can get real nice stuff at such good bargain! No wonder everyone gets to dress prettily. A pair of decent looking pumps costs as affordable as NT190-- that's half of the price in Singapore!

We were walking to another street to shop more when we saw another queue outside 玫瑰唱片(Rose Records). Then we realised it was 楊宗緯's autograph session out there. Wanted to go up and take a glimpse but was stopped by the sales assistants who were managing the crowd.


嘉徽 makes a really good tour guide cos she took us to places we might not chance upon if we were to walk around by ourselves. It's really different where there's a Taiwanese to show us the places around an area. 家豪, you're damn right this time. I couldn't help but to agree with you man. :)

It was time to go return to the hostel, and
嘉徽 sent us to the metro station. Thank you so much, babe, for letting me know more about 板橋!


P.S.
嘉徽's classmate is 星光四少's 周定緯, what a coincidence! We urged her to tell us some stories about him and she did. Wahhhahaha~

P.P.S. I also told her why 板橋 had a negative connotation that's associated with mentally-ill people in Singapore a few years back. She was quite surprised when she heard of that.









Saturday, February 23, 2008

Day 3: 公館 + 淡水

We planned to go to 陽明山 to see the flowers blossom today, but the weather wasn't good, so we called off the trip and decided to curl up in our hostel.

So, it's time for me to update this blog. :)

On the third day I arrived at Taipei, we went to 公館 and 淡水.

公館 is a shopping district, and Taiwan's best university, National Taiwan University (NTU, same as our NTU, haha), is located just nearby.

If I'm not wrong, 公館 is the shopping area nearest to NCCU. It's accessible by two bus services 236 and 530 from the bus stop outside NCCU.

I took this photo at the 公館 bus stop we alighted at:


Most of the signboards here are in traditional Chinese, except for some Western brands (like Addidas). By the way, girls, Kotex is translated into 靠得住. Interesting right :)



I see a lot of idol dramas/ movies' advertisements on buses: CJ7, 《原來我不帥》 and 《這裡發現愛》.


Saw this whole row of 扭蛋 machines outside a Sanrio shop (the one that sells a lot of Hello Kitty stuff).



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It's 1.45am Wednesday now, and I'm going to continue this blog about 淡水. :)

張清芳's song "Men's Talk" mentioned about 淡水 (你說你有個朋友 住在淡水河邊), but how exactly does 淡水 look like? Obviously, this place is really beside a sea. It's easily accessible by MRT. Take the metro to 淡水站, the last stop of the line.

Besides a park that has been set aside for people to stroll, watch the sea or engage in leisure pursuits, a huge portion of the area has been developed into streets bustling with commercial activities.

It was a cloudy day when we reached there.



There were many many game stalls along the streets, including shops that run businesses solely with 夾娃娃機 (toy-pickup machines).






Very old school game but the kid is having fun.


投籃機 are very popular too.


The huge bottles were very cute!!


The soft toys inside the 夾娃娃機. If you've paid NT100 but can't manage to pick the toy up successfully, the shopkeeper will open the machine and take one out for you, haha. Credits to Shuhui for taking photos of these cute lil' things!


The games were similar to those we see at our Pasar Malams, except that there were more variety. We came across this interesting one:

Snoopy's Nightmare! Players will have to shoot a certain number of the Snoopy figurines within a limited amount of bullets I think. Black humour, but creative :)


Cos 淡水 is also regarded as a tourist attraction, there were several shops that sell souvenirs. The girls decided to buy wooden postcards and send them back home, I followed suit, to give my family a surprise.



Postcard + Mailing Fee = NT110

As I penned down my thoughts, imagines Daddy, Mummy and Sista's astonished expressions when they received the card came floating in my mind.






I wasn't 100% confident that the postcard will really reach home, but I just tried, for the thrill and experience. Actually, I'm not the only one who's dubious about it:




Wahhaaha but my worry was unnecessary, cos they've received the postcard three to four days later! I guess I was the one who was surprised when Dad swung the postcard in front of him when we were webcamming. :)

In the same shop where I bought the postcard from, I saw these embarrassing-looking "toys": 咪咪球.




And it really feels like the genuine ones, haha! I bet people who buy these have weird indulgences. :S

Oh yeah, another characteristic of 淡水 is that there are many artists around, offering their drawing skills. Still life, caricatures.. just pop by and tell them you want a self-portrait.




Lastly, do try the famous snack here: 阿給. Google online if you want to find out how this snack got its name, cos I dunno either, haha.

Anyways, it's 豆乾 with 冬粉 inside, dipped in some sauce that gives it a sweet and salty taste. Yum yum! (Though our Taiwanese friend told us the stall that sells the best 阿給 is located further up.)








As the night fell we went to the other side of the metro station, where many shops were located too. Came across a bookstore and saw Ashin's poster for his new book.














Friday, February 22, 2008

Congrats to Singapore!

I guessed most Singaporeans are aware that:

We've won the bid to host the world's first Youth Olympics Games in 2010! I feel super delighted and proud.

Singapore is my home, this is where I belong. I've never identified with this sentence so strongly until I'm away from home, haha.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Day One: On plane and arrival

OK! Finally could settle down and chronicle my study trip in Taipei!

There's a start to everything so I'm writing from Day One, the very day I left Singapore: 15 February.

When I checked-in, I couldn't believe that I'm really leaving Singapore and my dearest family and heading to an unfamiliar yet familiar (cos I am sooo addicted to Taiwan's music, variety shows and idol dramas) place to lead an independent life.

Indeed, a life-changing experience. And it would be a lie if I say I won't miss home. Mummy's and daddy's girl leaving home for 5 months!! Wahhaha~


Shuhui and I took this photo on the Jetstar. No in-flight entertainment, nothing. I shared my MP3 with Shuhui, and set it to random mode. Surprisingly, many Mayday's songs were played (both of us are Mayday fans).

Take a look at this bottle for one minute. See any difference? It's "mineral water-prodigy" cos it costs $3 ok! Heart pain~ Ordered this on the plane cos didn't want to suffer from dehydration.


That's what I took when the plane was about to end. A little girl sitting behind me shouted, "Mummy, I saw the Carrefour!"

Aren't we lucky to be welcomed by a sunset at the Chiang Kai Shek airport? :)


National Chengchi University (NCCU) arranged for a chauffeur to pick us up from the airport. We went past a gantry, something like an ERP. I asked the chauffeur why is there a need to charge drivers for using this highway, whether the purpose was to reduce the traffic, he said he wasn't sure, but speculated that it was a way for the government to collect money from its people. Wahhaha~


We're under a tunnel!


We took the highway that led us from the airport to NCCU, which is at the other end. Drove past many buildings that look like hotels, and we were told by the chauffeur that more and more newly built housing estates are imitating the appearance of hotels. Looks high class but of cos it's only exclusive for the rich people. Interesting ehh!