Here's the last squeal to my numerous post, the 5th and last.
Here's the links for the previous days!
Day 1:
click here!
Day 2: click here!
Day 3: click here!
Day 4:
click here!
It was a day before the new year and tonight, it'd be the best night because we're heading to Taipei 101 for the 2013 countdown. So before the fun... here's some random stuffs we did in the last 2 days in Taipei.
We made a trip to this particular bag shop called
合成帆布行, that according to the locals, it's a really good bag. Alot of us bought quite a number of bags there. It's not exactly very cheap but the quality is very good.
They range from coin pouches, small handle bags to big tote bags and sling bags all of sizes and color. It's a thick cloth material.
You don't get to see this in Singapore, but this is alot better then the ones they sell here in singapore.
The last day before we part with our lovable tour guide and head to Taipei, she bought all of us this. This is the Taiwan "chewing gum" called Bin Lang that during winter they would chew on it to keep warm. I took one for myself just in case the weather in Taipei was too much for me to handle. The temperature was about 8-10degrees with strong wind then.
You're suppose to chew it and spilt out, shouldn't swallow anything because there's cement inside. What you spilt out would be in red, and it's quite disgusting. But trust me, this works to keep your body super warm (cause I tried it but it stained my teeth red)
Another awesome eat I must get for both trips when I went Taiwan is this! Any 7-11 store you can find it :D
Another train is this that you must try! 35NTD only and it's awesome too!
Next destination was to take a train ride from 美丽岛捷运站 to the next stop before boarding the bus again.
This is the same coin that Thailand uses.
Basically we're here just to see this beautiful train station. Take some pictures and take a stop of train to have a feel of taking public transport, and that was bout it.
After the bus picked us up, we went over to this river to have a walk before taking the high speed train down to Taipei City.
The 2nd place in the entire trip we sat down together and eat for lunch.
Finally, we're ready to go. Our luggage was detached from us and will be sent directly to Tao Yuan airport before we fly and we will be travelling down to Taipei just with a shoulderbag/bagpack for 1 days' necessities. Due to the crowd and the amount of things we've bought over the days, this was the best arrangement for us. This lady in the picture was our kind and helpful tourguide for the past few days. She's really thoughtful! Generally Taiwan has given be a really good impression of their customer service and has yet to fail me. Still loving Taiwan as much now!
Here's our train ticket from the last station all the way till Taipei!
Finally, we're here! Let the party begin!
Hello Ximending! I've missed you!
Here's our hotel
高絲旅時尚旅館, for the night and it's one of my favourite too. Simple, cheap and comfortable. Good place!
While waiting for time to pass before we can go Taipei 101 to countdown, we had a quick bite at some steamboat place in Ximending.
One thing about their steamboat is that even if they say it's not spicy, it's still slightly spicy. So for those who completely can't take spices, you ought to take note. There was this uncle that couldn't take chilli ordered the one that was supposedly to be no chilli but he told us that it's still spicy and he had a hard time trying to eat it.
An adventurous cousin of mine decided to order "medium spicy" and had a hard time eating as their medium to us is very spicy.
After dinner, we made our way to Taipei New City nearby 101 to find a good spot to watch the fireworks.
We saw some cute Tai Meis in costume and of course the boys were excited..... and so they took a picture together.
We revisited this place again!
So we went for some drinks and snacks shopping before heading over to camp.
Angry birds for you?
Along the way, there were lots of street performances going on before the countdown.
So the boys went to act cute because there was a cute Taiwan girl there.
There was 'PSY' there too.
We found ourselves a spot and waited for the fireworks.
Happy Near Year!
And it's time to SQUEEZE!
Look at the crowd man......
Something to share... While we were stuck in this massive human jam to get in the train station, there were tons of barracks/human barracks and 2 "host" at the side of the train station. While humans like us were being squashed in the jam, they were at a corner using speakers talking to us, cracking lame jokes.. which their intention was to soothe tension among us. Thankfully, the temperature in Taipei was about 8 degrees so even in this jam, I did not perspire at all and the air wasn't stale and smelly.
Their system for big events like this is really remarkable. Security officers are deployed everywhere. The first "gantry" was before entering the train station. At each time, they will only release certain amount of people into the train station. Once you get in the train station, you will have to walk to the train platform and there will be another "gantry". 2 security officers will be stationed at every single cabin door to control the traffic. Which means alighting passengers first, before allowing passengers to board.
We were stuck in the jam for about 1-1.5 hours listening to lame jokes and their craps. When we got in the train station, it wasn't too bad and when we board the train, we still had seats. Though the countdown crowd was really massive but I guess it's really an experience for me. Countdown party 2013 in Taipei, never will I forget that night! :D
The next morning was the toughest because it's the last day and we barely had any sleep. Since we had some time left, we went to search for the famous
阿宗面线 in ximending.
They are located at 台北市万华区峨嵋街8之1号(近西门町)
Cold day with hot hot mee sua, totally awesome.
Some hot chocolate for a rainy morning.
Soon, we went to airport to meet up with our luggage.
Everyone busy reclaiming their luggage, boxes etc.
Till we revisit Taiwan again! Tata Peichen!
Here's a group photo of all our buys excluding me and bro because we were busy sorting out their air tickets and they took a group photo without us!!! Terrible people. Hahahaha.
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Writing this post now makes me miss Taiwan and the times spent there dearly. Really hope to revisit again soon. (CMON FLIGHTS, BE CHEAPER!)
