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trip to heart of asia - taiwan (part 4) : yangmingshan, chiufen, xinyi, songshan
Friday, 16 March 2012
first thing in the morning, we were brought to this yangmingshan hotspring (北投椰林會舘温泉樂), it was totally different from the hotspring we have had eariler on at wulai, as this belong to the mild alkaline sulfuric kind of hotspring. and the color of the water was kinda of light milky color and the temperature is slightly higher at 70degree. the smell was so strong that i barely can get used to it. in fact, we were told that this kind of hotspring is more well-liked by the older folks even though its more expensive, because it is able to relieve digestive problems, arteriosclerosis and other ailments.
after the super comfortable hotspring, we fall back asleep in the car ride before we reached chiufen (九份山城) where is now a popular tourist destination, the quaint streets, tea houses and stunning views of the pacific ocean saved this place from sharp decline when it stopped its mining in the older days. in chiufen, we bought quite a number of souvenirs and tibits back home with us, and not forgetting to try their chiufen specialites. as chiufen is often of rainy weather (even the day we went), they have this special fishball soup, yuyuan (taro balls), dumplings served hot or cold with sweet bean, and mochi which are all widely available.
and after chiufen, we were then bought to this fengshui shop (天祿艺朮中心), which i believe is one of those tour package micmick, and anyway, we came out empty-handed from that shop (which is a good thing, hahaha!!).
the last attraction with the tour package was at wufenpu fashion street (五分埔服飾大道) which is best known for wholesale garment market located at xinyi district of taipei. according to the guide, wufenpu literally means "five pieces of land", a name acquired when the first chinese settlers divided a plot of land into five portions. anyway, maybe because we went in winter season, the clothes they are selling does not suit singapore hot weather, hence darling did not manage to eye on anything.
after leaving wufenpu, we made our own way to this famous formosa chang aka beard-man (鬍鬚張魯肉飯) for their lu rou fan” (braised minced meat rice) which was pretty nearby. well, i would say the serving was pretty small, and then we realised that the guys sitting beside us was ordering extra large bowl. hahahaha. but anyway, since we had all the munchies since morning, the small serving do us good too.
after dinner, we strolled our way to this raohe night market (饒河街夜市) of songshan district, they have this very big red entrance gate that is distinctively compared to other night market. in fact, im glad that we did quite alot of homework before this trip. darling and myself think that this night market was not too bad, the stuffs sold here are more interesting too and we actually bought a few items (hp covers, hp studs, small flower pot).
anyway, we decided to try on the high-speed railway train which is different from the city mrt, so we ventured to the songshan railway station (松山火車站)and took only one stop to taipei main station. the train seats is really superb comfortable and the seperator of the cabins are similar to those old western railway train, hence me and darling was cam-whoring thru out the whole journey.
we then took a short rest at the hotel before we proceed to the main gist of this taiwan trip - year end countdown firework at taipei 101 building!!! for the past few years, on new year's eve, taipei's xinyi district takes center stage for a production like no other. as i watched how vistor cram the city government square to watch the performancces by the country's top entertainers and when the fireworks show started, i can only watch all these through the tv screen, and i tell myself that i will definitely make a trip there and witness it 'live'. so here i am, making my dreams into reality. =)
at 11pm, as expected, the area near the landmark was damn crowded and packed with campers, i called them campers because some of them had prepared chairs, food, umbrella, photography equipments etc. darling and i was fortunate to find a small area (that have a nice view of the building too!), however the floor was wet after the rainy weather, so darling decided to buy shawls from some roadside peddlers so that we can sit down among the crowd and wait for the tick tock to hit 12am!
and with the last 10sec to hit 12am, the superstructure was light up for the customary countdown!! oh boy, it was damn exciting! fireworks started to blast off from the side of the building, ascending upward section bysection toward the tower's crown, culminating in a technicolor bang in the sky. seriously, its so magnificent that caught us breathless. even darling said that this made the whole trip wholewhile!! =DLabels: fun, holiday, makan, shopping, taiwan
xoxo,
dear |
23:03
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