Taipei Day 4 ( 19 October 2009)

The three of us played Runescape on the laptop after packing. It's a fun game. Jinxgirl's folks took forever to pack. We then went to the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen was known as the Republic of China's National father as he led the revolution against the Munchurians.

We visited various rooms in the Memorial Hall with artefacts from that era as well as oral and verbal accounts of events that occurred in the course of the revolution.

After we had visited most of the rooms, we went for lunch at a buffet upstairs. It was simply scrumplicious! The three of us challenged Jinxgirl's dad to a riddle duel, telling each other riddles and trying to solve them. He didn't stand a chance against us.

After lunch, we visited a room filled with calligraphy and art works. The amazing art works were awe-inspiring. Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed. SIGH.

Before we knew it, we were headed for the airport. During the one hour journey there, the adults slept while the three of us tried to see who could count up to the largest triangle number. Jinxgirl obviously won, beating me by two numbers.

In the airport, we settled at Starbucks and played Runescape (what else?) An hour later, we entered the boarding gate. Boarding was delayed for about half an hour so Jinxgirl read The Magykal Papers with us reading over her shoulder.

When we finally got on, guess what? Take off was ALSO delayed! When we finally took off, we alternated between playing Jinxgirl's handphone and reading Sister's Keeper. Finally, Jinxgirl got a headache and said she wanted to sleep.

Landing was delayed too. The plane circled the airport for about fifteen minutes before it could land. At the baggage collection, surprise surprise! Our baggage took an ETERNITY to appear. Caleb fell asleep and we wheeled him out with the luggage. By the time we got to bed, it was 2 am.

Taipei Day 3 (18 October 2009)

We went for a half day guided tour today to Keelung and Yehliu. We visited a temple at the top of a windy hill, which nearly made Jinxgirl sick. It was full of Buddha statues and had a pretty nice scenery. We got to see a giant bell being rung and an old temple with narrow stairs, which made it as treacherous to climb as the longhouse steps in Sarawak were. The view from the porthole at the top was rather interesting.

Then, it was off to Keelung and Yehliu. We saw Keelung and its city on the way to Yehliu. Our tour guide explained that Keelung was actually "Ji Long", which is Chinese for chicken coop. This is because the surrounding mountains enclosed the city like a chicken coop. However, it would be odd to have a city named Ji Long so they changed the chinese words such that it sounds the same but looks different.

After a long drive, we finally arrived at Yehliu Park. The park was basically a boardwalk through the various beautiful and amazing rock formations. Caleb, Jinxgirl and I had a competition to see who had the most vivid imagination in thinking what the rockforms might be.

We got to go off the boardwalk and get a closeup view of the famous Queen's head. It was really life-like and realistic and Jinxgirl snapped several photos. This was no mean feat as she wanted photos without people standing next to it and everybody was crowding around it!

On the way back to the hotel, the tour bus stopped at a small bakery/sweet/pastry shop which was famed for its delicious pastries. We bought some for friends back home.

After the tour ended, we went to Guang Hua Shi Chang, which specialises in electronic goods. The three of us found it really boring.

After an eternity, we moved on to Sogo, which is like Takashimaya. We spent most of our time there sitting somewhere reading Jinxgirl's book together.

The Shi Da night market was decidedly more interesting. The colourful blend of food, products on sale and stores with different specialities added to the light and noisy atmosphere.

Finally, we retired to the hotel at 8 andd read till 11, when Jinxgirl's mum finally noticed what time it was and shooed us to bed.

Taipei Day 2 (17 October 2009)

We visited Taipei 101 today. After a short train journey and a 10 minutes walk, we arrived at the breathtaking skyscraper. Caleb got a hornache trying to see the top of the skyscraper.

First, we went to the Observatory. We took the lift from the 5th floor to the 89th floor. Amazingly, it took less than a minute! Jinxgirl's ears popped loudly in the lift. On the 89th floor, the view was amazing. We saw the entire city stretched out before us. Jinxgirl snapped away. There was a counter which rented remotes which gave a multimedia guide of what could be seen from the Observatory.

There was also a photo booth where Jinxgirl's folks pretended to be hanging on to the steeple of Taipei 101 while the three of us "fell off". It looked pretty funny.

We had lunch at a restaurant called IR China which served the most delicious food ever. Following that, we visited Dan Shui, a good 30 minutes ride away.

The view was definitely horrid and not the sparkling, pristine view we had expected. On the other hand, the street vendors were certainly a huge attraction. Jinxgirl bought some interesting gifts for her closer friends. The three of us also tried our luck attempting to win prizes from a game machine. No dice. Sigh.

We walked till our feet hurt and finally returned to the hotel, surviving on Instant Noodles and snacks as we read and played Neoquest, along with cool, fun games on Jinxgirl's new Sony Ericsson handphone, which she had gotten for her EOY results.



Stinky Tofu

Taipei Day 1 (16 October 2009)

We spent the entire morning packing and getting ready. At 11, we headed for the airport. While waiting, Jinxgirl's folks read the newspapers while Jinxgirl, Caleb and I did a really difficult Sudoku puzzle and played Neo Quest, my favourite computer game.

The plane finally took off at 1.50pm. On board, Jinxgirl took out Roxanne and the four of us decided to read Jinxgirl's book as there was no in-flight entertainment on Jet Star. We read for almost the entire trip and finished The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey. By then, it was 5.45 pm or so and there was magnificent sunset which Jinxgirl happily photographed.

Upon arrival, it was about 6.30 pm. There is no time difference froom Singapore but the sky was already so dark that we thought it was 8 something.

The cars here are all left-hand drive. The ride to the hotel took over an hour.

After depositing our bags, we took the Underground Train to have dinner. Jinxgirl, Caleb and I ate the most delicious beef noodles ever!

It was back to the Underground to a night market hotspot selling all sorts of stuff. The interesting part was watching the vendors without proper sales licences running helter-skelter when the police came round to patrol. We bought some amazing wax keychains from a legal vendor. They were made so intricately and realistically!











Finally, we retired to the hotel. The three of us plus Roxanne slept at about 11 pm.