23/12/2013: Road trip to 關子嶺
It's sports day on Saturday so Monday will be a holiday for the school. Teachers don't have to work so one of the teachers, 炎秋主任 offered to bring Eehui and I out for sightseeing. Her husband and her plan to cycle from her house all the way to 關子嶺 so they need to drive through the route and see how it is. Therefore, Eehui and I tagged along with them.
It's a long ride, along the way we saw many views, most of them are the rural side of Tainan. There were many fields, farms and factories along the way. What I loved is the wide and endless sky. The weather was great and the sky was in the nicest shade of blue. The clouds are fluffy and white that came in all sizes and shapes. It's really relaxing to see such a view. It's something I like to do when I'm here. This is because once I go back Singapore, I won't be able to enjoy such a view again. Most of the time, the view will be blocked by skyscrapers or HDB flats. =.=
First stop, we passed by a huge field of Canola flowers. IT'S SUPER PRETTY!!! I've never see such a huge field of flowers before. It's really beautiful. What's more, they're yellow in colour. MY FAVOURITE COLOUR. AWESOME X2. HAHAHAHAHA. I took as much photos as I can with my camera but the number of photos I took with the flowers are limited. :(
We made a toilet stopover at the University of the Arts. It's a new university, out of no where too, very remote. There's still a smell of paint and some places are still in a mess. However, I've to say that the school is really HUGE and MAJESTIC. It's quite atas too, has this artsy-fartsy feel.
Next stop, we had lunch at a 7-11 as there wasn't much food stall along the way. I had a bento! Taiwanese bento meals are cheap, nice and filling too. However, I don't know why but the rice I had in Tainan is a bit different from the rice I had in other places. It doesn't have the super nice taste which I had before. Maybe it's due to the way that it's being cooked or might be really due to the type of rice that they eat here in Tainan. That's okay, I will be going Taipei on the weekends with Eehui and I think I can get to eat the nice Taiwanese rice.
The trip up to 關子嶺 is really long. However, once we reached the top and saw the scenery, I think it's all worth it! 關子嶺 is a place for people to enjoy hot spring. There are many motels and hotels there which are hot spring based. There are quite a source of hot spring which are super HIGH in temperature. The once I saw which they showed us the temperature is about 80 degree celsius. We got to see the water flow pass and there were steam coming out from the water. There's also a smell from the water too.
It's so relaxing to be there. I got to see mountains from somewhere high, breathe in fresh and clean air and listen to sounds from the insects and birds living there. I really have to thank 炎秋主任 for bringing me along. I wouldn't be able to see such beautiful views if I were to travel myself as public transportations will take a super long time and I doubt there's public transportations going up the hill.
Last stop, we went to 水火同源 and a pavilion at a temple. The SHUI HUO TONG YUAN IS DAMM COOL! Its name says it all, 水跟火有同个源头, they co-exist and come from the same source. Nature is really interesting isn't it? There are nature gas coming from the ground thus the fire. The water flowing down and near the flame are boiling due to the fire. Yes, the FIRE, it's considered a huge fire source given that it's all natural. NOT JUST FLAMES OKAY, FIRE. I will show the picture of it and you will know (once I upload all the photos).
Then the pavilion from the temple is a HUGE ONE. 有山有水, IT'S MAGNIFICENT. Taiwanese are so lucky to be able to have so many pretty scenery in so many places. I know many countries especially the western countries are like this too. They have both city areas and suburbans areas with beautiful scenery. Singapore is just too small....but I'm not complaining because the fact that I don't have a driving license (don't think I will have it in the near future), public transportation is really important to me. I really don't like the fact that, in Taiwan, I have to wait so long for the bus and have to worry for the last bus which might be early. I really need fast and convenient public transportations.
24/12/2013-27/12/2013:
Same routine but because it's Christmas, there a few special events which happened on 25th.
A community group that are in charged of "special" children came to the school to perform and gave presents to the students. The "special" children also dressed up as Santa and elves to go around and gave out presents to the students. All of us had fun and I think it's a meaningful activity.
I started the sharing of the different festivals celebrated by the 3 main races in Singapore. I can finally use the henna I brought over. My first sharing session was with a primary 4 class. I actually wanted them to draw themselves which is why I bought like 5 tubes of henna. However, no one wants to draw it themselves, in the end I have to go around to each and every students to help them draw. I think I will be a PRO in henna drawing after many rounds of drawing.
27/12/2013:
After school, I went to 小西门, the new mall behind, 新光三越西门店. It's a mall for the youngsters as the brands and designs of the shops are quite modern and funky that are targeted at the younger generations like me. However, it's a mall after all. The things over there are really expensive. It's a 1 story high mall with basement 1 and 2 filled with stores too. The area for each level is also very big therefore personally, I think the mall is quite big although there's only 3 levels. I walked around each level to have a look and left in about 30 to 45 minutes as I can't buy or eat anything there. Oh ya, there's a ice skating rink at basement 2, something like the one we have in Jcube but it's much smaller.
I left 小西门 and made my way to 国华街. This street is a SUPER LONG street with a variety of shops. I think it's quite nice to shop there and some shops are quite interesting and pretty. I had dinner there too. It was very cold that night so I wanted something piping hot to warm my stomach. I went into this noodle shop which was around since 1984. I ordered 馄饨干面 and indeed, IT'S SO GOOD. There's a reason for them to be able to survive for so long. The sauce went so well with the QQ noodle. I'm swallowed my saliva as I recall that bowl of noodle already......YUMS.
Before I found this 1984 noodle shop, I actually wanted to try the noodle that Maggie introduced me. She told me that it's really nice and when I reached the stall, there were many people queuing for their noodle. I'm alone so I couldn't reserve any seat for myself. By the time I want to submit my orders, there isn't any table left, so in the end, I gave up and went to find some other things to eat.
Dinner was good and so was my shopping too. My purpose of walking to 国华街, is not only to have dinner but also to get a pair of sneakers as I will be going to Taipei for the next 2 days. The shoes I've brought over to Taiwan were pumps that will not keep my feet warm. Even though I do wear socks for these kinds of shoes, they are not thick enough too. I'm really scared of cold so I told myself I have to get a pair of sneakers to keep my feet warm.
I always wanted to get a pair of New Balance sneakers as I think they have this vintage feel. Hahahaha, don't ask me why but I just have that feel. Many taiwanese here wear their sneakers too and according to my inspection for about 3 weeks, New Balance sneakers are quite versatile as they are able to match to different kinds and style of clothing. They are quite expensive in Singapore since you can only buy them in shopping malls. I didn't really go check the price but I assume it's at least a $100? I really can't buy a pair of sneakers for more than $100. For sports shoes yes....but sneakers.....NOPE. I went into this shoe store that sells many brands of shoes and that includes New Balance. The choice of colours were VERY limited. Out of the 5 colours, 2 were PINK based and one of them consists of LIME GREEN. Pink is a BIG NO for me. As for lime green, it's just way too bright. So, I'm left with yellow/navy blue and orange/light blue. I quite like both colour combinations and I wanted to try both to see how I look. However, the yellow/navy one is out of stock for my size. I'm left with orange/light blue. I hesitated a bit as orange is still kinda bright and the blue is considered quite bright too. However, it's a new model, going at 1850NTD but there's discount so I can get it for 1570NTD. I think it's a pretty good deal, therefore I bought it in the end.
I had a problem when I got home that day. I didn't wear normal sock when I went to buy the shoes. I was wearing the socks for pumps so I know I have to leave some space for the socks. When I wore the shoe and checked if it fits, I'm still able to put in my index finger at the back. I thought to myself, this should be the allowance for the socks, this size should be just nice. When I got home and tried it with normal shoes, TO MY SURPRISE, even after wearing normal socks, I can still put in my index finger at the back. I should've gotten half or one size smaller and it will fit just nice. *SIGH* I cannot go back and change since I have to wear it to Taipei. I know I can just don't wear it and go back and exchange after I'm back for Taipei but that will defeat the purpose of me buying the sneakers. I just tell myself that it will be more comfortable as my toes will have more space and I just have to tie the shoe lace tighter. *SIGH* *SIGH* *SIGH* It's a long time since I buy sneakers, totally don't know how to gauge even though I was at the store trying out the shoe.
Anyway....I'm still loving the sneakers!!! I LOVE IT SO MUCH! No regrets buying it. The more I look at it, the more I love it. ♥ ♥ ♥
28/12/2013:
I woke up early in the morning to have breakfast at the breakfast shop near my host family house before I head off to Tainan Train Station to meet Eehui to go Taipei together. Our train is at 10.30am so we have to be at the train station at 10am. I made sure I'm early so that I won't be rushing for the train. I had 综合蛋饼 for breakfast! It's SO GOOD. I can really eat 蛋饼 everyday for breakfast. I'm serious.
I reached the train station at around 9.30am plus and Eehui arrived at around that time too. We waited for the train, bought 台铁便当 for lunch so that we can eat on the train since we will only reach Taipei at around 3pm. It was a 4 hour and 30 minutes train ride from Tainan train station to Taipei train station by 自强号. It was SUPER LONG can........save money ma, the ticket is like less than half the price as compared to High Speed Rail.
When we reached Taipei Train Station, Eehui's Taipei friend, Bolin who is also the host for us for the 2 days came to pick us up at the train station. He was really nice and still gave us a bag of gifts. We followed him back to his house to put down our stuffs before heading out.
We went to to an exhibition with Bolin's friends, Zhaoxiang. He was the one who introduced us the exhibitions. It's an interactive exhibition, something that I've never see and experience before. After talking to him, then I got to know that Zhaoxiang actually worked at the exhibitions and had already been to this exhibitions for 5 times! His professor was the one who came up with the theme and idea of the exhibitions. The name of the exhibition is called 梦想馆. There are around 5 or 6 stages in the exhibitions and at each stage, there will be faciltators helping you to go about abd explore each stage. The main idea for this exhibition is about having dreams and to work towards your dreams.
At the start, each of us got a device which will help us to explore the exhibition. With the device, I got to take photos, played music with it, received a phone call and lastly board a plane. The whole experience was new and fun! I really like the idea of interactive exhibition. It's no longer just looking at exhibits, boards and reading them just like that. Interactive exhibitons allow me to be part of it, choose what I like to have and all in all, we have to thank Technology. Without technology, none of these would be able to happen.
After the exhibition, with the same ticket, we are able to visit another exhibition, called, 音乐盒. This mucial box is as though we are in a real muscial box. It played music through real instruements but with the help of robots and machines. Although at the end, the drums were kinda unscyhronise, the whole experience was relaxing and soothing for me. After walking for quite a bit at 梦想馆, we get to sit down and listen to music to relax for a while which is just what we need.
Dinner is up next! We cabbed down to the area with restaurants and took us quite some time to decide what to eat as the number of resturants there were quite limited. We went 点水楼 and had 4 baskets of 小笼包. The XO with chilli one was SUPER GOOD! I had never tried that before. While making the payment, there's a banner above the cashier that says: 小笼包排行榜: 1st-点水楼, 2nd-鼎泰丰 and I forgot the 3rd one. I was quite surprise to see that as I thought 鼎泰丰 is the Number 1 in Taiwan. Apparently, according to Bolin, this is how resturants promote themsleves. For 鼎泰丰 their banner will be 1st-鼎泰丰, 2nd-点水楼 and so on.
We meet another Bolin's and Zhaoxiang's friend named Ah Q.We spent some time at 成品书店 and when to cycle Ubike from the bookstore area to Taipei 101. It's another new experience for me! I have cycled both in the day and night but never in a city and definitely not near any promient skyscraper or what's not. Being able to cycle along the road with Taipei 101 by the side is like.....DAMM COOL! Hahahah, sua ku much.
It's around 10pm plus when we reached Taipei 101 and parked our bicycles therefore we went home after that. We went back home to put down our bags and went to a nearby eatery for supper. Bolin's parents insist to have supper together since they ended their work and were hungry too. Their supper is like SUPER SUPER SUPER ENORMOUS MEAL. They ordered like at least 10 plates of dishes (small but still a lot....) and a hot pot by the side. Bolin, Eehui and I were really not hungry as our 小笼包 dinner have yet to digest. We ate anyway....what to do. 差一点撑死！没在开玩笑！I don't know if it's a taiwanese tradition, Bolin's parents called for a toast before we start eating. I was quite surprised....it's like what I see in 夜市人生......
The supper ended at around 11.30pm plus to 12am......Eehui and I were super tired but still have to wash up. In the end, we didn't wash our hair since it's super cold and will take a long time to dry. We washed up and sleep immediately. 累死了！
29/12/2013:
We worked up at around 7.30am as we need to leave house at around 8am for breakfast before we start the itinerary planned for the day. What did I eat for breakfast? Well, it's none other than my all-time favourite: 蛋饼. It wasn't as nice at the one near my host family's house though. Anyway, we head to a metro station and waited for Zhaoxiang. He was late so we walked around the place and then finally decided to find a place to sit down and wait since it's drizzling that day ever since we stepped out of the house. I hate rainy days.......once Zhaoxiang reached, we took the bus to go 故宫.
The museum is very big. We spent like 2-3 hours there. It's a sunday so there were many tourist and I meant for real, MANY, A LOT. LIKE A LOT....the queue was long like MAD. We queued anyway since we're inside already. Oh ya, Bolin invited another friend whom I forgot/didn't catch his name.
After the museum we went to an aboriginal centre to take a look before we head back to the restaurant that Bolin's mum is working in. She wanted to treat us lunch before we head back to Tainan. The lunch was like the supper we had the day before......AGAIN, many dishes and a hotpot by the side. This time round, the hotpot is much bigger than the night before. It's like a basin we see in the toilet, I'm not joking, I'm SERIOUS. My jaw dropped when I see that hotpot.....how are we going to finish that BIG BOWL of hotpot???????????????
Bolin's another friend whom I forgot/didn't catch his name came to join us for lunch. He lives at 淡水 so Bolin asked him to bring 铁蛋 for us to bring back to Singapore. Although there were 5 of us, we really can't finish all the food, especially the hotpot. We were seriously full like nobody business at the end. We tried our very best to finish all the dishes and just gave up on the hotpot. Bolin's mum is really very hospitable....this is how passionate Taiwanese are.
OH YA, throughout the day, I was playing with my mouth. How? Keep exhaling.....because it was so cold that I can breathe out water vapour!!! I never expect I can actually do that in Taiwan......see how cold it was? Thank god one of the 主任, lent me her coat which is thick enough to fight the cold. She used the same one when she was in Korea during the winter season.
By the time we finished our lunch, it's already 2pm and our train back to Tainan was at 3pm. We went back to get our luggages and head straight to Taipei Train station. Bolin, Zhaoxiang and his friend tagged along all the way to Taipei Train station to send us off. Although it's just 2 days....they were very hospitable and nice people. Even though I met them through Eehui, I still hope that they can treat me as friends and I can be their international friends. This idea of international friend is really cool and interesting as we get to know more about a certain country much easier since it's through a local. In addition, there will be someone to host us if we get to meet the international friend at the country.
And it's a 4hours and 45 minutes back to Tainan. It's supposed to be 15 minutes shorter but the train was late.....what can I do? Eehui and I didn't buy any 铁路便当 since we were bloated due to the lunch. We survived the ride and head back home straight.
Overall, it's was a nice trip up to Taipei. My favourite part was to experience the COLD in Taipei, able to cycle in the city area and able to visit the interactive exhibition: 梦想馆. :) I really have to thank Bolin and his family for hosting us and his friends for the accompany. I hope I can host them too when they come to Singapore. 礼尚往来嘛.....
27/12/2013:
After school, I went to 小西门, the new mall behind, 新光三越西门店. It's a mall for the youngsters as the brands and designs of the shops are quite modern and funky that are targeted at the younger generations like me. However, it's a mall after all. The things over there are really expensive. It's a 1 story high mall with basement 1 and 2 filled with stores too. The area for each level is also very big therefore personally, I think the mall is quite big although there's only 3 levels. I walked around each level to have a look and left in about 30 to 45 minutes as I can't buy or eat anything there. Oh ya, there's a ice skating rink at basement 2, something like the one we have in Jcube but it's much smaller.
I left 小西门 and made my way to 国华街. This street is a SUPER LONG street with a variety of shops. I think it's quite nice to shop there and some shops are quite interesting and pretty. I had dinner there too. It was very cold that night so I wanted something piping hot to warm my stomach. I went into this noodle shop which was around since 1984. I ordered 馄饨干面 and indeed, IT'S SO GOOD. There's a reason for them to be able to survive for so long. The sauce went so well with the QQ noodle. I'm swallowed my saliva as I recall that bowl of noodle already......YUMS.
Before I found this 1984 noodle shop, I actually wanted to try the noodle that Maggie introduced me. She told me that it's really nice and when I reached the stall, there were many people queuing for their noodle. I'm alone so I couldn't reserve any seat for myself. By the time I want to submit my orders, there isn't any table left, so in the end, I gave up and went to find some other things to eat.
Dinner was good and so was my shopping too. My purpose of walking to 国华街, is not only to have dinner but also to get a pair of sneakers as I will be going to Taipei for the next 2 days. The shoes I've brought over to Taiwan were pumps that will not keep my feet warm. Even though I do wear socks for these kinds of shoes, they are not thick enough too. I'm really scared of cold so I told myself I have to get a pair of sneakers to keep my feet warm.
I always wanted to get a pair of New Balance sneakers as I think they have this vintage feel. Hahahaha, don't ask me why but I just have that feel. Many taiwanese here wear their sneakers too and according to my inspection for about 3 weeks, New Balance sneakers are quite versatile as they are able to match to different kinds and style of clothing. They are quite expensive in Singapore since you can only buy them in shopping malls. I didn't really go check the price but I assume it's at least a $100? I really can't buy a pair of sneakers for more than $100. For sports shoes yes....but sneakers.....NOPE. I went into this shoe store that sells many brands of shoes and that includes New Balance. The choice of colours were VERY limited. Out of the 5 colours, 2 were PINK based and one of them consists of LIME GREEN. Pink is a BIG NO for me. As for lime green, it's just way too bright. So, I'm left with yellow/navy blue and orange/light blue. I quite like both colour combinations and I wanted to try both to see how I look. However, the yellow/navy one is out of stock for my size. I'm left with orange/light blue. I hesitated a bit as orange is still kinda bright and the blue is considered quite bright too. However, it's a new model, going at 1850NTD but there's discount so I can get it for 1570NTD. I think it's a pretty good deal, therefore I bought it in the end.
I had a problem when I got home that day. I didn't wear normal sock when I went to buy the shoes. I was wearing the socks for pumps so I know I have to leave some space for the socks. When I wore the shoe and checked if it fits, I'm still able to put in my index finger at the back. I thought to myself, this should be the allowance for the socks, this size should be just nice. When I got home and tried it with normal shoes, TO MY SURPRISE, even after wearing normal socks, I can still put in my index finger at the back. I should've gotten half or one size smaller and it will fit just nice. *SIGH* I cannot go back and change since I have to wear it to Taipei. I know I can just don't wear it and go back and exchange after I'm back for Taipei but that will defeat the purpose of me buying the sneakers. I just tell myself that it will be more comfortable as my toes will have more space and I just have to tie the shoe lace tighter. *SIGH* *SIGH* *SIGH* It's a long time since I buy sneakers, totally don't know how to gauge even though I was at the store trying out the shoe.
Anyway....I'm still loving the sneakers!!! I LOVE IT SO MUCH! No regrets buying it. The more I look at it, the more I love it. ♥ ♥ ♥
28/12/2013:
I woke up early in the morning to have breakfast at the breakfast shop near my host family house before I head off to Tainan Train Station to meet Eehui to go Taipei together. Our train is at 10.30am so we have to be at the train station at 10am. I made sure I'm early so that I won't be rushing for the train. I had 综合蛋饼 for breakfast! It's SO GOOD. I can really eat 蛋饼 everyday for breakfast. I'm serious.
I reached the train station at around 9.30am plus and Eehui arrived at around that time too. We waited for the train, bought 台铁便当 for lunch so that we can eat on the train since we will only reach Taipei at around 3pm. It was a 4 hour and 30 minutes train ride from Tainan train station to Taipei train station by 自强号. It was SUPER LONG can........save money ma, the ticket is like less than half the price as compared to High Speed Rail.
When we reached Taipei Train Station, Eehui's Taipei friend, Bolin who is also the host for us for the 2 days came to pick us up at the train station. He was really nice and still gave us a bag of gifts. We followed him back to his house to put down our stuffs before heading out.
We went to to an exhibition with Bolin's friends, Zhaoxiang. He was the one who introduced us the exhibitions. It's an interactive exhibition, something that I've never see and experience before. After talking to him, then I got to know that Zhaoxiang actually worked at the exhibitions and had already been to this exhibitions for 5 times! His professor was the one who came up with the theme and idea of the exhibitions. The name of the exhibition is called 梦想馆. There are around 5 or 6 stages in the exhibitions and at each stage, there will be faciltators helping you to go about abd explore each stage. The main idea for this exhibition is about having dreams and to work towards your dreams.
At the start, each of us got a device which will help us to explore the exhibition. With the device, I got to take photos, played music with it, received a phone call and lastly board a plane. The whole experience was new and fun! I really like the idea of interactive exhibition. It's no longer just looking at exhibits, boards and reading them just like that. Interactive exhibitons allow me to be part of it, choose what I like to have and all in all, we have to thank Technology. Without technology, none of these would be able to happen.
After the exhibition, with the same ticket, we are able to visit another exhibition, called, 音乐盒. This mucial box is as though we are in a real muscial box. It played music through real instruements but with the help of robots and machines. Although at the end, the drums were kinda unscyhronise, the whole experience was relaxing and soothing for me. After walking for quite a bit at 梦想馆, we get to sit down and listen to music to relax for a while which is just what we need.
Dinner is up next! We cabbed down to the area with restaurants and took us quite some time to decide what to eat as the number of resturants there were quite limited. We went 点水楼 and had 4 baskets of 小笼包. The XO with chilli one was SUPER GOOD! I had never tried that before. While making the payment, there's a banner above the cashier that says: 小笼包排行榜: 1st-点水楼, 2nd-鼎泰丰 and I forgot the 3rd one. I was quite surprise to see that as I thought 鼎泰丰 is the Number 1 in Taiwan. Apparently, according to Bolin, this is how resturants promote themsleves. For 鼎泰丰 their banner will be 1st-鼎泰丰, 2nd-点水楼 and so on.
We meet another Bolin's and Zhaoxiang's friend named Ah Q.We spent some time at 成品书店 and when to cycle Ubike from the bookstore area to Taipei 101. It's another new experience for me! I have cycled both in the day and night but never in a city and definitely not near any promient skyscraper or what's not. Being able to cycle along the road with Taipei 101 by the side is like.....DAMM COOL! Hahahah, sua ku much.
It's around 10pm plus when we reached Taipei 101 and parked our bicycles therefore we went home after that. We went back home to put down our bags and went to a nearby eatery for supper. Bolin's parents insist to have supper together since they ended their work and were hungry too. Their supper is like SUPER SUPER SUPER ENORMOUS MEAL. They ordered like at least 10 plates of dishes (small but still a lot....) and a hot pot by the side. Bolin, Eehui and I were really not hungry as our 小笼包 dinner have yet to digest. We ate anyway....what to do. 差一点撑死！没在开玩笑！I don't know if it's a taiwanese tradition, Bolin's parents called for a toast before we start eating. I was quite surprised....it's like what I see in 夜市人生......
The supper ended at around 11.30pm plus to 12am......Eehui and I were super tired but still have to wash up. In the end, we didn't wash our hair since it's super cold and will take a long time to dry. We washed up and sleep immediately. 累死了！
29/12/2013:
We worked up at around 7.30am as we need to leave house at around 8am for breakfast before we start the itinerary planned for the day. What did I eat for breakfast? Well, it's none other than my all-time favourite: 蛋饼. It wasn't as nice at the one near my host family's house though. Anyway, we head to a metro station and waited for Zhaoxiang. He was late so we walked around the place and then finally decided to find a place to sit down and wait since it's drizzling that day ever since we stepped out of the house. I hate rainy days.......once Zhaoxiang reached, we took the bus to go 故宫.
The museum is very big. We spent like 2-3 hours there. It's a sunday so there were many tourist and I meant for real, MANY, A LOT. LIKE A LOT....the queue was long like MAD. We queued anyway since we're inside already. Oh ya, Bolin invited another friend whom I forgot/didn't catch his name.
After the museum we went to an aboriginal centre to take a look before we head back to the restaurant that Bolin's mum is working in. She wanted to treat us lunch before we head back to Tainan. The lunch was like the supper we had the day before......AGAIN, many dishes and a hotpot by the side. This time round, the hotpot is much bigger than the night before. It's like a basin we see in the toilet, I'm not joking, I'm SERIOUS. My jaw dropped when I see that hotpot.....how are we going to finish that BIG BOWL of hotpot???????????????
Bolin's another friend whom I forgot/didn't catch his name came to join us for lunch. He lives at 淡水 so Bolin asked him to bring 铁蛋 for us to bring back to Singapore. Although there were 5 of us, we really can't finish all the food, especially the hotpot. We were seriously full like nobody business at the end. We tried our very best to finish all the dishes and just gave up on the hotpot. Bolin's mum is really very hospitable....this is how passionate Taiwanese are.
OH YA, throughout the day, I was playing with my mouth. How? Keep exhaling.....because it was so cold that I can breathe out water vapour!!! I never expect I can actually do that in Taiwan......see how cold it was? Thank god one of the 主任, lent me her coat which is thick enough to fight the cold. She used the same one when she was in Korea during the winter season.
By the time we finished our lunch, it's already 2pm and our train back to Tainan was at 3pm. We went back to get our luggages and head straight to Taipei Train station. Bolin, Zhaoxiang and his friend tagged along all the way to Taipei Train station to send us off. Although it's just 2 days....they were very hospitable and nice people. Even though I met them through Eehui, I still hope that they can treat me as friends and I can be their international friends. This idea of international friend is really cool and interesting as we get to know more about a certain country much easier since it's through a local. In addition, there will be someone to host us if we get to meet the international friend at the country.
And it's a 4hours and 45 minutes back to Tainan. It's supposed to be 15 minutes shorter but the train was late.....what can I do? Eehui and I didn't buy any 铁路便当 since we were bloated due to the lunch. We survived the ride and head back home straight.
Overall, it's was a nice trip up to Taipei. My favourite part was to experience the COLD in Taipei, able to cycle in the city area and able to visit the interactive exhibition: 梦想馆. :) I really have to thank Bolin and his family for hosting us and his friends for the accompany. I hope I can host them too when they come to Singapore. 礼尚往来嘛.....
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