24th November 2008 (Monday)
It was our first full day of activities, and boy did we have a lot planned! Teehee but Ling Yang and Eve had tried to minimise the travelling time as much as possible during our itinerary planning, so all was good! We didn't waste much time going to and from the places we visited =)
We had arranged the night before to meet at 9.30am the next day... but... erm... the girls took a longer time than expected. Heheh.
The guys got a little impatient of waiting... as you can see from the photos they took in their hotel room:
Oiiiiii why so long?!?!?!? Haha they were pointing to the direction of the girls' room!
What guys do when they're bored...
*yawn*
When the girls still didn't knock on their door after a while, the guys decided to play a few games using the ever-entertaining poker cards.
In the midst of their card game and photo-taking, Eve knocked on the door! Finally!
All ready to head out!
We were strolling around aimlessly, searching for a place to have breakfast. But the cafes, restaurants and roadside stalls at Ximending don't open so early, and we were STARVING! Ended up settling for beef noodles at this random shop.
While waiting for our food to arrive, more photos were taken!
All fresh-faced and alert...
Out came the camera stand (oh you can't imagine how beneficial that short little camera stand was to us during the trip! haha) to take better group shots!
Our perfectionist director (aka Ling Yang) complained that the previous photo wasn't balanced, so Justina went over to Eve's side.
Better now? =)
Then, our hot bowls of soupy noodles arrived! Such huge servings! Our practice was to take individual shots with our food before starting to eat, so here goes!
Loony Ling Yang!
Goofy Guanwei!
Radiant Ronnie!
Ecstatic Eve!
Zany Zhen!
Jubilant Justina!
After that was done, we could finally 开动了!!! Slurped up our bowls of noodles and xiao long bao hungrily, and before long, we continued our journey to our first destination...
But not before the guys stopped over at the bakery to buy some more food...
PIGS!!!
Cheese!
LY's favourite Easy Shop... hahaha guess what it sells?
HINT: Something that only women will use... ;)
We went into Ximen station for the first time! So exciting!
Basically, we were snapping photos anytime, anywhere.
Staircase also can!!!
Guess who's the most enthusiastic? Heheh
Our first culture shock was this:
EVERYONE kept to the right side of the escalator!!!
It was so amazing lah. Compared to what we see in Singapore, where nobody gives two hoots about standing to the left. If you're in a rush, you're better off walking down the staircase. Haha!
The next culture shock was that everyone spoke in Mandarin... which made it a tad difficult for us considering that we aren't that well-versed in the language (Our MT teachers from Shuqun must be so disappointed in us... muahaha). We already had the directions to the National Palace Museum, but thought it was better to double-check with the staff. The embarrassment came when Eve didn't know how to say museum in mandarin!!! Hahaha. Thank God the lady understood what we were saying and confirmed that we were on the right track.
Third culture shock of the day:
Everyone queues orderly in two lines at the sides of the doors! No such thing as standing right smack in front of the door and blocking the passengers coming out of the train. Very impressive!
Look at the law-abiding Singaporeans queuing to get into the train... Wahahahahaha.
And the train arrives!
These chips are used for one-way travelling on the metro...
We attempted to take some silly shots on the train... which resulted in...
WAHHHH GHOSTS AH!!!!!!
Hahaha this Ling Yang lah... he set his camera to detect only pink/red colours. Thus the horrible photo you saw above!
This is much nicer (and less ghostly) right? :P
It didn't take long for us to reach Shilin station... the metro trains seem to be faster than ours too!
Checking the map to see what bus we should take.
Since we were going to be travelling quite a bit the next few days, we decided to purchase the EASYCARD, which requires a NT$100 (about SGD$5) deposit and NT$400 (about SGD$20) value.
Yay we've gotten our Easycards!
Wacky us!
We walked a short distance to the bus stop, and took a public bus (Red Number 30)... which gave us Culture Shock #4, coz' the people who alighted actually thanked the bus driver, who responded by smiling and saying bye!!! OMG...
We finally reached our destination, which was...
National Palace Museum. Might seem strange why we would visit a place like that, but a holiday can't just be about shopping, shopping and more shopping right? It's always good to go sight-seeing too =)
No photos allowed inside the museum itself, but here's a classic shot of Ling Yang:
Know why he was posing like that? Haha he thought he had left his camera in the toilet!!! All of us got a mild panic attack! But just as he was about to run down the escalator, he found the precious camera in his pocket... PHEW!
Some photos of the National Palace Museum, which is really very grand and beautiful.
It's so perfect.
The main building.
We wanted to get some fresh air before heading into the museum, and decided to snap some silly photos since we were already there. It was starting to get cold so we had to jump to keep ourselves warm! :P
The girls go up!!!
Ronnie jumps too! Wahhhh very pro hor?
After practising and perfecting their jumps, the guys were ready for their jumping shot too. But Zhen didn't want to leave them alone...
Watch as Ling Yang tells her to 走开!!!
Haha that's LY's favourite video... he can watch it over and over again, and laugh like nobody's business! But Zhen insists that she walked away not because of his 走开!, but because Eve told her to move away... Muahahaha.
And when the guys could finally take their photo, something even funnier happened...
Uppy-doo! See something extra? :P
None of us had realised that Justina managed to capture such a GREAT shot, until Guanwei himself mentioned that his tummy could be seen... and that's when all of us burst out laughing! Really laughed till tears were streaming down our cheeks k! Haha and needless to say, we continued to tease Guanwei about it throughout the trip, and even till today!!! Wahahahahahahaha.
Take a look at the video clip of the jump, with special effects added by Eve :P
*rolls on floor laughing* Ok lah, don't be angry, our dearest belly bro!!! :P
More photos were taken from different spots to capture the breathtaking scenery surrounding National Palace Museum.
The emo girls?
The joker guys! Haha poor GW!!!
Ok, a proper shot before GW beats them up... Haha
A nice one for the girls too!
Behold the statuseque National Palace Museum.
Close-up shots:
They really never die before lor!!! Wanna kick the girls behind their backs?!?
The girls try to retaliate (but fail miserably)...
Our camera-man/Director went to great lengths to ensure that we could take nice photos...
While waiting for him to give us the go-ahead to get into position. Titanic?
Smile people!
Another one!
The white skies make a nice contrast to this photo =)
Eve's turn to take a similar photo for the guys.
The funniest thing happened at that point of time! While Eve was squatting down to snap the guys, this group of tourists walked past her and looked curiously at the metal monument in front of her. They were wondering why she was talking to that thing and saying "1,2,3!" One of the ladies even asked her, "Will it do something when you say 1,2,3?" Haha!
What they didn't see was the three guys standing above it... which explains the funny misunderstanding.
The end result:
We then moved further down, all walking in different directions.
Suddenly, Ling Yang shouted, "OK TIMER ON ALREADY!!! QUICKLY QUICKLY!!!"
We turned back and saw him running to the staircase. Immediately, all of us ran as fast as we could to take our places there just before the camera went off.
We were fast enough! Haha!
After that photo was taken, we started to laugh wildly while screaming at Ling Yang. We didn't know that he was preparing his camera for a group shot! Almost gave us a heart attack from the surprise command and running. Haha! But it was fun!
Another group shot:
Since the whole area was relatively free of people, we decided to take some posed shots... ;)
Our backviews:
Our walking styles from the front.
Then, we decided to unleash our inner Ah Lians and Ah Bengs. Don't forget which secondary school we came from hor! It's in our blood! Hahaha.
Gangsters.
Aren't we FIERCE????? (except Ron, who wanted to attack GW from the back... 很歼 lor!!!)
The girls were contemplating stripping off their jackets, but it was too cold...
Oh how happy we were!
ROAR!
Random poses
Look at those two kids standing up! Hee
After almost half an hour of fooling around, we decided to leave the museum and head to our next destination.
Ling Yang 很帅 wor! :P
Waiting for the bus...
This tells you just how tired we were after a morning of photo-taking... Hurhurhur
We alighted at Shilin Station again, and took the train to Jiantan station. From there, we hopped onto the shuttle bus which took us to Miramar.
Free bus!!!
Why so shocked? (Notice how the girls always have the same standard twist in their poses)
Ronnie was still feeling VERY sleepy, as you can see...
Awake now, but still sleepy-eyed! Teehee
It was only a short drive to Miramar. We could spot the ferris wheel on top of the building from afar. So thrilling!
The girls in front of the Miramar building.
The guys too!
We were feeling famished again by then, and though we had planned to sit on the ferris wheel at sunset (which is usually slightly past 5pm, wayyyyy earlier than in Singapore!), our stomachs were still more important... Haha.
Headed to the foodcourt in Miramar, where the food choices were so varied that we didn't know what to eat! There was even a stall selling Singapore food, prompting Eve to joke with the rest that perhaps they should try the food there to test its authencity :P
Food shots again!
Guanwei
Ronnie
Ling Yang (HUGE serving!)
Justina (烧啊!!!)
Huizhen
Evelyn (also a huge serving of tempura prawns and chicken)
Dinner was so good... and so filling, as usual! With their energy restored, the gang headed up to the ferris wheel.
It was still quite bright when we first reached the top.... (at 5.16pm)
But by the time we bought our tickets at 5.19pm, it was dark already! Gosh.
The guys posing with their Miramar ferris wheel tickets
The excited girls with theirs!
We were contemplating sitting in the glass cabin (i.e. transparent panels even at the bottom!), but decided against it coz' some people might not be able to take it. Heheheh.
It was quite a slow ride up, but the view was great.
Justina could even eat in the cabin! Haha!
Don't be fooled by Eve's smile... she was actually feeling really scared! (Remember how she was gripping tightly onto the bar at the side and sticking her leg close to Zhen's? Hahahahaha)
We were so busy talking and teasing each other that it was only when we were close to the bottom that we remembered to take some group photos!
More photos once we were safely on the ground again...
We survived the ride!
The girls with the ferris wheel that was brightly lit up!
So pretty right?
While the girls went on their toilet break, the guys took individual shots with the ferris wheel in the background:
The girls wanted to sit on the carousel but decided not to coz' they were paiseh... haha it was such a small one! (But they eventually got their wish on Day 4 at the themepark!)
Wow Justina can hold the ball up with one hand! :P
Look at the cute stickers we found at the information counter:
To paste on little kids, just in case they get lost in the shopping mall! So thoughtful!
Eve and Zhen had a good time pasting the stickers on each other and pretending to be lost... but no one bothered about them. CHEY!
We made a move from Miramar, and waited for the shuttle bus back to Jiantan station.
It was getting reallyyy COLD by then! The winds were especially strong at night...
At Jiantan station, it was a short walk to Shih Lin Night Market (yes the night market is NOT at Shilin station, but at Jiantan). The cold was getting quite unbeable for us, but once we got into the night market with more people, it was much better. In fact, the cool temperature made our shopping experience even greater! None of the sweaty stuffy environment we'll find in the other shopping paradise - Bangkok.
The guys and girls split up to complete their own shopping agenda, and we arranged to meet at 11.30pm at Jiantan station, just in time to catch the last train!
While the guys shopped for shoes and jackets...
... the girls shopped for practically everything and anything! Haha.
The most incredible thing was that the 3 girls actually shopped continuously for FOUR AND A HALF HOURS (from 7pm to 11.30pm) without stopping for food or to rest their legs. The only brief break they had was at 8plus, to quench their thirst...
With milk tea!
Meanwhile, the guys didn't have much to shop, so they spent a lot more time in the food area! (The girls didn't even step into that part of Shih Lin Night Market... sigh so sad right?)
Look at what they ate!
Some yam dessert...
The famous 鸡排!!! *this is the cue for the girls to start sobbing*
Wahhhh very delicious hor????
The other famous street dish - 大肠包小肠.
Even more food coming up, eaten by the guys!
Look at their smug faces! Hrmphhh
Mee sua and 臭豆腐!
And this!
Nice ice-cream eh?
Eat eat eat some more!
They even had time to take photos in the underground passageway lor!!!
It was 11.45pm and we met at Jiantan station again. The girls were all tired AND hungry (you know what that combination does to women) whereas the guys were all well-fed. SIGHHH. But the girls were still happy with their purchases of course! Teehee.
Tired tired tired. Hungry hungry hungry.
One last group shot for the day! :D
Once back at Ximending, we had another problem... Where to find food? It was way past midnight and the whole street was deserted once again.
Not to fret, there's always Mac!!! Haha our favourite Golden Arches.
The guys still had the energy to snap photos lor... just goes to show how NOT tired they were :P
Eve wanted to take a photo with the happy sunflowers too... but she had to tiptoe just to get her head in!
Back in our hotel room, we girls devoured our MacDees meal in record time! Wahaha. There wasn't any chilli sauce (much to the woe of Eve), but we couldn't care anymore!!! ROAR!!!
And once our tummies were filled, we girls got up to some nonsense! We dressed up in our winter jackets, beanies, scarves and boots (bought from Shih Lin Night Market to counter the cold weather the following days)... and knocked on the guys' room door.
When Ling Yang opened the door, we started prancing around before bursting into laughter, only to have him slam the door in our faces.
WTF?!?!??!
It was only later that we realised that he didn't recognise us!!!! HAHAHA! He thought we were hookers offering them a good time... and that's why he apologised and closed the door on us. OMG!
When he opened the door again, we barged into the room and innocently asked the guys why they weren't ready to go yet... Muahaha. Guanwei, dressed in his singlet and shorts, happily played along with us and said "Let's go!!!".
Haiyoh it was just so funny... and mind you, it was 1.30AM by then hor! Maybe that explains why we were feeling so crazy! :P
This was how ridiculous the three girls looked like at 1.30 in the morning. HAHA!
Couldn't sleep early that night despite our fatigue... think we were too high already! But we forced ourselves to go to bed in preparation for another day of fun!
(Click here to read about Day 3 of our trip, where we went to Taipei 101, Wufenpu and Rao He Night Market! =) )
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