3 guys, 3 girls; 6 friends, 6 crazy days in Taipei

Our Taipei Trip: The Complete Blog Entries

2009-02-18T02:00:00.000+08:00

After so much procrastination, as of 18th February 2009 (Wednesday), the entries for Days 1 to 6 have been completed.

For faster loading of our blog, the homepage will only show this consolidated entry. The following days' posts will be linked accordingly after each blog entry. Just scroll down to the end of this page to start reading the first entry for Day 1... It's very user-friendly, really. =)

If you prefer to read the blog entries individually, click on the following links:

Welcome entry & links to our Facebook photo albums:

http://3366taipei.blogspot.com/2008/12/first-blog-entry.html

Day 1 (Changi Airport, Ximending, Partyworld):

http://3366taipei.blogspot.com/2008/12/23rd-november-2008-day-1-changi-airport.html

Day 2 (National Palace Museum, Miramar ferris wheel, Shih Lin Night Market):
http://3366taipei.blogspot.com/2008/12/24th-november-2008-day-2-national.html

Day 3 (Taipei 101, Wu Fen Pu, Raohe Night Market):

http://3366taipei.blogspot.com/2008/12/25th-november-2008-day-3-taipei-101.html

Day 4 (Leo Foo Chun Themepark, Grand Hotel, Toilet Restaurant, Luxy):

http://3366taipei.blogspot.com/2008/12/26th-november-2008-day-4-leofoochun.html

Day 5 (Danshui, Yu Ren Ma Tou, Xinbeitou Hot Spring):

http://3366taipei.blogspot.com/2008/12/27th-november-2008-day-5-danshui-yu-ren.html

Day 6 (C.K.S Memorial Hall, Airport, Home):

http://3366taipei.blogspot.com/2008/12/28th-november-2008-day-6-cks-memorial.html

Enjoy reading about the fun we had in Taipei, and we hope this will also serve as a guide for anyone planning to go there on holiday.

P.S. Here's a photo of the 3366 Taipei gang taken on 28th December 2008 after our dear John's wedding. On that day, it was exactly one month since we returned from our Taipei trip... Oh, the memories! We're planning for our next trip already, but while it may not materialise that soon (need to save money for Japan!!!), it gives us something to looks forward to =)

(Read Eve's blog for a detailed entry about the dinner!)

3366 rocks!!!

Start reading Day 1's entry by clicking here!

23rd November 2008: Day 1 (Changi Airport, Ximending, Partyworld)

2008-12-17T21:03:00.001+08:00

Who: The 3366 Taipei group
(Secondary school pals - Evelyn, Huizhen, Justina, Ling Yang, Ronnie, Guanwei)

Where: Taipei

When: 23rd November 2008 (Sunday) - 28th November 2008 (Friday)

The idea for us to go on a holiday came as early as May this year. It was during a small lunch gathering among Zhen, Ling Yang, Chee Teck and Eve. We were eating while browsing through the photos that Chee Teck had snapped during his Taiwan trip, when Ling Yang mentioned that the guys had plans to go to Taiwan at the end of the year. That was when Zhen and Eve excitedly jumped in and proclaimed that THEY WANTED TO GO TOOOOOO!!!

Hahaha.

And so, our planning and sourcing started. By the end of August (26th August, to be exact), we had booked our air tickets and accomodation!

Fast forward to less than 3 months later.

23rd November 2008 (Sunday).

The first day of our long-awaited Taiwan holiday!!! Yippeeee!!!

We met up at 8.30am on that day, at Boon Lay MRT. All lugging our luggages and barang barang. Heheh. But nothing could dampen our spirits! We were darn excited to be leaving Singapore lah!

First things first, the distribution of our itinerary in a 'brochure' form. The itinerary was planned by the guys and Eve (with initial brainstorming done by everyone), and Justina came up with the idea of the brochure! Haha. So Eve created it and Justina printed copies for everyone.

Our masterpiece! ;)

Our luggages... the 3 big ones belong to the 3 girls. Hahahahaha expected right?

While Eve was seriously discussing something (can't remember what) with the guys...

... they were taking photos lor! Hrmphhhh

Don't care, we also must take!

I snap you, you snap me...

The besties.

Throughout the trip, we kept coming up with ingenious ways to take group shots (other than the most obvious way out, i.e. asking someone to take it for us). This is an example:

Using the reflection on the MRT train window. Haha!

All 6 of us are in the photo!

We reached Changi Airport at about 10am, and proceeded to Terminal 3's Popeye's for breakfast.

Fried chicken for breakfast? We like...

Yummers!

After filling our stomachs with greasy chicken and fries, we proceeded to Terminal 1 to check-in for our flight.

The 6 voyagers from the back. Cool eh?

Wondering who helped us take that photo?

The two thoughtful guys who came to send us off - Eve's Gordon and a buddy of the 3366 group, Mond! *touched*

We took the Skytrain!

Wheeee!

Dunno what they were doing... Haha

The ones on the other side were much more coordinated!

The guys of 3366: Guanwei, Ronnie and Ling Yang!

The girls of 3366: Huizhen, Justina and Eve!

We queued up at the counter, and weighed our luggages for check-in individually.

Justina first!

Followed by Zhen!

Then Eve!

Guys' turn! Ron...

Guanwei...

and Ling Yang!

Ron, Zhen and Justina went in first coz' they wanted to shop around in the duty-free area, leaving LY, GW and Eve to snap one last shot before saying goodbye.

Bye friends!!! Too bad you can't join us... Haha

These 2 girls had to head over to Terminal 2 in the end coz' Justina wanted to buy a Coach bag and the shop was at T2.

Ron, meanwhile, was missing in action! So Eve and Guanwei had no choice but to entertain Ling Yang in his quest to snap as many photos as possible! Wahahaha...

All aboard!!!

The 3 Musketeers?

BOOM!!!

Wah very heavy ah!!!

Tsk tsk tiko pek!

Ling Yang made a very reluctant Eve imitate the girl's pose...

Cactus garden!

We finally found Ron! Be careful there!

No prizes for guessing who made Eve pose like that... hahaha

We finally decided to walk to our boarding gate coz' it was almost time.

Shuai wor!

Our resident camera-man/Director then decided to make Eve a superstar. Out came the sunglasses! :P

Sorry no comments!

Shooooo paparazzi!

Go away!

It was a longgggg walk to gate C18.

Eve making a call to Zhen, asking for help. Haha she was tired of entertaining the guys!

Finally, Ling Yang's turn to be in the spotlight! He was trying this foot massager...

AT LONG LAST!!! WE REACHED C18!!!

After what seemed like forever, Zhen and Justina finally returned!

As you can see, Eve was really glad to see her besties again. Heheh.

Zhen and Eve

Look at all the silly goose pretending to be asleep. All pass except Huizhen! :P

Our Jetstar plane!!!

While in the waiting area, we snapped more photos!

Eve and Zhen...

... again and again. Haha.

Self-taken group shot #1! (Alamak Justina's face blocked!)

Self-taken group shot #2! (Alamak now Zhen's face is blocked)

These two never get tired of snapping themselves ;)

The ladies...

With passports in hand, we were ready to go!

Look at how excited the guys were too!

Wahhhh the girls so kiasu... all walk in front!

Making ourselves comfortable in the seats.

Same for the guys!

Peekaboo at Eve!

Tadaahhhh it's us again!

Sadly, the guys changed seats not long after. They were offered another row of seats with more legroom, which were originally allocated to these 3 kids. Children aren't allowed to sit there though (think it's the emergency exit row), so the guys were more than happy to change with them! Their legs are very long mah...

Without them around, the girls occupied themselves with...

... more photo-taking...

... an instant 'manicure' (Zhen brought her set of fake acrylic nails to beautify Eve's fingers)...

... and more photo-taking!

The guys were even more power lor!

Pretending to be asleep AGAIN! Hurhur.

Ermmmm Justina was really asleep though.

It was a 4 hours flight to Taipei, and we got hungry/thirsty after a while. Had to succumb to the ridiculous food prices...

Guess how much for the drinks? Haha.

Zhen and Eve paid $7 for this sandwich (Eve's friend Meizhen recommended it so they die die also must try!)... expensive but so delicious!!!

The guys got so bored... and out came the poker cards!

We were on a bed of clouds...

After slightly more than four hours, WE FINALLY REACHED TAIPEI!!!!!! :D

The girls were raring to go!

5.41pm.

Why so serious guys?!

Look at how happy the girls were!

So happy that they don't mind taking photos on a moving travellator! Haha

Our first stop was to get the Youth Cards (for discounts into several attractions)...

Yay we're young!

We didn't arrange for any private transfer to our hotel, but it was easy buying tickets for the bus to take us there. Much cheaper too!

Posing in front of our freego bus.

The excited travellers.

Eve and her fake nails.

See the two 'ghosts' behind? Wahahahaha

Justina and Ling Yang, who had to sit in individual seats.

The only (slight) disadvantage to sitting on the freego bus was that we had to transfer to another smaller bus midway through. But still, the buses were just beside each other so it wasn't that troublesome!

In the second bus:

Zhen, Eve and LY on one side.

GW, Ron and Justina on the other!

And finally, we reached PARADISE HOTEL!

The funny thing was that we didn't even know which was the hotel entrance. There were no signages indicating the hotel name! We just chose the most likely looking one, and went in... Hahaha.

We made it to our hotel!

Starting to get crazy, due to a mixture of fatigue and excitement...

Enough time to snap another shot on the way up to the tenth floor.

We settled down in our respective rooms (one for the guys, one for the girls!), changed and freshened up before meeting again in the corridor.

Time to go for dinner!

It was our first time in Xi Men Ding (with the exception of Zhen and Ron, who have been to Taipei before), and it was such a great delight for everyone to take in the sights, smells and sounds of the vibrant shopping area.

The 6 of us were SOOOOOO famished that we settled for our late dinner in one of the little shops selling Ru rou fan and the likes. (All the shops looked the same actually...)

Writing our orders.

What was Justina complaining to Eve about?

Soon, our piping hot bowls of ru rou fan arrived!!!

The guys couldn't wait to tuck in...

Such a small bowl of rice, but it was the BEST ru rou fan we ate in our six days there. Maybe coz' we were exceptionally hungry? ;)

Eve, who is a big fan of zhen zhu nai cha (bubble milk tea), was elated to drink her first cup of authentic Taiwan bubble tea!

That little bowl of rice wasn't enough to quell our hunger, of course! Time for Ah Zong Mian Xian!

The famous shop selling mee sua.

Zhen and Eve weren't exactly interested in eating mee sua, but the other four bravely took on the challenge!

The challenge was actually to hold the bowl of hot mee sua, and stand while eating! Not easy k!

While the four of them were busy eating, Zhen and Eve occupied themselves with the video camera... Teehee.

After a long long time, they finally finished eating! So full!

I see feet!

More food coming up!

Some sausage...

Ling Yang eyeing Guanwei's sausage.... Haha

Finally getting a bite of it.

Aaaahhhhhh

Justina and Eve... fortune cats?

Next dish: fried mushrooms! So delicious!

The guys then ordered some roti prata-lookalike with special fillings...

Nice ah?

Yummy!

Eve decided to take a shot of Ling Yang and Justina...

... dunno why they ended up looking like a squabbling couple!

Much better!

All full now?

Calling home? Heheh

Hello hello hello?

Xi Men Ding!

Our next activity for the first night was karaoke! We headed to the Partyworld building (yes, the WHOLE building is dedicated to karaoke... OMG).

Proof that we were there!

We were amazed by the grandness of the Partyworld there...

Look at the chandelier lights!

There was some time to go before the night package started, so we were given this 'time bomb' which would sound when it was time for us to go back to the counter.

Does it give you magical powers?!?

Very cool gadget eh?

Yay we're gonna start singing soon!

We got so excited when the gadget lit up and rang. Teehee.

We were led to our private room shortly after... and were even MORE AMAZED when we saw the inside.

(1) Bar counter with high-seats.

(2) Special area for solo performances

(3) Comfortable leather sofa

AND BEST OF ALL...

(4) A PRIVATE TOILET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YES! There was a personal toilet in our room! OMG... We were so amazed by it that we were practically screaming lah!

The room was basically so huge that we could sit and stand anywhere we wanted to. None of the restrictedness we feel in Singapore's Kbox/Partyworld.

The guys (especially LY and GW) were more than happy to slack around in the comfy room... coz' they don't sing!

Justina and Zhen choosing songs.

Eve giving her first solo performance.

Zhen forcing Guanwei to sing. Hahaha... Personal microphone-holder huh?

Justina and her crazy fans!

Wahhhh Ling Yang very cool ah?

The 3 girls singing their favourite Ti Amo song.

And there was more food to come!

Sinking their teeth into the crispy chicken chop.

Boo!

Our Xing Guang Da Dao contestant... Teeheehee

Stoning already.

They were super high!

We had so much crazy fun in the confines of the room, singing songs aloud and doing totally embarrassing stuff like flailing our arms wildly in the air (what is commonly known as "dancing"). Didn't even have to leave the room in the 3 over hours that we were there, coz' of the private toilet! The food was all included in the package too, and we only paid less than SGD$20 per person for everything! Woohoo!

We left Partyworld at 2plus in the morning, and walked through deserted Xi Men Ding back to our hotel.

Ron used the video camera to record our entire journey back, and Ling Yang took over halfway... Watch as he starts speaking in this weird accent... Hahaha.

We reached our hotel after a short walk and went to bed... ready for a long but fun day ahead! :D

( Click here to read about Day 2 of our trip, where we went to National Palace Museum, Miramar and Shih Lin! :D )

24th November 2008: Day 2 (National Palace Museum, Miramar Ferris Wheel, Shih Lin Night Market)

2008-12-17T21:00:00.003+08:00

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! =) )

25th November 2008: Day 3 (Taipei 101, Wufenpu, Raohe Night Market)

2008-12-17T20:02:00.006+08:00

Before we even realised it, we were halfway through our trip!!! But there was still a lot to look forward to. ;)

25th November 2008 (Tuesday).

The night before, we had actually bought instant noodles (The one that contains real pieces of beef... so yummy!) to have for breakfast.

But as usual, the girls couldn't wake up on time to eat the noodles. Or rather, they took too long to prepare! And the guys, of course, had plenty of time to prepare and savour theirs...

Hot and steamy instant noodles for breakfast on a chilly morning... shiok!

And as usual, they also had lotsa time to camwhore while waiting for the girls! Heheh.

Finally setting off!

While on the way to the Ximen station, we dropped by the bakery to get some food... and took the chance to snap some photos! Justina and Eve were really excited coz' they were all geared up in their winter clothes to battle the cold.

The two girls in their jackets, scarves and boots =)

We finally reached Taipei City Hall station!

The besties

Justina and Zhen showing off their winter gear...

We walked a very short distance to the bus stop nearby, to catch the free shuttle bus to Taipei 101.

First group shot of Day 3!

And the bus arrives!

Doing their usual camwhoring on the bus.

We headed into the shopping mall to grab some drinks... the guys chose the atas Starbucks!

We then went out into the open... and boy was it cold!!! The winds were so strong and chilly! And to top it all off, it was drizzling by then. The guys and Justina were really cold, but Zhen and Eve were well-equipped with their winter jackets :P

But we weren't deterred!

Does this look familiar?

Spot the faces!

The guys...

The girls...

It was tough getting a full shot of Taipei 101, coz' the building is just too tall!

No one forced them to pose like that... really. :P

We then spotted some colourful walls nearby, and Eve demanded to take the following photos!

SPLAT!!!

Flies plastered against the wall? Haha well at least they're beautiful ones ;)

The guys failing to imitate the girls' nice poses. Not coordinated lah!!! HAHAHA.

FAIL again! Haha ok lah, this isn't that bad...

Star jump! (Photo taken by Zhen... nice hor?)

Another standard pose of our cameraman/director.

BOO!!!

We're at 101!

The 'behind-the-scenes' before we snap a photo. Hurhur.

Can't remember why we were all so serious...

The girls and their 101 poses.

The guys again. Why no 101?!?

We never get sick of jumping!!! Must keep warm, you see. :D

Yippeedoo!

The guys' jumps cannot make it except for Ron! Muahahahaha Guanwei don't dare to jump high for fear of exposing his belly again (please refer to Day 2's post), and LY looks like he was hit in the groin!

Guess whose fingers?

Ours!

我们到此一游!

Our parting shots at Taipei 101. Eve didn't even realise that the holes in these 3 golden coins made up the numbers 101. She's bad at visualing. :P

Another 101 pose! Haha.

Catching Justina as she falls!

Why did they become dwarves???

The girls then started some serious camwhoring while walking to the next destination. They were snapping photos every other second lah! Haha all thanks to Zhen.

This was only the beginning...

Winter sonata?

There were plenty of this kinda walking shots.

The two besties in love?

Who's that extra behind? :P

Eve emerging out of the toilet with her 3 bodyguards behind. Haha!

It didn't take long to reach the next location: New York New York.

Can't see the words.

New York New York in Taipei!

3 gals and a guy.

The guys decided to emo at one corner.

We then realised that the best spot to take a full shot of Taipei 101 was actually at New York New York!

To take this photo, we actually placed the camera on a bench outside Starbucks. Which meant we were facing this whole bunch of people sitting in the outdoor area, who were staring at us like we were crazy. :P

But we didn't really care lah... anything to get a nice photo! (Even if it turns out dark...)

Statue of Liberty in Taipei? Heheh FOUR fakes ones!

A sweet shot of Ling Yang and Zhen.

We then proceeded to Xin Guang San Yue, which is a high-class shopping centre much like Singapore's Paragon. Didn't do much there except use the toilet!

More photos again while on the way to the metro station.

The girls were highhhhh.

Nice background right?

We made a short stopover enroute to Taipei City Hall station, coz' we passed by this little park called Song Shou Gong Yuan.

Eve and Zhen helping the guys take photos...

The product:

Taking their revenge on our Director? Heheh

The girls' turn!

An artistic group shot! Very nice!!!

I guess you should know by know the lengths we went to in order to capture the perfect shots. Just take a look at the photo above. Ron and Guanwei had to climb up and balance themselves dangerously on the narrow wall, while the rest of us had to angle ourselves properly. Not easy ok!!!

This sign totally cracked us up, coz' the water was only an inch deep!!!

The girls were at it again... SIGHHHH.

Justina touched the tip of Taipei 101! (Photo taken by Eve. Genius! Muahahahahaha)

We then took the train over to Houshanpi station...

And headed straight for lunch at Hu Xu Zhang Ru Rou Fan (胡须张濡肉饭)! All thanks to Eve's friend again for recommending this place.

We were all starving coz' it was almost 3pm by then and we hadn't eaten lunch! So desperate for food that we kept calling out for 胡须张 and were so happy when we found 'him'.

There's always time for a photo though.

This was taken after we ordered our food! Couldn't take it le.

Food, glorious food!

The obligatory pose-with-food photos:

And we tucked in heartily into our medium bowls of ru rou fan!!!

20 minutes later, we were done. *burp*

Look at how much we've eaten!

The guys ate A LOT ok!!!

It was time to start shopping at Wu Fen Pu.

The guys and girls separated to complete their own shopping agenda, and we arranged to meet at 6plus.

The guys all ready to conquer Wufenpu?

The girls stopped for drinks first, and Eve was happy to get her fill of zhen zhu nai cha (bubble milk tea) for the day! :P

Although Wu Fen Pu is popular for wholesales and having a large variety of clothes, the girls didn't really enjoy shopping there coz' the alleys were quite stuffy and the clothes that were on display just weren't attractive.

After ONLY 1.5 hours of shopping there, they were tired and bored already! Sighhhh definitely bought a lot more at Shih Lin Night Market the night before.

Zhen and Eve resting their tired feet...

As the girls were sitting there, they spotted the guys! How coincidental right? In such a huge place, we could actually bump into each other! They were bored too, so we decided to move on to our next destination.

Bye Wufenpu!

On the way, we stopped at Ba Fang Yun Ji for some guo tie.

Guanwei and Eve.

A rather majestic-looking temple we saw while walking to...

... Raohe Night Market!

All smiles despite the aches all over.

The macho dudes.

The guys started their feasting once again.

Thankfully, Raohe is a relatively small night market with nothing that interesting (Other than this yellow poodle they saw in a pet shop! OMG it was sooooo fat yet adorable! And definitely a special colour). We just walked all the way till the end and emerged from the other entrance, unsure of where we were.

Justina taking a rest... her boots were really killing her!

We finally found our way back, but couldn't resist taking a short break at the train station.

Look at our sian faces. Really very tired and pain ok!

As much as we couldn't and didn't want to walk, we mustered all our energy and soldiered on. We were going to make it back in one piece, no matter what it took! Haha.

Though the girls were really gone by then (Justina and Eve from their boots, Zhen from lugging her heavy winter jacket around), the guys were SURPRISINGLY still in the mood to shoot this video:

Watch Ling Yang teleporting from one place to another! Hahaha...

After an arduous walk, we finally reached Houshanpi station again!!! Could have really cried then. But we didn't. :P

By then, there were only two survivors who could still joke and laugh on the train - Zhen and Eve! Everyone else was sleeping...

It was another dreadful walk back to our hotel, and we just collapsed on our beds the moment we entered our rooms! But we were still hungry for more. LITERALLY hungry! Justina wasn't feeling too well coz' of the weather and the pain from her boots, so she chose to stay in the hotel. The other five of us headed to Ximending after s short rest, for supper!!!

The guys took this photo before leaving their room... you'll never guess what the significance of this huang li su (pineapple tart) is to Ronnie. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA. We know can already.

Zhen and Eve were crossing the road when they saw the guys taking a photo, and they really ran across the road just to get their heads in!

First dish of Day 3's supper: Some fried food...

The guys waiting for their grilled sotong.

Zhen was so sad that the stall didn't have what she wanted... lamb meat!

Finally getting a taste of the roti-prata-with-filling.

Sausage!

I guess one of the most memorable events of the Taipei trip was witnessing how the roadside vendors would "close shop" and push their stalls away in double-quick time whenever the police arrived... which is like, once every 15-30 minutes? Haha it was really quite comical! And we struck up a conversation with one of the vendors, who revealed that if they get caught, the fine is a hefty SGD$60-70. (can't remember exact amount...)

The five of us entered one of the little shops to have oyster omelette!

Mirror shot of the late-night supper warriors!

And that's when the multi-shot madness started:

First, of all of us.

Then, a proper photo of the girls.

And more multi-shots!

The guys' turn!

A satisfied Eve with her second milk tea of the day! Yay!

And we returned to Ah Zong Mian Xian again. Eve opted out coz' she's really not a fan of mee sua.

Meet the four challengers!

The hot bowl of vermicelli was a great companion to the cold night (the weather got progressively colder each day we were there lor!), and we returned to our hotel rooms at midnight feeling really full and warm. =)

(Click here to read about Day 4 of our trip, which was jam-packed with activities from LeoFoo Chun themepark, to Grand Hotel, to Toilet Restaurant, and ending with clubbing at Luxy! WOOT! Super happening. :P )

26th November 2008: Day 4 (LeoFooChun Themepark, Grand Hotel, Toilet Restaurant, Luxy)

2008-12-17T19:01:00.002+08:00

By Day 4, we were getting rather drained from all the photo-taking, travelling and walking. But we were still raring to go on the morning of 26th November 2008 (Wednesday)!!!

(Sad to say though, this was also the day that 200 precious photos from Ling Yang's camera mysteriously disappeared at the end of the day. Sighhhhh. Most of them were taken in the themepark, but the silver lining in our dark cloud was that Ronnie and Eve also took a lot of photos that day coz' LY's camera was on low batt. Thank goodness for that!)

Our plan was to take public transport (train, bus) to our first destination - Leo Foo Chun Themepark. But upon double-checking with our hotel reception about the directions, the frontdesk staff actually gave us a fantastic suggestion - they offered to call up a contact so that we could get to the themepark via a private bus, because it would take too long to travel there on our own.

And guess what? The bus driver was free for the day! The cost of hiring the private minibus (including the themepark tickets) was only slightly more than what it would cost for us to take public transport and get into the themepark, so we decided to take up the offer! It was definitely a great decision, because we saved a lot of travelling time and ENERGY that day! Wahahaha. And best of all, our driver was such an entertaining uncle who gave us good advice and brought us to several places after that.

We headed out of the hotel to grab some breakfast at the nearby bakery, before rushing back to board our private minibus. =)

It was a pretty long journey, but we were so comfortable in the brand-new bus (according to the driver, whom we called Shi Fu, we were the first customers in the vehicle!)...

The weather was pretty good!

And the scenery was nice too!

And of course, we weren't bored because our Shi Fu had so many things onboard to entertain us!

Ermmmm... not all the things were completely child-friendly though.

Look at this piece of paper that he asked us to fold. Upon folding it into half, a picture appears... Definitely not PG material. :P

About 1.5 hours later, we were at Leo Foo Chun Themepark!!! Yippeee!!!

Our Shi Fu's minibus

The entrance to the themepark.

Leo Foo Chun/Leo Foo Village Theme Park

Shi Fu even provided us with ponchos just in case we wanted to sit on the water rides in the themepark (so considerate!), and he even directed us to a must-watch show within the compound. But of course we had to take about a million photos before we even entered the themepark! Hurhur. These were the ones that we lost from Ling Yang's camera lor... Sigh. All the group photos gone :(

Anyway, the show that Shi Fu recommended was called 鸟飞飞 (errrrr... Bird Fly Fly?). It's self-explanatory right?

The show venue... You can see Shi Fu talking to us at the right side of the photo!

All the photos we took during the show were lost too! But thank goodness Ronnie was recording the whole show using Eve's videocamera. So here are two videos showing Ling Yang and Guanwei volunteering to be part of the bird show... One was a willing volunteer while the other was rather reluctant. Guess who? Hyak hyak hyak.

Ling Yang and the cash-grabbing bird:
Watch as Ling Yang readily volunteers a note which he already had ready in his hands coz' Shi Fu had prepared us in advance! Haha. After the bird grabs the note from his hands, the show presenter asked if they could keep the money and LY had no choice but to say yes.... then, she asked if he could give another NT$1000!!! Haha. But it was all in good fun, of course!

Guanwei and the cute lil' birds:
You can see that he was very unwilling to volunteer... but when LY nudged him, his hand went up automatically!!! Wahahaha this always makes us laugh...

When we got out into the open half an hour later, it was time for more photos!!!

The girls trapped behind bars?!?

The guys too?!?

Heh it was just part of the themepark's Halloween decorations.

Help us!

The only thing missing from this photo is Prince Charming (or rather, THREE Prince Charmings. :P )

Alamak the princess can't get up her horse!

In the mood for Christmas though it was still one month away at that point of time...

Don't tell the guys they look kinda... gay here. :P

The girls' turn!

We then went for our first two rollercoaster rides! Took some photos too, but as you should know by now, all are gone!!! :(

Justina refused to sit on the first ride with us, coz' she isn't free from mental problems. Muahahahaha.

We walked around and camwhored some more, before finally reaching THE rollercoaster that the guys had wanted to take the moment they saw it. And they did! Eve wanted to join them at first, but her enthusiasm and guts fizzled out when she saw the sheer height of the rollercoaster.

The 3 brave musketeers!

Eve was thinking, "Should I go? Should I not?"

Look at that constipated look on her face!

She was practically screaming "NOOOOOoooooooo don't force me!!!"

Eve couldn't muster the courage in the end, and chose instead to stay behind to capture the guys in action!

Guanwei sitting on his own.

With Ron and Ling Yang behind...

Feeling scared, guys???

Hurhur look at their cute expressions!

It took about 10 minutes before the rollercoaster set off, but when it FINALLY did, it sure left in record speed!

Squint your eyes and you might see the rollercoaster zooming off!

Justina and Zhen were waiting outside to capture the rollercoaster while it was moving...

Look at how high it is!

The guys were somewhere in the middle.

And finally, at the end of the hair-raising (literally) ride, the guys emerged pale-faced and jelly-legged. Wahahahahaha.

But they survived the ride!

Watch the whole process of the guys' rollercoaster adventure that Eve captured on video cam!

Teehee you can see that the guys were pretty traumatised by the ride, though they later insisted that it wasn't that bad. The rollercoaster was moving way too fast for them to feel anything! :P

We were all starving by then, so it was time for lunch at a fast-food restaurant nearby.

The girls must be darn happy that their faces seem smaller in this photo. Teeheehee.

It was getting late by then and Shi Fu was returning at about 4pm to pick us up. But there was still plenty we could do with two hours!

Look at how windy it was... Eve's hair so messy!

Some random waterfall.

Another snap-as-we-walk photo, thanks to Zhen!

Can you guess what Eve and Zhen were doing in this photo?

Answer: Pretending to dance. Wahahahaha they're crazy!

Zhen and the cartoon white tiger that she was smitten with.

Monkey! :P

Elephant!

An amazing thing about the LeoFooChun themepark is that it's sooooooo HUGE! So huge that there's even a zoo within the compound! And the zoo itself is also pretty big! Other than the areas that can be accessed by foot, there is a safari themed section which is slightly more exciting - the herbivorous animals area which can be accessed with a fun train ride, and the carnivorous animals area which can only be explored with a bus to bring you in.

Of course we had to try them out! First up was the train ride which brought us around the habitats of the herbivores.

Sleepy Ling Yang and Perky Huizhen.

Cheerful Justina and Handsome Guanwei!

Cool Ronnie and Chubby Eve! (Can you believe they were actually partners sitting beside each other in Primary 3?!? Friends for 16 years already - since Primary 1!)

The dudes.

The ladies.

Choo choo!!!

Emo Ling Yang and his namesake animal - this species of goat is also called Ling Yang! We were all laughing away when we heard that... :D

No photos of animals to show you, coz' they were... just animals lor. Nothing interesting! It was the whole experience of being on a train that was much more exciting for everyone.

Look at the beautiful structures in the Arabian Kingdom themed area. That's just one part of the themepark!

Eve and Zhen got up their usual nonsense again... by piggy-backing each other!

Zhen carrying Eve...

And vice versa. Haha aren't they mad?

Next up was the carnivorous animals!!!

We had to sit in a bus for better protection against the dangerous animals... Here's Ling Yang and Guanwei.

Ron, Zhen and Justina.

The besties!

The fierce baboons! There were so many of them around us!

ROAR!!! Look at how close we were to the lion! The camera wasn't zoomed in at all!

The lioness must have felt threatened coz' the bus lingered on for a little longer than usual due to requests from the people sitting in front... she started to circle us! So scary!

We headed to the Arabian part next. Ronnie bought a Turkish ice-cream! Heheh I'm sure you've seen this in Singapore before...

The girls saw something they just had to try... The carousel!

Zhen and Eve sitting together,

and Justina sitting in front.

Heheh we're all little girls at heart.

On the pretty carousel!

The guys opted out, of course. The carousel was too gu-niang for them! Haha.

When we girls got down, we saw Ling Yang taking a photo for Ron...

We girls thought Ron did a lousy job of posing so we insisted on taking a similar photo!

The first attempt was a total failure, which explains the look on our faces. Hurhur.

Second attempt: This photo is really very very funny! Look at the girls' poses - Eve and Zhen trying to imitate Ron's pose, and Justina... OMG DAMN FUNNY!!!

Some photos taken while we were exploring further, just before leaving the themepark.

At the South Pacific area.

We came across this cave and mountain, which just meant... photo opportunity!!!

Can you spot Justina and Eve??? :D (Zhen was hiding in the cave behind...)

The guys refused to climb up, after seeing how troublesome it was for us girls.

Last two group photos at the flume ride!

Yeah!!!

Shi Fu came to pick us up at about 4.30pm, and drove us to two shops selling local produce. The more popular one was one called Vigor Kobo or something like that. We bought many boxes of Tai Yang Bing and Huang Li Su (pineapple tarts) from there!

Guanwei posing with all the varieties of food they sell...

The guys, and a photo of the shop owner with the Taiwan president.

Girls' turn... isn't the shop decor lovely?

Decisions, decisions... We were trying to buy as much as we could with our limited budget.

After making our orders and payment (the shop provides free delivery to your hotel on the day of your check-out!), Shi Fu drove us to our next destination...

Grand Hotel!!!

We had actually included that as part of our itinerary for Day 2, but didn't have the time to carry it out. You must be wondering why we wanted so much to visit that hotel that when Shi Fu suggested it to us, we pounced on the idea!!!

As he shared with us while bringing us round the premises, Grand Hotel has a rich history. You can read more here, but all I can say is that the grandour and story behind the construction of the hotel is truly amazing. And the structures found within are... spectacular.

Since the hotel is built atop a hill that offers a panaromic view of the city, we had a bird's eye view of the night scenery.

This is just half of the hotel. It was impossible to capture the whole building from where we were standing!

The grand entrance.

The site where Grand Hotel is based used to be a Japanese shrine, and that somehow makes it a little creepy... But once inside, we were all in awe of the intricate designs. There were dragons everywhere!

Shi Fu is very familiar with the hotel and the good spots to take photos, so he would just direct us to sit or stand somewhere, point and shoot!

First photo in Grand Hotel.

The significance of this dragon is that it has three claws, whereas other dragons featured in Chinese myths have four.

Every little part in the hotel has significance, just like this window above the three-clawed dragon. (can't remember the story though...)

Another must-take-photo-here spot!

The mystical dragon...

This photo just has the palace feel right?

Another group photo at the staircase, which is made of marble!

Aren't we just too cool for words?!?!?!? :P

What's the odd thing out (aka Spoiler) in this photo?

Then, we took individual shots at the staircase, next to the peach pillar.

Zhen,

Eve,

Justina,

Ling Yang,

Ronnie, (with the C pose coz' Shi Fu would always say "A, B, C!" instead of "1,2,3" when he took photos for us. hurhur)

and Guanwei!

Pretty flowers!

We then exited Grand Hotel and walked down a long flight of stairs before we finally managed to get a good shot of the whole hotel!

Self-timed shot... turned out dark but the feel is there. :P

We were glad to have visited the Hotel and learned so much about the culture and history. More photos before leaving...

Look at how huge it is!

Even the stone lions guarding the hotel have a story! Apparently, the male and female lions are in opposite positions (we never even knew the stone lions had genders!) as a form of protest from the person who was forced to give them to the founders of the hotel.

Even the security guard gave us advice on where to take photos! We really cracked up at his comments coz' he looked so serious and we thought he was going to tell us off for obstructing traffic or something. But who knows, he was actually telling us where to pose for photos!

Shi Fu then drove us back to our Paradise Hotel to dump the food stuff that we had bought, before driving us to nearby Ximending!

Our parting shot with Shi Fu. We'll never forget him!!!

And finally, it was time for dinner! We ate as planned at Toilet Restaurant.

Eve with her constipated look again... Hurhur. There's an actual toilet bowl there for her this time to complete the look! :P

There wasn't a queue so we got a table without having to wait.

Toilet break was of top priority! And in the Toilet Restaurant, of course the toilet has to be somewhat special...

This isn't for peeing/pooing purposes! It's actually a sink!

The toiletbowl you see above actually became a laughing point among us... thanks to Guanwei lah!!! He thought it was a real toilet bowl, and almost... wahahahahahahahaha. OPEN-CONCEPT eh?!?!?

Eve and Justina - the camwhoring besties.

The guys seriously contemplating what to eat.

Why so serious?

The girlies with the bathrobes hanging above them...

Another novelty in the Toilet Restaurant! The drinks came in a urinal (if you pay a little extra).

Our Resident Nurse Missy Huizhen commented that it really looked like the actual urinal she uses in the hospital... heheh.

That's not urine, don't worry.

Nope, not urine too.

And then came our food! All of us had various types of hotpot except for Ling Yang, who opted for baked rice.

Zhen and her seafood hotpot,

Justina and her Japanese hotpot,

Eve and her chicken hotpot, (the rest of them were commenting that hers resembles the actual toilet bowl most coz' it's white!)

Ron and his 'smelly' Japanese hotpot.

Guanwei crinkling his nose in disdain at his food... which wasn't as bad as he made it out to be, actually!

Ling Yang and his baked rice in a bathtub!

Then came dessert! Some substandard ice-cream.

Looking at our photos though, you can see that we were more interested in taking photos with the ice-cream than in eating it :P

Check out our different expressions:

Ronnie was shocked,

Guanwei was forced to eat the 'poo',

Ling Yang was more than happy to give it a lick,

Eve couldn't stand the 'smell',

Zhen couldn't wait to devour the pile of shit,

and Justina was trying to sexify it. Works everytime!

We made a move after eating our ice-cream (or at least trying to), coz' we still had a long night ahead!

But Zhen and Justina wanted a shot on the 'throne' before leaving...

Who can look so happy while doing BIG business?

Yes!!! It's finally out!

The guys were equally disgusting... look at what they were doing with the urinals!

Yay to the experience and hotpot, nay to the ice-cream!

We walked back to our hotel to rest for a while, freshen up and change, before leaving again for our final destination of the fourth day.

Taken in the hotel lift when we left at 11.30pm... can you guess where we were heading to?

Taking the escalator down to the train platform...

Our multi-shots madness started again in the train! See how the girls and guys measure up...

Girls:

Guys:

And after alighting at Zhong Xiao Dun Hua station and walking a very short distance, we finally reached...

LUXY!!!

Luxy is actually a club, or what they call 夜店 over there... Since we were already in Taipei, we thought we might as well check out the clubbing scene!!! :)

The toilet was lavishly decorated...

With sofas!

The girls obviously loved it!

Even the interior of the toilet door was different from the usual boring ones...

The girls spent quite some time in the toilet, doing you-know-what.

All freshly made up!

The mirrors were great for photo-taking!

Zhen in her standard clubbing gear...

Eve wore more than usual coz' she was afraid that it would be cold... but it turned out to be hot inside!

Justina and her favourite mini-skirt!

Their favourite mirror shot!

After all that photo-taking, the girls went back out again to look for the guys, and the six of them hit the dancefloor!

Eve and Zhen grooving to the beats.

Our bros Guanwei and Ling Yang don't like clubbing, but they were such good sports lah!!!

Don't we look so happy here?

:D

Eve's face kena cut off. Only Zhen can take such a photo! Hahaha...

Bleah

The atmosphere was so vibrant! The music was good (R&B and pop), the dancefloor was cool (it could vibrate!), and the girls were hot! Waahahahahaha...

We SG girls pale in comparison to the petite and sexy Taiwan girls in the club...

More random shots:

And what makes Luxy different from the clubs we've been to in SG is that they actually have performances at different times of the night... not just any performance, but dance segments by 4 slim, pretty and sexy babes! Eye candy for the guys lor... :P

Look at tikopek Ling Yang recording them dancing! Muahahahahaha

And THAT was the reason why his memory card crashed and we lost 200 photos taken earlier in the day lor. Coz' after he stopped recording and wanted to replay the video, he realised that everything was gone!!! Wah lau damn spoiler... Haha. Decent guy's equally-decent camera was corrupted!!!

The girls weren't really interested in the dancing, and opted to rest their tired feet instead...

There's this area outside Luxy that was so beautiful we couldn't resist taking individual photos there!

We like how majestic the photos turned out :)

Princess Zhen.

Princess Justina.

Princess Eve.

Prince Holy.

Prince Guanwei.

Prince Ronnie (JJ??? Haha private joke!).

And we even got special VIP passes! Sadly, we didn't get to use them... But still, must pose with them!

Eve and Justina.

GW and Zhen.

LY and Ron.

It was past 2am by the time we finally made our way out of Luxy, and we milled around while thinking of where to wait for cabs.

Parting shots of the girls at Luxy:

Justina was saying, "Let's take from there!"

Eve was obviously tired...

We were hoping to get a bigger cab so all 6 of us could sit together, but the maximum they allow in a cab is 5 people, so we had to split into two groups of three. For safety reasons, the 3 girls had to separated...

Ling Yang, Eve and Zhen in one cab!

The cab fare was reasonable for a late-night trip, and we were glad to be back in our hotel for a well-deserved rest after such a long day!!! But it was definitely a fun day =)

Last photo of 26th November: Our Luxy chops!

(Click here to read Day 5's entry, which features picturesque photos we took at Danshui, Yu Ren Ma Tou (Fisherman's Wharf) and Xinbeitou hot spring! :D )

27th November 2008: Day 5 (Danshui, Yu Ren Ma Tou, Xinbeitou Hot Spring)

2008-12-17T18:45:00.003+08:00

It soon came down to the 5th day of our holiday. The second last day of our fun and crazy time in Taipei...

27th November 2008 (Thursday).

This day was exceptionally memorable because it was the COLDEST day we experienced! The night before, the lady boss of one of the local produce shops that we patronised shared with us that the temperature would drop to a low of TEN DEGREES CELCIUS!!! We panicked when we heard that coz' we were obviously not prepared for such a low temperature! Haha. But it was quite exciting for us because we can never experience that in Singapore!

And so, we wrapped ourselves up in as many layers as possible before heading out that morning. Zhen and Eve even bought gloves to keep their *cough* delicate *cough* hands warm!

We started off our morning with a hearty breakfast at one of the little eateries in Ximending. We just couldn't get enough of Ru Rou Fan!!! Wahahaha...

Our first photo of the day, before tucking in to breakfast!

The simple but delicious ru rou fan, ru dan (eggs) and something special that we wanted to try - the 甜不辣!

Eve just had to have her daily fix of bubble milk tea, and she got everyone to join in too!

Justina and Ronnie drinking their bubble tea in the shelter...

... while Eve and Zhen opted to drink theirs in the sun coz' it was just too cold!

Eve and her standard daily shot with her favourite pao pao cha...

We were on a tight schedule coz' we wanted to be at Yu Ren Ma Tou (Fisherman's Wharf) before sunset, which is about 5pm there. And we still had to travel via train to Danshui before taking a ferry over. So we quickly proceeded into the station to catch our train!

Camwhoring while waiting... Don't act shy lah Guanwei!!! Wahaha.

A more decent self-taken group shot... good job Ling Yang!!! :D

The two girls up to their nonsense again... HAI.

When we finally got onto the Danshui-bound train, we couldn't help but laugh at Ronnie's predicament...

He's always sitting in the 博爱座 (priority seat) lor!!! Hahaha! Cannot stand it leh.

Your friend?!?!?!?!?! :P

It was a pretty long journey, and as expected, the guys soon fell asleep...

Well, Guanwei only actually. Ling Yang was still wide awake!!! (You can see that Ron had changed seats by then... he was feeling paiseh after our constant teasing! ahaha)

Your friend again?!?

And of course, the guys just couldn't pass up the chance to catch the girls sleeping!!! Grrrrrrr...

3 Sleeping Beauties? :D

We finally reached Danshui!!!

A proper shot of the girls with Danshui station in the background...

And the guys, who were feeling chilly!!!

We found a good spot for photo-taking, and Justina managed to capture some lovely shots of the scenery too.

None of our cameras could capture the real beauty of this scene... the sun rays were shining through the clouds! It was such a captivating sight. =)

Eve was up to her usual mad antics... balancing herself on one leg! Look at how her besties are watching her intently... Teehee.

And as usual, we had to warm ourselves up with jumping shots!!!

Justina started it first...

Eve and Zhen wanted to do it too, but it turned out disastrous!!! Muahahahahaha.

The besties!

The 3 ladies were treated like royalty... Teehee.

Which day is complete without a shot of our Director in action? Heheh here he is again, in some weird position so as to adjust the camera :P

We started taking group shots, which turned out a little dark because of the strong sunlight in the background. But we love the effect, coz' the sky seems to be our background and it was such a lovely shade of blue!

First attempt: FAIL! (Coz' of Zhen's 翘屁股, i.e. protruding backside! HAHAHA)

Second attempt: Slightly better, though still not perfect coz' we weren't standing equal distances apart!

Third attempt: Satisfactory, but our Director LY complained about Zhen's "extra" hand! Wahahahahaha

Fourth attempt: The lighting was a lot better for this photo, but Zhen's tilted head spoiled everything! (Her excuse for this was that the wind was blowing and messing up her hair, so she had to tilt her head...)

This photo resembles some idol drama photoshoot right? ;)

All huddled together for warmth! :)

We're buddies forever!

After spending a long time taking photos at that same spot, we finally made a move to walk further down...

But of course, we soon got distracted by FOOD!!!

Fried prawns and assorted seafood... just couldn't resist!!!

BOOOOO!!!

We're greedy people!

While strolling down the street, something suddenly caught the attention of eagle-eyed Eve...

Can you make out the words on the giant ice-cream cone?

YES!!! The letters spell out LING YANG!!!

Haha Eve got so excited when she spotted it and shouted out to everyone immediately! We couldn't believe just how coincidental it was! It was the second time something had a connection with Ling Yang lor... the first was the Ling Yang goat at the themepark on Day 4, remember? Muahaha.

Ling Yang with the Ling Yang cone! :P

We found another vantage spot for photos!

With a grand sight to behold once again...

That's us! :D

We then decided to snap some emo photos...

Girls first!

Hey look, that's SUPERMAN!

It was then the guys' turn to act emo...

But of course we girls just had to be a little silly!!! We made them stay in that position for the longest time while we snapped our own photos behind their backs (LITERALLY!).

And they were still obediently sitting there the whole time! Awwwwwwww

We bought the ferry tickets which would bring us to Fisherman's Wharf.

The ferry was leaving immediately, but but but! We couldn't board it coz' Ronnie was in the toilet... Sigh. He couldn't tahan so there was nothing we could do. We were all cursing him when he finally returned though. Hyak hyak hyak.

We then came across this statue. Eve kept insisting that it was a fish, which the others believed... until someone (forgot who) read the plaque and clarified that it's actually a stone statue of a crescent moon! OMG..................

Which part of this looks like a moon, you tell me?

Nonetheless, it was a good spot for us to go snap-happy once again!!!

Oiiii don't hide behind lah Ron!

A nice one... :)

Eve and Zhen didn't have the energy to stand up after squatting for so long in that position... Haha old already lah!

Monkey? Tiger? Some random animal?

Eve and Justina showing off their boots!

With minutes before the next ferry arrived, Ron still went to buy food lor!!! Haha. Thank God he didn't make us miss that too, or we would have KILLED him! :P

Evidence of the perpetually-hungry guys buying food...

And finally, we could board the ferry!

A last glance of Danshui in the daytime...

The ferry!

Walk down the ramp also must take photo... Haha that's how we ended up with 3000+ photos in 6 days!

The dudes...

Bye bye Danshui!

It was a bumpy but exciting ride on the ferry... which caused a lot of drama too coz' Zhen actually fell at one point! Heheh. But no serious injuries except for an aching butt. ;)

All smiles...

The poser guys... teehee

We're on our way to Yu Ren Ma Tou!

Dunno why Ling Yang was posing like that... haha maybe the water splashed on him?

Ron, LY and Eve - all ex-students of Jurong Primary! :D

The guys were laughing at Eve coz' she was clinging on to the pole for dear life...

This was before she fell... haha she should have just remained seated!!!

And finally, we saw the bridge that we had previously only seen in photos...

We were at Yu Ren Ma Tou (Fisherman's Wharf)!!!

Photos of the signs that prove that we were indeed there!

The 6 of us climbed up the staircase to get to a higher level so we could take nicer photos... and we really took A LOT of photos there! It was so cold and windy but nothing could stop us!

The bridge is lovely, isn't it?

Eve attempting to fly?

Zhen says "YO!!!!"

Justina stands pretty...

While the guys are as cool as ever!

Okay lah, already say you all cool... still want what?

Random poses in the group shot.

Bleah!

All looking cosy together...

It was the guys who started the jumping thing here... told you we just couldn't get enough of it! Muahaha.

Ron, as usual, has the BEST pose ever! He can win any of us hands down!

Ling Yang also not bad... he managed to cover the vertical part of the bridge with his body!!! :D If his legs were higher, he could have blocked the entired bridge already. Heh.

And we just couldn't help but crack up at Guanwei's attempts to jump... he just couldn't do it properly lor! And when he finally succeeded (kinda), the end result made us laugh till our stomachs hurt!!!

You tell me what pose this is! Wah lau!!! (And see the girls in the background acting as extras... Passersby A, B and C.)

Speaking of whom, the girls didn't do much better at their jumping shots too. In fact, they practically BOMBED!!! Wahahahahahahahahaha...

Evidence: Call this a jump?!?!?!?!?!

OMG look at their faces! Totally hilarious lor!!!

After all that nonsense, we walked to the further end of the platform in preparation for sunset. We had already planned to be there early so as to catch the sun setting... But we were disappointed in the end coz' the skies were so cloudy! We barely got to see the sun. Well, the photos we took there were nice though... :D

A more flattering shot of the girls. Heh.

Justina, with a faint glimpse of Mr. Sun!

Ronnie presents to you... the sky!

Guanwei just looks stoned... Heheh...

One's acting cute, one's acting fierce, the other's oblivious to what's going on...

Eve and Zhen wanting to be part of the pretty colours of the sky...

A picturesque photo of the boats out at sea and the pinkish-sky... Simply awesome.

Ronnie's eating the sun!!!

Guanwei and Ling Yang then came up with this fantastic idea to take photos of us portraying different roles... machiam acting. But with our backs to the camera. Yeah go figure.

Dunno what we were trying to do here!

We randomly paired up and posed together.

Another take.

Then Ling Yang decided to go one step further and assign us specific roles... We had a round of oh-ya-pay-ah-som to decide on our roles, and these were LY's exact words,

"你们两个做 couple...我们四个做朋友."

Which prompted Zhen to ask... "You mean we weren't friends before this?!?" HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

It looks real right? We're damn good actors/actresses lah!

Finally, we decided to take a proper shot again.

Yeah we girls are taller for once!!!

=)

We then decided to give our cameras a break and concentrate on watching the sun set... =)

All perched on the stairs.

See how focused we were on watching the sun!

But there's always time for a photo...

The sun disappeared behind the clouds...

Appeared again momentarily...

Before it disappeared for good... well, almost. We couldn't wait coz'a Zhen was in urgent need of a toilet! Hahaha. We walked and walked and walked, and couldn't find a single one! It was only after walking all the way to the other end, which took about ten minutes, that we finally saw it...

While the girls were busy in the toilet, the guys continued snapping photos outside.

Capturing the last few moments of sunlight.

So emo...

When nightfall finally came upon us, we were marvelled by the lights emanating from the bridge... which meant more photos!!!

Front view of the girls

and backview!

Same for the guys...

Had to use flash to brighten up the photo coz' the natural lighting was too dark by then... which made the guys damn sad!

The bridge by night. Beautiful!

We headed back up again to capture more shots of the brightly-lit bridge.

#1

#2

#3

It wasn't easy taking the photos above, coz' the positioning of the camera had to be just right so as to create the perfect composition for the photo... Teehee our Director LY is such a stickler for such things that when he asked a passerby to snap the following group photo for us, he had to tell the poor dude where exactly to stand and how to hold the camera... :P

But the effort is all worth it when we get a nice photo like this for memory's sake!

Tried to take an artistic shot of the girls but it turned out too dark...

Another view of the bridge by night.

We later learnt that the bridge is actually called Qing Ren Qiao (Lovers' Bridge!). How romantic! =)

Eve had learnt from her friend that the custom is to hold the hand of your loved one as you walk across the lovers' bridge together, and NOT to let go of each other's hands until you step off the bridge. That will ensure that your relationship will last till eternity!!! Too bad all of us didn't have the hands of our significant other to hold. Eve and Zhen did hold hands though... let's see if it works. Haha!

Ling Yang posing in front of the bridge.

Artistic shot of the bridge.

Yoohoooooo it's us!!!

Love how our closeness is depicted in this photo =)

One more for the road!

We finally left Fisherman's Wharf at about 6.30pm, but not before snapping more silly photos...

BLUE BLUE BLUE!!!

Who's the BLUEST of us all???

The ferry departing from Yu Ren Ma Tou...

We had such a barrel of laughs onboard the ferry with the wind blowing in our hair... thanks to Ling Yang, who decided to zip up his hoodie jacket all the way to cover his face.

BLUE RANGER!!!

We were laughing non-stop coz' of his funny antics lah! Goodness... Made such a racket on the ferry that it's a wonder we weren't thrown into the sea :P

Back at Danshui - the guys

The girls...

We strolled back to Danshui station, stopping along the way to grab more snacks and local produce.

Then, we hopped onto the train which brought us to our next destination.

As usual, Ling Yang is always the most awake! Still can admire himself in the mirror while the other guys are sleeping leh! Hahaha...

We changed train at Beitou station, to reach Xinbeitou.

The exterior of Xinbeitou Station.

We were at Xinbeitou for our long-awaited hot spring session!!! All looking forward to it to relax our weary feet and tired bodies... But it wasn't without drama lah. We got into our first (and thankfully, the ONE AND ONLY) major dispute there because we couldn't agree on which hot spring to go to. We had actually paid for the cheapest one, which was actually a public bath which was crowded with people - especially aunties and uncles. Some of us weren't comfortable with the idea after seeing how packed the hot spring was...

So after some compromise and discussion, we decided to forgo the ticket and find a more upmarket and private hot spring.

Thankfully, we found this!!!

This is how the building looks like - it's actually a hotel too!

We managed to get a bigger private hot spring room which all six of us could use together. So glad for that coz' it would have been a totally different experience if the girls and guys were separated! And we only paid about NT$1500 (SGD$75) for the whole room, for one hour. That works out to slightly more than SGD$12 per person, which is reasonable considering the enjoyable experience we had!

Our private room.

It was huge, with two hot springs and a cold one, plus a shower area and a changing area!

The hot spring tubs... (the cold one is the smaller one in the centre)

Bench for sauna? Haha

Eve, Zhen, Ling Yang and Guanwei jumped into the less-warm hot spring first. The temperature was still quite high though - about 40 degrees celcius.

Ronnie joined in not long after...

Followed by Justina!

Yeah we're all getting cooked in the hot water! Wahaahahahaha

It was really damn shiok lor... just soaking ourselves in the hot water...

SPLASH LING YANG!!!

It's not advisable to stay in the hot spring tub for more than 20 minutes at a time due to health reasons, so we were all out within 30-45 minutes!

Towel girls!

Fuzzy shot of the girls in their bikinis...

And of course, there's the infamous video of our dear Ling Yang performing his sexy bath... it was entirely unintentional! He had intended to pose for a photo only, not knowing that Ron was taking a video. Haha! Take a look at this...

We can assure you that he's not a tikopek, so no worries. :P

After showering and changing up, we left the premises. But not before taking a group shot...

The hot spring has this sleep-inducing effect so we were all feeling quite sleepy by then... but the night wasn't over yet! In fact, it was FAR from over. Heh.

Back at Xinbeitou station... The two camwhores at it again!

Sneaky Ron tried to snap a photo of the girls sleeping, but Eve was still awake!

Not for long though.... Zzzzzzzz

Needless to say, the guys were totally gone too... Hee.

Back at Ximending, we took a lazy walk back to our hotel to dump our stuff. We had already decided on what to have for dinner - ma la huo guo at the steamboat restaurant conveniently located just below our hotel (Paradise Hotel)!!! :D

Oh, and the craziest thing was that it was already 11plus by the time we started on dinner... but we couldn't be bothered lor! Just whacked the food since it was buffet!

Look at the 5 of us (Justina snapped this photo)- greedily snatching the food!

Yummers!

By then, the guys were more concerned about eating than about posing nicely... as can be seen here.

Ever-ready for the camera!

Just like us!

Let's tuck in!!!

Almost two hours later, we paid the bill and lingered a while more in the restaurant... Guanwei went back to the hotel room first coz' he was feeling totally drained. Which gave the rest of us an easy job of executing our secret plan - to surprise him! Guanwei's birthday is on 29th November, you see. So we had already planned since a long time ago to spring a surprise birthday celebration on him during our last night in Taiwan.

It was 1am by the time we returned to the girls' hotel room to plan our surprise, and we were feeling so sleepy... but still, we were determined to carry it out successfully! :D

We had no birthday cake - so we used little donuts instead.

We had no birthday card - so we used the hotel notepad paper instead.

We had no candles - so we used the hotel matchsticks instead.

It was simple, but from the heart. =)

Ron and LY, who was holding onto the birthday 'cake'!

Don't mind the girls' messy room... heheh

Zhen writing on the 'card'.

The whole process of our planning and execution of the birthday surprise was recorded on video by Eve... You can watch it below, but the video is pretty long at over 9minutes. It's placed here mainly for us, so we can watch it anytime we want to. But you can to, if you have the patience! =)

As you can see, Guanwei was darn surprised that we actually did such a thing! Haha. He didn't see it coming AT ALL okay... which goes to show how good we are! ;)

Heartwarming photos to end the night... =)

It also marked our last night together in Taipei!

We went to bed really late that night, coz' it was wayyyyy past 2am by the time everything ended. And of course, we still had to spend some time packing our stuff since we were leaving the next day...

(Click here to read Day 6's entry - our final day in Taipei! But we still had lots of fun taking photos at C.K.S Memorial Hall and doing last-minute shopping at Ximending.)

28th November 2008: Day 6 (C.K.S Memorial Hall, Airport, SG)

2008-12-17T12:46:00.000+08:00

We finally reached the last day of our enjoyable Taipei trip.

Well, the word 'finally' isn't the best word to use actually, since it seems to have some kinda negative connotation to it. We had so much fun over the past 5 days, and though we were all sad about having to go back to Singapore (i.e. reality), Day 6 was no less fun. =)

And so it was, that we woke up on the morning of 28th November 2008 (Friday), washed up and bathed for the last time in our hotel rooms, packed our stuff and left everything in the hotel lobby while we explored one last place in our itinerary.

First up though, was breakfast! Hurhur we can't function without food!

We had already decided that our last day's breakfast would be McDonald's, because they have something we'll never find in Singapore's MacDees - McPork burgers!

The menu which was all in Chinese...

The outlook of the mcmuffins... they look similar to the local one, until you look closely. 猪肉!!!

The guys camwhoring as usual :P

Ling Yang got a huge shock when he saw how big Ronnie's burger was... he didn't know they sold the MEGA sized one!

Haha somebody damn sad.

Still have to eat lah!!!

Ron showing off his MEGA mcmuffin.

Guanwei with his - upsized too!!! Hurhur

Justina couldn't wait to start on her breakfast... thus the blurred shot!

And Zhen already started on hers. Wahaha

Eve, being the camerawoman, was the last to start eating. She even had to take her own photo with the burger! Sigh.

We then took a short walk to Ximending station. Before boarding the train though, we made a phonecall to the bus service to arrange a timing for the bus to pick us up...

Look at how 'loving' Eve & Zhen are!!! HAHAHA

As you can see from both of them, we were all damn shagged by the last day. Eyebags all out already! ;)

While Ron speaks on the phone & the girls are in their own lovey-dovey world, LY and GW sneakily take a shot behind their backs...

Hey hey!

Wondering why Justina was missing from the photos above? Hurhur she was in the toilet living up to her reputation as LS Queen. (If you don't know, don't ask. You won't want to know what it stands for :P )

Emo shot of Ron & Ling Yang

We're going down the escalator...

On the train, Ron tickled all of us again when he hogged the 博爱 (priority) seat. Really damn funny lah!!!

Guanwei, Justina & Ling Yang on one side...

Evelyn, Huizhen & Ronnie on the other!

This Zhen can use ANYONE'S camera to camwhore ANYTIME. You can find her photos in everyone's camera... muahahahahaha

Eve too!

Guanwei with his signature "Simi dai ji?" look :P

And Eve with her signature blur look. Ahahaha

And we finally reached the station!

Justina taking photos, as usual.

Chiang Kai-Shek (C.K.S.) Memorial Hall Station.

After quite a bit of walking, we reached C.K.S. Memorial Hall!!! :D

We then realised that it wasn't the one LY & Eve had intended to go when they planned the itinerary...

... but the place was so pretty that there were no complaints! Teehee..

Besides, we didn't have the luxury of time to travel anywhere else. The only regret is that we didn't get to witness the changing of guards ceremony at the memorial hall we had intended to go.

But anyway, it was the photo-taking opportunities that mattered! Hyak hyak hyak.

Look at how happy Eve is in this photo! The both of them were trying out a dance they saw some old folks doing on their way to the memorial hall... :D

The two who were constantly at loggerheads... heheh

Eve & Zhen got a little crazy while waiting for Ling Yang to set up the camera and find the perfect angle for the group shots. Watch them imitating animals... haha

Must say that Ling Yang is a great photographer. He managed to take such lovely group shots during the earlier days, and especially on the last day! Of course, the blue skies & structure of the memorial hall also provided a perfect backdrop to our photos.

Take #1: FAIL. Dunno why Zhen decided to action action pose so sexily. WAHAHAHA!!!

Take #2: Still a FAIL. Zhen's hands were opened too widely apparently, and Eve was facing the wrong direction... kua kua kua

Take #3: Fail fail fail again! Our director/cameraman Ling Yang said Eve was still facing the wrong way!

Take #4: Alamak fail again lah! Even the director himself couldn't decide which direction to face by this time wahahahahaha.

Take #5: Finally a half-decent one ;P

We were all pretty exasperated by that time with all the instructions to pose this way and that... especially Zhen! Hahahahahaha she was always the one doing the wrong thing, and she decided to voice out her frustrations against our Director/Cameraman Ling Yang :P

Hahahahaha but of course we appreciate LY for doing what he did... otherwise we wouldn't have such pretty photos for remembrance now! :)

We then decided to go free-style. Left the camera on self-timer mode and we just came up with any pose we wanted to.

It was a recipe for disaster (and MANY laughs)!

Look at Ling Yang's half-squat! hahahahahahahahaha

LY & Ron kena blocked by the girls, and wassup with Justina's hair?!?!?!?!?

WTH! Ron & GW tried to kick the girls, and LY's doing his half-squat thing again! Muahahahaha

All unprepared! OMG damn funny...

After all that madness, we decided to calm down with some proper shots again. Really nice ones :D

Yo yo yo!!!

我们很快乐!!!

Aiseh Guanwei very cool hor!

One of our favourites. The sky just looked perfect and we seem to have that child-like innocence as we sit on the pavement. =)

Somehow, Ronnie & Guanwei managed to coordinate their poses, and that made the photo look even nicer! :D

An absolute FAVOURITE. No words needed to describe it. It's just nice. =)

Once again, a failed shadow shot instigated by Ling Yang. Hurhurhurhur

Eve & Zhen plastered themselves against the wall of the memorial hall, prompting LY to take more shots there.

Love the half-half effect.

Check out all our double chins from 6 days of ru rou fan!!! Wahahahaa

Justina prefers to show her backside... Teehee

We're cool :P

The girls then decided to take some emo photos.

Who's the best emo model?

Are they pissed? Sad? Or just constipated?

None of the above. They're just crazyyyyyyyy!!!!!! :P

The funny thing was that, we were at C.K.S. Memorial Hall but we never really intended to go in and find out more about the person and what he had done for the country. We were more concerned with taking all the crazy photos you saw above! Heheh. And in the end, we entered the memorial hall for less than 5 minutes, took a couple of shots, and left!

-smacks forehead-

C.K.S.

The obligatory prim & proper group shot.

After more than an hour of going snappity-snap, we decided to make a move. Headed in the opposite direction of the memorial hall and we saw this area called Freedom Square.

自由广场

Walked a little bit further out, and lo & behold! Guess what we saw?

A live demonstration, in front of our eyes and right under our noses!

It was actually a silent sit-in protest to fight for human rights and freedom of speech, or something like that. The protestors had been sitting there since 6th November 2008 (more than 20 days at the time we saw them) and it's called the Wild Strawberries Movement. We were all in awe of what we saw. I mean, we definitely can't see something like that in Singapore!!!

Ling Yang & Ron trying to protest too? Wahahahahaha

A 'funeral' set up to mourn the death of human rights.

The funniest thing was when this English-speaking man came up to us and asked where we were from. Told him we're Singaporeans and he was quite amused. He then got a university student to speak to us about what they were protesting against, which scared us quite a bit. We were afraid that some television crew would suddenly pounce on us and interview us! Might get into trouble lor.

Okay, we're typical kiasi Singaporeans. :P

But still, Ling Yang was brave enough to climb up this structure right in front of the demonstration site. Haha!

After all that drama, we made our way back to the MRT station, and headed back to Ximending.

Them again ^-^

Our shoes/sandals that had served us well during our 6 days there!

The oh-so-familiar lift at Ximending station that we lazy bums always used...

We had a couple of hours to kill before catching the bus from our hotel, so the guys & gals separated to do our own stuff before meeting back at Paradise Hotel.

The girls went shopping, of course. Hurhur. And the guys, needless to say, were more focused on EATING!!!

Well, they did shop a bit too, as can be seen from what Ron is doing here.

Guanwei too!

But it was food, food, food all the way after that!!!

Guess what they ate?

Try guessing again just by looking at their faces...

Find this place familiar?

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They had ru rou fan again, back at the stall where we ate on our very first night in Taipei. OMG you won't believe how many bowls of that they ate in total! Haha

Finished up in a jiffy!

Looking forlorn coz' it's the end of their ru rou fan feasting...

But they still had space and money for dessert!

Look at their smug faces! They showed this photo to Eve later and were gloating about all the food they ate... -_-

Though the dessert DOES look yummy!

The 3 girls, as usual, missed out on all the delicious food. Sigh. But they made up for it by getting a few good deals in their last-minute shopping! Heheh...

And before we knew it, it was time to board the bus that would take us to the airport... :(

Our luggages, now much heavier!

Ling Yang seems to be thinking, "I don't wanna leave......................."

These two really very wu liao! Pretending to sleep only! :P

And once again, these two were REALLY asleep... Teeheehee

Couldn't sleep for long though, coz' we had to transfer to another bus midway through.

It was on that journey that Justina & Huizhen fell asleep, while Eve spent the time laughing away with the guys as they recounted what had happened the past 6 days & bragged about all the delicacies they had tasted (which the girls didn't). Hrmpphhhh.

Then, we were at the airport once again! Sighhhhhh

You can't tell, but the wind was SUPER DUPER strong. We were blasted by the freezing temperature the moment we alighted from the bus.

A lousy self-timed shot which only managed to capture 4 of us. Heheh.

Tensions were quite high because everyone was feeling a little grumpy, from the lack of sleep, from feeling a little off due to the weather, and from the fact that we were going back to SG. So I guess arguments were inevitable at that point of time, though it would have been better if we could have avoided them altogether.

Well, at least the 6 of us got along pretty well in general with no major disagreements, after being cooped up together for six whole days! :D

Double-chins! Muahahahah must be from all that eating (sour grapes talking here).

The guys were still in pretty high spirits...

The same couldn't be said for the girls though :P

Evidence #1:

Evidence #2:

A good shot of Guanwei smiling naturally. Our belly bro can be very dao one!

We had our last meal in Taipei at Burger King, before boarding our plane...

Say Hi, ooops I mean Bye, everybody!!!

Bleahhhhhhh!!!

Once on the plane, everyone knocked out. We were completely tired out after all the walking and late nights!

And LY still had the nerve to take this ugly photo of us sleeping... haha super unglam lor!!!

Another one of Eve & Ron at their worst... Muahahahahaa

Poor Ling Yang didn't get to sit with us because of some screw-up in the booking system. I guess that's why he couldn't sleep and ended up taking photos of us sleeping. Haha! Not only did he do that, but he chatted up an Ah Ma too!

Take photo with her some more wor....

After 4 hours, we were back in Singapore.

Before disembarking from the plane:

Another photo:

The families of Eve & Justina were there to receive us, and Eve's brother helped to snap these parting shots for us...

Sooooooooo sad that our trip is over!

But happy that we had such an awesome time, and that we survived Taipei! :D

And that marks the end of our adventures in Taipei. It was our first holiday together despite knowing each other since our secondary school days, and we really had a wonderful time exploring Taipei and taking all those crazy shots.

It was a meaningful and successful trip, so.... when's the next one? ;)

First blog entry! =)

2008-12-06T04:54:00.001+08:00

Welcome to 3366's blog! :D

3 guys, 3 girls; 6 friends, 6 crazy days in Taipei!

We'll take some time to do up detailed blog entries about what we did in our six days in Taipei, but for now, here are the links to the albums containing selective Taiwan photos that Evelyn has uploaded on Facebook. There were almost 3000 photos so it was a tough job choosing the nicest/funniest/craziest ones!

The best part is - even non-Facebook users can access the albums!!! :D

But of course, the blog entries will be worth reading too! Coz' although pictures are worth a thousand words, sometimes they just aren't enough. You just have to read about the story behind each photo! Hahahaha... We just have to find the time to blog, coz' there are really too many photos!

And now, presenting the album links!

Taipei Day 1 [Part 1]: Off we go to Taipei!!!

After months of planning, 6 of us embarked on our long-awaited adventure to Taipei!

These photos were taken before we even stepped foot on foreign land. Heheh...

Location: Changi Airport, Jetstar plane

Click to view album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52579&l=5420b&id=619717797

------------------------------------------------------------------

Taipei Day 1 [Part 2]: We're in Taipei!!!

We finally reached Taipei!!! Whoopeee!!!

We took the transfer bus to Paradise Hotel, dumped our stuff in our rooms, then headed out for dinner and KTV!

Location: Taipei airport, Paradise Hotel, Xi Men Ding, Partyworld

Click to view album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52582&l=f5571&id=619717797

------------------------------------------------------------------

Taipei Day 2 [Part 1]: National Palace Museum

Day 2 of our adventure in Taipei, and we started off by having a good breakfast at this random restaurant we saw on our way to Ximen station.

After that, off we went to National Palace Museum for more crazy photos!

Location: Niu niu restaurant, National Palace Museum

Click to view album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52637&l=2d682&id=619717797

------------------------------------------------------------------

Taipei Day 2 [Part 2]: Miramar & Shih Lin Night Market

After the morning's activity at National Palace Museum, we headed to Miramar for a go at the ferris wheel. Pretty lights there!

Afterwhich, we went to Shih Lin Night Market for shopping (us girls) and eating (them guys). The 3 of us shopped and shopped and shopped for FIVE hours straight, while the guys had a food tour. Sobs... we were so hungry after that! Had to grab a late dinner at Xi Men Ding's Mac.

Back in the hotel room at 1.30am, we girls had nothing better to do, so........... :P

Location: Miramar ferris wheel, Shih Lin Night Market, Xi Men Ding Mac, Hotel room

Click to view album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52716&l=79f9e&id=619717797

------------------------------------------------------------------

Taipei Day 3 [Part 1]: Taipei 101, New York New York & Songshou Park

Day 3 began!

First up in our itinerary was Taipei 101, which we didn't actually enter. We merely took photos outside! Haha. As usual, we took millions of crazy photos again ;)

We then walked over to New York New York and passed by Songshou Park before reaching Taipei City Hall station again...

Location: Hotel room, Taipei City Hall station, Taipei 101, New York New York, Song Shou Park

Click to view album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52720&l=a03e8&id=619717797

------------------------------------------------------------------

Taipei Day 3 [Part 2]: Wu Fen Pu, Rao He Night Market & Supper at Xi Men Ding

The afternoon part of Day 3 saw us going to Wu Fen Pu for more shopping! But not before having lunch at Hu Xu Zhang Ru Rou Fan!

Wu Fen Pu is darn big, and we were so tired after just a couple of hours. Set off to Rao He Night Market instead, before going back to Xi Men Ding for supper!

Location: Hu Xu Zhang Ru Rou Fan, Wu Fen Pu, Rao He Night Market, Xi Men Ding

Click to view album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52722&l=6bb17&id=619717797

------------------------------------------------------------------

Taipei Day 4 [Part 1]: Fun at the themepark!

Day 4! Our hotel very kindly helped us arrange for a private bus to take us to LeoFoo Chun themepark, which was about 1.5hours away!

Our driver turned out to be this very nice uncle, who entertained us throughout the ride and gave us good tips for the themepark. We love our Shi Fu!

And more amazingly, the themepark has a zoo! There were even free safari rides which brought us upclose to the carnivorous and herbivorous animals :D

(P.S. There should have been MORE photos for the themepark part, but 200 photos mysteriously disappeared from Ling Yang's camera that night... Let's hope he can retrieve them!)

Location: LeoFoo Chun themepark

Click to view album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52727&l=ffa23&id=619717797

------------------------------------------------------------------

Taipei Day 4 [Part 2]: Grand Hotel & Toilet Restaurant

After half a day at the themepark, our Shifu drove us to several places - to buy local food produce at two shops, Grand Hotel for photo-taking before finally letting us down at the Toilet Restaurant.

Location: Grand Hotel, Modern Toilet Restaurant

Click to view album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52732&l=3d8d1&id=619717797

------------------------------------------------------------------

Taipei Day 4 [Part 3]: Clubbing time!

It wasn't the end of Day 4 yet! The night was still young, and we returned to the hotel to change and freshen up before heading to one of the popular clubs in Taipei - Luxy!!!

Location: Luxy

Click to view album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52736&l=a70c8&id=619717797

------------------------------------------------------------------

Taipei Day 5 [Part 1]: Danshui

Our second last day in Taipei, and we were going to a beautiful place - Danshui and Yu Ren Ma Tou!

The photos here were taken in Danshui and in the ferry on our way to Fisherman's Wharf.

Location: Breakfast at Xi Men Ding, Danshui, ferry to Yu Ren Ma Tou

Click to view album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52740&l=df377&id=619717797

------------------------------------------------------------------

Taipei Day 5 [Part 2]: Fisherman's Wharf

The ferry brought us over to the beautiful yu ren ma tou with the equally beautiful lovers' bridge... =)

Location: Yu Ren Ma Tou (Fisherman's Wharf), Qing Ren Qiao (Lovers' Bridge)

Click to view album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52751&l=da91a&id=619717797

------------------------------------------------------------------

Taipei Day 5 [Part 3]: Hot spring, steamboat & a birthday surprise

After being in danshui and yu ren ma tou earlier in the day, we ended our last night in taipei with a bang by going for a hot spring session, followed by mala huo guo at a restaurant just below our hotel.

At the end of the our second last day, we had a surprise birthday celebration for Guanwei! :D

Location: Xinbeitou hot spring, mala huo guo restaurant, paradise hotel room

Click to view album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52759&l=a6b4b&id=619717797

------------------------------------------------------------------

Taipei Day 6: C.K.S. Memorial hall, then goodbye Taipei!!!

Our last day in Taipei! :(

We spent the morning at C.K.S. Memorial Hall, taking lotsa photos as usual. We even witnessed something really interesting - an ongoing protest right outside! Something we'll never see in SG, definitely.

After that, had lunch and last-minute shopping at Xi Men Ding, before we set off for the airport...

Location: C.K.S. Memorial Hall, Xi Men Ding, Changi Airport

Click to view album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52767&l=1582e&id=619717797

------------------------------------------------------------------

Remember to keep a lookout for the detailed blog entries AND videos in time to come! Heheh you're sure to enjoy them!

Oh boy, did we have FUN in Taipei!!! :D