Alishan-Taipei

so, here is the post i promised about the awesome trip to Taiwan with the family. it was my first time to Taiwan while the rest of my family members have been there at least once previously. anyway, through the rough one week trip to Taiwan, we headed to two main places, Alishan and Taipei.

shall highlight my general thoughts first.. haha. i find Taiwan's service sector rather patient and polite as compared to Singapore's. the transport system there is definitely very efficient and smooth. however, the pedestrians there are kind of silly since they refuse to let passengers exit before boarding a bus or train. gosh, love the 7-11 stalls there. so good and cosy and cheap.. plus some even allow you to dine in as well. okay, let's move on to the pictures.

the last time i was on board an aeroplane was about 8 years ago when i went to Thailand for OCIP during my secondary school days. here we were at Terminal 1 departure where there were tons of Pokémon exhibits. midnight flight isn't a joke. irregular sleep and we touched down in the early hours of the morning.

took high-speed rail towards Alishan right after breakfast. i was pretty amused by its speed which hit around 300km/h now and then. cool thing was you would not really feel that you were moving that fast unless you looked out of the window and saw how things were passing by so quickly. 

so on the car ride up the mountain, we stopped by this place with high bridges and a temple. too bad we could not afford all the time to explore the higher bridge. nonetheless, the scenery around was breathtaking. by then, we could feel the change in temperature already.

here i was with my zodiac sign. so for those who are really curious about my age can do the simple math. gosh, time flies, the next lunar new year will be the year of the rooster. still remember being happy 12 years ago when it was my zodiac sign's year. now, i am just feeling frantic that time is moving at this speed.

finally reached Alishan and had our first lunch. warm lunch in a cold weather.. perfect. we were going to stay there for only a night hence we aimed to explore the entire place within that afternoon and so we did. the scenery there is really really nice. those pictures above are some of the many pictures i took during the rough 3 hours of hiking. lots of stairs and hills.. i was glad that my parents, though of age, are still young and active enough to hike through the entire trial. of course there were comical times where fatbro and i had to wait for them to catch up.

if anyone were to head to Alishan, i suggest exploring. though there are little trains to bring you around, exploring on foot is totally incomparable. good experience, good weather, good sights, good atmosphere.

by the time we reached the place of our residence, it was evening. those white stuff in the pictures were actually clouds. you know, those clouds you see in the middle of mountains in textbooks and what not? yeah that. that is something you will never get to see in Singapore. a warm steamboat ended our day hike in Alishan.

people talked about the sunrise in Alishan as well. having travelled so many hours up the mountain, we could not give it a miss. so glad that the weather was clear enough for us to witness it. from what i heard, if there was fog or drizzle, no one would be able to witness the cool sunrise. those pictures were taken prior to the sun popping up from behind the distant mountains. what follows will be snapshots of the sunrise.

such times make be very grateful for the burst function in an iphone camera. i could just press and hold the shutter button to let it do its thing while my naked eyes witness it not through a screen. the entire sunrise took less than half a minute. well, waking up at 4+ in the morning was for this irreplaceable half a minute.

the entire day was mostly traveling back down to Taipei. this time, we did not take the high-speed rail. decided to save a little money and took the regular locomotive. close to 6 hours of train ride. torturous for the butt but i managed to catch up on my sleep. visited Shilin Night Market and started spoiling myself with guilty pleasures. the muah-chee there was cheaper and greater in volume compared to those we have in Singapore. fried sweet potato balls were a great favourite as well. however, among all the food i tried, the most unique one was definitely the potato strips as seen in the last picture. very long queue and a little pricey but worth a try. you could choose various sauce to mix with those strips.

the following day was mostly exploring the area around Taipei Zoo. in the morning, we headed up the cable car to explore yet another mountain.. haha. had some fried egg pancake which was so good that words cannot describe it. lunch there was a typical noodle soup. cheap and tasty.

back down at the foot of the mountain, of course the Taipei Zoo. guess. take a moment and guess the entrance fee. well, for adult entry, it was just S$3.. haha. i was so shocked at the price and wondered how they could actually survive. until now.. no answer. yeah the conditions inside isn't as fantastic as that of the expensive zoo back here but common, i get to see rare animals like pandas and koalas without paying for two entrance fees. take that, stupid Singapore Zoo.

dinner was just exploring another night market. however, this time the place was nearer to our hotel. the first picture is potato covered in flour and topped with whatever toppings of one's liking. i think i had bacon strips. not exactly how i pictured it would be but damn.. the cheese was so good and addictive. 

the bowl is actually goose noodles. yeah, you read that right.. goose. my first try at that meat as well. its texture is like that of duck meat but the after taste is really strong. i figure some might not like it because of that.

heading to a new country ought to lead us to exploring the history and story behind the country.. yes, so we did. can't remember the exact name for this place but we headed there, where a museum based on Taiwan's history was present as well. fortunate enough to watch the live show of the change of guards. didn't video it for the place was packed with tourists and few locals. furthermore, nothing beats the gift of sight as well.

the museum trip was kind of enriching too. i seldom read on countries' history unless they appear in my textbook and what not. Taiwan for sure did not and so i was intrigued by the displays and short abstracts along the way.

staying in Taipei definitely calls for a trip to the landmark of Taipei 101. to be honest i find that the trip up was really expensive.. similar to those of Singapore Flyer. it is sort of something that one trip is enough for a lifetime. we are allowed up to 90+ floors only but definitely good enough to view the tiny buildings around the tower.

that big yellow ball thing behind me is some heavy ass shit that holds the building upright. tall buildings bound to have that somewhere near the top to keep the structure upright, resistant to strong winds and weather. learning something new everyday.

gosh the lift in Taipei 101 is the fastest in the world as well. the time it brought us to 80+ floors is the same as the slow ass lift in my HDB to bring me to the 9th floor.

hell yeah, went to the famous ChiaTe shop to get their famous pastries and went to another night market. got to really love the food they have in these night markets. nevermind the wet weather and crowd.. the price and variety of food there is just.. indescribable. unhealthy i know, but i was on holiday.

woke up slightly earlier the following day so as to take the slow and long trip to Shifen, the place that is famous for releasing lanterns into the sky from those in-use train tracks. so of course a mandatory shot with the train tracks was needed. we inked down our well wishes on the lantern and released into the sky as seen in the second picture. spammed quite a lot of pictures throughout the trip there but can't possibly upload all here.

lunch at Shifen was cheap and really filling. the bubble tea there was cheap and tasty as well. following that, we slowly walked to the waterfall there. was hoping to see a natural waterfall but in the end i realised that not the entire waterfall was natural. there were evident sights of alterations here and there. nonetheless, for now i could just appreciate since it was my first time looking at a decent waterfall. sceneries on the way up were magnificent as well.

took quite awhile to travel from Shifen to Jiufen as well. that was the first view as we stepped out of the public bus. the place was on a mountain where buildings are rather cluttered. roads are in form of two lanes only though the volume of traffic is crazy. pedestrians did not really have a proper walking path now and then so you could see the tar road filled with vehicles and moving pedestrians. kind of scary knowing that accidents could happen easily but kind of cool when you didn't witness any. drivers who drove there need skills.

wandered into the crammed night market as well. there was nothing much besides the famous dessert stall that sells stuff you see in Singapore's Blackball stall. ohh wait.. Taiwan has those also but yeah you get the idea. came across the little puppy eye-balling pork bun we have on our hands though. the trip back to Taipei from Jiufen was torturous. the long wait at the bus stop and the long trip on public bus back due to the congested traffic.

so guess what i had for dinner. yeah headed to the place near our hotel and had the awesome potato thingy again. this time, my toppings were different though pictures can't really highlight the differences.

our last tourist attraction spot was Yehliu Geopark, the place with the famous queen head rock. won't have that picture here due to the quality though but you can google to find it. 

in the second picture above, you could see that there is a light house at the top of the hill. yeah, fatbro and me went all the way up. gosh, the path up there was really tiring but upon reaching there, fatigue was compensated with a great sense of achievement and achievement. too bad my parents were to tired halfway up the hill though. grabbed a decent red tea drink before exploring the beach.

the sights along the beach were breathtaking with unique natural structures seen above. those weird structures popping out of the beach looked like pimples. i called them the land pimples. the following pictures are up-close shots of some of them. be warned, those who have a phobia of holes should avoid looking at them.

i don't know how to feel about these land pimples. on one hand, staring at them long enough give me a little creeps. on the other, i was just so puzzled and fascinated by how these were formed. if random weather conditions have created these, randomness is awesome.

these are just nice landscapes pictures of the place that i wanted to share. entry fee was around S$4. can you believe it? we spent an entire afternoon there and i would say.. money well spent.

there you have it. if you have read word for word in one seating, hats off to you. hope you enjoy the pictures and what not. wonder when i will be traveling like this again.