Taiwan Trip during Spring (26th April - 2nd May 2009)

A destination is now being scraped off from my "To-Go" list. Yay! One of my New Year Resolution is accomplished =)

I like the weather in Taiwan during Spring- cooling, refreshing and chilly. However, since my return, I notice that it's rather windy in Malaysia despite the mighty sun showing no mercy on us.

The trip wasn't one of the greatest but looking through the photos taken did bring chuckles and grins, which clearly showed that I did enjoy the trip nonetheless. Perhaps, it wasn't the places we went but the people we went with. I must say Jolene deserves the credit. She made the entire journey fun and enjoyable. Thank you, Jolene! Having said that, the others in the group also added fun to the trip. Thank you!

There were 2 tour guides accompanying us throughout the entire trip. They were Chris (tour leader from Malaysia) and Jimmy (local tour guide from Taiwan). Although my command in Mandarin language isn't all that good, I noticed that the pronunciation of some words spoken by Jimmy weren't that accurate due to his local accent, I believe. He spoke the exact same way as Rainie Yang in the drama "Miss No Good", which then stirred some laughter from me. I had been holding my laughter on the first 2 days.

I am uploading photos to Facebook (while awaiting another batch of photos from Jolene). So, those of you who have added me in Facebook, kindly check them out ;) At the same time, I am trying to organize my posts and photos on this blog. There are too much to talk about and I am trying my best to lay them out well. Right now, I am not sure where to start. Hehe.

Well, let's start from the basic information. The trip was a 7 days trip and it costed MYR 2396 inclusive of flight fare, accomodation (hotels ranged from 3-star to 4-star), meals, entrance fees to 2 theme parks, train ride, bullet train ride, boat ride at Sun Moon Lake, and tipping.

In terms of scenery, Taiwan indeed has a lot to offer. There are many mountains and temples. For those who are more adventurous, extreme water sports and mountain climbing are the options one can venture.

Taiwan is a shopping paradise to most women. Most night markets have quaint stalls selling cosmetics, accessories and clothings, apart from local delicacies. We did buy some masks to re-hydrate our dried skin. It's indeed very hydrating and the price is very reasonable, I must say. A box of mask (10 pieces/free 2 pieces) was only priced at NTD200 (about MYR22).

Taiwanese ladies know how to groom themselves very well. Most ladies I came across applied make-up and they dressed relatively fashionable. They also had very good complexion.

To food-lovers, there are a wide variety of local delicacies and specialties one must try. Just to name a few, "Smelly Tofu", Mee Suah, Oyster Mee suah, Fried Oyster, Bubble Tea, Fruity Ice Blends, Bittergourd (white flesh) juice, Chinese Sausage, Spring Onion Cake, Pork Chop, Pineapple cake, Taro cake, Salty soya milk with Youtiao (Chinese cruller fried bread stick or Chinese doughnut) and Pork organs (blood - in the form of rectangular blocks and black in colour, stomach, intestines, tongue and ear). Interesting?

I am not sure about you, but I am rather particular about restrooms/public toilets. They are not very impressive in Taiwan mainly because they emit foul smell and some designs are really down to the basics - no sign of toilet bowls. What was found was an approximate 15cm width of drain for the discharges to flow into a waste respository. At one point of time, I was under the impression that I was in China. I also noticed that rubbish bins were scarce in the 36191 square kilometres island. Fear of bom attacks/pranks? *shrug*

The highlight of this trip is the hotspring spa. I really enjoyed it very much. With the help of the water pressure and 21st century technology, an ordinary looking pool is turned into a spa and "massage machine". They were meant to "massage" shoulders, legs, thighs, bottoms and spine/back. The water was only luke warm, which was more acceptable to a majority of people. Hopping into a hotspring gave a different sensation. The water was hot and if you are sensitive to your body reaction, you could probably feel you heart is beating faster and blood is circulating quicker. It was a pity that we only stayed for a night at the resort.

Two years back, I vowed to myself that I would not go for rides at theme parks that would make my heart skip a beat, after braving through rides that tossed and turned me 180 and 360 degrees. Two years had elapsed and I found myself entering another theme park - Leo Foo Village. It was relatively small compared to Sunway Lagoon. Most rides in Leo Foo Village were rather short although about 99% of them shared similarity with Sunway Lagoon. Anyway, there were a couple of the rides which caught us off guard. One actually tossed and turned us around up in the air once we reached a certain height. It was no wonder why there were 2 safety measurements taken for the ride - an overhead buckle and one in between the legs. That's a good surprise ;)

All in all, the trip did not actually meet my expectations. Perhaps, I had set high expectations owing to the extensive advertisements by the Taiwanese tourism board. I was warned by a friend previously that Taiwan was a boring place. It's actually not a boring place. If you love nature, there are plenty to do. If you are adventurous with food, Taiwan has plenty to offer. There's no need to reiterate how many night markets, departmental stores and shopping malls throughout Taiwan if you are there for shopping. The shoes are worth buying as I notice that the quality of the materials used as the sole were good - they are not slippery and the prices were fairly reasonable (about NTD 310 to NTD400 per pair, approximately MYR40 to MYR45).