Grad Trip to Taiwan!
In this trip: Cx, Mj, me, Stef, Joey, Matin, Hazel
As usual, I'm just going to write about things that happened day by day, but this time I'm just going to include things that I find memorable.
Day 0 - Checking In
Everyone was really tired by the time we had to meet to check in our luggages and such. It was quite entertaining, actually, when Stefanie repeated "just go!" louder and louder in order to shoo us away, and when Joey suddenly freaked out because she "lost her luggage" (it was actually already checked in).
Day 1 - Winding up the Mountain
Fast forward to about 10 hours later, we were in our tour guide, Kevin's, car, and he was driving us up Alishan. It was really pretty and breathtaking, looking at everything above and looking at everything from above. Mj and Cx were totally judging me on over-commenting on everything I see though. According to Mj, I "say the most random things at the most random times." :(
And before I know it, I start getting motion sick due to the winding roads plus a lack of sleep.
Had our first dinner at Taiwan, which is some lunchbox meal consisting of lots of vegetarian food and overly sweet vegetarian fish. None of us could finish our food. We ended up getting all sorts of stuff from 7-eleven to fill our stomachs for the night.
Highlight of the day: Played with a Shiba Inu.
Day 2 - Sea of Clouds
The early morning was tiring as we slept late watching Sharknado the previous night. Best movie ever. No joke. Those stock footages.
Sleeping in the same room as Cx and Matin works like this: I'll often be the first to sleep, and they'll wake up around 2 hours earlier than I do. And I need no alarm - their chattering is my alarm. In fact, they are noisier than the roosters. Just saying :D
So, we kickstart the day with their homecooked porridge as breakfast, and a tour around the farms. The minsu owner, Rebecca, showed us all sorts of things they plant and the interesting things they can do with the plants, such as blowing the leaves as whistles, which we fail to do. Also visited the tea plantations and factories to learn how they grow and process tea.
Rebecca also showed us the houses they use, in which they cook using coal and make wine using hornets' dead bodies (pic on the right).
Kevin and Rebecca then brought us to a shop selling the best grass jelly ever. It wasn't made using powder; They 100% make it there, in the sense that they plant the leaves and put in the ingredients and use a dedicated machine and stuffs.
As if that's not enough good food, Kevin then brought us to a cafe where some of us got flavoured jelly drinks while some of us warmed ourselves with hot milk tea. It was really cold and misty up in the mountain, that's why it's called sea of clouds. Being the greedy one, I got both the jelly and the milk tea :P
We then went ahead to walk on some magical misty forest trail, which ended on some currently-in-used train tracks that we were allowed to walk on. The rule of life is that when you see train tracks, you have to take pretentious photos.
Top row - me, Mj, Cx. Bottom row - Matin, Joey, Hazel
I believe the way I put the pictures together brings pretentiousness to a whole new level.
The road back to our minsu was very long and windy, so Mj, Matin, and Cx all had motion sickness. But we proceeded to have a firefly trail at night. It was pretty - the kind that you can never capture with photos.
Day 3 - Winding down the Mountain
This is the day we said goodbye to Kevin and Rebecca :(
We spent most of this day getting down from the mountain where Alishan is at. By the time we reach our destination, the Flying Cow Ranch in Miaoli, it is in the late noon. We came up with some sort of plan for the following day, and then headed out to enjoy the farm.
All I can say is... Milk. Milk. Milk. Milk. Milk.
The farm is full of milk.
The highlight of the day was when Matin, Joey, Cx, Hazel, and I lied on the field at night, when there was nobody around. There were cries of agonies coming from the bunch of trees in front, and it was cold and dark and scary and fun. Most importantly, it was super relaxing, until Matin chose to play this song called 'fucking problems'.
Day 4 - Milking the Day
The farm looks like this almost wherever you look
Went around looking at farm animals, feeding them, and touching them. Also made ice cream, played with bubbles, and so on. It's a very beautiful place with beautiful experiences and horny cows. The funny part of the day was when Cx, Joey, Hazel and I climbed a tree. It was hilarious watching Joey and Hazel try.
Trying to pull Joey up. Yep, she's stuck in that awkward position.
Day 5 - Taipei, Scotty, and the other guys
And on this guy, we went back into urban life. Stefanie, Cx, and I took the 8am train to Taipei first because there were not enough seats for 7 people. In the train station, we saw a really cute wild dog. I think it's a Labrador. Stefanie tried to take a picture of the floor next to it (don't ask me why) and I tried to play with the dog.
When Stefanie was taking her photo, the dog pounced onto her and started playing with her, super aggressively. I thought it was fun, so I joined in, and for the next 1 hour which we are waiting for the train, the dog continually, violently, played with us. It was so scary. I thought it wanted to eat me, because it was biting and jumping and stuffs. Even when we hid behind our luggages, it could freaking jump over.
In fear, we managed to hide from the dog, and Cx was just making fun of us by the side.
Fast forward. When we reunite with the rest, we heard that Mj got attacked by the same dog :}
After some quick shopping and lunch, we went ahead to meet Scotty and 2 other guys, who rented us their apartment for the next 3 days.
That night, we headed to a night market, I don't know which one, but we went to one, and it was pretty interesting. We also visited a pet cafe, which consisted of lots of cats.
That night, we played dai di, and whoever lost had to be called a loser spongebob-jellyfish-style - something we watched on TV and found fascinating.
Day 6 - Stones and Rocks
Went to Taroko National Park, with Tiffany and Husband as our tourguides. Visited the beach and many of us took a pebble home each as keepsake. Visited scenic spots, looked at rivers and seas and stuff. Learned about how rocks fall from the cliffs and how the cliff prevents tsunamis and stuffs.
Tried out boar meat. Quite good.
After that, headed to pray at temples on top of a mountain (I regret not knowing what it's called).
Went shopping around the area and took the MRT back after that.
Day 7 - Instant Urban Tranquility
This day is the highlight of the trip, to me. Woke up early to visit Long Shan Shi temple with Stefanie, and then went to get my haircut. I quite like it.
Reunited with the rest at Xi Men (as Matin describes it, it's "Xi Men", not "Semen"). There, it was a lot of shopping. Bought clothes and got the remaining souvenirs and 2 manga magazines, one of which I regretted getting.
Went to Show's shop, Stage, and then tried out foods here and there. Joey and Mj got their haircuts/trim too.
Our next destination was Taipei 101. A poster describes it as an instant urban tranquility, hence the heading.
Above at Taipei 101
The best part of the day came next - Shihlin Night Market!
Mj, Cx, and I got separated from the rest. Went around trying different foods and drinks, like milktea, heineken green tea, almond tea, smelly tofu, super salty deep-fried squid, wasabi deep-fried squid, cream puff, and so on.
Thoroughly enjoyed the fair games - some basketball thing, using fake guns to shoot balloons, catching fishes, and using a fake shotgun to shoot down a piece of toilet paper (my favourite).
Didn't sleep too much when we returned to our apartment. Cx, Joey, and I drank a little, and everyone thought I was drunk because my skin naturally turns red when I drink. But it was pretty funny. Played cards and 'The King Game'. Fell asleep halfway through.
Day 8 - Return
Spent our last moments in Taiwan, walking around, looking for a bus station to bring us back to the airport. The moment when we returned to Singapore was utterly depressing :'(
Photo credits to Stefanie, Mj, and Joey!
The road back to our minsu was very long and windy, so Mj, Matin, and Cx all had motion sickness. But we proceeded to have a firefly trail at night. It was pretty - the kind that you can never capture with photos.
Day 3 - Winding down the Mountain
This is the day we said goodbye to Kevin and Rebecca :(
We spent most of this day getting down from the mountain where Alishan is at. By the time we reach our destination, the Flying Cow Ranch in Miaoli, it is in the late noon. We came up with some sort of plan for the following day, and then headed out to enjoy the farm.
All I can say is... Milk. Milk. Milk. Milk. Milk.
The farm is full of milk.
The highlight of the day was when Matin, Joey, Cx, Hazel, and I lied on the field at night, when there was nobody around. There were cries of agonies coming from the bunch of trees in front, and it was cold and dark and scary and fun. Most importantly, it was super relaxing, until Matin chose to play this song called 'fucking problems'.
Day 4 - Milking the Day
The farm looks like this almost wherever you look
Went around looking at farm animals, feeding them, and touching them. Also made ice cream, played with bubbles, and so on. It's a very beautiful place with beautiful experiences and horny cows. The funny part of the day was when Cx, Joey, Hazel and I climbed a tree. It was hilarious watching Joey and Hazel try.
Trying to pull Joey up. Yep, she's stuck in that awkward position.
Day 5 - Taipei, Scotty, and the other guys
And on this guy, we went back into urban life. Stefanie, Cx, and I took the 8am train to Taipei first because there were not enough seats for 7 people. In the train station, we saw a really cute wild dog. I think it's a Labrador. Stefanie tried to take a picture of the floor next to it (don't ask me why) and I tried to play with the dog.
When Stefanie was taking her photo, the dog pounced onto her and started playing with her, super aggressively. I thought it was fun, so I joined in, and for the next 1 hour which we are waiting for the train, the dog continually, violently, played with us. It was so scary. I thought it wanted to eat me, because it was biting and jumping and stuffs. Even when we hid behind our luggages, it could freaking jump over.
In fear, we managed to hide from the dog, and Cx was just making fun of us by the side.
Fast forward. When we reunite with the rest, we heard that Mj got attacked by the same dog :}
After some quick shopping and lunch, we went ahead to meet Scotty and 2 other guys, who rented us their apartment for the next 3 days.
That night, we headed to a night market, I don't know which one, but we went to one, and it was pretty interesting. We also visited a pet cafe, which consisted of lots of cats.
That night, we played dai di, and whoever lost had to be called a loser spongebob-jellyfish-style - something we watched on TV and found fascinating.
Day 6 - Stones and Rocks
Went to Taroko National Park, with Tiffany and Husband as our tourguides. Visited the beach and many of us took a pebble home each as keepsake. Visited scenic spots, looked at rivers and seas and stuff. Learned about how rocks fall from the cliffs and how the cliff prevents tsunamis and stuffs.
Tried out boar meat. Quite good.
After that, headed to pray at temples on top of a mountain (I regret not knowing what it's called).
Went shopping around the area and took the MRT back after that.
Day 7 - Instant Urban Tranquility
This day is the highlight of the trip, to me. Woke up early to visit Long Shan Shi temple with Stefanie, and then went to get my haircut. I quite like it.
Reunited with the rest at Xi Men (as Matin describes it, it's "Xi Men", not "Semen"). There, it was a lot of shopping. Bought clothes and got the remaining souvenirs and 2 manga magazines, one of which I regretted getting.
Went to Show's shop, Stage, and then tried out foods here and there. Joey and Mj got their haircuts/trim too.
Our next destination was Taipei 101. A poster describes it as an instant urban tranquility, hence the heading.
Above at Taipei 101
The best part of the day came next - Shihlin Night Market!
Thoroughly enjoyed the fair games - some basketball thing, using fake guns to shoot balloons, catching fishes, and using a fake shotgun to shoot down a piece of toilet paper (my favourite).
Didn't sleep too much when we returned to our apartment. Cx, Joey, and I drank a little, and everyone thought I was drunk because my skin naturally turns red when I drink. But it was pretty funny. Played cards and 'The King Game'. Fell asleep halfway through.
Day 8 - Return
Spent our last moments in Taiwan, walking around, looking for a bus station to bring us back to the airport. The moment when we returned to Singapore was utterly depressing :'(
Photo credits to Stefanie, Mj, and Joey!
Labels: overseas, things that happened