Taiwan - Day 7 (20 Sep 08)

To be updated...

Taroko Gorge

Part 1:

Taiwan - Day 6 (19 Sep 08)

To be updated...

To Su Ao - Cold Spring & Hualien

Part 1:


Part 2:

Taiwan - Day 5 (18 Sep 08)

To be updated...

To Taipei Zoo, Mao Kong & Shilin Night Market

Part 1:


Part 2:

Taiwan - Day 4 (17 Sep 08)

To be updated...

To Taipei, Wu Fen Pu & Raohe St Night Market

Taiwan - Day 3 (16 Sep 08)

To be updated...

To Cijin Coastline Park
- Cross the TRA platform (TWD 6)

Part 1:


Part 2:


Event of the day:
Lehman Brothers bankrupt and Merrill Lynch bought over by BOA

Taiwan - Day 2 (15 Sep 08)

To Fo Guang Shan (Light of Buddha Mountain)
- Cross the TRA platform (TWD 6)
- Walk towards the Kaohsiung old Station (museum) to the Kaohsiung Bus station
- Purchase bus ticket to Fo Guang Shan (TWD 77)





The driver was very patient with the elderly and local folks carrying bulky items but he was not as tolerant with us, tourist. He got impatient when we took about 1 min to search for the tickets that we were supposed to hand over to him upon alighting. We really didn’t know cos someone has already checked our tickets when we boarded the bus at the station. But he was quick to divert his attention to a very young and sexy mother with her son.



Foguangshan is one of the world's most important Buddhist centers. The 40m high golden Buddha is surrounded by 480 smaller Buddha, all replicas of the Great Buddha.

The huge Buddha can be seen from afar and it’s also an indication to alight. The bus stop is at a shop house in a little village at the foot of Foguangshan.

Foguangshan monastery is the largest Buddhist monastery in Taiwan. We manage to cover most of the sites under the ridiculous hot water except for the Buddha Tooth Relic Shrine cos it’s closed to the public on Monday!

One of the must visit site is definitely the Pure Land Cave. This tacky place is like our Haw Par Villa except instead of the eighteen hells, they built the excellence and beauty of the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss which is a Cave of great Bodhisattvas of the Land of Ultimate Bliss, as well as the great Arhats, the Buddha’s ten great disciples, and others. Whether it’s the eighteen hells or the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, it has the same effect of frightening people so that we will not dare to do evil deeds.







On our way out of Foguangshan, we stopped by a convenient store to buy drinks. James took out a 100 dollar note which was refused by the cashier. It took us a while to realize that we have given a 100 dollar Thai baht! Haha… other than the picture of country’s president, both 100 dollar currency notes looked identical.

We had initially wanted to proceed to Cishan of sweet treats and Old Street but the next bus is scheduled to come an hour later. Having nothing much to do at the quiet little village, we decided to head back to Kaohsiung main station but the next bus to arrive was also an hour later. We were stranded. Lesson learnt: check the bus schedule!



After some wasted hours, we were back at Kaohsiung bus station. Our next stop is Dream Mall, a landmark in Taiwan and the first mega-shopping center in Asia.

Took MRT to Kaisyuan station (TWD 25) and catch the shutter bus to Dream Mall.

We had the most satisfying Jap meal (just TWD 550) and took the Hello Kitty Ferris wheel.















MRT to Famosa Boulevard station



Liuho night market




More Pictures - Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:


Event of the day:
Nantou Lushan Kirei Hot Spring Hotel (綺麗大飯店) collapsed.

Taiwan - Day 1 (14 Sep 08)

SATS called us last night to inform that our delayed flight has been scheduled to 10am but when we arrived at 8am, they were not ready for check-in. We have to continue waiting…

It was in the news that Taoyuan International Airport announces all domestic flights canceled, as well as most of the scheduled international flights until 12 noon. All other airlines to Taipei have also been ‘delayed’ indefinitely.

We went over to T3, Wang Jiao for breakfast while waiting… waiting for SATS or Jetstar to call us.

Aiyo, the coffee & tea at Wang Jiao was so diluted. So disappointing. Next to us was Pan Ying, one of the Xinyao pioneers who sang Rang Ye Qing Qing Luo Xia (Let Night Fall Gently) having breakfast with her family.

About 10am, James suddenly decided to check the flight information display board and to our horror, it’s boarding!!!

We rushed to take the skytrain to T1 and ran to the check in counter. A couple of pple are stilling checking in. We than rushed to the gate which is right at the extreme end (you got to walk being cheapo… I mean budget). Most of the pple are already there. How the hell they knew the boarding time.

Granted that poor service is expected from the budget carrier but this is too much, it is their obligation to inform passengers of the “unconfirmed’ flight status. We were this close to miss our flight.

About 11am, we took off for Taiwan. The 4 hr flight was rather bumpy with plenty of clouds and rain near landing.





We decided to head south to Kaohsiung straightaway, staying away from Sinlaku.

Ubus to HSR Taoyuan Station
- Coming out terminal 1, turn left and walk to the end
- Buy bus ticket (TWD 30) at the counter
- Locate the bus at the bus platform
- Journey about 30 mins
HSR to Zuoying Station
- Purchase standard class tickets (TWD 1330) at the counter
- Journey about 2 hours

7-11 at the HSR Taoyuan Station is a must visit. They have such a wide range of yummy healthy products. The burgers are so much nicer than MacDonalds. We bought some snacks from 7-11 although food and drinks can be purchased on board the HSR.





From HSR Zuoying station, take Kaohsiung MRT to Kaohsiung Main Station. It was raining and it took us a while to find out where is King’s Hotel. Apparently it’s at the opposite side of the railway track and we have to pay TRA (TWD 6) to cross the platform.

After settling down, we went to the nearby night market. It was miserable. Probably due to the rain, there were only a few stalls opened and few pple loitering at the short street.





I glued my eyes on the TV and hands on the remote for the rest of the night. 100 channels of program to watch… madness!

More pictures...



Event of the day:
Hou-feng Bridge collapsed

News from Taiwan

2am at Taipei Ximenting internet cafe...

This trip has been full of unexpected happenings. All our planning was twisted by the typhoon but we still manage to cover all the sites we wanted to go.

Today - Hot spring at Beitou!!!

Complain to Delifrance

I just made a complain to Delifrance...

13 Sep 2008, 12pm.
The ONLY staff at Delifrance Terminal 1 Transit Mall West, Level 3 (near Cactus Garden) was horribly rude. She was on her mobile phone talking non stop throughout the process of serving me.

When I approached the counter to order, she looked at me while continue talking on her mobile. I ordered an egg mayonnaise croissant set when she looked at me and gave me that “Ya?” look. She than proceed to the other side of the counter (not sure for what) and came back. She prepared the croissant, put in the veg and asked me “what filling you wan?”, with the mobile phone clamped between the neck and shoulder.

The only consolation, she had gloves on one of the hand.

I keep staring at her. When she got my set ready, she didn’t ask if I wanted pepper on my sandwich, didn’t give me serviette, didn’t give me a receipt and didn’t thank me for patronizing. She was all the while busy talking on her mobile phone.

This happened to another tourist that followed.

I tried to take a picture of her but she was quick to turn and hide.

Such service standard at the World Class Airport is a disgrace to Singapore and Delifrance.

Panic Panic!!! Typhoon Sinlaku!

This is better than striking 4D. Our flight to Taiwan was cancelled due to bad weather (thanks to Sinlaku)... and the announcement was made when it was OUR turn to clear for boarding after security checks.

Taiwan has been really nice to us... when we visited her last year; she treated us with the hottest summer in decades and now with typhoon.

Actually, we were kind of prepared for it. We were laughing at each other when the cancellation was announced at our face. This has been James's favourite site since yesterday.

Everyone paniced esp foreigners who have no where to go.

The flight is scheduled to fly tomorrow morning. The staff of Jetstar made arrangements for the passengers to claim our luggage and gave us the Jetstar hotline to enquire or rather confirm the flight schedule.

The tricky part was... their call centre is not 24x7 (closes at 8pm) and we are expected to arrive at the airport for check in at 7am. We dun wan to waste another trip down to the airport and than later informed that flight is not confirmed... which is very likely cos Sinlaku is expected to move away only after Sun or Mon.

SATS & Jetstar promised to give us a call to update... let's see if they really do.

Lucky we bought insurance.

At the immigration, the officers were definitely not ready for our immediate arrival. It was rather chaotic much to my surprise. I was pretty confident that they have SOP for such situations but...

The officers let us out from a well hidden side glass door. I can only hope that my status is back in Singapore and not currently out of country.

Dilemma... it is not ideal to be going up mountains. Are we to skip Taroko and venture other areas or postpone the trip or go Hong Kong instead?

Sleep first and think later...





Butterfly Garden at Terminal 3

Welcome 2 Taiwan!

Yes! We are going to Taiwan again.

We were supposed to be heading for US but had to be postponed cos I dun have sufficient annual leave!

Anyhow, Taiwan is still as exciting. The highlight of the trip will be Taroko Gorge, Cingjing Farm, Yeliou Scenic Area at Keelung, hot spring in Beitou ... hanging out at Hualien, Kaohsiung,Tai Chung, Taipei...

This month is really shiok, barely worked for a week after extensive mc due to wisdom tooth surgery and long vacation... haha...

Collected our Taiwan Gift Coupon... check out their website

Taiwan - Day 6 (22 Jul 07)

What do youngsters doing on Sunday at Xi Men Ding?... Movie watching

Miramar Shopping Mall

Five dime driftwood restaurant

Lunch at Five dime driftwood restaurant

Complementary drinks and dessert at Five dime driftwood restaurant

A Taoist predicting the results of the next Taiwan election
















A good guide book we bought

Free Go Bus

Free Go Bus


Long queue in front

Long queue behind

Taiwan - Day 5 (21 Jul 07)

Check out in the morning as the hotel was already fully booked for the next 2 days. We than proceed to check in at Future Star Hotel. This hotel is highly recommended in the web cos of it's close proximity to the MRT station.

Went to Jiufen and Shilin Night Market at night.



Future Star Hotel.

3 huge dogs on the streets.

Taipei train station.

Ruifang station going to Jiufen.

Fen yuan stall.

Fen yuan.

Grilled mushroom.

Sauage aunty acting cute.


Fried durian.

Yam kueh.

View from the top.

Figurine exhibition.

Cat guarding the fish balls?

The fish ball shop is full of the lady boss's photos.

Fish balls.




What is a priest doing here?

Seating near the train door.

Street performer.


Special zone for female at the MRT.