Life is for learning..

8:11 AM

Monday, December 29, 2008

oh my.. time really really flies.. dunno how many times i have said that.. but oh well.. i realised it has been 1 mth since i last posted smth.. haha.. btw decided to take some time (less beauty slp. lol) to write some stuffs. yup.. just came back from my last 'air stewardess schedule' trip - Taiwan! the trip was awesome! u have to go there personally to experience everything.. haha.. b4 that i went m'sia with my family, didnt have time to blog abt that trip.. as usual bah, the once a yr - goto m'sia family trip.. heez..

gg back to taiwan.. we took abt 500o pics altogether oh!!! amazing.. haha.. i just managed to pick the essence of the essence and created 3 albums on facebook.. i took a lot of time selecting the pics to upload.. lol.. so many to choose from lah!! haha.. honestly, i left out so many nice, scenic, meaningful, memorable pics.. zi ji kan can le bah..=p

just to write down a brief recollection of our whole trip, 12 - 23 dec..! well.. we taipei in the evening, 5pm plus, though the sky looked as if it is 9pm.. haha.. took guo guang bus to taipei train station. terrible traffic jam! from the usual 1h trip it dragged till almost 3h.. sian.. when we reached, first thing first.. went to buy the train tix for the overnight train to gao hsuing, our first destination in our trip! since we had a few hrs b4 the train departs, we headed to the underground mall there for dinner! our first meal in taiwan! haha.. it the food was great.. the simple but delicious la mien.. lol.. the sha cha tang (if i didnt rmb wrongly) was super tasty.. their beef noodles was nice.. others also not bad.. after our meal the stupidest thing happen.. andrew and bra went away first while meiying and me stayed at the cafe.. cos drew wanted to buy xi gua shuang for his ulcer.. we noticed the cafe was closing so my and i carried all the luggages including the guys' out to wait for them.. wait.. wait.. shops closing.. suddenly the security guard there came and told us that at 10pm the gates there will be closed le.. and after understanding from him, we were quite sure that the 2 boys were stuck outside that area, not able to come in.. cos there is only one exit left open,the rest closed.. jialat.. poor us.. both of us had to lug ALL the luggage out that area.. lol.. luckily we are strong gals oh! heez.. still can handle.. went out.. at first quite worried, dunno how to find them.. such a big area.. tried calling bra but unsuccessful cos i think no reception.. my msg him say meet back the tix machine there where we bought our tix.. and we just prayed hard that he can receive the msg.. haha.. then we had to find our way all the way back there.. with all the weight on us.. haha.. lost our way a bit but luckily we found the correct directions soon.. and we found them! so relieved..! haha our first 'unlucky incident'.. and luckily the last..=p

and so reunited! we took the train to gao hsuing! reached there early morn 6am plus.. took some time to find out hotel, orientating ourselves using the map we prepared.. we placed our luggage there first cos it wasnt check in time yet.. and off we go.. ready to explore the new place!! went to look for breakie place.. had a super full breakfast haha.. i think i too greedy.. wanted to try this try that.. end up ordered too much... cant finish.. anywayz, after eating, we headed to a lake there.. oh dear.. cant rmb the name of the lake le.. but it was a really huge lake, with 2 pagodas, one with a tiger entrance, the other a dragon.. walked and explored ard that area.. took many pics again.. haha.. after which we took cab back to our hotel to check in... the room was quite nice, with 4 single beds.. after resting, we went down to the reception to talk to the receptionist there, Ms Chen and Mr Zhang..=) asking them to recommend us places to visit.. at night we went to the night market there, if im not wrong its called rui fang ye shi.. our first night mkt in taiwan! heez.. as what i hearsay, there were really many 'xiao chi' stalls there.. so many to try..

the next day morn, we set off to dream mall, the biggest mall in that area i think.. took gao hsuing's very new 'jie yun' - mrt.. and then took the free shuttle bus.. the mall was really very huge. and there was even an entertainment park at its roof top! haha.. i played the b-ball throwing arcade game there.. luv to play this personally! though i sux.. but very fun..=p there was a ferris wheel there also but we didnt seat cos din want to spend that money.. had lunch there as well, at the 'tang ren jie' (chinese ppl street?).. where all the chinese cafes are located.. a certain corner of dream mall.. oh ya! i bought my sunglasses there.. but lost it when i was in taipei.. sian.. oh well.. movin on.. after that we cont our journey to 'xi zi wan', the harbour there.. where the night scene is supposedly very mesmerising.. it was quite ok.. nice view but the harbour was kinda small.. walk a short stretch.. eh end liao.. have to turn back.. diaoz.. after this we headed back to our hotel to rest and wash up first.. b4 heading out again! to love river.. a place of interest there.. haha but it was just a normal river.. with ferry to sit.. just like clarke quay over here in s'pore.. hmm.. i guess there must be a certain myth, or story behind this river such that it is call the 'ai he'.. but we didnt go and find out.. what else to end out day.. lol.. another night mkt of course! yummy food here we come..=)

yeap.. soon out 2 days in gao hsiung is over.. and pooof.. we are on the train to hua lien, our 2nd destination.. when we arrived at hua lien's station.. we walked ard to find the tourist info centre.. on the way kena horned/called by taxi drivers.. haha.. at the centre, we 'shopped' for useful brochures.. asked the lady there how to get to our hotel, cest jeune.. wala.. there was really a courtesy shuttle bus that will pick us from there straight to the hotel's doorstep, just like what we researched on the net.. miss wu came to pick us.. and she was the driver also.. wow.. she is the receptionist cum guide cum driver.. when we reached our hotel. we immediately check-in.. and they showed us a menu.. for us to order breakfast for the next day.. to be sent up to our room!! can u believe it.. breakfast in bed! haha.. feel so pampered. never did anyone of us experience such service when stayin in hotels.. lol.. we were all so excited abt it.. though our room wasnt very big, but the bed was awesome.. very comfy.. and the bathroom was very nice.. haha.. when we settled down, had a good bath.. we set out to explore the surrounding area.. this hotel provided free rental of bicycles! cool.. so we rented 4.. and we all cycled ard the area.. heading to the very popular fried oyster egg stall indicated on the map we had.. but very very unlucky for us.. the stall was closed when we found it.. and we got to know that the stall rests on mon and tues every wk.. which is exactly the 2 days that we are in hua lien!! suay man.. so we didnt have to luck to try the famous 'or lua' there.. instead we decided to have some dessert at the dessert stall beside.. taiwan's desserts are really pretty special.. they mix diff stuffs tgt like red bean or peanut with beancurd.. small glutinous balls made from yam or sweet potato for instance is also very common there.. after filling a bit of our hungry stomachs.. we cont cycling in the direction of the beach there.. cycling there was pretty scary cos the traffic junc there didnt have proper pedestrian lights... so we all had to just anyhow cross whenever we see the chance to.. when cars are still faraway enough.. at the beach. we took soooo many lame and random photos.. playing with the shadows that were casted on the ground.. and takin series of pics to make into a motion film.. it was very fun how creative, or perhaps crazy, our ideas could get.. lol.. after which we decided to cont the rest of our journey on foot instead and so we returned our bikes back to our hotel b4 setting off again.. towards the central area where they say is the most crowded, lively triangle area with many eateries.. we chanced upon a stall that sells very nice xiao long bao and shui jiao.. and really really cheap also! heez.. a very satisfactory meal..

next day! we took the 1 day tour to taroko gorge.=p had been looking forward to explore this amazing place.. the coach picked us up from our hotel.. the tour guide was the bus driver as well.. and on our way there. he will introduce the surroundings, give us some general knowledge abt hua lien etc.. i still find it very amazing that he can drive and talk at the same time.. must need a lot of prac i think.. to focus on doin both.. haha.. many yrs of experience? oh ya! i rmb the driver's voice some a bit like jay chou.. lol.. got his style. voice very nich to listen.. but looks totally diff.. lol.. for this tour.. the bus will stop at a few stops for us to alight.. spend some time there to explore and take pics.. b4 cont on to the next area.. one of it was the tunnel of nine turns, a trekking trail for us to walk, eternal spring shrine so on.. oh the package also includes lunch.. where we ate at a high class chinese restaurant there.. it was a 7-9 course dinner.. cant really rmb.. but the food there was quite nice, esp the soup.. the view there was very nice for us as we have never been so near the 'nature' b4.. we marbles, mountain, lakes, waterfalls, plants surrounding us.. the feeling was very nice, refreashing, breathtaking..=) some of the rocks/marbles we went past were very huge and beautiful.. some shiny even.. and the air there was indeed very fresh.. being on a high altitude.. anyway.. after this whole tour.. we went back hotel.. and then went out for dinner, to the same place we ate ystd as we really like the dumplings there..=p since it was the last day in hua lien already.. we went to buy muah chee from 'zeng ji'.. hua lien's local pdt.. there was another main brand there.. a-mei i think.. but after sampling their muah chee.. still found zeng ji's one suit our taste buds more.. actually those that they make on that day.. not in boxes de.. were really nice! but cant keep long so we could only buy more and eat on the spot.. the peanut one was very nice.. heez. and then we bought one box to bring back..

after a good night slp, time to head to taipei le! at first we asked for the courtesy shuttle bus to fetch us to the train station.. but cos that day ms wu was the only one there and she had to mend the counter.. she actually called a cab for us! and we didnt need to pay for the fare at all.. wow! the service they provide was really very good! such that we wrote a christmas card for them.. just like what we did for ms chen and mr zhang in gao hsiung.. haha.. to show our appreciation.. as such.. i sincerely recommend Cest Jeune Hotel to all those out there lookin for a hotel in Hua lien when travelling.. a hotel that is affordable but yet with amazing service, wonderful people there to help! =) it will be a great stay there.. oh ya! they even offered to help us buy train tix from hualien to taipei as they happen to be gg there also.. they are really all so willing to help us in any way possible..

arrived at taipei! took mrt to xi men ding, where our hotel, guo guang, is located.. had a bit of difficulty finding cos it was in one of the xiao lu there.. in comparison to our previous 2 hotels, of course this hotel is more 'budget' in the sense that the rm was really pathetically small. haha.. after putting our luggage in the rm, the walking space there is almost negligible.. lol.. it was pretty narrow.. between the beds and the tv, dressing table.. and the bed was super hard! haha.. starting when not used to it.. next day wake up will realise that my hands and legs ache.. but after a few days.. used to it le.. it wasnt so bad after all..

hmm.. i think i just roughly say the places we went to.. irregardless of the sequence cos i lazy to try rmbing the exact sequence we went the diff places.. anyway.. we went shi lin ye shi twice.. on the first and last day i think.. first time there for me! it was really a very big area with many food and shops.. also, we went taipei 101, a very high end shopping area, xin guang san yue area.. and the underground mall at taipei main station.. where i rmb the guys dread gg.. cos there wasnt much stalls suitable for them.. end up they had to wait for us when meiying and i walked in the diff shoe shops.. and also being 'useful'.. help us carry the stuffs we bought.. oops.. paiseh.. it was quite boring for them.. but they were nice still help us take.. though they complain a lot.. lol! we also went long shan si to see see.. saw many teens there praying.. very crowded at the time we were there.. one of the day we also went yang ming shan! this day was very meaningful as we all managed to climb all the way up to the peak of qi xing shan!! seven stars mountain..=) haha. the total dist of the trail we took was 2.27km! and we went up to 1000m plus abv sea lvl i think.. it was really awesome! the feeling of being at the top.. looking down at the trees and cliff below, looking across.. many other mountain peaks... with the cold wind blowing at u.. haha.. a great experience despite my aching legs.. with every step i took for the last part of the climb up..=p really test ur determination sia.. i must really applaud meiying man! for reaching the top! i still thought she will stop midway cos she was very afraid of heights.. and there were many parts where the steps were super steep.. in a zig zag fashion.. a glance back will give u jelly legs kind.. so it was really amazing when she actually perservered on.. overcoming her fear.. but so wasted lah! the pics we took at yang ming shan was all lost! sian.. dunno why also the pics got corrupted during the transfer from my cam to bra's thumbdrive.. oh well.. whats lost cant be taken back.. most imptly is all the memories will be etched in our mind.. thats enough.. oh ya! almost forgot.. we went dan shui also.. and we were lucky, that evening there was actually a concert gg on.. and there was even a fireworks display!!! just nice we were all there.. and we could enjoy the fireworks.. and we went jiu fen also! a very nice place to visit.. just like mini chinatown..a more squeezing version.. haha.. chinese village style.. we bought quite a lot of souvenirs there.. we also climbed the ji long shan trail there.. went all the way up to to the peak.. very nice view up there as well.=)

oh well.. haha.. getting lazy.. so less detailed in my description liao.. its ok.. all the pics we took will definitely bring back lots of great memories whenever i look at them..=) and then i will rmb all the things we did, places we went, food we gobbbled.. haha.. relive the moment.. lol..=p

btw.. it is the start of a new yr 2009! countdown to the last sec of 2008 to 2009 with jr, sam, ray at my hse..=) a new beginning for me.. hopefully i can follow my aspirations.. fufill what i hope i will.. grow up as a person.. hopes for my family come true.. everybody, family and friends, stay healthy and happy.. little bro to be 'enlightened'.. lol.. in all.. just hope that everything will be alright.. na jiu hao.. for myself, currently what i can think of is to stay focused.. organised.. set my priorities right.. achieve what i want and need to do on time.. stop procrastinating.. like b4 i fly off.. i have so many things to settle! but i still havent really find the momentum to start yet.. still livin each day by each day.. soon soon.. i will have to get everything prepared.. hopefully i can accomplish every single task on my never ending to-do list.. heez..=p

There's a reason you chose what is happening around you. Hang on. Live your way through the best you know, and in a bit you'll find out why.