Taiwan 2 | Fourprints 2 | Floral to floral

* delayed blog *

At last, we had come to the last day.

Although we are all exhausted and probably can’t wait to go back home and hit the sack.

We just planned to go few simple places, but probably it was serendipity, the bonus activities last day in Taiwan
was possibly like this blessed land was convincing us to stay on further.

Firstly, we visited the huge CKS Shilin Residence Park. There were lots and lots and lots of flowers, especially roses and the historical house of Chiang Kai Shek, his car and the small church where CKS and Soong Mei Ling, his 4^th wife.

And we took some nice pics

And some not-so-nice perfectly scandalous pic

And then, we regretted, and went back to take nice pics...

the main difference between pro & semi pro... ...

... the camera, the models and the photographer =P

Addiction to Ay-Chung Noodle brought four of us back to the hectic streets of Xi Men Ting.

There was this celebrity-beggar... Bit short short...

Furthermore, we presented our tastebuds to other great food there, as well.

Before we left, we lined up for a free Yahoo!It’s You! personal sticker.

Almost felt like a teenager, again. Keyword: Almost.

Gotta stop fooling ourselves, but anyway, it was really hilariously enjoyable time.

Everyone is pretty hooked on the Afro-styled hair.

Also cool to sport the censored look.

Other people pics for comparison..

Then we’re off to enjoy the all natural Big Tom’s ice-cream.

And unexpected, sitting one table away diagonally behind us was the always funny Jacky Wu, seated there conversing rather seriously. We decided not to disturb him. We just paparazzied him from afar.

the guy he's with doesn't look too friendly, either.

Now, that's a bit rude, just because you owned a few cars at home.. =)

Unknown to us, somewhere nearby at the compound, there was this huge carnival, to usher in the 2010 Taipei International Floral Festival.

And it is seriously great fun!!

Big heads... probably I will have it when I see my next credit card bills...

Red house rocks!!

Pink lion... Kind of futuristic...

Mini belly dancers...

And they all grew up in a blink of the eye...

We checked out from our lodge and carpooled a hired van to the Taipei International Airport.

Because of excess baggage, I had to jump in as the emergency money changer for Darren, resulting in poverty of TWD currency.

While boringly waiting to board the plane, we pooled all our TWD

and managed to buy ourselves two packs of onion rings.

At the end, let’s just say we’re one buck short of TWD bankruptcy.

Hopefully, I won’t get an angina when I get my hands on my next credit cards’ bill.

simple circles, simple message!!

Taiwan 2 | Fourprints 1 | From bay to crowds

Since we were on the same flight as Darren & Shirli (D&S) we planned to go around together, but first we must get to our own pre-booked lodge, which was different.

Therefore, our first mission of the day was to get to our pre-booked backpackers in the heart of Taipei.

Wait. I think that was our second.

I think our first mission was to sleep sanely late and not wake up at 630am in the morning. Then have a slow buffet breakfast at the hotel. It was a successful first mission.

2^nd mission wasn’t that difficult, either. We got there with cab, but even the driver wasn’t sure where it was. Thanks to my dearests’ eagle eye, we found the small backpacker down the lane.

We were pretty skeptical initially about what this backpacker can offer, but seriously, we were really awed by its cleanliness, its fashionable internal deco and the friendliest of staffs.

To totally add to the reasons why we’re sure to come back to this backpacker is that it is truly at the heart of the city, train, bus, MRT and everything is within walking distance.

After checking in, we’re off to meet D&S. Nevertheless, realizing my wallet grew thin, so thin that I was pretty sure if I was going to be mugged, the assailant would probably beat the crap out of me for carrying so little TWD around, so, I decided to convert more of my RM. Let’s just call this the 3^rd mission. I believe, there’s a certain misery that one should bear for overspending.

I think it should be called just – mission almost impossible. There were more than 20 banks around the streets, and not one would accept the RM. And we went all bank-hunting, going north-south-east-west. And lastly we reached a bank that accepted RM, and learnt that in Taiwan, only 2 banks accept our RM – the Megabank and Bank of Taiwan. Plus, the exchange rate in Taiwan is obvious so blardy low compare to the exchange rate back home. Therefore,

Travel advice of the year – CHANGE EXCESS OF RMs IN MALAYSIA BEFORE GOING TO TAIWAN.

There you have it. I am actually contributing to the traveling industry by giving this advice.

My dearest was probably regretting the overspending.

And soon after, we’re OFF to DAN SHUI – last stop of Dan Shui Line by MRT!

Dan shui was like some kind of bay, place to de-stress ourselves. Honestly, it was seriously a good choice of place to overspend our time, basically – respite from the rushing about tour itinery.

Message: Ladies always happier with longer..... icecream...

Eventually, we filled our tummy with the local specials.

Still in the Christmas spirit, there was this group of cutest angels with recorders. Simply adorable. No doubt their teachers put a lot of effort into it. Little aedan should go to kindies with these kind of cool activities.

Girl talk: Something to be happy about.

Seriously paktoing couple.

Probably not-so-seriously paktoing couple. (That's what usually happen after marriage)

Here’s the four of us.

Bond girls. Shirli was really holding on a major big gun.

Bubble session, as well. Just because we're pretty anonymous there. Is it a valid reason?

Before the sun sets at around 5pm, we went to Xi Men Ting, a place, almost as busy and jam-packed as Shiling market.

Xi Men Ting, a place of high fashion and probably close to the humongous large version of Bintang Walk in KL.

Our first mission of that night was to fill our tummy with Ay-Chung noodle and KuKua Juice.

And personally, I thought the name of this eatery is pretty funny. KuKu-G.

Dearest got herself the fashionable 18-wearing-ways scarves.

Yes, scarves, all 5 of them – different colour.

I think I should seriously consider grounding her after this trip.