For such a small island, Taiwan does have its fair share of beautiful sights that the large majority of the world are unaware of.
I captured this photo back in Nov 15th 2009 when a few of us went on a day trip to Wulai 烏來 in Taipei County 台北縣.
Most people go to Wulai for the hot spring experience or to see the 80m Wulai Waterfall, and if they are feeling adventurous, ride on a rather scary cable car to get a closer look at the main waterfall.
We were feeling adventurous in a different sense. Initially we planned to walk to Neidong 內洞 since the tourist map indicated more waterfalls to see, and it didn't look too far away (on the map!). We obviously looked a confused as a local business owner approached us and offered to take us to that area in his car for NT$X, saying it would take us an hour to walk there. Somehow the four of us were talked into it and took up his offer and literally went for the ride!
A strange experience it was. But the guy was indeed honest and friendly enough to deliver on his promises. He assumed the role of a tour guide quite well, even told us how to pose for photos!
Back to the photo, I am so glad we paid the guy to drive us to Neidong 內洞 as the waterfalls were truly magnificent! You have to walk a bit within the park to get there, but I'd highly recommend the journey!!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Missing my second 'home'
I spend a lot of time on the internet. And it is not something I am ashamed of, because it's one way to pass time, learn new things and revisit the old. You can even travel the world on the internet!
As I was browsing through A Hungry Girl's Guide to Taipei, a regular read now that I am no longer living in my second home, I was excited to see she posted an entry about a pizza place near my apartment, my 'hood' in Taipei! I used to walk pass that Pizza Place - So Free Pizza & Cheese ALL THE TIME, but never actually ate the pizza there because I was thinking, I can get pizza back home, why bother?! It's one of those things I now regret as it was so accessible to me, literally a 5 minute walk from my room, yet somehow there were not enough days and meals in my 3.5 months in Taipei to actually give that place a go. I was tempted to try it on so many occasions, but just held back!
At least pictures (taken from So Free's blog) of the Pizza place can bring back memories of my time there. Awesome time in my life it was! And yes I did witness such massive queues, perhaps another reason why I never gave that place a go.
And these are the goodies I missed out on trying...
As I was browsing through A Hungry Girl's Guide to Taipei, a regular read now that I am no longer living in my second home, I was excited to see she posted an entry about a pizza place near my apartment, my 'hood' in Taipei! I used to walk pass that Pizza Place - So Free Pizza & Cheese ALL THE TIME, but never actually ate the pizza there because I was thinking, I can get pizza back home, why bother?! It's one of those things I now regret as it was so accessible to me, literally a 5 minute walk from my room, yet somehow there were not enough days and meals in my 3.5 months in Taipei to actually give that place a go. I was tempted to try it on so many occasions, but just held back!
At least pictures (taken from So Free's blog) of the Pizza place can bring back memories of my time there. Awesome time in my life it was! And yes I did witness such massive queues, perhaps another reason why I never gave that place a go.
And these are the goodies I missed out on trying...
Fresh mushrooms Asparagus pizza
Kimchi pizza with dried tofu (豆干) - strange yet appealing!
In case people are wondering, why these strange combinations? It's a vegetarian pizza place. Another thing I miss about Taipei, absolutely amazing vegetarian food. Sometimes I had 'vegetarian' days just cuz I could!
Do I miss my time in Taipei? My friends would say obviously YES!! Planning a September 2010 visit already :) (At least in my head) Hope it eventuates given I will be going to Malaysia this September!! It's been 5 years since I've been to my parents home country. I'm already looking forward to all the food consumption and photos to take...just need to wait 6 months...
Do I miss my time in Taipei? My friends would say obviously YES!! Planning a September 2010 visit already :) (At least in my head) Hope it eventuates given I will be going to Malaysia this September!! It's been 5 years since I've been to my parents home country. I'm already looking forward to all the food consumption and photos to take...just need to wait 6 months...
Saturday, February 27, 2010
A-Bomb Dome
I went to Hiroshima for just a day on 1 Dec 2009. As a city filled with history, particularly war history, it was quite surreal to actually visually see the A-Bomb Dome. The building looked so brilliant and beautiful at that time of day where I saw it. The way the light fell on the building was just pure luck on my part. The colours I managed to capture is exactly what I wanted.
Yet it was an eerie and blatantly obvious reminder of the effects of war. Not only damaged buildings, but in Hiroshima's case, a city ruined...
I must say Hiroshima was an interesting city to just walk around - it doesn't quite remind you of Japan. It's quaint, quiet, it's had a new start to reinvent itself. Strangely enough, walking around Hiroshima reminded me of walking around a European city...
Strange indeed.
Yet it was an eerie and blatantly obvious reminder of the effects of war. Not only damaged buildings, but in Hiroshima's case, a city ruined...
I must say Hiroshima was an interesting city to just walk around - it doesn't quite remind you of Japan. It's quaint, quiet, it's had a new start to reinvent itself. Strangely enough, walking around Hiroshima reminded me of walking around a European city...
Strange indeed.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Aland Myeongdong
Testing out the blogging feature on Flickr.
My Scandinavian friend took a picture of this brand we saw in Myeongdong, Seoul.
People from the land-downunder, such as myself, do not appear to know of any other Scandinavian brand other than IKEA or H&M.
If it's made it to Seoul, it must be pretty popular. Too bad I didn't see Australian labels such as Billabong in the streets of Myeongdong!
My Scandinavian friend took a picture of this brand we saw in Myeongdong, Seoul.
People from the land-downunder, such as myself, do not appear to know of any other Scandinavian brand other than IKEA or H&M.
If it's made it to Seoul, it must be pretty popular. Too bad I didn't see Australian labels such as Billabong in the streets of Myeongdong!
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Seoul Searching 2009
After vigorous planning and decision making (that’s a lie), it was finally agreed upon that we -Tien, Sue and myself would be going to Seoul for a much needed holiday since we had been studying Mandarin intensely for the last 12 weeks :) In true student form, we left Taipei the day after our last day of school for the Fall quarter. School’s out!
By the time we landed and arrived into Seoul proper, it was about 10pm, not much to do really but find that bibimbap we were all badly craving and could only visualise in our heads the entire journey from Taipei city to Seoul. The hotel receptionist @ the Sofitel Grand Ambassador Hotel was not the most helpful guide when it came to our food recommendation. He actually informed us that most eating places close around 10pm. OK, maybe for family diners, but Hello, we are in Seoul!!! We just came from Taipei, not Australia or Sweden as indicated by our passports! AS IF any Asian city with a population greater than 10 million people shuts their doors at exactly 10pm!! We persisted to ask and were finally told that Itaewon has food for ‘foreigners’, like a 24 hour McDonalds. We were not happy with that answer, but OK, since none of us had actually done any research for this trip, we took the cab to Itaewon in search for that glorious bimbimbap we KNEW we were going to have, and HAD to have.
Once we arrived at Itaewon, it was quite clear to us that this was the place that ‘foreigners’ hung out. Instead of feeling like we were walking down the main street of modern Seoul as depicted by MTV Asia video clips or Korean Idol dramas, it felt like we were in downtown Chicago (as Tien pointed out, I’ve never been to Chicago so couldn’t come to that conclusion) or at least some part of the USA. People on the streets were speaking American English, the cars on the road were revelling the latest American hip-hop tunes, not Korean pop! It was quite a surreal experience, especially for hungry travellers like us. We walked up and down the main road, to the side streets only to find ‘foreign’ food everywhere. Mind you, there really was quite a selection of foreign cuisines besides KFC or Maccas – German, Czech, French...some very nice restaurants but not what we were looking for. About 15 or 20 minutes of searching later, we found a Korean joint at a basement!! At last, local Korean food! There was the initial fear that it may have shut for the evening, but no, they did let us in! Did the menu have bibimbap? Yes it did!! Saved for the evening!
Night 1 (21 Nov): Grand Arrival!
By the time we landed and arrived into Seoul proper, it was about 10pm, not much to do really but find that bibimbap we were all badly craving and could only visualise in our heads the entire journey from Taipei city to Seoul. The hotel receptionist @ the Sofitel Grand Ambassador Hotel was not the most helpful guide when it came to our food recommendation. He actually informed us that most eating places close around 10pm. OK, maybe for family diners, but Hello, we are in Seoul!!! We just came from Taipei, not Australia or Sweden as indicated by our passports! AS IF any Asian city with a population greater than 10 million people shuts their doors at exactly 10pm!! We persisted to ask and were finally told that Itaewon has food for ‘foreigners’, like a 24 hour McDonalds. We were not happy with that answer, but OK, since none of us had actually done any research for this trip, we took the cab to Itaewon in search for that glorious bimbimbap we KNEW we were going to have, and HAD to have.
Once we arrived at Itaewon, it was quite clear to us that this was the place that ‘foreigners’ hung out. Instead of feeling like we were walking down the main street of modern Seoul as depicted by MTV Asia video clips or Korean Idol dramas, it felt like we were in downtown Chicago (as Tien pointed out, I’ve never been to Chicago so couldn’t come to that conclusion) or at least some part of the USA. People on the streets were speaking American English, the cars on the road were revelling the latest American hip-hop tunes, not Korean pop! It was quite a surreal experience, especially for hungry travellers like us. We walked up and down the main road, to the side streets only to find ‘foreign’ food everywhere. Mind you, there really was quite a selection of foreign cuisines besides KFC or Maccas – German, Czech, French...some very nice restaurants but not what we were looking for. About 15 or 20 minutes of searching later, we found a Korean joint at a basement!! At last, local Korean food! There was the initial fear that it may have shut for the evening, but no, they did let us in! Did the menu have bibimbap? Yes it did!! Saved for the evening!
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