Friday, February 4, 2011
Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) is really very beautiful. I heard about the place. We arrived in the night and there was nothing to see because it was too dark.Dinner at the restaurant recommended by 黄先生. We will told that Sun Moon Lake is famous for President Fish (总统鱼). It was said that the dish was served to the President when he visited Sun Moon Lake, and he loved it a lot. This is how the fish got it's name. This fish has the amazing amount of fish bones in it. You will never believe how many small bones inside a small piece of fish. All the 4 of them were super careful, because we do not want to get choked by fish bones during our holiday.
I was really taken back by the scenery in the day time of Sun Moon Lake. I love to see the nature, so basically I was so happy to see that we were sort of surrounded by mountains. This is the wonderful creation of Mother Nature. The best way to enjoy the scenery is to take a ride on a boat. Though I know I will suffer from seasick, I still went along to take one with the rest to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Singapore is a small island, we can only see hills, but we will not be able to see mountains.
阿嫲的茶叶蛋has made a name for herself in Sun Moon Lake. The old lady had been selling the tea leaf egg for many years. Before water traffic was so accessible, she was young and healthy then, and carried the eggs to the opposite island to sell for a living. Now she has grown old, she is still selling eggs with her children. Maybe I am hungry, but the taste of the egg is indeed very good.
If you like to see mountains like me, you will like Sun Moon Lake.
If you have see the TVC of Welcome 2 Taiwan, with Jolin Tsai and 吴念真, you will not miss the part when you see him 放天灯. If you have read my previous blog, I did mention that I did that.
MPP mentioned that we could 放天灯 in 十分. I was quite amused because I have never done it before. I mean, I keep seeing it on TV, hearing people saying it, but I have never done it, despite I had been to Taipei twice already.
黄先生brought us to a shop to buy these lanterns. The auntie could not really tell us, what does the different colours of lanterns mean, so we simply picked the colours we like. It was the first time for all of us, so we had no idea what to do. Anyway, I think the Taiwanese are really friendly people. I saw 黄先生chit chatting with some uncle while waiting for us, later then I realised they are also drivers waiting for their passengers too.
All of them came over to teach us how to light up the lantern, how to let it fly up to the sky properly. We were supposed to write our wishes on the lantern, lighted it up, hold it till the hot air filled up the lantern and let it fly up. My lantern was lit up by MPP, (haha, I dare not lit it up myself). I am really overjoyed to see my lantern flying up to the sky. I do not know how to describe the feeling. I just think that, my message will go all the way up. All of us will be blessed.
This is the biggest lantern I ever have. Though I only own it less than an hour, but I find it very meaningful.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
I have never heard of Shi Fen (十分) before. MPP said we can 放天灯 (I will blog about this later) there. I was thinking at that time, how come there is 九份，and now there is 十分. Sometimes the names that Taiwan give really funny.
It is a very beautiful place. I love to be close to nature. I saw mountains, and the air is so fresh. Though the weather is cold, and I have to put on layers of clothes, I never really mind.
However, it bothered me a lot to see stray dogs along the way. According to 黄先生, these poor dogs are abandoned by their owners. When these people get tired of the dogs, they just brought up the mountain and left them there. I think this is very bad of them. Keeping a pet needs full life commitment, just like taking care of their own children.
Never the less, I feel very relaxed in Shi Fen, maybe because of the serenity of the surrounding.
I heard about Jiu Fen (九份) from my ex boyfriend long long time ago, and I had been to Taipei 3 times. I had never been to the place once. MPP suggested going to this place, and I had the 'Ah... Finally...' feeling.
It is indeed a very beautiful place, full of interesting things to explore. The snacks are delicious, the things quite interesting and special. (At least I do not get to see them in Singapore).
I wonder if the place is always crowded with people, or is it a tourist attraction? I saw tour buses bringing groups of people to Jiu Fen, people speaking Japanese, Cantonese, and tour guides telling members to meet at a certain time.
Another interesting scene I noticed was there are dogs roaming on the street. They are tamed and seems to know where they are going. I overheard one of the shop keeper telling the customer, that particular dog belongs to the guy, whose shop is just further down the street. After that, I realised all the dogs know how to go home to their owner after strolling. Very well trained indeed.
I regretted not taking a picture of the 'Peanut Popiah' to share. The snack is like Popiah, wrapped up with ice cream, with full spread of peanuts. Despite of the cold, CSB and I decided to try, after recommendation from MPP and SQ. I gave it 2 thumbs up, the ice cream does not melt easily. Super delicious!
I shared 粉圆 with CSB, as I heard many good reviews from TV variety shows, friends and people around me. However, I was a bit disappointed. Maybe expectation was too high. I admit that it was indeed very nice, but I think I prefer the Peanut Popiah more.
You want to try it yourself?
黄先生is the driver who we booked his service to drive us on a one day tour in Taipei.
We actually wanted to go 九份，十分 on the 2nd day we arrived in Taipei. As MPP was asking for the direction on how we can travel to these places in the shortest time, the hotel offered us a package, that the driver could bring us to these 2 places, and along the way dropped us at nice spots to take pictures and shopped.
All of us agreed on the price and off we went in his van, to some nice spots in Taipei. The first experience was quite good, as he kept reminding us to take care of our wallets, and the heavy traffic in Taipei. He hinted us not to buy things from shop recommended by the hotel and apologized that he had to follow instruction. As he dropped us at 士林夜市, he still called MPP to check if we arrived in the hotel safe and sound.
As we wanted to travel out of Taipei for 2 days, and he offered us a reasonable rate, we decided to engage his service to drive us to Sun Moon Lake, Qing Jing, Tai Zhong and back to Taipei. He was quite professional in his job, bringing us to places to places safely, stopping the van for us to take pictures when we requested.
He was quite good, except he was a bit naggy, kept reminding us on the time, rushing us on schedule. SQ and MPP got a bit annoyed, but I was all right, as long he did his job well. Maybe I was used to the 'nagging salesperson (NS)' in the office, so I thought his nagging was nothing compared to NS. Hahaha!
In case you want to engage his service, here is his namecard.
Let me continue with my entry on Taiwan. This time, I shall talk about money. Haha! What is there to talk about except the exchange rate you might think, but I must say, in Taiwan, cash is really important.
Most of the time, we will just bring some cash and use the credit cards when we go shopping. However, this time I made a mistake. Shops in famous tourists areas like Xi Men Ding also do not accept credit card payment. Everywhere have to be payment by cash, even restaurants. I only managed to sign my cards in big shopping mall or bigger brand book stores.
And so, without any exception, my cash used up very fast. I have no choice but to dig out S$100 from my wallet and change some NT$. Otherwise, I had to go hungry for the next 2 days until we came back to Singapore.
The best part was we all run out of cash on the last day, and we were looking for lunch before going to the airport to fly back to Singapore. Fortunately MPP had some cash balance and we managed to have proper lunch in a restaurant.
This was my 3rd visit and I forgotten that actually many places do not accept credit cards. In the next visit, always remember to have extra cash in your wallet.
;;
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