Cottage by the River

Dear Bloggie,

Taipei & Hongkong Part 1

Day 1

I have been procrastinating for the longest time ever on the Taipei/ Hongkong trip post... Too many things to deal with after I'm back and it's not helping that I fall quite ill... Anyway, I've got like... 130 photos to upload and I have divided it out into 3 post. =)

My day started out real early as I sent my parents to the Airport at 6am... They are flying to Hongkong/ China for a leisure trip... And Mum insisted that I sent them so they can save the cab fare... =( While waiting for them to unload their luggage... And I drove the car back home... And waited for DT to swing by to pick me up for work... Breakfast with DT at Tampines... This idiot knows how to tell the Store owner not to put all the Greenies on his Mee Rebus... But he put all the Greenies on mine instead when he knew I dont eat it. Tsk tsk... My last working day in the Old Office... Went back to the office and start packing up all the loose pieces of items, label my boxes (I got 22 boxes in total :x) and pack up the computers and phone. I was on half day... So DT swing by Office to pick me up... We had Swensons at the Airport for Lunch (Ice-cream me Love~*) while waiting for QH... Bid Good-bye to DT and we went check-in our stuff... And from here... the journey with QH begins... =) QH dropped by Duty Free to stock up some of her stash... My Best Friends are Alcholics and Puffoholics... :x Hence while waiting for them at the Sky Garden, I did what I did best by taking photos... Last look at the Goldie Shoes I bought from HK... It broke in Taipei and I left it there... =(The plane... that will take us to Hongkong. =) Guess we checked-in pretty late... We got 2 seats smack right in the middle of 2 gentlemen. =( Well... it might sound weird but I actually fancy In-flight food quite alot...And we arrived at Hongkong International Airport... While waiting for the next flight to Taipei... We bought some munchies from Popeye. In the end we were more thristy then hungry; we left plenty of food untouched and are fighting over the drink. :pWalk around the Airprot somemore... and I waited for QH outside the Smoking Room.In our next flight... the sky is already dark. Its been a long long day....I is tired. =( Finally arrived at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport close to Mid-night... This is the immigration area - damn lok kok loh. :pTook the Airport Transfer Coach and changed to a Cab... And we finally reached Rainbow Hotel... QH and myself concluded that this is the most 'worth-while' Hotel we ever stayed in... Nope - it is not very cheap. But we spent alot of our time in Taipei here... :p You will see why as the Days goes by...

Day 2

We... woke up to a cold and rainy morning... We were aware that a Typhoon is embarking on Taipei today; and we are 'mentally prepared' for the wind and rain... But being typical sheltered Singaporeans, we were totally caught off guard by the quantity of rain and the strongness of the wind. We happily boarded Subway... And bought some drinks at the 7-11... And walked through the familiar path way to 龙山寺...I even stopped to snap a photo of this 小黑狗 that reminds me of my Darling Lizzie back at home... Then.... ermm.... why the Gates are closed? Got so serious bo??We consoled ourselves that 龙山寺 might be an isolated case... So we hoped on to the Subway again to our next destination... 孙中山纪念馆.不是吧... We are starting to realised the serverity of this Typhoon. But 还是先拍张照片，毕竟到此一游不能空手而归.So...我们走了几条街，来到了my favorite Restaurant in Taipei - 原烧。All these yummies cost around NTD 600 (SGD30+/-) per pax... I made a quick check with the Waiter and he told us it was dangerous for us to wander around on the street on Typhoon Days (that include walking from 孙中山纪念馆 to the Restaurant)... And the day has been declared as a non-working and non-schooling day in Taipei. So.... we took a cab to 台北101.

雨一直下，风继续刮...Reached 台北101... News Van was spotted reporting Live back to the Studio... See that man with the blue jacket at the left... saw his brelly?? The wind is so strong that brellies are proved useless in such weather; once you open the brelly the wind will blow it 'inside-out'. The Observatory Tower in 台北101 was closed due to the Typhoon; we wandered around the shopping mall for a while and we took the adjorning linkway bridge... This is at the Vie Ceniplex; the glass was all masked up... By then we are beginning to sense the serverity of the Typhoon. 就连超级连锁大商场都没开...

The wind is so strong that the big tree is swaying vicgoriously... It is 3+pm and we realised the streets are getting emptier... Not much people are walking around. And at the link-way bridge, the wind almost blew my Prada (with my cell phone, cash and passport inside) away. I got a very big fright and hang on to my Prada with my dear life... And we climb over some barriers at 新光三月(super dak-glam - but who cares) and hailed a cab from the road back to the Hotel... And at 4pm... I am back to the Hotel with Hipopo. We turned on the News Channel (which btw they have PLENTY!!) and then... we finally realised this is one of the Worst Typhoon Taiwan has ever encounted. We nua-ed on the bed with the TV with Hipopo till 8pm... And with much reluctance we dragged ourselves out of the warm and comfy bed and went out to face the wet and windy weather... We are supposed to be tourist exploring the place and not nua-ing away in the Hotel. Wander around 西门町 and see how badly damage the brelly is by the wind... Cant wait to get into some shelter away from the wind and rain; we went into the first shop not knowing what they are selling... With much help from the hawker, we ordered a 鲜虾庚and 甜不辣... The 甜不辣 is very unlike the one we had in Singapore; and the 鲜虾庚 is yummy especially on such a cold night. We walked around a little more and decided to call it a day... both of us cant wait to get back to the comfy bed... As brellies are pretty much useless with the strong gust of wind; we bought these ugly raincoats... It is like big yellow trash bag and we look awful in it; our only comfort is we will not run into any 熟人 in the far away Taipei... And to end of this post... My loot from Day 2.