Day 8 - Mao Kong Gondola and Taipei Zoo

This might be the last and final post for my Taiwan Trip

Though I had another day, but it is just walking around XiMenDing, then to the air port

Nothing Spectacular

So on the Eighth rainy day, we went to Mao Kong Gondola aka Cable car and Taipei Zoo!

The Gondolas

There were 3 stops in total, and honestly the misty conditions makes sight seeing.. unbearable

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See what I mean..

We stopped by a log house for some tea

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Nothing much to see at the top, hence we went to the Zoo!

NT$60 is around SGD2.50

Super cheap compared to our Zoo

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Well, the weather was still rainy,

most of the animals were sleeping..

and we didn't really see much..

The Koala behind a glass panel

The Panda who can't stop eating

The Bear that was a show off

The Monkey finds a shelter

On D Day

"Death is what  keeps people alive", I told Angie.

To commemorate on my life of 27 years,

I thought of touching on a taboo topic of life and death

Rather controversial to talk about it on one's birthday

And even more controversial to go a cemetery on that day.

Kranji War Memorial

Place where brave souls laid to rest

Sanctuary where life were honourably lived and remembered.

Most people in current society subscribed to the notion of chasing egocentric idealism

Accumulating wealth, success and progress

in a bid

to achieve happiness.

But the above sentence is not really a mathematical formula,

where Wealth + Success + Progress = Happiness

Happiness is a state of mind

And Ultimately,

A Choice

 Life and Death

The space between Life and Death seems further apart

Thanks to technological advances in medicine and also higher quality of basic human needs

At the same time,

the void of empathic emotions also widens

Take a Break

I like self reflections,

constantly reminding where I am along this life journey

and what other steps I need to take to fufill my dreams of exploration

 Tranquil

Angie asked me why death is what keeps us alive,

I explained that it is the realisation that we, one day, will leave this earth

and our existence is a mere transient one,

But its also due to this very simple fact,

that we live ourself to the fullest

making the existence a worthwhile one.

So..

What are you living for?



Day 7 - Jiu Fen Tea Time and Kee Lung Dinner

We stopped by for some tea in a hundred year old teahouse.

The interior decor brings you back to those old days of Marital arts era

The view on the alfresco seating

so the both of us enjoyed a cup of tea

where time stood still in its flow

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After quite a while, we continued to explore Jiu fen

and found this in front of a shop

We couldn't really make out what it is..

hence we went into the shop..

Its a huge ass CHIHUAHUA

Well the shop was selling fishballs fit for giants

makes perfect for them to have a gigantic chihuahua

Gigantic Fishball

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While eating, we can't help to feel that someone was watching us...

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Awwww the pussinboots eyes!

puppinboots in this case

More followed suit

Susan-boyle wannabe selling sausages

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After buying some souvenirs, we headed to Kee Lung

and its colder than Jiu Fen

Harbour

Strange crabby dinner -_-'

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After reaching back Taipei,

we went for supper..

and tasted the best food for the whole trip...

Tomato Beef Noodle.

The soup was.... was..

Aiyah.. a taste of it brings you to heaven..



Day 7 - Taipei 101 and Jiu Fen

After having some rather unconventional breakfast,

we make a quick trip to see the Taipei 101,

but we did not bother to go up though

Honestly,

 it looked like stacks of supermarket baskets from far to me

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After that, we took a bus to Jiu Fen,

But the gloomy weather did spoil the day, and worsen my illness

A hot bowl of beef noodle to warm up our bodies

Haha, food always makes her happy..

Always..

Ivy walking down streets of Jiufen

Famous Yam Balls!

Damn they should sell this in Singapore!

Jiu fen from the top

Interesting signs that I wanted to buy

Mollusks! (cause I don't know which species it is)

Big fat Hai Luo

Day 6 - Ping Xi, Jing Tong, Shi Fen

Continuing our trip in Ping Xi,

We decided to put the sky lantern in broad daylight,

cause we don't have the luxury of time to stay till night

Writing on the lantern

Her wishes

My Wishes.

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And.... Tuggie's battery went flat -_-

All pics were taken with mobile phone

Anyway Ivy's sky lantern went up and dropped down in the mountains nearby

Mine went all the way up and disappeared

And I was telling her that mine reached the heavens and hers didn't

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We took the train and travel to Jing Tong next.

An area used to be for coal mining

Little Bamboos to write your wishes from

Somehow.. I think its a tourist trap -_-

Ivy and her Jap Yam icecream

Thick and creamy!

Next up, the very famous Yang Jia Chicken Roll

Pretty good~

The Train at its stop

Familiar

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We left Jing Tong for Shi Fen to visit its waterfall

The train runs through the livelihood of its residents

Due to time constraints, we hurried to the waterfall which was quite a distance away

We scurried for 45 mins, saw the waterfall for 15 mins..

And then zoomed straight back to the town

-_-'

To nourish the aching legs..

Day 6 - Ping Xi Old Town

Something idiotic happened after we return from Dan Shui,

We tried buying train tickets to Ping Xi, our destination next day.

So happily, we tap tap tap on the machine, selecting round tickets,

pump in the money and out comes the tickets.

Feeling smug about conquering the train ticketing machine,

we took the MRT back to our homestay.

We then took at our tickets and found out,

that the tickets dispensed were only for the return trip

-_-'

the tickets to PingXi were marked with XXX

Why didn't the ticketing machine inform us that the tickets to PingXi were out

and why bother to dispense useless tickets...

We even went back to Taipei Main station to just to confirm that the tickets are sold out

=_='

Nonetheless, its not gonna stop us from going PingXi

The next day morning, we took the MRT to Muzha

To get on the bus to Ping Xi

Once alighting at Muzha, we were looking for breakfast

And we selected this shabby looking shack

That was providing breakfast to workers from the construction site nearby

Lu Rou Fan aka Braised Meat Rice

Chao Mian aka Stir Fried Noodles

The food was unbelievably good!

Street fare's the best

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After 1 hr bus ride, we finally arrived at Ping Xi

Ping Xi Lao Jie,

Old Streets of Ping Xi

Such nostalgic feel

The PingXi train station

Bricks

The Tracks

Ancient Meat stall

The high up tracks

The hometown of Sky Lantern

Even the lamp post is in the shape of sky lantern

Towering view of Pingxi

Minor trekking to explore the area

Tau Huey aka Beancurd

Honestly, the nicest I ever had

Illustrations of the past