Taiwan round island trip Dec 2009 (1)

Seeing lots of friends' posts to Taiwan remind me of our Taiwan trip in Dec 2009!

Bao still enjoyed kids' meal in the plane then. The paper plane she was holding was from the kids' set. She was all chubby and rounded then!

We joined a full board tour with Reliance Travel flying with MAS. I won't consider joining another tour ever since then. It was practically a rushing-for-destination-trip for the whole of 7 days there!

 Reached Taoyuan international airport at night. 

In Taipei, our first itinerary was the Fisherman's Wharf. It is a fishing port with the bridge resemble a boat. The weather was good with clear blue sky.

It was sunny in Taipei on our first day. The view of the pier is quite nice.

Next, to the nearby 淡水老街. It is an old and charming little village facing the sea. 

There we had our first taste of Taipei street food. At the recommendation of the local guide, we tried the 阿给noodles with meatballs which we didn't quite like. We also had grilled squid which I like very much. And there we bought the "iron egg"which Bao like.

Old sea front pavement full of little shops with small eatery.  A foot long ice cream during the winter.

After that, the tour bus brought us to the National Revolutionary Martyrs' Shrine. The shrine is dedicated to the dead soldiers who fought during the war. There we witnessed the formal changing of the guards which take place regularly.

Dear Mr Soldier, did u just blink your eyes??

Too glaring and hot .

Immediately after this, we were brought to a hot spring for a private bath in a very small bath room.   Comparing this to our very own Sungai Klah, I think ours is better in the sense that we get a nice and and private pool with jacuzzi.

After the bath was the Monument of Dr Sun Yet-sen. I remember we took a lift up to the hall where there was another round of changing of guards. This is just a monument for the National Father of ROC then, unlike the one we went in Nanjing, Zhongshan Ling, which is the actual burial site.

Look how mischievous she was!

Inside the hall, The statue of Dr Sun.

In Taichung at night, we went to 逢甲夜市for their pasar malam and had our dinner there. The street food was not as good as what I expected .

In the morning, we were at 九族文化村. It's quite a big park with some rides. Sadly, we were given very limited time. The guide took us in the cable car to the top where we walked among the replica of the tribes' houses. There wasn't any time for the rides at all!

At the entrance.

The Cultural village of the 9 tribes.

We were greeted with the aboriginal dance at the entrance and some of the aborigin settlement.

We then found ourselves in a 毛王爷之家 for the honey and bee pollen which was extremely expensive. Of course we didn't buy but I was amazed by the introduction which was quite funny. This must be the requirement by the travel agent for Taiwan made products.

Then I remember the terribly winding road to the famous Sun Moon Lake (remember it was in our text book in high school). With the advise from the guide, I swallowed a motion sickness pill before the journey and it helped. A fellow tour member was seen vomiting in the toilet and her face was all pale. Visited a small peacock garden before we were there. Didn't expect the lake to be so huge though. 



It was sunning and hot then.

The Wenwu temple across the lake.

From the top of the temple, the lake looks quite ordinary. 



In the super VIP coach, it was quite comfortable.

This marked the first 2 days of our trip in Taiwan. There were about 20+pax in our group consist of mostly family groups. A very young looking mum with their 2 teenage girls with the father always running ahead of them with a video cam, a young couple with 2 young children, a mother and a daughter, a handsome couple with their beautiful daughter, and a few older ladies and a man. There was a leader and a local guide with 2 drivers.