mrsjono

I am not an animal lover. I remember walking into a pet shop with my JC classmates and the girls were busy swooning over all the rabbits and hamsters trapped in plastic boxes. All I could recall was hoping to get out of the shop as soon as possible bcos it stinks. But I don't dislike animals. I'm fine with them as long as they are clean and don't attempt to attack me.

When I was in Danshui, I realised the dogs there are so different from the dogs back home. They are not on leash bcos, well, they don't need to be controlled. They don't bark at people and they're so comfortable with human beings. Even the small dogs don't jump around that much. I hardly touch animals to begin with but I was drawn to these furry friends. They looked at me when I pat their heads and there was something in their expression when our eyes met. There was a connection. A sparkle. An acknowledgement of each other's presence.

The last time I walked a dog, it was pulling me rather than me controlling it. Jeez. They go wild and super hyper when they're out, a result of being cooped up at home for too long I believe. His poor family dog hasn't gone for a walk for the longest time and he releases all his pent-up energy by barking and attacking me, every single time I visit, without fail. I seriously think the dogs back home must be suffering from mild depression due to lack of space to run about. It's just too congested in our city and the dogs are going crazy.

We were walking around in Yang Ming Shan and this dog ran past us and disappeared up the hill. It came zooming downhill when we were trying to get someone to help us with photos. Turned out that the dog belongs to the man who took a picture for us and I was quite amazed that he's not the least bit worried about letting his dog run around. If a dog is let loose back home, chances are it will never come back. I think that must be the happiest dog I have seen in my life. It's every dog's dream to be in control and to be able to run around, freely.

淡水漁人碼頭·臺北

The most important thing you must do at Jiufen is to try the chewy taro balls at Ah Gan Yi. It's so good he didn't want to share a bowl with me. The place also offers a view overlooking the hills and the coast of Keelung. But the weather (it was drizzling) and the weekend crowd dampened my spirits and supposedly cosy ambience. Go on a weekday if possible so that you don't have to fight for the window seats. The narrow street was lined with lanterns (they remind me of Lijiang) and thronged with people it was difficult to stop and look around. So we left and hopped onto the slow mo train at Rui Fang to Shifen.

I finally understood why there is Kongming lantern (孔明灯) in Chengdu. It's amazing piecing together traces of the past picked up from different countries.


Birthday present for birthday boy!

Steamboat buffet dinner @ 锅大王




The most beautiful piece of memory is not captured on photos but imprinted in our minds. I hope the mesmerizing view of Taipei city made your birthday today memorable and unforgettable. Happy Birthday.

First time staying in service apartments. Ironically, there isn't any service at the apartments which was fine for us because we don't need to ask for travel information.

Ding Ding offers shared facilities like free internet, washing machine and public phone along the corridor. Our assigned room was right along the corridor. Angmoh next door did his laundry at 12 midnight and I had to sneak out to stop it. Angmoh heard no sound and on it again. The phone rings and no one pick up. Phone doesn't belong to anyone in the first place of cos no one will pick up. But the saving grace was, we used the (laptop to search and) phone to call up our next apartment bcos Ding Ding was full. Just that the phone bill came up to S$5 worth of NT10 coins.

We moved from Houshanpi to a newly renovated apartment at Zhongxiao Fuxing. Everything was new and clean. First tenant of the unit. No neighbours, no shared facilities. Quiet, luxurious and expensive. It was just for one night and we shifted to Taipei Train Station the next day.

Taipei Zhuwo is my favourite. Cosy and personal. Which hotel provides cotton buds, detergent and hair dryer in the room? Alien leaves two books on the desk in every room - a guestbook and housekeeping booklet. There were also a few pages on her travel around Taiwan and how she started her own apartment. I could see 101 if I press half of my face on the window. Walking distance to metro can be deceivingly long especially when we're dead beat after a long day. It takes at least 20 mins to exit the metro, go through the underground mall, up the escalator and take two lifts to reach our room.

Thanks to him for choosing these strategic locations. Get ready some coins if you're prepared to stay in a service apartment in Taipei. You'll know why you need it when you get there. Even when we ran out of cash on the last day, the most important thing was to save some coins to call Alien to retrieve our luggage :)

Night markets are awesome cos after eating, it's shopping time and after shopping you can go back and eat again when you're hungry. The best part is, both food and clothes are good and cheap, with lots of variety to choose from. Damn shiok! These are the night markets he brought me to in chronological order:

Long Shan Temple (龍山寺) was built in 1738, incorporating designs of temples from the Qing Dynasty and post Japanese occupation period. It's located just beside Hua Xi Jie. Worth taking a look.


雕工精细 古色古香




I'm finally here at the real Shilin




Frequent by students from Shifan University


His favourite 燈籠鹵味-don't over order it can easily cost S$5!


The popular big crepe. We had banana chocolate flavour. Half the time we were licking off chocolate stains hur.

I had such an awesome time at the night markets. We reached our service apartment past 12 midnight everyday (I've never hanged out this late in other countries) and by the time we washed up it was almost 1am!

After rolling our heads around for 4 hrs (boy it felt long, too used to 1-2hrs on the last 3 flights), we reached Taipei at around 12.30pm. (Yes! The city is awake!) At Taoyuan International Airport, the first sound my ears picked up was Chinese, to be specific, Taiwanese Chinese. It was melodious. No curling of tongue and speech that sounds vulgar. As we moved closer to the city centre, I caught a glimpse of Taipei 101. "Look!!! 101!!!" I tugged his shirt. He looked at me blankly. It could probably be the zillionth time he has seen it. It was much more magnificent in real life than it looks on one-dimensional pictures.

I quite enjoyed walking around in the museum, reading about Sun Yat Sen's life. Revolutionists may not have the best ideas (like Mao) but their determination to change the world and rally for aid/support is respectable. It's so difficult to change and influence people around us, much less a nation of millions. Don't you think?


What I really like about their public spaces is how people connect to the place and interact in it. People gather around these cultural places for their dance practices and they are able to express themselves freely without feeling awkward, something that will never happen back at home.


I couldn't take my eyes off the bamboo inspired building.


When we exited the station, I was so delighted to see this brilliant palace hovering in front of me.


It had the splendours of the imperial palaces in the Forbidden City, from the statuettes on the roofs


to the long red columns and the design of the roof truss


我也要自由


The National Concert Hall is a popular hangout spot for youngsters today. We reckoned one of the reasons why students chose to practise their dance here is bcos they can see their own reflection and movements on the glass doors.


I was browsing through the photos he took two years ago and I discovered they actually changed the words on the plaque from 臺灣民主紀念館 to 中正纪念堂. Why huh?


The bronze statue certainly does not look like Chiang Kai Shek. He should be wearing his uniform and not this traditional set of Chinese clothes!


He's remembered as a Japanese-looking military man for goodness sake!



Symmetrical corridor


这是我第五次来啦!


自由广场让我想起天安门广场 那感觉好相似 好怀念