Back from Jo'burg. To make everything less painful, she's going to condense the Taiwan trip a lil.
Taipei --> Hualien

The next morning, they witnessed the changing of guards at the Martyr's Shrine. Two soldiers stand guard at the gate of the Marytr's Shrine and every hour, their place will be taken over. These Ah Bing Ge (local term for soldier) are trained not to move an inch of their body while on guard, not even to blink their eyes. How do they acchieve this? By lighting up a bunch of incense over their face for a few hours everyday. Apparently, when the incense burnt out, the eyes get so relieved you achieve a new kind of clarity you'll need not blink them as much.

The next stop was Yehliu. Here, natural rock forms an amazing array of artistic shapes courtesy of erosion and other natural forces. And they took picture with The Queen!

To get to Chiufen, the bus climbed up a rather winding mountain road (little did they know more were to come). Story has it Chiufen got its name this way - Long time ago, a woman was washing her clothes at the river nearby. After much rinsing, she realised speckles of sparkly bits on her clothes and feeling rather curios, she went home and showed her husband. Her husband took one look and knew the sparkly bits were actually gold. And so started a mining frenzy among the 9 families who lived there. Since they lived up in the mountain, they instructed the grocer down the mountain to deliver groceries every fixed day. The shopkeeper would then prepare 9 portions of groceries to be sent up and whenever someone asked him where he's about to go, he would just reply "Chiufen", which literally means nine portions. And that's how Chiufen got its name. Since the old mining field is gone, Chiufen today depends on tourism to survive. Narrow lanes with tiny shops selling all kind of delicacies tempt tourists to part with their money. And in Taiwan, one can go on sampling all the food down the entire street if one wish without incurring rage from the seller, which is a good thing as hey, advertising could be misleading, especially for food.

















Amazing dessert in progress. Firstly, peanut brittle is sprinkled on popiah (spring roll) skin

Bloated like a puffer fish, they endured a journey for a few hours before arriving in Hualien. Along the way, they stopped to admire a Taoist temple with elaborate dragon and phoenix carvings perched mightily on the temple roof.

Next, they visited Ami Aborigine Cultural Village. Ami is an aboriginal tribe in Hualien. By they way, Hualien which translates into "Flower Face", got it's name as the Ami people have tattoos on their faces. At the cultural center, guests are entertained with singing and dancing, with the occasional tourists being pulled in to join the dancing.



Hualien --> Kaohsiung

They started the morning by visiting Toroko Gorge, formed by rushing river water which have cut straight through the marble canyon to create a beautiful, narrow ravine with waterfalls and patches of mist clinging to the mountains surrounded by subtropica forests. Toroko National Park is huge, and it would be nice if they had more time to do some trekking as many scenic spots could only be reached by foot. They spent some time watching a short video presentation on Toroko National Park instead.












And then began their torture session as the journey continued from Hualien to Kaohsiung. A back-breaking journey on route cut precariously into mountains side. Sharp bends after another were hurled at the double-decked bus (high spot of gravity, not stable!) and the bus driver manoeuvred them expertly. But oh, the breathtaking view from above. The deep ravines of forest trees were contrasted with the blue sea beyond, you could almost see the foamy waves rushing to the shore, joined by the blue sky. It was almost surreal.

One thing she noticed, the amount of 7-11 in Taiwan is astounding. You can find it in the city, in the most ulu village, even up in the mountain. Why does this small island need so many convenient stores? Because 7-11 and other convenient stores here really live up to their names - providing convenience to people. You can pay your water bills, telephone bills, driving license renewal fees etc at 7-11. Pretty resourceful, no? Probably will not be implemented in Malaysia, otherwise our rakyat where got work to do, right?

They finally reached Kaohsiung and proceeded to Sin Jiao Jiang Night Market. As usual, delicious aroma wafted you could smell it one street away. Besides food, clothes and shoe stalls were abundant, with cheap price to boot.







Kaohsiung --> Taichung

After a hearty breakfast, next on the itinerary was the Spring and Autumn Pavilions. These two huge pavillions are dedicated to Kuan Kung, God of War. A statue of Kuan Yin riding a dragon stood in front of the pavillions.
































Not too far away is the Fo Guang Shan (Buddha's Light Mountain), the headquarter of Chinese Mahayana Buddhist monastic order that has gained a worldwide presence.





After much walking, The Princess was glad to soak away the weariness in Chi Lin Fong Hot Spring. And apparently the correct way to do it is to soak in the hot spring for 15 minutes (not more than that else the body will be dehydrated). Get out from the hot spring, sit around, splash water at some unsuspecting victims for 5 minutes before continuing to soak for 15 minutes and repeat. Should you like to see old papayas, you could even opt to enter the private pool for nudes.

They went to another night market, this time the Fong Jia Night Market. As usual, food, food and more food.

To warm their tummies, they had hotpot dinner. After choosing the preferred meat, one should marinate the meat with egg white as the component of the egg white acts as meat tenderizer. Proceed to create your own sauce from the various ingredients available with peanut sauce as the base ingredient. Combine the leftover eggyolk with the sauce and voila, your own designer sauce.



Taichung --> Taipei

First stop for the day was Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, built to commemorate on the life of the leader of the Nationalist China who moved his government, the Republic of China, into exile to Taiwan after his defeat at the hands of Mao Zedong.




























National Palace Museum houses the world's largest priceless Chinese art treasures. You would have thought it would be in China but Chiang Kai Shek ordered the removal of these treasures from their original place in China and moved them to Taiwan when he fleed, and many of these artefacts are broken or lost during the shipment. Since no photo taking is allowed in the museum, The Princess could not show some of the more interesting pieces, such as decorative pieces carved from a single tusk with details so fine you'd need a magnifying glass to fully appreciate the intricacies involved. Or that piece of natural rock that resembles a piece of pork, The Princess wouldn't suspect a thing if it's served to her.

Of course, trip to Taiwan wouldn't be complete without paying a visit to Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world taking over Petronas Twin Tower and Pearl Towel. Seriously, Taipei 101 is not as imposing as Petronas Twin Tower, probably due to the linked TWO towers of Petronas (instead of one) and the steel material used. In spite of the misleading name, there are actually only 69 levels instead of 101. They didn't visit the highest floor (time constraint, have to pay somemore, KLCC no need to pay also), so they walked around the shopping centre and guess what? They saw a singer frequenting the Shu Uemura counter. How exciting! Eventhough he's not famous now, not that he's ever famous. How come she never ever bump into Wang Lee Hom? *Sulk*









And finally, Shilin Night Market acts as the finale for the entire trip. Always a favourite with Taipei folks, Shilin offers great bargains for clothes and souvenirs. A tasty BBQ topped off the final day before returning to the hotel. However, since it was still early and Hsimending was just around the corner, they proceeded there for more retail therapy. Taipei is such a mecca for stylo clothes at affordable price, The Princess would even say cheap for the quality you get. Let's not delve into what she bought, suffice to say thank God Mama Tju was there to pour cold water on her buying impulse. And as she's writing this, The Princess is rueing her decision not to get that pair of shoes or that piece of dress. Oh well, there's always next time. Oh, and Mama Tju tried her first Chau Taufu (A kind of fermented toufoo, smell so bad it's like putting your 3-day socks into the mouth).





And that's it, a pretty hectic trip to Taiwan with her family. Next time, no more sightseeing, just head straight to Hsimending or Wufenpu.