24 July: Kayaking and snorkeling at JI LUNG

so about a few weeks ago me and the boys signed up for a trip to ji lung to kayak and snorkel .

we boarded the bus at 8 am and headed out to shihlin first to fetch the other half of the students from the other school and headed to the ji lung area to have fun.

it was around 1hr plus ride and we arrived at the place, we didnt put on sun screen as the place we will be snorkeling at is actually a government protected nature reserve for some of the rarest corals and fishes in taiwan.

So to begin , we went to take our equipment, a anti slide shoe , life jacket and a snorkeling mask and also a helmet.

we headed out and picked our boats and paddle sticks. I partnered with xuan you , one of our taiwan schoolmates for the 2 man kayak .

we started off pretty roughly lol i would say, we had difficulties catching up and often sway in the other directions which could be very dangerous as there are sharp rocks and fragile corals around the area.

we managed to arrive at Point B , a place where we have to go through a series of lessons.

Jumping from a high ground and dive into the deep ocean. Which is very scary when i stepped on the first stages ledge, the ledge was a rock.

so i jumped down and gushed through the deep water safetly. it was fun. very fun haha although some water went in my nose.

so the next lesson well , we went to a higher ledge on the same rock, the rock is a huge boulder in the middle of the sea.

well i did not hesitate and jumped straight away.

and now for the third lesson, each of us except cindy ( teacher) climbed one by one to the highest point of the boulder.

I climbed, it was terrifying yet exciting.

the instructor was telling me to go whenever i feel like it, to be honest i dont really scared, just excited actually.

but heres the part where i screwed up , when i leapt of the rock, i dont know why but i tucked my legs in and my ass was first to land on the water, so i literally dive bombed my ass into the deep ocean , when i got up my ass felt like someone just gave me a wide ass spank on it.



after wards, we picked up the snorkeling googles and head down to swim , and admire the deep blue sea of ji lung , its okay . i wont say its that pretty but overall its still a good view of the corals and stuff, though i had like 5 gulps of sea water. swimming halfway we looked down and the instructor dived under to take a pic for us , which is cool af.

So after that, we had to kayak back, well long story short we capsized on the way back ,lol.
i actually wanted to capsize for along time as i wanna feel the thrill of it, not sure for xuan you though.but the capsized was not planned and we both got so embarrased as we are the last ones to get on shore .

after returning the kayaks equipments (which is so damn tiring)
we had lunch.

then headed towards the aquariums the center had and learnt about the areas eco system...
and many kinds of endangered fishes and saw a huge grouper that can knock me out with one swing.

after wards we thanked the instructor and headed home.

it was indeed a fun day!

Trip to jiu fen ! 14 July -15

today we had our breakfast at another location around our hotel , we’d decided to have some tradional and authentic Taiwan breakfast so we ate at one of the Food courts in Ximending .
I got myself some meatball soup and fried oysters .

After breakfast I followed my cousins as they went to shop around the area and for lunch we ate mala hotpot .

I would say the hotpot is amazing as they have free flow beer/wine and also a wide selection of meat .

After wards we took a bus from Ximending 965 and headed to Jiufen . Surprisingly the bus ride wasn’t that Long .

So we reached jiu fen and I was blasted with nostalgia as I once came here along time ago .
The place was beautiful . I can’t even describe so I attached some pics below .

We went up the stairs and entered the famous Jiufen Old Street . There was many tourist which kinda ruined the atmosphere for me but it’s all good .
There was also a lot of store pets there and I couldn’t resist myself to touch them 。

After getting their souvieners we went down to take a bus and it was very full , but we were sort of lucky as we see mountains of people trying to get on our bus but had to wait hours for the next .

After arriving back at Ximending , we went to takeout some 阿宗面线 back to the hotel to eat as supper .

I drank so much milk tea to a point that’s unhealthy but hey it’s once in a while . We watched IT on the hotels tv channel and went to sleep as we were so tired after the jiu fen trip .



- final day for me and my cousins together
We had the tradional taiwan breakfast and walked around the area for abit , we then went to animate to take a look at books as my Cousin is interested in them .

Afterwards we went back to hotel as I packed up my stuff .

We then headed off to tamsui , where I stay , to have a final tour with them .

We walked around the old streets and had 卤肉饭 for lunch .
They bought many souvieners which are snacks to bring back to Singapore .
Afterwards I said goodbye to them as they went back to Ximending as their flight is the next day.
Overall it was a fun and exhausting trip I would say. Would definitely want a second trip in the future !

Cousins came ! 13-14 July

It’s Saturday morning and my cousins are arriving to Taiwan to meet up with me and have fun going around the country, so I woke up at 6 and went to fetch them at the airport .

We then left to Ximending , where they booked the hotel,it was originally booked for 3 people as I wasn’t planing to overnight with them but I decided to wing it and take a day off on Monday to spend more time with my relatives .

Was thinking that the staff won’t notice a fourth person when checking in but sadly she did . But yeah we had to top up a lil bit more but it was surprisingly affordable .

After settling and leaving the luggage’s in the hotel as the time for checking in is only 3pm onwards and it is 10am so we decided to roam around .

We had our breakfast at the famous Ximending 永和豆浆大王.
I got some salted soy bean curd and some youtiao . And i somehow don’t really like the rest of it as it just taste like beancurd with oil . Wel maybe it’s just me.


So after that we went on to 龙门寺 for my cousins to get their wishes .
The weather was melting hot and the temple have a lot of tourist , but it was a fun day as I explored around the temple and it has some interesting things to do as I am a Buddhist .

Then we headed to Taipei 101 for lunch , and ate at ichiran ramen .
Pretty good ramen with amazing atmosphere I would say.


Afterwards we went to 五分埔商圈 , a place dedicated solely for fashion and the ladies went on a shopping spree. I also got myself some clothes that looks appealing to me and the prices are not that bad .

So after getting the clothes and stuff , we went to 饶河夜市 to have our dinner , getting there was pretty easy as it was close by 五分埔商圈

Upon arriving the night market , there was so many people that we have to squeeze through the crowd .
There was a lot of food stalls and we had to continue walking along the path of not we will get stampeded . I actually lost one of my Cousins in the crowd but thankfully I managed to find her .

After food we went back hotel and walked around Ximending and then sleep

27 june : 阳明山

So today was a special day as we were planning to go to 阳明山。

So we had to wake up at 7am to prepare and head out , after preparing, we headed out to the nearby breakfast store to eat and alvin and alwin got their lunch to takeaway as well.

We then took the bus to 淡水mrt and took the mrt to 北投，and then wait for a long 40mins for the bus to 阳明山。

It was a long bus ride, somewhat like genting if i were to say the landscape of the entrance of the mountain.

There was alot of elderly in the bus and the bus was going round and round the wavy mountain roads, which made me a little motion sick but its all good.

After reaching we Had to take another transfer bus to go in further to the mountain. there was a few tourist traps there at the bus terminal while waiting such as people offering absurd prices just to ferry the people up in cars and was lying about the travel time of the bus being long and pointless. But the bus came and he was so wrong.

Upon arrival we were greeted with rain, countless of rain in fact thru out the whole journey.

The sulfur spewing mountain was right at the entrance and it amazed me as i have never seen such sights before, it smelled like hard boiled eggs to me somehow.

We then began climbing.

It was steep, Countless of stairs and rocky platforms that was dangerous.

As we go higher the fog gets more thicker and we couldnt even see the place where we came from.

It was a cool sight to look at and it was pretty chilling as well.

When we reached the peak after i would say an hour plus ? 

we sat at the top and was glancing around, due to the rainy season the fog covered literally everything so we didnt really get to see the beautiful sceneries, there was also alot of huge bugs flying around at the peak and i dont know why.

We then began our descent and walked.

It started pouring heavily as we were climbing down the steep rocks , i almost fell a couple of times.

Our bodies were drenched completely. 

After that agonizing descent we arrived in the hot spring area.

took a bit of rest outside at the gazebo and decided to go in to have some relaxing time.

This is where i got so shocked.

As we went in ,the whole hot spring( male only) was filled with naked old men, so we were quite awkward at first as we didnt really know what to do so i decided to go in with my boxers. 

Only to get reprimanded in a funny way by the old dudes, saying everyone here is naked so theres nothing to be scared or afraid, so in our minds we just said f*ck it and stripped down , we also had to scrub clean our own bodies before entering.

After soaking in the natural hot spring water for awhile , i realised its not too bad afterall .

Upon finishing we wore back our soaked shirts as we didnt bring our towels and headed back home.

SHIHLIN NIGHT MARKET

so we decided have a stop here and have a quick dinner, i got some chicken cutlet and pork pepper buns.

Afterall , today is a unforgettable experience as i would never get it in singapore.

23 june : Swimming

i went out to the tamsui sports complex with both alvin and alwin to experience the area.
It costed us 75ntd per person so its quite affordable.
there was quite a few different facilities such as a sauna , steam room , an olympic size pool and also a few hot springs and jaccuzis.

The boys went for their laps and after that we went to relax at the jaccuzzi areas, and then enter the steam room. It was so humid that i almost couldnt breathe. After that we went ahead into the 75 degrees sauna, with several old man. it is so hot inside and filled with the odours of several old man.

After 5 agonizing minutes we came out and headed back out to family mart for a quite convience store dinner
.

20 june : XIMENDING

i woke up, went to hit the gym and came back to the dorm, as there was no classes i was feeling bored.

So i had an idea, why not go to Ximending ? I asked alvin to tag along and suprisingly the girls are free at the same time so why not？

It was a long train ride, we had to take a bus, then spend 50mins on the mrt and then transfer to another mrt for another 10mins back and fro.

Upon reaching we were greeted with a blast of heat , as it was summer period and it was SO hot.
i sweated so much upon arrival, We walked around the crowd and looked around the area.

The area is very big and packed with many many shops. We had a Hard time deciding what to eat for lunch.Haha!

We finally settled and headed for a japanese restaurant.
Meal was Average and nothing much fancy about it.

Afterwards we walked around and i remembered that sam likes anime and i searched up on the area and found that within 15mins distance there is a anime shop and so we went there.

Getting the merchandise purchased, everyone was dead tired and hungry for dinner.
We ran out of ideas at ximending so we eventually settled for saizeriya.

Then we went back dorm to rest.

14 JUNE 2019 - a trip to taipei

as we had no lessons on the day, i had a sudden decision to go to taipei 101 to check out the ichiran ramen store and asked my roommate alvin to tag along.

transport was long, as the stop for the taipei 101 was at the utmost end of the red line.

When we reached, cold breeze greeted us as well as countless of tourist.So we ventured to the ichiran ramen store as i gaze upon the sheer size of the taipei 101 building.

Upon arrival of the shop, i was amazed by the interior and atmosphere of the environment . It legit feels like i am in japan. The food costed roughly $26sgd for an ramen add-on and a desert.
Its good, i give it a solid 9/10.

Afterwards i went shopping around the town and the price is actually slightly higher than singapore to my suprise.

We then head to shihlin night market for more food. Navigating to the place was pretty easy as its just a 5min walk away from the mrt.There is so much people there i could barely stand in one place for long.And i didnt really try anything there except the pork buns since i was still pretty full from my ramen lunch. Overall the nightmarket seems okay as there is a huge variety of food stalls and also misc shops to look at.

Day 5 端午节

Morning
i woke up at 7am to run and to my surprise ,it is really hot in the morning even at 7AM!
i ran 2.9km and got back to hi life to chill in the aircon as it was so hot outside. after that  i went back and took a nap till 12 . I then went down to get some food with alwin .

There is no lesson today as it is a public holiday in taiwan called 端午节 .
so we had to meet at the 淡水老街 area. But the buses are not operating so we had to take an LRT , then change mrt to reach 淡水。

we reached 淡水 and there is SO many people there along with those countless of chinese crackers , which is very loud and flashy. we were supposed to be there to film our reference for 八家将.

unforunately we didnt managed to see the action of the 八家将 as it was getting late and we are quite tired afterwards.

day 4

Morning
had a presentation about marketing strategy from yahoo taiwan.
afterwards we went to have a lesson on drawing .

lunch
went to OK to grab some rice wine noodles and pudding to eat.
and at the same time washed our clothes using the machines on the 7th floor.
the dryer was not that efficient so we ended up hanging the clothes in our room. hanging on bedframes and tables.we then got our sim cards from Cindy the teacher of tumt.

Dinner
we went to carrefour to get some stuff like washing liquid etc. then headed to eat at saizeriya.

Day 3

Morning 

we started off the day with breakfast at the same cafe and had some toast.

after that we went to have a lesson on fypj alike classes in tumt.

we also had a discussion on the massive game project we are about to do.

lunch

we went ahead for a cafe led by the tumt students.

the food was good and we went back for a presentation class.

Dinner

we had to meet up with the vice-principal of tumt at taipei for a dinner.

we met up with the FUJIAN exchange students to have dinner together as well.There was amazing food..beer and the vice principal was very keen on drinking wine with the students.I went to approach the FUJIAN students to have a quick chat and turns out they are very friendly! Though they cant speak english well so they did not interact with the other sidm students  except me but i had a good time chatting with them.

Day 2

Starting the day
we headed for breakfast at the nearby breakfast stall outside campus, had some toast and it was really good.
after that we went straight ahead to class and had a briefing about the project we are about to embark on.


Lunch
we went ahead with the tumt students to tamsui for some street food and had a huge serving of gyoza and dumplings, after that the students also helped us obtain our travel cards from 7-11.
we then head back to school on a bus ride.

Class
We started off in a class of 2d unity lesson where we had to do a mock up of a pokemon battle scene transition, the instructions were in chinese and even though i am fluent in chinese, i had some minor troubles with learning due to not having any knowledge about unity but thankfully the tumt students are very helpful.

Dinner
after class the group of sidm students headed out to tamsui oldstreet for some good food.
had some delicious beef dumpling soup in a old traditional store.

Day 1 : the journey begins

Day 1 :


FLIGHT
flight was at 7am , i planned ahead and went to the airport at 12am to take a look around the airport.
I regret doing that as i was exhausted and tired when i boarded the plane , and to top it off it was a 4hr and 50min flight. And whats even better than a exhausted person on a long hour flight? two 8 year olds banging, screaming and swinging their chairs the whole period of the flight. i am so glad it was over.
Reached taiwan 20 minutes ahead of schedule as we went to fill in the tourist white forms as required.We then took our luggages and proceeded to exit the airport and meet two Very , Very friendly Tumt students and also a lecturer.
We boarded the Coach they arranged for us and it was very spacious, i was severly carsick due to lack of water for long periods of time , and it took awhile to adapt to the humidity of the country , thankfully it was not hot as it just rained.


ARRIVAL TO TUMT
i would say it was a smooth 1 hour plus ride to the campus, we alighted at the dorms area first to put our luggages inside our own dorms. Was greeted by probably the most friendly person i have ever met, the dorm manager,致玮so ,TUMT senior who is graduating soon. He handed us our keys and had our fingers registered into the school system and also the gates, which i find it convient when going in and out of the dorm area.We were led to our dorms by him and settled down our stuff.
First impression , although it was abit dusty and not maintained properly, i find it very cosy as i always have wanted to live in a dorm after watching taiwan films, and it indeed is quite fun after cleaning it of course. We had a cash card for the aircon which is interesting , basically the card runs out fast if  we set it too low .But overall it was okay.

BUYING OF AMENITIES 
After settling down our luggages, we went straight to 家乐福(carrefour) on the teachers cars to buy our amenities
We had lunch first as we were dead hungry after long hours of flight.
Afterwards we went to the mart to get things like mattress and pillows we went to look for toilet paper, had a shock as the toilet papers in taiwan do not have rolls inside ,which is very weird for us singaporeans.
Getting the stuff done, we headed to the cashier and purchased the stuff, the store staff was helpful and helped us with pushing the trolleys to the counters for us ,sadly you will never see this in singapore.
We placed the items in the provided cardboxes and taped it , and had the staff delivered it to our dorms! After that we went back to TUMT .

Welcome Tea session
The school had a welcome session with us together with the current tumt dgad students.
Had some light deserts.and talked to the fellow students.
afterwards we had a welcome dinner at tamsui , it was a hotpot dinner and the servings was huge and we almost could not finish the food.

End of the day
we went back to our dorms, unpacked the things , cleaned up and rested .