Taiwan 2008

I have always wondered what the real Shilin Taiwan XXL Crispy Chicken taste like. Now I know!!!

A month ago, I visited the country of Jacky Wu, numerous mountains, and the famous Ah Li Shan. Here's a pictorial summary:

Lover's Bridge from the famous Meteor Shower. So many people how to love love?!

Sotong at Dan Shui Lao Jie. Super nice! Fresh from the sea and popped into a pot of boiling water! Yum!

Spent a night here, Taoyuan Tessa Resort. We were the only people I saw. I wonder how they make money.

Yeliu's funny rocks. 'Yeliu' derived from the Japanese words which means 'weird-looking stones'. There is supposed to be an elephant here.

Spot the giant clog?

We went to Jiufen for lunch. Jiufen was once a gold-mining town and was occupied by the Japanese during war. Hence, the Japanese influence in architecture. This is a typical Taiwanese meal with noodles, fishballs, and stewed pork rice.

The results of typhoon.

We bought these sweet potato tempura in Jiufen. Very nice even when cold!

At night at Shangri-la Leisure Farm. It wasn't that cold but I want to wear all the wintery stuff I brought!

Amos's wishes for the Kong Ming Deng (Heavenly Lantern). So cute right! He's 5 by the way.

Amos made the breadman for me.

Marble formation in Hualien. Do you see a face?

One of the best instant noodle! Not that cheap though, about S$2.50.

Many motorcycles in Taiwan, otherwise known as "ji che". There even have designated areas for them!

There were two toilets in 1 cubicle! Exact same size so it's not for parent and child. Two girlfriends talking about their purchases over peeing? There's not much to buy in Taiwan. But certain cosmetics brands in their department stores are cheaper than in Singapore. A Kose set for example will cost around $120 in Singapore but is only selling at $65 there. Woohoo!!

Sanrio Ferris Wheel in Dream Mall, Kaoshiung.

We tried the Taiwanese noodles at the night market. Taiwan has many night markets, usually opened till 2am. Everything is in very small portions!

Jianfushan Amusement Park at night. Beautiful but essentially for kids only.

The scenic Sun Moon Lake.

The cable car at Jiu Zu, an abbreviated version of all the tribes in Taiwan.

Betel nut! You should try this when you're there! Pretty interesting.

So, chew the nut for 1 minute without swallowing. Spit out your saliva and continue chewing. Some interesting reaction will happen.

I put this on Amos's plate and it toppled. He said his butt had fallen. So I made a butt completed with shit for him.

Taipei 101. Full of branded goods and officially the coldest day of the trip!

Change of guards at 'Freedom Square' (literally and, most probably, wrongly translated from 自由广场)

Night market at Taipei, near the hotel. We stayed at Imperial Hotel, which is quite good but small.

There are 4,000 7-11 in Taiwan. The 4,000th outlet is on Ah Li Shan. So, do not be like my brother and use 7-11 as a landmark. Not going to work. :)

Don't forget Ximending! Full of young people and clothes selling the same things! Oh yes! You can bargain when you shop in Taiwan. :))))

Many of my friends like Taiwanese food. For me, I found many of its dishes are deep-fried, which I am not exactly a fan of. Shopping-wise, there's little to buy, probably because their trends are quite different from Singapore's. Nevertheless, looking at the scenic mountains, enjoying the cool weather, and really, just the company of your family more than make up for any shortfall. :D

Sparry sparry spa

Went to a spa recently. Saw that there are packages for couples. Funnily, this is what we are asked to change into at the spa...

How's that for sexy eh?

My spa started with a little scrub a scrub. I prefer scrub to massage because you feel the effects of a good scrub immediately!

"Die you dead skin cells die!"

I did the mineral salt scrub which supposedly helps to break down fatty deposits and allows you to detox. Should have weigh myself before and after the scrub to test this hor... Anyway, the poo did have some floaty bits, possibly 'fats'??? I wish!

The 30 min scrub was followed by an hour massage. I've been to a couple of spas and I think a good spa is one where the attention is paid to the customer DURING the treatment. In one, the good lady knew which areas of the body are most likely neglected during the daily washing (eg. elbows, back of knees etc) and concentrated her scrubbing powers on those. Others just do through the motion. ("Ok, 5 strokes down the left 5 strokes down the right. Back, arms, shoulders, ass. DONE!)

I cannot stand a hard massage. Things like Thai and Javanese massages will kill me. I went for Swedish massage that was supposedly less painful. WRONG! I normally have a high threshold for pain but somehow massages and I don't rub well together. Oh well... I do give good massage though; many can vouch for that! :D

The massage bed looks like a surgery table somehow. A reflection of my pain?

The couple's bath. Imagine seeing massage oil floating on the surface of the water. Sexy?

Theme party! Yay!

Went to yet another theme party! Only this time, everyone had to dress up as it was for a company event! What to guess the theme?

The 'downstairs' people.

Love it! :) We even went clubbing after the event! :)

Halloween 2008

Oh yeah. A whole month late! Hahaha... Halloween was a blast! At least the dressing-up part was as awesome as ever. I made many parts of my outfit myself! Here's one:

Guess?

Why make your own outfit? Cos it cost $80 to rent a friking outfit which you have to return! Peiying bought her outfit from Spotlight for $54 only! And you can sell the outfit online when you're done with it. Problem with that is I had already decided on a character I wanted and it was not available in stores. Yet another reason to make my own. Here's the grand total:

Good price right?

This was my final outfit:

Can you guess my character? Borrowed the basket from boss and all other clothing found in my cupboard! :)

I also found more of my (better-looking) counterparts:

Some of my friends also made their "virgin" Halloween appearances and had asked me what the theme will be for next year! I guess dressing up is fun! Anyway, this year's theme was "Fairytales". Any suggestions for next year's?

I think the best part about Halloween is to put on the make up! This is the one time you can mess up your eyeliner and be cool about it! Foundation too pale? All the better for the dead look! If you're lucky like me, maybe you will get to meet Saddam, Hitler and Osama!

THE bird nest in Singapore

Many of us will be familiar with THE bird nest in Beijing. But most of us probably would have never seen this:

.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the coolest KTV rooms I have ever seen! However, there is a rather hefty price tag attached to it. The room with the pool table is the biggest. Besides the three TV screen and the pool table, there are also two cocktail tables and enough space to dance. The area can comfortably hold 30 pax. The best part, of course, is the KTV!

Where is this? Guess!

Where do you need these?

Did you play with these when you were young?

Clockwise from top left

Paper ball. When you deflate these and fold it into half, you get your enunch hat. Though why people want an enunch hat is beyond me. Getting your flesh sliced/chopped off is not the definition of fun to me.

Top a.k.a gasing. Not my era and super hard to play.

Air balloons. Mum used to say blowing too much of these will make you retarded. x_x I not stupid hor.

Kuti kuti. Mum and Dad thumbed their noses at these because they don't come with the loops (that will make them look like pendants). Hence, these 'bo ba keh' (don't count) and in kuti kuti terms, are of absolutely no value.

Marbles a.k.a goli. Boys toys. Pah!

Five stones. I love the ones with seeds, but these, sadly, are filled with rice. Bouncy!

Chapteh. This is apparently the 'fake' one as the weight distribution is not very good.

Of course, we still have our hopscotch, zero point, and tok kah (one leg). Ah! How old this makes me feel... +_+

Costumes

I went clubbing recently. There was supposed to be a dress-up theme. Excited, I called up the girls and commanded that they dressed to the theme. What's the theme? Some hints:

Hint 1: The most 'full-length' image I could find. Look at the clothes!

Hint 2: It's in the eyes!

Hint 3: I got lots of help from mama!

Okay, okay. I know our dressing didn't come off quite as obvious in the images than up close. And I know the eye make-up is what many girls would use today.

Did you guess it? Does bell bottoms, big hairband, mod, hippy, heavy eye make-up connote anything to you? Drum roll please... *drrrrrrrrr... drrrrrrr..drrrr*

Balik Kampung! Dress like your parents when they were young!

Luckily I got the girls to dress like they did. Otherwise, I'll look like a goon because pretty much no one else did! Sad right? What's a themed party when no one makes the effort to dress up for it! Haiz...

SJ channelled the retro look (think Chen Mei Guang), JT did the 50s look (think Pleasantville or Ah Ma look :P), Serene had her retro gear going on (plastic earrings, white heels etc...), and Dora put in her half-hearted mod look (Twiggy? +_+). Me? I went for hippy! I even did the center-parting ok!

The club did try (somewhat) to adhere to the theme. There were traditional games (hopscotch anyone?), food (ding ding candy, ice balls), some setup within the club, a trishaw outside, and some staff dressed very kampung-like. But that was it! Besides us, I did not spot anyone who dressed up at all! It was the conventional clubbing gear. You know, dresses/spag tops/demin bottoms for the girls, and tees/jeans for the males.

Recently, after the fact that I will turn 26 next year smacked me while I was writing the date, I realised you are only young once (cue Alphaville's Forever Young). If we don't dress up like a goon now, when will we do it?

Embrace your youth! Take lots of pictures! Have a laugh!

Let your creativity run free! Wear things you normally wouldn't wear! Try looks that you feel are not you at all!

Make a mosaic! Print it out! Frame it up!

Despite the lack of thematic dressing from everyone else, I had lots of fun! Drsesing up was a plus. Mum seemed more excited than me, digging out her old stuff and grandma's! I wasn't going to wear no heirloom clubbing so I'm glad to say grandma's watch is still safely tucked away. Somewhere. (:

So, what are you going to wear for Halloween?

A joke

4 men were
playing mahjong.






Being old men, they had quite a bit of phlegm. So they used



the spittoon





and all contributed to its sticky contents.

One men was sick of playing with cash, so he announced, "Let's have some variety today! The loser shall take a sip from the spittoon."

And so it was agreed upon; the loser shall have



a drink of gunk.



In an hour, the loser was decided. Plucking his courage, he took up

the spittoon







and opened his mouth. The others watched with morbid fascination as his throat moved up and down. It was only until he had tipped the entire contents into his mouth was Lao Lin able to exclaimed,"A sip man! A sip! Why did you finish everything?"

"It just kept coming."