From 29th November to 8th December last year, nine of us embarked on our long-awaited post-A's trip to Taiwan. Thanks to Val and Ariel's planning we managed to get the most out of our trip there huhu we owe y'all one :~) This trip was hands-down one of the most memorable trips I've had, one because I loved the company, and also because Taiwan is one of my favourite countries to visit (just remembered that I haven't written about OE Taiwan yet LOL procrastination 101).
:")
Day 1 – November 30th, Friday
Reached Taoyuan Airport before sunrise but stood in the immigration queue till the sun rose HAHA I have no idea why the line was so long welp plus a bunch of us were suffering from blocked noses after the flight oops. Once we were done, we met our driver, 简先生, who then brought us to breakfast at a traditional Taiwanese breakfast place where we had 蛋饼s (egg crepe rolls?) and 锅贴s (potstickers). Good stuff to start off our trip!
Blessed by clear skies!
It was a 5 hour or so ride to our destination for our first day, 清境农场 (Cingjing Farm) – slept a ton because most of us didn't get enough sleep on the plane
清境
haha this looks like something out of an 五月天 MV
(thx Mr Zhongyi for the sik photog skills )
Felt so peaceful lying here watching the clouds move and the colours of the landscape change.
By the time we finished exploring 清境农场 the sun set and we headed off to our accommodation for the night, which was this little homestay tucked away in the hills. The road to the homestay was wide enough for only one vehicle but was meant to support two way traffic so there was lots of reversing haha. But big respect for dem Taiwanese drivers especially 简先生.
Had a nice hotpot dinner then stayed out late to look at stars – it was pretty cloudy at first (unlucky) but it cleared up afterwards and we were blessed by a sky full of stars.
Day 2 – December 1st, Saturday
A bunch of us woke up slightly earlier to catch the sunrise! And we were rewarded with this view –
um we were freezing hahaha it was like less than 10ºC if I remember correctly
What we looked out to as we ate our breakfast
We then set out on our day 2 adventure – which was to hike up to the peak of 合欢山 (Mount Hehuan). The last time I visited 合欢山 we literally took 2 pictures with the sign and left because it was freezing rip. Didn't expect the hike to be so inTEnSe but we did it!
合欢山
Two friendly hikers who helped us take our group photos haha
秘密
Reached the peak!
We were shaggerinos – as evidenced from our faces HAHAHA
The hike up 合欢山 might be exhausting but if you do it at your own pace, it will be ok! Just take in the view (and fresh mountain air) as you walk up to the peak. The scenery from the top will be worth the effort.
After we finished our hike to the top, we walked back down (I rolled on the way down LOL be careful children) we had lunch and proceeded to take a looooong ass drive through Taroko Gorge to get to 花莲城市 (Hualien city).
Some sik pics ! #shotoniPhoneXSbecauseididntbringmycameraout
When we got to 花莲城市 we walked over to 自强夜市 (a night market)! The name was quite a joke because our school's motto is literally 自强不息 hahaha Hwa Chong haunting us everywhere we go
o God bless our sunburnt faces
Being duMB as hell I neither wore a hat nor put sunblock and Ms Ho wore a beanie which had 0 defense against the sun. Jesus
Tried some bomb ass 蛋饼s (approved by 马英九 apparently) and had some real good bubble tea here (honey milk tea, taro milk tea and some kind of diabetes-inducing strawberry milkshake of sorts, if I remember correctly). I personally don't find the 鲜奶茶 kind of bubble tea very noice but different strokes for different folks! Anyway we can all agree that visiting Taiwan is all about drinking as much bubble tea as you can amiright
¯\ _(ツ)_/¯
We got to play quite a few shooting and ball games as well for pretty low prices here too heh
Didn't know my face was so intense while shooting HAHAHA but we had fun reliving our pre- and post-exams pubg marathons
We crossed the road and stumbled across this mini theme park – pretty sure it was for little kids but
We had fun !
We were screaming the entire ride for the fun of it HAHAH but people were staring because we were basically a bunch of oversized kids on a children's ride making a shit ton of noise
(and Zann got motion sickness after this get well soon sister)
We had the whole of our Airbnb (?) residence to ourselves (the whole building basically) for the two nights that we were in 花莲 – and on one of the nights we tried to scare the guys who were on the top floor bedroom which resulted in a lot of screaming... and then we realised that 简先生 stayed in the same building as us HAHAHA pretty sure he thought we were rekt children.
Day 3 – December 2nd, Sunday
Visited 太鲁阁 (Taroko Gorge) today! Was still as beautiful and as tranquil as I remembered it 6 years ago :~)
Our first stop was 燕子口 (Swallows' Grotto) –
My photos do this place zero justice huhu it was much more majestic in real life
After we finished the trail, 简先生 brought us to this recreational area (?) where I only recall Zann, Jiangling, Ariel and I recreating a pubg scene and being rekt in general HAHAHA we need Jesus
Sunrays over the mountaintops
Val as a poster girl for mineral water? yes pls
简先生 drove us a little bit more through 太鲁阁 and brought us to 太鲁阁长春祠 (Eternal Spring shrine). Felt like this was the highlight of 太鲁阁 because it was extremely calming and peaceful to be here.
长春祠
We headed back to 花莲 when we were done and had a hearty bowl of beef noods for lunch before going our separate ways because we wanted to do different things. Val and I decided to give the beach a visit so we could catch the sunset there :~)
Flowers en route!
花莲城市
Whimsical cityscapes –
the city was bathed in golden hour light and became almost something out of a 几米 book :~)
When we reached, it was still a little early for sunset so we waited it out at a quaint little cafe near the beach (there was a doggo in the cafe!) On a funnier note, we were really in need of a toilet and went to this cafe so we could use their toilet. ok but blessing in disguise because this cake was noice
Hues of the sky when we went to the beach again –
Photo taken by Val when she went down to the beach ~
Watched the colours of the sky change as we lay down on the ledge (thank God we did not fall off hahaha) and talked about Life™. Then it turned dark and we were like o shit because Val's phone ran out of battery and I didn't have 3G on mine ha ha ha so we had to navigate back to our hotel ourselves. With the help of a few kind Taiwanese dudes and Val's nAviGatiOn sKilLs, we made it back to our place safely HAHAHA thanks Val you rock more than Google Maps.
Had pizza for dinner (courtesy of 简先生!) and had a mini birthday celebration for Jiangling and me huhu I hate surprises but :") and also we now have that meme video of Owen staring at our cake so cheers to that HAHAHA
Day 4 – December 3rd, Monday
Woke up at 5am to catch the sunrise at the same beach Val and I visited the previous day –
Jiangling in all her glory
Rock tower stacked by Val!
Our star rock-stackers
Grabbed a quick breakfast consisting of fruit milk (my love! it tastes like the milk you get after soaking froot loops in it LOL if you want diabetes just drink this everyday), Family Mart fried gyozas and onigiris (Family Mart rocks). After we packed our stuff 简先生 drove us over to 七星潭 (Qixingtan beach).
七星潭
The road back to 台北 (Taipei) –
Qingshui Cliff
Upon reaching our 台北 hotel we made our way to 西门町 (Ximending) for dinner. and treated ourselves to a steamboat dinner which cost 798 yuan per person (35 bucks rip wallet) #treatyoself. To be fair it was really good + Jiangling and I really did enjoy the sauce we made (literally Japanese soy sauce and spring onions HAHAHA)
Non-mala fam where you at ???
... clearly they didn't know there was a plastic packet of instant noodle seasoning cooking at the bottom of their soup HAHAHA how to get food poisoning 101
Day 5 – December 4th, Tuesday
Our whole day today was spent at 西门町 – when I saw that the itinerary dedicated one whole day to 西门町 I was like yer w0t m8 bc I remember being rly bored when I visited 西门町 6 years back. Surprise, surprise, there are actually quite a few fun things you can do while at 西门町! And thanks to Ariel, we were kinda able to experience a day of being Taiwanese Teenagers™ (ooo alliteration) and do things that our Taiwanese counterparts may do on their off-days.
First up, we had 阿宗面线 (Ay Chung rice noodles) for breakfast / lunch / brunch (? I mean we woke up and left pretty late ha). What the hell, I don't even like pig intestines but this was actually some good $hit. 100/100 would eat again the next time I'm back! And of course we had some good ol' bubble tea to go with our meal huhu I have a newfound love for honey milk tea ~
Next, we went to this sports-place-thing which comprises an arcade, a baseball training-thing and a place where you can try shooting with different kinds of guns (the shooting only costs like 10 SGD so that is honestly super worth and we were excited because it puts your pubg skills to the test HAHAH)
f o c u s
Dance dance revolution!
The pros playing HAHAHAH it was my first time trying this and I flopped so bad. bless up
Lastly, we took the opportunity to watch the movie 比悲伤更悲伤的故事 (More Than Blue) because why not right. Rarely do you get the chance to watch a Taiwanese movie in Taiwan itself ! I thought I would cry a shit ton of tears but nah the movie was too tragic that it became a meme (or maybe my level of eye control was very high ye) HAHAHA I'm just a hater. tbh I think the Taiwanese are exposed to so many of these tragic movies that the people we watched with barely had any reaction too welp.
We also spent (way too much) time (and money) playing with the claw machines at 西门町! How could I forget this hahaha. Zhongyi and Chloe proved to be the Dynamic Duo bc they won so much shit – while the rest of us were busy hunting for machines which required fewer tries for one to be guaranteed a prize LOL #lifehacks
Day 6 – December 5th, Wednesday
We decided to head over to 淡水老街 and 淡水渔人码头 (Tamsui District and Fisherman's Wharf) for the day. Before that, we had a hearty traditional Taiwanese breakfast of brekkie burgers and 豆浆 – and it was so good that we dabao-ed more for breakfast the next day heh. Can't remember the exact name or location of the place but it was near Taipei Main Station if I recall correctly! Places selling these can be found almost on every street so ye go try some wholesome traditional Taiwanese breakfast meals!
Taking the MTR and watching the view change from skyscrapers to low-rise buildings
淡水老街
Met a doggo at one of the shops so that was a bonus :")
Something cool you should try here would be this tall a$$ ice cream
When we thought we saw enough at 淡水老街, we started walking over to the wharf (it is possible to take a bus there too if you're lazy but the walk isn't too long either). There are quite a few small shops selling pretty affordable artsy-touristy things at 淡水老街 and along the way from here to the wharf so no harm checking them out :~)
yea and Owen got trolled by a Turkish sticky ice cream (Dondurma) seller hahaha I love it
It was cloudy that day. tragic
We finally made it to 情人桥 (Lovers' Bridge) –
Didn't get the golden sunset we were looking forward to but it was still quite the view
– accurate definition of "it really do be like that sometimes"
While on the MTR back to Taipei we decided to split and go our separate ways once more because Val and I felt that Shilin night market was overrated so we went to Eslite bookstore instead.
My date for the night! along with this sick view of Taipei 101 and some bomb ass spaghetti
We really shouldn't be left unsupervised because our Chinese is absolute shit and I somehow ended up telling the waitress that Val didn't have money in her wallet HAHAHA the waitress was like yer wot m8. Anyway we took a photo with her so all was well I guess (and we paid for the meal HAHAHA)!
While we were window shopping (Extremely Expensive) washi tapes and stationery and attempting to sketch Owen's face, the others enjoyed some gr10 ramen and Tiger Sugar milk tea at Shilin and hiked up 福州山 (Fuzhoushan) to catch some sik views of the city and Taipei 101. So there was a point in time when we were all basically admiring Taipei 101 from different perspectives hahaha.
The view from 福州山 – as taken by mr dj
Day 7 – December 6th, Thursday
Probably (one of) my favourite day(s) here because we got to visit 九份 (Jiufen) and 十份 (Shifen) – two of my favourite places in Taiwan. And 九份 rocks because when you're there it is almost as if you are stepping into a scene from Spirited Away :~)
En route
十份
小猫咪
放天灯
Our lantern was probably the most colourful one bc each colour represented different meanings and we wanted all of it but we didn't want to spend our money on multiple lanterns lmao #poorstudentproblems
I mean our lantern was quite nice other than the dick rocket on one of the sides hahaha
Next, we tried motorbiking (albeit a relatively short distance) to 十份大瀑布 (Shifen waterfall)! Are we cool yet hahaha. It is pretty safe because the roads there aren't very busy so this is something really cool and worth trying if you visit 十份.
Overly excited children on Vespas hahaha
A wrong turn and 15 minutes later – we made it to 十份大瀑布!
A sight to behold !1!!1!1!
After our mini-adventure and multiple attempts to speed on our motorbikes (the speed limit was like 30km/h or something rip), we had a bento lunch at 菁桐 (Jingtong) train station which consisted of braised pork (???) and some veggies. It was a good meal but they didn't have enough meat HAHAHA and vegetables are for noobs. When we were done, we took the train to 忠孝復興 (Zhongxiao Fuxing) station (and managed to facetime Yuanxin, Justin and Denzel who were on their way to prom!), then took a bus to 九份.
It was raining and foggy when we got to 九份 so we were s o a k e d (ok maybe not exactly soaked) but it was ok because the rain made the whole setting even more fantastical.
九份
Some 汤圆 place –
Satisfied our 小笼包 cravings at this restaurant we stumbled upon
Zann Is Extra™
The famous flight of stairs!
but I couldn't find a good way to photograph it so here is the best I could do
(Inspired by Owen 师傅)
Yea and of course they had to reenact drama scenes HAHAHA
(天灯 scene from 那些年 but the dude clearly thought we were more of a public nuisance HAHA)
Ended off the day with jokes and drinking games in our hotel room! Although we had to go down twice to the Family Mart below our hotel (in our pajammies #fashun) to top up our alcohol and fruit juice oops. A very wholesome night despite the fact that Owen ended up spilling Yakult on our bedsheets and blankets rip HAHAHA our 笑点 was super low that night and we were basically laughing at anything and everything LOL
Day 8 – December 7th, Friday
Last day here and we went our separate ways because we wanted to check out this stationery store (cheap and cute washi tapes ! woohoo) while the dudes wanted to see some IT stuff. Can't remember much about what happened on this day because half of us ended up napping at Carrefour (for like 2 hours I'm not kidding) while the others shopped HAHAHA rip damn shag bro.
Oh and I managed to see this at 南港 (Nangang) station!
An illustration from 地下铁 by 几米
(one of my favourite books by him, along with 向左走，向右走)
We then met for a quick 小笼包 dinner at the Din Tai Fung below Taipei 101. The queue was pretty intense and I would say we waited around 1 hour before our table was ready. But you don't have to stand outside the restaurant and wait la so it isn't that bad. However the Din Tai Fung here is honestly overrated and tbh the 小笼包 at Beauty World food centre is better LOL #nohate but yea we ate here just for the experience and the fun of it.
Went back to the hotel to pack our stuff and took one last ride (to the airport this time) in 简先生's van :-(
We are weary travellers ~
Thought 8 days would be a relatively long time, but just like how all holidays are, time flew by so quickly and this post-A's grad trip which we looked forward to for so long was over. It was definitely a great conclusion to our JC lives, and a trip that I believe I will always fondly look back on with much nostalgia :") I think I understand why Taiwanese movies and dramas about youth and growing up always seem to be able to evoke something in us; and there's something about visiting Taiwan with friends that makes you feel really... young and adventurous. (I struggled to find the right words for this!) I know we're still young but getting ready for university and all of us embarking on our different paths makes me feel old. So yes, I think Taiwan is the perfect place for a grad trip – it is relatively easy to get around here, the people are kind, and flights and all are affordable so you don't have to struggle much with #poorstudentproblems. Also if you're a big fan of Taiwanese movies / dramas about growing up like 我的少女时代 (s/o to Wang Talu ur damn hot) or 光阴的故事, then you'll probably love it here! I can safely say that I'll be back someday – this time hopefully revisiting the Southern Cape where I cycled through for OE Taiwan.
And to my companions – thank you for the amazing trip and growing up for me! I really did have the time of my life in JC (and these precious 8 days) :")
Till next time!
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