Tokyo 東京, Japan Trip (Day 1)

27th December 2014, Saturday

Yippie! Going to fly to Japan.....after my first visit in 2009 with a travel agency. This time i am going for free and easy trip..to Tokyo, Nikko, Kyoto, Osaka and Nara. Bought the air tickets from SQ during a promotion...so it costs around $600 plus...Had only started to plan the route on 2 weeks before the actual flight day....and most of the hotels are already packed full due to the New Year.....So had to change the route a few times so as to find available hotels during this period....And of cos, Japan subway/trains network are really confusing....They have too many lines...and you will need to know which line are the JR lines and which are the subway lines....cos you need different tickets for JR and subway trains...and JR are more expensive....We had also ordered our JP passes online and my friend also spent alot of time on which data sim card to buy when we reach there.....We also made a table reservation in this ninja restaurant -Ninja Akasaka (expensive restaurant but there will be ninjas running around in the restaurant and doing stunts while you having your meals).....But we finally managed to get everything booked and prepared despite all the frustrations we had during the planning.....

Disney House in Changi Airport

Went to the airport by myself on cab.....there was a guy waiting for a cab too when i reached to the roadside, think he had been waiting for some time...but i walked further up in front of him and managed to get on a cab before him...felt a little bad for him though...hehehee...Then i reached the airport T3 at around 7 am...The flight was 9.50 am...so after i met up with my friend, we went to check in our luggage and went into the departure....Saw some Mickey's display as Changi Airport Christmas celebration theme....Went to burger king too to eat our breakfast before we walked to our departure gate....We boarded the plane at around 9.30 am...and the plane was decorated with Christmas ornaments inside...and we were flying to Tokyo!!

Suica Card

Airport Shuttle Bus Stop

It was about 6 plus hour to reach Narita airport...once we came out from the arrival hall, we started to look for JR office so that we can exchange our JR vouchers to a JR passes....the office was located in the basement of the arrival hall...and the queue was long...the staff was telling me that the waiting time could take up to 60 mins....but we just continued to wait...while i was in the queue, my friend went to find data sim cards service and Suica pass (like our ez-lnk passes)....Initally she wanted to buy Pasmo pass instead but when she got to the ticket machines, there was no English language for it whereas there was English language in the ticket machines for Suica cards. So she bought Suica pass instead and she could also enter our names to print on the cards....(Both cards can be used to take buses and subway in the whole of Japan...i think there are some train or bus companies which are not allowed using Pasmo pass but allowed with Sucia pass...And there is English language supported in Suica pass. So top up the card is quite easy. But overall these 2 cards are ok to buy if you don't want to spend time on buying individual tickets....Finally i was done with the exchange of the JR passes and at the same time my friend also came back after buying the surica cards...After this, we went up to the bus stop to take the shuttle bus to Tokyo station. It was super cold when we stepped out the airport...the wind also blowing too...we quickly took our jackets (i wore the down jacket which i bought from Taiwan) and wore it....but we had to wait for 10 mins for the bus to arrive...and the trip costs $1000 yen each per pax....The bus came and we boarded...the whole journey took about 1 hour to reach Tokyo station....The bus stopped some distance away from the station, we had to cross the road to enter the station...The station was very big...there were many signs for directions too...even down under the basement level, there was a ramen street and anime street and many other shops....

Inside Restaurant

Pork Ramen

Pork Ramen (Dry)

As it was already 8 plus, we decided to find some food to eat first...getting very hungry already...we went to a ramen shop, which was having a queue there...we bought our ramens from the vouchers machine outside the restaurant....it took us quite a time to figure out which are the dishes and the names....hahaha...was looking for the main character in the long names of the dishes....anyway we managed to buy what we wanted...and we waited for our table....The staff later let us in and sat down on the tables....and our ramen were served very fast...mine was with soup and my friend's one was dry noodles....The ramen and the pork meat were very nice...my friend liked mine better...hahahaha...After eating, we left and went to take the metro to our hotel....but don't know why we had walked to the transfer station (Otemachi station) direction instead of taking metro from Tokyo station...lol....i went up to the street and checked the guide map board and see whether the station was too far away while my friend waited downstairs....Then i went back down and told her it was a straight road down and maybe will take around 5 or 7 mins walk...and it was abit cold too...My friend said ok, we will walk to the next station instead....So we zipped up our jackets and put on our gloves and cheong up and started walking in the cold...lol...It was really cold...stopped by at a 7-11 shop and bought some snacks before we continued our way....

Hotel Room

Finally we reached Otemachi Station and took the Hanzomon line to Hanzomon Station...it was a short trip, just 3 stops away....and we had no idea where to walk after we exited out from the Hanzomon Station exit...and it was also night time....So we turned to the left side and walked towards it but after some time, it wasn't seem correct, so we walked back to the station again and tried to figure....hahaa....We stood in front of the map for at least 10 mins and this time, we turned to the right and walked down. My friend recognized the street name and then we turned into an small alley...and i saw our hotel name high on top of the building...somehow the hotel was the tallest building among the rest of the houses....Finally we reached the hotel...and we checked in the hotel...we got a room in 11 floor and the room space was very small....got a cozy double bed but there wasn't much walk space around...and the toilet wasn't very big too but they had provided Shiseido Shampoo, conditioner and body soap (Shiseido brand is expensive in SG.....hehehe) and even rubber bands, combs and cotton....My friend was very happy that the hotel had provided so good brand shampoo and got coffee for her too.....We even got 2 pairs of slippers too...1 disposable to wear in the room and the other to wear to walk in the hotel grounds....Then i went to take a bath while my friend slept on the bed....and it was sleeping time to prepare our outing for the next day....

Hotel Stayed:
APA Hotel - Hanzomon Hirakawacho
        

Taroko National Park 太魯閣, Taiwan Trip (Day 11)

27th November 2014, Thursday

Singapore Ba Kut Teh

Today, we had planned to go Taroko National Park but i was not sure whether there was any public transport to go up there. So we woke up early before 8, go ready and went down to the hotel canteen to take a peek on the breakfast. It was very simple, we had a bit of food there. Then we made our way to the Visitors Information Center, which was located at the main train station. There, i asked the lady whether there was still slots for the 1 day Taroko tour, luckily there were slots available. The tour costs NT$788 per pax, lunch not included. Need to add another NT$200 if want to include lunch in. Then we walked around the area first as it was still early and the bus wasn't here yet. Bought a small pack of sour plums for my friend, cos she didn't eat her motion sickness pills in the hotel. When the bus came, it was a mini bus and it was already packed with passengers. There was this fat guy who was sitting in a 2 pax's seats, so me and my friend had to sit separately on the single seats, and the fat guy's friend was sitting in between us. They were still wearing suit and the weather wasn't so cold today.

Qingshui Ciffs

The bus driver was our guide for the day too, so he had to intro us the places whenever we passed by while he was driving...hohoho...As we were sitting apart, i don't have a chance to translate to my friend on what the driver was saying. We passed by Hualien Air Force Base, which there was a fighter plane taking off right in front of us. We also passed by Qixingtan beach (七星潭), which was one of the beautiful beaches in Hualien and it was also the last place we will be going during the tour. There was a lot of hotels built near the beach now and one could also see fish traps out in the sea too. After that, it was long long way to Taroko National Park. First stop, Qingshui Cliffs (清水斷崖). This is the only seaside viewing location in Taroko National Park where one can witness the three distinct color tones of the Pacific Ocean. And the bus driver told us that from far, we can also see the old roads which were being used, until the government had built the tunnels to cut through. The bus driver gave us half an hour time to go and take photos....When my friend came down, her face was so pissed like that. She even shooed me away....think she was in motion sickness mode...so i went off on my own. After that, we went further up the mountain. Passed by a walking trail called Sha Ge Dan (Native words), the trail needs 3 hours to complete and it looked fun too but our tour doesn't have this. At one point, the bus had to stop for like 15 mins or more as that area was now doing clearance due to a major landslide in  August. Underneath was a river with muddy waters and with strong currents. The bus driver told us that there wasn't any fishes or prawns living in it. They will die immediately if leave in the muddy waters.

Buluowan Villagers

Finally, we can move on and the bus driver collected helmets for us along the way. We went to Buluowan Terrance. Buluowan means 'echo of canyon' in the native language and used to be a tribal village there. The place was separated by upper and lower terrances. The bus driver let us off from the car park and gave us around 1 hour time to explore the place. Me and my friend went to the upper terrance, where the Leader Village Taroko Hotel was. While we were climbing the stairs up, there was signs indicating to be aware of snakes. The rooms of the hotel were a hut itself, and the people can just come out with mountains around them and breathing the fresh air. There was a park further down which we didn't manage to go and take a look. By the time we were done, it was almost time to board the bus. And almost everyone had already boarded the bus, we were the last few pairs. Passed by a very long suspension bridge, the driver told us that trail to the bridge needed 7 or 8 hours to complete and needed experienced guides to follow. Then it was off to Swallow Grotto Trail (燕子口). It was a long trail too (around 45 mins walk) but the driver let us off at about half of the trail to let us walk down the road and he would be waiting for us at the end of the trail.

Swallow Grotto

Before we alighted, the driver was telling us that there was a rock formation that looked like Indiana Jones. But the people in front on the bus were blocking me, so i wasn't able to imagine. Then we took the helmets and started walking down the road. The road for the trail was also done by using TNT to create openings and then smoothed the rocks manually. This actually caused about 200 people to lose their lives in this project. We took our time to walk and enjoyed the views. There were swallows flying too, and there were signs indicating to beware of falling rocks and warned people to walk faster. In the earlier days, cars and people had to fight for space in Swallow Grotto. Until in 2007, the Taroko Authorities decided to separate the vehicles and pedestrians by building tunnels and bridges. And the road for Swallow Grotto was only used by tour buses. By the time we walked back to the bus, we were the last pair. We were thinking why these people walked so fast to go back to the bus....Then we were off to have our lunch. Saw a walking trail which was closed as there was an accident before which killed 2 people and injured 4. They were currently doing works to make it more safer. Then we passed by Cimu Bridge (慈母橋), we could see Tiande Temple at the end of the bridge and the world's highest Buddha statue with seven-story Tianfeng Pagoda.

Eternal Spring Shrine

Then the bus driver dropped 4 of us, included the two of us at the recreation area to have our own lunch whereas the rest of the people would be going further upstairs to have theirs (included in their tour). We bought set lunches at one of the eating places (only got 2 eating places which were trying to pull customers in). The food wasn't so bad, quite nice though. After eating, we walked to Cimu bridge to take some photos, wanted to climb up to Tiande Temple but doesn't have enough time to climb up (and it looked like very high up). By 1 plus, the bus came and picked us up and once again we were the last pair again (but we weren't late).....heheehehe...Now we were off to the Eternal Spring Shrine (長春祠). This shrine was built in memory of the 212 people who had died during the construction of Central Cross-Island Highway. So the highway was actually built with "blood, sweat and tears". There was waterfall coming out from the shrine too, pouring into Liwu River. It was very nice to see from across. But the bus driver gave us like half an hour time and even told us we can walk to the shrine if we want to. We just took our time to walk over the bridge and to the entrance of the tunnel. Then we made our way back to the bus. Again, we were the last one to reach back the bus. Aiyo, don't these people walk?

Qixingtan Beach

After this, the bus driver brought us to the famous Ah Mei's Mochi Wholesale Place. There we can try the products before deciding to buy them. Tried some, they were nice. We also tried one of the drinks....with don't know what flower. It was very tasty and refreshing. We kept taking and drink...hehehee....We bought some snacks back too and went back to the bus. This time we weren't the last ones...hahaha...There was a guy who haven't got back, but the driver went off after we boarded. Then the passengers were yelling the driver to stop...hahahaa...guess he thought we were the last ones. After the guy came back, we were off to Qixingtan beach. The beach was a pebbled beach, there were pebbles around, so i picked a few pebbles to bring back...hehehe...We even bought yam and sweet potatoes to eat (NT$50 for 3). The beach was really beautiful and felt sooo good......Well, we were the last ones to board the bus, as usual....heheee...Then we were off back to Hualien Train Station. Luckily we didn't walk to the beach last night, it was quite far away. We alighted at the main train station and went and buy our train tickets to Taipei (as it was their election voting day on 29the Nov and we were guessing the trains may be full as the locals would be rushing back to Taipei for voting). After buying the tickets, we went out and just sat there to eat our sweet potatoes..It was sweet..nice...

Chicken Wings!!Must Try!!

As it was still early for dinner, we decided to walk around first. I wanted to go see a restaurant called 太监鸡. It was having 2 branches nearby the train station area, so we made our way to check out the restaurant. It wasn't opened for dinner yet when we reached, so we went to the next door cafe called Green House to rest our feet first. We ordered a cold chocolate drink and it was a super big cup....We just nua there until it was time for dinner. We went back to the restaurant, there was not many people around, only 3 tables which the customers were brought in by tour coaches. We wanted to order the chicken soup but the small size was soooo big, it was for 3 to 4 people. So we ordered 3 dishes instead and we can't even finished them...hehee...After dinner, we walked slowly back to our hotel. Passed by a stall selling 冰火波蘿油, so we bought 1 to try. It wasn't as nice as the one we bought from Fengjia Night Market. Then we also passed by a cafe called Shark Bite Toast, we saw the christmas decorations quite interesting, so we stopped and checked out the food menu. The food did looked interesting. So we went in and i ordered chicken wings....and while we were waiting, my friend was asking me why we didn't came here for dinner...hohoho...this cafe wasn't listed in the food map.....After buying the wings, we went back to the hotel. I ate the chicken wings while my friend slept...Ohhh...the chicken wings were sooo nice, crispy too!!! After eating, it was shower and zzz time.....last night to enjoy the big big room.....

Hotel Stayed: Anhwa Hotel

Places Visited:
Taroko National Park
Qixingtan

 

Taichung 臺中, Taiwan Trip (Day 7)

23rd November 2014, Sunday

Peanut Bar

Today, we need to take the train to Taichung but we still ended up waking at around 8 plus. So we got ready and did our last minute packing to check out the hotel. We just took out time to walk to the train station. When we were just outside of State Temple of the Martial God (台南武廟), we saw people queuing up to buy bread toast on a small stall. So we queued to buy it, while i was queuing, there was a couple behind me saying in an alley opposite the street, also had a super long queue buying the same food. So the lady was asking the guy which one to queue, the guy went into the opposite alley and checked it out. When he returned, he was telling the lady that apparently the one inside was the main stall and the outside one was a branch out....hehehee....It took us a long time before we got  our breads. The auntie had to fry the eggs and then toasted the bread, all were done using charcoal which was interesting. Beside the bread stall, was an uncle selling peanut cake. What's interesting was the uncle would take the peanut bar and heat it up over charcoal and then flatten the bar. And then he would roll it up once flatten, either to wrap it up with chinese parsley. The uncle did let us try abit of the peanut, it was nice. So we got a small box.

Yum Yum!!

After eating the breads, we continued to drag our luggage to the train station. We passed by the noodles shop which we missed to eat last night. While we were wondering whether was it opened as it was only 10.30 am, we saw there was a lady seems like be buying the noodles. So we went and checked it out, it was opened for business!! My friend took the menu and looked, it was all in Chinese (as usual)....so she asked the lady customer what was nice in the place, apparently the lady understand English and was able to speak too. Think my friend very happy that got someone she can talk to, so we just sat on the table beside the lady. And the lady recommended us 2 noodles to try, so we said ok. While we were still looking at the menu, the lady's husband came. He was able to speak English very well as he had lived in Singapore for about 8 years. The husband went with me to order our noodles and he even paid for our meal (first time got treated by a local during holidays)....hehehee...They were very friendly, they even treated us a side dish they ordered..boiled cuttlefish (my favorite)...hehehe...It was dipped with chilli mixed with washabi....chilli wasn't very spicy though...So about the couple, they were actually living in Kaohsiung and they were supposed to go to church today. But the wife was having craving for food in Tainan, so they came to Tainan and were having breakfast there in the noodles shop where they met us. The wife said she likes Tainan while my friend told them she likes Kaohsiung...hohohoo...The husband had studied in Singapore during his 8 years of staying and he now has his own business in Taiwan. He said they went back to visit Singapore 2 years ago and said Singapore had changed alot since his last visit...hohohoho...But i think they too like Singapore. Ohhh...did i mentioned...the noodles were way nicer than our last night's dinner?kekekee.....

Special Teas - Nice Nice!!

The husband later went to buy teas for his wife, he treated us each a cup..1 was winter melon milk tea and the other don't know what is it...inside got long long jelly and it was a bit sour...he said Singapore doesn't have it. So we tried them...ohh...soooo damn nice...i like the winter melon milk tea more....We also asked them to recommend us some nice places in Hualien. The lady was saying there was a bus which can cut from Taichung to Hualien without passing Taipei. But the journey was super long and we didn't have time for it. Anyway, it was nice chatting with them, and they had to leave for their next food hunt place. We said goodbye and thanked them, and we too continued our walk to the train station....But it kind of feel good...it's like someone had made your day happy early morning and you will feel like you going to have a good day ahead....hahahaa...It was quite a distance more to the train station, so by the time we reached there, we were a bit tired. Then i went to the counters and bought the tickets to Taichung. And we had to rush in to the platform again cos the train was already here and the whistle was being sounded (Luckily they don't have so many platforms)....

Taichung Station

It was a 2 hours ride to Taichung, so i ended up sleeping on the train while surprisingly my friend was supposed to be a transport pig didn't sleep this time...hahahaa....We reached Taichung at around 1.40 pm, there were a lot of people when we came out from the train station and it looked very crowded. I went and asked a cab driver to bring us to our hotel. All he said was it was very near, can walk to there and pointed to me the direction to walk... -_-"...weird....the visitors information center was also closed for lunch break. So we just walked down the direction the cab uncle had pointed. And we did still managed to find the hotel, it was just 5 or slightly more minutes distance away. So not so bad....when we were looking from the opposite side, there was 1 building beside the hotel and it looked super rundown and horrible...i asked my friend not that building right? hahaha....gave me a scare...Then we checked in and rested in the hotel room...tired already...when i tried to on my ipad, it went dead...nothing was showing on the screen but it was still on...haiz...first time brought it outside of SG also can die like that...and at a time when i am jobless....pek chey....

Monkeys

We left the room again at around 2 plus, i went to the hotel staff and asked for directions for the places we want to go..apparently only
Carton King was the nearest we can go. So we went to the main train station to take the bus she told us. But when we went to the visitors information center and asked again, i was told on a different bus to take...weird....anyway we followed the directions given by the staff in visitors information center and went to Carton King. It was 45 mins bus ride, and as usual, my friend saw a shop where a lot of people were queuing for it. I didn't notice it when the bus passed by. And she said she wants to go try it later. We alighted at Da Ke Roundabout bus stop and went in to Carton King. It is actually a museum which displays arts done by cardboards....The entrance fee was NT$200 per pax and if it was your birthday month, the entrance fee will be free. There was animal kingdom and famous buildings, all made of cardboards.....so we just walked around the area, on the 2nd level, there was a honey museum too, where they were selling honeys...there was even a display of real bees outside the door. There was also a very big mushroom, where there was a house selling stired-fry mushroom and mushroom snacks. We had a black pepper stired-fried mushroom as i was very hungry...it was very nice and smelled good!!! We bought some mushroom snacks too and we walked around some. By the time we left the place, it was already dark. Some of the displays were even lighted up with lights. Had a free gift too, after we had finished stamping on our entrance tickets (there was a mini game to collect all the stamps from different areas). Inside the place, was its own restaurant too, where the food was served on cardboard plates and bowls. And the food looked nice and yummy.

Yam Yam....

When we were outside the place, there was a group of 5 trying to take a group photo and were having fun too. My friend went and said she will help them take the photo and asked the last lady to join in the photo shoot....hahaa...They thanked us and then we walked down the road to find the long queue shop which my friend saw during our bus ride. We saw a restaurant selling barrel chickens too, it was cooked the same way as we had in Guanziling. But we walked past it, until we reached the long queue shop. It was a purple signboard, and it was selling yam desserts. Seems like it was a famous shop there, so we went buying it. We got 2 cold desserts - Yam with mixed (4 different ingredients) and Yam with red bean....Half of the bowls were ice and the yam were 3 big blocks...quite full too after eating. After eating, we went to take bus 68 to Fengjia Night Market (bus stop name: 逢甲大学). We waited for almost half an hour for the bus to come. And when my friend stopped the mini bus, i cannot see the bus number on the side. But we just boarded the bus and i asked the bus driver was the bus going to the place...he said yes and gave us a temporarily bus card to tap first. Heng ah....if not, we had to wait for don't know how long if we missed this bus...

1973 Fried Chicken

Backed Potato with Cheese

冰火波蘿油

It costs us NT$68 to reach Fengjia area, we had to tap the temporarily bus card again when we alighted to see how much was the fare. There were many shops and food stalls in Fengjia Shopping Town, you can see Macdonald's, Stay Real, Nike, Nets, addidas, etc...and there were a lot of people too....But i was urgently in need of toilet, so we went to Macdonald's and faint ah...the toilet queue also very long...but there doesn't seem like other places having free toilets around...so we queued for it. After that, we started our exploring...at the first turn, i saw a Stay Real shop and was very excited. I just pulled my friend to the shop to look around. I got a new tee-shirt with cowboy design and asked my friend to buy one too...hehehe....The design she wanted don't have her size, so i chose a tee-shirt with mummy design... :P....After that, we went outside the streets and walked around the place. Bought the 1973 Fried Chicken and walked till the Fengjia Night Market, and we just bought along the way...see what was nice to eat...i got baked potato with cheese too. There was pig's blood cake too, like a lot of people buying it. Bought a bbq corn for my friend to eat...As it was crowded, we couldn't really eat while we walked.We walked further in the streets and saw a stall selling an unique buns...called 冰火波蘿油. We bought 2, 1 with cheese and 1 with butter and cheese. After buying this, we made our way back to the hotel. Ahh...passed by bear's paw stall too but no one was buying it and it was quite hidden away from the busy street. But we didn't know where was the bus stop for bus 25 or bus 35. So we walked a bit further away from the fengjia shopping town, but at least while we were walking on the road, we were able to keep seeing bus 25 coming by (not in Tainnan, no bus one)....Walked in Birkenstock shop to check out the prices, had to remove shoes to go in the shop too..hohoo...the prices wasn't much difference from Singapore, maybe abit cheaper and i saw a notice saying there is a additional charge of NT$200 for sizes bigger than 40...hohoho...

Baked Potato with Turkey Ham and Cheese

We made it to the bus stop and it was already past 10 pm...luckily we didn't have to wait very long for the bus to come and we were carrying the food we bought from the market to go back eat...It was about 15 mins or so back to the hotel. Finally can rest feet and eat our food!!! The fried chicken and the baked potato were nice...the 冰火波蘿油 nice!!! After food, it was shower and sleeping time...hehehee...



Hotel Stayed: VIP Hotel

Places Visited:
Carton King
Fengjia Shopping Town
Fengjia Night Market

Kenting 墾丁, Taiwan Trip (Day 3)

19th November 2014, Wednesday

Breakfast Place

Today, we woke up super late..more later than yesterday..hehehe...We left the hotel at around 11 am plus but we managed to take our breakfast at the rice shop outside the metro station. The shop was busy as there were a lot of people queuing and luckily we managed to find a table to sit. The food was nice and yummy, and cheap too. We had a pork ribs with bitter gourd soup, braised pork rice and a braised egg. After eating we bought a red tea with milk next door, but it wasn't as nice as the one we bought on the 1st day. Then we made our way to Kaohsiung HSR station, to catch a cab to Kenting. We had decided to go Kenting instead of Fu Guang Shan, as Kenting seems like a better place to go as many people had recommended it (even my dad was telling me to go Kenting and had said their aquarium is under the sea, not like ours).

Once we came out from the metro station at Kaohsiung main train station, there was a cab uncle approached us asking whether we are going to Kenting. He quoted me $350 per pax single way, then return trip was another $350 per pax. Return time just have to tell him first or call him, he will come pick up. So i agreed with the price, as previously i was quoted $400 per pax on the first day. But....the cab uncle wanted to get 2 more customers to come with us before we can leave. Alas, we waited for almost an hour before we can set out. The cab uncle initially told us to wait for 15 mins, then it was another 15 mins then another (i had to keep asking the uncle when we can leave). We even went to the shopping mall nearby and walked around, and even heard 1 lady telling her friend that don't know where the cab uncle will bring them go if they were to board the cab when they were being approached. My friend said must be Singaporeans, always kiasi of this and that...hahaha... We actually had decided to wait until 1.30 pm, if the cab uncle still don't want to leave, we will head out to Fu Guang Shan instead (there was buses to Fu Guang Shan there too). But by 1.15 pm, the cab uncle came back with a Hong Kong couple and he told us to wait there while he picked up his cab. While waiting, we just chatted with the couple by telling them how happy we were..finally can leave already..and we even got to know that the cab uncle had actually charged them $400 per pax. So we just keep quiet on our charges.

Street of Kaohsiung

And we were off to Kenting, but a little further away from the train station, the cab uncle stopped to pick up another family of 3 to go there too. So it was totally of 6 and half people on the cab, the little girl kept on singing and talking on the whole journey (don't even remember did she stop talking or singing for a while). And then it was a super long way to Kenting and going by the freeway...almost to 2 hours. And the cab uncle had to drop the family and the couple off their hotel first, so we were the last to alight. After dropping them off, the cab uncle asked me where we want to go..at first i asked him on the aquarium...he told me that the admission fee was expensive (forget how much already)...and he said don't want go there lah..Then he brought us up to the resting point for cabs and coaches, where we alighted and had agreed to go back to the same place at 6.30 pm. So we went ahead to walk around the place.

Kenting Beach

By the time we started exploring the area was already 3 plus. So we just went to Kenting beach first and went and see the big waves. The waves were really big here and it was really sunny too. We saw 3 kids trying to do surfing too but they weren't successful on their tries. After relaxing on the beach, we went walking along the shops. Went to a souvenirs shop and bought some gifts back. Then we continued to walk down the road, but all the food shops were not opened yet. So it was kind of dead street....Then we just continued walking until we reached another beach, where we went down to take a look. Wanted to have some finger food at the cafe but the food needed 30 mins to prepare, which we didn't have much time to wait. So we just walked down to the beach, just nice to catch the sunset there. After that, we started to walk back to the resting place. By then, we can see all the food stalls and shops starting to get ready for business. We saw pizza vans, which were using real stove made of bricks to bake their pizzas.  Went in to a Mexican restaurant to get some snack, had boxing chicken. It was very nice and crispy. But we were also greeted with mosquito there, even the beach had mosquito.

Wedding Couple

There was a wedding couple standing in the middle of the road, waiting to have their photos taken but their photographer was doing something else. So they were like left standing there with all the cars trying to avoid them. It was quite dark too, although it was only before 6 pm. Everyone else was also trying to take a good photo of them. By the time we reached the pickup place, it was only 6pm and we were not able to find the cab uncle around. Then we were approached by another cab uncle who quoted us NT$400 per pax back to Kaohsiung. So we went aside and discussed on it, whether to wait for the morning cab uncle to come back to pick up or just go with this 1. But it was getting very cold outside and my friend doesn't want to just stay outside to wait, so we went ahead with this cab uncle. The cab uncle said he could bring us to Lu He night market and not other night markets, which was better for us. So i told the cab uncle to bring us to Lu He night market instead of the train station.

Crabs!!

When we reached the night market, there was firework display, but didn't managed to see it. So we just had all our favorite snacks as our dinner here, crabs, papaya milk and corn....happy food... :)
After eating, we went back to the pet shop to look at the puppies again. This time we stayed a bit longer cos 2 puppies were actually fighting with each other. 1 of the puppies kept on biting on the other 1 until it snapped and fought back. But they looked so cute...hope they can find an owner soon, who can take care of the 2 of them together. After that, we walked slowly back to our hotel to rest..


Hotel Stayed: Holiday Hotel

Places Visited: Kenting