Taiwan Trip - Part 2

Day 3- Taichung
4 April 2008

After breakfast, we packed our bags and checked out of the hotel. Before we started our journey to Taichung, we stopped at National Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. This memorial hall is a monument erected in memory of Chiang Kai Shek, former president of the ROC in Taipei. It was later change to National Taiwan Democracy Hall.

Our journey to Taichung was a long one. It takes us about nearly 4 hours to reach Formosa Aboriginal Cultural Village. Tempat ni kira kawasan pendalaman sikit. Before sampai sana, ada satu area ni famous dengan perempuan jual buah pinang. Yang kelakarnya, perempuan yang pinang ni, pakai ala-ala bikini aje! So, bila Cindy inform us yang we all akan lalu di area tu, all my male colleagues dah standby kat tepi tingkap, siap dengan camera and videocam.

Tiba di Formosa Aboriginal Cultural Village lebih kurang pukul 2.30pm. Terus ke restaurant yang terdapat kat situ. From today, tak ada lagi halal food yang di provide oleh tour agent. We were given seafood and vegetables only. But of course, ramai yang ragu-ragu termasuk saya sendiri untuk makan. Walaupun tak ada pork, but the they still use the same utensils to cook that pork kan? Frust betul.

It was a nice place to visit. Throughout my tour to Taiwan, I think this is the most ok place to visit. We took a train ride and pusing-pusing the park.

Lepas tu, we went to the other side. Kat sini ada themepark, indoor and outdoor. Lebih kurang macam kat Genting Highland. We took cable car to uphill and turun jalan kaki. Sambil turun tu, we all ambil gambar dengan Orang Asli di sana. Kat sini, we all dapat lihat mock up rumah orang asli yang represent 13 tribes yang ada kat Taiwan. Tempat ni, lebih kurang macam Mini Malaysia di Melaka. Cuma yang bestnya, di setiap kawasan rumah tu ada real orang asli mingles or buat kerja. So, bolehla ambil gambar with them.

Kat sini we all spent about 2 hours aje. Memang tak cukup. Tak berkesempatan pun nak try roller coaster kat situ.

Then, we moved on Sun Moon Lake. Nothing much here. Cuma ada lake yang besar aje and adalah beberapa tent yang picnic kat tepi lake. Tapi lake ni tak boleh mandi. According to Cindy, Sun Moon Lake is the largest lake in Taiwan.

Later, we proceed to Mao WangYe Memorial Resident. Ini rumah ketua salah satu tribe kat sana. Kat sini ada jual Royal Jelly. Diorang siap bagi demo lagi pasal kegunaan royal jelly. Kat rumah ini juga, ada banyak tergantung gambar-gambar kenangan ketua tribe dengan pembesar negara and famous people including Tun Mahathir.

Disebabkan hari dah gelap dan takut tiba lewat di Taichung, Cindy terus booking dinner kat salah satu restaurant di Sun Moon Lake. Tidak ada apa yang boleh kami makan. So, we all keluarkan lah Maggie dan instant food masing-masing. Ramai juga malays yang lain tak masuk restaurant ni. Bau pork kat sini kuat sangat.

At last, semua orang melayu keluar and we had a discussion with Cindy kat luar. Cindy tak puas hati sebab dia dah banyak seafood and vegetables untuk kami, tapi kenapa kami tak sentuh langsung. Dia kata membazir. Dia masih tak paham yang no pork tak semestinya halal. After much discussion, we told Cindy, “Ok, from tomorrow onwards, you don’t have to order seafood and vegetables for us. Just give us plain rice and boiled egg.” Tercengang Cindy bila mendengarnya. Yelah, takkan makan telur rebus aje. We told her yang we all semua ada bawa instant food. No big deal.

It’s time to shopping again. We went to Fong Jia Night Market in Taichung. We were given only 1 hour. Damn, that’s not enough! Although the things that sell here are same as in Taipei, but the price here are much cheaper. I bought a few tops and shoes.

Later that night, we checked in at DeBao Hotel. I got a corner room and it was really huge. Memang best.

Day 4- Kaohsiung
5 April 2008

Surprisingly, unlike Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung were very hot and humid. Day 4 was to be our final day for sightseeing. Upon entering Kaohsiung, we stopped by at the Spring and Autumn pavilion. There’s nothing here, the lake were dried because of lake cleaning and construction works, a little unpleasant to the eyes and nose. I bought some souvenirs like key chain and fridge magnets. It was quite difficult to find those items. Tak banyak souvenirs shop yang jual Taiwan premiums.

After lunch, Cindy asked the malays whether we want to follow them to visit Fo Kuang Shan Buddhist Monastery or go shopping. All of us opted for shopping of course. So, the bus driver dropped us at Sogo. We were given 2 hours but dalam ½ hour dah abis ronda satu mall. So, me and Kak Faudzillah pergi la merayau-rayau kat luar mall cari Pet Shop. Kak Faudzillah ni gila kucing. Ada funny incident happened mase we all jalan-jalan tu. Until now, we cannot forget.

Communication is the barrier here. Most of the salesperson I met, cannot speak English. Susah nak beli barang. Guna sign language je la. Dah penat berjalan, we singgah jap at Starbucks. This was what happens, which I cannot forget until now.

Me: Is there any Pet Shop around here?

Cashier: Pek? Pek?

Me: No, Pet Shop. Whof..whof..whof ..(Siap buat bunyi dog lagi)

Cashier: Meyo, meyo sambil menggeleng kepala. (Meyo maksudnya tak ada)

Susah betul. Kena buat sounds baru la faham. So, I terus la bayar what we ordered. Dah puas lepak minum kat situ, we all jalan. Ada another shopping mall. Besar juga. Tak ingat namanya. Kak Faudzillah pula pergi tanya kat Information counter whether ada tak Pet Shop kat area ni.

Dengan confidentnya, perempuan tu kata, “I’ll draw up the map”. Fuh, lega. At least yang ini faham English. Tempat tu tak jauh sangat. Tak sampai 5 minit dah sampai. Alangkah terkejutnya kiteorang, bile tengok itu bukan Pet Shop, but Pet Clinic. There were a few cats inside tengah check up. Tak boleh tahan, kiteorang ketawa terbahak-bahak.

The bus picked us up, and later we went to check in at Holiday Garden Hotel at 4:30pm. Today, baru ada time nak rest sekejap. If not, everyday, keluar awal pagi and balik hotel tengah malam.

Malam, shopping pulak at XinJue Jiang Night Market. We were given ample time to shop. Disebabkan ini our last nite in Taiwan, everyone semua shopping sakan because nak habiskan our Taiwan dollar.

The trip was very good indeed. Although we have communications and food problem, but I enjoyed shopping . Besides clothing, electrical and IT stuff pun not bad. The price are also cheaper.