Taichung, Taiwan

On the 27th of March, after an emotional goodbye with Seoul, I hopped onto a plane to Taiwan! When I was 12, I got sucked into the whole Taiwan drama and music scene. Back then before the Korean wave took over, it was HUGE. I never really got sucked out of the Taiwan wave, and naturally became a must-visit country for me. And when I was planning my whole Asia tour, Taiwan was out of the question, I just thought I didn't have enough money, I knew no one there, my parents wouldn't allow me. But one fine day, my dad said to me; so, when are you going to Taiwan? And that was the invitation. I jumped right into planning the whole trip. Despite this, I still thought, a Taiwan trip would be impossible. So, from purchasing the flight tickets to researching about taiwan to actually getting there, it was a huge deal for me. 

So my plan for Taiwan was Taichung (2 days, 3 nights), Cingjing (3 days, 3 nights), Hualien (3 days, 3 nights) and finally Taipei (5 days, 6 nights). 

And what happened to me on the day I arrived at Taiwan, I REALLY wish happens to no one! I arrived at the airport, readily armed with exact directions to go buy a 3G card and then the exact directions to the busstop to take the bus to Taichung. But the scariest feelings enveloped me when I realised I ARRIVED AT SONGSHAN AIRPORT. I had planned my directions from Taoyuan airport. In a foreign country (who had an earthquake the day I arrived) with a foreign (for five years since I moved) language and with no one, this was pretty scary. But once I realised Taiwanese people were really as nice as people told me, these feelings vanished. PEOPLE ARE SERIOUSLY SO SCARILY NICE. omg. I walked up to a lady asking where to take the bus, she said the bus doesn't come here (I panicked a lil) but she took me to the taxi stand and wrote a note for the taxi driver telling him where I need to get to. And because my mind was still in korea, I accidentally spoke korean to the taxi driver. And he tried his very best to speak English to me, then I told him I'm actually half Chinese, he still continued! And after he told me the how much my fare was in Chinese, he said; wait wait wait, no. One hundred and six four! Am I collect (correct)? People saw that I had huge luggages with me while queueing up and let me go first. LIKE WHAT. I felt welcomed instantly. 

Taichung day one

I reached my hostel and the owner recommended places for me to go (he was also super nice! He stayed up late to check me in because I was super late after the minor hiccup!). And probably because of my intellectual looking self (BAHAHA) he said I should visit the Science museum. If you like biology and maths (like me) this will be a kick in the butt awesome experience. 

Scary mary. 

This man was sitting still for so long! I hesitated for a long time to walk into this exhibition. BUT HE TURNED OUT TO BE FAKE. 

This is how I knew I was in Taiwan

Like, I mean, even the graffiti is friendly. 

I took a food-accompanied stroll to a bus station, I hopped onto a bus to Sun moon lake! I probably literally hopped on, cos I was SO happy. 

HAT PERFECTLY DESCRIBING ME. 

But on the way there, I looked at my watch and it was so late! I then realised how stupidly long I spent at the museum! That stupid maths section! My love for maths is obviously proving not to be a total fly in the sky. By the time I got to the lake, it was dark, I took the next bus home. Bleh. 

Taichung day two

Next day! Early start, I went to the Rainbow Village! An accidental tourist attraction, this place tells the story of a retired soldier who wanted to save his village from being destroyed by the government. He painted the whole village is vibrant awesome colours, and it surprisingly saved the village from being demolished. Not very famous amongst tourists, and almost unknown to locals, this place can only be reached by taxi. Its pretty rural. I took a seven taiwan dollar bus ride (SO CHEAP SIAO) to dong hai university and took a taxi to the village. 

I was met with this scene. Ignore selca-ing person.

Part of the village was already destroyed. :(

Ignore Iwantolooklikemodel girl. 

The alley/corridor (?) leading to the village. 

The taxi driver who took me to the village was the nicest taxi driver I will EVER have the pleasure of meeting. He waited for me to be done with the village cos its such a rural place no taxis go there. He constantly praised me for my courage of venturing into an unknown country alone and my knowledge of the chinese language. He constantly said: although taiwan is safe, please be careful. He tested my chinese reading by asking me to read road signs. GAH. He also took me to the best view of Taichung and said: Don't come here at night alone okay? It can be dangerous. And the view was pretty awesome. O_O

Walk around dong hai

I love. A lot

At night I went to Feng Jia night market. My first raved night market experience! But coming straight from Korea, the clothes shopping was disappointing. But that being said, I walked into a shop and within five minutes I already bought something. 

Walking through the market armed with milk tea, I was constantly being bugged with stall vendors saying: xiao jie, don't just stand there, come and order something (in chinese). I bought crispy chicken cutlet and while waiting for my food the owners of the stall trustingly let me play with their toddler child. :| 

Can't remember what this is called. 

Taichung was perf! Though I missed out a few attractions like Gaomei wetlands and Jingcheng street. Sigh. Nevermind, next year! Taichung is definitely not to be missed. 

I missed you guys. xxx

Seoul Indescribable- Part Six

Day 18- Sinsa-dong Garosugil and Rainbow fountain at Banpo Bridge (kind of)

My day started off very late at Apgujeong and my first stop- Garosugil in Sinsadong! And that's located in between the Apgujeong and Sinsa stations. I got off at Apgujeong to walk to the Garosugil (tree-lined street). Got out an exit, walked a few yards down the road, looked at the shops along the road and noticed a recurring theme. The shop windows were plastered with before and after pictures of women and men, pictures of very handsome men dressed in lab coats with arms crossed. And the whole stretch of 'shops' were all like this. And then I realised they were ALL plastic surgery clinics. And almost everyone around had bandaged up faces. It was the weirdest feeling, a lil' scary. And all the clinics look super welcoming please!! So I learnt, Apgujeong has a high density of plastic surgery clinics. But I don't understand why they all chose to open like right next to each other. Wouldn't it be insane competition?! 

Anyway, I got severely lost amongst these super comfortable looking plastic surgeries, and got back on the train and got off at Sinsa instead. Ha. If you're planning to go to Garosugil, get off at Sinsa! Its much easier and has directions all the way to the street. 

Garosugil in Sinsa-dong is a DEFINITE MUST, PLEASE GO, HAVE TO, NEED when you go to Seoul. By far the coolest, most trendy, fashionable place I've set foot in. Paris, London, Milan, move over. Seoul is definitely fashion capital. I was upset I only visited this place on my third-last day when I was alone. I really wanted to spend money and help Korea's economy, but the shop keepers are not, in any way, welcoming. I guess cos its in Gangnam, and their items are not particularly cheap and because their products are so amazeballs they'd attract customers no matter how snooty they are. (Just not customers like me..)

The shop was called 'around the corner'. So perfect!

Spot the lady photobombing my photo with aegyo. 

They also had street vendors selling affordable stuff like mobile phone accessories, hair clips and such. Probably the best quality street vendors I've encountered in Seoul.

As it approached 8.30pm I left Sinsa-dong, empty-handed, sadly. I left to go watch the Rainbow Fountain on Banpo bridge at 9pm! Or so I thought. I was too late, I missed it and I was sad! I comforted myself by telling myself; well, I'll just have to come back here soon! 

The view from the bridge definitely compensated though! And you know how I'm a total sucker for night light views. 

I was walking along this deserted bridge. I was the only person in sight, and I started to freak cos I knew someone was looking at me. So I looked around and realised it was only Justin Timberlake. 

Day 19- Farmers markets and Soyosan

Second-last day in Seoul, I ventured out of Seoul to Dongducheon, north of Seoul. I have friends staying there, so I paid them a visit and they took me around. I am so blessed!

Dongducheon the night I arrived. 

I arrived on the 25th of March, and every 5, 15, 25th of each month there's a farmers market! And farmers markets are one of my favourite things to go to. Like ever. They sold everything from Oranges to fish, from brooms to buckets, from potted plants to trousers, from slippers to bags. EVERYTHING.

My sister saw this picture and said; imagine that, all of them had a personality....

Imagine being gutted, and spread open by chopsticks with strings coming out your mouth. 

Knuckle sandwich. 

Hugest, juiciest, fleshiest Korean pear EVER.

Emily, my friend, introduced me to the Korean pear. And oh, how blinded of this earth's beauty I've been! It was the best thing to happen to me that day and the next following days! We went hiking next, and this pear lasted both of us the whole way up. It was THAT huge. And the next day, back in Seoul, I bought two pears, ate one of lunch and dinner. And kept the other one for my breakfast the next day ( I was flying to Taiwan the next day). And I forgot to eat it! And got it confiscated at Shanghai where I was transitting. I was DEVASTATED, to say the least! It was an emotional goodbye, I asked the airport people to take good care of it, and eat it well. Fo' real. 

Wait, just let me wipe away my tears. 

At the foot of Soyosan! 

So pumped up for my hike! I love hiking! My parents have brought us hiking since we were little. My grandpa actually climbed Mount Everest! So I try to make it a point to go hiking at every country I go.  I was a little let down that I wasn't going to hike in Korea until Emily suggested we do, on my second last day! She's a Godsend. 

Ahjummas and Ahjusshis everywhere! 

I was probably the youngest person on Soyosan. Everyone I saw were old man and ladies decked out in their winter jackets and hiking sticks. It was such a lovely sight to see, so inspirational! 

Sleeping ahjusshi. 

Little shrine in a semi-cave

So rewarding 

But definitely not rewarding for my self-esteem. While we were huffing and puffing and panting away, all these old folks were zooming past us, blasting music, joking, laughing, looking like they didn't need oxygen to live! It was an embarrassment. Heh. 

I remember while walking up, we met these two ahjusshis (old men). And they said to me, 조심해, 호랑이가있다, meaning, be careful, there are tigers! And I was questioned, ho lang? (I didn't know what they meant.) And they said, Tiger, tiger! And I was like, TIGER?! JIN JJA?! (REALLY?!) And they roared with laughter. It was cute.

We reached our maximum ability, and ate pear. 

So rewarding lah. 

Back down to civilisation. 

We headed back to Dongducheon and explored there. I introduced Emily to Ddukbokki and Hoddeok. And she treated me to this crazy awesome korean buffet! They had the widest spread of food I have EVER seen. Five different types of porridges, two different types of rice, hugest spread of banchan and hugest variety of meat. MY GAT! Noms. 

And I saw a kid drinking a drink called 'Chilsung cider'. And I was speechless, WHY'S HE DRINKING CIDER?! HE'S A LIL KID. But it wasn't cider, it was called cider, but it was Seven-up... Well, I'm just glad I'm look out for the people around me. Bahahahahahahah. 

Day 20- SPEND ALL MY MONEY

Last day in Seoul, and long story short, I went out, and spent, a lot. Pretty sure the korean economy is doing better because of me....

Bye bye, Korea! I definitely shed some tears. 

That's it for my take on Korea. It has been so awesome blogging about it! I LOVE KOREA SO SO MUCH. And I hope I can help you fall in love with it like I did. Thanks you guise! And next up, Taiwan! 

You're sexy, and you know it. xxx