Taiwan Day 3

Day 3 Taipei (6/7/06)

We woke up at 8.45 am and had breakfast at the hotel. We then headed to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall via MRT to take photos there.


--------------At the entrance---------------------------------------Decades old antique car------------


Derrick and I in front of a huge painting or portrait


-------------------------------------Salute!----------------------------------------


Me, Meibin and Edwin protecting a statue


Near the top of CKS Memorial Hall


--------------------------Beautiful CKS Memorial Hall--------------------------------

After our photo-taking session, we had lunch at a nearby Japanese restaurant. The food was alright only and the meal was slightly expensive in terms of Taiwanese food.


Food for everyone!

After our lunch, we were walking towards the MRT when we heard a loud crash. When i looked in front of me, i saw scraps of metal flying as a taxi and a motorcycle collided. The scene shocked all of us as we were about 100 metres away from the accident. We were lost for words and we were discussing what had actually happened. Some of my friends noticed the pillion rider on the motorcycle fly into the air. Everything happened in an instant and we remained at the same spot, stunned and feeling terrible of the people involved in the accident.

The motorcyclist was lying on the road motionless and a kind soul had brought an umbrella and sheltered her from the blistering sun. The cab driver and the pillion rider was not within our sight as the accident took place before the vehicles went to an underpass. A hospital arrived after around 4 minutes and we left after that.

It is definitely much more dangerous driving on the roads of Taipei compared to Singapore as the cab drivers are rather reckless, the roads are more complicated and there is abundance of motorcyclists in Taiwan. Along almost all the busy streets, we can see rows and rows of uncountable parked motorcycles. Pedestrians also must watch out for traffic even though the green pedestrian man is blicking.

We then took MRT to Taipei City Hall and took a free shuttle bus to Taipei 101. We went to the shopping mall there and quickly browsed through most of the shops as almost all of them are branded shops, just like KLCC and Paragon.

Some of us tried the local pastries there and the taste is not bad. However, we only bought a few pieces as we wanted to buy on the last 2 days before going back Singapore.


Cartoon Taipei 101

We then headed out to the park outside and positioned ourselves to take a few group photos. Taking photos was very hard as we had to bend our heads so much to fit the world's tallest building inside. Derrick had to lay himself on a grass patch to adjust everyone into the frame.


--World's tallest building- Taipei 101!----------------Group photo------------------------------

Next, we headed back to the hotel for a short while to freshen up a bit before going to Beitou Hot Springs. We took a 35 min journey there via MRT and a minibus was waiting for us at Beitou station. The vehicle brought us up to higher ground at a high class looking spa centre and the price was NT500 ($25) for 2 hours (1 hour in the private pool, 1 hour in the public pool). However, the private pool can only accomodate a maximum of only 3 people and we got ourselves 4 private pools for the 9 of us.

I shared a pool with Derrick and we tried to lower the temperature of the pool by adding cold water. The bad thing about the spa is that the temperature of the water is not regulated by the staff there. The water in the beginning is definitely too hot to hop into and we were 'yelping' in pain when we tried dipping our feet into the pool.

The lighting was a bit too dim and i felt a bit off my feet together with the simmering heat. We also chose the period when most people do not want to go spa as it is summer in Taipei now. That explains for the lack of customers there. Anyway, we waited for the temperature of the water to decrease to around 40 degrees before hopping in slowly.

In New Zealand Rotorua spa, the recommended time to stay inside is only 10 minutes and i think the spa in Taiwan is not so concerned about the health of the people going for spa. Gs and i got dizzy immediately after stepping out of the spa pool. It is due to the sudden rush of blood everywhere in the body due to prolonged body heat. Got better after resting for a while and the water in the pool got cooler and cooler.


------------------------5 guys in a small pool-----------------------

We got out after 50 minutes and proceeded to the rest area outside the changing room to wait for the gals.


In the changing room

We did not go to the public pool as most of us were enough of being inside a spa. The public pool is separated into female and male pools as no wearing of clothes is allowed inside. We changed into our clothes soon after and left the place via minibus.


Picturesque garden outside the spa centre cum restaurant

Shihlin Night Market was our next stop and we had our late dinner there.