Day3 - Took a car pool from chiayi to alishan, 公车客满. Nt250 each. All others r taiwanese. Most speak 台语，understand abit but when they started blabbering at full spd, i'll have prompt them for 国语. Sweat. 3 hr car ride. The mountainous road is most probably 10 times more winding than that of cameron highlands. Not pukish. Thanks to the cold refreshing wind perhaps.
麻油鸡和排骨面汤 for lunch. 暖かい食べが一番です. Finally waited till 2 pm to chk in. Only 2 destinations for the forest railway train, 神木 or 沼平。Decided for 神木. Nt80 each. Saw signs indicating 800-2300 yr old red cypress aka 红桧。Buttress. Huge trunk. But abt 15-18m tall only. Nice wooden trail. Time-chked walk so as to catch the last train at 4pm, but we covered most of it except for the sisters pond.
Day4 - lost the war to 周公 for train to the sunrise viewing spot at 5 am. Woke up at 7 instead. Bfast from 7/11, with 竹笋肉包和关东煮🍢。earliest train to 沼平 is at 10! So decided to walk. Detour to signs pointing to 祝山instead. Air is really thin. But serene hike up thru the forest. Enjoyed it totally. The forest power n energy. Some parts look scary with denser trees. Long thin tree trunks everywhere. Reminds me of the harry potter movie and the black forest which i didnt really get to climb. Took photos along the way. And all of a sudden, a black dog appear. We stared at each other for at least a min, none of us moved. Nobody else. I made the first move, walk naturally n it started following. I crushed the map in my hands. Prepared to use it as weapon, knowing it wont help in the case of any attack. Anyway shaking off negative thots, speaking out loud, maybe it is our guardian angel, c'mon go infront and lead us. And it jus hurry ahead of us! I ddint even slow down. Buy then it's gone, didnt see it later on.
Finally found the way to the top. A helipad! Breathtaking view of the small settlement in the valley. For only one min. The clouds moved over and then surrounded us. Fog. Waited for 15 min. Do not think it is clearing. Decided to return. Walking downslope in the clouds. Damp. Cold. But the walk kept us warm. Lucky i got the gloves from the shop the previous day, else it would have been worse. Forest in the fog is magical. The leaves rustlin in the leaves give an orchestrated n melodious performance. the silhouettes of the trees looming around the blurred path ahead with only 3 metres of clear view. the air smells of damp leaves n soil. Unforgettable.
Unfortunately or fortunately, once we r out of the forest, it rained. Heavily. Rushed for shelter n we're at the 沼平 train station. Waited for the next train back to be jus in time for lunch and to chk out at 12. Terrible bus down and up to sun moon lake. Winding road thruout for 3 hrs. Totally pukish. Swayed left and right. Wonder if i have slight concussion for the brain to swing left and right against the skull. Had to keep the window slightly ajar for the light drizzle and cold wind to keep my face afreshed. Hope the chill didnt reach others in the bus. I tried.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Written recap of the 8-day trip: day 1 n 2
Day1 - continue frm the previous entry. Rainy cold night. An experience indeed to the shilin night market. Took the wrong turn out of the 地下铁站 aka metro and so the longer than the supposed 400m walk. The jeans and right sleeve all wet, unpleasant. The lingering 臭豆腐 smell in the air is overwhelming. 鸭血臭豆腐. Double whammy. How do pple enjoy this? Really smell worse than ****. Customers laughing and stall owners touting in familiar 亲切 taiwanese mandarin。"躲雨的人来吃一个，要我拿过去吗？＂ hahaha so onz. The rain is too heavy to carry on. The rainwater dripping off the edge of the awning along the streets lined with 2 rows of stalls at the sides enhanced the experience of weaving thru the crowd and trying to walk in between the 2 "walls of waterfall". Argh give up. Temp drop from 17 to 10. Quite a fluctuation. The best thing that had ever happened since the beginning of the trip was the long hot shower. And totally can understand why taiwan can haf 宅男. So many entertaining tv programmes! Chn switch n u will feel that ur time spent on the couch is worth it.
This wk is the peace memorial wk, there goes the normal 台 train tix. Fully booked. So the only choice to chiayi is via HSR. Length of journey will drop frm 4 to 1.5 hrs for sgd 42 instead of 16 per pax. The underground streets n malls n train stations are a maze. Discovered my weakness in orienteering underground. First discovery was the orchard road's. N now it's cfmed. Totally lost.
Public hol. This means crowd. But this increased the number of locals among the tourists. Gd for soaking up the culture else it'll be not much difference frm joining tour packages anyway.
Day2: 11am train from taipei to chiayi. Still raining. Walked a long way to chiayi park where they sold fried quail eggs. Really anything tastes hot in such cold weather. Wanted to tropic of cancer park, bought the tix but dunno where is the bus. Seem like we missed it. The next is an hr later. Pass. Dinner is 葱油火鸡饭 和卤肉饭。To the night market and really walked the whole town in search of winter wear. The guys' designs are so much nicer. Merv bought one n passed me his. So prepared to go alishan in 4 layers.
This wk is the peace memorial wk, there goes the normal 台 train tix. Fully booked. So the only choice to chiayi is via HSR. Length of journey will drop frm 4 to 1.5 hrs for sgd 42 instead of 16 per pax. The underground streets n malls n train stations are a maze. Discovered my weakness in orienteering underground. First discovery was the orchard road's. N now it's cfmed. Totally lost.
Public hol. This means crowd. But this increased the number of locals among the tourists. Gd for soaking up the culture else it'll be not much difference frm joining tour packages anyway.
Day2: 11am train from taipei to chiayi. Still raining. Walked a long way to chiayi park where they sold fried quail eggs. Really anything tastes hot in such cold weather. Wanted to tropic of cancer park, bought the tix but dunno where is the bus. Seem like we missed it. The next is an hr later. Pass. Dinner is 葱油火鸡饭 和卤肉饭。To the night market and really walked the whole town in search of winter wear. The guys' designs are so much nicer. Merv bought one n passed me his. So prepared to go alishan in 4 layers.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
10-yr anniv visit to taiwan
It was mar 2002. N today it is 10 yrs later!
2 movies on board, new year's eve and the sitter, both comedies. Both r quite nice. Still have some time to read at the end of the 4hr plus flight. Sq876 finally reached taoyuan int airport T2. Got connected even on board waiting for the parking bay to be freed for us to alight. Our baggage took some time to appear on the conveyor belt. Ss the wifi ssids and did the speedtest. Verfied foc and no login page. Usable. Occupational habit? No la, it's jus along the way. Since rmb, might as well. But i was alr chided the first time when i exclaimed at a humongous cctv cam right in front of the signboard! But cant help not noticing as it is clearly blocking my view of the words on the signboard. And if ever it is a ptz, it is jus gg to be staring at the board on the other side. I bet normal pple would notice it n im definitely getting a life here.
Strange. Following the signs with HSR led us to coach stand. Who cares as long as it takes us to the main station which is abt less than an hr away. 13 deg cel. Brrr. Cos of the rain i suppose. Didnt expect temp to be this low. Others are wearing winter clothing. Were braving the cold wind while waiting for the bus. So many new developments along the way. New expressways and buildings all under construction.
Taiwanese are really frenly and hospitable. Cosy n convenient hotel. Jus next to the bus station. Decided with beef noodle soup for lunch and then walked the undergrd mall before returning to the room. Missed the sky lantern festival but there's still the flower festival which also means crowd. 😪
Rain seem to have stopped. Shall chk out the night market n hopefully the tamsui river.
2 movies on board, new year's eve and the sitter, both comedies. Both r quite nice. Still have some time to read at the end of the 4hr plus flight. Sq876 finally reached taoyuan int airport T2. Got connected even on board waiting for the parking bay to be freed for us to alight. Our baggage took some time to appear on the conveyor belt. Ss the wifi ssids and did the speedtest. Verfied foc and no login page. Usable. Occupational habit? No la, it's jus along the way. Since rmb, might as well. But i was alr chided the first time when i exclaimed at a humongous cctv cam right in front of the signboard! But cant help not noticing as it is clearly blocking my view of the words on the signboard. And if ever it is a ptz, it is jus gg to be staring at the board on the other side. I bet normal pple would notice it n im definitely getting a life here.
Strange. Following the signs with HSR led us to coach stand. Who cares as long as it takes us to the main station which is abt less than an hr away. 13 deg cel. Brrr. Cos of the rain i suppose. Didnt expect temp to be this low. Others are wearing winter clothing. Were braving the cold wind while waiting for the bus. So many new developments along the way. New expressways and buildings all under construction.
Taiwanese are really frenly and hospitable. Cosy n convenient hotel. Jus next to the bus station. Decided with beef noodle soup for lunch and then walked the undergrd mall before returning to the room. Missed the sky lantern festival but there's still the flower festival which also means crowd. 😪
Rain seem to have stopped. Shall chk out the night market n hopefully the tamsui river.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Wat's in an empty box?
Hope my valentine is soaking up enuff phytoncide from the nature.
Read one wk back abt an article of the increased number of pple, young pple who are living alone. So it isnt jus the elderly now. But the article voiced that pple live alone but not lonely. And it spells the advantages to one's well-being instead, including freedom.
张震岳的自由。就如五月天的牙关。旋律优美、恰当，正适合歌名，但总觉得歌词没带出我心目中的含义。因为所述说的环绕着情感风格。其实就像歌词中的内容，为什么还要走这路线呢。
越来越觉得我变孤僻了。当面对选择是否要和朋友聚在一起，还是划出属于自己的空间宁可遁世。 我挑跳出世俗的枷锁。天啊，看破红尘、未老先衰。唉。
与晚辈聊了几句， 脑海里浮现的熟悉画面竟然已是4-5 年前了。＜＂晚辈＂是作者故意用来强调她未老先衰＞。从主动主办到积极参与，再到连人影都不见，妈呀，惭愧惭愧。哪么不合群。问了问前辈，她总算是过来人，她道「你？孤僻？哪里会？哎呀只是一段时期，我以前也是这样，哪里都不想去」但是我这一段时期已是几年，在转眼便是几十年了。不要！
振作吧。这时期可过期了吧.
Aye the power of visualisation can make u do wonders, by fitting the "taking a deep breath n standing upright to start paving a new path" in my mind, u know the images start to flicker and gets weaker and a tendency to rewind the scenes back to slouching into the armchair. The preference to stay solo. Really there shld be a balance. problem is how to strike with such a big inertia.
Read one wk back abt an article of the increased number of pple, young pple who are living alone. So it isnt jus the elderly now. But the article voiced that pple live alone but not lonely. And it spells the advantages to one's well-being instead, including freedom.
张震岳的自由。就如五月天的牙关。旋律优美、恰当，正适合歌名，但总觉得歌词没带出我心目中的含义。因为所述说的环绕着情感风格。其实就像歌词中的内容，为什么还要走这路线呢。
越来越觉得我变孤僻了。当面对选择是否要和朋友聚在一起，还是划出属于自己的空间宁可遁世。 我挑跳出世俗的枷锁。天啊，看破红尘、未老先衰。唉。
与晚辈聊了几句， 脑海里浮现的熟悉画面竟然已是4-5 年前了。＜＂晚辈＂是作者故意用来强调她未老先衰＞。从主动主办到积极参与，再到连人影都不见，妈呀，惭愧惭愧。哪么不合群。问了问前辈，她总算是过来人，她道「你？孤僻？哪里会？哎呀只是一段时期，我以前也是这样，哪里都不想去」但是我这一段时期已是几年，在转眼便是几十年了。不要！
振作吧。这时期可过期了吧.
Aye the power of visualisation can make u do wonders, by fitting the "taking a deep breath n standing upright to start paving a new path" in my mind, u know the images start to flicker and gets weaker and a tendency to rewind the scenes back to slouching into the armchair. The preference to stay solo. Really there shld be a balance. problem is how to strike with such a big inertia.
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Ze ro shi chi yuu rei
07 ghosts. Direct translation. Found the anime title weird. It's really more like guardians of the church.
It has been a long time i last heard a new nice song. One that i love, the first time i hear it. Thanks to my dear 友達 who introduced it. 瞳の答え. Beautiful song title.
奏でる讃美歌 温かい涙
零れ落ちる 生きて行く限り
天を仰ぐ緋い瞳
見つけた 明日への道
歩き出す
This flowing hymn, this warm tear
spill and try to live as much as they can.
These Scarlet Eyes look at the sky,
and I walk the road leading to the future they found.
Strange to love the song first before watching it. Other times are the other way round. I will normally grow to like the song from the anime. This way gives familiarity and further enhances the enjoyment attached to the melody. Coupled with the beautifully drawn characters in each scene, the slowed down tempo gives the song another flavour. Utsukushii desu indeed.
It has been a long time i last heard a new nice song. One that i love, the first time i hear it. Thanks to my dear 友達 who introduced it. 瞳の答え. Beautiful song title.
奏でる讃美歌 温かい涙
零れ落ちる 生きて行く限り
天を仰ぐ緋い瞳
見つけた 明日への道
歩き出す
This flowing hymn, this warm tear
spill and try to live as much as they can.
These Scarlet Eyes look at the sky,
and I walk the road leading to the future they found.
Strange to love the song first before watching it. Other times are the other way round. I will normally grow to like the song from the anime. This way gives familiarity and further enhances the enjoyment attached to the melody. Coupled with the beautifully drawn characters in each scene, the slowed down tempo gives the song another flavour. Utsukushii desu indeed.