Day 1 (23rd May 2009)
We met at Changi Airport at 11am. It was very early though. Our flight is only at 1:50pm. My dad drove me there. My luggage was apparently the biggest for it is those hiking backpack. The guys' bags are just 2 small backpacks (for Tom) or jus one backpack and a simple luggage (for David) la. We went for lunch at the airport staff canteen. Only Hui Ping (HP)'s family came to send her off. For the rest of us, no one came. haha...
Then we board the plane - Jetstar 3K521. This is the first time that i'm boarding a plane and the guys cannot believe it. I was very excited! Then when the plane took off i shouted a 'yay!' and HP and Tom who were sitting beside me laughed for i think i shouted a bit too loudly that the other passengers must have think that i'm a mountain tortoise never see planes took off before. so what? lol~ Pretty boring on the plane i must say. The flight was abt 4.5hrs. HP and Tom taught me how to play bridge so that when we're bored we can play straight away without having to teach me again. But i still quite blur. Then we changed to playing UNO. We also read our books and sleep. The flight, though considered short, i still sat until my butt ache. haha...for the seats were pretty packed together too. Well, it's a budget airline but then again, we paid too much for the air tickets la....cos we bought the tickets a bit late and by then the prices had already went up. boo!
When we arrived at Taoyuan International Airport, it was abt 6:50pm. We then went to apply the youth card at the information counter (just nice we landed at Terminal One and we applied there). One will be entitled to many discounts such as admission discount privileges if apply the youth card. According to our itinery, we're supposed to take a bus to the Highspeed Railway (HSR) Station at Taipei and then board the HSR to Taichung and from Taichung then take cab to our hotel. However, when we asked the person at the counter, she suggest that we took bus frm the airport straight to Taichung for it will be faster and since the bus stops at Taichung Railway Station, which is just beside the hotel we're staying. If we're to transfer to the HSR and then reach the HSR Station @ Taichung and then transfer a bus/cab to our hotel since the HSR station in Taichung is not anywhere near our hotel, we'll be wasting much time and money instead. So we took the Ubus instead which heads straight to Taichung Railway Station. The bus ride was another 2hrs...Zzzz...
By the time we alight, it was about 9+pm. We went to the Taichung Railway Station first to buy tickets for our 4th day whereby we're supposed to depart from Hualien to Jiufen and then from Jiufen to Taipei. After getting the tickets, we walked to out hotel - Honeydew Fashion Hotel (哈密瓜时尚旅馆). It was very funny cos the hotel is meant for couples la. Even though there's 2 guys 2 girls but we're all just frens and i'm sharing the room with my cousin. haha. But since Taichung is only our stopover and the next day early in the morning we're leaving, we decided to settle for the cheapest hotel we could find and hence this.
After unpacking a bit of stuff, we cab to Feng Jia Night Market (NM) (逢甲夜市) - supposedly the biggest and best NM in Taichung.
Of course, first thing first, we went to look for FOOD! Din had dinner. Gosh... It was pretty big i must say. The shopping looks great too, with lots of nice clothes and shoes but we din had time to shop for we're leaving early in the morning to catch the bus to Sun Moon Lake (which is at 8am and so had to wake up at 6:30am). So we just look around the shops, only stopping to buy food - Takopachi balls, Egg pudding, roast chicken leg, bubble tea, flavoured sausages...
This is the flagship NM within Feng Jia NM itself. Mostly selling clothes stuff plus arcade:
At around 12am, we cab back to the hotel. Before that, we calculated our expenses and pay the person who forked out the money first. Gotta woke at 6:30am the next morning...Zzzz
Below shows pictures of the lift of our hotel:
This is from the outside of the lift
And this is from the inside of the lift, saying that they serve healthy breakfast. LOL~:
gosh....Day 2 is a super long day and many things to talk abt...