We met at 8:30am for breakfast. I guess all hotels in Taiwan served the same type of breakfast. Though a buffet spread, it's just porridge and bread where you can toast them. The vegetables that go with the porridge were not really to my liking though.
After breakfast we set off to the National Palace Museum (故宫博物院) to view some of the priceless relics from the various early Chinese Dynasty. The museum is super big. Can really take one whole day if u read every single description of the artefacts for there's simply lots of artefacts to see! A pity we could not take photos inside the museum so here's some pictures which i had taken from the National Palace Museum website.
After breakfast we set off to the National Palace Museum (故宫博物院) to view some of the priceless relics from the various early Chinese Dynasty. The museum is super big. Can really take one whole day if u read every single description of the artefacts for there's simply lots of artefacts to see! A pity we could not take photos inside the museum so here's some pictures which i had taken from the National Palace Museum website.
The pillar outside the entrance
The main palace
The library building...all Chinese books...
This is actually a dustbin!
WOW~
Some artefacts include curio boxes. They're actually designed in such a way that there's many secret hiding places in the boxes. How i wish i had one!
Snuff bottle...dunno what's inside to snuff though...lol~
There was also this ivory ball that was carved from 17 layers from within and the carvings were extremely exquisite and detailed.
And here's presenting to you the mona lisa of the museum...the jaddite cabbage and jade meat...omg...
There's actually a grasshopper and another insect carved on top of the cabbage as well.
Here's the meat stone. It actually resembles the 扣肉(or kong ba) that we usually ate with the kong ba bao. This piece was in fact so real that you feel as though u can really eat it. The texture of the piece of the skin on top of it really looked as though it's braised very well and succulent and oily. Lol!
After this exhibit we sped our way through the rest of the museum for the rest of the things seemed pretty much the same. Or was it after seeing the highlight of the museum the rest of the artefacts seemed pale in comparison? Haha..
We went back to Shilin mrt station and had lunch in a Japanese restaurant nearby. We had curry rice. It was not bad but the malt tea tasted like coffee added with too much water.
Our next destination was Beitou Hotspring (Hell Valley 地热谷). We first came across the hotspring museum. Nth much there. Just some exhibits of how hot spring comes about. It's actually from sulphur rock.
The musuem:
this is actually a common bath house in the past.
Tom trying to swim inside!
This is the hell valley. It stinks due to the smell of sulphur. And u can actually see the steam rising above the water due to the sulphur below. The temperature of the water i guess is pretty high since we the water that flows downstream to this open area where the public is free to dip their feet, is quite warm. We attempted to join them but my skin was sensitive was i dun dare to touch the water due to the sulphur content. And it stinks.
After Beitou, the next stop was Danshui. The famous 渔人码头 actually had to take a boat ride to reach there. This whole place had a fishy smell and the river water stinks.The main attraction there will be the Lover's Bridge (情人桥). This bridge was officially declared open by ex-president Chen Shui Bian on Valentine's Day itself.
The view of the bridge while we're on the boat.
We were pretty unlucky cos it rained that day. While waiting for sunset (apparently a lot of pple said the sunset there is very nice), we went to the arcade to play. I went to play with the toy catcher machine but no luck. The weather was pretty cold and windy. Can't imagine how Hui Ping and Tom still could eat the ice cream in the cold.
Pictures of the bridge in the day:
Us without our lovers on the Lover's Bridge =(
Trying to form a heart shape <3 href="http://s188.photobucket.com/albums/z307/yenlin2207/taiwan%20grad%20trip/?action=view¤t=CIMG1369.jpg" target="_blank">
Din managed to see the sunset due the rain in the early evening and we just stayed till the sky turned dark.
Pictures of the bridge with the lightings on:
After Danshui we went to Shilin Night Market. My god, it was damn crowded. We din really take a lot of photos here cos we're busy eating and shopping! kekeke~ Hui Ping and David went to eat the Oyster Mee Sua, which they said it's still nice though we din get to eat the most famous one and also we dunno which is the most famous one.
Shilin Night Market is made up of 2 streets, one side of which is the hawker center, with the famous XXL Chicken. The name of the stall is actually "豪大大鸡排". Long queue...and previously cos we ate another chicken chop from another stall as we could not find the famous one. The shopping here was great! I prefer the clothes here than Wu Fen Pu. Mostly Korean style clothes. Though a bit ex but I think it's worth the money cos still cheaper a bit as compared to Singapore and u seldom see these clothes in Spore. I bought a lot of flowery-patterned clothes. haha! that's the in-thing in Spore at that moment too but I find they're so much nicer here in Taiwan.
This is the hawker side.
The shopping street.
That's the end of Day 5.
The view of the bridge while we're on the boat.
We were pretty unlucky cos it rained that day. While waiting for sunset (apparently a lot of pple said the sunset there is very nice), we went to the arcade to play. I went to play with the toy catcher machine but no luck. The weather was pretty cold and windy. Can't imagine how Hui Ping and Tom still could eat the ice cream in the cold.
Pictures of the bridge in the day:
Us without our lovers on the Lover's Bridge =(
Trying to form a heart shape <3 href="http://s188.photobucket.com/albums/z307/yenlin2207/taiwan%20grad%20trip/?action=view¤t=CIMG1369.jpg" target="_blank">
Din managed to see the sunset due the rain in the early evening and we just stayed till the sky turned dark.
Pictures of the bridge with the lightings on:
After Danshui we went to Shilin Night Market. My god, it was damn crowded. We din really take a lot of photos here cos we're busy eating and shopping! kekeke~ Hui Ping and David went to eat the Oyster Mee Sua, which they said it's still nice though we din get to eat the most famous one and also we dunno which is the most famous one.
Shilin Night Market is made up of 2 streets, one side of which is the hawker center, with the famous XXL Chicken. The name of the stall is actually "豪大大鸡排". Long queue...and previously cos we ate another chicken chop from another stall as we could not find the famous one. The shopping here was great! I prefer the clothes here than Wu Fen Pu. Mostly Korean style clothes. Though a bit ex but I think it's worth the money cos still cheaper a bit as compared to Singapore and u seldom see these clothes in Spore. I bought a lot of flowery-patterned clothes. haha! that's the in-thing in Spore at that moment too but I find they're so much nicer here in Taiwan.
This is the hawker side.
The shopping street.
That's the end of Day 5.