Da Kidz Says:

Reach taipei airport, queue at the passport counter. Got a couple behind me, soooo typical singaporeans. "Why are they taking so long? They should be like Singapore, know what time the flight comes in and then open more counter ma." dotzzz, disgrace. I waited patiently then got out of the airport, very cold! Like 18 degrees outside, is like a giant air con. Then boarded the bus which was really good, big space and can sleep but i didn't, was looking outside even though it was dark. Had dinner at a restaurant which was quite ok, only that there was no spoon, only chopsticks! The dinner was pretty decent, den beside the restaurant got bing lang xi si~ They wear really little, like bikini and short skirts and boots. Then the bus park at the roadside, at the back of the bus got a sign that says "Ding Che Chang" = Carpark! lolx! Just put up the mobile sign, that one is carpark liaoz, win liaoz loh! Then the toilet in the restaurant, the sign is a smoking pipe for guys. I thought that was smoking room, so was looking for the toilet! For girls is a high heel shoe...weird.

Reach the hotel, got the room with 3 other guys - yong jun, kai shen and joey. Luckily all non-smokers =) Quickly unpack and realise that the window was a mirror. But can see through when u're standing close to it, so its a two-way-mirror thing. Then did channel surfing on the tv, there're 90+ channels!!! Gosh! Got into another room for briefing and YiCong KeYuan showed us channel 14, which was hardcore porn! lolx.

Then realized the hotel dun hav toothbrush, so went down with friends to 7-11 to buy toothbursh and shaver. they bought lots of titbits oso la, den upon paying money, they don't have plastic bags!!! NO PLASTIC BAGS! Joey paid NT$1 (5cents) for a cloth bag which is very weird, the rest of us just carried the stuff back to hotel. Then later i realise on the table got toothbrush...dotz! Wasted $2!

Next morning suppose to wake up at 7am, but when i woke up i saw the day was so bright, i thought was 7am liaoz or late. Then I saw the clock only 6am, the day sooo bright! Then went to the government centre to perform. It was a press conference la, then the all the lion dance and dragon dance troupe gathered to showcase the performances. It was quite cold in the open, very windy lo. The performance was decent la, my suona was ok. Then I filmed the press conference with a video cam, whoaha~! My first press conference leh, overseas de somemore! haha. Ate their bian dang with only chopsticks, quite ok la for first time. But whole week eat bian dang for lunch, until i sooo sick of it!

Then went back restaurant to sleep, then travelled to the opening ceremony dinner. The dinner also, chinese restaurant but yuck! Every dinner is pretty much the same, the cold chicken and the kou rou (3-layer pig or pig legs) will be on the table. Then got fish, veggie etc all with the "soon" vegetable, got a drain smell... yuck! Nobody dare to eat lo... Then the drinks arh, no plain water no chinese tea. It's those sunkist orange juice packet form de... wat suan mei tea, malt sugar tea, guava juice tea... yuck! taste weird weird de, if u're lucky u get orange juice...

Then went to try the bing lang, yuck!!! It's like a stem wrapped in a leaf, u bite the head of the stem off and then u chew the rest, got juice come out. You spit out the whole thing, including the juice, which taste like dirty water. YUCK! Just spit on the roadside, so on the road you actually see a lot of spits...disgusting lo. It's dirty brown somemore. The taste linger in the mouth for two hours, yuck... some of the old uncle addicted, their whole teeth all brown lo, dark chocolate brown. hao er xin! Then the guide told us, some sell for 3 li NT$100. They'll put one in your mouth and pull down the shirt to expose.

Then I went to 逢甲夜市 (Feng Jia Night Market) which is the 2nd biggest night market in Taiwan, after Shi Lin night market. It's super duper big, just imagine bugis street much broader and 50x the size! I spent 4 nights there and covered probably only one quarter of it. It's super duper big!!! It's beside Feng Jia university so the stuff there caters to the student market. Got the usual MacDonald, G2000, Baleno, Hang Ten etc la. Then a lot of food stalls at the roadside, taiwan sausages, chou tou fu (very nice!), got this potato like delifrance de is the best!! lan ren xia (prawn for lazy people) which is bbq on satay sticks, its about 5cm and don't need to peel, just eat! That's why its called lan ren xia. Got fried milk also, zha niu nai and many other weird stuff.

The clothes there are super duper cheap!!! Hood long sleeve can go as cheap as $5, jeans at about $15, shoes at $15... long sleeve shirts are the cheapest so i bought a lot!!! altogether i bought 8 clothes home, whoahaha! super shopper! Their fashion goes by season, now is entering summer so they clearing stock for winter/spring clothes which are all the long sleeve, so long sleeve cheap lo...tshirt ex. But now the fashion is tshirt for this cartoon monkey, quite ok looking nia. There's a LOT of weird stuff and gifts there, i bought a stainless steel ring also, cost about $20 in SG but only $5 (after convert to sgd) at the night market!

I was trying to look for the CD shop but only found one, the cd equally ex lo. The bookstores very very hard to find!!! Gave up sia, couldn't buy the books wangjiunn and teckie wanted. Shopping there is super duper fun la, so many new things. Really miss it! Got this shop where it's filled with machines to catch soft toys. They'll tell u the market price... like NT$180 for a doraemon toy (about $9 sg) so each try is NT$10. If you try 18 times and fail to catch, you can go on and catch for free until you catch it. If not you can just ask the person to open and give one for you, confirm get a toy! Good rite!

The next day we went to perform at a temple, super crowded because the whole month is Ma Zu Festival... very big in taiwan. So they invited us dragon dance troupe (which I play suona) to represent Singapore. A lion dance troupe from malaysia, taiwan and japan. Hong Kong got dragon also but is glow in dark de. Saw the coffee maker on the street, they grind the beans and put into some funnel for distillation, very cool. After that we went to the night market to shop again, haha.

4th day we performed at a secondary school. The school looks quite nice on the outside, class room aircon but the tables and chairs wooden de. The toilet OMG! open the cubicle can see flies flying around, soooo dirty! Their timetable is morning 8am - 4pm which includes CCA as lessons. Quite interesting their school, but very few people came. Cos the organizer say this place was heavily hit by 921 earthquake, so everyone trying to work hard to earn $.

After that went to the power station to listen about how they use coal oil to power 1/5 of taiwan. I saw a real electrolysis cell plate!!! wow, so interesting! After that went to a fish market, saw puffer fish and I got to eat Shark's meat! very nice... Saw octopus and eels also, very interesting. In the night went to perform at a primary school hall, which was 2 levels like TPY sports hall liddat! Did a terrible performance, haix!

Went back hotel no mood go out, so watch tv lo. The stupid tv guide is until 12mn nia, singapore is until 6am ma. So after 12mn, i dunno what show is going on le, so had to channel surf. argh! 90+ channels leh!!! Saw Yang Cheng Lin's mtv Qing Zhu and her MacDonald advertisement -  对不起, HOT到你 ! Very cute! Then the newspaper very funny, the front page got a half-page ad that says something like
"Democracy rules! Voice your opinion to the world!
19th March 2005 - 1pm starts @ xxx Street and end at xxx street" *Map attached*
It's actually a call for demostration riot! lolx! That's how they get people to shi wei... so funny!

Next day went to a sports hall to perform, weather super duper cold la... so had a bad performance also. After that we went to Tian Hou Temple (something like our Si Ma Lu at Bugis) where the place like chinatown, sell a lot of stuff and very happening. I saw fire crackers for the first time, very loud! Bought the tai yang bing and ate lots of stuff. After that they brought us to kbox but so many people smoking, so didn't sing la, went out and breathe in fresh air. After that went night market for the 3rd time! lolx! Shop again!

6th day woke up very early to go Sun Moon Lake 日月潭 . Spent 3 hours to reach the bottom of the mountain, went to a winery, nothing much there. Then went to Wen Wu Temple which was rebuilt after 921 earthquake. Very beautiful building. Then the lake at the mountain very very big! Got hotels and all beside it, can rent cruise or do canoeing on the lake. The view is sooooo nice, so I bought an espresso at a cafe called February Cafe and sat by the lake and drink... so relaxing and romantic. Even though it was very cold, the view was super nice! I had to wear 3 layers lo, including a sweater.

Then went to a very old train station which was antique. You have to cross the railway to the platform, and wait for the train very long. Really like those you see on hokkien mtv... Then saw another temple which was devastated and crumpled. It's now a historical site, you can see the 2nd level now on the floor, at the back is the 3rd level on the floor... bcos of 921 earthquake. Very sad lo... But the tour guide joke about, now earthquake they run upstairs instead of downstairs, cos the building will crash. You run upstairs got higher chance of living after it crash. Luckily singapore no earthquake. Night went to the night market for the 4th time and the last time!!! haha, really love it man! Then happened to watch Shi Zi Lu Kou and Shao Nian Te Gong Dui.

The last day, we packed and took the bus to taipei, which was 4 hours ride. Had our lunch, then went to this place which makes pottery. Taipei more advance and clean looking than taichung. They got mrt and stadiums and all, very nice. Oh the swimming pool is indoor, like the one we saw on Shi Zi Lu Kou. Too bad didn't have chance to go Shi Lin night market or Xi Men Ding... but i pretty much spent everything le, about SGD$200! $100 on clothes, $50 on souvenirs and food, another $50 on taxi and toothbrushes n all. At the taipei airport, ate burger king which was HEAVEN! After a whole week of chinese food, another alternative was much appreciated. But it was self-service de, you grab your own burger and fries and drinks, pay at one counter...so dotz. Taste very bland also, they dun eat spicy or wat. On the plane back, sat beside an ang moh who had a laptop and watched Star Wreck, a parody of Star Trek, so killed the boredom on plane luckily.

Reach back home about 1am and was dead as a fish! Next day slept until 2pm and unpack the stuff and wash clothes and all. It was a really fun trip, very enriching and another country's stamp now in the passport book. Hope I can collect more~! More photos of the trip HERE!

14th March
Jus packed my bag for the taiwan trip tomorrow. Will be going tai zhong for a week, haha. Will take lots of photos and eat lots of goodies. Leaving tomorrow, I only changed my currency, pack bag and set tape recorder today leh. sooo rush lo.

The buying list includes Mayday dvd, books from chen qi dunnowat, real bubble teas haha~! and food and souvenirs la. Temp around 24 degrees so will be quite cold la, not very sure. A lot of things i dunno, what time is the flight i also dunno, what is the hotel oso dunno, which airport oso dunno. All I know is we flying jetstar asia! Ok la, as long as its not china airlines i'm fine. 5 hours flight lo, haha.

Oh, Gong Jiao broke 1st in A div debates! whoahaha, so happy for them. Hopefully they can cheong all the way to the finals. I think this is the first time in history ba, never heard of any previous cases.

Chinese orchestra, the new committee still very fresh and rookie la. Quite worried for them with the huge amount of work for club crawl and hand over now. especially he xiao P, dunno how he'll survive through the one week. Hopefully can use msn or gmail in taiwan?! doubt so, haha.

3rd March
Today marks the 1st anniversary of Da Kidz blog. Yup, it's one year liaoz... so much things happened. Daniel Poh and the rest all did very well for their As, including hms and brandon who scored straight As. Probably melvin as well. congrats.

Im going over to taiwan in 2 weeks time, yay. been so long since i get to go somewhere far. Hv been preparing all these while so quite busy actually. Going over, im gonna miss lots of show so i hav to set the tape recorder ready. Survivor, amazing race, beauty n the geek... haha

NYP all finish exams le, so gotta start on club crawl and orientation preparation. Time is passing by quite slowly so i hope there's enough time to do everything and get prepared by then. Hopefully we can play feng nian ji and long teng hu yue and yu zhou ... so exciting! luv feng nian ji, haha!