up to the highest peak

yeah so the peak of the mountain was 3600m above sea level.
i was really motion sick + altitude sick.
lousy me.

and it was like 0 degrees at the mountain... even the waterfall froze...

at the top of the mountain.
it was really beautiful standing amidst the clouds, expiring mist and shivering in the cold..

and making monkey faces..

it only snow after we descended the mountain.
although we missed the snow, Thank God for that.
the drafts of cold wind seeped into my thick clothings and nearly turned me into a popsicle already...

the pine wood cabin that we stayed in wasn't much of a place to stay in when the temperatures dipped to single digits and less...

i know it doesn't look that cold without the white snow and with the deceivingly warm sun.
trust me.

u'll leap up from the toilet seat.

up the mountain to 清境农场

清境农场

didn't know my motion sickness was that bad...
anyways, my mum says it was God's blessing that we managed to run into a kind cabbie who offered to drive us up the mountain at a cheap rate cos the bus we planned to take doesn't go high enough into the mountain where we'll be staying.

i was really having bad motion sickness....
the mountain roads were bumpy and swervy and bad for my guts. =(
and the place where we were staying was 2000m above sea level.... horrible.

i looked sickly,no?
its the altitude sickness and motion sickness... baaa
btw, the sign reads, NO CHASING AND SITTING ON SHEEP.
baaaaaa

2 mushrooms..

my parents and their honey moon again...

the smu-er does the jump. very nice photo right!!! ofcourse!i took it!!!

the fake smu-er attempts to jump....erm.... kuakuakua...
ya i JUMP UGLILY. =(

star*jump*
i land uglily too :(

arrival at 台中

we arrived in 台中 and checked into 福华 hotel, which was located in the remotest part of 台中。
although there were 4 of us, there were only 3 beds.
so poor me slept on the floor.... =(

yeah it looks like i'm peeing over the window ledge or sth... =S

shortly after we arrived, we were warmly welcomed by pastor chen.
he was honestly a very warm and gracious host!
he went out of his way all the time to make sure we were comfortable.

he brought us to this vegetarian restaurant, which (duh) sold vegetarian food.
which looks fantastic!

>> vegetarian steak!!!

they had these bicycle looking stuffs outside the restaurant....

and i felt like a silly kid... circling the adults... oblivious to the world indulging in my little circles...

then! he brought us to tai chung university, which has the most unique church architecture evar!

he also brought us to a tea house for dinner... which serves fantalicious food and gigantic bubble tea!!!

oooooh looooooook at the jigggly fatty porky!!!

the toufu is YUMMY!

and their bubble tea.... HEAVENLYly HUGE!!!
and the pearl is ultra QQ!!!! yummy!!!
the tea is so GOOD, the pearls are so NICE, u can't get 腻 from drinking it.
its THAT good.

and then its back to the hotel for snooze......
no sleep for me though.
floor was bad. and the symphony of snores kept me awake the entire night.
=(

Taipei, Day 4 - Out w my sis

went to my sisters hostel and attempted to place my bids and check my results for sem 1.
was really anxious and was in a foul mood.
because i knew i would do badly.
sigh.

seems like the trail of bad luck is still following me.
because of the earthquake, the network was down so i could do nothing.
oh well.

went out for lunch with my sister and her 2 bestest buddies at taipei : kaori and johnny!
kaori's a jap majoring in chinese studies, while johnny's a philippino chinese.
apparantly their fav pastime is pigging out and ktv-ing.
am really happy for my sister to have found her flock of birds of the same feather!!
glad to see that she's really really happy over there! =)

johnny's the only other person i know who watches avatar: the last airbender! =)

then we went to wu fen pu to do abit of shopping.
couldn't buy much though. =(
its fucking winter.
and they dun have nice bags either.
and i already have tonnes of accessories from thailand last year so i didn't want to get any more accessories.
and as forementioned, i have big feet..... =(

so all i managed to get was more winterclothings to keep me warm for the trip up the mountain.
my sister bought many many winter coats and jackets though.
they are all so pretty.............. i wished singapore had winter, not rainy season!

Taiwan, Day 3 - Unfortunate day

moved out of hotel and stayed at zheng sui auntie's house at yong kang street, which was right next to the ORIGINAL din tai feng restaurant.

>>can u spot the din tai feng banner behind?
she was an absolutely gracious host, bringing us around to tour the scenic spots, and stuffing us with delicious taiwanese delicacies and getting us silly tropical singaporeans thicker clothings when the temperatures dipped.

at the advice of my sister, we decided to visit the ferris wheel and 淡水.
she didn't join us though; she had classes.

the ferris wheel.

u can see carrefour behind me..am on ze ferris wheel

after a round around the ferris wheel, my mum rushed away to do shopping in carrefour.
CARREFOUR.
like she never saw one in singapore before.
she reappeared with 4 impossibly big bags of winter clothings she bought from carrefour.

note once again that we were going to 淡水.
that pretty much spoilt the mood because its rather stupid to lug huge bags of shopping to a sea side village of 淡水.
my dad got really pissed.
u won't want to know what happens when my dad gets pissed....

my mum smiled at my dad like she could smile all the piss-i-ness away.
my dad threatened to jump into the sea if my mum continued with her illogical spendings.

oh well.
ruined mood.

and so we finally proceeded on our way to 淡水。
just when i thought the day couldn't get any worser, a strange old man sat beside me in the crowded train headed to 淡水.
he was about in his 40s, with white hair all over.
he was dressed in a green windbreaker and flipflops.
that was really strange considering it was freezing winter.
so he sat next to me with a back pack on his lap.

he might be strange, but he surely didn't seem dangerous.
so i was minding my own business when i noticed that he was shaking vigorously.
i turned towards his direction and saw that he was stroking an umbrella knob between his legs hidden behind his backpack.
or so i thought it was an umbrella knob.
so i turned back and and looked straight ahead.

THEN IT OCCURED TO ME THAT IT WAS NO UMBRELLA KNOB.
he was fucking masturbating with his dick out in the public!!!!!!!!!!!
OMFG.
traumatised, i immediately went to look for my dad at the next carriage.
i totally forgot my mum was still there sitting right opposite the pervert.
i hurried back and pulled my mum away to the next carriage.

how bad can the day get!!!!

sigh.
at least i left before he came.
ew. digusting wanker!!!!!!!!!!!

before we left the train, my mum diaoed him and saw that he was getting tissue to wipe his hands.
EW!!!!!!!!!!

so, how much worser can the day get, right?
finally, we arrived at 淡水.

many interesting foody shops...

ha! my shop!!

then, my sister was telling me the 臭豆腐 in taipei was delicious.

i thought they were all the same.
so i went to eat.
my dad and i both bought a stick each.

we took our first bite....
looked at each other...
and threw the rest of it away!!!

it tastes like sewage!!!!
ew!

more of the yummy food and stuffs there>>

nothing much there except for food and games machine...

yeah.... sky turns dark at 5pm in taipei...

so we went back to zhen shui auntie's place after this unfortunate day.

u think its over?
no no no.....
just as we were in the basement shophouse of zhen sui's auntie place, the earthquake occurred.
personally, i didn't feel anything cos i was at the basement.
but apparently, the people at the higher levels felt the tremors.
it was quite bad, as in it lasted for a long time even though the tremors measured on 2-3 on the ritcher's scale.

got back and bathed vigorously and washed my eye with eyedrops.
who knows what germs the pervert has on him?

glad that it was the end of the unfortunate day.

Taiwan, Day 2 -family

christmas wasn't celebrated as a holiday in taiwan.
so its back to work and back to school for all the people in taiwan.

woke up early in the morning and went to visit 表舅and his family.
when my mum mentioned about my cousin who just recently hanged herself, 表舅 and my mum started sobbing.
it wasn't a pleasant sight.

for the rest of the trip, it was like this.
in the sense that my mum would keep talking about pei chien as though she were still alive.

we didnt visit her grave in the end.
guess it was still too painful for 表舅.. to rip open unhealed wounds.

anyways, they ended up taking us to this steamboat joint.
and then there was this 3 hour long awkward conversation with my other cousin.
like, what am i supposed to say to someone i haven't met in 15 years!
especially, how am i supposed to have a conversation in chinese?!

man it was like a pained conversation between chickens and ducks.

anyways, the steamboat joints there are fantastic.
apparently some would give out free flow of haagen daaz or meiji icecream!!!

in the evening, we waited and waited for hours for my sister to arrive at our meeting place.
because her class ended late, we had to wait even longer.
we were all feeling really grumpy because we all missed her so.

and guess what was the first thing she said when she saw us.
KANASAI.
-_-"

oh well. had dinner as a family for the first time in months!
mum bombarded her with questions and before long, they were quarelling again.
not the fierce type. the joking type.
peppered with loads of kanasai-s.

this rowdy family scene once again became familiar.

Taiwan, Day 1

left singapore on the 24th afternoon.
was feeling grumpy also because somebody said i looked old.

<
=( and its not only because of somebody saying it.
its true. i'm getting wrinkles and saggy skin it really annoys me that someone had to point it out.
on the other hand i was glad to be away from singapore over the holiday season.
i always get the holiday blues over christmas and at the end of the year.
i never could see the point of this festive season.

so i arrived in taipei at around 9pm and hurried to a church at taipei for a christmas service.

really traditional church.

was feeling groggy.... had abit of motion sickness.
the church was beautiful nevertheless.

although there was a musical thingy after 11pm, we left at 11pm.
too knocked out tired.

didn't manage to see sister.
sister busy counting down with her taiwanese friends.

sobs.