The Season of Solo Travelling

It was early Nov 2022 when I tried redeeming Krisflyer miles, for the first time, to bid for flights to Christchurch. With hope, I also booked some of my accommodations with free cancellations and also the skydiving package at Queenstown. The idea was that if the redemption failed, I could easily just cancel my accommodations.

Been on the waitlist from the start, which I knew it's not gonna be easy redeeming near to date. Probably need at least 6 months to a year in advance? True enough, the hope dashed when I received the redemption cancellation email when 2 weeks prior to actual flight date.

Generally, being the lazy me would've just let it pass, cancel all the other bookings for free and I will just need to stay in my comfort zone doing my usual comfort thing. 

However, it's different this time... After sharing my thought of solo travelling, I've heard stories of friends and their friends also going solo trips this year, it gave me the courage and strength to push on with the plan...

Together with my annual leaves taken and weather forecasts showing good sign, my gut refused to let all my anticipations and almost materialized simple plan to just put to waste. Who cares if the tickets are expensive when it's near to date, all I cared was what answers this challenges-filled trip could add to my personal growth. Can I survive alone? Do I still remember how to drive and in a foreign terrain? Will I freak out at the height of 15,000 ft above? How would my free-and-easy itinerary work out?

With just a newly bought backpack and myself, we're going to find out the answers myself...

Living with COVID-19

Thought of just noting down the symptoms and my personal experience just prior to, as well as the road to recovery from COVID-19.

30th Jun 2022 (Thurs):

Off day for me as it was my birthday and just wanna take a break. Was feeling kinda lethargic and could feel a little itch on my throat. At this point, the very mild itch wasn't too much of a concern for me as I had it on and off before. Just need to watch my diet and it should be gone in a day or two. - Lethargic, mild throat irritation.

1st July 2022 (Fri):

Another off day for me but need to go out to run some work errands. Still feeling lethargic (not sure was it due to the depressing thought that I needed to run some work errands while on my off day and the weekend work that was to come) and the throat irritation was still there. It started to reach a point which I couldn't complete my conversation without feeling to urge to cough. Having dry cough occasionally. - Lethargic, throat irritation, dry cough.

2nd July 2022 (Sat):

The day which was planned to have a KTV session for my birthday. At 1+ AM, throat didn't seem to get any better. Took an ART and showed negative. But considered my bad condition, I decided to excuse myself. That decision was the right one as throughout the whole night, there's this "non-anticipatable" dry coughing which totally disrupted my sleep. No itch or sore in the throat prior to the cough, my body just decided to cough out of the blue and the cough surely wasn't the type of "normal cough" - with a little bit of a snort. Yeah, a little hard to explain, I know. And it only happened when I was lying down. Weird indeed. So, a bad start of the day and worse to come as my constipation seemed to reach its peak as well. Totally no appetite, probably the coughing inhaled too much air into my stomach and I was having difficulty releasing it. Terrible feeling. No feel for coffee either. Went into toilet but just negligible output each time. Near evening, things were starting to feel better for me, managed to let out some of the gases, appetite was coming back. At this point, I also had a mild runny nose which could be the cause of the "snorting cough". - Lethargic, throat irritation, dry cough, mild runny nose.

3rd July 2022 (Sun):

Woke up early, drank coffee hoping it could help with my bowel and it did. Couldn't say that it did clear everything but good enough for me to feel at ease again. Should have taken another ART before going to work but I didn't. Sometimes, you just don't always make the right decisions. Since either way was bad, I should have chosen the lesser evil. Anyway, an expected 2-hour job, took a total of 9 hours. Back home, things started to took a turn for the worse when I kinda feel heated up. Took my temperature and it was 38 degree Celsius. Took ART immediately and straightaway the feared result revealed... Positive. The fever didn't last long as after a dose of Panadol Soluble, it subsided. - Throat irritation, wet cough, mild runny nose, fever.

4th July 2022 (Mon):

Still having wet cough and blocked nose but no more fever.

5th July 2022 (Tues):

Still having wet cough but blocked nose is getting mild.

6th July 2022 (Wed):

Blocked nose cleared but wet cough getting more frequent. Took ART again and still positive but very faint line.

7th ~ 8th July 2022 (Thurs ~ Fri):

Just cough with a little phlegm.

9th July 2022 (Sat):

Still coughing but ART showed negative.

Overall experience with COVID-19 was that it felt like common flu and cough. For me, the worst day should be on the 2nd July. which the cough kept me awake the whole night and somehow worsened my constipation. Unbearable feeling. Wondered what it would feel like if I didn't have any vaccination.

Hola 2022~

Pssst... I'm still alive. Been a while since the last post. Time certainly flies when you're in your thirties. Past 2 years, the Covid-19 came, disrupted our normal lives and I naturally retreated back into my comfort hermit shell. Didn't help with my already poor socializing skills. Got hooked with some games in the "cave" of mine, as well as watching the rise of Youtube content creators. Love to watch those conspiracy theories talking about supernatural things and trigger questions about life. And somehow, these had me lost track of living my life instead... Well, the awareness probably won't make any difference in the short-term as the contents are still intriguing and many strange and interesting things are happening on the other side of the Earth which I don't know about.

>> Inserted thoughts at the moment while trying hard to reflect and pin down my hope for the new year >>

Expression and communication is still a big and tough life lesson for me. The thoughts were meshed up and difficult for me to express myself freely and accurately. I truly have admiration for people who are good at telling stories.

>> Oops, yeah. 

Anyway, 2022 I want to see myself exercise more, to start making concrete plans and actions for those thoughts in my head. And of course, spend more time out of my hermit shell. Let's go 2022~~!

Trap of Habit

While my mind was pondering on the issue of whether some may have gotten used to the action of "desiring things" than rather truly desire the "things" themselves, I came across this radio channel talking about the "trap of habit".

UFM 100.3 - 心灵小故事


"One loves ultimately one's desire, not the thing desired." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Have you fallen into the trap of your own habits?

2016 - A Year of Milestones

Oops. It's been dreadfully long that I'd wish to update more on my life events but... *Excuses*

To many, I guess 2016 had been sort of "dark". We saw the passings of many well-known figures, and for myself, lost a young colleague to a tragic accident and my aunt also failed her life battle to cancer. Ok, can't say only 2016 that I'd come to experience death around me. But certainly death is not something that's easy to stomach. Especially someone that you just saw yesterday or someone whom watched you grow up.

Health wise, 2016 had stomach issues pretty often. Weak stomach couldn't handle the stresses and giving me more problems. Zzz

For work, man power issues had gotten  stronger yet the load of work also gotten heavier. Something that perhaps looking good was the prospect of getting promoted once again. Not official yet, but I could already sense that the role wasn't what I'm interested in. Felt like being thrown into a role without proper training. Considering the office gonna be shifted pretty far from my home, the "push" factor had never been stronger.

Despite pressure from work, I'm contented to be able to go on few trips. Travelled to Malacca, Hong Kong, and a day trip to Shenzhen and Macau each! And all were my first time there! Other than the delicious food, the highlight was the Bungee Jump that I was hoping to try at least once in my life! Had to say the look of it is scarier than when you're doing it. Next I wanna go try skydive and it's gonna be very difficult to find people go New Zealand with me. Oh and Hong Kong's service standard not as bad as I'd expected. Still ok la~

2016 also saw myself broke my own words that I would probably not join any run that requires money as I always said I'm not gonna “花钱受罪”. Yet, as unpredictable as life can be, I joined a 10km run and full marathon. I guessed that shocked some people around me but the sense of achievement was definitely good. Once again I'm impressed by my determination (Haha). Will have to give my knees sometime to recover again. 辛苦你了！

I'm glad that I took on the challenges in 2016. Let's see what lies ahead in 2017! Bring it on~

P.S. 너없이 그들을 할 수 없었어...

Balancing Work & Life

And so, "pop", there goes January 2016.
They said the time flies by when you're busy, it's absolutely true. Sometimes I ponder, if things were in order from the start, would I be struggling so hard now? I'm one who doesn't like to move on when things aren't in order in the first place, so if I knew certain things have to be set in certain way, maybe I wouldn't be facing this so unprepared now. *Grumble*

Hectic January saw myself pathetically chasing against time. Mission I deemed impossible. Projects after projects, when can I get my deserved break? That said, February not gonna see it alleviate also, because all those preparation, comes the real test, which is in February itself.

CNY coming, and seems like everyone is relaxing except for my pathetic department.

My 'home' is another place of mission impossible. Another pile of mess, objects and human inclusive. Nowadays, go to work, sian, come back home, also sian. How I wish I can have another place of my own right now.

Come come my festive mood, I need to brighten up to this festive season! February, bring it on!

2015: A Challenging Year

Finally, we're counting down to the end of 2015! There goes 2015~!!! It's been a year full of more downs than ups. LKY's passing, SG50, GE, terrorism here and there. Eventful I must say.

2015 saw i got my first promotion in my career. I should be happy but things have started to be more and more challenging there after.

Time seemed to get lesser, yet more work were demanded to be done. My top-of-the-list criteria for job, work-life balance, seemed to be thrown into question. That said, 2015 was somewhat ended with Koyaanisqatsi.

Love life was thrown into spotlight with relatives and friends trying their best to intro people for me to know. Had a few chances here and there. But had to admit, I'm to blame for the lack of interest with all those work issues occupying my mind. I'm just not so good at multitasking.

For my health, perhaps due to life getting more stressful, so suffering from indigestion seemed to be common for 2015 as well.

Financial wise, salary didn't increased much but the bills I'm having to pay has increased more! Some of the months, I gotta pay for 6 person's mobile bills! Some were even outstanding for a couple of months! I didn't even get to travel for 2015 yet I didn't managed to save much also. What is this?!! Hope this financial condition can be eased off soon.

Well, let's hope things get better in 2016. I wanna do a lotsa things!! Give me more time and freedom!!

LET'S ALL ROAR INTO A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016!!!!!

Never Easy to Be More than Ordinary

Really wanna post this.
Stuck in my head for days~

"Run, run, run
Far beyond the setting crimson sun
Never meant to be easy
When you're trying to be
more than ordinary"

GO SINGAPORE in 8th ASEAN Para Games!!!

Xin Chào Hanoi 2013 - Day 2

Long overdued post. Better be late than never!

Day 2 started early as we set off for Perfume Pagoda tour at 7:45 AM. Here's an interesting fact. Geographically, Vietnam and Singapore fall along the line of same time zone. However, Hanoi has a UTC/GMT of +7 as compared to Singapore UTC/GMT of +8. Well, I won't go into depth on why Singapore eventually ended up with UTC/GMT of +8. Anyway, no link. Their crack of dawn is at around 5:30 AM and by 6:30 AM the sun will have fully risen. The same goes for the dusk falling at around 5:30 PM and sunset completes at around 6:30 PM.

Throughout the stay in Hanoi, there were plenty of travelling. I never would have thought that even travelling can be so taxing. Perfume Pagoda aka Chùa Hương was located south from Hanoi city, and it's popular to the locals especially during Chinese New Year season. So not recommended to go during the period. It is actually a place for Buddhists to worship the Goddess of Mercy. The journey comprises of a 2 hours mini bus ride to a "jetty" where from there we will take another 1 hour boat ride which will be rowed by the local women. The mini bus ride will have a pit-stop at a place selling souvenirs. You will be able to see many disabled doing hand embroidery in the place as well.

Disabled doing hand embroidery at pit stop
on the way to Perfume Pagoda

I'm not gonna speculate why they were sitting around rows of tables just right next to the entrance. I did wondered how they were actually feeling when we crowded around them, taking photographs. At least for me, they've proven to be able to work and hopefully, enough to support themselves. Kudos to them.

After a half-hour break, the mini-bus set off for the another 1 hour before reaching the riverbank where we were ferried to the Perfume Pagoda.

Boat rowed by local woman, capacity
of 6 tourists and one more tour guide

The boat ferry was rather slow. There were times which I had wished I was the one rowing. Besides that, the seats were hard and uncomfortable while the hot sun didn't make it any better. Cap or hat was recommended there, though I didn't think it helped much.

The tour guide explained to us that the name, "Perfume" was given due to several different background stories. One of the stories said that along the way, you could smell the fragrance of the blossoming lotus flowers. Another special note about this pagoda is that the Buddha was actually a female. After we reached the other end, a very decent mixed-vegie kinda lunch was prepared for us where everyone shared the dishes. The cultural differences and dining etiquette of Europeans and Asians were clearly displayed on the dining table when it came to sharing dishes. Since I'm not from the typical kinda family where we sit together around a table, it's uneasy for me, To me, the experience was awkward but pleasant nonetheless, After lunch, we headed off to the prestigious cave that's residing at the centre of the whole Chùa Hương complex, Huong Tich Cave. You can choose to either walk up the long pathway or take a short cable car trip. We took the cable car as the hot sun had drained quite a bit of energy and we just wanna get a glimpse of the pagoda and leave.

Huong Tich Cave Entrance

The journey to Huong Tich Cave was filled with up and down - Reached the shore, hiked a distance up, then took cable car and went higher. Upon reaching the entrance of the cave, you will see this flight of stairs downward. (Take note if you're planning to bring along elderly or anyone with walking difficulties, be prepared to endure this physical test.) If it happened to rain that day, the ground would also be slippery to walk, beware if your footwear is wearing out. I had a hard time walking as my cheapo shoes kept testing my balancing skills throughout the journey around this pagoda.

Inside this cave, you'll notice quite a few altars set up and also a group of monks. Caves always give me a kind of eerie feel and this cave never managed to change my opinion of it. Caves are also amazing art sculptures of nature. Anyway, nothing much at this pagoda really. I'm sure it means more to the worshippers.

Can you spot the little statue of Goddess of Mercy
that's watching over the Huong Tich Cave?

There are plenty of temples around this Perfume Pagoda but as we're not really a temple-hopping kinda tourists, we just skipped most of them.

Now before going back, be prepared as you'd be expected to give the boat lady some tips after the she ferried you back. I'd recommend to prepare a reasonable amount and kept it in a pocket while the rest of your money in another pocket. At the end of the ferry, while the inexperience me took out my wallet and started counting how much to give, the aggressive boat lady took me by surprise and she just grabbed whatever cash that's in my hand! Never met someone as shameless as her but the thought that maybe they needed those cash than myself, I gentlemanly let it slide. Besides, my larger cash was still in the other pocket. Phew~

That's a really hot day, and thankfully the moment we came back up to shore, it started raining. Couldn't imagine if the rain poured while we're on the boat as I'm not wearing any life vest.

Night fell quickly after a tiring day and we headed to a recommended place by our hotel receptionist for dinner - Mam Restaurant. The dinner was franky, so-so. Nothing fantastic, and my picture of the dinner turned out to be really just so-so too.

Very crowded Đồng Xuân Market

Anyway after dinner we went to their night market, Đồng Xuân Market and we were overwhelmed by the crowded streets. Perhaps due to mid-autumn festivals, it's even more crowded than Taiwan's night markets. Terrible human congestion but kinda cool. The pedestrians just owned the streets for the night, seemingly. Many of them had costumes and toys that if you weren't sure about the Chinese festivals, you might think they're having their Halloween! The night market had very limited number of food stalls, so there weren't many things for us to try. People were out their just to mingle around and celebrate the festival,

Took sometime navigating out of the congested streets, we're back to our hotel and that's the end of Day 2!

Day 3 will feature the start of the 2D1N trip to the famous Ha Long Bay! But that will have to wait till I'm in the mood again... Maybe I'll just sum up the rest of the trip. I'm too long-winded la~

Goodbye 2013, Gearing up for 2014!

2013 just came and flashed by in a blink of an eye. 2013 had seen people standing up to their beliefs, stepping out and not afraid to voice out their concerns... Eventful I might say. The world had shaken in many different countries, in many different ways...

2013 had seen myself making various decisions about my future. Decisions making, but not actions taken. Plans need time to execute, no? 2013 had been rather hectic, several big operations at work, starting to feel a little fatigue into the job after 2 years gone by... I guess it's a sign. 

Hanoi was the only overseas trip in 2013, sadly. Uncertainties in applying for leave kinda affected the mood in planning for more trips. Nonetheless, it's still a very much needed and refreshing trip and I should be contented.

Family wise, everything was pretty much "the same". There were some furniture rearrangements within the household that sort of in conflict to my idea of privacy. Thus, the dropped in the interest in writing and that explained the significant drop in frequency of blog posts. After the rearrangements, everything seemed to be in a messy state. I wanna throw as many things as possible!

New notebook, new camera, new earphones! Oops, 2013 had been generous in satisfying my material desires. Have to learn to love myself more isn't it? Haa

Hope for a more forward and outward moving 2014!

Xin Chào Hanoi 2013 - Day 1

Almost a year since the last flight to Taipei last October. This year's trip was given to Hanoi, Vietnam! Was deciding to visit the place since earlier part of the year but due to busy schedules and facing difficulties gathering more to join us, it was only left about 3 weeks when we finally settled our leaves and booked flights and hotel, all within a weekend. Talk about efficiency here. Not much time in planning, flights to Hanoi were limited and the flight timings were pretty bad - reached there near evening and had to come back in the morning. So basically, 6 days were actually 4 days there.

The word "Hanoi" isn't really unfamiliar to me. I'm sure many have heard of or even played this famous puzzle toy called "Tower of Hanoi". But I'm not quite sure how it's related to Hanoi because throughout my stay there, there wasn't any sight of them. One of the rumours gathered before going was that there are many pickpockets and almost all had been pickpocketed once! So my friend and I were so paranoid and we thought about buying some anti-theft bags and coming up with some strategies to counter them. I wouldn't say those worries were uncalled-for, but just be more alert and you should be fine. Besides security, I wasn't familiar with their variety of food as well. And what's discouraging was that I'm having a mild stomach ulcer few days before the trip. Damn suay I know.

So there we were, booked an additional 2D1N trip to Halong Bay (of course, why would you miss that place when you go Hanoi?) and I downloaded about 4 Android apps providing information and guides about Hanoi, and of course the usual trip stuffs and departed to this land of mystery.

Upon reaching Noi Bai Airport, the first thing that puzzled me was that we boarded the plane from the front, but we alighted the plane from the back! Kinda fresh experience there. And guess what, an "airport taxi" was waiting for us below. It's actually a bus with no seats that fetches us to the airport. I believed that's due to limited gates available and a larger terminal is in the process of construction at the moment, estimating to be completed around 2014. So nothing to worry about here. It doesn't mean anything anyway.

So we left around 1:05 PM Singapore time and reached there about 3:30 PM Hanoi time. Took awhile to orientate ourselves before looking for the taxi company which has better reputations.

Mai Linh Group

Information gathered was that Mai Linh and Taxi CP are the reputable taxis that should be taken. We got on a Mai Linh and from the airport to our hotel, it costed us 438,000 VND. It was slightly more expensive than estimation from other sources which suggested from airport to the city should be around 350,000 VND. It's proven to be so when we took a taxi arranged by our hotel on the last day back to the airport and it was only around 330,000+ VND. So, don't be afraid to ask your hotel to arrange a taxi pickup (the taxi could be from any company though) if they do provide the service. That's about 5 USD difference! (The rate was about 1 USD -> 20,000 VND.)

Along the way to our hotel, we had some kind of culture shock. One word to describe the traffic there -- Chaotic. You don't have to count the number of horns you hear along the way, you will lose count! In my country if you have these numbers of horns, you would expect people coming out of their cars and looking for a fight. It's annoying to horn so much~ I would presume it's normal to horn since the road there wasn't really well organized and you could see plenty of cross junctions of more than 4 directions. 2 lanes can be used like as though it's 3 lanes. I'm truly amazed at their skills. Many times we were on the same road as opposing cars and just within 5 meters before we switched back into our lane or vice versa. Speaking about cold sweat, I sure had many during the stay in Hanoi. The taxi put us just across the street to our hotel but the traffic light didn't seem to stop the motorbikes. We had difficulties crossing the road until we saw the locals crossed the road the same manner as the motorbikes crossed the traffic light -- like a boss. Jaywalking is the norm, and we adapted pretty quickly. Entering the hotel, we were greeted by a helpful doorboy who opened the door of the hotel and helped with the baggages to our room. The hotel staffs were very friendly, and they even introduced tour packages even before we checked into our room! Since we didn't have any idea where to go the next day either, we took a one day trip to Perfume Pagoda after we settled our stuffs in the room.

Getting recommendation from my apps, we patronized a restaurant near our hotel. It's at the top level of another hotel. Anyway, the restaurant is named The Gourmet Corner, stationed at level 12 of Elegance Diamond Hotel. Better to call for a reservation or you'll waste a chance to get a glimpse of the high view of the center of the city and the famous Hoan Kiem Lake while enjoying your high-end dinner, which, what happened to us. The ambience was also perfect for couple, which we somehow broke the trend and felt kinda awkward but who cares right? There were an old British or Australian couple, then came another couple probably from the same nationality with no reservation as well and they're left with the only table with 2 seats facing the window. Kinda romantic too, but the direction had nothing to see...

Bun Cha

Had one of Hanoi famous dishes, Bun Cha! The waiter even taught us how to eat this dish. Here goes, you'll have another small bowl and basically you just have to grab some noodle to your bowl, then mix with the chicken and the leaves and wala~

After mixing before eating Bun Cha

There you go~! Easy peasy.

After that, we walked a few streets before finding a small mini-mart to buy some beers to enjoy the rest of the night at the hotel catching some soccer actions. Beware of such mini-marts by the way, they charged higher than the supermarket which we only got to find out on the last night stay in Hanoi~!

~ End of Day 1 ~

Back to Nike

After more than a year with the Adidas, the sole finally burnt out.

Always eager to try this series worn by Carlos Tevez and Park Ji Sung - Nike Tiempo.

This model is Tiempo Mystic IV and I seriously hope it can last long.

Approaching the End of an Emotional 2012

Very soon, we'll be kissing goodbye to 2012 and embracing to a "new life" in 2013. As we're "supposed" to be dead by now according to the end-of-the-world prophecy.

2012 had been quite an "eventful" year. The beginning of the year immediately gave me a glimpse of what this year was about to turn out within my family - 步步惊心. Just January, I had my first chance of entering a hospital's A&E department in the middle of the night. You quickly realised that not only you that was still awake. Emergency happens anytime, anywhere. A&E department was kinda crowded. You could see people came in due to accidents with serious injuries, or some elderly having difficulties breathing in the middle of the night. I've come across a new term "psychogenic" with a real encounter of what it means. The power of human brain is indeed amazing. I tried whatever I could think of to try and pull my sis back into the the realm of sanity. With her paranoiac and psychotic behaviours around in the house, everything you say, everything you do, has to be really careful or it may trigger unnecessary questions or even spark wars. Just in 2012, I've stepped into A&E for a record of 3 times.

Career could be considered smooth sailing for me. Boss' 180 degree changed of attitude towards me, guiding with patience and kindness. I have to be really thankful for that considering the back of my head was full of never-ending family issues. The whole year I was totally struggling not to mix personal issues with my work. Really grateful to have this job.

As for my health aspect, I should also be thankful as throughout the year, I've only needed to take 2 days of medical leave. Perhaps all the running and soccer sessions worked well to keep me fit. Really needed to be physically strong so as to deal with all the mental challenges along the way.

The 2nd flight of my life and I gave it to Taipei, Taiwan! Though with company of just one male friend, the trip itself was an eye-opener. Their air was generally cooling and the people were generally friendly. Perhaps, as their language is similar to my mother tongue, it gave me a safe and secure feeling. Too bad, only stuck at Taipei this time round, more places for me to explore next time!
The weekend before 2012 Christmas, I went Genting Highlands, Malaysia in a group of six. I didn't expect the journey to be so bloody long. 8 hours just to travel there by coach bus. It was very rush for our stay, though I did had fun with some indoor rides and activities. In the end, the travelling time taken to and fro was more than the stay there. Wasted with some experience gained. Next time must have a one whole day there! Now I need to overcome the mental barrier for taking the long bus rides again!

Love seemed to be still far from me in 2012. Single was what I'm still living as. Family issues had jaded me so much so that sometimes, I'm thankful for the one doesn't have to suffer with me. Though sometimes, my weak self does wish for someone that can share the emotions with. On the positive side, I just hope it made me a stronger person.

Since doomsday was a hoax again as always, I shall hope for 2013 to be full of bright positives. May all bad things be resolved as soon as possible. May I have a normal family again. May my career be brought onto another higher level. May the pink of health be always with us. And of course, may the destiny of my life appear or if she already did, let's not wait for another doomsday to come...

Farewell 2012,
Welcome 2013...

臺北秋天逍遙初體驗！- Day 7 + Last Day!

這一天抱著千千萬萬個不捨。逗留臺北的最後一整天！

這天也沒什麽計劃，就看還剩哪裏想去沒去的，和一些該買還沒買的物品。

一早我們出發到靠近西門的一閒Carrefour。途中，有位澳洲遊客向我們尋路。很巧的是，他也要去Carrefour！就這樣多了位朋友一同上路。從問路到見到Carrefour之間，我們並沒有在乎對方是哪裏人。我想他或許把我們當作是臺灣人。令我最印象深刻的是，儅我們要道別時，除了基本的“謝謝”，他還多了彎腰+雙手合併。他是在拜我嗎？！哈哈！我想，他可能是剛從泰國來的吧。我沒“拜”回，就一個小揮手+“Have a nice day!”~ 能助人真的是件快樂的事。

帶著好心情，我們又跑回飯店放了剛買的東西。不知剛往哪去，我們最後選擇了，本來該去，卻因爲不夠時間而錯過的臺北市動物園！

臺北市動物園

終于來到了這裡，卻天不作美，下起雨來。付了錢，進了動物園，才發現動物們不是在睡覺，就是躲到找不到。我們也挺厲害的，走了老半天，竟然沒看到大象！還以爲是那動物園沒這動物，誰知搭車回入口途中才隱隱約約看到了。比起我國的動物園，這裡較大，動物不少，就少了與動物互動，和動物表演。就這樣走了到動物園關門。

師大夜市
既然是最後一晚，怎能錯過更多的夜市？最後一晚的夜市，我們去了就在大學旁邊的師大夜市！比起其它夜市，尤其是士林，這裡的面積比較小。而且食物也比較集中在中間。這裡關顧的人多數是大學生。看起來都比較年輕。嘗了那裏有名的許記生煎包（5顆/份, 35TWD)，阿諾芒果可麗餅Crepe（1scoop，60TWD）。因爲在動物園消耗了不少體力，走一下便累了。

回到臺北車站又走了不少路，爲的是要找能回桃園機場的客運，這樣就能省隔天很多時間，也不會太沖忙，慌亂。

就這樣第7天也宣告結束！

很喜歡臺北的便利店，Hi-Life, OK-Mart, FamilyMart, 7-eleven 到處可見。肚子餓，口渴，走幾步就有便利店出現，真的很便利！

這次的旅程，我看到的是一個相當吸引人的島嶼。對於長輩的那種尊重與禮貌，是那麽的值得我們學習。這裡給我一種無與倫比的安心感，不怕迷路，不怕沒人相助。多數的臺北人都很樂意招待，非常親切。

等我！我還會再來！

臺北秋天逍遙初體驗！- Day 6

乘搭鐵車654莒光，前往瑞芳。起初還以爲是那種頭上會噴煙的火車。意外的是，沒比我想像的舊。上來時還有人霸佔了我們的位。真抱歉，要座位就買有座位的票！就這樣，車廂内飃著一絲絲尷尬的氛圍，朝瑞芳開去！

瑞芳

我非常喜歡這個通道。看似普通的一個通道，多了幾幅有歷史意義的畫，好有味道!
通道有兩個出口，一個是通往瑞芳老街，另一個是往九份，金瓜石。我們逛了一部分的瑞芳老街，便向原定計劃的地點走去…

九份老街

要到九份，還得搭乘一趟公車。又是沿著扭曲的山路才抵達目的地。


下了車，一見到好多遊客也一同前來，便知九份也是個值得觀光之地。九份老街的入口一度多人到大阻塞！見到人多我們便在傍邊的便利店買了杯咖啡等候。
這裡最有名的就是賴阿婆芋圓（一杯40TWD）。到這沒嘗嘗看賴阿婆芋圓就是沒來過！吃起來像是比較硬的麻糬(Mochi)，口感QQ的。一碗還蠻多的，怕吃不完就買一碗來共享吧。一碗裏有不同口味的—芋頭，芝麻，綠茶，地瓜。那裏除了賴阿婆的芋圓，阿甘姨也賣起了芋圓。阿甘姨芋圓的位置比較沒那麽明顯，不過還是不少遊客前來品嘗。至於哪一個才是最好，可能就要看各人口味了。那裏除了芋圓，山豬肉香腸也是有名的好吃。

賴阿婆我們來了！

逛完九份之後，我們便前往十分！這回選擇了搭乘一輛計程車！那位大叔會載我們先到十分瀑布，然後到十分老街放天燈便，最後送我們回到瑞芳。那位大叔的台語腔好重呐~ 一路上有他的有趣講解，非常扭曲的路都克服過去了~

十分瀑布

對於瀑布，十分瀑布比我想象來得小。更可笑的是近來還得付80TWD。有點不值得。近來最多半小時就呆不住了，沒什麽好看的了。

十分老街

到這裡只有一個目的，嘗試放天燈的滋味！寫了一大堆祝詞，就迫不及待想把它升上天！

愛情，家庭，事業，健康，一切順利！寫完后，想要快點把它升上天，是非常興奮的~

期待祝福快點實現！

隨著天色漸暗，我們又沿著扭曲的山路回到瑞芳，又吃了些東西便決定回飯店！

回到西門町，我們也打包了非常有名的阿宗面綫回飯店品嘗！因爲朋友不能吃海鮮，結果我就吃了接近兩碗！哇哈爽啦~

擁有很多新鮮體驗的第六天就這樣結束！

臺北秋天逍遙初體驗！- Day 5

這天又去了較偏遠的角落，位于文山區的貓空與動物園。

貓空

又是個陽光的一天。依照計劃，先坐貓空纜車上貓空山，20分鐘（一般車廂6-8人，水晶車廂5人：TWD50)。其實一般纜車也能搭得到水晶纜車，要看運氣。其實那纜車也還好，是蠻高的，但還是少了點刺激感。可能要下雨，或風大，車廂搖晃，才會比較刺激。哈哈！如果假日人多，建議上去之後先抽個水晶纜車號碼（可能要等約1個半小時），然後去坐坐喝茶。那樣可以省很多時間。太陽曬時，也可避免在太陽底下排隊。

喝了茶，吃了雪糕，排隊回去，浪費了不少時間。

回到動物園站已經超過4點！動物園已停止售票了！好可惜啊~

臺灣與我國還有個不同。就是夜晚來得好快！5點就開始天暗了！

又去了一趟毫無收穫的五分埔，便想到了來到臺北，怎能不去K歌！？

於是我們就去了擁有很多分店的HolidayKTV！

包廂寬，音響系統佳，還有廁所！他們還有提供自助餐，非常周到。唯一缺點可能就是要點歌不容易。沒漢語拼音搜尋，想要點一首歌，真的想把那台機器翻過來~

唱爽之後，也不早了。

回到臺北車站，查詢便買了去瑞芳的鐵車票（1人59TWD）。若真把這裡當作是天堂的話，那售票員就把我打醒了。他那並沒有很友善的態度，完全粉碎了我對臺北的100%好印象。問了幾句，卻被一個“你有完沒完，我要收工的態度”對待。不過，他算是盡責啦，就給了我們有座位的車票。

那裏想買鐵車票要注意了，有分座位的，和無座位的。

就這樣，一個so-so的第五天，結束！

臺北秋天逍遙初體驗！- Day 4

帶著前一天爬山后的疲勞，第四天再一次往北上去。目的地就是另一個非常有名，“沒有味道的水” — 淡水。哈哈。

淡水老街

那天是周末，但抵達淡水時，人潮沒比想像中來的誇張。或許是我們早到吧，不到一下子，人潮就開始湧入了。淡水也有不少值得一嘗的小吃。魚圓（一碗30），阿給（一碗35），酸梅湯，蝦捲，… 不錯哦。從淡水，也有兩個地方能看看。都得乘搭兩艘不同方向的船。一艘往八里，另一艘往漁人碼頭。

漁人碼頭

搭船來回120TWD。可以用優游卡。其實那裏也沒什麽。沒什麽吃的，沒什麽看的。如果懶得走，那裏有腳車店。我想，那裏最值得看的就只有情人橋和情人塔吧。可是天還亮著並沒有很好看。可能日落時去會比較好看。希望有一天，我可以帶著另一伴，欣賞一下夜裏的漁人碼頭，走過夜間發光的情人橋…





跟著便去新北投，體驗一下溫泉！

新北投

這裡，真是個溫泉之地啊~ 到處都是溫泉飯店！好難選。最後，也不知道爲什麽，就選了百樂滙溫泉飯店（一間VIP房 990TWD）。選了貴賓房因爲怕尷尬。也不知道步驟應該是什麽，就亂泡了一個半小時。爽是爽，好想睡覺卻怕會睡過頭。結果累到半死！

泡完后，帶著疑惑離開。不知道是有泡對沒。

見夜色逐漸變黑，我們趕緊前往下一個我想應該無人不曉的地方 — 臺北101。

臺北101

這個建築物，從很遠就能看得到，相當高。觀景台在88F，89F，和91F。 很可惜，不能上到最高樓91F，只有在特別的日子才會開放。想要到觀景台，還要排隊乘搭這世界最快速電梯！要記得吞口水打通耳塞！我想，所有的美景，必須在91F才能欣賞得到，因爲那是唯一能夠戶外的高樓。想要在夜間從觀景台拍臺北城市，我想很考功夫。從高処望著臺北城市夜景，想說，好漂亮。就是一盞盞的燈光，仿佛望著一片放慢的煙花，非常燦爛。

從高樓掉回地面后，我們便去附近的夜市參觀。出乎意料，這裡竟然有兩個夜市！

艋舺夜市

其實只是想參觀華西夜市的。順著走卻到了艋舺夜市，原為廣州街夜市。嘗了陳媽媽豬血糕（一支12TWD）和排骨蘇。走了三天的夜市，艋舺夜市屬於較小範圍的。從那，可以通往華西夜市。

華西街觀光夜市

這夜市就比較特別了。與其他夜市不同之処，就是有賣蛇肉，鵝肉。還有很多小間KTV夜總會。而且不止一閒，沒走幾步就有賣蛇肉，鵝肉！更可疑是，不准拍照。膽小的我們決定看看就好，沒吃！

就這樣，走了好幾個地方的第四天完畢！

臺北秋天逍遙初體驗！- Day 3

第三天是運動天！吃了兩晚的夜市美食，也該運動運動一下！

登山歷險記！挑戰陽明山！

陽明山

從臺北車站搭捷運到北投站，再搭公車到陽明山。路途還蠻遠的，山路也很扭曲。到站就看到那有Starbucks和7-Eleven。不知該從哪爬起，所以策略是亂走，只要有路向上，就爬！亂爬途中，到了個觀景台，也到了一個叫“水簾洞”的地方。不過這“水簾洞”感覺像是刻意建上去的。也不算什麽洞，只是給一群aunties在那裏八卦。她們還自帶收音機！享受嘞~

亂走了一通，我們還是決定找一下地圖，發現那裏有一座叫七星山的。

這座山不簡單啊，從山口，到 到主山峰要2.4km。看起來好像沒怎麽樣，2.4km，IPPT每次都跑的。誰知道爬到一半真的有點像放棄，非常靠腿力，汗流不止。而且山路不好走。雖然階梯是人用一塊塊的石頭造的，卻還是不平坦，有一定的危險性。爬到精疲力盡，才終于看到頂峰~ 夠刺激的啦~

到了山峰我已經把水耗盡了，想到還要爬下山，心理的念頭是：我的媽~！ 不過還好遇到貴人相助，才找到能快一點到馬路的捷徑。又餓又渴又累。不過登山的感覺真的不錯，有滿足的喜悅。有種“沒什麽事是做不到”的感覺。爽。吃個冰淇淋餅，買罐飲料，便坐公車回到出發點。4點才在那的7-Eleven吃杯面解決午餐。一碗滿漢大餐，滿足，爽。

選擇搭一輛有到臺北車站的公車，以爲可以舒舒服服地慢慢享受回去的旅程。怎料到，遇到下課，放工時間，車上好擁擠，路上車輛也擁擠。結果又站了一段時間。真是有夠衰。邊站邊想睡。結果，到了士林，天色已晚，決定就在士林解決晚餐。

士林夜市
那晚我鼓起勇氣嘗了遠近馳名的臭豆腐（一份50）！吃起來像豆干！（本來就是~）臭豆腐真的不是蓋的。不過，臭味在攤位時比較濃。買過來之後就沒那麽臭了。在寒冷的夜晚，吃熱熱的臭豆腐，還不賴啦。

臭豆腐也有好的用處。如果迷路，不知夜市的方向時，只要朝臭豆腐的方向走准沒錯！

當晚也買了一些要帶回國的食物，便提著大包小包的回飯店，並結束在臺北的第三天。

臺北秋天逍遙初體驗！- Day 2

還帶著一點hangover的感覺，便一大早開始第二天行程！

善導寺

在外頭徘徊，被誤認是本地人，還被問路。就用了不是在地人的理由，內疚地沒幫到忙。才第二天吶，想必我也幫不上多少吧。拍了幾張照片，證明自己有到此，覺得沒什麼值得看的，我們便離開了。

中正紀念堂

左邊是國家音樂廳，右邊是國家戲劇院， 還蠻壯觀的。

紀念堂裏，除了一個個經歷了一段歷史的文物，最值得一看的，就是每小時的衛兵換崗交接儀式了。一大堆人就跟著他們一路操到頂樓。儀式完畢之後，兩位換上來的衛兵只能動彈不得地站在位置上，任遊客隨意拍照，壓力好大~

國立歷史博物館

去售票處買票時，後頭站了些小學生，被當成老師。有像嗎？參觀費30TWD。如果沒什麽事，對歷史文物，藝術品從不感興趣，建議可以省略此地，再加上不能拍照，還是算了吧。

臺北植物園

可能是秋天吧，看不到五顔六色的花朵。一踏進植物園，就有種涼意與新鮮空氣，還蠻爽的。除了涼快，裏面也沒什麽好玩好看的。吸引我的是坐在植物園裏畫畫的一些藝術班學生。讓我回想大學時代，教授帶我們去博物館畫畫的情景。好酷的感覺！

繼續第二天計劃，本想去龍山寺看看，不過想想，好像也沒什麽好走的吧。結果選擇指向西門町邁進！

走了一個早上，餓了，所以從遠方看到MacDonald's，我們便決定午餐的地點。

其實菜單沒很大的差別，除了沒有綠茶，沒有辣椒醬，多了一個香陪胡麻豬排堡套餐 (TWD125)。我就點了這難念的套餐。邊吃邊觀察，和我國不同的，就是員工都是青年。就連打掃的都是青年。而坐著用餐的的，也可能只是那一閒，都是比較年長的。除此之外，吃完之後，當地人都非常自動地處理自己的垃圾。垃圾桶也分類為一般垃圾與資源回收垃圾！有點麻煩，不過是個非常好的習慣！值得學習啦！不過話説回來，如果每個人都這麽自動，清潔工人不就快失業了？不管怎樣，好習慣還是值得學習。

西門町

來到臺北，怎能不去西門町？

大多旅客來臺北也都會選擇一家靠近那的飯店。位置優，應該算是臺北的中央吧。傳説中臺北的Shibuya或Harajuku，又或者是Orchard Road~ 這裡賣的東西，人們的穿著，是偏向日本風的。在那買了個背包(TWD790 ~ SGD32)，便宜啦！（回到新加坡就坏了！不過還有得救，還好。）

那裏也太多理髮店了。最後選擇 PS 國際髮型。Wash + cut + perm = TWD999。並沒有很好看。哈哈。算了。沒救的頭髮。

五分埔
那裏的特色，服裝。食物還好，服裝店真的是走到腳酸，還會迷路！有點亂。不過那裏賣的服裝也大同小異，沒什麽特別的。

繼續走多一小段路，便是另一個鼎鼎有名的夜市 — 繞河夜市。

繞河夜市

嘗了不少從沒吃過的食物。原住民山豬香腸，炸牛奶（1串TWD20，3串TWD50），干貝燒，鳥蛋，愛玉冰茶。吃過的，我都很喜歡！回味無窮啊~

第二天完畢！

臺北秋天逍遙初體驗！- Day 1

4個月的漫長等待，就在工作滿一周年當天，終于拉開序幕，搭上了人生第二次飛行之旅…

My Flight: Tiger Airways TR 2994!

還是有好幾個第一次的新鮮感。
第一次拖著行李箱，第一次的Tiger Airways，第一次的臺北，…

第二次次乘搭飛機，但飛上雲端的刹那間，還是有非言語能形容的興奮與刺激。

慶幸沒有嚴重延誤起飛，一切還算順利。
4個半小時的行程，不舒服的經濟艙座位，整個腰背痠痛！

Relite Hotel 12F room

到了桃園機場，繞了一下，才找到可以送我們到臺北車站的1819囯光客運。到了臺北車站，又笨拙的尋找飯店方向。沒有網絡，我的手機依然非常爭氣，GPS功能的幫助不少。由於臺北車站龐大，指示牌多而有點亂，走上走下了幾個地下街才找到出口。

到了飯店，其實我覺得麗萊是個還不錯的飯店！拿到最高層，12F！再上一樓就是頂樓，早餐処！卸下麻煩的包袱，馬上沖去鼎鼎有名的 — 士林夜市！

士林夜市

士林夜市地下一樓

美食大都搬到了那裏的底層，有豪大雞排，老士林大餅包小餅，香腸，好多東西吃，但肚子不爭氣啦… 豪大雞排真的是“好”大雞排啦~ 飽慘了！吃到不想吃，也逛了幾條街之後，充滿活力的第一天，我們決定去Clubbing!

Room 18

Room 18

本來想去LAVA的，當天主題是黑色服裝，可惜，門外的人龍實在長，所以我們就去了一閒也是朋友們極力推薦的Room 18。與LAVA相比，看到沒人龍的Room18，有點不安。當天入門免費，不過付500TWD可以換取兩杯飲料。500 TWD = approx. 20 SGD，不錯啦。進去之後，第一個感覺，失望。沒人，不high，沒人跳舞，點了Long Island Ice Tea 和 Margarita。有位服務人員和我們聊了一下，得知周五周六會比較多人，真是可惜。喝完飲料我們便離開了…