Reflections on Taiwan, Memento Style (Part 1-3)

1-R&R-Part 3

Day 2 of R&R

Our first destination after a drearily long ride was the Sun Moon Lake which was well, beautiful but a lil' bit common in my eyes liao, I mean, after seeing all these sparkling blue lakes with towering mountains being reflected on the river surface.. gee..

That was supposed to be a pee break stop, as described by my tour guide, so yeah.. it was short, right after that, we proceeded to the Aboriginal Village, which was a cultural centre cum theme park...we first went to a building near this mock-up European Garden which was pretty as a picture, though I felt the 4 towers in it looked tad like they had a chockful of Cambodian influence or something... spoilt the effect alas... But the misty mountain-view superimposed with the beautiful fountain and neat shrubs of the garden created a very unique, surreal scene. After lunch, (which was very good!) we went to take a cable-car ride to go to the aboriginal village upslope which was pretty fun as Hichael, Yazid and Fadli joked around about how precarious the cable car was slung onto a single cable and so on... We eventually decided not to get out on the top as well...hehe... we weren't too interested in the aboriginal culture but instead, decided to head for the roller coaster rides again. The most fun was the Maya Adventure, which was different cos the seats were suspended from the cable ie. this was oliterally "floorless", and hence we were swerving and swinging much more during the ride and it was very scary cos the tracks were REALLY close to each other... this one really made me quite dizzy after it (dunno how pple can take it like 3 times...) This place wasn't very interesting lah..

At night we finally reached Taipei where we caught glimpses of potential shopping areas, especially the beautiful lit-up and vibrant Xi-Men Ting area, which we were soon to realise was very near our hotel, Riverview Hotel. Xi-Men Ting really reminded me of Harajuku in Japan, with all the bright lights and familiar brands and the youthful couture all around, where bargains had to be unearthed through very hard work and very keen eyesight.. (Read.. ONLY for ACCOMPLISHED shoppers like.. eh-hmm Terence Pang and Harry.. who can memorise prices of Camper shoes and know whether the particular Adidas apparel is vintage and can pull off the best bargains... golly am i very very envious... but heck.. what's done is done) Whilst driving through this brightly lit, fun-filled district and hearing local-boy Jiawei describe the various characteristics of the place, I felt a warm feeling in my chest.. and knew I had come home (ala Becky Bloomwood style when she reaches a sample sale)... =)