Dear all,
Here I am, honouring my promise to NUS - A blog about my study exchange experiences in Hong Kong.
This is The University of Hong Kong's (HKU) Main Building. Does the design of this building not remind you of some ancient building? Well, let me give you some history of HKU.
The University is founded in 1910 - the birth of Hong Kong's first tertiary institution. In December 1916, the University held its first congregation, with just 23 graduates.
It was ten years after the founding of HKU that women students were admitted for the first time. In 1937, Queen Mary Hospital opened and has served as the University's teaching hospital since that time.
Up to today, it is now Hong Kong's largest tertiary-level institution for continuing education with cumulative enrolment totalling more than one million students.
Therefore, I am pretty sure I will be able to gain some quality education over here, together with some cultural exchange and interaction with the local students. I will definitely enjoy my semester here! So dear friends, enjoy along with me! =)
Friday, October 28, 2005
23rd Oct - 27th Oct -- Taipei!It is the 2nd time I stepped into Hong Kong's Airport. Reaching there in the morning around 630am for my 815am flight. The cab and bus ride to the airport took us around an hour. Tiring..
Spent HKD2450 for my DragonAir Air tickets and First Hotel (3 star). Well, I must comment that DragonAir is not bad! The seats are quite comfortable, and they have a mini television in front of you. They show you where the position of the plane is; the temperature outside and the altitude etc.
It is DragonAir (港龙), so guess what's for breakfast on the plane? It's dimsum! Not bad.
The flight took around 1 1/2 hour. Pretty fast. After the breakfast and some tv/music, we've arrived our destination - Taipei!
Alright, of course I am not going to blog what I did day by day. It will be too tedious for me to rack my brains to recall what had happened. Shall just give a summary.
The first thing I have to adapt is the different direction on the road. The drivers are on the left (unlike Singapore, drivers on the right) in the car. Therefore, their cars keep right (unlike Singapore, cars have to keep left). Which means, when you cross the road, you look to your left first because the cars are coming from the left! When you get up on the bus or car, you get up on the right side of the vehicle. When you stand at the bus stop waiting for bus, you have to look at the left instead of the right when you're in Singapore (or HK for my case). The directions were totally switched, and we had to switch our mindset too. Had a hard time getting use to it.
The cute thing is the traffic light! The green man that flashes when it's time to cross the road is animated! It walks! At 70 seconds, it walks, At 10 seconds, it pratically jog! How cute!
The weather was quite cold. The first night was 18degrees! There's slight drizzle as well. Fortunately it's not heavy rain, otherwise it'll dampen our mood. On the last two days, the sun finally revealed its face! It didn't rain, and the weather was not as cold. Deprived of sunshine for the past few days. Haha..
The air is cleaner as compared to Hong Kongs'. Hong Kong was really polluted, especially the week before we left. I seriously think the pollution level is hazardous! Dangerous! Anyhow, Taipei has cleaner air, cooler weather, cheaper transport and food, and not to mention, the huge variety and Singapore-like food! All of us love the food there. I always felt very excited and happy when I go to the night market. You find all sorts of food there. Such as 大饼包小饼，黑香肠，珍珠奶茶 and alot of other drinks such as grass jelly milk. There is the ever famous 士林小吃 - 脆皮鸡排! I'm sure you guys in Singapore know there is a stall called 士林小吃 (If I am not wrong, there's one in Far East, one in Bukit Panjang Plaza). This dish originated from Taipei! So of course we tried the best one! Better than Singapore! *yummy*
There was also the Dolly crepes which we went for it for two nights! I love the banana and chocolate flavor. *slurp* Alright, I will just go on and on when I talk about the food there. I shall stop. But I shall make one last comment. The food in Taipei is nicer than those in Hong Kong. There are more variety, and it suits Singaporean's taste better. Probably cos they eat chilli there?
We lived in First Hotel. Heard that it's an old hotel. Well, not too bad. Humans can still live in there. Haha. One bad side: it's a little far from the MRT station. However, come to think of it, after walking the streets, slopes and stairs of Hong Kong, what is this little distance to us? No kick!
Basically, we took breakfast in the hotel, then we went out and only came back late at night. By then, we were already quite exhausted. However, the TV channels there really kept us awake! The number of channels they have is unbelievable! Think there's around 60 channels? Probably 50 channels are Mandarin channels, while the rest are English ones which include HBO. Amazing! We couldn't decide which channels to watch everytime! Well, since we're in Taipei, we settled for the channels which we would not be able to view in Singapore or Hong Kong. As you know, Taiwan's hosts are known to be rather humerous, crude and open, so we realyl had good laugh watching them.
We were in Hong Kong for like 2 months, and we were already a little "cantonised". In Hong Kong, the train stations are called MTR, while in Singapore and Taiwan, they are called MRT. We couldn't switch over from MTR to MRT! The best thing is, many of the Taiwanese thought my friend was from Hong Kong because she spoke with Cantonese accent. In fact, she speaks the worst Cantonese among the 3 of us! Haha.. Also, we had always wanted to ask questions in Cantonese, only realising that we do not have to. We can simply speak our best language - Mandarin! So there's no communication breakdown in Taipei. Cool!
For the 5 days, we went to a few places, including Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall （中正纪念堂）, Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall （国父纪念馆), Wulai Waterfall, Wulai tribal village （乌来原著民）, a few night markets including the famous Shilin Night Market (士林夜市） and Raohe St Night Market (饶河街观光夜市）, Wufenpu Fashion Area （五份仆), the famous Si men ding （西门町）, a few shopping centres, Dan shui （淡水), Taipei 101 and 北投伊豆温泉。 I hope I didn't miss out any places. Was recalling the places we went by looking at the photos we took. Haha.
The 3 of us probably took in total more than 400 photos? Because for myself I took around 250 photos. Just couldn't resist taking photos!
Didn't really buy much stuff there. Bought a pair of Brooks running shoes, earring and a skirt for myself, and a top for mom. Bought lotsa food back though. Didn't spend much, only around SGD200+ for 5 days and 3 nights. Which means in total, including air tix and accommodation, I probably spent around $700-$800. I had set aside budget of $1000 for travelling, which means I still have $200 left! Which means... I can go to more places! Haha.. Next destination: Shenzhen and Macau!
Lastly, not forgetting to thank Linda and Christine. Not like they can read my blog, but I just want to voice out that they really made our trip more fruitful and a better one! Linda is the lady working in my hall as recep, while Christine is her good friend in Taipei. Through Linda, we got to know Christine, and she was so nice to us! She brought us around, treating us to meals and insisting to be her treat. She offered to lend us money, and gave us lotsa suggestions on where to go and when. She brought us to her place to play with her two lovable dogs, and cooked us some really nice dish! We felt so pampered, so touched, so honoured! She's a really really very nice lady! I am so glad that I got to know her. =)
We bought some pineapple tarts for her before we leave, and she rejected it. She said she will get angry if we insist that she keeps it. Well, we decided to write her a 'thank you' card and send it back to her, together with some photos. That's the least we can do to show our appreciation. To show our appreciation for Linda, we bought her the pineapple tarts too. =)
Oh yes, talking about nice people. The Taiwanese are really nice people! They are friendly and approachable. We ask for directions many times, and many of them are so willing to direct us. And if they have the time, they would even chat with us, asking us where we're from, tell us where we should visit and talks to us about Singapore. How sweet!
Taiwan is really nice. I love everything there! I would want to go back there again some day. =)
I will not forget: NICE place, people and food!
12:52 PM , Reminisced
