Taiwan trip in a nutshell

Back from Taiwan. =D It was a totally enjoyable trip! Ate lots of good food. Gained 1.5kg. Shopped quite a bit (quite not a lot). Spent adequate time with my godsis (she's still on holiday then) and my cousin. Argh...now where should I start. Haha this is going to be long..

Day 1

Arrived at Tao Yuan International Airport. My uncle and aunt came to fetch us to their house in Tai Chung. Took pictures with my cousin. My, she has grown taller! Though she's like still thin as ever. Bet she's like half my weight lar. Jiayou! Grow fatter please! Reason: she's already in high school.
At night we went to Chun Shui Tang, which is my favourite restaurant in entire Taiwan! Below's my uncle posing with his cool T3 Volkswagen 8 seater van. We were outside the restaurant then.

Oh my uncle sold that van like 4 days ago. He likes to drive cars. And he's the most skilful driver I've ever seen. Man, he's totally like my idol. Haha driving in Taiwan would make you skilful enough to beat anyone on road in Singapore.
That day was the second day of CNY. Another uncle came up to Tai Chung from Kaohsiung to visit my grandparents. My dad, that particular uncle, and I squeezed in my ahma's house's living room. So cosy indeed.

Day 2-3

Spent quality time with my grandparents. My ahma is the best cook to me =D She's like a super chef. All the most delicious and heavenly dishes I ate were cooked by her. And of course, she cooks food which I have never ate before. Haha like pig legs, super bitter vegetables cooked with vinegar, and so on. I am very grateful that I can spend good time with her this trip. I had a short walk with her by the park on our way to fetch my cousin back from school. We talked quite a bit (or more like me listening to her all the way, she's the elder mah..more wisdom) while waiting for my cousin. She taught me some of her principles in life, which was to look at things from a different perspective. Eg. She goes to the market, and helps to peel Tao Gei for free, and the grateful lady seller gives her extra portions whenever she can't finish selling. She explains that although it seems like she's on the losing end, she willingly lends a hand to assist without asking anything in return. And she establishes friendships with that. Also it is her policy not to be selfish. How I wish I could talk more to her. She also taught me that a man must be generous and give his wife gifts and surprises every year (I think she said this to spite my grandfather).

Glad to spend CNY with my relatives in Taiwan, especially with my grandparents. They aren't young anymore. Ahma's 81 I think, my ye ye is 90 already. We celebrated his 90th birthday on 17th Feb. Oh, my grandfather gave me an antique automatic watch for my birthday present. My aunt wasn't exactly that pleased haha, I guess that's because my grandfather somehow favours me more. She said that my grandfather only held me in his arms, he didn't hold my cousin then. Man I'm blessed and previleged haha. I'm the oldest grandchild in his family, maybe that's why. He was the one that gave me my christian name. I asked him why he gave me that name. He answered that he found that name somewhere, and he knew that it meant intelligence and wisdom (or full of knowledge).

Day 4

Oh forgot to mention that I went down to Kaohsiung on day 3. My uncle drove my parents and I down that day in order for my mum to attend her High school class gathering at noon. Wow after so long, they still managed to keep in touch. My dad, uncle, aunt, and I then went to the famous Bi Ge stall near Xin Dong Yang. After which, we went to my second uncle's factory, where he works, to visit him. He's still single! ah nvm, not relevant. That night onwards, we stayed at my godma's house, which is in the north part of Kaohsiung, near the Love River (Ai He).

Day 5

Went around shopping abit. It was still a pulic holiday for Taiwan, so all my god siblings are free. There was a gathering lunch for all my god relatives. So cool. But in the afternoon, my god siblings all went back to do their homework, while I followed the adults to Xi Zi Wan, at Zhong Shan university, just to walk walk. Haha..I actually found it boring. So after that I headed back to my big godma's place to 'disturb' her 3 children, of which, one is 1 yr older, the other 2 are younger.

Day 6

Headed to Zhi Ben by train for a 2 day 1 night trip. We stayed at the Royal Splendour Hotel of Jihben, where we enjoyed lots of hot spa! ahah that place is famous for its hot springs.

Day 7

We took a train back to Kaohsiung. That night we went to eat Smelly Toufu. Haha it's really delicious. Amidst the smellyness, there's its aroma and fragrance. That day was the first time I tried steamed smelly toufu. Usually its deep fried smelly toufu. Something new!

Day 8-9

Spent time shopping, eating good food like lamb meat, olen, wa gui, mian xian, japanese food, fen yuan. Visited my seventh grandaunt in Kaohsiung, other grandaunt in Tai Nan.

Day 10

We took the high speed rail to Tai Chung after attending Church service at my big godma's church. It was the church that my mum used to attend when she was young. The service was held in dialect (Tai Yu), so I couldn't understand alot alot of words. Haha poor me. All my god relatives gathered for lunch, before my parents and I left for Tai Chung. Oh that day's my grandfather's birthday. hee, we ate my uncle's speciality dish - tomato beef noodles. One of my favourites.

Day 11-13

Spent time walking around my ahma's place. And watching TV hahax. Ate the best Mi Sua Gor in Tai Chung at Wu Shi Chang. And accompanied my ahma 'shopping' at the wet market haha.

Day 14-15

My uncle, aunt, cousin, and my parents, and I went up to Taipei for a short 2 day 1 night trip. The trip up to Taipei was delayed because my uncle had a buyer who was interested, and my mum insisted that he delay the trip in order to seal the deal. And so, by the time the van was sold, my uncle bought another van, this time T4 Volkswagen, from another friend. By the time we reached Taipei. It was nightfall already. We had a quick dinner somwhere near the hotel, and quickly headed to my tenth granduncle's place. After the visit, we went to set fireworks at the riverbank near my tenth granduncle's place. Haha that's the first time I ever lit a real firework thingy. It's so fun and exciting.

The next day we went to quite a few places, Dan Sui, Gu Gong (where my parents first met), Taipei 101, and Xi Men Ding (which I didn't have the opportunity to 'guang'!) Haha it was so rushed lar. That night my uncle has to drive us back to Tai Chung, because my cousin has an english exam the next morning. But it was indeed a memorable time spent. Haha I like the metro, although it can be quite confusing at times. In case you're wondering why I'm so fascinated with Taipei. It's my third time to Taipei, and this time was the longest time spent. The previous 2 were really short. Like a few hours? Haha.

Day 16-17

Spent idling at my ahma's place. We went shopping at Feng Jia on Sat night, and I bought my cousin a cd (Zhang Shao Han, her favourite artist). And my aunt found the process of me buying the cd cute. Haha I had 320 NT with me, and the thing cost 418 NT, so I had to borrow from my aunt first in order to pay. So hilarious, the guy at the cashier didn't give me 2 NT in return, and I didn't know whether there's 2 NT at first, because I forgot that they have 1 NT coins hahax. Oh on a side note, I like playing the 10 NT per-play throw basketball arcade game. It's addictive really.

The last day. Took High Speed Rail (HSR) and then a shuttle bus to Tao Yuan International Airport, where we said goodbye to Taiwan for now. I'm eager to go back!

yesterday we (my family in taiwan) celebrated my grandpa's 90th birthday. it was comforting to know that my grandpa's still in good health despite being 90, and my ahma as well, at 88/87 i think. My ahma cooked one of my favourite but rare dish "Fan Cie Niu Rou Mian", or a.k.a Tomato Beef Noodles. Wah...heavenly and superbly delicious, although the taste was abit off (she admitted too haha).

I also installed my uncle's house wireless network. They received a free wireless router from a friend, and at the same time, my dad gave his old laptop for my cousin to use. She wants to use it in her room, so they decided to install it so that she has the liberty to use at will in her room. And I was really glad that despite all the words being in chinese (traditional), I managed to get it up and ready in no time.

Just got back from Kaohsiung yesterday. My mum and I sat on the High Speed Rail which took us from Kaohsiung to Taichung in exactly 43minutes. Haha that's like superbly fast! If i'm not mistaken, the speed was at 294 km/h.

Glad to be here in Taiwan xD

Leaving for taiwan tomorrow at 0830am by SIA thru T3..be back on 24 Feb.

Hope A's don't come out so soon.

I think I'm 'addicted' to the song 'Give us clean hands' by Mark Shultz, at least the song's stuck in my head for the time being. We sang in church yesterday during service.

Went to simei to print some photos, and spent quite some time there. Somehow my hardisk wasn't that cooperative, it refused to activate when I really needed it. So in the end, I had to head back home to transfer the photos to a memory stick. It was pretty rushed, as I wanted to avoid getting caught in rain. The day's so gloomy, so quiet, and greyish, definitely not the typical local weather that even the foreigners expect. Nevertheless, I thank God that there was only a drizzle, and I do not have to whizz my bicycle across pools of rainwater hahax..

Tired, so shall not type that much for now...

Ciao.

Made up a few resolutions for the year.

1. To read the bible every day, and read through the entire bible once this year.

2. To improve on my singing, especially for worship, so that I can become worship leader one day.

3. To read at least 3 books on investments.

4. To reach out to my inner group of friends who are non-christian.

Oh the dinner was at some restaurant near swissotel, and I wore a silver tie with a suit/jacket on. Haha and my dad wore short sleeved shirt, black pants and a casual looking belt. So different lol, I looked pretty formal, yet he was quite casual ahahx..Somehow people aren't used to wear ties out unless it's for some super formal event eh..cos i got shop attendants looking out from their shops at me (that's according to my dad's observations). My dad said that they were admiring the formal attire I was in..with the tie and all. Haha it is quite true I think. We observed patronisers, those that sat at other tables, wearing really super casual clothings, t-shirts, shorts, shoes without socks..haha and so on. My mum says it's typical of our locals. Haha probably.

Today's my parent's wedding anniversary. We're going somewhere 'high class' for dinner in town hahax..And I spent almost the entire day in church. There was the usual service, bible study, lunch, and fellowship. I thought that today's bible study was good, not that other days aren't, but because there were only 4 of us present. The others have disappeared to army, overseas, and to the car to sleep (one of the girl's sick). So everyone had ample time to speak and express their individual opinions.

I drove to church today =D. It's the furthest I have gone so far. Guess that's an achievement too hahax. I took like 5min to park perfectly (parallel parking), because I want to be as close to the side as possible to avoid any unfortunate 'side mirror gets hit' incidents. Hahax xD That meticulousness (if there's such a word) cost me a precious 7min of the service that I so looked forward to! Part of the reason why was because I overshot the church, and had to U-turn back >.< Dun laugh...haha

Hmm blog the rest later then...got to prepare to leave house for dinner now =D

I played DOTA till 1am plus last night, and didn't get the usual 8 hours of sleep hahax..i had to wake up early today to drive my parents and the maid to the market. I kinda wanted to drive both my parents, especially my dad who hasn't sat in before. It was exhilarating =D, driving my dad's car, which is so much more powerful than my mum's car (relatively). But my dad kept reminding me that driving a car carries a huge responsibility. There was this news in the papers yesterday I think, about a 19 year old, who just acquired his license, driving his 2 friends at old upper thomson road. And in the end both of his friends died, in some unfortunate accident. How saddening, and it clearly signals out to the rest of the new drivers out there (including myself) that behind the steering wheel, it can be a dangerous tool. I'm glad I know about this before anything unfortunate occurs, only for me to regret.

I left the market area to meet Li Ang, who wants to have lunch with me and at the same time return my SAT book (which he borrowed 2 months ago). But before meeting him, I made my way to FUNAN IT mall to redeem the laptop that was offered with an upgrade in the internet broadband. However, I couldn't redeem any, because my I have no visual proof of my dad's IC >.< That's because we forgot to read the instructions carefully...hahax. Disappointed at the wasted trip, I met up with Li Ang, and we ate at PS yoshinoya. He gave me a treat in return for the 'I lent him SAT book' favour, which i kindly accepted. Oh, and I invited him to attend my church tomorrow. My mum has agreed to let me use her car to drive to church. Hee, that means I can fetch people and drive them there myself! That's definitely a first! And I'm looking forward to it! And I thank the Lord, that I have the ability and opportunity to guide a fellow friend to grow spiritually.

I rushed back home after the lunch rendevous, so that I can fetch my mum back from her salon. Her car was left at home, so I had to drive the car all the way to eunos and back. Fun =D

My dad managed to get the laptop in the end. He was frustrated with the parking though. Waited for 45min just to get a parking lot. I guess that's annoying indeed ^.^'' Going to boot up the laptop soon. It's right beside me now.

The rest of the day was spent at church preparing for the chinese new year fellowship celebration to be held tomorrow 12.45pm at the fellowship hall. We bought the goodies, and steamboat food/ingredients for the games. Spent valuable time with the committee members, especially the publicity people! And I'm looking forward to service tomorrow, the songs are my favourites! Hahax, that shouldn't be the main focus of course, but definitely a factor =)

And I thank God, that I have received another conditional offer from the University of Warwick, UK. That makes it 4 offers =D. Too bad I'll have to turn all of them down this year due to NS...but I'll apply there again next year if possible!

Off to other things now..

Argh...finished watching the latest episode of D-gray man on animia on channel central, and I can't catch it on tv for the next 3 weeks! Because I'll be away in taiwan..and they ended the episode at the turn of the event >.< annoying indeed. That's how they keep their viewers anticipating.

Anyway, I had a request today to drive the goods from sheng shiong to church for tomorrow, which i kindly declined for a number of appropriate and matured reasons. Hahax, maybe some other day when I'm more experienced.

Tomorrow evening's Covenant group discussion has been cancelled, much to my disappointment. It is because 4 of our classmates couldn't make it. I've been looking forward to the discussion, because I have some problems grasping some of the concepts the author was trying to convey. It's tough understanding loneliness vs solitude. It gets more 'chim' when I read the hostility to hospitality part. However, there are some parts of the content that really relates to myself. There's one that mentions our fear of being lonely, and how we often seek distractions, and to keep ourselves busy with things. I do feel quite lonely now...with friends in army, and most of them working. Those that aren't in both, we don't go out together. So that leaves me and myself, with my family, my dog, and my dear Lord.

Rejections, disappointments, worries, all these common and ever annoying emotions...really wish they don't exist. Expectations...that haven't been met. Desires..yet seems so far away. But the book advised that we face our pain. And not find those distractions to mask it. Bleahx...hard to grasp..and apply. It doesn't feel good to dwell in our sufferings, but the presence of such pain means it feels terrible...stuff that we want to avoid, cast aside, and banish, so that we would regain our happiness back. Such struggles, perhaps, is what we need to endure.

Oh anyway, those reflections aside, I would probably start retaining jokes in my brain, so I can have like a joke of the day database in my brain hahax..hope it stays there =D It would perk people's day up, at least at the right moments. But when people are down, we should share their troubles, and be with them in their sufferings. Usually people would tell optimistic stuff, but by being in their sufferings, we can then truly care for them. I need time to digest these concepts from the previous book, "Out of Solitude", by the same fella. Hahax..oh my, life's simple, but yet so complicated.

I think my face's pretty sunburned. Haha, that's because I went swimming at such a wrong timing, 11am to 12 noon. Guess I deserved it. No sunblock either. haha, I need to get into shape to prepare for army!

Gosh it's already february. 1 month's gone. A new year's coming, just that it's chinese. And we are in the leap year now. There's a new movie in cinemas to be opened on 29 Feb, it's called The Leap Years or something like that. I really wonder what kind of show it would turn out to be...

Always when it's past 12midnight, I can feel the tremors caused by some airplanes that fly past. It does feel like a super minor earthquake happening in somewhere far far away..

Gosh..I need to clear my mind now..