Taipei Part 5

Was tired of shopping and wanted to do some sight-seeing. But on a hot day, the National Palace Museum is perfect :)

It is a world-known museum which exhibits Chinese significant treasures. They have professional guided tours and the exterior of the museum made me go.... wowwwww!

These are the only 2 photos I have...because I was so blur, I brought my camera and forgot about the memory card D: Not the first time...





After spending 2 hours in the museum, we went to Zhishan Garden which was just beside the museum~ Perfect place to take a stroll in the evening. Good scenery and 4 of us sat down at the pavilion and chatted for more than an hour before dinner.

The garden is built in a traditional chinese way, similar to the Song and Ming dynasties! Very poetic and literature feel~









Totally in love with this garden because I felt so relax and at peace there haha!

Happy long weekend all :D xx

Kenting (Taiwan)

Kenting is definitely a choice if you are planning to travel to Taiwan and in need of a beach getaway :P It is located in Hengchun Peninsula of Pingtung county (south of Taiwan).

It's a favorite resort place for tourists, especially for sea sports' lovers. The main few beaches are namely the Whitesand Bay, Jialeshui(great for surfing), Big bay, Small bay, North bay... all I could think of right now. Mountain motrbiking, archery, surfing, wakeboarding,jet skiing, banana boat rides are some of the activities you can expect ;)

We chose a hostel near Kenting street where food is readily available as there is a night market located along the street. At night, the town becomes a vibrant night scene with bars, stalls selling beachwear, souvenirs and restaurants that sell thai food! It really reminded me of Phuket~

We arrived in the afternoon and I was dying to rent a motorbike because it's one of the safer and more appropriate places that I can try to ride around the town. But I was disappointed to know that they can only rent us the electric bike as we do not have an international license D: It was still an exciting experience with the electric bike though and ya, it's so much safer because the maximum speed limit is 55KM/H lol.

Riding a bike makes travelling to all the tourist attractions easier as we can save the trouble and time to wait for public transport and the cab fare. We rented a bike ( one whole day till midnight ) for only NT

Oops, forgot to mention about our hostel, which is very convenient, comfortable and they will prepare a simple home-cook breakfast for their guests :)



Our small balcony, good enough to sit down and have a chat over a cup of coffee.



Fret not, there are many hostels to in Kenting and I believe most of them are at reasonable prices and can be equivalent to 3 star hotel.

Oh yes, Kenting is very very windy because it is surrounded by Pacific Ocean, the Taiwan Strait and the Luzon Strait. Hence, in most of the photos, our hair were all over the place D:











Alf driving the bike hehe






After which, we arrived at Eluanbi (鵝鑾鼻) where it is Taiwan's southernmost tip.





On the way to the famous lighthouse that you we can see from afar.



It is renowned for its strong optical power of light.



Just beside the lighthouse, you can have a glance of this spectacular view which Alf says can be a desktop picture.





We were feeling very hungry because we skipped lunch and hence we decided to settle for an early dinner. Was craving for thai food after passing by so many thai restaurants hence we just chose one at random. Too hungry to be picky D:

Very nice decor ^*



We ordered only 1 Phad Thai and 1 green curry fried rice because we were thinking of filling our stomachs more with small bites at the night market nearby hee.





Can see from the picture that the Phad Thai was so-so, still prefer Nakhon's !

Didn't manage to take peektures of the night market because it was drizzling at night. Oh, and there was a stall selling a wide selection of alcohol drinks and we bought a Magarita (more of a "female" drink) at only SGD$4! It's easy to spot because there will be many youngsters queuing for it. As some of my friends know, I really can't take alcohol and one to two shots are enough to make me drunk :P

The next morning we woke up slightly earlier for breakfast as Alf is a breakfast-person while I am too lazy to wake up for breakfast :/ Buttt I always make it a point to when we travel :D

Simple breakfast but tasty and clean for the stomach :D





Headed straight to the National Museum Of Marine Biology & Aquarium after breakfast because we wanted to be back in Kaohsiung by evening.

You can buy your tickets at some hostels/hotels at a discounted price! I bought mine here, near the Kenting main street where we were staying! It was just next beside the bus stop where we were supposed to wait for a visitor public bus that takes us to the museum directly.







Changed our tickets at the entrance of the museum~



This cute little thing welcoming us!





Look at the school of fishes, they are always sticking to one another and swimming in the same direction!





Stone fish can really camouflage themselves very well hahaah!



AND AND, dolphins!!! This is the clearest photo I have already because they keep moving and we have to "chase" after it to take photos. So cute omgzz





They have an area where you can touch the marine animals like star fish, jellyfish etc etc...



All in all, the museum is successful for showcasing the beauty of marine life to the public. It has the biggest underwater tunnel in Asia, measuring 81 metres long. There are 3 main exhibition areas, featuring World Waters Pavilion, Waters of Taiwan and lastly, Coral Kingdom Pavilion.

A must-go for Marine life lovers! And this sums up our 2D1N trip to Kenting :D

xx

Taitung

Since my memory of Taitung is still fresh, I am going to start writing now:) Went to Taitung ystd from Kaohsiung with my mum, my grandmother, my uncle and Alf. I arranged a day trip there because I don't wish to bring them to shopping malls for the 3 days and all the tourist attractions in Kaohsiung have mostly been covered in the previous trip with my family.

It was a 3 hours plus cab ride and it was already 1 plus when we reached there. We had our lunch at 原生应用植物园 (Yuan Sen Botanical Garden). Vege lovers and anyone who would love to have a healthy meal will falling head over heels with the restaurant there which offers a variety of vege that you can hardly find elsewhere. The entrance ticket that you buy at the counter (around NT380+10% service charge) allows you to take a walk in the garden and also buy your meal ticket :) ( 2 in 1, sounds like a good deal? )

It's like a steamboat buffet style and everyone has an individual hotpot and there's many medicinal herbs which are grown locally that you can pick to put it in your pot ;)







My pot~



After a hearty meal, we took a walk in the garden! It was just S-P-E-C-T-A-C-U-L-A-R ;D







Spot what's behind!!









Don't miss this place, esp for plant lovers :)



The next stopover which is just a 10 mins drive is 初鹿牧场 （Chu Lu Ranch). It is a place for milk processing and production and the pasture serves as an ecological role which makes it an awesome destination for families. Children can enjoy milking the cows or horse riding around the breathtaking pasture. They have shops selling local dairy products too.

Looking at the pasture sets my heart at peace.







My mother posing because I told her that she is always looking too serious hahhaa









MOO MOOOOO







We spent only about 40mins there as there wasn't any much time left as we need to be back to Kaohsiung early for my grandmother to rest. The next destination was to a "Miracle" place...

The words on the rock explain that by right, "Man goes up while water runs down" but this stream of water seems to act against the law of gravity. Hence, it is a mysterious phenomenon which many people don't understand. We did not believe at first so we threw a leave into the water, and it was really flowing upstream, 好神奇！！







The last stop that the driver brought us to was "Tungho Bridge" where the place reminds me of Hualien but the latter is definitely more worth going :)










All in all, I would say Taitung is quite an underrated tourist attraction and there are so many more places that I didn't have the chance to go as one day is definitely not enough for us. Nature lovers will definitely love Taitung ;) I would recommend the really good hot spring (知本温泉）and " Terrace of the three immortals" (三仙台) which I will love to go some other day!

Ok, time to study for my test in a few days time... Really happy that I am able to see my mum for the past few days and also gave me an excuse to skip a week of school :P

xx