China 2010 - Day 5

5th day 2 Nov Tues
长江三峡

had a gd slp.. had buffet brkfast at 730am and also the duration where the boat will be passing by the first gorge - 西陵峡..


the weather is too foggy til din really get to see the REAL thing.. 830am ready to go offshore to visit 三峡大坝 The Gorge Dam..


this visit will hv 3 attraction stops.. was drizzling.. wah, too many pple n impolite pple..damn sux feeling.. 1st stop going 185 sightseeing platform.. 2nd stop gng 坛子岭 sighseeing platform..hmm..



thinkg gt go 3rd stop anot? haa.. this visit mainly showing us the surrounding and closeup of the dam.. however again, too fogging weather mk pple see nth.. haizz..


ard 1045am, went bk to ship n sightseeing at our balcony..


til ship gona stopped for 三峡大坝 TGP Three Gorge Power..


had lunch n ready to see hw the ship gona travel from low level to high level..



max upstream water level is 175m.min water lvl 60m.each session ard 20m.. will hv 5 lock chambers and each chamber only allows 6 ships to move per session..after 6 ships hv moved in..the lock chamber behind will closed n slowly, the water pumped out and all ships will be levelled up til its certain metres..





each chamber will hv its max water level.. and soon u will view the surface.den the front lock chamber will be open n at this time, and water level will the same.. and nw all ships start to move to front for next session..will hv 5 open gates, level up, close gate..


is really cool to see and experience that.. think all sessions last ard 4hrs..meanwhile documentary on the Three Gorge Dam is screened for us to watch.. but fell aslp while watching..


haa..finally out of the 5 lock chambers to view another part of the river..


nw will b free viewing of gorge le.ship travelled Ard 20km/hr..


waitg for 630pm dinner..tonite dinner is great~ was a welcome dinner n Captain came toast with us.


We Singaporeans yam seng when he tbl visit toasting.. haa..


830pm had welcome dance singing session by their staff..they tried hard, but gd enuff liao.. worked here as waitresses stil hv to dance.. =X the dance singing session last ard 1 hr.. bk to room to rest.. once again, the ship will stopped for travelling..

China 2010 - Day 4

4th day 1 Nov Mon
宜昌 / 三游洞

woah, saw the 1st sunrise of the trip..


today gona be a long bus journey from 张家界 to 常德市 to 津市市 to 荆州市 to 宜昌市.. 宜昌 is either the first or the last stop if u going for 长江三峡 trip.. had lunch at Qing Feng Hotel.. went to our first attraction at Yi Chang 宜昌 - 三游洞 Three Vistor's Cave.. this is also a place where pple can play bungee jump and flying fox..


had early dinner at 5pm..


and after tt heading to the 5 Stars Cruise liao.. and is time to say gdbye to our 张家界 tour guide. 24yrs old only.. pengz..so young. haa..but looks old.. =X tonite the boat will not moving and think ard 3 boats stopped side by side also..

tml den start to travel along 长江 and passing by 3 gorges.. 长江三峡 - Xi Ling 西陵峡, Wu Xia 巫峡, Qu Tang Xia 瞿塘峡.. the room is good and in our comfy room temperature.. somemore has balcony for sightseeing..nt bad wor.. sg cruise gt? hmm.. since had lunch and the night is still very young.. 6pm plus.. went explore the cruise liao.. nt much pple walking ard yet.. and the cruise has 5 storeys..1st storey is the main lobby, 2nd to 4th storey is room stays.. 4th storey has entertainment room where can also walk out to see scenery (front and back).. 5th storey is the top level where most pple will go up and see 360deg scenery..


As climbing stairs is unavoidable in cruise, my leg muscle has to bear the pain.. yes, leg muscle nt yet recover..been 3rd day liao..and still pain like hell esp gng down the stairs..haiz..duno y worse than yest.hmm.. had a briefing session at 9pm on the upcoming events during this 3D4N in cruise.. everynight they will give us one piece of paper on tml's schedule.. announcement will be made on air.. and so our tour guide will be the cruise lead..

China 2010 - Day 3

3rd day 31 Oct Sun
贺龍公園 / 黄石 寨

shivering cold last nite.think my first zz in shiver.. really shivering helplessly.. wanna hv a hot drink also cant.. think din zz any thru the nite.. but at least nice brkfast for a brand new day..



finally get out of 张家界..went see 贺龍公園 scenery for TianZi Sightseeing Platform 天子观景台 den took cable car again dwn to city.. Thats the end of 天子山 trip..



glad tt we stayed near the attraction place..cos so many pple queueing for cable car when we walking down to the exit.. maybe cos today is sunday ba? the queue was really long, from start to end..thinkg gt 1k pple? haa.. heng we went last nite..



reached our next hotel to reduce our burden like bags and zoom to next stop, jade place.time spent in Jade Place was kinda funny, cos we r singaporean? the product speaker told us that they r nt supposed to sell anything to singaporeans.. and they hv to inform their manager if any singaporean vistors..tot was kidding, den who noes she really went to call the manager. He came in n tok to us.. He is a thai guy who stays in taipei.told us they r the vendor for jade, ruby, etc..and nxt yr 8 Aug be launched in sg.. name something lke Da xx Jing Yu..lets see if really true.haa.. anyway, instead of selling jade to us.they guve us and explained how usefulness of Jade.. by rubbing the jade along the side of nose can redure night snoring..

next is lunch time..


den go for massage session at 宝峰灵芝..wah long tm no massage le..but nt shiok enuff.. cos nt really massage, they only pat pat the leg..sian.biught one snake oil for pain release..think tonite gona use liao.leg damn pain after 999 stairs.. haiz..


Nxt stop, 张家界森林公园区 - 黄石 寨...saw many monkeys.and cool weather..think ard 13deg.haiz.. bit regret for nt bringing thick one.but no choice, have to bear abit of coldness. see Monkey Marshal reviews soldier 猴帅点兵, Five Finger Peak 五指峰..


bk to hotel for dinner..1st time ate rabbit meat.hmm.sorry bq..cos wanna  taste hw it is like.. =X tonite the rest of the pple willbe gng for one ahow tt cost 400rmb each. and only our tbl n one auntie no go.. haa.. unsupportive.. hee..



instead we went walk walk outside hotel.wah,saw one whole stretch of shops.boughy 2 x 康師傅 cup noodles in case cruise nth to eat n 王老吉 herbal drink. drank once during my Xi'an trip..nice and cost 80 sg cents only.haa..den came across one guy picking out tea leaves from stem. out of curious, auntie went tok to him which lead us to hv a free tea session..cos he came from Fujian n stayed in here for 3yrs.told us hw tea has brought him and gf together n shared with us tea knowledge.said tt best place to put tea leaves is inside fridge.the thicker the tea,the more possibility u stay up at nite.. the guy quite friendly n direct.late n time to go bk liao.gng cruise tml..my furst cruisee~ awaiting...

China 2010 - Day 2

2nd day 30 Nov Sat
天门洞 / 袁家界

today morn call ard 7,went for breakfast..din really hv appetite. and nt enuff zz as only manage to zz 4hrs. woah,went outside of hotel after brkfast, weather was so cooling and i was 'smoking'.. like THIS feeling..haa..temp was ard 11 deg i think.


today will b gng 天门洞.. was one mountain wif a hole top up there..went take cable car from city to mountain top.think gt ard 20 to 30mins.. at least more secure than Kaohsiung ferry.haa.




went see some scenery b4 climbing stairs to reach Tian Men Dong..can guess hw many stairs to climb to reach the Top? 999 staircases!! and is vertical up..pengz.. climbing up is ok..is the climbibg dwn.leg damn jelly n nt tt stable n steady when climbg dwn of stairs..but i mk it!! wats up there?nth much actually.j.uz tt u went tru the 'mountain hole' lor.hee.tats wat u will only experience during tour..weather is real cold n most spectacular is the 99 curves of roads.. v nice..



after tt,went for lunch le, den local silk factory, introduction procedure is the same as wat i went during my Xi'an trip.


finally manage to catch some zz in bus before next destination, Yuen Jia Jie 袁家界. took their mini shuttle bus up..wah, nearly wanna vomit during journey..drove too fast and keep turning here there.. glad god bless..took highest lift 天下第一天梯..to the top ard 362m high with outside scenery. tot is those shoot up fast, heng. at least nt tt scary.. went to see mountain and one scene from Avatar Movie was taken from there. no wonder look familiar..haa..the place quite nice with smoky feel but no cloud sea 云海.. and tot will b able to see autumn leaves, but too bad only green leaves.. missed Japan Mt Fuji..hee.one scenery spot is one bridge tt is naturally link between 2 mountain. cool..crowded place and lots of tourists, esp impolite Kxxxan.. hw we went up is hw we went down..and again, have to sit their mini shuttle bus again.. feel nauseaous in my journey sgain.think is the driver skill..haiz..think i gt motion sickness.. hmm..but glad tt i mk it again..


gng village stay for the nite.. hv to climb up the place with the help of torchlights thou is ard 7pm.. freaking cold tonite.n HENG we only have one nite stay in here. no hot water also. and dare nt bathe b4 dinner as cold til damn lazy to move plus keep running nose. haiz..


and who noes after dinner, they switched off the hot water supply..damn sux.. too cold for bathing.. but manage to get some hot water from them..having flu,freaking cold weather,cold water. sux..haa.too cold and bit helpless..1st time zzz in cold bed with gloves, one sticker heater, wearing 2 jackets n in socks..hope can get to zz. i need hotel..

China 2010 - Day 1

1st day 29 Nov Fri
Singapore to Shanghai to Zhang Jia Jie

taking 1010am China Eastern Airlines to Shanghai.. was quite empty in the flight actually, no one sitting beside me and tot will hv a spacious seat through the journey..who noes dad came sit with me from behind..sian.. =X There's no entertainment system in the plane.. had lunch, sleep, games during this 5hrs journey..


finally reached Shanghai Pudong at 3plus.. and still hv to wait for 4hrs for the nxt 740pm flight~ damn waste time lor.. hate to change flight for trip.. one day juz wasted like tat.. Shanghai Domestic Airport is.. boring.. nth to walk and no shopping..


finally settled down one place for dinner.. ordered Char Siew Hotpot Fan and Hong Shao Pai Gu Mian.. big portion and nice.. reached final stop Zhang Jia Jie 张家界 after 2hrs domestic flight.

English lessons

Nowadays, I have been doing English test. Why? It is because I was appointed to note down minutes for meetings. It may sound nothing to others, but it concern a lot to me.

Why? English language. I am bad in it. I failed my English all the way from Sec 2 to Sec 4.. But I was glad that I managed to pass my 'O' level English with C6. Haa. I can always remember the moment when I saw my English result after my name was called out. I passed~! No re-take was required!

After 'O' level, next challenge would be my University entry. I had to take SAT exam as it was required in order to enter local Uni. It sucked. My English is already poor, and yet still have to take this test. I even took SAT exam twice, and guess what? My Maths result was getting better, but my English result went opposite. *sigh* I gave up totally. I was glad that I decided to go overseas for study with my buddy. I was glad that I have made a right choice. 10 months to complete a degree. 10 months of hard work, entertainment, freedom, independent, marketing. I guessed this will not be achieved if I studied in Local? I thought of studying non-local degree in sg. But the time spent on this seemed much longer than studying in overseas. So i might as well waste more than half of the local studying time in overseas.

Now, I feel weird in typing in proper english, correct used grammar/vocab (hopefully). Haa. I guessed use too much in Singlish. But I still like Singlish~! =P

To summarize, I will be 'attending' English lesson for the next 6 months. Hope my English will improve. Haa.

*enuff* *arghhh*

Useful TW links

Some of Useful links on Taiwan:

Taiwan

台湾 backpackers travel forum

台湾 Travel Brochure in pdf format

Taiwan Attraction Maps

Taiwan High Speed Rail HSR Time Schedule Map

Taiwan Railways 火车 Time Schedule

Youth Travel


Taipei / Kaohsiung / Taizhong MRT Bus service

Taipei Airport Transport Bus service

国光客运 Bus Time Schedule Map

基隆 Bus Time Schedule Map

Taipei Bus Time Schedule Map

Kaohsiung MRT Transit Time Schedule Map

台中 TTJ Bus Service


Others

Dream Mall 梦时代

Yeh Liu 野柳

Taiwan 2010 - Day 7

27th May (Thurs)

西门盯 / 台北地下街 / 机场

checked out ard 11plus..raining again.. heng is last day liao.. went to buy umbrella (NT$400 each) and go for my last 阿宗面线..den go walk along 台北站前地下街.. sian.. the umbrella here seem abit cheaper and more varieties..shld come here and see 1st..haiz.. den happened to walk past one bookstore which hangs those magazine gifts on the ceiling..wah.. grab one stussy mag with bag (NT$529)..

bought 老天禄卤味 duck tongue bk home


bk to hotel for last packing..put everything in the luggage and wait for FreeGo! bus to come.


we 1st passengers so get to find the best seats.. was thinkg if will chg bus halfway anot.. haiz..but this time the bus service sux..1) they used their common bus to fetch us..and no organisation of luggage storage..and everyone juz put their luggage at the bus pathway..den every seat is occupied and who noes they stil fetch pple up..and they hv to stand all the way.. pay money for this service? and this fetching of pple already took 1 hr liao.. 710pm flight..and we booked 4pm bus service.. by right, 510pm must reach airport liao~.. and.. 1 hr was wasted in this fetching pple at the SAME area~ den ya..hv to chg bus again~ damn sian.. y cant juz direct to airport?? waste time..and no one help to bring our luggage out also.. den.. we stil hv to wait for our turn to board FreeGo! bus.. wah lao.. is like..open to public..and we already bought tic one..stil hv to wait for nxt bus..and they really slow motion.. come on.. we were rushing for plane leh.. finally one FreeGo! bus came.. rush to it..and stil hv to put our luggage by ourselves~! last tm will hv one guy help to tk the luggage and paste the luggage tag num on it for recognition.. nw is own service..and pple can juz tk ur luggage out and put theirs lor..

finally set off to airport.. and reached.. den the bus driver said.. Terminal 1~ alighted the bus..and took out luggage by ourselves againnn.. duno where the hell is tat bus driver.. really no one cares lor.. den zoom all the way and realised!!!! is TERMINAL 2~! WTH!!! is 545pm liao!! at least 40mins b4 departure muz check in.. no time liao.. we rush like mad.. hv to tk skytrain to Terminal 1.. and the journey to there is ..damn longgg.. and walked until my leg can roll by itself.. haiz.. after skytrain to T1, stil hv to walk left right left right, tk lift twice and finally reach Arrival level.. ah, hv to go departure level~~~ den found out Jetstar delayed til 730pm.. phew.. thou delayed abit, but at least stil gt abit more time for us to breathe normally.. is a v terrible experience.. think i nvr try to tk FreeGo! again (esp the service to airport).. haiz.. bus service stops at terminal 2, den to terminal 1.. haiz..forgot abt it also.. sian.. finally can relax and ate our mister donut.. tats our dinner le..

and flight finally check in at 1940pm.. at least 30mins delay.. stil okie.. phew.. Home sweet homee...

Some of the things i bought..

Taiwan 2010 - Day 6

26th May (Wed)

台北101 / 鼎泰丰 / Miramar + Carrefour / 西门盯 / 士林夜市

today gona CHIONG~ will be gng 5 places due to Sun's jay chou event.. early morn, get our 永和豆浆 again.. but today we ordered 翡翠抓饼蛋培根.. 培根 = bacon.. nt bad.. as usual, is like prata wrapped with egg and bacon..hee..took train to 市政府站 to 台北101, walked along the 信義商圈 which consists of 101 plaza, New York New York, Warner Village Cinema Centre, 新光三越.. took some pics with 101, den walked New York New York shopping mall which is having Bye Bye Sale.. gona closed down? hmm~ only noe.. quite a number of pple waiting for it to open..


time for lunch.. went to 信義路 and take bus to 信義永康街口, where 鼎泰丰 is located.. hopped to any bus that has 信義幹線 service.. FYI, 信義路 is a long stretch.. woah.. same as sg, many pple waiting for their turn to eat in 鼎泰丰.. same menu but more choices for some dishes.. like some soup, u can order in size and type of taste.. whereas sg is juz standard order.. ordered our food and the waitress repeated our order in canto.. chinese pple doesnt mean come from HK mah.. haha.. heng i noe canto.. so juz replied in canto lor.. den found out each of the waitresses has country flag badge on their uniform.. shld be indicate what language they can speak ba? one gt US, HK, JAPAN country flag.. some gt US, Korea flag..nt bad..


this branch has 3 storeys.. and seems bit small..every waitresses / waiters has never stop walking, they always seem sooo bz.. as usual, ordered the same food.. drunken chix, xiao long bao, hong shao beef noodles, pork chop rice, sour spicy soup.. yum yum.. this is our 2nd main meal in tw.. haa.. eat until damn full.. and struggle to finish up the rice.. total cost NT$1030.. SGD$46.. cheap rite? hee.. and with YTC, u can get free xiao long bao hp strap..


took bus 204 from 信義永康街口 to 总孝復興站 to 劍南路站.. wah.. the train is different from other type..is like those LRT train like tat.. took ard 20mins journey.. den u will get to see Miramar Entertainment Centre 美麗華百樂園.. this will be nicer view at nite..as there will be ferris wheel lighting.. took some pics and head to Carrefour which is in front of the ferris wheel.. bought 5 packs of instant noodles and 11 Afternoon tea packets in total.. hoho..


found some RED ants on the floor while walking bk to mrt station.. nvr see this type b4.. whole body RED and they juz group together, duno doing wat.. scare to tk a closer look at them.. eeee... huge in size somemore..


rushed back to hotel to put our food~ hee..

went walk walk in 西门盯, bought StayReal tshirt (NT$680)..


den took train to 劍潭站 for 士林夜市.. crowded again~.. everyday also so crowded..spent almost 4 hrs walking in there till sole pain like mad..haiz..



gt my 青蛙下蛋 - 爱玉 with honey (NT$35)again..yums.. and go for 1/2 gigantic sausage (NT$60).. tot they will cut into half and give us..who noes they cut into pieces..den no longer is sausage le.. waste money.. ex somemore.. went for Pet street where u can buy pets from there.. and gaming street too.. den happen to see 庹宗康, 高山峰, 康康, 2moro, 神木与瞳.. think they filming 台灣真好康 ba?



heee..go for last bbq sotong and of cos 士林夜市 famous 豪大大鸡排 (NT$50)..


tml is our last day liao.. gona pack luggage liao~ glad tat stil gt space to put more things.. ~