We woke up like 6am (OMG~!, havn't done that since Secondary School) in the morning and heading towards our first destination of the day, Court of Indepedence 〈自由广场〉. This is where all the patriotic stuffs are put on display.
We went through the side gate. This place has four main gates, ie: North, South, East, West.But I forgot which gate went into. The design of this building mimics the Ancient Chinese Architecture. A modern place with a nostalgic touch.
On the wall are the successor for Father of Taiwan (Sun Yat Seng), Mr. Chiang Kai Shek (蒋) and his First Lady who is equally influential and powerful as her hubby. As the saying goes, "Behind every successful man lies a powerful woman."
We end our tour in 自由广场 with a nice view. On both of the side are the opera house and musical hall that is on renovation. It is really the old in the new.
On the way towards Dan Shui (淡水), i saw how Taiwanese can used up every corner of the building for Advertisment. I don't think American's Billboard is better than this. Taiwanese are quite good at optimization.
Dan Shui (淡水) is considered a fisherman village. The sea is their life line. Similar to Dan Shui, many of Taiwan Cities is either situated near the sea or beside vast mountains.
In the city of Dan Shui (淡水), they do have their famous local delicacies. One of it is this thing called Ah Gei (阿给). Despite my gutz telling me not, I bought one and tried it. It is a big round Toufu (soy bean cake), with Bee Hoon Noodle in it and covered with fish meat. The whole thing is seasoned with some sort of similarity to spicy, sweet and sour sause. In brief, extra ordinary.
Another must buy delicacy of Dan Shui are these black egg also known as Steel Egg (铁蛋). They have many different flavours. Considerably cheap and worth a taste. I think you can only find this only in Taiwan.
After shopping in Dan Shui, the bus took us up hill to a historical small town called Jiu Fen (九份). There is a pretty interesing story on how this town's name came to be. Find it out for urself. Haha..Ok, Jiu Fen is also the scene for one of the famous Taiwan movie, "A City of Sadness《悲情城市》" Along this street, its like a Pasar Malam on the mountain. A lot of weird this can be found here.
Including one of these, Octopus Meat + Squid Black Ink Sausage. Sounds awful but taste kinda nice if you do not imagine the ink which is within the sausage. Recommended to try but not as a souvenier.
In of the stores, you can find this amazing thing called Ocarina (陶笛). It the pottery version of flute. One of it range from 200 to 1000 Taiwan Dollar which is RM 20++ to RM 100++. Me and my brother got one of these. Pretty cute and ideal for gifts. But be caution when you do your bag packing as it can break easily.
What can be more amazing is to find seafood in the mountains. These are barbeque sea snails. I strongly encourage you to try even though i didn't try one.
This guy is one of the surviving chinese culture artist. He makes traditional name stamps (古代印章) which China Emperors used when Governing Ancient China. In Taiwan, these name stamps have be registered for it to be valid. People in Taiwan still prefer to use the name stamps for official documents. For more info, visit this website.
Taiwan is rich in Chinese Culture and are pretty good in putting the old touch in the modern. Like this label for women's toilet. People who dun recognize Chinese Character is in for a nice trip. Especially for guyz.
This one is for men. These two toilets does not have any doors. So, it will be nice experience to visit these washrooms.
Day 2 ends with a dinner at one of the farm which serves local dishes including one of these. If you are Malaysian, you most probably will not like the taste. This nice looking little things are Chicken Stock which is solidified and fried. One word, yuck~!!!
On the wall are the successor for Father of Taiwan (Sun Yat Seng), Mr. Chiang Kai Shek (蒋) and his First Lady who is equally influential and powerful as her hubby. As the saying goes, "Behind every successful man lies a powerful woman."
We end our tour in 自由广场 with a nice view. On both of the side are the opera house and musical hall that is on renovation. It is really the old in the new.
On the way towards Dan Shui (淡水), i saw how Taiwanese can used up every corner of the building for Advertisment. I don't think American's Billboard is better than this. Taiwanese are quite good at optimization.
Dan Shui (淡水) is considered a fisherman village. The sea is their life line. Similar to Dan Shui, many of Taiwan Cities is either situated near the sea or beside vast mountains.
In the city of Dan Shui (淡水), they do have their famous local delicacies. One of it is this thing called Ah Gei (阿给). Despite my gutz telling me not, I bought one and tried it. It is a big round Toufu (soy bean cake), with Bee Hoon Noodle in it and covered with fish meat. The whole thing is seasoned with some sort of similarity to spicy, sweet and sour sause. In brief, extra ordinary.
Another must buy delicacy of Dan Shui are these black egg also known as Steel Egg (铁蛋). They have many different flavours. Considerably cheap and worth a taste. I think you can only find this only in Taiwan.
After shopping in Dan Shui, the bus took us up hill to a historical small town called Jiu Fen (九份). There is a pretty interesing story on how this town's name came to be. Find it out for urself. Haha..Ok, Jiu Fen is also the scene for one of the famous Taiwan movie, "A City of Sadness《悲情城市》" Along this street, its like a Pasar Malam on the mountain. A lot of weird this can be found here.
Including one of these, Octopus Meat + Squid Black Ink Sausage. Sounds awful but taste kinda nice if you do not imagine the ink which is within the sausage. Recommended to try but not as a souvenier.
In of the stores, you can find this amazing thing called Ocarina (陶笛). It the pottery version of flute. One of it range from 200 to 1000 Taiwan Dollar which is RM 20++ to RM 100++. Me and my brother got one of these. Pretty cute and ideal for gifts. But be caution when you do your bag packing as it can break easily.
What can be more amazing is to find seafood in the mountains. These are barbeque sea snails. I strongly encourage you to try even though i didn't try one.
This guy is one of the surviving chinese culture artist. He makes traditional name stamps (古代印章) which China Emperors used when Governing Ancient China. In Taiwan, these name stamps have be registered for it to be valid. People in Taiwan still prefer to use the name stamps for official documents. For more info, visit this website.
Taiwan is rich in Chinese Culture and are pretty good in putting the old touch in the modern. Like this label for women's toilet. People who dun recognize Chinese Character is in for a nice trip. Especially for guyz.
This one is for men. These two toilets does not have any doors. So, it will be nice experience to visit these washrooms.
Day 2 ends with a dinner at one of the farm which serves local dishes including one of these. If you are Malaysian, you most probably will not like the taste. This nice looking little things are Chicken Stock which is solidified and fried. One word, yuck~!!!That is all for Day 2.
