Day 74... Taipei Day 2 (Part 3)

Next we rushed to watch changing parade which took place at Martyrs' Shrine.
I'm not sure if there's other stuff to look at...but we were there just to look at the parade...There's guards at the gate....stand very still...the weather 's very hot...and they are wearing at least 2 layers...plus helmet, glove...Singapore army is so lucky...

The place is huge...

it's very very hot....and very crowded...behind the Shrine is a mountain, so the scenery is very nice~

The 2 guards march from the gate slowly to the Shrine...then parade a while change shift, the other 2 march to the gate...

...was hoping they dun drop the rifle..

XQ join in the fun~

Day 74... Taipei Day 2 (Part 2)

Next is visiting a temple, name of it, i've forgotten... but it's a very nice temple.

They have a lot of different stone statues.
"Lion is the king of the animals. Lion culture exists finely in China, even if China is not lions' home country. In the old days, the stone lions were always set before the gates of palaces, official residence, yamun and temples to present the authority for its' high position in the animals. In the folk, the rich family set stone lions on both side of the gates as Mendun to guard the houses and keep the evil outside.
Stone lions to be part of the traditional architecture glitter in the Chinese traditional architecture. Stone lions as the rare cultural bequest should be protected well. "
(Stone Lion in Beijing)

The mighty dragon symbolizes power, dignity, and auspiciousness.

The phoenix bird symbolizes immortality, resurrection and life after death.Inside the temple is magnificently decorated with golden budda and god statues.
There are many different Gods for different purposes, posts and responsibilities.
Most commonly household Gods chinese prays are:
Buddha (Buddha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) ,
Guan Yin (Kuan Yin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) ,
Earth God (Tu Di Gong - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia),
Guan Gong (Guan Yu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

This is used by monks, they'll use a wooden stick and hit it, while sayng prayers.Joss sticks are incense burnt to offer gods, it's made of bark/natural extracts. If direct translate the chinese word of Joss stick is frangrance.
After burning a tip of the joss stick, you say a prayer and stick it into 'joss stick holder', the red color part which is a stick, should be the one in sticking into the joss ash...i've ever seen an indian lady in KL sticking the burning side...rather than the red stick...

Donations will be self willed, i normally will donate when i've taken something from the temple, such as amulet.

not sure wat this is....hopefully not something to do with the dead.

Day 74... Taipei Day 2 (Part 1)

We woke up around 0530...and thought it was 7...
Sunrise comes very early in Taipei, and the hotel's location is gd enuf to see sunrise and sunset.

We even have time to bath, eat breaskfast, come back and sleep a while then go for our half day tour at 0730. Breakfast is buffet on the 6th floor, 10 different kinds of breakfast to choose from, from Intercontinetal, American to Chinese, Japanese. So everyday one kind...can tahan la...

Our half day tour: Sitting in the front is the tour guide Frank, he can speak Chinese, Hokkien, English and Japanese... which is essential, cause sitting behind him are 2 Japanese, father and son. Father i remember is call Nan... son's name i think starts with 'S'. Very friendly people.Then the American lady, call Ritta, a teacher who only teach in spring and spends the rest of her time travelling...cool huh~ Her husband was a WWII soldier, who situated in Japan and ready to fight them...but the Atom Bomb ended it. She's lor sor....and demanding... but i kinda like her stories.
First stop: C.K.S Memorial Hall
Very very grand and huge place, got 4 entrances and in the middle of the huge place is this building and in it is the meuseum. Really was hot tt day, everyday average is around 33 degrees... thn in the afternoon will have rain.We didn't go up...i'm not sure there's anything up there, most prob is just a viewing tower.aaa... next time make u some clothes...blur as ever...This was a risky photo taken by my sis~Cadillac car that C.K.S sat when he was president.A model of him and his office.
He died in April 5th 1975 and the Memorial Hall was open 5 years later.

This is an enlarged version of the original 'drawing' which i think is not more than 10x5cm. This drawing is formed by tiny words, i think the words writes about Sun Yat Sen's sayings. Each word is less than 1mm...i dunno how the person wrote all tt...

the tour guide explaining the history of C.K.S~A model o

After a quick tour we were asked to go for our next destination.

End of Part 1

Part 2 is our next destination of the tour a nice temple~

Day 73... Taipei Day 1 (Part 3)

Now starts to explore Taipei~

Equipment check~First Stop~! Taipei 101
101 stories above ground, that's how it got it's name .The exterior is created the impression of a bamboo stalk in the minds of many people are actually representative of gold ingots, used in ancient China as currency by royalty.

The shops inside is like Taka in Singapore...nice and ex...
Then we went to try their beancurd which can be found everywhere. Got over 20 favours to chose from~

Next Stop~ Night Market
It's situated quite near to Taipei 101, alot of things to eat, alot of shops to shop... all mixed together in one looong street.

Red man is normal...wait till u c the GREEN MAN...in next update

Streets is full of these too~ very 'in' there, and throwing basketballs into the basket as fast as possible earning points to earn coupons...played this when i was in secondary sch...but there now is also very 'in'

HAH~! This is very cheap and nice! Can find this in Singapore too, but dunno if the taste is tt gd too~

End of Day 1

Day 2 we'll be going for to places full of treasures~

Day 73... Taipei Day 1 (Part 2)

Here we arrived at Chiang Kai Shek International AirportWhile we were queuing for our passport to be chopped, we were taking photos and a plumb spec police shouted pointed at us “喂！不准拍照！” “喂！不准拍照！”...our reaction was...turned and laugh~ HAHAHAHAH! ...we neber die b4...nut it was actually quite funny at that moment...Then a friendly guy came to fetch us to our hotel~

His VanIt was almost an hour's ride...before we reach...
Quite a dangerous door...but grand~

welcome~we were very excited to c our room!

OMG~~~

I can't how big and better a suite will be...

It's really very comfy and luxurious~first time to stay in Shangrila~

ha~ there's a lot of places to sleep, this is jus a place to hang around and read a book, enjoy the scenery

We thought it's an extra toilet but it turned out to be~! A walk-in wardrobe~!!

this TV anti climax...everything look so nice....but this TV look loc kok...but i watch World Cup with this heh~

Next very impt place~

HA~! A LCD TV IN THE BATHROOM!!!! WATCH TV WHILE BATHING/DA BIAN~ the container behind XQ contains salt to scrub the body~~~shiok
i only used the bath tub once cause it takes a long time to fill it up... and i stayed in there for an hour~wooooothe rest of the days i use this to bath, faster and easier

time to diet le ba...
The scenery is quite nice, esp we can see sunrise and sunset from this window~

heeheee~~END OF PART 2

Part 3 will be XQ exploring the streets of Taipei~