Sunday, December 2, 2012

5D4N Taiwan 台北 Travelogue: Day 3

It's Day 3 out of 5 in Taipei and according to the planned itinerary. It would be a day to the theme park! While planning for this trip and researching on places to go, i came across 2 theme parks in Taipei which is the "小人國 - Window on China" and "六福村 - Leofoo village" and i think they are just right beside each other. After reading blogs on these 2 theme park, i eventually chose "小人國" instead because the mini replica of famous landmarks seem quite interesting!
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Woke up at about 8 plus and started preparing. Read that it's gonna be long journey to the theme park!
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It was a really hot and sunny day despite whatever weather forecast that says. est 20+ degrees. AS IF -__-
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Took the MRT over to 静安 Jing an station and took the e-go bus which brings us to 小人國.
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It's not the normal public bus but this coach which was rather comfortable, 45 mins journey to the theme park (:
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Halfway through the journey, there will be a stop where you can buy admission tickets for the 小人國 theme park as well as pay for the coach fare from Jing an MRT station to the theme park. The admission ticket cost NT599 which is about SGD$25 and the coach fare is around SGD$11 per person which i think was quite reasonable compared to our themepark.
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Our admission tickets to the 小人國!
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After 45 mins, we finally reached the place. Just when we flashed the admission tickets to gain entry into the theme park, the girl at the counter asked us in Chinese, "Are you a October baby? If you born in October, it's FREE entry for you!" I stunned. I was like, "SERIOUSLY. Anyone born in the month of October gets free entry? Anyone?" Then she told me i could refund my admission ticket at the stop where we bought our tickets! YAYYYYY, FREE ENTRY FOR ME!!
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Not only that, they even gave me vouchers which i could spend on food or any merchandise in the park! SO LUCKY.
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Standard. Photo with the 小人國 stone before entering the park. Happy that it's not crowded that day!
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Upon entering the theme park, i felt like a giant because everything suddenly became smaller!It's quite difficult to see the difference in size in photo unless i compare it with something else. Everything was so life-like, and it's even moving!
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Now look at the size of the planes! Some of these planes are not stationary, they move around the field!
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Photo with our Singapore Airlines plane! If not for the bushes, i would have gone nearer lor! LOL
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The first portion of the theme park mainly features the landmarks of Asia, or should i say mostly Taiwan and China which i have no idea what buildings are these but nevertheless, just take photo with it. Figure out what they are later (:
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More landmark replicas. At the top left hand corner is the Great wall of China!Actually they have this info board in front of each model but then again, i'm not really interested to know what building it is. Don't judge me by this. LOL
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Bought my tripod along for this trip so i thought might as well grab some photos with me and Angela in it! Quite obvious the second photo was took with the famous Taj Mahal at the back right? The other 2... i really have no idea.
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Some of the "pretend to be a giant rampaging through the village" shots. Trololololol.
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Next up, we took the mini choo choo train to the other part of the theme park!
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Camwhore with the map (they don't have a English version of the map...) while waiting for the train.
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Even the train is mini and it runs on a real track to the other part of the theme park!
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Welcome to the tallest water flume ride in Asia. IT'S FREAKIN' 12 STORIES HIGH.
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The ride is really HUGE and it takes quite awhile to climb all the way up. Did not want to get ourselves wet so we decided not to take it. #excuses. 12 stories high, i could be scared to death halfway. Before i even get wet, LOL
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Made a GIF to show you guys how big impact would be. Confirm plus guarantee chop wet one. By the way if you are wondering whether i would get wet while taking this photo, the answer is no. I took this set of photos behind a glass panel at the viewing gallery. You should see this youtube VIDEO on the ride, then you will know what i meant.
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The brave little kids that went on the flume ride again and again because there's no queue -___-
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The 小人國 is not all about miniature replica of landmarks but there are also rides like the above for us to play as well!
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More rides! But then again, if you realised, the rides are more suitable for kids. If you are looking for more excitement, i suggest you opt for the Leofoo theme park instead. There have all the thrilling rides, more suitable for adults. LOL
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More smoothing rides like the carosel. Went on it like twice just to take photos. HAHAHAHHA
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Remember i mentioned about getting free vouchers at the entrance? Used it for lunch!
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Moving on to the "western" part of 小人國 are landmarks which are so much more familiar!
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The amazing stone henge (above) and... and... looks familiar but don't know what it is. LOL
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Leaning tower of Pisa!
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That's the Statue of Liberty!
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Happy to see something familiar instead of some random unknown building. LOL
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This one i know! Mount Rushmore and that should be the Abraham Lincoln memorial building right?
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 There's also this HUGE Ferris wheel at the park. Went on it twice, love it that there's no crowd that day!
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Camwhore in the Ferris wheel cabin during the first round. Admire the scenery during the second, LOL
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Since there isn't really a lot of people in the park, we decided to move one step nearer across the barriers/ bushes to the landmarks to take stupid photos, LOL Angela giving the typical "I'm gonna crush the building""pose which i did earlier.
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"WHO'S THAT GIANT OUTSIDE THE WINDOW!!!!" TROLOLOLOLOLOL
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Angela brought instax camera over so we thought we shall take a few pics (:
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Cannot-think-of-a-caption-already.
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Did a mini AYG photo shoot on the railway! By the way, these are REAL railway for the mini choo choo train that we took earlier on so once we hear the train bell, we must move away to the side for the train to pass! REALLY.

That's it for the "Window on China" theme park! I always thought this theme park has an mini Eiffel tower but after looking through the map and searching high and low for it, there isn't one -__-  By the way, do you know that there's "Window of the World" in Shenzhen, which is also a mini land but i heard it's better. Gonna visit it really really soon!
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At around 4pm, took the 45 mins coach back to 静安 Jing an station (and of course refunded my theme park admission ticket) and decided to look for the Hello Kitty Sweets cafe! Drop at  忠孝復興 Zhong Xiao Fu Xing MRT station, exit 3. Had to use GPS to locate the place... It's also advisable to make a reservation first before going, which we didn't.
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Lucky they had seats that day so we were ushered to the second level. Everything is Hello Kitty. Oh my tian.
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Read online that the food in the restaurant is really bad so i thought we should just order dessert.
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Before our dessert was served, we had a complimentary Hello Kitty shaped jelly! Honestly speaking, it was really really cute and i happily eat it spoon by spoon (nothing special about it by the way, mango flavored i think). After i finished mine, I realised Angela was staring at me, her jelly still intact. She was like, "How can you bear to eat it!" Girls -__-
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Angela ordered the Cheese tart (top) and i ordered the Tiramisu (bottom) I would give it 10 out of 10 for presentation because it's so nicely decorated, but the taste is... mediocre. At some point of time while eating, i was wondering what i ordered. The most normal tasting would be the rambutan with pineapple in it, definitely from the can. 100% sure.
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Instagram-ed my Hello Kitty Tiramisu and it got quite a no. of likes within a short time. Novelty, not taste.
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The cakes ($11) are really pretty though. But i'm not sure about the taste. LOL

Anyway, each dessert set cost about SGD$16 (the jelly, main dessert and a drink) which i think was not really worth it. With $16, i could have another proper meal at Mr. J restaurant. But still, it's a good experience since i've never been a Hello Kitty themed restaurant before. I would still recommend first timers to go, but not with high expectations (:
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Went over to this night market nearby (which i cannot remember the name) but don't worry, it's boring and i wouldn't recommend going since there's nothing much there. The things there are not exactly cheap compared to Shilin also.
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Had this delicious prawn egg which was heavenly. They cooked it with this gluey substance which i believe is starch. We requested for it to be without sauce but they forgot about our request and guess what they did? They rinse the egg using a hose and washed it with water! Then they threw the egg back into the wok to reheat it i think. I was quite stunned but still, i would say it's one of the best prawn egg i have ever tried. What a weird experience, LOL

Went back to Ximending after that as we were quite tired. But before returning to our hotel, we went to search for the famous 阿宗麵線 Ah Zhong Mee Sua! I was expecting it to be some old vintage rusty stall but...
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WHY so modern one. They have chairs for people to sit down and savour their bowl of mee sua. Those who couldn't get a seat will just stand around and eat. I think it's best when the weather is really cold, then have hot mee sua. Waaaa
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Here's the price if you are wondering.
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Bought a small bowl to share and honestly speaking, i don't know what so special about it :|
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A bowl of authentic hot 阿宗 mee sua at NT$45 which is about $2.
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Saw this stall and was quite curious at the "egg bombs" Apparently it will burst in your mouth.
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Bought a few chocolate ones to try and it's super delicious! Full of flavour! Should try if you see it (:

That's all for Day 3! What a long post with 50 over photos! Honestly, it's quite difficult coming up with captions for each of the photos. Sometimes i wish i can just post all the photos and not write words but that would defeat the purpose of a travelogue. 2 more blog post to go! As i'm writing this, 11 more days to Shenzhen - Hong Kong - Macau trip!

Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5