back to work this week.. hmm, feeling refreshed but at the same time, missed my holidays even more!!

my work increased as the days passed.. friday came but i was full of work, till i couldnt breathe!!

and.. friday was work till 7pm plus.

was required to fill up our career profile by 30 sep, and so, me and elmo filled up during lunchtime. actually it was like a questionnaire, asking us questions. basically, it asked if we were willing to go overseas to work. if no, what was our reasons or concerns? if yes, then are we willing to go for short term assignments or long time assignments?

and.. we were supposedly to fill up our top 3 choices of countries (if we were given the chance to work overseas)... guess what was my top 3 choices??

talked to chris via msn in the afternoon and at night.

finally.. i asked him the question that i have always wanted to ask him..

how did i fare as a girlfriend? he said, i was good, accommodating, excellent except that i was temperamental at times.

well.. i am just curious..

你的爱情观

以下哪些状况是让你觉得最悲惨的？

1。 两个人被困在电梯里
2。 独自留在荒凉的村子里
3。 住在受污染的大都市
4。 遭遇自然灾害




1。 两个人被困在电梯里

对于自己，你会有点自卑。 你也善于分辨是非黑白。 但是， 当私人感情出现三角习题， 你就会变得一团糟。
爱情观 -- 如果是一对一的关系， 你和你的 partner 将会找到你们的幸福。 一旦有第三者出现， 你就开始恐慌错乱，将会毁了一切。


2。 独自留在荒凉的村子里

基本上， 你是一个喜欢追忆的人。 你相当情绪化， 容易被别人和环境影响。 比如， 你会因为一位名人的死亡而难过， 或是看 movie 时， 会比演员还要难过。
爱情观 -- 你很矛盾， 有时候你喜欢一个人， 有时候你喜欢被他疼爱， 有时候你需要他， 有时候你不需要他。。。。。。。


3。 住在受污染的大都市

你非常适合政治生活， 因为你有分辨对与错的能力， 而且做起事来非常的果断。
爱情观 -- 面对爱情， 你会变成另外一个人， 你或许会犹豫。 你一定得小心不要伤害到无辜的人。


4。 遭遇自然灾害

你是个充满野心和创意的人。 你对周围的变化非常关注。 你是个喜怒无常的人。
爱情观 -- 如果你是同性恋者， 对不起哦！ 那不是真正的你！ 难道你没有发现你在异性当中非常受欢迎吗？ 你很容易就吸引到异性。 基本上你是个很受欢迎的一个人， 所以有很多人喜欢与你聊天。

taiwan trip. was just looking forward and phew..! 7 days just passed!
back to singapore, back to reality (as u put it..).

taiwan. friendly people. well, at least the ppl that we meet are friendly, warm hearted. they like to talk, especially about themselves. perhaps they are proud of themselves and their country. but.. i still prefer to say them as friendly!

environment-friendly. you can see two dustbins, one for trash, one for recycle items. one thing, u dun see those disposable utensils. they charge u for plastic bags in some places. i think that is one thing that everyone should learn and follow.

typhoon. i wouldn't say its bad luck to have met with typhoon when we were in taiwan. i would say, its an unexpected experience. at least, now i treasure my umbrella more!
with a raincoat, an umbrella, we spent the whole day outside, walking around, getting wet, dried up, and wet again.

only regret. well i guess its that we din manage to visit yangmingshan. hmm.. cos of the typhoon.

woke up around 9am plus. did our last minute packing.

went out for breakfast, duck noodle!

we just walked around ximending.. checked out of the hotel and we had korean bbq plus steamboat near rainbow hotel for lunch.



we called up a cab driver, 洪先生, who came to talk to us the day before, to drive us to the airport. a chatty uncle, funny uncle but friendly too.


we checked in our luggage. bought foodstuff at the airport.

finally, mission accomplished! on the way back home!!!

went 迪化街 at 双连站。



went to a temple that prays for 姻缘。 and we prayed, it started raining again.



then went to sun yat-sen memorial hall. it wasnt opened. we just walked around, taking photos. from there, we could see taipei 101.

五分埔 again! we ate at moustache zhang restaurant. and did our last shopping at 五分埔!! this time round, more shops were opened. yes, it was raining again..



taipei 101!!! went to the observatory. it had 88th, 89th floors opened. 91st floor (open air) wasn't opened due to the typhoon. indeed, nice place and scenary!!



damper baby. its mission is to protect the taipei 101! 所谓的吉祥物吧。。。

back to rainbow hotel to put our stuff. and way to shilin night market at 剑潭 station, just before 士林 station!

raining again. and its shopping and eating there!



went back hotel. packing time at 12am!!!

ate cup noodles and immediately went to bed at 1am plus.. hahaha!!

went out for Mac breakfast at 8am.

went 龙山寺站。want to go 龙山寺 but it was not opened. went 华西街 but it was a night market and so it was empty! hahaha..

then we went to 忠孝复兴站。 wanted to go sogo but closed for the day due to typhoon.
so we went ktv instead!






钱柜 partyworld! we sang for 3 hrs. the entire builing is the ktv. and the lobby looks grand, the room is big, their control and way of choosing songs is cool, they have a keyboard and screen. hmm, nice!!




ate mala steamboat for lunch. the taste is spicy plus abit bitter, so i din eat alot.



it was raining heavily. but we still went 五分埔 at 后山埤站 to shop!

drenched when we reached there. but with our raincoat and umbrella, we continued shopping!!! well, not all the shops were opened, but still there was a small number of shops opened. we still buy alot of things!!! happiest is that i managed to buy clothes for my mum and sister.

but.. my back was breaking. went back to hotel put our stuff. and we went out again, this time to carrefour to buy instant noodles and we walked back to the hotel in the rain. it was a pretty long walk.

well, i finally saw the ktv building at ximending! just behind the station.

it was raining heavily the whole of last night. scary, we could hear the rain and wind hitting the windows and rooftop.

woke up, washed our face, ate breakfast with 刘阿姨.

and we walked up the mountains with 刘阿姨 to go to a bus stop to take bus to Keelung. the walk or rather climb is abt 30 mins. slope, stairs, name it all...

exhausted is the word. i kept panting (erm, din know if my face turned pale? hahaha), ok, blame it on my no-exercise and weak body..
but mind you, we were carrying our heavy haversack on our back ya!

worst walk in my life so far.. hahahha!



finally caught the bus to Keelung. then we took bus from Keelung to Taipei main station. from taipei main station, we took 捷运 (mrt) to ximen station (ximending), where rainbow hotel （长虹大饭店）is situated.

it was around 11am. we were lucky that there was room available, we checked in and put our stuff and it was way to xinbeitou, hot spring!!!



90 minutes of hot spring. wah, my 1st experience. hmm, the water was quite hot, but after sometime, we found the temperature bearable..

then it was way to 淡水。 actually wanted to go 淡水漁人碼頭 but the bus driver said it was closed due to typhoon and so din want to pick us up.

went 淡水老街. ate 阿给鱼丸，阿婆铁蛋，and a super long (or rather high) ice cream!!

started to rain when we finished walking. ran back to the mrt station.

back to ximending. we walked around and had korean food for dinner.

went back to hotel. watched the news on the typhoon. seems serious. well, im more afraid that my parents will be worried. they called me, but seems that the typhoon news have not got to there, and so we chatted for awhile.

we were worried.. as though no mood to do anything else. and so, we went to bed at 1030.

woke up at 6am plus, breakfast at 7am.



刘阿姨 drove us to the train station, our train at 8am. 刘阿姨, 再见了！
way to 瑞坊！
the trains in taiwan... leaves on the dot!!!



reached 瑞坊 at 1020am. 蔡阿姨 came fetch us. she got her 师兄，徐先生 & wife，helped drove us around.







went 金瓜石, 阴阳海，黃金瀑布，黃金博物園區 （Gold Ecological Museum）。



even went gold panning at the 黃金博物園區 （Gold Ecological Museum). we had a bottle of "gold" each to bring home!!!

took bus from Gold Ecological Museum to 九份, where its another shopping area!

thereafter, we took bus from 九份 to Keelung (the journey was abt 40 - 50 mins). went to miao kou night mkt, 庙口小吃。we ate alot of food, including crabmeat soup, sashimi, ice and crab, and whilst eating crab, we saw a rat, erm, 2 times.. hahaha!









hey! saw alot of ur friends there... hehehe!!

waited for a long time for the bus to back to 九份, where we waited for 刘阿姨 to fetch us back to her 民宿， 石山水禪，along 浪漫公路. we rested for the night.

typhoon, 台风辛乐克，arrived when we reached the 民宿. big rain and big wind. it was scary when we hear the sound the rain hit the windows and rooftop and the sound of the wind.

planned to go Yeliu then Danshui then to XinBeitou for hotspring before heading to Taipei XimenDIng Rainbow Hotel. But seeing the typhoon, we decided to head to Taipei XimenDing Rainbow Hotel first.

we woke up at 5am plus.. watched the sunrise! we din really sleep alot.. lol!





bathed at 6am plus and we were all ready by 7am plus. went down for breakfast but it wasn't ready. i went around taking photos of the surroundings..

ate breakfast at 8am. went whale watching at 9am at 花莲渔港马码头。



the waves were big.. choppy waters.. shaky boat.. like a rollarcoaster.. the boat was supposedly to be driven to the middle of the sea where we were supposed to see the whales or rather dolphins.. it was quite a long journey to the middle of the sea, i think about half an hr?

i was afraid i will get giddy and so i closed my eyes throughout the journey.. we reached the middle of sea, the boat stopped, and we saw dolphins!! not 1 or 2.. but few hundreds (as told by the guide), i only know its ALOT of dolphins.. and they jumped together, went down into the water together.. an orderly bunch.

we even saw one species of dolphins, where it jumped out of the water, turned in the air and back into the water again. wow! unfortunately, i forgot the name of that species..

and soon, we were on our way back to the jetty. both to-and-fro journey, we were all splashed with seawater and salt formed on our face, arms, legs, eyes and neck when the water dries up.. hahaha, a sticky feeling.

we reached the jetty, and our taxi driver for the day, 陈福万先生 (car plate license no. 967-EQ)， drove us to Taroko National Park.





marble, marble and more marble!! hills, mountains, rivers, lakes with clear blue water! our driver, very knowledgeable, knew about almost everything! and he is super friendly, told us alot of things, and very excited abt telling us stories, introducing to us certain things and more!

saw a rainbow when we were going down the mountain. it was a rainbow amongst the mountains.

陈先生 treated us to bubble tea!!



thereafter, he brought us to 七星谭。 a very beautiful sea shore with high tides, high waves, cool wind and alot of stones!! we picked nice stones as well as stone for 刘阿姨.



陈先生 brought us back to the 花莲渔港马码头 for fresh sashimi! so fresh!!! there was one, 飞鱼蛋, super nice, a chewy feeling when u bite. hmm.. and we had fishball soup, the fishball taste different from the ones we have here, but its nice and yummy!

he drove us to the train station, where we bought our train tickets to 瑞坊 (our 2nd 民宿).

went to the city area of 花莲, where we ate oyster omelette and 排骨面.

wanted to go back and rest but 刘阿姨 drove us to watch dance performances by 原住民。 nice performances! i liked it!



we bought fireworks! and soon we were on our way back to stone house to play with fireworks! my god, my first experience!!

the fireworks! very beautiful.. spark! spark! spark! just infront of us! just above us! wah.. its an unforgetable sight! and.. we took video!!!



went back to our room, bathed. went downstairs to paint a stone for 刘阿姨.
石在精彩！！！ something we left for 刘阿姨...
done and bed at 1am plus...

woke up early in the morning. did a last minute check on my packed stuff.

ah boy wanted to go with me.. lol!

we took mrt to changi airport. KH called me on the way, told me that i din lock my laptop! GOSH.. lucky he saw it.. helped me to lock the laptop. wah, 爱死他了！！

checked in, had lunch and its time on the plane!! 4 hrs plus!! long journey...



reached! taoyuan international airport. we took express bus to taipei train station. finally reached the train section at 730pm, actually wanted to take the 815 timing but sold out! instead we took the 735pm tickets. left with 5 minutes to pack our dinner!!@!@###$

rushed to 7-11, bought sandwiches and 饭团 and ran to the platform for the train! lucky! we were in time!! and so, the train journey was 3 hrs.....

maybe cos of the bus journey or because i was hungry, felt abit awful when i reached the train station but better after i ate the sandwiches on the train...



reached! 花莲！刘阿姨 came fetch us. she is a very nice lady..
drove us to buy food, we bought xiao-long-bao, fried chicken cutlet, fried calamari and bubble tea!!! on our way to our 1st 民宿，stone house, 石头的家!!

the house was very nicely decorated, the surroundings are calm and peaceful.
ate our food.. and guess the 1st thing we did? 放天灯！！





there were 3 guys and a couple waiting for us.. all singaporeans. and so, we started by writing our names and wishes on the lantern.

soon after, we lit up the fire and the lanterns rose up to the sky, one by one.. it was a beautiful sight...

time for bed at 1am plus..

last day of work before i go on block leave. i feel excited about going taiwan. but sad and worried about leaving my family. sometimes, how i wish they are going with me...

worked till 7pm plus. well, ys passed me mooncakes from marriot hotel at abt 10pm plus.

supposed to be online but dunno why, i cannot log on to the internet. so i sent a sms but i receive no replies...

i caught a cold, so drank herbal tea and went sleep early. din even check my packed stuff.

mother raised the subject of matchmaking to me.. again...

3 more nights to go! ohh i will miss my bed!!!

packing packing almost every night.. my stomach's been pretty odd these days.. shithead, dunno why.. maybe i am too nervous?? argh, hope it gets better..

GUYS! ask U something..

if one day, u see a lady carrying a laptop bag standing in the mrt, would you give up your seat to her?

****

i brought my laptop home today.. took the train, carrying my laptop bag.. a guy gave up his seat to me.

hahaha.. weird.. but it was quite gentleman of him.