Friday, January 09, 2009
人生是黑白的.
2:59 AM <3
Thursday, January 08, 2009
The new DHS--the sports block, with an enlarged canteen below.
An entirely big new block for the Junior High students.
A repainted auditorium
The good old 正心园
The Uniform Grps CCA rooms are gone.
Air-conditioned hall. I totally forgot there's a viewing gallery.
Very big indoor courts
The un-finished stadium and running track
Rooftop tennis courts! Potential good spots to view fireworks.
Flag-raising area
Staff rooms (previously Library AND Level 3 labs)
The ex-4B classroom is now half the size, and turned into a CCA room.
New HOD room
NPCC room is now at ex-2B.
人生是黑白的.
10:54 PM <3
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
And we proceeded to 士林夜市in the early evening, and we spent hours and hours over there! We first went to a long food street (not 士林夜市), which is near 士林, thinking it was the place we were going. And the snacking marathon began since. Eat-and-walk-and-eat-and-walk. I think I was snacking for at least 2 hours with the group, all the way until we realised we've reached the REAL 士林夜市. Oh my, there was just too much food to squeeze! Taiwanese snacks are just so great. Pure even counted the number of different specialties we've tried, and the number was at least 26!!!!!!!!!
Day 2(27/12/08): 阳明山/ 新北投(温泉)/ 淡水--渔人码头/ Miramar Entertainment Centre
We hiked 阳明山! Well, not really. The buses were too far and few, so we tried to walk up a little, only to be told by locals that it would take hours. So in the end we cabbed a little. Then walked to a waterfall site, and continued up. It was quite a disappointment, cos somehow I suspect we were not at the correct part of the mountain, and so we didnt see much scenic views? By the time we reached an unknown somewhere (with a main road), it was already afternoon and hot. So, the 阳明山adventure ended here, with a bus down.
View from an unknown part of 阳明山
One of my favourite dogs in Taiwan. Really very cuteeeeeee.
Bear sighted within 阳明山
We first visited a Hot Springs Museum(Photo above) at 新北投, then proceeded to choose which hot spring to go for. Their hot springs were much cheaper than the one I went in Japan (about S$26??) ! The one we entered here cost just about S$12. And it's just like Japan's--you have to leave all clothings in the locker area. And of course, the revitalizing and refreshing effects after the experience...
The Lovers' Bridge's pretty too. 
The company lunch was at a Japanese Buffet Restaurant right in the middle of 西门町.
Photo: The famous world's largest damper in 101. (From 89th to 92nd storey)
饶河夜市(Photo above) is another well-known night market, and it is walkable from 五分埔. Here, I satisfied another round of snacking again. After eating-and-walking, we went back to the city area and visited the big 诚品书店.
Photo: Outside 诚品书店.
Back at the hotel, we continued the night with the Mafia game, and didn't end until 4am.As majority of the group was flying back in the afternoon, the first part of the day was mainly souvenir-shopping, at SOGO and 西门町.
We also had a veeery big serving of ice-cream and shaved ice.
After waving goodbye to them, the remaining 4 of us who extended the trip went on to 忠孝东路 to window-shop. We visited 国父纪念馆, built for the respectful 孙中山. After which, we had a delicious 便当dinner, but it was rather oily. Window-shopping continued at 忠孝东路, before we went back 西门町 for my haircut.
国父纪念馆
Morning was a visit to 蒋介石Chiang Kai-Shek's 中正纪念堂, which had been renamed as 台湾民主纪念馆 by 陈水扁. The parade square in front of it is now renamed "自由广场". I wonder when 马英九 is going to reinstate the characters "大中至正" and the name of "中正纪念堂". 
Next, we took a train (not the MRT) to 基隆, where we caught a bus to 野柳. It had been raining for 2 days by now, but we continued with our plans.
野柳 is a coastal area, where there are strange rock formations, caused by erosion by the powerful crashing waves. This trip to 野柳地质公园(Yeliu GeoPark) was one of my favourites. It was windy, partly due to the coastal area and partly due to the rain.
The cliffs and rock formations were simply breathtaking. We braved the rain and went to the extreme end of the park, at the hilltop, and it was really very windy. Frankly speaking, I was having the fear of being blown away if I didn't crouch and bend while walking. We didn't want to stay up there too long, since we can't hear each other talking anyway!!
野柳 boasts the iconic Queen's Head rock and many others, including another of my favourites: the Chessboard.
Of course, we didn't want to lose the chance of having seafood dinner there, from the local catches! But since it was raining, I guess we were the only patrons of the day. Then we bus-ed back to 基隆, and visited the night market there, before train-ing back to Taipei.
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A*Mei rehearsing for her almost 1-hour segment.
The singers list (in order of appearance) include 苏打绿，S.H.E，大嘴巴，叁劈，顽童，MC Hotdog，卢广仲，萧敬腾，陈绮贞，梁静茹，强辩乐团，丁当，张惠妹，五月天.
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Day 7(01/01/09): 西门町
The last day was spent shopping for food, especially 太阳饼. And I spent away the remaining NT dollars on clothes for myself. I had hoped to have a wardrobe makeover, but it wasn't very possible with all their long-sleeves winterwear on display. So all in all, i only got a few shirts, a jacket, a pair of jeans, a pair of bermudas, a pair of slippers and a pair of shoes..
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And I really thank the company for such a nice retreat, though this may be the only time I can come. (2008 was relatively free, that's why I could complete so many work-deals to qualify). This really was a good resting trip before the next semester starts..
人生是黑白的.
4:41 PM <3
