First up, we went to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall... a really majestic place used to commemorate Chiang Kai Shek who gained the respect and admiration of many ppl in Taiwan... (actually i dunno much abt him..forgot all that i learnt abt him during history lessons last time..haha but he muz have had a great influence over his ppl for them to have a memorial hall built and named after him)..supposedly there was also a drama theatre as well as a music concert hall located nearby while Mr Liang (the tour guide) told us that mini concerts and talks were held on a stage erected in the middle of the compound...

Funboy, Darren and I at Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall

Nxt we went to Ye Liu, a coastal area near the north of Taiwan, where fishing wharves were located...highly concentrated with fishermen and boats who set out to the sea to earn their keep thru selling their catch... there, we saw a lot of diff sand and rock formations due to erosion and the strong impact of the seawaves hitting onto the coast (1st period was history, now the 2nd period is geography haha)...for us singaporeans who dun get to see much from the coasts of our small island, taiwan really has mind-blowing sights for us to admire...

Doesn't this juz look like a slipper?

Jiufen was our next destination...it was like an old village with lots of shophouses lining up a winding road upwards.. tried out yam balls(something like tang yuan but smaller and chewier..) and some kind of green ang ku kueh which were both, according to Liang, in the list for Taiwan's best xiao chi.. (2nd and 12th respectively if i dun rmb wrongly) Den went to buy some taiwan snacks like muah chee there...

"Pi xiu"

Oh yah...between the 2 shopping trips, we went to Martyr's Shrine where we saw the changing of guards ceremony..there were lots of schoolchildren and tourists there to witness the hourly ceremony...the guards were in perfect coordination with one another as they marched out to the entrance and back to the temple shrine...haha we were allowed to go close and take photos of the guards but not touch them so it was quite amusing to see ppl posing around the guards (me included) while they stood firm and strict in their positions without moving even the slightest bit...

Look how coordinated and smart they are...

Went to a well-known pastry shop selling pineapple tarts, chestnut tarts and cheesecakes etc...(as with city tours, they bring u around to buy stuff as mentioned be4) before heading for beitou hot spring..haha gd experience..first time going into the hot spring (somewhat similar to a sauna room but in water instead of hot air...) and the feeling can be described as SHIOK!! haha at first couldn't accustom to the sudden heat of the water and took some time before i immersed myself into the hot spring..helped to relax muscles a little too, with the hot water providing a soothing, calm atmosphere..

Last stop of the night was to Shihlin Night Market (most of u shld have heard of it be4..at least of the foodstall Shihlin Xiao Chi found in Singapore selling Taiwan delicacies like fried chicken cutlet and oyster mee sua) and as they say, the ones in Singapore cannot be compared to the real thing..haha..how true it was..Shihlin Night Market was filled with so many different food stalls that we went around trying out new food like guan cai ban (coffin boards) and oyster omelette which was cooked differently from the Singapore kind...also had some clothes and accessories stalls around but the bulk of the night market was made up of hawkers selling their delicacies and famous dishes...not to mention how cheap some of their food were sold at...haha..had a really full stomach after eating so much food be4 returning to the hotel...