Singapore

Singapore

After a comfortable 4 hour flight from Taipei we landed in the city state of Singapore and took the MRT to Chinatown. We stayed at Royal Hostel, built in an old colonial building in the centre of Chinatown. I was very impressed with the familiar architecture. It didn't feel like I was in Asia, despite the abundance of Chinese lanterns and signs. The street names were familiar and English was everywhere. After dumping our bags, we walked around the area and sampled some Hianese chicken. I was looking forward to trying some Singa beer in Singapore. However, at S$7.95 (£3.70) I decided one was enough.  

On the flight to Singapore, we'd read an article about a small, lesser known island of Singapore called Palau Ubin. I liked the sound of that as it wasn't high on the list of things for tourists to do, so we made our way to Changi Ferry point, via Tanah Merah subway satation in order to reach the island. In the port we were able to try more local food, with Hianese pork, rice and vegetables being my choice of today. Delicious. The boat to Palau Ubin was short but pleasant, and the island itself was small, tropical and quiet. There seemed to be very little in regard to road vehicles there and most tourists hired a bike to get around. Winnie and I decided to hire a tandem bike for novelty's sake and spent the next 2-3 hours biking around the beautiful little island, stopping at lakes, jungles and coves to take in the scenery. 

The only downside to being in such a humid and green area, was the amount of mosquito bites we got, so if you choose to visit, ensure you put on some insect repellent. We made our way back to the hostel to do some much needed laundry. The hostel also had dryers, unseen in Korea, so we were pretty excited, which sounds really pathetic!! 

We went to Boat Quay that evening to meet our friend from Korea, Roger, who had just landed. The Boat Quay area was really nice. The mouth of the river, surrounded by bars, restaurants, hotels and banks. This seemed to be a very popular area with foreigners, as English was heard everywhere, usually with the overly-loud, over-enthusiastic American twang to it (meant in a playfully true way). We waited for Roger to check in, then went for food in the quay. 

Although the restaurant we chose said they will give us 40% off the bill and free beers, we somehow still ended up paying S$146 for some fish, duck and a beer each. 

Whilst our stomachs were full and our wallets were still stinging from the meal, we took a walk around the area in the direction of Raffles, the famous hotel in Singapore, known as the birthplace of the Singapore Sling. Before I came to Singapore, I'd heard how clean it was, but seeing it in person was inspiring. I hear you can be fined for spitting, dropping litter or even not-flushing the toilet after you've used it. This was a very welcome change to Korea. The colonial Raffles Hotel building was erected in 1887 and has been an outstanding symbol of Singapore since. We entered the immaculate building and found the Long Bar, the home of the Sling and found a table. A very entertaining band was playing and the atmosphere was wonderful. You could really feel like you were back in the early 1900s. We then unwittingly did what every tourist probably does. We stared at the drinks menu for about 10 minutes, only to order 'The Original Singapore Sling'. It came with fresh peanuts and tasted great, though the S$31 price-tag was less so.

We ended the night by going for a walk, back towards Marina Bay/Boat Quay. However, we got caught in a rain storm so we bought some beers from a 7-11, and sat drinking and talking under a bridge until late, taxiing home when we got tired. 

The next day we decided to to more of the conventional tourism things. We had thought about going to Sentosa Island and going to Universal Studios, but decided we'd rather check out the Marina Bay area. We met Roger and walked toward the famous Merlion, then round to the Marina Bay shopping mall, beside the iconic Marina Bay Sands hotel. I had toyed with the idea of paying S$500 for a night in the hotel, only to see sense and save my money. Since then, it seems every one of my friends who has visited Singapore has stayed there! Winnie and I, upon seeing the hotel, had a conversation about booking a room for that night. However, as we were to leave the next morning, we felt it probably wasn't worth it. After losing $10 in the casino, we decided to ride the Singapore Flyer. 

After walking Roger back to his hostel, we went back to Chinatown for some dim sum and then for a walk around the Chinese market. That night was spent in the Night Safari, which was very much worth the MRT and bus journey there. The wildlife was undisturbed by our presence and almost getting my head taken off by a flying squirrel was an unforgettable experience. The included fire show was also worth seeing. 

There was no rest for the wicked, we were up at 8 am the next day to prepare and catch our flight for the next leg of our journey: Bali.

Taiwan

7 Planes, 4 Countries, 9 Cities, 1 Train, 4 Boats, 10 Hotels, 5 Currencies, 3 Scooters, 1 Tandem bike, 1 Backpack, lots of Fun and a Ku!

Taiwan

So, after residing myself to the fact that I'm going to be staying in the ROK for another year, and that due to crazy aeroplane prices I can't visit sunny Barnsley, myself and Winnie decided that if we took our bonus 7-day holiday, added it to our 8 remaining days and then factor in a red day (bank holiday), we'd be able to have a 3 week holiday in Asia.

After months of scanning the web, booking planes, contacting hotels, seeking advice and punching numbers into a calculator. We decided that we'd go on a bit of an epic adventure.

The first stop on out list was Taipei, Taiwan. We flew from Gimpo in Seoul to Taipei with EastarJet and the flight was comfortable. Once we landed we did the first thing that any westerner landing in Asia should do... headed straight for Subway to grab a sandwich! It was delicious and cheap, and it definitely wasn't going to be our last on this trip. 

 

We finished up and took the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) subway to find our hostel. The subway was great and definitely a taste of the great things we were about to experience in Taiwan. In complete contrast to to Korea, where we'd been only 3-4 hours previous, people in Taiwan stood in line, waited patiently and were very organised in their subways system. The subways were very frequent (almost one every minute) and when one arrived, the people on the platform stood to one side to allow the passengers to disembark before attempting to get on. If there ever was an indication that I was going to love this country, then this was it. 

We rode the immaculate MRT to our stop, Taipower Building. We followed the directions on the confirmation to 1983 Hostel. Since staying there, we have recommended this hostel to everyone we know that told us they're visiting Taiwan. It was convenient, clean, homely and the beds were really big and comfortable. See the website here

Winnie's friend from Canada happened to be teaching in Taiwan this summer too, so we'd arranged to meet him in Zhongxiao Sogo  mall. We took the MRT there and met him and went for Japanese food. This was followed by us walking around the food section of the mall and trying a free sample of everything. It was here that I was introduced to bubble tea (yes, I've been living under a rock all my life). After a walk down the street, being introduced to the Barbie Cafe, told about a toilet-seat cafe (where you sit on toilets and your food comes in little toilet bowls) and seeing some surprisingly scary sounding advertisements for cosmetic surgery, we arranged to hear towards Taipei 101 and meet Brandon's friends and go for a drink. While we were waiting we bough some beers from the local 7-11 and drank on the streets. Another thing I love about Asia. 

In M Club, we drank some shots, beers and danced. Then cabbed home for some sleep.

The next morning, we laid in a little to get over the tiredness (and shots). We met Tim from Sydney who was in our room, so talked to him for a while. Then decided to visit the Maokong Gondola (which I kept calling the Mekong Delta, which is something entirely different!). Here we rode a gondola (read: cable car) high in the mountains to some famous tea fields. The views from these gondolas was wonderful. We could see the morning skyline of Taipei being dominated by the Taipei 101. 

After some tea and some street food at the top we decided that we were going to try and get a seat at the Din Tai Fung restaurant in the Taipei Zhongxiao Sogo  centre. We briefly saw Tim and his friend outside the entrance to the gondola and caught the MRT back to the city. The weather was really hot and sticky, having been up the relatively cool mountain all morning, the inner-city felt a lot more humid today. We had to wait for just over 30 minutes for a table at Din Tai Fung. It was really good Chinese Dim Sum food

Many years ago, Winnie's aunt used to live and work in Taipei and she had recommended that we try to make it to Tamshui. Thankfully the red line on the MRT now extends that far north, so after a long ride we made it. Again, it was nice to get out of the humid city and be by the coast. Here we could see children playing, people riding bikes and scooters and street performers. The breeze from the sea was very welcome. The ambiance of the place was relaxed and laid back which was nice. 

As it began to get dark, we watched the sunset over the river and decided to head back into central Taipei. We called at the recommended Shilin night market on the way back for cut-price goods, delicious food and to be shoulder-barged by people half our weight! After eating, drinking and walking until we were no more, we caught the MRT back to to hostel. I grabbed a couple of beers from the convenience store to drink back at the hostel. As we arrived back, I began talking to Tim and some other travelers, who turned out to be living in Daegu as well. It was nice to exchange stories and memories with people who knew what where we were describing. Winnie went to the bedroom and got talking to 2 girls; Yukiko from Japan and JuYeong from Seoul. It is this aspect of the travelling lifestyle that I really enjoy. The face that some Canadians, a Brit, an Australian, a Korean and a Japanese girl can mingle in the same place. 

The next day we went to visit the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial. This was a vast open paved square, with ornate arches at one side and a memorial hall at the other. The middle was flanked by two intricately decorated temple buildings. This was a place to honour Chiang Kai-Shek, a Chinese political and military leader. 




We had to escape the sweltering heat of the sun, which was reflected by the white tiles of the memorial square. We made a dash for Banqiao station to catch a train with Brandon and friends to Hualien. We had planned 2 days in Hualien in order to visit Taroko Gorge, which had been recommended to us by Jeroen, who we'd met in Vietnam. We arrived in Hualien too late to visit the gorge that day, which we were a little bummed about. So as a pick-me-up, we had Subway! In the subway we used wifi and found that a LOT of people online were recommending going to the gorge via scooter/motorbike, and not the bus tour. So we checked into Amigos Hostel then went to hire 2 bikes ($5 for 24 hours!!). We rode to the waterfront and took pictures over the sunset.
We ended the night at a local night market, eating delicious locally cooked delicacies. Contents of which I have no idea about, but the taste was wonderful. 



The next day was spent exploring the most wonderful natural landscape I'd ever been to. After entering the park, we were flanked by high, colourful cliffs and ridges as our bikes followed the winding road, through caves, tunnels and over bridges. Although we have pictures and videos of the gorge, none of them can do it justice. It's beauty is hard to capture. 








After returning the bikes, we caught the 4 hour train back to Taipei. I remember this journey as I was watching a film on the iPad. I was so engrossed in the film that we almost missed our stop and went back to Hualien! Thankfully some Chinese guy was trying to sit in my seat! haha. 

We returned to 1983 Hostel and on to Raohe market for more delicious food and bought a portable charger for our iPhones. Then went to see Taipei 101 in all it's illuminated glory. This was truly a unique building and was very impressive at night. We sent our families some post cards from the top.

The final day was spent sleeping in. We had breakfast, and made our way to the airport, ready to catch our flight to the next destination: Singapore!