Everyone was tired out by the sightseeing activities the day before, not least because there were so many hills and dales we had to 'conquer.' My cousin's poor legs were aching so badly, she didn't even want to walk about in the room, let alone out of it. Thus, we had to leave her in the hotel room, while the rest of us went to the Imperial Palace Museum to take a look.
"Gu Gong" as it is called in Chinese, houses exhibits on the imperial history of China. It contains relics, including things like the Emperor's seals, snuff bottles, paintings, Western toys, etc. My father always says that Chiang Kai-shek stole all these stuff from the Imperial Treasury in Mainland China when he fled to Taiwan during the KMT-CCP Civil Wars. (Just thought I should mention that my father is a Chinaman at heart...keke, his version of history is pretty biased...)
Although Gu Gong was interesting, it wasn't as interesting as what happened after that and lunch (which was at a ramen shop somewhere): KARAOKE!
Remember my earlier post on the karaoke session me and my sisters + cousin had? Besides eight floors worth of singing rooms that come complete with the bigscreen TV, cable TV, PC games and internet, etc., did I also mention that all rooms come with their own private toilet! hehe... Absolute privacy. The one I went to is called V-Mix. It is special because while others have branches all over Taiwan and/or Taipei, there is only one V-Mix in the entire Taipei. Pretty exclusive lah, in a sense. I sang my head off, blogged and even typed an email to my boyfren, all within the space of our karaoke room. Coolz, huh?
After karaoke-ing, the inevitable thirst and hunger bug bit, so it's off for dinner at Sogo (foodcourt) along the Zhong Xiao Dong Lu sector. We decided to take a bus from where we were (the karaoke place) to Zhong Xiao Dong Lu, but got off a stop earlier. Because it's simply too far to walk to the next stop, and we weren't used to the direction of the traffic, we got a little disoriented. We finally decided to take the subway there instead. By the time we got to Zhong Xiao Dong Lu, we were tired, hungry and thirsty. Luckily we found a place to eat quickly. The rest of the night passed by uneventfully (the shopping wasn't that exciting, plus it was getting late).
17 June 2004
The morning was free and easy for everyone. There wasn't much to do, so my Third Sister, my cousin and I decided to join our second sister (the bride-to-be) for a morning of pampering, doing manicures and pedicures. My Third Sis, Cousin and I took the subway down to Taipei Power Building stop, and met up with my second sister. For some strange reason, there didn't seem to be many of these nail shops around that area. We had to walk for quite a while before we finally found a nail place. It wasn't even a proper shop, just a pretty makeshift-looking stall manned by many young girls. Oh well, no fish prawn also good, so we just went ahead anyway. The jobs were pretty well done, though it took awwwwwfully long. By the time we were done, it was like late afternoon. Whew! My fingers and toes felt really stiff after that.
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Danshui's sunset was absolutely beautiful, in my photos that is. I was one determined woman, squatting along the gangway so that I'd have stunning pictures of the sunset in action. Never mind that the river stank. I wish I could show it on the blog, but till I figure out how to get the pictures smaller so that they'd fit nicely into my blog, I'd just have to brag about them.
Danshui took longer than expected, so we were late for our dinner treat at Yuanshan Hotel, the landmark hotel in Taipei that costs NT$38,000 per night for a standard room (divide by 20 to get Sing $$; do the math yourself). It's a very nice, elegant and imposing place, but the food was so-so. Standard Chinese fare. Still, it cost a pretty penny. Dad wanted to pay for it, but my brother-in-law's mother pulled him away from the cashier's counter as he walked there--the perfect Chinese taiji move. "No lah, not nice you pay, come I pay for this.." "No no, cannot, you're the guest..." *tug of war with money in hand begins* Only difference now is you play taiji with the credit card.
Haiz...
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Disclaimer: Taipei updates are taking longer than expected. Sincere apologies.
I regretted not capturing all the details of my previous trips. Now, I don't remember many of them. For example, I only remember taking so many rides in Florida that I nearly barfed, and Wolverine coming up behind me to show off his claws (I'm serious, ain't hallucinating here). I even don't remember being in some photos. So I'm trying to document my Taipei trip, and not be the travel slob I once was, forgetting everything I've seen.
So please bear with me while I upload my memories somewhere...;)
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