Taichung

The ride to Le Parker hotel in Taichung was a thrilling one. It reminded me of the rides I'd taken in Six Flags California only there wasn't any shouts and screams. Maybe there were inside our hearts. We were way ahead of our schedule when we reached our destination and were left wondering around Taichung in the noon. We hopped by a typical Taiwanese food stall to settle our lunch. Everything was like the rest except for the washroom that looked like a house for dwarfs as I had to dodge the short ceiling to do my business.

Bubble tea is the same everywhere in Taiwan. They were just so nice that you would have more than one in a day. Any drinks from the menu was just fantastic. I was suffering from sore throat since morning when we left Cing Jing. It got worse after drinking a big cup of icy cold yam milk tea but I never regret it. While waiting for the night markets to brighten up the night, we went to a nearby hair salon for some good hair massage.The service was excellent but I just couldn't recall the name of the salon even though we had a hard time looking for it.

Yi Zhong Street was highly recommended by Taiwan variety shows for its street food and shopping. It was our first identified location to visit in Taichung. As recommended, the street food were delicious! We just couldn't stop buying all the food we saw along the main street. The politeness and courteous street hawkers I believe was why their business was doing so well. It was not really an ideal time to shop in Taichung as the clothes on sale were mostly for autumn and winter. Despite the rare clothes available, I managed to get a pair of shoes for Lunar New Year.

As we were only spending a day in Taichung, time was not on our side. Our next destination was Feng Jia Night market. The most popular night market in Taiwan and was well known for its street food and size. If you had been to Taiwan, you will notice that all the night markets look similar. Maybe the food taste a little different from those talented street hawkers. Our second day in Taiwan was as tiring as our first day. My sore throat got worse after having some fried and barbecue food in the night market. Lozenges had lost its effect and seemed to fight a losing battle. Juliana gave me some flu medicine and I knocked out. That night, I felt really cold and was emitting cold sweat. I was having fever. I felt so sick and terrible. I woke up to had a mouthful of water and took the flu pills as instructed and returned to bed.

Next morning, I felt a little better. We had breakfast at a decent looking food stall and I could only had won ton noodles. It looked almost the same as those sold in Singapore and tasted great! My voice box was blocked by phelgms and I had to keep going to the washroom to clear my throat.

The high speed train to Taipei was quite costly. NT375 each. To save time for our vacation, that was the fastest transport available. 90 minutes was all it takes from Center Taiwan to the north. We rushed to the platform hoping to be able to run to our assigned cabin.As time was running out, we had no choice but to hop onto any cabins. Juliana looked pissed as she had been telling us to board the train first before finding our seats. Her look was as adorable as a little girl feeling angry with her parents for not paying attention to her fairytale. Taipei, here we come again..