As usual, after so many days, here's our day 2 adventure in Taiwan.
Flora Expo
How to get there: Take MRT and alight at YuanShan Station (Blue Line)
How to get there: Walking distance from the Flora Expo. I'll just try to update this with the street name.
Martyr's Shrine
Our second to the last stop for the day is the Taipei 101 Observatory. First few floors of this building are used as a shopping mall. Before we go to the observatory, we had our dinner first at KFC. Yahoo! I really wanted to try other country's version of KFC. It's actually a must for me to have a taste of any fast food that we also have here in the Philippines.
Their fries is different from ours. It tastes like Mcdo's french fries.
This is their version of Twister. This is really good. I like their chicken more. Haha
I'm not sure if this is Zinger. But I do remember that this is really delicious!! :D
Their egg tart tastes good too. But my favorite still is the one I had in Hong Kong. Hehe.
After dinner, we had a quick roam of the mall. After a few minutes, we headed to the 5th floor to buy tickets to the observatory. From 5th to the 80+ floor, it only took us less than a minute to reach the Observatory. This kind of tour is so unique. You don’t have to be literally with somebody or request for a tour guide to give you information about the places in Taiwan. Instead, you will be provided with a remote-like gadget where in you just have to push the number that correspond to what section you’re currently standing then a recorded voice will give you all the information that you want and need. The stations are also arranged in such a way that you could have a view of the actual place. I just knew that Taipei 101 is 2nd tallest building in the world. Picture taking is not allowed in the observatory. Actually it is, as long as the exhibit materials, pictures and posters are not included in the photo. It's a quick tour but I really enjoyed it. I was just so amazed at how beautiful Taiwan is - during day and night.
How to get there: Take MRT and alight at LongShan Temple Station
Flora Expo
We are so fortunate that we got to see the 2010 International Taipei Flora Expo. The expo showcases all different plants and flowers from different parts of the world (but I’m not really sure if participants are world-wide or Asian countries only). According to their website, they had 3 concepts in mind: Display horticultural, technology and environmental protection expertise; presenting the environmental protection goal of the 3R's. (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle); Combining cultural, art and green lifestyle. Their aim is to encourage the public to love and care for our beautiful home – planet earth.
The venue is so big that we only had the time to visit 1. Flowers in different colors and arrangements are displayed everywhere. It's like walking in a very huge flower garden. I could see flowers when I look up, down, left and right. The entire place is just so fascinating and overwhelming. We took pictures of almost everything.
After an hour or so, we got in line. If I remember it right, we passed thru 6 zigzag lines before we reach the main entrance.
I just took photos of everything and didn't bother to get their names. But this set of pictures are my favorites. These are flowers with meanings. How I wish I could have one.
Here is where we had our first Chatime Experience. Even if it’s cold, we still bought 1. I couldn’t remember if I liked it but the only thing I know is that, the bitter taste of tea is just too strong. Milk tea was just so famous in Taiwan.
Before our flora expo tour ended, we took more pictures, look for some souvenirs, buy 2 shirts and that’s it. We are now to going to our next destination – St. Christopher’s Church - yey, another Catholic church in Taiwan.
Since there’s a long queue in the entrance, we’ve decided to start touring the outside part of the expo.
St. Cristopher’s Church
Instead of having lunch after the expo, we decided to visit St.Cristopher’s Church. If I’m not mistaken, this church is the most famous for Filipinos. If I remember it right, they also have Tagalog masses. But there’s no ongoing mass when we were there. So we just enter, take some photos, appreciate the place, whisper a quick prayer and wish and we’re now bound to our next destination - . Hehe Martyr's Shrine
From the church, we went back to the Flora expo venue and rode a bus going to the Shrine. This is our first temple stop. Boyps said that we had the perfect timing as we will witness the "change guard" ceremony. Just like our guards in Rizal monument, they too are not allowed to move. We have to pass 2 beautiful arcs before we could see the main temple. There are also small kiosks on the side.
How to get there: From YuanShan MRT Station, take bus 208, 21, 247, 267, 287 to shrine.
Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
We didn't see much from this place except the main hall, statue of Sun Yat-sen and a glimpse of Taipei 101. Here is where we had a super quick rest. With all the temples / hall that I have seen, I could say that this is the simplest.
How to get there: Take MRT and alight at SYS Memorial Station (Blue Line)
Taipei 101
Their fries is different from ours. It tastes like Mcdo's french fries.
How to get there: Walking distance from Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall.
Hua Xi Night Market
I thought that Taipei 101 would be our last stop, but we can't just get enough :p Since Hua Xi night market is just easy to travel to, we decided to pass through it. But unfortunately most stalls are already closed. Only few people are walking along the streets. We just bought a milk tea, walk straight expecting to see something but we went back to the hotel empty handed.
