Taiwan Day 5 - Part 1

On Day 5, after chatting too much with my dad and sisters online, i was finally persuaded to visit the "Window of China" or "Xiao Ren Guo" since its the second country in the world to have such an attraction. I've visited this place years ago when i was a young chap, around 8-10 years old and was interested in what has changed over the years. So thats the destination for today.

Mister Donut

Mister Donut was found all throughout Taipei and i'm guessing its a Taiwan donut brand. We bought 3 flavors to try out for our own benefit since some local brands turned out to be the better ones. Such as our very own Donut Factory in Singapore.
This is unfortunately not the case with this franchise. Their donuts tasted wierd, almost rubbery in texture and also a little like bread. The coatings, though packed with flavor, was not able to distract my disappointment on the texture. Thus, this wasn't for me.

Flowers

Just a table setting photo from our favorite breakfast place in the hotel.

Taipei Railway Station (the inside)

Tickets at NTD 89 to Zhong Li

Its a huge place

Takeaway Packed Food

Braised Pork Chops,Egg and Cabbage with rice

Now this was the actual packed food my mom and grandma raved about when they returned home. Maybe i waited a tad too long before eating it but i didn't find it very tasty in the end. The braised pork was soft and fragrant but soggy probably due to us holding on to it for too long. I only found the egg worthwhile but thats a given since eggs taste good easily. Overall, its another disappointment in the food department.

Signs

Zhong Li Station

When we arrived at Zhong Li station after about 1 hour 15 minutes on the terribly slow train, the first thing that came to mind was culture shock. This was more akin to a rural area as compared to Taipei.
Buildings were a mess and most look dilapidated for some reason. The traffic looked scary as well and the cab drivers will continually hound you to take a ride. We started off saying no to a burly looking driver until another driver came up and convinced a young couple and their kid to take the cab ride. In order for the ride to be cheaper, they require 4 paying adults paying 100ntd each. So just like that, we were dragged into the ride as well. Partially, it was for convenience and secondly, it was because the bus ride took 1 hour longer then a 40 minute cab ride. I do have to warn you though, the cab drivers are pushy and look rather scary but all in all, we got pretty nice people during our journey.

Window on China

Map

The place looked rather small in the beginning and i was disappointed to see many of the old attractions still doing their rounds. What looked fascinating as a child simply felt tagged on right now. Thank goodness the back of the park yielded better surprises and new attractions. The following will be some of the sights for the day.

We took this ride and for some absurd reason, we came out totally and utterly drenched when the rest of the people came out barely wet. I suspect the attendent didn't really like me or something and changed the current to ensure i was drenched. Still, can't say i didn't enjoy it.

The one thing about the show that amazed me was how true to form the costumes were. It was superbly alike with the cartoon and that is very well done.

Now this was interesting as well. The 6 people you see on this ride repeated the ride upteen times. In fact, the took the ride at least 15 times and thats when i started counting! They were taking the ride before we came and were still taking the ride after we left. Talk about getting your money's worth!

This was a personal favorite. In fact, i've made up my mind to find this church and fly to its actual location one day to see it in real life. Its simply a splendid example of artistic architecture and i just can't wait to experience it in person.

More Doraemon exhibitions before we left the theme park. Seems like Doraemon is making it big in Taiwan in recent times still.

After another 1 hour or so on a nerve wrecking bus ride back to Zhong Li, we alighted at the correct stop by luck and made our wobbly way through peak hour traffic to the train station. The ride back was even cheaper and soon we found out why, the train was an even older and slower model and our journey back to Taipei was filled with the smell of burning rubber throughout. Not exactly pleasant but at least dinner wasn't too far away now.
For dinner, we resolved to find our way in Xi Men Ding for a famous Mee Sua thats been said to be rather good. Coming up in Day 5 Part 2.