Taiwan, Alishan

Have not really decided how to go about blogging this. But since i have some free time now, I hope I will be able to at least write about my solo trip to Alishan. =)

Ticket of their HSR.

apparently, if u book the tickets online there is like early bird price and stuff.

But i wasn't sure of my arrival timing and therefore decided to just buy it at the counter.

the trains are amazingly on time. =)

Here it comes!

 

I arrived at Chaiyi with no bus to Alishan anymore, i had already anticiapted it, the last bus was at 2pm i think, and yup, missed it by like 20mins or so?

so i had to take a cab up which was abt NT2500

but considering the distance, the price is actually reasonable. Took abt 2 hrs to reach alishan.

my cam and hp died on the way up, so i didn't take any pics. =b

but saw and accident on the way up. a car fell into the drain at the corner. quite scary.

 

 

finally, the room, which i promptly messed up. hehe. i was trying to repack my stuff.

 Alishan House I

it's slightly off from the main area where the cab had to drop me and wait for thisr shuttle bus to pick me up.  it's walkable distance tho. just that the roads are all up and down slopes

 The red carpet to my room.

bathtub! but it was too freaking cold for me to want to even soak in water. wasted.

Reached at like almost 5pm and after a bit of rest,  got prepared to head down to the vistors' centre to get dinner. the hotel' dinner felt kinda expensive to me.

The fog had settled in, and it's really cold!

 

at abt 6pm and it's only gonna get colder.

Alishan has a number of eateries, but mostly selling the same stuff. so in the end i had this hotpot for abt NT300

Heard that the sunrise was hard to catch at Alishan but still decided to give it a try since I'm there for only a night. the sad part is i had to wake up at 230am! (oh, u have to inform during check in that you want to go and see the sunrise and they would buy the train ticket for you. ) the shuttle would send up to the train station and from there you are on your own.

 

as i went during a weekend plus the sakura season, it was packed. and it feels like peak hour at sg. =/

plus it was super cold.

 

after reaching Zhu Shan, u can choose to just climb up the stairs and there's a viewing pavillion or u cna choose to walk abt 500 metres to another viewing pavillion which i think has lesser people considering the amount of people that came up in the train together.

 

 

 The rays at about 430am.

 

the professionals with their hugeass cams.

 

Taken with S3,

Finally! at 615am!

wanted to take a paranoma shot but really too many people.

it wasn't raning, just the morning dew forming frost on the wood. and it was really dangerous to walk. a couple of people fell or slide down the steps.

taken with canon.

sakura!

dandelion

met a few friendly taiwanese and they accompanied me on the way down the mountain. and help me take a few pictures as well.  =)

bought this from an uncle dressed in aboringinal clothes. really nice!



 

 

 

the stay was one of most expensive i had ever booked. but the staff were really nice and their service extend to even after you checked out.

 

i tried to catch a bus down to chiayi but most were already fully booked. and i had to wait out the time before the next avaliable one. so i headed back to the hotel to rest at the lobby.

 

think the lesson learnt here is, always book your tickets in advance! if you know your timing already.

 

i think travelling solo is really quite fun. =) 

 

 

well.. that's all for Alishan.  will try to write more abt the other parts of the trip. =)

New Friend

New friend, Grumpy Octtie. 

Travel: Cambodia July 2012

This trip was planned since last year because Cambodia was such a mysterious place to me. 

Thus, AKX was dragged along for the trip. haha! thanks bro.

one of the few flights that allows me to capture clouds

their immigration cards, pretty

I had wanted to do a ahgirl travel trip thingy, but ultimately the weather killed me and my mood for it. =<

So, this is the one and only pic of ahgirl on this trip.

 abandance of Tuk tuks, their main mode of transport.

 street shots

 welcome drink at Golden Temple Villa, a decent room at abt 20USD per night and free wifi =)

 went for a walk around the area

 their fried springroll, something like the vietnam spring rolls

 Khmer fish, yummy

 Tom yum soup. more sweet than sour.

sunrise at Angkor Wat 

Angkor Wat 

20USD for a day pass into the temples and 60USD for a week's pass

the weather was really gruelling though. hot and the air in the temples are stale, really sucks out tonnes of energy 

went for Quad Adventure, their ATV experience. for the more adventurous, i would recommend 2 to an ATV, so that one could drive and the other could take pics. =) 

we went for the discovery package at like 70+USD for abt 4 hours? 

pretty cool. 

Us on the ATV

 The padi fields =)

 The kids running out to wave at us as they hear the loud roaring of the ATV

 the first kid was actually asking for money. 

=shrugs= 

advice is to not give $ to kids there as it would encourage them not to go to schools and hang around at tourist spots instead. however i think it's ok to give them food instead. imho.

 the packages they have at Golden Temple

advice is to book the tuk tuks from the front desk so that they will have the records of the driver. 

because akx and me actually lost our driver at Angkor Wat and had to use another tuk tuk who obviously chopped us for more den double the fare. =/ 

lesson learnt.

Don't know to feel sorry for the driver who lost his income from us or there was another side that the driver and this 2nd driver are in cathoots. oh wells. 

 super cheap alcohol.

food at GT, pretty good, and value for money too. ended up all our meals were settled in the villa. 

 grilled eggplant with porkchop. keke. they meant minced pork. 

hired this driver from Happy Ranch horse farm 

 me and the horse =)

 our guide,

i fell in love with horse-riding, but to learn it here. eh hem. it's a rich man's sports la huh..

 breakfast after horse riding

 hammocks

 stopped to buy candy for the village kids.

 at Kampong Phluk

 some fishing stuff

 the houses are all on stilts becoz the water levels rises that high during the rainy seasons

 the village school and temple area

 kids with the candies

 new tourist attraction.

 Their Lake. enough to fit a few singapores in. haha.

 flying over phnom phnem

my first flight transit, haha!

Tipping in Cambodia would help the people there very much, i think a tip between 1USD to 5USD would be more than enough.

other than that, the weather is super hot. people there are mostly nice and khmer food are usually rich in coconut milk. 

visiting temples can be tiring if u intend to climb up all of them. >.< and just beware of people offering joss sticks at Angkor itself, got asked for 10USD per person for that to pray to the gods. OUCH. some of the unexpected expenses.

i think all in all, just go with the flow and follow the crowd, travelling in cambodia can be fun but the weather can be a killer if you go in July.