5th day at Taiwan: Alishan National Parks 阿里山國家風景區

We spent our second day at 阿里山. As we did the bus tour the day before, we decided to take the train. The schedule is kind of special. There is only one train up, and the same train down for the entire day. It is really meant for sun-rise watching.



We took this train!

At a chilly 4.30 am, SL LLG and I made our way to the train station which was located just above the restuarants vicinity. It was already chock-a-block by the time we arrived, but we managed to get our seats. The train was those of a quaint type and sitting inside it brought you back to the 1940s. When we finally arrived at our destination, many passngers wasted no time to take pictures. That was when SL LLG and I got separated.



A picture I took after getting off the train

What made it confusing was that there were two viewing decks. SL LLG being the elderly one decided to settle for the lower one, while those healthy, hearty and colourful characters of a heath had no trouble climbing up winding path that led to a higher viewing ground. There were many Hong Kong and mainland tourists climbing up too, judging from their conversations.



At the upper viewing ground, there were a few pavilions.

All waited with bated breath as the announcement that the sun was abut to make its debut. Though I had watched it the day before, it was still quite an excitement. After taking a video and some pictures, I made my way down and reunited with SL LLG. On the way back, he shared with me how the guide at the lower viewing ground told them lots of interesting news - like the sun will bounce up and down five times (Lu Lu in The Noose. Remember her?? yah.. will unhesitantly quip Bounce bounce ball 小球球 had she were there), or that global warming will make the growth of plants in the Alishan area used to make wasabi very expensive ion the years to come. In addition, going to Taiwan to watch sun rise in April will require them to be there at 4+ am!! But they will be compensated by the blooming cherry blossoms, etc.

Feeling spent, we returned to have our breakfast and decided to spend the time sleeping because there is essentially nothing to do. When we wake up, we whiled our time away (this is a luxury in retrospect and I wonder when is the next time I can use these words). When we woke up, we went to view a performance by the aborigines (原住民) in particular the Tsou tribe (鄒族).



The 鄒族. Due to the Hans influence, the tribe might go extinct since the total number of individuals were in the thousands.

After that we walked around and decided to buy some stuffs. That was when we formulated the great Alishan mathematical conundrum, and even though ShiLong LLG had receive his Mads degree in Camb!tch, he did not manage to provide the least easiest step. Allow me to recount. Ready for the story sum? Here goes -

SL LLG and I dealt with our Taiwan finance in an easy way. One of us will first pay for everything using our own NT2000, and when that runs out, the next one will take over, and so forth. We called this the Shared Account system. We keep this Shared Account in a different wallet compartment from our own personal account.

While buying some 土產, I realised my personal account is not enough. At that time, I had already put aside NT2000 as Shared Account. So I told SL LLG I will pay first using the shared account.

To illustrate with some numbers, say I wanted to buy coffee powder which cost me NT 500. I had only NT100 in my personal account. So I decided to pay the remaining NT 400 using the Shared Account. As I later remarked that I will return NT200 to the Shared Account, SL LLG pounced onto me and remarked - seems like your maths is not very good. Can you spot the problem? It is rather apparent now as the way I phrase this problem has somewhat make it easy to spot the mistake, but when you are involved, it was strangely confounding.

Nevertheless, SL LLG offered an almost circuitous solution involving transfers betweeen Personal Account to Shared Account, and then also giving him x amount of money. In all that perplexng explications, I finally understood where I was wrong. However, I managed to come up with an easier solution - Just treat the NT400 as a loan from the Shared Account. All I have to do is to pay back that NT 400. The CamB!tch-educated SL LLG was surprised at how this elegant solution had eluded us. We agree on one point however, that the laid-back, insouciant days of vacation in Taiwan had cause our mental faculties to be decidely blunt.



The carpark. Above there were many reaturants. Still further up, the train station.

Once while strolling to pass the time, I lamented how the dearth of activities in Alishan made this place extremely boring if you are staying for 2 days. Sharing with him my business proposal, I said I will set up an Internet cafe and KaraOk. Sl LLG eyes were gleaming when I asked him what would his business proposal be. Without any sense of shame, in an almost unhesitantly manner, he quipped, "I will exploit the 原住民 living here, pouring drinks in KaraOk and performing dance, singing, accompaniment for clients, making sure that a trip up Alishan is worth their time!"

When night fell, we decided to try a different steamboat restaurant. The eagled-eye me happened to spot a quiant looking restaurant and suggested to SL LLG we should dine there. The interior decor was wood-based so it gave us a hark to the past kind of feeling. We picked a far end of the seat, and enjoyed the stew and conversations, eavesdropping on what another table of Singaporeans were talking in gusto to a Taiwanese guide.

Still not quite done with Asia's tallest Starbucks, we went back there again and had our drinks before making our way back to the hotel to pack up our stuffs.

The Apprentice and the Dowager

This is a tale about an apprentice and a dowager set in the Chink dynasty. While the best-intentioned SL LLG may have warned the apprentice that there lies a Dowager who breathes down the neck of anything called Humans different from her own kind, the apprenticen had already heard of this proverbial Cixi even before he started in January.

It does not require one to be a politics wunderkind to know that to engage in any form of confabulation with THE Cixi, tactfully diplomatic or otherwise, is akin to walking with a time bomb. And yet to use a time bomb as an analogy would have been fallacious, for the Dowager's modus operandi is never as straightforward as an explosion in front of its victims, preferring to claim the victim's life only after taking a circuitous route and boomeranging those who are even vaguely connected to the target.

That was exactly what the apprentice encountered. While taking a stroll in the expansive imperial gardens, the hapless one was accosted, almost being pounced on, by the DOWAGER. To say that the apprentice has dug his own grave would be gravely (no pun intended) immature, an accusation that stems from the dearth of experience that Dowager will not be called Cixi if she had been less sneaky.

When asked how much practice the apprentices had attended hitherto, his reply that it was one almost quickly led to the gathering of the darkest yin clouds on the Dowager's head. Without any signs of disapprobation except to advise the apprentice to do a lot more, it seemed that there was no further room for any parley of necessity.

It wasn't until the next two days that the apprentice realised that the Dowager had sent her missives to inform everyone about the apprentice's perceived misdemeanour, irking all but those who felt the Dowager had created not just a storm in a teacup, but more aptly a cyclone Nigris in a sewing thimble. What set the apprentice at ease was the level of empathy and support these people had garnered for him, with SL LLG being one of the most ardous apologist as evidenced in the sms exchange between the apprentice and him:

THE APPRENTICE: That @#$ sent emails to Mr A and Miss B that I should be doing more. Luckily they were most understanding towards me.

SL LLG: Humph! She is a Micro Manager Best Kept in A Miserable Manger.

THE APPRENTICE: I imagine what she will teach her children when she tells them Aesop Fable - The Dog in the Manger. She will arm-twist the moral of the story by concluding "The b!tch's right in sitting on the hay, for at the end of the day, she will have the final say, yay!"

SL LLG: Never realise you could write such poem about b!tches. You are indeed a Bard with a capital B.

THE APPRENTICE: If I am really a Bard, and if I may add on to your poem, it would read,
She is a Micro Manager Best Kept in A Miserable Manger.
But still pose a Menacing Danger,
To Even the Mightiest Ranger!

SL LLG: Aiyo, you should out this in your blog.

Alors.
Voila!

Tuition has no recession, just like intuition will never go out of fashionnnnnn

In the youtube clip, "Mad TV - Substitute teacher", the Mexican and fakely pious Miss Lindamariarondriguezponpadomgracias was asking the definition of an analogy.



A most assiduous student above raised her hand and replied with an almost esoteric effect that led to Miss L to develop fainting spells, "An analogy is a comparison between two things that are otherwise dissimilar"...


Miss Lindamariarondriguezponpadomgracias's example to the analogy cannot be more lewd than "Travelling leads to humping, just like farting leads to pooping".

Eschewing that and taking a more apposite one which both SL LLG and I are quietly grateful (In the words of Miss L, "¡Ay Dios mío!"), we have found our own tagline. It is.. ahem... listen carefullly....(and dun flame us).

Leson Numero Uno -

Tuiiii-tion has no re-ce-ssion, just like in-tuiiiii-tion will never go out of fashionnnnnnnnn..

Lame. You say.

¡That's right!

Though we are prepared to receive no bonus or worse still, a pay cut, we can always count on tuItion for our much needed lobangs. *So one idea I have* is to take in tuition kids! Thzzzzzzz

Food Blog And Happhy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

I still enjoy celebrating CNY even as much while being an adult. Not least because it's one of those days where my Mum cooks up a storm and the whole family makes a conscientious effort to have dinner together. No, I am not going to write to the Straits Times about cooking up the festive mood, or else they say me the tuition t-cher very insensitive to the gloomy economy.

While in the mood for food, I am going to share with you all my dear readers, a food blog! The recommendations are all decent, and they give true-hearted S'poreans a run for their money. Check this out. Some of the locations are ulu, and this is most befitting for those who are tired of crowded shopping malls and quotidian restaurants.

http://www.flavor.sg/best-restaurants-in-singapore/index.php/best-restaurants-for-valentines-day/

Enjoy!

Fireman story as forwarded by friend

It's not what you know but what you are that makes a difference.

In Phoenix , Arizona , a 26-year-old mother stared down at her 6 year old son, who was dying of terminal leukemia.

Although her heart was filled with sadness, she also had a strong feeling of determination. Like any parent, she wanted her son to grow up & fulfill all his dreams. Now that was no longer possible...

The leukemia would see to that. But she still wanted her son's dream to come true.

She took her son' s hand and asked, 'Billy, did you ever think about what you wanted to be once you grew up? Did you ever dream and wish what you would do with your life?'

Mommy, 'I always wanted to be a fireman when I grew up.'

Mom smiled back and said, 'Let's see if we can make your wish come true.'

Later that day she went to her local fire Department in Phoenix , Arizona , where she met Fireman Bob, who had! a heart as big as Phoenix

She explained her son's final wish and asked if it might be possible to give her 6 year-old son a ride around the block on a fire engine. Fireman Bob said, 'Look, we can do better than that. If you'll have your son ready at seven o'clock Wednesday morning, we'll make him an honorary Fireman for the whole day. He can come down to the fire station, eat with us, go out on all the fire calls, the whole nine yards!

And if you'll give us his sizes, we'll get a real fire uniform for him, with a real fire hat - not a toy -- one-with the emblem of the Phoenix Fire Department on it, a yellow slicker like we wear and rubber boots.'

'They're all manufactured right here in Phoenix, so we can get them fast.'

Three days later Fireman Bob picked up Billy, dressed him in his uniform and escorted him from his hospital bed t o the waiting hook and ladder truck. Billy got to sit on the back of the truck and help steer it back to the fire station. He was in heaven.

There were three fire calls in Phoenix that day and Billy got to go out on all three calls.

He rode in the different fire engines, the Paramedic's' van, and even the fire chief's car.

He was also videotaped for the local news program.

Having his dream come true, with all the love and attention that was lavished upon him, so deeply touched Billy, that he lived three months longer than any doctor thought possible.

One night all of his vital signs began to drop dramatically and the head nurse, who believed in the hospice concept - that no one should die alone, began to call the family members to the hospital.

Then she remembered the day Billy had spent as a Fireman, so she called the Fire Chief and asked if it would be possible to send a fireman in uniform to the hospital to be with Billy as he made his transition....

The chief replied, 'We can do better than that. We'll be there in five minutes.. Will you please do me a favor?

When you hear the sirens screaming and see the lights flashing, will you announce over the PA system that there is not a fire?'

'It's the department coming to see one of its finest members one more time. And will you open the window to his room?'

About five minutes later a hook and ladder truck arrived at the hospital and extended its ladder up to Billy's third floor open window-------- 16 fire-fighters climbed up the ladder into Billy's room

With his mother's permission, they hugged him and held him and told him how much they LOVED him. With his dying breath, Billy looked up at the fire chief and said, 'Chief, am I really a fireman now?'

'Billy, you are, and The Head Chief, Jesus, is holding your hand,' the chief said. With those words, Billy smiled and said, 'I know, He's been holding my hand all day, and the angels have been singing..'

He closed his eyes one last time.

Out of touch

Dear visitors, I know it has been quite a while since the three legged cat has updated anything on the blog, and also to post the first few days of Taiwan ex-per-en. Not that I am renegading on my promise, but was heavily involved in some of the work stuffs and of course, lots of personal errands too.

To sum it up what had happened to me in case you had mistaken me for being abducted by aliens:
(1) Went to a couple of quaint places for coffee, food and drinks with Goodest Friend. There's this Coffee Nations near Bugis Arab Street. When we were there, Goodest Friend overheard the owner that they had barely set up a few mnths ago, and by the powerful word of mouth, it had attracted a fair share of coffee-lovers seeking some solace. The service is impeccable and I would highly recommend you to there.

(2) Upper Thompson. Again, shophouses have been the theme of recent outings nowadays for Goodest Friend and me. So we chose to go uper thomson road where there is this Liquid Kitchen and many other little shops. There is also an ice-cream parlour nearby which only those who ahd visited there through recommendations by other friends would know. It's kind of tucked away but the delectable ice-cream there certainly deserves your endeavours to find it.

(3) Speaking of ice-cream, there's Udders which is in Novena. Apparently, I was engaging in some small talk with a man I met in SAFRA Yishun gym, and he told me he was the owner! Wow.. apparently, he was a Yishun Town Sec teacher before and when I expressed awe that the school had performed tremendously well in recet years, he could only sigh to say that his batch of teachers worked extra hard for many others to reap the profit. Oh well, he has no regrets leaving the teeching profession for he is now milking all the good profits from his Udders (I mean his shop Udders). They sell both alcoholic and nonalcoholic ice-creams.

(4) O level results. Out of 4 kids I tutored last year, it seems only 1 managed to hit an A for the subject. As for the other 3 kids, they managed Bs and Cs. If you consider that they were al borderline or sub-borderlined (euphemism for the F grades), it's considered value-added. Still 2 of them expressed disappoinment as they left the exam hall feeling happy that they could clinch an A, only to realise they got B. perhaps due to intense moderation? Nevertheless, these were the two testimonies of what two mothers texted me:

"Hi ***, i m pleased to inform that charlene did well for her o levels. physics- A2 and chem - B3. Thank u very much for ur patience and dedication in tutoring her. Without u, she wd hv never made it on her own. God bless u. Regards, charlene's mum, j".

And another from my friend whom I tutored her son. Unfortunately he did not get the A grades he wanted. Still my friend was thinking it might be a blessing in disguise he could not go to a JC as we felt he was more inclined in his maths and science.

"Hi, [V] just got back home. He got b4 for physics, b4 for chem, b3 for a math."

Ok, that's all for now. Am looking forward to updating more on my Taiwan trip when I am done! Thanzzzzz

6th day 臺南 Tainan

We arrived in Chiayi after takig a super long bus ride from 阿里山. There, we had our second serving of turkey rice and also bought some square biscuits (Chiayi's famous for it). To go to 臺南 from Chiayi, we had to take a local train that is only one stop away. Like Chiayi, 臺南 has not much traffic lights and so has the same haphazard feeling.

We were apprehensive of our hotel cos it is the cheapest of all in the Taiwan trip. At S$35/pax, we walked into the lobby with bated breathe and found out that it was actually OK. This was because there was a spare room that was bigger and the hotel receptionist happily gave us. Nevertheless whether this is a good thing we don't know because that night while we were sleeping, SL LLG claimed to have seen a figure outside the balcony, and that he was awaken by the door opening and closing. That, whether I shall leave it to his fecund imagination or as the pan tang me were to say, he has seen something dirty, has still yet to be ascertained.

Anyway, as we went into the room, the eagle-eyed me started to notice a few lackings - (1) No hot water dispensary and worse still no kettle! (Later I found out all hot water had to be retrieved from the lobby in a paper cup), (2) No slippers, (3) Queen bed rather than two single bed (Having a fox sleeping beside the cat is not a wise idea, let alone comfortable), (4) a bit of old feeling. Other than that, it is Ok. I once declared to SL LLG that only one thing will make this hotel the BEST, and he laughed.

I shall digress. We went for lunch at this place beside 赤崁樓. The owner thought we were fromm Hong Kong, as is a common ex-pe-ren in Taiwan for these past few days, especially when we speak. 赤崁樓 was originally the site of the city of Providentia built by the Dutch in the 1650s as they outgrew Zeelandia. There are tablets, stone horses/camels and a row of nine turtle-borne steles with inscriptions. It has undergone changes from the Ming Dynasty to the Ching Dynasty to the Japanese occupation and to Taiwan's Retrocession.




There was a free tour so SL LLG and I joined in the tour which introduced the statues of Koxinga and also the story of the horse statue that has a missing leg, as well as one of the turtle carring a stele. It was a nice place to explore, not least because of the old Chinese feel. The guide made the experence a whole lot better as many of the nuances in Chinese architecture would have been carelessly overlooked without expert's advice.

After this, we visited a couple of temples and marvelled at the intricate differences in the carvings, especially since the guide book was able to give a lustrous explanations as to which part of the temple was done in the Ming dynasty and which was not. Philistines of course wouldn't be able to discern. Below is a picture I took in one of the temples.





Above: A plum tree picture. It is said that the last Ming king planted a plum tree in his garden, which has since then been converted into a temple.

We went around to a lot of places including finding a street that the guidebook promised to be the MOST picturesque street in Tainan. We found it eventually but then suddenly we found out that we had suddenly lost our purpose! Feeling a bit spent now we were at the crossroads of deciding what to do before we found our legs carrying us to round and round and round...... exploring what came may... I must admit that Tainan suddenly seemed quite boring... There was even a couple of times where we were almost lost.

Of course along the way we ordered bubble tea, and SL LLG did the most heinous thing of leaving his (and my) cups on the pavements when we couldn't find a dustbin. With my crocodile morals, I pontificated how wrong it is for overseas Singaporeans to dump rubbish in the most uncivilised manner.

Still we were happy to enter this tea house! It was our first tea house since our visit in Taiwan and we were enjoying the tea and the lovely interior. I discovered the second floor is a better deal in terms of ambience so we were indulging in small gossips admists sips. Having our thirst sated, we decided it is best to try the coffin bread. Apparently, it was made of thick toast with the centre cut out so that fillings of what seemed to me like a very rich Campbell soup seafood stuffings can be added. It was apparently "invented" to cater to the American tastes when they were stationed there during the WWII period.

After this, we decided to go to the night market by foot since we were rather full and a walk would do us good.

It was a mistake we would never ever forget.

We must have walked for an hour and passed by this open area. Then both of us had our bladder almost full and wanted to use the (unusually a lot) of mobile toilets in this open area.

Don't they resemble coffins?, I quipped without thinking too much.
Yes, they do leh now that you said it. Be careful of things that will jump out when you open the cubicle door
When SL LLG said this, I froze on my track. With one hand on the door, my ever fertile mind started to be imaginative. If anything, we had successfully scared each other!

Realising that the open area belonged to the night market, we bemoaned that we had come at the wrong day. With a heavy heart, we went to the city centre again by foot. This time round, we explored a bit for some watering hioles (SL LLG would be fascinated by Down Under's watering holes a few weeks later in the gym with his Brother Ong). Then we came into this Japanese restaurant.

Going in, we oredered a German sausage and sake. Hoping it to be a warm one, we were disappointed when it came in ice. All disappointment evaporated however when we took a sip and found it delighted our taste buds! So we went talking in the midst of Japanese chatter. However I noticed when we came in or were leaving, they dint even bother to greet us, though they had considerately done so for those Japanese. Sigh.. those TKPGs (Taiwan Kimono Party Girls).. obviously sucking up to the big toes of the Japanese.