Eco-trip to Taiwan! (Day 1)

Armed with our suitcases, passports, cameras, and truckloads of anticipation for what awaits us in Taiwan, we, the 10 lucky members who were selected to partake in a Field Trip to Taiwan the school organised for us to attain and exchange ideas on implementing green projects with the people of Taiwan. A secondary objective of this trip was to reward us for all the hard work we'd invested in carrying our all our green projects to a respectable degree of success, which eventually led to us emerging champions of the Toyota Eco Rangers competition. :) We were accompanied by two accompanying teachers - Cik Tan and Puan Ngau.

All of us were gathered in the Malaysia Low Cost Carrier Terminal by 8.30 am to check-in our luggages, which all of us managed to keep below the allocated 15 kilograms, a small accomplishment that marked a pleasant start to our trip. Mr Jamil, the Malaysian representative of CS Holidays who would be accompanying us on this trip as one of the tour guides, was beyond helpful when it came to leading us through the check-in process. After a brief 2-hour wait, during which farewells were exchanged between the doting family members who had come to see their daughters off, we found ourselves happily boarding an Air Asia aircraft. The prospect of visiting Taiwan, a country foreign to us in every sense, be it linguistically, culturally, and even when it comes to the climate, successfully clouded any hint of heavy-heartedness we might have and should have had about leaving our country. Ah, the fickle-minded youth of today.

The flight was scheduled to take approximately 4 hours, and all of us came well-prepared in our own unique ways. For Siti Sarah a.k.a. Empress, she mentally prepared herself for a long, comfortable and uninterrupted snooze (due to the fact that her seat partner was Atikah, and Atikah's many attempts at coaxing Siti Sarah out of her deep slumber using her gentle, soothing voice seems to have the same effect as a lullaby, instead.) If only Siti Sarah's seat partner was someone armed with a camera, and was not afraid to use it. Meanwhile, an inter-aisle UNO game was taking place, which involved lots of card-passing and remarks such as 'Oh? My turn?', due to the vast geographical differences between the players. We like to think that our game also proved how useful Air Asia's aircraft seat tables can be in such situations.

This is a picture of a half-eaten in-flight meal. It was so delicious that it only occurred to the camerawoman to take a photo of this after she has devoured most of it, which is a sentiment every single one of us can understand. :)

All in all, it was a fairly pleasant flight, and at 2.30pm, we finally found ourselves in Taipei! If we had been part of the cast of a movie, inspirational music hinting at great adventures lying ahead would have played at that very moment, but unfortunately, the only movie we were a part of was reality. We noted that the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport reflected the environmentally-conscious nature of  Taiwanese in general, as numerous recycling bins were planted within the confines of the airport, while toilet paper made using recycled paper were used in its toilets. Yes, small notices informing us about the origin of all toilet papers used in the airport were thoughtfully placed near the toilet paper dispensers.

After retrieving our luggages, we were introduced to Hendri, the Taiwanese representative of CS Holidays who also made up the other half of our pair of tour guides. He led us to board a transit bus which took us to the high speed train station. As it turns out, this part of our trip turned out to be quite the eye-opener, as it allowed us our first glimpse of the streets of Taiwan. Also, the novelty of having one whole bus to ourselves doesn't quite get old. :)

Cameras were hastily whipped out to capture shots of Taiwanese streets, as well as the interior of the bus. This wonderful shot features our empress displaying her excitement over the bus in a toned-down manner. 

Upon our arrival at the aforementioned high-speed train station which looked more like a terminal, with its sleek, futuristic design and numerous facilities, we were presented with our train tickets. We had half an hour to kill before the scheduled departure of our train, and the appeal and allure of gleaming, familiar sign of the 7-11 we found ourselves standing in front of was too much to resist. Hence, 7-11 was where most of us spent our New Taiwan Dollars for the first time. The brief wait cum minuscule shopping expedition was over in a flash, and we were eagerly planting our weary behinds onto the plush, comfortable seats of a high-speed train before we knew it. UNO cards were onced again dealt to the tirelessly playful, while the saner ones amongst us made the sensible decision of resting and conserving their strength.

Faces of people who had just spent their first New Taiwanese Dollars. :) You can see the delighted 7-11 cashier in the background, if you squint hard enough.

Is the train here yet?

Is the train here yet?

OMG the train! It's here!

'You have now arrived at Kaohsiung'. The robotic voice that announced our arrival to Kaohsiung lifted our spirits sky high where they continued to soar. By then, it was around 6.15pm, but the skies had already darkened so much that to our Malaysian eyes, it looked like it was fast approaching 8pm. Such a sight brought only one word to our minds - DINNER. Hence, we were all more than pleased when our tour bus (an entire bus just for us, again!) pulled up at a posh-looking Shanghai Vegetarian Restaurant. Its interior was well-decorated, and so was its washroom. Actually, it looked so sophisticated that a term more sophisticated should have been used to refer to it. A term like 'lavatory', perhaps, and maybe, it should be uttered in a British accent. 'Oh, I do beg your pardon, but I'm afraid that I'll have to excuse myself to use the lah-vah-toh-reyh.' Yes, that should work.

We have a bus to ourselves! V for Victory!

Hendri briefly introduced us to the marvelous land of Kaohsiung. :)

The magestic-looking Shanghai Vegetarian Restaurant :)

This is Encik Jamil. He's the guy who's standing, by the way. :)

The interior of the restaurant.

The door of the toilet, which we immediately took a liking to and deemed photograph(s)-worthy. :)

Us touring the toilet to see what it has to offer.

Anisa demonstrating the wonders of the toilet bowl.

But I'm digressing, and back to the topic at hand, our dinner was, to put it simply, scrumptious! Despite the fact that we were all omnivores in every sense of the word, the extremely delectable vegetarian dishes served at the restaurant allowed us to effortlessly overlook the lack of meat on the dinner table, and not miss it at all. For some of us, that's saying a lot!

At the restaurant, we were greeted by Mr Lian, along with a few other iEARN representatives from the NKNUSH (The Affiliated Senior High School of National Kaohsiung Normal University). Not only did he willingly make his way to the restaurant to personally welcome and greet us, he even brought goodies for us in the form of egg puddings served in actual egg shells, possibly a delicacy that's unique to Taiwan. Needless to say, this thoughtful gesture was the warmest welcome to Kaohsiung we could possibly have been on the receiving end of. We polished the yummy egg puddings in a flash - already, we had fallen in love with Taiwanese cuisine. Thus, our dinner ended on a sweet note.

Mr. Lian, who had come to welcome us, came bearing goodies!

SO CUTE!

Even Puan Ngau felt the need to pose for a picture with the egg puddings!

After dinner, Encik Jamil and Hendri asked us if we were up for a trip to the night market. Needless to say, we answered with a firm, resolute, YES! The night market was everything we had imagined, and more. Stalls selling a plethora of goods, ranging from the typical - accessories, clothes, shoes - to the unusual - dog clothes, arcade-style game stalls lined the entire length of the street, and boy, it was truly a sight to behold. However, nothing could possibly top the range of food that was sold. Snake soup, nougats, Taiwanese sausages, seafood Teppanyaki, fruit blended with milk, stinky tofu... these are but a few examples of the wide range of delicacies sold at the night market. It was evident that every craving your taste buds could possibly have would be fulfilled.

At around 9.30pm, we were finally checked into the Love River Boutique Hotel. Staying true to its fancy name, the hotel was in fact, quaintly and beautifully furnished. After being assigned our rooms, we were finally free to call it a day, and drag our excited but exhausted selves to bed.