day 4 of our trip.. we are at our 3rd pit stop: taidong。this is indeed an ulu place cos it feels like aghost town at 2pm on a saturday afternoon!
1st pit stop: 花莲
day 1: went to Taroko Gorge on the 1st day on a coach. it was comfortable but felt that it was not as fun as when i went last yr where we could take our own sweet time enjoying the nature there.. this time it was kinda rushed as we had to stick to the timings and we did not go to that many places.. only Tian Xiang, Jiu Qu dong and Chang Chun Si
at Nan Bin Ye Shi again.. one year on it's still as boring as ever.. haha..
day2: Rafting (泛舟) it was really fun! we got really dirty and my thighs got burnt but it was really exciting going thru the rapids.. we 5 girls rafted with another family of 3 and the mother was so nervous she kept hiding in the raft and kept stopping us from having water fights with other rafts.. she was overly nervous lah cos she fell into the water twice.. too bad i did not fall into the water.. yah too bad! would be more memorable if i did mah..
Hualian City area was so much more happening than Nan Bin Ye Shi.. stop telling that is the biggest Ye Shi around.. it's juz boring!
day 3: Whale Watching (赏鲸). Did not see any whales but saw some Spinner Dolphins and 花纹豚... they were really cute.. hehe
2nd pit stop: 鹿野
鹿野 is a village kinda place.. really ulu.. had to walk 20mins b4 we found a decent restaurant for a meal.. and there was hardly any streetlights along the roads.. we 3 girls was walking in the dark in total fear of snakes jumping out of nowhere..
day 4: went paragliding today!!! it was GREAT! it was so much fun and really relaxing... haha.. we were really lucky to get that kinda winds we had today.. was in the air for like 20 mins? fun fun fun!
the people in 鹿野were really nice and cos it's a small village every one knows evertone else.. it's a nice family feel.. felt so good there.. the kind of village spirit..
3rd pit stop: 台东
very ulu.. even near the city.. it's saturday but hardly anyone on the streets.. that's why i have the time and leisure to type this entry..
hostel moving has never been so tiring.. bye bye 7406.. welcome to 1234..
where are the guys when i need them? moving alone is so pathetic.. and to think that i moved so hard and clean so hard juz to stay in the new room for 3 nites and i'm going away for holiday...
i;m definitely looking forward to the holidays..
so much so that i'm in no mood to complete my last report on gangster movies..
4:26 PM
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
we the exchange students had lunch with the head of radio and television department today.. with us we also had this student 翠云 from Myanmar who's in NCCU on a degree course.
as we were talking and asking her about Myanmar, that was when i felt really blessed to be a Singaporean.
She hasn't gone back to Myanmar since she came to Taiwan 2 yrs ago. And her family hasn't been able to visit her here because of the difficulty in applying a travel visa.
When we Singaporeans go travelling, we hardly give a thought able having to apply for visas cos most popular tourist destinations do not require a visa for Singaporeans. Singapore had done a good job in its foreign policy and had established great ties with many countries worldwide, that is why we Singaporeans can take something like travelling without worrying about things like visa for granted.
Taiwan's status internationally is kinda wierd, so when they travel, they always had to worry about visas. The Chinese also cannot come to Taiwan for a holiday so easily.
Something as simple as not having to worry about visas makes me feel blessed as a Singaporean.
11:42 PM
i was supposed to be studying for international relations exam tmr.. but just din have the mood.. so end up spending my time editing this video on the rally.. hahaha..
6:41 PM
Monday, June 12, 2006
getting sick of the look of my blog.. went to blogskin and juz used one of those.. act there're lots of creative materials there.. hope that one day i will make a blog that is really of my own.. for now shall juz used someone else' work..
due to the change in skin, some words became hard to read.. sorry about that..
9:32 PM
another thing that adds to my unhappiness: the weather..
First, there was the Anti-Presidential Rally that according to the organizers, attracted more than 10000 ppl.. well us included.. how could we miss something like that while in Taiwan? Plus there was the lure that i could actually see Ma Ying Jiu give a speech but we were too late in the end and missed his speech..
Still, it was a great eye-opener to see politicians and citizens alike scolding the President openly.. i was initially afraid that we might not be able to find the place but then there was signs to lead us there from the MRT.. haha.. the police were juz making sure cars dun enter roads they should not.. everyone was so high shouting "阿扁！ 下台！" and agreeing with whatever nonsense the person was talking about on stage.. it's kinda funny.. definitely refreshing sight for someone from Singapore where congregation of more than 5 ppl are considered illegal gathering..
Well, most ppl that turned up were aunties and uncles n grandmas n grandpas.. we are like one of those few in the 20s that were there.. and we were more concerned with taking photos than listening to what they have to say obviously.. we saw another group of teens who were obviously foreigners trying to understand what is happening.. haha..
and the 2nd big event was 金曲獎.. i wanted to go watch it live so much! but dunno how to get tickets so bo bian had to watch it in hall with the other gals at the tv area.. actually i only caught the last part.. it's been so long since i've seen Yanzi in the media.. tho i would love to see her perform.. (maybe she did but i missed it?).. anyway congrats to Tanya for getting Best Female Vocalist!! altho it's a bit sad that Yanzi din get it (but i feel that her last album wasn't exactly her best.. ), i'm still really happy that Tanya got it! She's Singaporean too! I feel the pride!
alright enough for now.. back to reports!! spent the whole morning sorting the photos of the rally yesterday! can go take a look ppl...
11:53 AM
Saturday, June 10, 2006
the semester has non-officially ended.. cos now there's juz exams n reports left.. no more lessons to go to.. update: i've still got 1 international relations exam left and 2 reports to complete..
the end of the semester also means more photo-taking..
the intercultural masters class.. well i took a masters class! it was not as tought as i tot it would be really.. there are onli like 11 students in the class so this is abt 70% the class size lah..
radio production class' visit to Wave Radio station.. it's one of the radio station with the highest listenership in Taipei.. but the place is pretty small and the PR personnel is really lousy.. there's students from NTU (Singapore and Taiwan.. haha), Malaysians and even a Korean in this class.. pretty interesting combi..
our infomation society tutor.. he is one naggy teacher but his lessons are one of those that i enjoy more.. we chatted away for an hr on the probloems of nccu or taiwans uni system and he keeps saying that he wans to do sth about it but has limited influence.. well, hope his ideals get thru and taiwan's uni students can be enlightened..
from info soc class: Ileen and Michiyo.. Ileen is Taiwanese but spent half her life in South Africa while Michiyo is half Japanese.. we juz haf to do the 'peace' sign.. i used to think that it's a jap thing but now i realised it's a taiwan thing too.. well, taiwanese juz embrace everything from japan.. yes everything...
12:03 PM
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
muz show these off.. went shopping around 東區 last friday and came across this shop selling beads in all shapes and sizes so me n Iris decided to try our hands at making our own earrings!
here's my masterpieces..
the one on the left is made from paper clips.. hahah.. ok lah not very spectacular but i'm still proud of my first pairs of hand-made earrings.. my fingers were sore after trying to hard to bend those metal wires..
11:16 PM
realised i lost a shirt today.. a green shirt i really like.. and i bought it the last time i was in taiwan.. i totally have no idea where it could have been.. juz flown out of my closet.. sigh..
makes me even more depressed today..
11:14 PM
Sunday, June 04, 2006
the end is near and so here comes the graduation ceremony.. i've nv gotten to see NTU's convocation (i believe it's pretty boring..), but nccu make everyone notice theirs cos they are to blast music and march across the campus early in the morning at 7am such that those staying in the hostel within the school will definitely be notified.. (thank god my hostel is outside the school compund..)
graduation is another event that calls for photo-taking and hence we shall not miss the opportunity...
but since we are exchange students, don't really know many graduating students, so we had fun taking photos among ourselves nonetheless.. :P
congratulations Wanyu on completing her bachelor's degree in NCCU and all the best in doing her master's starting september..
a bachelor's degree is nothing much here becos lots of them would go on to do master's degree.. seems to be a trend here.. some do it because they still do not know what career they want, some do it because they still do not want to get a job or think that the job market is weak.. of course there are those that truly has the passion for it..
someone once told me, in taiwan 大學高中化，研究所大學化
and i think the trend is so also becos of their pursuit to get in a good uni regardless of what course they are offered.. every course has their own so-called cut-off grade and they can fill up to 100 courses that they want based on their high school results.. so whenever we ask people in nccu ‘你爲什麽會想要念這個系？’, their standard answer will be ‘因爲剛好填志願選上。’ many go thru uni not doing what they really want to do, so they feel lost when they complete their degree..
so in a way it's good that singapore onli has 3 unis, then the notion of wanting to get into a 'branded' school is not that great and we can choose based on what we really want to do.. (or so i think)
11:40 AM
the arrival of june will soon mark my 4th month here.. it's 11 days to my last lesson in nccu and (tentatively) 33 days to my returning to Singapore.. (should be back on 7th July.. i like the date.. haha)
here comes the days of counting down..
there's still 2 exams coming up (one of which is tml) 3 and a half reports undone.. but my heart is in Hualian, wanting to enjoy my holiday already!
11:34 AM
capture the present
.:lhui:.
"the whole truth is what people seek, but is not something that will present itself to u"
the intercultural masters class.. well i took a masters class! it was not as tought as i tot it would be really.. there are onli like 11 students in the class so this is abt 70% the class size lah..
radio production class' visit to Wave Radio station.. it's one of the radio station with the highest listenership in Taipei.. but the place is pretty small and the PR personnel is really lousy.. there's students from NTU (Singapore and Taiwan.. haha), Malaysians and even a Korean in this class.. pretty interesting combi.. 
our infomation society tutor.. he is one naggy teacher but his lessons are one of those that i enjoy more.. we chatted away for an hr on the probloems of nccu or taiwans uni system and he keeps saying that he wans to do sth about it but has limited influence.. well, hope his ideals get thru and taiwan's uni students can be enlightened..
from info soc class: Ileen and Michiyo.. Ileen is Taiwanese but spent half her life in South Africa while Michiyo is half Japanese.. we juz haf to do the 'peace' sign.. i used to think that it's a jap thing but now i realised it's a taiwan thing too.. well, taiwanese juz embrace everything from japan.. yes everything...
the one on the left is made from paper clips.. hahah.. ok lah not very spectacular but i'm still proud of my first pairs of hand-made earrings.. my fingers were sore after trying to hard to bend those metal wires..