Summary of Taiwan Trip (Oct 2010)

Links to all posts for this trip!

Taiwan Trip: Day 8 (17 Oct 2010)

This is D-day of our trip, THE event which was the reason why we went to Taiwan in Oct -  Girls Generation. THE lst ASIA TOUR Into the new world!

The concert was held at Taipei Arena (1st time that we went there~) and it was at a walking distance from the Nanjing East Road metro station. There were no directions from the station but we headed the  correct way by following some people who looked like they were going for the concert too.

It starts at 15:00 and we went there early to collect our tickets from the counter for international reservations. The place was full of people dressed in pink – the color of Girls Generation! There were also the usual vendors selling lightsticks, etc, and the authorities chasing them off.

After that, we went into a nearby shopping mall to escape the heat and had lunch at a Hi Sushi – the sushi was quite good.

Back to the Taipei Arena, we bought pink lightsticks before we entered the venue. But they didn’t light up when we broke them!! Got cheated~~

At the concert entrance, we were given the lyrics to the song Complete, for us to sing along. The security folks were very strict about no photography in the venue, even before the concert started. They were very sharp and once they spotted anyone with cameras, they went over to give a warning!

At each seat, there was a pink tape and we were supposed to hold 1 end and throw it out towards the stage towards the stage when the song “Oh” ends so that there will be pink streamers everywhere. (G threw the whole roll out instead… )

Although I don’t really listen to their songs, I did enjoy the stage set-up and design. SNSD sang their hit songs like “Gee”, “Genie” and “Oh!”. They performed a total of 36 songs and had special appearances from SUPER JUNIOR’s Leeteuk and Donghae. The fans were extremely enthusiastic throughout the concert!!!!

After the concert, we went to Taipei City Hall Square for the 2010 Taipei Flora Expo Concert!

Taiwan Trip: Day 7 (16 Oct 2010)

In the morning, we took the free shuttle bus from the bus-stop at Tainan Park to Tainan HSR Station. The comfortable bus-ride took 40mins and we were glad to be in air-conditioned comfort!

Then, we took the HSR back to Taipei. This time round, we are staying at Neijiang Hotel at Xi Men Ding. Argh, no photos again – we really need to remind ourselves to take photos even though it is uninteresting! Anyway, the room was just a very simple and basic, the rate is easy on the pocket!

We didn’t do much today, visited the Guang Hua Computer Market and went to Eslite bookstore.

Taiwan Trip: Day 6, part 3 (15 Oct 2010)

The last 2 destinations for Tainan was the Anping Tree House (安平樹屋) and Old Tait & Co. Merchant House (德記洋行). They are situated beside each other and we took a bus to the area. There’s an admission charge of NT$50 that includes entry to both of them.

Anping Tree House (安平樹屋) was a warehouse for Tait & Company and the Japan Salt Company. When the salt industry declined after World War II, the building fell into disrepair and the banyan trees took over. Thereafter, designers transformed it into a tourist destination by building  staircases and viewing platforms that can take you up into the trees.

Taiwan Trip: Day 6, part 2 (15 Oct 2010)

After visiting Fort Provintia, G and I made our way to have lunch at the famous Tu Hsiao Yueh (度小月擔仔麵). Their founding story goes a long way back to 1895! They have a branch in Taipei too, but it originated from Tainan.

Upon entering the restaurant, you can see a cooking area where the noodles and some other food are served from. We were served a complimentary egg with our order of the noodles! So nice of them~ The noodles itself was rather normal so I’m not sure why this restaurant is so famous.

Our next destination was the Confucian Temple (孔子廟), located another 400m away. The temple was built in 1665.