Business Trip - Taiwan (19-24 Mar 06)

Harlo everyone, am back !

Finally went Taiwan… Taipei to be exact. Though it was a business trip, so all expenses (except personal ones of cos) are paid for by company, praise God. I also managed to meet up with my Taiwan friend and had dinner together. The weather was pretty good when we were there and I just heard from my Taiwan friends that they had very heavy downpours after we left. Wow, is God good or what ?

We arrived in Taipei on Sunday evening, after checking into the hotel, we quickly decided to make our way to the famous Shi-Lin night market for dinner. There were so many people and so many roadside stalls that we were spoilt for food choices. We had “junk” food instead cos there were so many foods we wanted to try. We tried their huge hotdogs (looks like microphone with the big sponge on it), tapioca sticks (like our potong ice-cream) topped with chocolate and cheese, as well as a long satay stick of fruits that are coated with sugar. There were many other foods too, such as BBQ corn (their corns are white in color, unlike ours that are yellow), deep fried salt-coated chicken pieces (we have them in S’pore too), smelly tofu (yes, you can smell them a few blocks away, eeks! Heard they even had steamed smelly tofu too, wow… ) just to name a few. Pity we were both too full to eat anymore so had to give them a miss. Next time !

My colleague and I worked from 8.30am till 7 or 8pm every night, then dinner (or should it be supper already ??), reached back in hotel (usually close to 11pm), wash up and then write reports and also have late night conference calls with our France office bosses. So for the first 3 nights we slept around 2am. I literally fell on my bed and slept throughout till the alarm clock woke me up at 6.30am the next morning. Initially I was still a little worried about sleeping alone in such a big room but my worries were unfounded definitely, nothing can fight the zzzzzzz bug really, haha.

On Monday night, we were brought to visit Taipei 101 Tower, the tallest building in the world. Entrance fees was NT350 per pax for adults. The lift went from 5th floor to 89th floor in just 37 seconds ! Amazing ! The view on the 89th floor was awesome, lights everywhere, small little cars moving all over the place etc. Yes, it was late at night (almost 10pm) when we went up the tower, so we couldn’t see the mountains and rivers. We also went to the Outdoor Observatory area on the 91st floor (NT100 per pax), however, the walls are too high (maybe I’m too short, haha) and there are huge metal rods surrounding the whole circumference of the edges so we couldn’t really see the view. I was told one of the reasons of having such high walls and huge metal rods (besides them being part of the décor and design of the tower) were to deter any potential suiciders who are thinking of jumping off the tower. Well… so much for that. Anyways, on good days, one should be able to walk in the midst of clouds as the building is so high up, now that should be fun !

On one of the nights (yes, all nights, cos we had to work daytime, sigh..), we were blessed by a supplier who chauffeured us around in his car taking in sights all over Taipei. As he drove, he explained to us the various places (such as Xi-men-ding, Chiang-khai-sek Memorial, President’s office etc), and their characteristics etc. We told him we wanted to try the local delights instead of going to restaurants (boring…) for our dinner, so he brought us to eat at Ice Monster, ie shaved ice with lots of strawberries and kiwi fruits topped with mango ice-cream (similar to our Ice Ka-chang) and beef soup (you can add noodles if you want).

Oh yes, we also went to this Huaxi Tourist Night Market where we saw how snakes were killed, their blood drained and galls taken out for those who are interested to try them. Nope, i didnt try, too exotic for me ! Hahaha… However, I did take their snake soup though. Yes, your eyes aren’t playing tricks, we had SNAKE SOUP. Didn’t know snake had bones ! Snakes being slimy and all, we naturally assumed that they have no bones but they do and they are similarly shaped like fish bones only a lot more curvy and sharp. The soup was clear with 1 red date and many gou-chi. If the soup were murky, then I would definitely give it a miss, who knows what’s inside ! Haha… Anyway, snake meat tastes a lot like chicken breast meat, tough but chewy.

After 3 days of hard work, on the 4th day morning, we decided to give a short break to ourselves and be tourists for half a day (actually we still need to go back to our supplier office for meeting in the afternoon to follow-up on some issues). So off we went to Longshan Temple.

Longshan Temple is a big temple with many statues of different gods inside, I could identify a few of them too, hee hee. We walked one round, my colleague kneeled and said some prayers and then we left to explore the rest of the small alleys and lanes around that area. Praise God, we wandered into a small alley that is similar to our wet market, selling chicken/beef/fish/fruits/vegetables etc. My colleague also managed to get a thick fleece jacket at a cheap NT500 (equivalent to approx SGD25), praise God ! That was also the place where we managed to buy some biscuits and souvenirs for our office colleagues.

All in all, to me, it was a fruitful trip. I finally touched down on Taiwan grounds, went to a few “must-go” places in Taiwan, met up with my friend and brushed up on my spoken Chinese. Some of the suppliers even thought I was a local Taiwanese as I had to communicate with them first then translate into English for my colleague ! Haha.. if only they knew my standard of hokkien which is almost zero !

I believed this trip is truly blessed by Daddy God and He brought me through it, although it was really rushed. The trip was only confirmed on Friday evening (17 Mar 06) and then I had to fly off on Sunday (19 Mar 06). Praise God.

Praying in tongues really helped a lot as most of the time, I know not how or what to pray for. But I know… I know my prayers will definitely reach the throne of God. Praise Him.