Day 5 - Kaohsiung

Spring and Autumn Pavilions - built in classic pagodas style

Confucius Temple

Dream Shopping Mall - the southeast Asia biggest shopping center

Fokuangshan- Mountain of Buddhist enlightenment

Nantou- a big tour county in Taiwan

Day 4 - Taichung/Kaohsiung

Sun Moon Lake- the biggest nature lake in Taiwan

Wen Wu Temple- dedicated to both Confucious and the Kuan Kung, God of War.

Peacock Garden

Kaohsiung - Taiwan's 2nd largest city

Chi Jing Island- a sandy island located west of Kaohsiung port.

Thienhou Temple

Day 3 - Taipei/Taichung

Window of China- the second largest miniaturization park in the world

Taichung - Taichung City is located in the Taichung Basin along the main western coastal plain that stretches from northern Taiwan along the west coast nearly to the southern tip.

Fong Jia night Market - is located in the Xitun area in Taichung, next to Feng Chia University. It was claimed to be the largest night market in Taiwan.

Day 2-Taipei

Chung Cheng Memorial Hall - a monument built in memory of the former President of the Republic of China - Chiang Kai-shek.

Discovery Center of Taipei - a museum that chronicles Taipei's development. The museum features exhibitions on Taipei's natural history and cultural heritage, as well as interactive installations that invite visitors to explore Taipei's future development.

Taipei 101 Center - a 101-floor landmark skyscraper that claimed the title of world's tallest building when it opened in 2004.

Chiufen- Asia Golden Capital/Mini Hong Kong/Mini Shanghai - Located in Taipei County, Chiufen village used to be the center of gold mining. This small village is located within hills, next to the mountains, and facing the ocean.

Chiufen village

Yilan - a county in Northeastern Taiwan.

Toucheng Leisure Farm - The farm encompasses about 110 hectares half planted with Makino bamboos in addition to camellia, maple, etc. The various vegetables and fruits grown such as peaches and kumquat are used to prepare meals served.

Day 1 - Taipei

Hello Taipei!


Reached Taipei, the capital of the Enchanting Taiwan. It is the largest city in Taiwan.

Holidaying

My two girls and I will be on holidays to Taiwan from 27 March 2010 to 2 April 2010. Will keep you informed of the places that we are going to visit.

Shall miss all of you..

Take care!

Treasure

Love this pond! Spotted plenty of coins underneath the water.

Why people like to throw coins into the pond?

Butterfly

Spotted this gorgeous yellow butterfly visiting the flowers.

Isn't it just beautiful?

Lo and Behold

It is fascinating to see such cute flowers growing out of the cactus plant!

But I just don't understand why some people would vandalize anything even the cactus plant.
See how the writings have somehow deformed the beauty!



Such pretty sight of this cute little flower!
Beauty among the thorns!

Bully Beetle

This big beetle is bullying the smaller one.

"Help" but the smaller beetle has no where to go
as they are kept inside the glass container.

Wonder why the big one is bulling the small one?

Beetles may display extremely intricate behaviour when mating. Pheromone communication is thought to be important in the location of a mate.

Conflict can play a part in the mating rituals where conflicts between males and females rage until only one of each is left, thus ensuring reproduction by the strongest and fittest. Many male beetles are territorial and will fiercely defend their small patch of territory from intruding males. The males may often have horns on the head and/or thorax, making their overall body lengths greater than those of the females.

http://en.wikipedia.org/

Strawberry

Strawberries are aplenty in Cameron Highlands.

See how juicy! Strawberries are best eaten with honey!

Bright Sky

This sky is so bright as you can see the whiteness of the clouds and the bluish sky.

Koi Fish

symbol of love and friendship

http://en.wikipedia.org

Koi or more specifically nishikigoi are ornamental domesticated varieties of the common carp that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor ponds and water gardens. They are also called Japanese carp.

Koi were developed from common carp in ancient China in Jin Dynasty and was later transferred to Korea and Japan, and are still popular there because they are a symbol of love and friendship. A variety of colors and color patterns have since been developed; common colors include white, black, red, yellow, blue, and cream. The most popular category of koi is the Gosanke, which is made up of the Kohaku, Taisho Sanshoku, and Showa Sanshoku varieties.

Cyber Eyeworks

Recently I had my eyes checked. I knew my power had increased since I started my blog in Aug 2009.

It didn't increase much but I need a perfect pair for driving. So I just had it done without bothering about the brand as it looked good.

Initially, I wanted to have it tinted but it was so costly so I had to stay put with a clear pair of glasses.

When I actually wore it after collecting it, I realised its brand.

Cyber Eyeworks - such unique name and it suits me very well.

Now I have a Cyber Eyeworks to be worn during my driving.

I like its black case..

and its orange frame!

But it was really expensive!

Give a guess...

Bird of Paradise

I love this flower, the Bird of Paradise. It sounds so special and it looks magnificent!

In actual fact, we have rice which is named after this flower, Bird of Paradise.

Merlion

I was surprised when my husband handed me a letter this morning and asked, "Is this yours?" "It's mine", I said and quickly signed in front of the postman to acknowledge acceptance of the letter.

Immediately, I opened the letter and found...

a note from Ladyviral...

and a key chain...

with the history of the Merlion

It's so lovely of her to send me this unique key chain of Singapore. Thank you so much, Ladyviral!

The Singapore Merlion Story

The merlion statue portray the head of a lion and the body of a fish. Its name comes from a portmanteau of mermaid and lion. Mr. Fraser Brunner designed the merlion for the Singapore Tourism Board in 1964 and was used as the STB logo until 1997. The Merlion continues to be a Singapore iconic symbol which appears frequently in STB-approved souvenirs.

The Singapore Merlion icon was promoted by the Singapore Tourism Board's publicity campaign, the lion head and fish body of the creature recalls the story of the legendary Sang Nila Utama, who saw a lion while hunting on an island, en route to Malacca, eventually named the island Temasek, a precursor to Singapore.

http://singgifts.com

HK sky

I captured this sky view when I was traveling in HK last Nov.

I just love the evening sky view. It's full of clouds.