The Dark Room

I'm on a massive blogging spree. Better blog whilst I can coz our school workload is pretty much zero... Well had to do our very first assignment for Basic Still Photography. I was dreading doing our very first homework in who know's how many months, plus doing something I have no idea at all. But to my surprise, I pretty much enjoyed it and wanted to do more Sunprints and photogramas. (However, the film costs money so...)

When I first entered the dark room yesterday, it was pretty scary coz you have to go thru 3 layers of curtains. So it's almost pitch black in between the curtains. The first thing that came to my mind when I pushed the curtains aside was- horror movie!! The red lighting reminds me of those movies where the villian attacks the protagonist from behind and the next thing you know its blood splats all over. Would be pretty freaked out if I had to do my prints all alone. Thank goodness Shu Hui and Yiqi were with me. But the three of us were pretty much clueless as to what to do. Have to thank the helpful 助教 and 学姐 for patiently guiding this three blur exchange students.

We were there around 10 +, the 助教was shocked that we were even earlier than him. He said "oh you don't have the habit of sleeping late like us Taiwanese"... haha I guess he didn't know that we didn't really have much of a choice coz we had lessons in the afternoon. And knowing us we would take at least 2 hours to figure it out.

Went about doing our own prints. Omg.. being the kiasu Singaporean I didn't believe Shu Hui that a brief exposure to light was sufficient. So Gwen flooded her film with light and tada... got a totally black film. :( So had to redo the first print.

Living in a hostel really makes you stretch your imagination coz you have to make do with whatever items you have. My favourite piece is of my hand holding my star. The rest of my works showcased my S hook, accessories, pencil etc (not very experimental or artistic). My only regret is not controlling the light properly. Should have experimented with different angles and not shown so much light. Coz my works pretty much remind me of X-ray prints. My sunprints as our teacher calls it is 奶茶. So you can imagine that it's a much lighter shade.
After finishing our works, the three of us went on a camera taking spree. We were trying to take horror movie photos but Shu Hui and I pretty much gave up. Kudos to Yiqi for being the most ghostly (JKjk but you said it urself mah...haha)

Can't wait for our next lesson in the dark room... now I know why ppl fall in love with photography. The anticipation that fills you as you wait for your prints to develop... but along with it comes disappointment. I hope I'll get the hang of it soon.

In aprons

自拍

The four trays - the developer, stopbath, fixer and water. Had fun dipping my prints in the trays of chemicals. Made me feel like a pro.

Shu Hui's masterpiece. Don't you think the outline of the cubicle falls nicely to form a photo frame?

Taaadaaa.. my works of arts. The one on the most right hand corner is my favourite. I call it "A star in my hand" (ok I know no creativty... any takers for naming my work)

Random shots

I've taken some photos which I've been wanting to upload... but they're all random shots so here they are under this post.

Some of you may know that I've been nursing a flu since last week. But thank goodness I'm recovering already. I'm running low on my supply of Robitussin so I went on a hunt for more. Lo and behold they do have Robitussin. Just that the packaging is awfully different. So go ahead spot the differences... no prizes though

The eight immortals. Dear cousins, I couldn't resist buying this. SOooo cute. It's currently standing on top of my table lamp. Haha..go figure who's who coz I can't remember.

English notes!! I have never been so happy to read english notes in my whole life. This set of notes belongs to my only English module - TV experiment in News. I was delighted to find out that the actual name of the module is English TV News. Yipee...

欢迎参观庄敬9103房

As you have requested mother.. I'll start with a tour of my room. From the pictures you can see we're not exactly living in a lap of luxury. But to my surprise it's feels comfortable enough. Guess a lil creativity, a lil decoration here and there can make you feel more at home.

That's our door and how it looks like when u enter... my bed's the one on the left. That's my roomie in the background.

With so much hype about going green, I decorated the walls surrounding my tabe with whatever I could get my hands on. Thank goodness for the extremely idol crazy culture here.. it's really easy to get pictures of celebrities everywhere you go. I currently have Rainie Yang, Nakatsu (thanks to Becca) and Wang Lee Hom on my wall. And of course my family (thank you gor gor for your photos!)

My bed. To make it more comfortable I bought a pink comforter for S$25 from the school co-op.

My cupboard. Do you spy another family photo here?

This is to assure my mum that there is plenty of clean drinking water here. See so high tech...I swear it's just one door away from my room :)

板桥Part 2

Caught up in all the action at Ah Xin's book signing session in the morning, we proceeded to tour 板桥 in the afternoon. It was a fulfilling time coz Huifoon's friend's friend brought us around. It sure makes a difference. Managed to get 2 decent looking blouses for an unbelievable S$5 & S$10. Thank goodness I didn't buy it at Shi Lin (if not I'd be banging my head!!) Shopping aside, we got to see a more cultural side of Taipei. There's an old mansion, those you see in those period dramas, complete with fake mountains and lakes and bridges... the Lin family used to live in it. But now it's a tourist attraction... can't imagine your home being an attraction.

The Lin Mansion

Peeping thru the fence

A bright red fire engine

The lanterns make a good backdrop

Sadly I closed my eyes. The girl on the left is our very friendly and professional tour guide -Jia Hui

Jia Hui & me

A very happy gwen & Wang Lee Hom

P.S: Getting a lil lazy to blog, so I shall let the pictures do the talking.

板桥和阿信

我们今天陪淑慧到板桥的诚品分点参加五月天阿信的签书会。本以为不是我很喜欢的艺人应该会蛮无所谓，没想到阿信一到现场我那追星的热诚又燃烧了。阿信本人好高！我们很幸运站在靠近阿信出来的门所以才能占个风水宝地来拍照。一下就是我们追星一族的杰作。。。

阿信人好好！见到书迷都握手微笑

不只是我们这么疯狂

Caught in action

Honestly we wanted to just walk away and be rationale thinking adults and wait for Shu Hui. But when we saw everyone tip-toeing and filming Ah Xing.. how could we resist. I mean we might as well might full use of our time there right :) (Grins sheepishly) Plus it was such a good spot!

台北灯节

Silly me thought that 台北灯节 was only made out of these row of lights.

台北灯节

Reminds me of River HongBao. This year the theme seems to be the Year of the Rat coz most of the lanterns seem to be made into the shape of rats. Though they are all rats they come in all shapes and sizes, from cute designs to more intricately designed lanterns. One of my favourites were the minature famous buildings of the world. It looked exactly like the real thing from the Taj Mahal to Taiwan's icon 101. The Lantern Festival is held at 国父纪念馆. I thought that it would be some dull grey looking buildling, but to my amazement it was really grand. (At first I thought it was a temple) It was kind of hilarious to see a group of teenagers practising their hiphop there. 多不搭!

Hamtaro 也算是鼠吧！

If I'm not wrong there were 36 drums in a row. Each one has a chinese saying, good wishes of all sorts from 步步高升to 大吉大利. Though I must say there were some that I didn't understand. Yesterday when I was watching 恶作剧2吻，realized that their 高中生的华文太好了吧！They used so many chim cheng yus that I don't understand.

The many faces of Taiwan's iconic 101.

寻找台北灯节

Since it was Friday, we decided to give ourselves a treat at a restaurant. Guess how much this dish costs?.... NT90 ($$4.50) Great deal right. Plus the lady boss was it a super duper good mood and threw in free soup & drinks. The ambience was good too. Felt like any other overpriced resturant you would go to in Singapore. I mean $4.5o is the price of a let's say Roast Chicken at the quad. Looking at my spaghetti I just felt good. Plus the lemon tea was superb. The lemon tea was thick yet sweet without any hint of tea taste which I don't like. The lady boss has really good PR skills. She makes me want to go back again :)

繁忙的忠孝东路

华视！In the midst of our random walking we came across CTS!! We were super excited coz all of us are Taiwan variety show crazy...But our disappointment we were directed from our authority to another when we enquired about wanting to watching the live recordings. Oh well..

The drama serial that I haven't finished watching...Love it for the delicious looking food

年轻的华视。回味年轻疯狂的我

Everytime I see anything related to F4 or Meteor Garden, it reminds me of the crazy things I did in the past. I'd probably be laughing at myself taking photos with life-sized inanimate posters 10 years down the road. But who cares... Haha F4 forever！！

Lao-ing YuSheng

Yesterday my family webcamed me from my ah mah house and we lao yusheng together via the internet. Sounds silly but it was nice just to be part of something I'm so familiar with - Gor Gor with his funny antics, every noisy Ah Moo, my ex-boss xiu, Godma with her BMW, silent but funny uncle Robin, helpful Godma Cheng (who's sick now...hope you get well soon), Teochew Ah Ma, of course my mummy, papa and stupid Benji...and everyone at Blk636 (+634)!!

Now that school is starting I'm beginning to miss home. Today I had the sudden urge to take the bus all the way back to the busstop below Blk 636.

Thank goodness for the internet. At least it makes me feel like I'm a stone's throw away from home.

淡水

逛完了公馆我们就搭捷运淡水。本以为天气气温已升高了，一下车发现好冻啊！淡水感觉像个观光点，老少咸宜。有好多小吃店-我尝了各种各样的小吃如烤花枝，阿给， 花枝丸等等。 别忘了叠的超高的冰淇淋，可是觉得没设么味道，一直到嘴里就融化了。

As you can see my Chinese gear hasn't been oiled, so a bit rusty. Shall revert back to English. Can't imagine what will happen when school really gets going. One of the best parts of going to 淡水 was sending as postcard back home. Too bad I forgot to take a picture of it. It's really ingenious. A piece of wooden block with pictures (burned into the food just like what we did during D & T lessons. Can't recall though) Anyway it cost me a cool S$5 just to buy and send the postcard. So take good care of it, I'm expecting to see it in pristine condition.
Didn't really get anyting from there coz I wanted to save money and control the urge to buy some really cheap hats. Doubt I'll wear them anyway coz it's easier to wear caps. Had some nice outfits too but not many. It isn't really a place for shopping. More snacks and drinks. It seems more like a family gathering place rather than a teen hangout.

We had 阿给for dinner. It's "tang hun" wrapped with tofu skin and topped with fish paste. Thought it would taste like something from a Yong Tau Foo store, but it was more of sweet rather and a bit dry for me.

在Starbucks 上厕所时发现到的手画地图。非常特别：）

虽然很晚了但三朵金花还满脸笑容！

By the time we reached back hall it was past 11pm (not the latest though. we reached at around 12 sth before :) Had a quick bath (hate the cold when u bath) and went to bed (ithink can't really rmb what I do... I always tell myself to go to bed earlier but seems like mission impossible.)

Anw I better end here coz I have an early lesson tml up on the hills... see u all enjoyed the photos :) Till next time byeee

公馆

我很喜欢阿猫为我们拍的这张照片, 感觉特别有艺术感。不愧是摄影迷。

Happy in Taipei

Armed with our 悠游卡 YiQi & I headed down to 公馆，西门町and 士林夜市 over the first three days that we were in Taipei. Better make full use of our time before school gets into full swing.

公馆 & 西门町
Basically 公馆 & 西门町are like Bugis in Singapore. Just more variety, more boots and very well dressed girls. None of such dressing wld be accepted in our sunny island. Furry caps, boots, scarves.. I used to admire these Taiwanese girls for being able to dress up so fashionably. But now I know why.. it's really freezing here. (Though some ppl can get around in shorts and long socks. Can't imagine) I wish the weather wld turn just slightly warmer so that I don't need to look like a Ba Zhang with my many layers of clothes.

Being all touristy we were taking photos at various spots. One of my favs is the photo taken in a hair accessories shop (top left corner) - we get to seat in a photo frame & pretend to be ladies of leisure. Wouldn't have dared to do it by my dear gung ho fren YiQi is all ready to take photos anytime anywhere!! (Right??!!)

Managed to get some bargain buys from 公馆 - a white furry cap and a pair of long track pants (pink of course!). Cost me around S$12. The best part is I saw the same cap in 西门町 and it cost much more. Yesh sense of achievement!!

Dinner was taken at 西门町's famous 阿宗面线. There are no tables so everyone just stands around eating from their bowls. It's quite a feat to take the shot (in the middle) coz we had to balance our bowls and barang barang. Tada!

士林夜市
I think most of you would have heard of the famous tourist attraction -士林夜市. It's split into two sections- food and shopping. Unlike Singapore's pasar malam, most of 士林夜市's shops are housed in shops not makeshift stalls as what I expected to see. Got a great bargain from a makeshift stall - two long sleeved blouses for NT600 (S$30). The stallholder gave me the discount coz she was "on the run" from the police. I witnessed two police checks while I was there. Really amazing to see how fast all themakeshift stall holders packing up and setting up again. I mean half the time it's so super obvious that they'll reappear but I guess the authorities close one eye. For me, as long as there's a bargain I'm fine with anything. Ohhh I thought I would gorge on the food but I ended up sharing half a 鸡排 with YiQi. The 鸡排 is really good crispy but not oily. No wonder there's such a long queue.

Just as we were about to leave we saw a sign for Tarot Card reading (the lady in the photo is the "fortune teller") According to her everything will go well for me during my stay in Taiwan hmmm...hopefully. Though I'm down with a flu now :(

Stay tuned for more...

MeiXin's Treat

MeiXin 学姐谢谢你请我们吃的这一顿好菜！

Our dear 学姐 was nice enough to treat us to a Vietnamese meal. Really an eye opener (taste opener I shld say). Though I must say I didn't really like my dish some sort of mash potato with lots of tomato. Too sour. (MeiXn agrees!)

Queueing up

It took me quite a while to get my passport done. The ppl queueing in front of me always seemed to have come problem. But in the end I got thru. It was rather easy spotting a metallic purple huge luggage on the carousel. With all my strength plus barang barang slung all over me I managed to get it off the carousel. Thank goodness the luggage is really as easy to maneuver as Yinxiu says. Thank you xiu for your luggage!:) The service here at National Chengchi Uni is really not bad. We had a driver coming to pick us up from Tao Yuan International Airport and he drove us all the way to our hostel. On the way we picked up our friendly guide cum 学姐 Mei Xin. She's the kind soul who helped us settle in, get our daily necessities, showed us around and brought us to have a sumptuous dinner. Drool....

Cream Soup

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Sinful dish. Chicken with ham and cheese stuffings. Pity I didn't really get to enjoy my meal coz I was too full from the previous 3 meals. But still.. Didn't get a picture of the wedges but they're great. Anything crispy sounds great ( but not now since I have a sore throat sighz)

Black jacket courtesy of mummy/ Pink scarf courtesy of Godma

All wrapped up. Thank goodness for the trusty ol' black jacket. Cldn't imagine what I would do without it.

My very first breakfast. 起司但卷 NT 35

See what I mean by affordable but delicious food! So come to Taipei now!!! There's all sorts of fillings to satsify your tastebugs - ham, bacon etc... Their 奶茶here is different from us, they use 红茶. It taste sth like ours just that its sweeter.