菁桐。平溪。十分。

I was raining in the morning but we were praying hope against hope that it would stop. It's no fun going sightseeing with an umbrella. Thank goodness our prayers were answered.

Woke up early today (7:56am) to go to 菁桐,平溪&十分。
Early by our standards considering we haven't been waking up before 8 for a long time. I have to say 对不起美欣学姐我们迟到了！We made a made dash to Taipei train station which we had some trouble finding. But we eventually made it there.

Taipei train station is different from it's MRT. It's rather confusing coz they have a few railway systems here.

On the right, my new purple shoes. Did I mention that they only cost NT150 (S$7++) And it's really comfy! Kept looking on the floor coz I was really proud of them. I burnt a hole in my pocket buying three pairs of shoes the night before.

Sleep faces aboard the train

The seats are very comfy. Padded which thick cushion and adjustable leg rest. All this just for NT62 (S$3++).

Bye bye train

我们买了一日票，坐火车去 菁桐站，然后再沿着火车线一个地方一个地方玩下来。

Yiqi, Shu Hui, MeiXin, Gwen


Us again! I'm not sure what my hand was doing?!

Can you see my fear in my face? I was super scared that I would get knocked down by this train. It's not an old unused train, it's the train we just got off. Omg. Had to get Meixin to go down and take a photo with me. Phew.

鸡卷tastes and looks similar to 五香Nyoh Hiam

A customary stop for all tourists -the souvenir shop

I bet the make a killing out of profits from silly tourists like us who buy overpriced knick knacks. I bought a handmade notebook for NT90 (S$4.50) so that I could get collect the stamp prints. Such gimmicks that we all fall for. We spent almost 10 mins there just stamping our books.

We settled our lunch at a quaint little shop which has old school furniture. I read a name of a school off the back of a chair. The furniture is such a contrast with the graffiti on the walls. Of course we left our mark. :)

鲁肉饭套餐

化身为龙猫

到处都是狗狗

还蛮短的一条老街

吃了当地有名的冰棒

菜看起来好新鲜好绿
(Digression: The image of Cabbage Patch Kids floated in my mind. )

我们当天走了好多路，从菁桐走到平溪。平溪的老街蛮安静的。离开城市的喧嚣，悠哉游哉地游荡还蛮轻松。
美欣突然想到平溪为什么会这么叫。是因为它的溪很平。哈哈好聪明！

好！
别看美欣这么苗条，她可是个大胃王！


Unglam moment

The highlight of the day was food. Besides this ultra crispy you tiao, I had my fav sasauge! Sinful to max.

To whom it may concern, you all should know why I took this.

"Our" cave!

There's really nothing much in this cave, but it's pretty exciting walking in semi-darkness. It led to a temple. Somewhat like a secret passageway.

平溪bridge is falling down falling down falling down....

"Riding" someone's bike

Haha two big kids trying unsuccesfully to hide from Yiqi & Shu Hui.

五彩缤纷的迷你天灯

老板精巧的手艺


好像收集这幅美丽的画

We tracked along a long winding road in search of the waterfall. After a long long time, we spotted a tiny waterfall. And we were shocked! Is this the so called grand waterfall we walked so far to see. Haha it turned out to be only the prelude of what laid ahead of us. But sadly we didn't make it to the waterfall coz the sky was turning dark. And it would be freaky to walk in the dark in the wilderness.

The small waterfall wasn't grand but still it was beautiful.

天灯

Leaving the best for the last, we wrote our wishes on the traditional lantern. The lantern is huge so there's plenty of space. So I wrote English, Chinese & Jap. Haha... Just in case mah...I shared a side with Meixin. As you can see mine is the one on the left. Seeing how ugly my handwriting is.

Me penning my wishes down.

Hohoho Mr Ng Tze Ming Benjamin. Ain't I a good sister. In case you can't read the Chinese words, I prayed for you to get superb results for the A Levels.

金榜题明oops I mean 金榜题名! 那不是错别字，是故意这样的。因为弟弟的名字是黄志明吗。所以希望他的名字真的能考上金榜！

天灯要飞了！飞得好高好远，希望能把我们的期望和祝福传到神的耳边。

在等车的时候我们还不放过拍照的机会。

As I said trains are really confusing. We took train after train to get home. First we bought tickets for 电车which wasn't operating from WanFang Station which we got off. So we had to take another train down to BaDu where we could take it. We had a scare when the train at BaDu arrived earlier than expected and Yiqi was at the loo. Thank gooness she made it back in time. oh noo it was the opposite of a blessing in disguise. Just as we were about to sit back, relax and take a good nap the annoucer said it was the last stop at KeeLong. Omg we took the wrong train in the opposite direction....

By the time we reached Taipei Train Station it was 10 something. Our dinner had become supper.. haha

What an exhausting day!