View of Taipei 101
the sun has got his hat on... 說: did you get to see 101?
Jaxie 說:you mean the giant penis looking thing?
the sun has got his hat on... 說:ya
the sun has got his hat on... 說:!!!
Jaxie 說:lol
the sun has got his hat on... 說:i thought the same too - my taiwanese friends dont like it when I say it though
Jaxie 說:lol
Jaxie 說:well when you see the building explode, it looks more like a penis!
Jaxie 說:erm i meant with fireworks
Hong Kong
I have returned from Hong Kong and am finally LEGAL now! How ironic it is that illegals get such a bad press in my country yet here I am doing the same in another one - although funnily the one consistancy is that companies exploit illegals in both ;-)
To say this trip started badly is an understatement. There was a huge car crash on the motorway (and taiwan has yet to complete its rail link to the airport) which meant that all 3 lanes of traffic stopped and a situation not too unlike heathrow section of the M25 after a major pile up occured, the road became a giant car park with each driver vying for a little gap to get their occupents to the airport on time - it was close but we arrived 10 mins before check in closed, racing alongside another couple with all out bags jiggling around us!!!
A flights a flight and we arrived clearing customs just in time to link to the last MRT service to get to Causeway Bay, our selected locality during our stay. It was now that Vita suddenly realised "Im in China!!!" Maybe a little like papa's generation finding themselves in germany just after WW2? Funnily, they did accept Taiwan's Money at the Foreign Exchange Counter, but whereas other countires have their flag displayed next to the money, a blank space looms next to NTD...
It was now late at night, way past 2am and both of us had been up since 6am so were close to 20 continuous hours when we eventually found the the hotel whose owner was nowhere tobe seen but we were put into a room. It had no bathroom, which is the first place you wanna go when you arrive so I asked for discount they said "well dicuss tomorrow" - well, that discussion did come eventually, and even though I put my foot down and showed them the email saying if she messed me around I wouldnt be staying, and if I aint staying I aint paying, she still messed around. So we burnt 2 hours moving rooms, going in and out of building, getting keys... and still had to pay full price for the previous night coz it was a "family room" I wouldnt mind but this "cheap hotel" was still 20 quid a night but still much less than the 50 pound places the travel agent was "selling me".
We spent the rest of the day looking around the city since I was waiting for my working visa to be stamped into the passport, which takes 8 hours of course! Its pretty much the same as any capital, except we did ride thoise cool, narrow, double decker trams along the coastline and find a little spicy HK noodle shop =)
The next day we got up early to go to DisneyLand Resort - well I really wanted to go to the one in Japan when I was there, and of course wanted to go to the one in the USA when I was younger, so we happily went off there - and actually it was loads of fun!
There was lots of entertainment provided by dance troupes... with rapid versions of the lion king... or a fake oscars night, a little like going to the MTV generation's west end, short snippets of popular songs with flashing lights, but not too long to become a bore! Plus the park was very well thought out and put togther, all the little things were thought about and made well - best of all was the space rollercoaster which was inside, and not only did the lights enhance your experience - and the sickness felt, but also set to music so that as you came over the peak, a empahtic choral chord hits you, before a sun explodes in aboive your face and you begin speeding to your doom. Lights flashing over your head like hitting lightspeed in starwars and the music heightens to a hollywood car chase - very cool, we rode that quite a few times. Here's a little video showing how well done EVERYTHING is in Disney, they are the Garbage men!
Then of course it was time for the disney parade with all the characters followed shortly by some shopping for souvenirs (no postcards =) and then getting the fireworks, which were also set to music - again done very very very well as you can see below.
However, whilst writing this it has just occured to me that you know, disneyland is quite Gee Ay whY!
You know, its like to start with, everyone's dressed up, then its like in a fantasy world - add to that the fact that you can go into disney shows, which are just musicals... and to cap it all off, there's a parade - with bright clothing and ooooowwwwhhh its sooooooo... you get the picture
After this highlight we had enough time to enjoy a few nice meals, a walk through one of the outer islands, seafood and check out before heading back to the airport where we heard the counter girl whisper the immortal words
"Im very sorry but Economy is full... would it be ok to upgrade you?"
"Oh, certainly"
Business class here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Very nice, and I started the flight holding a glass of gin, lemon, guava juice on the rocks. I would definately have to recommend Dragonair's Business class seats to anyone who is looking for an upgrade =)
