Malaysia – Happy Halloween … doing it the Malaysian way.

October 30, 2013 by Just A Simple Guy

Halloween sounds like the Chinese’s 8th month which is the Ghost month (falls between the month of July and August) and usually most of the TV stations will screen all those scary and horror movies to lighten up the feeling. LOL!!

In Malaysia, we also do see this Halloween celebration but it is not celebrated like in the western countries where kids go doing ‘treat or trick’. It is less popular around this region if compared to the Ghost month (which comes with more myths and superstitions) . It is more commercially publicize.

Here are some of the shots that I have taken in a shopping mall.

They even built a mock up horror house….

caps…

Some quite cute scary characters

a simple wishing….

More ‘scary’ characters……

Even little teddy is joining the fun.

To all my readers… HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Taiwan – Jiufen, A Walk in Old Street (7)

October 28, 2013 by Just A Simple Guy

One of the places that is of history is the old theater; Shengping Theater. It was a prominent cultural landmark located on Qingbian Road built during the Japanese occupation. Both the theater and surrounding buildings feature 1930-40s architectural elements, and has more recently been used as the set for commercials and movies. They have some old Black and White movies shown at certain times too. I was there in time to catch one but I just stayed for a short while only as I wanted to feel the environment to be in a old cinema as oppose to what we have now.

This is the outlook of the old stall inside the theater which sells drinks and tidbits.

An old cinema projector on display.

This is the inside of the theater with no cushion chairs but hard wooden chairs and no surround or stereo sound for sure. LOL!!

Heading out, I continue to explore the surrounding ….. more old buildings

And I saw this eroded metal sculpture on the side of the concrete stairs. It looks like a cartoon sculpture of a miners on a train. Guess this was to remind that this was an old gold mining village and part of the history that’s left.

Not far from here was the Fushan Temple. Fushan temple has a history of more than 200. Years dated back to Qing Dynasty and it was built to give offering to the Earth God. A matter of fact it is a temple within a temple and also considered one of the largest Earth God temples back then.

Beautiful stone structure and colourful too.

The altar inside the temple.

Walking back, I can’t help but to take this picture of these 3 adorable dogs at one of the stalls.

My train ticket back to Hsinchu from Ruifang after a long wonderful day.

…. waiting for my train

You can see bigger photos of this trip in my Flickr; Simple Guy

Want more? Catch me on my next posting. Yup.. It will still be a posting on my trip in Taiwan but where and what is the question. 😊

So click and follow me …….

Taiwan – Jiufen, A Walk in Old Street (6)

October 24, 2013 by Just A Simple Guy

Hi!!! Glad that you are still with me. Let’s move on.

After enjoying the cold taro balls dessert, I headed down to see what at the bottom of the stairs.

Nice architecture of the old buildings along with the lanterns all around.

A lady doing calligraphy …. but if you look carefully, it is actually calligraphy made up of flowers and birds that made up the chinese names.

Another building mix along side with the old.

Old building converted to a restaurant.

More nice structures…..with some modern graffiti on it.

It is really nice place if you love old buildings and tight spaces. Lots of things to see and shoot.

Follow on my last posting on my walk in Jiufen.

Taiwan – Jiufen, A Walk in Old Street (5)

October 22, 2013 by Just A Simple Guy

Glad you are still following me on my ‘walk’ in Jiufen.

Walking around the village…. I have walked through their maze of streets. Can be confusing but it is the best way to see the life and people in this village. Don’t you agree? =)

Fushan Temple from the bottom. I will be getting there soon but not for now. =P

Still exploring around the village. View from one alleys overlooking the hillside.

This really caught my eyes!!! I believe it is a biscuit or cake and what a shape. Not cheap though. Haha!!! They even sell in a pair. LOL!!!!

Walking up at one their stairs, I saw this shop selling hand made mask.

… very interesting.

A map of Jiufen …. but it did not really help me much. Guess I walk aimlessly. HAHA!!

Saw a lot of ppl in this shop and I guess it must be famous for it’s yuyuan or taro balls. Yup it is; Auntie A-Gan shop which sells Sweet Taro Ball.

Yup… got myself a bowl (iced… should have taken the hot one instead) and while eating.. the shop also provide you a place to sit with a magnificent view.

Another shot from the shop where I was.

Like it so far….? If yes, more to come.

Taiwan – Jiufen, A Walk in Old Street (4)

October 19, 2013 by Just A Simple Guy

Walking down the end of the Jiufen Old Street, I came to street with old buildings which have been converted to shops. Guess the pictures t ell a better story than I do. Lol!!!

Mixture of new and old buildings ..

Where to now?

Something different in middle of the village.

More old buildings along the street

Another nice view of the houses on the hillside.

Another beautiful shot…..

Cluster houses…. You can kinda get lost in the maze of road in here where I nearly did.

We are only half way through….. Wanna see more? Then keep up with me 😊

Taiwan – Jiufen, A Walk in Old Street (3)

October 17, 2013 by Just A Simple Guy

Hi.. !! you are still with me. Good! Let’s ‘walk’…..

Still walking in the Jiufen Old Street, there were a lot of things to see and try.

Lots of stalls selling cute little handmade stuff.

As it got close to noon, there were more people coming, mostly tourists and also locals looking and enjoying the weekends.

Along the street, I saw a break where to road lead either up or down. Guess I will have to make another round after coming to the end of this street and see what they have on the top and bottom of these stairs.

At the end of the Jiufen Old Street, another beautiful shot from the top overlooking the northeast of Taiwan; Keelung.

Houses built on the hill side.

Cute Doraemon water tumbler when you purchase the guava juice from this stall.

More? Yes.. there’s more. Stay tune.

Taiwan – Jiufen, A Walk in Old Street (2)

October 15, 2013 by Just A Simple Guy

Thanks for following me here on my walk in Jiufen. Before I start my walk, a brief intro on Jiufen. Jiufen is located in a mountain area in the Ruifang District of New Taipei City near Keelung, Taiwan.

Jiufen literally means ‘9 portion’ (direct translation from chinese to english). History says that Jiufen was a small isolated village where it has 9 families house in the area during the Qing Dynasty and each time they was any shipment, the families would ask the shipments to be divided into 9 portions as accessibility to their village was hard. So that how it was that the town got its name. Ok back to the walk.

A view from close to the top of the hill. Gloomy weather with thick clouds flying above (when I was there, they were expecting typhoon hitting the northern part of Taiwan by noon but lucky me… there was a delay (haha) else…..)

Fushan Temple. More on this temple later on.

Heading up to the street to the historic (small) commercial district ….

Mmm. Which direction should I go?

At the entrance of the Jiufen Old Street. You can’t miss it. 😊

Lots of small stalls on both sides….. stall selling Chinese calligraphy brushes.

to bag luggage tags…. more!

Only this? Well hell no!! LOL!! There’s more stay tune. 😊

Taiwan – Jiufen, A Walk in Old Street (1)

October 13, 2013 by Just A Simple Guy

Hi!! I am back… 😊. Well today’s posting is my latest trip to Taiwan early this month. I got the chance to visit a few places where one of which was the Taiwan – Kaohsiung, the Giant Yellow Rubber Duck.

When I was in Taiwan on one of my weekend there, I also managed to visit Jiufen; a once old mining town up in the hills. More about Jiufen as my posting continues. Let start’s moving!!

I started my journey from Hsinchu City where I was staying during my trip in Taiwan. To get to Jiufen, it was either by bus or train and the journey would take about 2 to 2 1/2 hrs in total (if you take the high speed train to Taipei than a bus, the time will be around half of this) . For me, I decided to take the train then followed by a short bus trip.

From hotel, it was a short 10 mins walk to the railway station in Hsinchu.

Historic station front of Hsinchu Station. Opened since 1893.

A fare of NTD163 to Ruifang from Hsinchu.

Shot from the Hsinchu platform.

After 2 1/2hr ride, finally arrived at Ruifang Station.

A walk along the street from the railway station to the bus stop to catch my 15min ride up to Jiufen

Finally arrived in Jiufen. Weather was gloomy and humid.

Join me on my next posting on my walk in Jiufen Old Street.

Taiwan – Kaohsiung, the Giant Yellow Rubber Duck

October 6, 2013 by Just A Simple Guy

Hi there!!! Sorry for a long gap in my posting. I am still in Taiwan for my business trip till this week.

Last week, I got the opportunity to go to Kaohsiung for business trip and also to the Giant Yellow Rubber Duck sits at the Glory Pier in the port of Kaohsiung.

We took the THSR (Taiwan High Speed Rail) from Hsinchu to Kaohsiung which took us about 90mins ride.

Hsinchu High Speed Rail station

My ticket to Kaohsiung that cost me NTD1,200

Here comes the train…

After work, we went took a cab to the Glory Pier. You cant missed it as along the way, you can see small stall peddler selling the miniature yellow duck.