Taiwan (Western Part) – 9 days Free n Easy Journey; Day 2 (3)

Welcome back!! This is my e-travel series which I am writing on my family trip to Taiwan. This is 3rd part of my 2nd day and location; Tainan. After a 4hr+ train ride with at least 15 stops along the way (slow train), it was nice to start walking and exploring. In fact, it is my 2nd time here but 1st for my family. So I was their guide. =P

First stop was lunch!! Yup, along the way to our hostel; Dorm 1828, we stopped by a shop to have ramen. Simply and nice meals. You can read up my earlier trip to Tainan here; Taiwan: 2 Days Trip on History series.

  

Looks yummy right?

In fact, I didn’t know or noticed this shop on my frist trip. Guess I was on a rush rush trip to take note.

Anyway, after checking in, we continue our journey to explore Tainan. First stop was Shennong Street which was in the heart of Tainan city.

Old red partially demolished building which was transform to an art piece.

A close up shot of the art piece. Any idea what is the theme?

Along Shennong Street, there was also beautiful mural painting.

Lots of beautiful old building of houses and shop lots.

… some of which the houses converted to shops.

lovely place to have a walk and to enjoy the sight.

It feel like it bring you bakc to the early 1900’s

Nice? Well… it is just the beginning of the journey. Want more? Easy.. just follow me and enjoy the e-travel with me. If you have not started following me, the don’t wait. Presss’ Follow me’ =)

Advertisement

Taiwan (Western Part) – 9 days Free n Easy Journey; Day 2 (2)

Hi!! Well more snapshots of the hostel; Mr Lobster’s Secret Den Hostel as it does look interesting and clean.

  

Panoramic view of the place.

Giant clock but out of order, sitting behind the kitchen.

Time to start our trip. Just outside the hostel near the road junction. These statues caught my eyes. Man waiting for a ‘bus’ and a child ‘cycling’ around here.

We walked ab out 20min behind we arrived at the Taipei Railway Station. This is the inside of the station. Yup… it Xmas time…

Ticket counter to get your interstate tickets. either over the counter or via the machine. If you cannot read Chinese, better go to the counter and get your tickets.

Waiting on the platform to catch our train to….. Tainan; on the southern west of Taiwan.

Bought my brunch at 7-11. Look delicious right? It is!

How much did it cost me from Taipei to Tainan? NTD701 and the ride took us 4hrs+.

Want more? Stay tune…..  Follow me if you have not so that you will not missed out my e-travel.

USA – Las Vegas; The City that never sleeps (5)

Hi!! Nice to know that you are still with me on my series. If you have not started following me, pls do so. I have more -etravel series coming along.  As for my faithful followers and readers, sorry for the long silence for the last 3 months. Been busy with work and travelling, and more travelling to come. Yup, that means more series and write ups.

For now, let’s move on with this series of my trip in Las Vegas.

Where was I? Oh yes… in Caesar’s Palace. I have seen many normal elevator that goes straight up or down but never a spiral one. This is 1st time I saw of this kind. From the side, you will think that it is just a spiral stairs that one would have to walk up and down but until I saw people moving up steady without moving their body or legs. That really caught my eyes.

Not sure where else you can find these now but definitely it was my 1st back then.

Next stop; Mirage Hotel & Casino. Nothing much here. Did not go inside. Anything interesting inside there?

Street stalls on the side of the Imperial hotel. This guy or artist was doing painting using paint spray art ..

This hotel was really one of kind back then; The Venetian. One of the best so far that I visited. I believe the one in Macau nearly has the same build but I prefer the one in LV. =)

A short from the overhead bridge looking down…..

Lovely ‘old’ building in ‘Venice’

Gondola on strolling along the ‘canal’

Want more? Sure. I have more coming. Just keep on following me. If you have not started following me, then quickly click on the ‘follow me’ button. =)

USA – Las Vegas; The City that never sleeps (1)

Hi!! Hope you enjoyed my earlier series on my day trip to Grand Canyon. If you have missed it, you can drop in and have read; USA – Spectacular view of Grand Canyon

Well this is the continuation from my Grand Canyon trip back to Las Vegas. By the time I reached LV, it was already close to 8pm plus.

The tour bus dropped me back at my motel and I headed straight to Fermont  street as I wanted to catch the Light and Sound show which illuminates the 1,400 feet long Space Frame. This space is 90 feet in height along Fremont Street from Main Street to Fourth Street and has created a spectacular foyer for the existing resorts.

Well you can’t tell anyone that you been to Las Vegas unless you have been to the Strip or Las Vegas strip which is the Las Vegas Boulevard. In fact Las Vegas bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous for its mega casino–hotels and associated entertainments.

Since 24 hour  pass to all RTC Residential Routes, Strip & Downtown Express (SDX) and Deuce on the Strip. Now it’s USD8 (cant remember how much was it back then). Got into one, paid and took the ride till nearly the end of the Strip. Got down at the NY/NY Hotel & Casino.

It was still busy and so brightly lighted up at 10 pm. Could feel the heat from all the neon lights even the weather was a quite cool.

As usual I would stroll down the strip in direction I came from; back tracking.

What a sight! Even they had the ‘Statue of Liberty’  in Las Vegas.

Harley Davidson Cafe next to Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino.

Eiffel Tower !! Do you think I can get to the top of this in Las Vegas?’This is the Paris Hotel & Casino.

Maybe not but I got under it instead. =)

Right under ‘Eiffel Tower’ looking up from Paris Hotel & Casino.

Another Hotel & Casino; Ballys

Well… I just started my night walk. So catch me and see what’s next in my next posting on this new series. =)

USA – Spectacular view of Grand Canyon (4)

Hi!! Thanks for staying along with me till now. We are halfway through this series. Hope you are enjoying the spectacular views of the Grand Canyon.

Even this little friend here; the squirrel knows how to get the visitors attention. =)

 

As the Grand Canyon is a large area and the area that I am now is known as Kalibab Trail route.

 

A view near the route to Mather Point.

 

If you have time and an well prepared, you can also follow the Rim trail as seen below.

 

A brief introduction of Mather Point.

 

This is view from Mather point. Isn’t it spectacular? In fact, every point is spectacular. Breathtaking views!!

 

Beautiful coloured layers rocks formed in the Grand Canyon.

 

Well… pls dun stop. I have more coming. This is halfway point. Stay with me on my next posting on this series. =)

USA – Spectacular view of Grand Canyon (3)

Welcome back. It will be a long ‘walk’ along here. Let’s get going.

I headed to the Canyon View Plaza where we could walk along the path. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. =)

 

another breath taking view….

Me and my shadow….. haha.. me in my roman slippers.

 

Just looks like painting but it is actually real….

 

Beauty of nature that took shape……

Want more? then stay tune. More coming up. Just click ‘follow me’ if you haven’t. =)

USA – Spectacular view of Grand Canyon (2)

Welcome back!

Continuing from my previous post, from Hoover Dam, it was a 3 and 1/2hr ride to the National Geographic IMAX Theater Grand Canyon.

Sign board of the Visitor Center to the IMAX Theater at the entrance to the car park.

Display in the IMAX center of the history of the Grand Canyon. Part of the tour also include the 34min of IMAX Movie on the Grand Canyon in the IMAX theater.

After lunch was the trip to the Grand Canyon where it begins……… a 2.4km to the Desert View Drive. The 1st stop is the Yaki Point.

The view is magnificent; just like a painting. You just have to be there to enjoy this view.

The South Kaibab Trail but I did not take any walk as I was on tour.

Information on the Canyon and it’s river.

Breath taking view……

More? Yes….. more to come. Follow me on the trail…….

Taiwan – Tainan; 2 Days Trip on History of Day 2 (16)

Finally. This is the last posting for this series on my trip to Tainan for the weekend. Hope you have enjoyed following me on this ‘e-trip’ .

Before ending the trip or heading back to Hsinchu, I had to walk back to the hostel. Walked through Tainan Train Station. It is one of the historic site. Opened back in the 1900 and it expanded since then.

 

Walking along the walkway to the hostel. You could see lots of scooters parked on both sides. Yup as it is near the famous university, National Cheng Kung University which was established in 1931. It’s nickname is Koxinga University.

 

Got my stuff nad headed to the train station to catch my train and then THSR (Taiwan High speed Rail) to Hsinchu.

 

My ticket from Tainan station to Shalun station to catch my bullet train. =)

 

Here comes the train.

 

THSR ticket to Hsinchu.

 

Orange bullet train.

 

This was the speed it was going at some point but I think it was still not the maximum. The max I have seen was 300km/hr.

 

Ok. that’s it for this series. Hope you enjoyed. Want to know where the next place I will be writing? If yes, then click ‘Follow me’ if you haven’t  and stay tune. =)

Taiwan – Tainan; 2 Days Trip on History of Day 2 (15)

Wow!! It’s been a long ‘e-walk’ if you have been following me. Sorry if my ‘e-walks’ had been to slow for you. Guess I love to take my time and enjoy the culture and views. =P

Anyway, this is nearing the end of the day (and also this series, I bet you must be saying… ‘finally’).

Well, I am now heading out from Anping Old Street (but still in Anping area) and walking along its perimeter.

As you can  see, the streets are quite narrow (and also a hot sunny day too)

Another place where you can see people hanging high up all the oyster shells (or can I say.. their collections) and I mean lots of it. Guess, from the picture you can really see the real quantity they have shelled.

Workers removing oysters from their shell. Yup, it’s a manual job and not auto.

As I head out along Pingsheng Rd, I came to a fisherman’s wharf. Lots of the fisherman and their boats anchored to the jetty.

From there you can take a stroll on Anyi Bridge which is one of the 3 bridges (maybe could be more) that were built across the Tainan canal for locals and tourist to get across from Tainan to Anping.  From this bridge you can look across to see Anping Harbour.

Next to the bridge I saw a long queue and as usual, my curiosity brought me there to see what is so good there.

Yup, they were selling ice cream on a cone. Nice to have on a hot day.

Cute little mobile stall in shape of a cartoon character. That really do get the children’s attention.

It was getting late. So, I had to head back to Tainan to catch my train back to Hsinchu. Catching a bus back was easy; #88 or #99.

Saw this robot made of scrap metal. Creative!

Do stay with me on  my last posting for this series which will be coming soon. =)

Taiwan – Tainan; 2 Days Trip on History of Day 2 (14)

Welcome back!! Hope you like this series so far.

We are nearing the end of the series (but not that near) of this 2 days trips on history (& food too)

Down the alleys of Anping, you can find lots old houses. This one is made of red bricks.

Beautiful painting of Anping Sword Lions wall of the houses.

Another temple in the Anping Old Street

Anping Street map to help you find your way  around. It also shows you all the interesting places to visit there.

Long queue for…..?

Dessert time!! Here the menu. What do you like to have?

Me? I had the Anping Black Tofu pudding dessert. Taste? It was yummy. =) Definitely I will have it again if I visited here (Which I did a few months later. More on this in my coming posting)

 

Interesting so far? If yes, then just bear with me a little longer as we are near the end of this series. Just, keep following me if you haven’t to catch the end of this series.