after about 4 days of dry-spell, i'm happy to say my haitus has ended. it wasnt really a dry spell, more like a i'm-just-too-lazy-to-go-about-typing-the-whole-thing-down spell. nonetheless, it has come to a close.

the 14 days i spent in taiwan were really interesting. sure the exercise itself was extremely irritating and we were all so sleep deprived. the moment the big guns announced the end we broke out in applause. and to be honest, if i had to go through one more day of that, i'd go nuts. but after all that, our holiday finally started.

it started off with a night's out in chiayi town. it really is pointless to describe its geography but it is suffice to say that it's some busy town somewhere in taiwan (like that helped at all right?). anyway, we boarded the bus that took us from camp to town. unfortunately after walking aimlessly for quite a while at the carrefour (is that how its spelt?) there, we were done. the town was so boring and so warm in the afternoon that the fact that we had the whole day to spend there became more like torture instead of a treat. the night market next to the carrefour was obviously closed and were hours away from opening.

however we finally decided to head for the train station which was suppose to be close by. it wasnt. we walked and walked and walked until we finally hit the train station. it was bustling with activity (below) and this part of chiayi looked more like the town promised rather than the place where we were let off.



we bumbed into others who were also there and we got information of some clothes district down the road (this road was crazy long). so we decided to travel down. my legs were already aching when i reached the district but the much-repressed shopaholic in me must have stashed some adrenaline or something somewhere because the moment i saw the clothes store, i was rejuvinated. lol. after that it was just a blur of buying clothes, food and more food. we decided to take a cab back to the meeting point and to pay a short visit to the aforementioned night market next to carrefour.

as you can see, it is like all night-markets: bustling with activity, full of people, food, games and various combinations of all those above.

the next day, was the day we were scheduled to leave our camp, and after having spent about 10 plus days there, we were all happy to pack our bags and just leave. we boarded yet another bus that took us all the way to kaohsiung city located somewhere at the southern region of taiwan. it was a long ride but we, eventually, did reach our destination: citizen hotel.

that up there is a picture taken by alvin of our room. it wasnt too bad and it was comfortable. plus it had a toilet! no more squatting. of course the next thing we did after dumping all our stuff and taking a (hot) shower was to go out and have lunch and a look-see.

i believe that this was my first lunch i had during my r & r in taiwan. looks good doesnt it? well it fills you up real good as well and it costs about seven sing dollars i think. the rest of the 3 days and 2 nights were a blur of shopping, food and sight-seeing. we visited night markets, shopping districts and food stalls. bought clothes, shoes and goodies and still went back for more every day.

travelling with friends is so much more fun and interesting when compared to travelling with my parents. they are so stifling and so cautious that its suffocating. this was so much more liberating and just plain enjoyable. plus it's not that difficult to get around in taiwan. taxi's are relatively cheap, most of the stuff are within walking distances of each other and food is never a problem.

hopefully after army me travelling (with friends mind you) will be more frequent.