Some random photos from my Taiwan visit in April/May 2008…
The plane I was boarding from Kuala Lumpur to Taipei
The plane I was boarding from Kuala Lumpur to Taipei
The 19th Golden Melody Awards, arguably the most prestigious recognition in Mandarin music industry, were presented in Taipei on July 5.
Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou was the biggest winner, bagging five awards, including song of the year and best composer awards.
Malaysian Gary Chau and Singaporean Tanya Chua claimed the best male/female Mandarin singers title respectively (pic); Tanya also bagged the best producer award.
Taiwanese band Sodagreen won the best group/band award; while Hong Kong star Karen Mok produced the biggest surprise of the night by winning album of the year award.
The awards presentation was shown live at my TV channel… but it was so so boring. The red carpet sucked, the hostesses sucked and the performers talked too much.
The funniest thing is seeing the celebrities pretending to be interested with what was happening on stage when most of them were probably bored to the max.
2016 participants (1008 reflexologists and 1008 tourists) have set a new Guinness World Record in Taiwan on July 1 for having “most people receiving foot massage (reflexology) simultaneously.”
Tourists who volunteered for the event came from various countries, including Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong etc.
The attempt was organised by Taiwan Tourism Bureau to promote health tourism Reflexology is a popular practice in Taiwan for relaxation and improving general health; the activity is gaining popularity among foreign tourists in recent years.
There were no previous attempts made on this category; Guinness have set the requirement to have at least 400 participants with treatment for at least five minutes on each foot… which were met by the folks without much sweat.
Jiufen (or Jioufen) is a small town in northern Taiwan famous for its nostalgic old street, food and ocean view. Jiufen was a prosperous gold mining town since 1890s but its popularity faded as the gold resource was depleting since 1950s.
Jiufen was given a new life in 1989 when award winning movie “A City of Sadness” (directed by Hou Hsiao Hsien and starred Tony Leung etc.) was filmed there. Jiufen has become a popular tourist spot since then and a favourite weekend getaway location for Taipei folks.
The most iconic spot in Jiufen, made famous by A City of Sadness
Shilin Night Market is one of the most famous night markets in Taipei, Taiwan; and was my first destination during my Taiwan trip. The night market is popular for its variety of street foods and one of the tourism highlights for Taipei.
Shilin Night Market in Taipei, not as crowded as expected
Back to Kuala Lumpur yesterday after a week of holiday in Taiwan. It was a nice trip, not great, but nice.
It was quite an unusual day for my family actually… besides myself, my brother and sister were flying on the same day. I flew back from Taipei, my brother to Philippines while my sister to Thailand. This thing doesn’t happen often ain’t so?
Well, holiday is over… plenty of work to catch up, and plenty of Taiwan pics and stories to share. Stay tune :)