this is alan's blog: taiwan photo blog

there'll probably be a part 2 when chet uploads the pics from his cam (which are more cam-whorish. he randomly whips out his camera and goes 'eh let's take a picture'. i like :p ) , these pictures are courtesy of bingxiong.

they are from our 3 days of R&R after our grueling training =X

Pack of 3 condoms courtesy of the SAF. =X

Our first stop - Jian Fu Shan Amusement Park!

Those were some nice shots yea? group photo now in front of the giant ferris wheel!

Before any of the rides, we enjoy some Turkish icecream! Grr im trying to get into the picture. The ice cream is nicer than the normal type, it has nicer texture and seems nicer in general.

One of the 3 main rides .. this one is where you are strapped to the seat and it goes up.. and up .. and up.. for probably 17 stories? or more? then it plummets down rapidly, bounces up to the halfway mark.. down.. up .. then down (gradually slowing down). Really thrilling =)

Ok you need to turn ur head sideways to look at this the right way. This ride is called G5.. it's a pretty short ride but very exciting - the carriage climbs up and up.. then it brings you to the edge of this almost vertical drop.. STAYS THERE for 3 seconds (while a camera takes the group picture) then plunges you alll the way down and there's supposed to be the acceleration of 5G (9.81X5 = around 50m/s!) It was very very fast and swift and the ride was quite exhilirating. i likeed it! =)

There was one more ride that they took.. some roller coaster shti which i refused to take.. i cant take the whirling and spinning rides. i confirm puke/go all dizzy.

There are more cam whore pictures but all on chet's cam. so.. next activity!

We were brought to one of the famous shopping centres in taipei (apparently) - Miramar Shopping Centre

We camwhored abit inside (yes, in chet's camera again) .. but that's about it.

The shopping centre was nothing fantastic.. just like a typical PS or.. any shopping centre la.

On to our hotel accomodation!

Me and my roomie bingxiong.

and a better shot

Our room! it's pretty nice and cosy.. there's even this make out bed (you see the 'couch' on the inside) we joked that it was a separate bed apart from the main king sized one for couples to make out on. ha.

first night of our R&R was spent at Xi Men Ding . Quite a few clothing and apparel shops, some nice food shops too. we went to t his snow ice place to have our final meal.

'Mmm.

Day2

ALthough i didnt go clubbing like some of my friends and slept at an early time of 1am or so, i was still super sleepy the next morning! they were all like, rather fresh. guess i'm not a morning person.

We went to another theme park.. this one much less fun than the first and people were bored already.. why go to theme park again.

Inside some Egyptian ride thingy. There are photos of the inside but they're all dark and look very boring so i didn't bother to post them here.

I never sat these before! what are they called ah? i know there's a proper name for them. the horses that go round in a circle. One day i'm gonna bring my future girlfriend to an amusement park and sit this ride! hmph!

From the exterior of the theme park.

Chet act cute worx.

Our next stop was Window on China.. this place where they had miniature models of famous places in China or something like that.

So cool right!! even the miniature people look very realistic cos they all have different clothes and all

miniature cars

This is a joke which you wont understand if your chinese is bad. so i wont bother translating it. It's an actual sign on the floor in the 'Xiao Ren Yuan' (where all the miniature stuff was at)

Our pretty tour guide Mango! seriously she looks bad in this pic, she's much better looking in person. She's got an attractive and bubbly though abit bimboish personality.. but i like her! she was very nice and all throughout our 2 day guided tour.. so i insisted we took a pic with her. ha.

Our beloved hotel of 3 days 2 nights.

Shiling Ye Shi! Very nice place! hell alot of clothes, very cheap bargains, alot of thigns to buy. the food section is a completely separate place. there was one shop that sold 5 dollar tops. So basically T shirts, collared, cardigan, whatever. all 5 dollars.

Have you ever read about street scams? The 3 ball/card monte scam?(that's more of a magic trick but what the heck) This is one of those scams!

The 'game' is simple, There are like 9 hoops or so which you can toss the ball into. You have 12 balls. You just need to score 5 to win a prize.
Sounds easy to win?

NO! cos it's a scam to begin with! you're not supposed to win!
Why? you may ask. If you look carefully at the setup you'll know. The hoop itself is extremely small - it barely fits the ball. (e.g. if the balls goes in, the top third will probably be protruding out as it is stuck)
Thus, the best way to score would be to do an arcing shot which falls in from the top.

However, you notice the cleverly placed tarp on top.. it totally rules out the possibility of any looping shot, forcing you to shoot a relatively low angled shot without any arc. I would say it is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to score a shot from such an angle. There is simple no way the ball will go in the small hoop without an arcing shot.
When we watch on at naive people who attempt the game, my suspicions were confirmed. The only way people scored was to just toss the ball randomly in and let it bounce on top of several hoops before luck allows it to bounce into a hoop. The best score was 3 -_-