Over the pre-Christmas weekend, I took a short break at Kuala Lumpur (KL) with two of my friends. It was a mistake, though a minor one, to travel in threes and I should have known better because to be left constantly out of the pack while the duo engaged in their bilateral conversations was a complete turn off. And ironically, traveling in threes wasn’t an uncommon arrangement; my past trips to Bangkok and Taiwan were also in threes. On a remotely related note, Benson must be filling himself with remorse whenever I brought this topic up.

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The family sans myself took a breather from busy Singapore life and decided to go for a short break to Genting, which embarrassingly I have yet gotten the opportunity to visit. I would have joined them if it’s not for Monday’s lessons; furthermore, with the escaped felon on the loose and all the checkpoints on high alert, it seems so logical to stay at home right? Yea, right.

Now that I have the quiet house all for myself, I should be able to enjoy television programmes with no commotions over the remote control. And yes, it comes with a huge bowl of sour grapes if you want to join me. Looking on the brighter side, I’ll have more time focusing on finishing the assignments and readings which were long overdue. 

After all that’s done, I will be in a desperate need to get out of Singapore. Honestly, I will want to give the 5D an chance to take some worthy photos. My last trip was spent seven days in Taipei with Kevin and Hon Mun; Taipei is a place you will want to visit over and over again. I will really wish to visit Florida again.

I can hear the pockets shouting for mercy now, figures that I am no rich kid.  

I came to wonder why the streets in Taiwan are named almost identical to its China counterpart. Somehow or rather, I seem to be under the impression that each of them are vying against each other for the One and Only True China title. But well, I don’t know.

We touched down from our budget airplane, JetStar Asia from Singapore Changi Airport to Taipei’s Hualian International Airport. Like the previous trip to Bangkok, I had a haircut in Changi Airport. But this time round it got my nose so irritated that it became stucked midway during the flight. I thought it might be the hair on my sweater, but well, EC House did a pretty good job.

Ok, let’s stop digressing. Taipei’s International Airport didn’t manage to amaze me. I was hoping for a grand entrance, at least anticipating something to wow at;an icon or a magnificent control tower like Singapore’s. But nothin’. Instead, all I see through the window panel of JetStar’s were just airport terminals that resemble something like warehouses.

We were greeted by the immigration gantries, where Chinese speaking immigration officers handled our passports in a solemn manner, occasionally glanced at our faces to ensure we weren’t some imposers. We then rushed to the arrival hall where we managed to board the bus “Fei Gou” (Flying Dog) that offered to bring us straight at the hotel’s doorstep. During the trip, I sneezed a number of times and I was afraid I might catch a flu which might ruin the entire trip. Being health conscious Taiwanese the people were, there were a couple of times when passengers sitting seats in front of me turned to check out who this bugger was sneezing away. I bet they thought I was infected with bird flu or the SARS, given the last time the epidemic originated from Taiwan.

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