Longshan Temple

Longshan Temple was built in 1738 by settlers from Fujian, China. It is one of the most visited place in Taiwan. I can say so because every time I go there, there must be any foreigners. Most of them are Japanese, Korean, or Indian. I go there twice a month in the first and fifteenth of the month in Chinese calendar. I go there very often because my religious is Buddhist. However, Longshan Temple is not only for Buddhist. It worships a mixture of Buddhist, Taoist, and folk deities such as Matsu.

The temple is divided into front hall, main hall, rear hall, right wing and left wing. Painting of vivid creatures graces the temple walls, and stone statues of mystical creatures guard the temple grounds. The joining of wall and roof did not use any nails or braces made of metal. Covered by overtopping tiles, the temple roof is decorated with figures of dragon, phoenix and other auspicious creatures. The figures are decorated with porcelain, clay, and shards of colored glass. They represent the pinnacle of mosaic art in Taiwan. The temple has been declared a Secondary National Heritage Site.

Around the temple there are lot of shop that sell Buddha statue or other things related to Buddhist. There are also a lot of monks in front of the temple. At the first time I went there, it was so surprise for me to see a lot of monks ask for alms in front of the temple because there no such things in Indonesia. However, I realized that it is common in Taiwan.

When lantern festival coming, there will be a lot of big lantern in the temple. The most interesting part is that there is one lantern of God carrying money in his hand and riding a tiger. Everyone who want to go the temple must pray below the lantern before go inside the temple. I think it is believed that if we pray below the lantern, we will get lucky or rich.

From my observation, most of Taiwanese are Buddhist, Taoist or Confucius. That is why I often see a lot of temple and Buddha, Taoist or Confucius statues in Taiwan house or road. Especially in county area, most of the house have their own altar to put their incense or devoting there.

Taipei MRT

If you were in Taipei, you do not need to worry about the transportation! Why I say like that? It is because Taipei has a good transportation system which is Metropolitan Rapid Transit (MRT).

For me, MRT is very crucial especially as international students who do not have private transportation here. Taipei MRT is divided into 8 lines. You can reach all places in Taiwan with this transportation. (See Picture below)

The most importation station is Taipei Main Station (TMS). Besides there are a train station, bus station, high speed rail station; it is also the station that connect almost all lines. In other words, you need to go to TMS first to change train. Not only that, in TMS there also a lot of department store and shopping area. The famous electronic centre, NOVA, is also there. I can say that TMS is the most crowded and attractive station.

There are some points that I want to emphasize about the advantages of Taipei MRT :

1. It has 8 lines and cover all important places, such as hospital, department store or shopping area, university and school, and other tourist spots.

2. It saves your time. Taipei MRT always on time. Besides, you do not to wait too long to get the train. From my one-year experience here, I had only waited for 5 minutes for my longest waiting time!! The high speed of the train also saves your time in travelling.

3. It is so convenient. All stations are clean and completed with AC, toilet, LCD TV for waiting line, a lot of direction board, ticket machine, etc. Some stations also provide ATM and convenient store

4. It is safe. There are a lot of camera different angle of the station. So, you do not need to worry if you so late already.

5. The price fair is considered to be cheap. Although it is a little bit higher than bus, but it is more convenient, safety, and fast. There is also discount 50% for bus fare if you take a bus within one hour after you take MRT ( Note : with easy card only)

Liu He Night Market

Liu He Night market is the biggest night market located in Kao Shiung. The Night Market is not far away if you walk from Kaohsiung Railway Station along the Zhongshan Road straightforward, which takes only ten minutes more, and then turn right to Liuhe Road.

The special thing of this night market is that there are so many seafood seller here. First is fried squid. Like you see in the picture, they sell only the tentacle. However, it is so BIG!!!

Second is roasted shrimp. Beside the size is big, they roast the shrimp alive…..

The other things that catch my eyes is the egg. I do not know what the name is. However, it is so big and inside there is some vegetable, egg, and some other ingredients. The taste is good. You need to try this one ~~^O^~~

Not only food, there are also fashion and accessories shop.

It was Saturday when I came there. So, definitely it is so crowded. There are also some tourists from Japan and they are interesting in buying some candies

Ye Liu Geological Park

In my first semester NTUST international Student association held an activity to visit Ye Liu Geological Park. It is located in the north of Taiwan, not too far from Taipei (about 1 hour I think).

This place is made by nature. What I mean to say is all the rock there is naturally made because of the friction between the rock and the sea. The air there is humid, hot, salty, and sticky. It is similar when you go to the beach. However, the view is really great. So beautiful! Not only the sea but you can also see the mountain there.

The special thing that attracts tourists to come is the rocks’ shape. There is a rock that looks like a monkey, a bird head, Taiwan Island, and the most famous one: Queen’s head. Many people come just because of the queen head. Even you have to queue to take a picture with that special rock. Since we came there on weekend, we have to queue for a long time if we want to take picture with that rock. However, we decide not to queue. I feel a little bit regret actually. T_T

The size of the park is very big. It takes more than 2 hours to treasure it all. Outside the park there is a seafood market. Most of them sell dried fish or squid and the price is very cheap compare with Taipei. There are also many fresh seafood sellers, such as roast squid seller. I think it is very famous there because so many people sell roast squid. The squid size is also very big. You must try it if you go there ^o^V

Wine Frog in Xin Dian

Everyone knows that Taiwan is very famous with its food. One of the most popular eating restaurant in Taiwan is ALL YOU CAN EAT restaurant. There is a huge number of that restaurant in Taiwan and I think this kind of business is very good here. Maybe because of Taiwanese hobbies: eating!

Wine frog is one of ALL YOU CAN EAT restaurant in Xin Dian Taipei. Actually it is not only in Xian Dian. There are a lot of branch in all over Taiwan. The bigger version of Wine Frog called Water Frog. They serve the same kind of food with the same price. The only different is only the variety of food and the size of restaurant. In Taipei water Frog is located in Dan Shui. Since the distance from NTUST (place where I study now) to Danshui is quite far so we just decide to go Wine Frog in Xin Dian.

Wine frog is famous with its barbeque. However, they also serve steamboat, ice cream, Taiwan beer, and cooked dishes. They serve so many variety of food for barbeque and steam boat. From vegetable, meat, meatball, tofu, fish, chicken, etc. However, they focus on barbeque so that their steam boat bowl is not too big. But they also prepare a big bowl to boil your food.

When you come to the restaurant, they will prepare the coal for you and need time to make it on fire. So, it wise for you to eat the cooked one first (hahahaha). To make a delicious barbeque, you need to cover the meat with margarine and then mix it with onion and celery then roast it. To make it more delicious, you can eat it with their sauce. They provide a lot of sauce there. You can just choose it.

Taiwanese people like to drink beer when eating. SO they also provide ALL YOU CAN DRINK beer with only adding NTD 100. For the food itself, it costs NTD 300 exclude the coal. The coal itself cost for NTD 100 per table (4-6 people).

For desert, you can eat ice cream, toast, salad or fruit. All of them is very good! So, before you come to this restaurant, you need to prepare your stomach in empty condition. ^o^V

Anping Tree House

Now I would like to share my experience in Tainan. 1^st April 2010 I went to Tainan to have a vacation. I stayed one night in Tainan and then went to Kaoshiong in the next morning. Even only one day, I have already visit so many places in Tainan, such as Hua Yuan night Market, Confucius Temple, Anping Tree house and I also have tried so many famous foods in Tainan such as Danzai Noodle, elate pudding, and the most famous (Zhou-Shi). However, I will only talk about Anping Tree House here.

What is Anping Tree House and why it is called as Tree house? As I heard from my friend in Tainan, the house is really old (about 100 years) and the tree around the house covered the whole house and become united. Actually, I do not really know about the story but the most important is the special view inside the house.

Frankly speaking, it is a little bit scary there. You can imagine if your house is covered by trees, it is very scary right? The entire house wall is covered by the tree stem, root and branches. You can look at the picture for clear. The special spot is the door which really short with a plant grew in the middle of it.

Outside the house there is a big pond and bridge which is also covered by tree. Many tourists come to take photos here. My friends also said that house is also used in shooting movies.

Taichung Rice Cake (米糕)

Have you heard ‘米糕’ before? In English maybe It is called rice cake. It is the famous traditional snack in Central of Taiwan. Frankly, I have never heard about this food before so it is my first time I ate this food after came to Taiwan for about one year.

This summer vacation (July-August 2010), I with two of my friends have an internship in Taichung, particularly in KFAS (Knowledge For Automobile Solution) company.

We went to Taichung from Taipei at 11:30 and arrived at 13:30. Right after we arrived the first thing we should do is to visit the company and of course clean the house where I will stay for two months. We finished clean the house at about 18:00 and what we felt after that hard work is hungry and thirsty. Really hungry and thirsty!!!!! It is because we have not had lunch before. Moreover the weather is really hot and we only have limited water to drink.

So, right after finished clean the house we went to eat. The head of the company brought us to try the famous traditional food in Taichung. He said that we have to eat this here. Because we are really hungry at that time, so we just order that food without thinking. We also order 干面(dry noodle) with soup. So we really ate a lot at that time. Hahahahaha…

米糕 or rice cake is a kind of glutinous rice with pork slice and special sauce complete mint leaves. It is similar with rice dumpling (粽子). The taste is very delicious and the price is really cheap (only NTD20-25). This food is really famous in Taichung. You can find easily here. And if you compare the food price in Taichung with Taipei, it is much cheaper in Taichung.

The dry noodle is also very delicious. As you see in the picture it contains pork slice, bean sprout and special sauce. The portion is very big and once again it is very cheap (only 25 NTD/bowl). People in Taichung like to eat dry noodle with soup. For me, I like to eat this with wonton soup. Slluurrrrppphhh!!

So, if you come to Taichung, do not forget to try米糕 or rice cake !!!