Monday, October 5, 2009

Taiwan - 2008.12.06 Museum of Traditional Arts 國立傳統藝術中心, Martyr's Shrine 忠烈祠, Miramar Entertainment Park 美麗華百樂園, TASTY 西堤牛排

Spent the whole day with Jac's relatives. They brought us to the National Center of Traditional Arts 國立傳統藝術中心 located at Yilan, which was quite a distance from Taipei. They decided to bring us some where far because it'll be really tiring for us if we were to go by ourselves using public transport.

Anyway! We're here to learn about the traditional arts of Taiwan! From what I've learnt, their arts is separated into two categories, which are the performing arts ( music, folk songs, dance, acrobats, story-telling, theatre, puppet theatre and so on) and handcrafts (sculpture, weaving, painting, collage-making, ceramics and the gold-silversmith trade). These arts can be seen around the centre, and they even created a replica of historical buildings with shops specializing in promoting or selling their crafts. (Folk Art Boulevard)



National Center of Traditional Arts 國立傳統藝術中心





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antique bicycle




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petani at Folk Art Boulevard




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opera puppets




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cotton candies + soda pop






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冰糖葫芦 (bing tang hu lu) Traditional candy made of caramelized fresh food, usually they'll use hawthorn (referring to the fruits she's holding beside me) but i prefer normal fruits such as apples, strawberries, grapes.. =P







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paper crafting






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glass crafting






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jac told me this was a very famous puppet series back then but I forgot what's the name.







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puppet performance. the puppet can pour his own beer wor, not bad~ hahaha.



While we were strolling along the streets, two 'fireflies' suddenly came out from no where with a gong, and annouced that the Fish Prince and Princesses will get married today! And ran off. We were like, what the...?

At the end, we found out there was gonna be a street parade and performance, for the 'newly weds' of the sea, or something. lol. I'm very lame at story telling ok. It's just some performance with ppl dressing up in animal costumes.







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The 'fireflies' are the one in orange. They're too perky! Like, creepy kind of perky. lol.







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the 'newly weds' aquatic animals. hahaha.





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Our lunch! In my opinion, these food taste way better at the hawker stalls.








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For desserts, 包心粉圆







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At a temple, taking part in this ritual. They said if both are facing the same way, the answer is no, opposite face, yes. Correct or wrong ah?







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orz. Don't climb on the wall dear.



While we were strolling, we stumbled upon this!





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Isn't it cool?? Made of pretreated charcoal. You touch it and you won't have charcoal residue on your hands.






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These are just sculptures to attract you into their gallery of charcoals, and at the end, they will try to sell you those charcoal sticks which are actually really good, but pricey. lol. They even prepared a stage to experiment with the charcoals to show how beneficial they really are.



Moving on to Taipei Martyr's Shrine 忠烈祠 on our way back. Just in time to catch the changing of the guards.





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me and guard







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process







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hur hur very tempting cause there was a huge empty space!







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plaques







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lines are not drawn but stomped by the guards for 40 years. that's how straight they've been marching!







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This is the most embarassing moment ever! My elbow accidentally bumped into the guard's rifle but I didn't notice, and he suddenly just like bang the rifle on the metal platform and made a really really REALLY LOUD THUD! and aaaaaaaaall the tourists were looking at me. ai. damn paiseh.







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trees beside the road




Miramar Entertainment Park/Shopping Centre 美麗華百樂園


Killed some time here before dinner. This huge-ass ferris wheel really freaked me out, but I still wanted to try it! FYI, Jac's afraid of heights. loool.





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70m tall ferris wheel.







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do they come in a box?? Buy for jacky. hahaha






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the view from the ferris wheel







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he's scared shitless but u can't see it ey. hahaha. I was pretty terrified too but him freaking out made me calmer somehow. I kept laughing at him. hehe.







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jac wasn't interested in gundam then. lol. if he looks back at this pic now, sure will realize it what he has missed out! lol.







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dedicate to mousebear







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Went to TASTY 西堤牛排 for dinner.
I think anybody who has time to spare, should definitely visit Tasty! Set dinner NTS 430 including appetizer, salad, soup, main course, dessert and a drink! Good service, good food, good price! ^^ Ate 2 times during my trip.





TASTY!




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lots of choices for you to choose.







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Fresh prawns + asparagus. The sauce is delicious!!







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Sorry I only can remember some of the food only. Totally forgotten what this was. But don't worry, cause I remembered everything was good! hahaha.







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nice!






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nice!







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Ceaser salad. nice too!







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nice!







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pumpkin soup. oooh I remember this. It reminded me of curry. lol. but still, nice!







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Palate cleanser. Cause they know you'll be full even before you start with your main course.







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my lamp chop. nice!






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specialty - TASTY steak. NICE!!






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dessert - custard. don't know cause not mine. haha.






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Vanilla Creme Brulee. Fried melted chocolate. Very unique! + the chocolate was very rich







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their colourful drinks







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my sucky tiramisu drink. I think this is the only thing I'm not satisfied with. It tasted really wierd.


Overall I'd give it a 9.5 out of 10! 0.5 because of the sucky tiramisu. lol. Jac's relatives knew I like taking picture of food (quite obvious cause i kept taking picture of my own dish lol) and they offered me their dish too for me to take before they started. so considerate~ hahaha. of course I paiseh lah but still, very considerate. =D


So that's all for day 3. If there's any wrong information pls let me know, cause this trip was so long ago, and I'm kind fuzzy with the facts and details.

byebye!



Related:
Taiwan #01 - 04.12.08 First day
Taiwan #02 - 05.12.08 Taipei 台北信義區

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