There are 2 trips to Taiwan every year in NDU : Ex Sea Thunder and Ex Sea Spray. I'm saying it like you actually know what are they but in fact you do not. To put it simply, they are naval exercises conducted in overseas waters together with the country mentioned above. As a diver, my role is simply to stay in the ship and have plenty of rest. When the need arises to check the ship's propellors or hull, then we work. We keep ourselves pretty occupied in the ship during the 4-days sail to Taiwan. DVDs were in abundance, there's the PS 2, books to read, cards to play and hell lot of sleep. There were fears that my ship, a puny MCV, would experience horrible sea states in the erratic Taiwan waters. Luck was on our side for 3 weeks as it was as smooth sailing throughout.
I took altogether 200 plus pictures in Kaohsiung ( this is the correct spelling ) during the 10 days. I constantly annoy people to pose for pictures, freeze for a few seconds and beg my mates to take pictures with me. I didn't want to repeat my mistake in my Thailand trip when my camera got confiscated at the Tuas Naval Base bag checks. This time I got through, so it's time for full exploitation.
These are my 2 best mates from camp. Cheo Wei in the first picture has been through thick and thin with me and has given me invaluable tips of my dress sense. We also went for our Thailand trip together. My buddy and my best friend for these years of NS.
Ah cheng in the second picture is a very interesting friend, we share many similar ideals. I was his most frequent passenger on his motorbike and got into many near-accident incidents on the road. The 3 of us all stay in Bedok, are mahjong kakis and we talk about the same things. Others call us the 5566. ( camp joke )
* anyway I did not pick up smoking, I was holding ah cheng's cigarette.
Talk about Taiwan delicacies, I wasn't really too impress with them except for the 'Wo Jia Niu Pai' ( My Home Steak ) which served really good steak in a very reasonable price. In general I feel that Taiwan food is pretty mediocre. I quickly dispel all the myth and hype surrounding Taiwan food from Taiwanese variety shows. 'Shi Zi Lu Kou' is really a very good tourist-pulling show. The big 'ye shi' ( night market ) is called ' Liu He Ye Shi' and stretches along a street. After so many days in Kaohsiung, we got really sick of it. Taiwanes have this penchant for smelly food. There's a lot of 'Chou To Fu' ( smelly beancurd ), 'Chou Chou Guo' ( smelly wok ) which completely turns me off. Imagine eating steamboat with some smelly soup cooking. I thought of soon tat ( or was it minxiu?) as he reminded me that humans do have a certain liking for smelly things, like smelling our own socks, shoes and other liquids and solids we better dun mention here.
Kaohsiung Train Station.
This was a great night of beer drinking with everyone looking as if they had just won a milion dollars. Many of them hit their records and were seemingly high through the night. Back at where we slept, Cheo Wei and I talked senseless shit for about an hour before we slept. Memorable.
As mentioned in my Kaohsiung post, we were kinda bored in Taiwan after just a few days. There's really nothing much. And we started to find our own kind of entertainment that can be found in Singapore. Arcade, Pool, Internet Cafe, KTV.
The picture with the dim lights is the people who went to sing at Taiwan Party World. Interestingly, they had this emergency footage about earthquake evacuation procedures before you actually start singing. Reminiscent of those on airplanes.
It's also never a hassle playing pool when you have 'pool girls' arranging your balls for you before you start playing. Hmm.
There's this basketball challenge thing in the arcades which made me spent at least 20 Sing dollars. You're supposed to shoot hoops in a limited time. 3 stages. Each stage 60 seconds. Each basket is 2 points and increases to 3 points in the last 10 seconds. At least 50 points to get you through the 1st stage. You then bring over the points to second stage when the target is now 150 points. To complete the game, you must achieve at least 250 points. It's not an easy game but we all got used to it. My record is 341, try beating that when you go there.
Met faney babes at Liu He Ye Shi. He was pretty in a rush that day and didn't seem interested. But nonetheless a magical moment in Taiwan.
Me, ah cheng and Cheo Wei on our quest to search for our meimeis. So this is just one of them. I still remember her name. Guiying. I bought her some bubble tea after we took our picture. The last sentence was actually unnecessary.
Special mention goes to Staff Koh, our diving supervisor for our trip who is not only a good superior but a great friend. Really enjoyed his company on and off the ship.
Sailing home back to Singapore.
The mystique surrounding Taiwan, the fantasyland for chiobus, the fantastic food shown on TV, the out-going nature of Taiwanese girls remain as that. Disappointments no doubt but superb company more than made up for it.
