HAPPY TRAVELING: July 2011

Sunday, July 31, 2011

National Revolutionary Martyr's Shrine (忠烈祠) at Taipei, Taiwan

The National Revolutionary Martyr's Shrine (N25.07826 E121.53358) is located at the roundabout along the BeiAn Road of Taipei, Taiwan.

The Martyr's Shrine of Taipei

"The Martyr’s Shrine was built to commemorate soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country during the War of Resistance against Japan and Civil War between Nationalist Government and the Communist Party. The Martyr’s Shrine was built in 1969, with the main architecture designed similar to Taihe Dian Imperial Palace in Beijing. The grand design symbolizes the braveness and selfless spirits of the martyrs. Covering a large area, with mountains nearby and facing Keelung River, the Martyr’s Shrine is a significant attraction noting the history and culture of Taiwan." Source from here.

When we reached the shrine, the timing was just Nice! The Military Soldiers Officers just about to change their shift. The Martyr's Shrine visit by many tourists everyday, one of the purpose is to witness the Officers changing shift.

The Military Police Officers of Martyr's Shrine

It was cloudy that day...and once the officers started to move, everyone (tourists) were just follow...

I was amazed with their movement, perfect synchronized!

Do you notice the three dark lines on the floor? That were their footsteps...everyday and every hour!
We were just follow the Police (Soldiers) Officers side by side until they reached the Shrine...

The Martyr's Shrine

And everyone were just stand and watching the shift changing quitely...

You can notice there were two soldiers standing on the both side of the entrance...and there were some kind of ceremony before the soldiers change.

Then they walked out the Shrine...

Well, everyone follow the soldiers again from the Shrine towards the main entrance...before the main entrance, there were some kind of 'performance' that they changing their rifles 'in the air'!

Then the soldiers just stand at the both side of the entrance motionless! Yes! For another hour...Salute!

Seems like she (tourist) wanted learn about the soldiers...:)

I captured a short moment of the Soldiers from my phone below...

If you like to know the history about the Martyr's Shrine, please click here.

Related post :-
* My Taiwan Trip on May, 2011

The Location map of National Revolutionary Martyr's Shrine at Taipei, Taiwan.

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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Shilin Food Court and Night Market (士林夜市) at Taipei, Taiwan

This was my second visit to the Shilin Night Market (N25.08591 E121.52440). Still the same procedure, having our dinner at the food court before the night market shopping. But the night was raining and we hope it will stop after our dinner...

Once we stepped into the food court, it was so crowded and difficult to find a table...after waiting for about 10 minutes, we found one 'mini table'! No choice, the only table around the food court...

The advantage of this Shilin Food Court is...there have all the famous street foods here! Plenty of choices...

All kind of Taiwanese foods available here in the food court

The famous Fried Chicken Chop of Shilin

Actually I wanted to try it, but changed my mind after look at the Looooong queue...then I decided to try my favorite Pork Belly pepper soup stall which I visited 4 years ago...

The pork belly soup stall

We ordered all different foods and that was the only way we can taste as many foods as possible...

The pork belly soup

The fried mee-hoon

The squids

The Oyster omelette

The stinky Tou-Fu

The Beef

Overall, I like the pork belly soup, beef and the squids. The rest were just average...

We took our sweet time for the dinner but the rain still heavy down poured even we finished our meals! We try to walked in the night market during the rain...but...the weather seems like against us!

So we decided to visit the night market again on the next day after our dinner. Below photos are taken on our next day visit to Shilin Night Market...

Ipad 2 was available at one of the stall during our visit! Wah!

Nice strawberries...

Nameless shop...

There were nothing much in the night market, I couldn't find anything to buy for my wife and daughter. And just for the sake of walking...because it was my friend's first visit.

Angel spotted in the night market!

The Bonnie Lass!

There was another Chicken Chop stall in the night market which was branches of the stall at the food court.

If you really want to do your shopping, you can walk around the night market for more than 4 hours or more, the night market is huge! But we were just wanted to explore the area...
After hanged around the area for about 1-2 hours then took a cab back to hotel for rest.

Related post :-
* My Taiwan Trip on May, 2011

Location map of Shilin Night Market at Taipei, Taiwan

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Thursday, July 21, 2011

Grand Victoria Hotel (維多麗亞酒店) at Neihu, Taipei - Taiwan

Grand Victoria Hotel (維多麗亞酒店) (N25.08412 E121.55863) is located at corner of Jing Ye 4th Road of Neihu, Taipei. We check in to the hotel once we reached Taipei from Taichung.

Grand Victoria Hotel, Taipei

"The building is a fusion of classic Victorian architecture of the 19th century with contemporary elements of the 21st century."

I was attracted by the English-styled clock tower on the left of the building, it continue to change colour during night time...
We will stay here for 2 nights before we leave Taiwan. Too bad I don't have time to explore the hotel facility and others area.

The Lobby area of Grand Victoria Hotel

Once we settle at the front desk, we got to put all our luggage in the room and our driver was waiting to bring us to Shilin Night Market for our dinner.

Let me show you the room...

One King Bed

It was good enough for us to share the King bed...

The table in the room...

Some complimentary coffee and tea as usual...

But Suddenly we noticed the washroom was decorated with Glass! Which you can see through the washroom! OH! Man! We going to have problem! I will feel Very uneasy when another guy looking at me while showering?! Haha!

The view of the bathroom from the room

Nice bathtub, but I will not enjoy it if another guy is watching! Haha!

After 10-20 minutes searching, we finally found there was a switch beside the table...once 'Press', there were 2 vinyl curtain sliding down...OH! That solve the problem...!

The buttons below the table...(before that you can see the bed form the bathroom)

The curtain covered up the whole bathroom after pressed the button...

The view from the room...

After solved the 'bathroom' problem, I took some photos outside the hotel area...I like the clock tower very much...

Take note the colour of the clock tower...

We were satisfied with the friendly staffs here, hotel is Clean and smoking is Not allow in the hotel area. I noticed this was the Only hotel where every staffs be able to speak English. That was Great! The breakfast served on morning also good enough. It was a pleasant stay for us.

If you like know more about the Hotel, please click their official website below...

Grand Victoria Hotel

No. 168, Jing Ye 4th Road,

Taipei 104, Taiwan

Tel : +886-2-8502-0000 Fax : +886-2-8502-0005

http://www.grandvictoria.com.tw/en/index.php

Related post :-
* My Taiwan Trip on May, 2011

Location map of Grand Victoria Hotel at Taipei, Taiwan

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Puli Brewery (埔里酒廠) at Puli - Taiwan

After we left the Xin Tian Yuan Restaurant, there were still enough time for us to visit the Puli Brewery (N23.96854 E120.96031) before Taipei. And visit the Brewery basically just another photography session for us...

"Puli Brewery Factory is devoted to establishing the landmark feature of Puli as the Hometown of Shaoxing (Shaohsing) Wine. Aside from actively promoting the culture of Shaoxing (Shaohsing) Wine, there are also putting more efforts in preserving the history of the winery, it is the first Wine Culture Museum in Taiwan." Source from here.