Taipei Treasures (Part 2)
Pretty sure the entries for the day parts will fly by pretty fast for the first few days of my trip, because it was all academic activities. Time just seems to pass faster when it comes to acad stuff (sorry Olivia).
Anyway, the breakfast that we had in the morning was buffet-style as per most hotels. They had the usual spread of western/asian food, although the siewmai was always gone! Think either Bernice or Clarissa told me after that it was because we always woke up too late for the first batch of siewmais. Still resentful because I had the worst siewmai at the airport before I flew off, hnngngggg.
It was pretty much OTOT free seating in the morning, so we just scattered about with the Jap/HK delegates in the morning. I ate almost the same set of stuff everyday, sometimes I had cereal as second helpings. Only discovered their curry rice pot on the last day (seriously...!?).
All day err' day
The first day's activities were held at National Taiwan University (NTU, hurr hurr), but it was really far from the MRT station. I think all of us melted under the sweltering heat. Their law faculty was also located in another part of their main campus and it was called 霖澤館 (Tsai Lecture Hall). It was pretty nifty I think, but it was also summer vacation for them, so the place was pretty empty apart from us ALSA members.
We kicked off academic discussion as usual with guest speakers etc. One of the professors was invited to come speak to us about Taiwan Constitutional Law. As we all know, I am a huuuuuge fan of constitutional law, so I-zzZzzzzzzZZ.
They compiled our responses for the academia into a book! 50 points for effort!
I squeezed that book into my luggage despite there not being enough space. Really bringing every single memorabilia from the trip home. The HK delegates and I were complaining about the harshness of the legal system and how it's so tiring to study law, haha I think their system is really similar to us, so we had a lot of similar topics when it came to academia.
I love Consti Law <3
I don't think anyone was really prepared for Table Discussion that day, but the topic was on same-sex marriage and we just basically presented on the practices in our countries and it was pretty straightforward (pun unintended). During our lunch we also wrote our wishes for the future on some pieces of paper, which was presented in a collage on Farewell night.
Took a table photo outside NTU when we were done (:
That night, we went to a BBQ place! (Sorry friends haha I didn't note where it was so I can't intro, but I would go back again!) Apparently BBQ buffets are really big in Taiwan, and they have many outlets for it, saw many when I was in Ximending after that as well, never really noticed their popularity until now. Anyway, it was pretty cool in that there was a vent-thing directly above the grill/steamboat on the table that sucked up all the steam. Kind of makes indoor steamboat/BBQ more tolerable! Grace and I sat with Olivia, Neil and Chayanis, our table ate the least compared to everyone else :( The HongKong delegates were the most amazing! Their table managed to clear the most plates.. We told them that we weren't very representative of typical Singaporeans (those uncle and aunties are damn pro at stacking their plates here seriously) but maybe it was also because we were quite tired.
Starter course was sashimi!
The grill - a large spread of different meat types
Panfried beef in butter and garlic
The HK delegates left early because they were tired though, but the rest of us adjourned to a temple. It was pretty much within walking distance and the night air was comparatively. The name of the temple was called 行天宮 (Hsing Tian Kong). There were quite a number of people praying there despite the time (it was pretty late), we prayed a bit and asked for blessings.
Random touristy shots
After that, we walked along a street of palmistry, I think it was pretty known for that, a few of us went to have our surnames guessed, think that was the most touristy I felt so far for that day.
For some weird reason, whenever I reached the hotel, Gentur would never be back, but arrive like 10 minutes after I'd settled in. Found out later that he didn't like to be alone and chilled with Takashi and Aya. Hahaha our room was ridiculously messy though, actually quite relieved to find that he cared about room arrangement as much as I did (zilch.)
Second (and last!!) day of acad the day after! I think all of us were waiting for the touring to start actually :P
Ugh it's already Sunday night, where did my weekend go? Will try to finish up my posts soon and stop clogging up with one-day posts. Peiwei and the rest must be mad that I haven't even gotten around to the touring posts yet >
Anyway, the breakfast that we had in the morning was buffet-style as per most hotels. They had the usual spread of western/asian food, although the siewmai was always gone! Think either Bernice or Clarissa told me after that it was because we always woke up too late for the first batch of siewmais. Still resentful because I had the worst siewmai at the airport before I flew off, hnngngggg.
It was pretty much OTOT free seating in the morning, so we just scattered about with the Jap/HK delegates in the morning. I ate almost the same set of stuff everyday, sometimes I had cereal as second helpings. Only discovered their curry rice pot on the last day (seriously...!?).
All day err' day
The first day's activities were held at National Taiwan University (NTU, hurr hurr), but it was really far from the MRT station. I think all of us melted under the sweltering heat. Their law faculty was also located in another part of their main campus and it was called 霖澤館 (Tsai Lecture Hall). It was pretty nifty I think, but it was also summer vacation for them, so the place was pretty empty apart from us ALSA members.
We kicked off academic discussion as usual with guest speakers etc. One of the professors was invited to come speak to us about Taiwan Constitutional Law. As we all know, I am a huuuuuge fan of constitutional law, so I-zzZzzzzzzZZ.
They compiled our responses for the academia into a book! 50 points for effort!
I squeezed that book into my luggage despite there not being enough space. Really bringing every single memorabilia from the trip home. The HK delegates and I were complaining about the harshness of the legal system and how it's so tiring to study law, haha I think their system is really similar to us, so we had a lot of similar topics when it came to academia.
I love Consti Law <3
I don't think anyone was really prepared for Table Discussion that day, but the topic was on same-sex marriage and we just basically presented on the practices in our countries and it was pretty straightforward (pun unintended). During our lunch we also wrote our wishes for the future on some pieces of paper, which was presented in a collage on Farewell night.
Took a table photo outside NTU when we were done (:
That night, we went to a BBQ place! (Sorry friends haha I didn't note where it was so I can't intro, but I would go back again!) Apparently BBQ buffets are really big in Taiwan, and they have many outlets for it, saw many when I was in Ximending after that as well, never really noticed their popularity until now. Anyway, it was pretty cool in that there was a vent-thing directly above the grill/steamboat on the table that sucked up all the steam. Kind of makes indoor steamboat/BBQ more tolerable! Grace and I sat with Olivia, Neil and Chayanis, our table ate the least compared to everyone else :( The HongKong delegates were the most amazing! Their table managed to clear the most plates.. We told them that we weren't very representative of typical Singaporeans (those uncle and aunties are damn pro at stacking their plates here seriously) but maybe it was also because we were quite tired.
Starter course was sashimi!
The grill - a large spread of different meat types
Panfried beef in butter and garlic
The HK delegates left early because they were tired though, but the rest of us adjourned to a temple. It was pretty much within walking distance and the night air was comparatively. The name of the temple was called 行天宮 (Hsing Tian Kong). There were quite a number of people praying there despite the time (it was pretty late), we prayed a bit and asked for blessings.
Random touristy shots
After that, we walked along a street of palmistry, I think it was pretty known for that, a few of us went to have our surnames guessed, think that was the most touristy I felt so far for that day.
For some weird reason, whenever I reached the hotel, Gentur would never be back, but arrive like 10 minutes after I'd settled in. Found out later that he didn't like to be alone and chilled with Takashi and Aya. Hahaha our room was ridiculously messy though, actually quite relieved to find that he cared about room arrangement as much as I did (zilch.)
Second (and last!!) day of acad the day after! I think all of us were waiting for the touring to start actually :P
Ugh it's already Sunday night, where did my weekend go? Will try to finish up my posts soon and stop clogging up with one-day posts. Peiwei and the rest must be mad that I haven't even gotten around to the touring posts yet >