We have reach Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

After 24 hrs, 21000km aka abt 1200 miles on the plane, 8 pieces of luggages, both Mr Ong and myself have arrived safely at our destination: Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.

Mr Ong is starting his semester on 8th Sep 09 in the University of Michigan (UM)... and if nothing goes wrong we shld be back to Sunny SG by Xmas next yr :)

Our apartment is located in the North Campus where most of Mr Ong's classes will be held at.. and its located away fr the Central Campus which is great as it cld get really rowdy once the term starts with the undergraduates.... especially on Football Saturdays.. UM had a bad yr last yr but they are still pretty much one of the top team in colleage football.. and hopefully they will do well.. if there are still tickets left, we might catch them live in action in their 100,000 seats stadium...

Most of the household items, appliances. drinks, groceries are all being bought.. well i guess u can say we are all set to go.. muahahah

Spoke to mummy and daddy once since we reached.. heheh most likely to call them during the wkends ba... heheheh


So far loving it here...Ann Arbor is a Colleage town.. because of UM, the town is alive.. ppl here are able to work and earn money because of UM... and because is a colleage town, everything here is pretty laid-back.. ppl here are damn friendly and helpful... pace is slower compared to SG, where everyone is rushing and always complaining 24hrs is never enough.. ppl here are more relaxed, open-minded, friendly, helpful, competitive in a good way... and u dont see 'kiasu' ppl here... muahahhahaa...

even the homeless ppl here are properly dresses and they dont look any different fr us... they will politely asked if you have any spare change for them, and if u say no, they still thank you and wish u a gd day!! they do not pester you at all.. not too sure why they do that but its diff in Asian countries..where they will bug you and pester you till u almost give in.. if u dont they stare and sometimes curse as if you owe them a living....

So far the weather has been great.. and im loving it here...

Farewell (Last week in SG)

After our Taiwan holiday, we realise that we do not have much time left for farewell gatherings with our beloved families and frens.... and also not much time to complete the to-do list and to-eat list in SG...

but never-the-less, we still had a bunch of gatherings, which 99.9% are food-related.. my last 10 days in SG was so full that i was fed like big meals for lunch and dinner almost everyday... its was damn full but at the same time sad, as i'll not have the same
food for quite a while....

We had a fare-well bbq at my parents place and sweet Betsy and Ruifan made a photoframe, consisting of the most unglam and cutest pictures of our 12 yr frenship.. its now sitting on the table of our living room here in MI... not forgetting the warmers and the thermal pack as well a the full box of masks.. we are touched and will nv forget....

 

also tks to hazel-mom-to-be for shopping for the beautiful and warmth gifts on behalf and also the scraping photos.. love it to the max!!!!

Also would like to thank all the well wishes fr all... ur wishes to us will be with us throughout our stay and to keep us fr home sick...

to our families, lucky for the Skype technology that we cld call bk as often as we could... we miss you already....

Taiwan Holiday - Day 9 (4th Aug 09)

Day 9:

Last day is Taiwan.
Last Taiwanese style breakfast.

Last round of photo taking of the beautiful country style resort...

Last day of holiday and back to SG...

No more yummy & cheap street hawker food...
No more exciting rollor coaster rides..
No more beautiful sun rise & sun set...
No more breathe-taking sceneries...



We board the bus back to Tai Zhong where we took another bus to the Tao Yuan Airport for our evening flight back to SG..


We spend every penny of our NTs on Mr Ong's tea-time noodles + my fav green tea latte + Mr Ong's ice blended chocolate + mango cheesecake fr Starbucks at the airport before take off....

 

Taiwan Holiday - Day 8 (3rd Aug 09)

Day 8:

We checked out of the hotel on day 8 to head to "Re Yue Tan" aka "Sun Moon Lake" for a overnight stay at one the Crystal Resort... the name of the place comes abt as the shape of the lake is divided into 2 parts which one part is shaped like the round sun and the other part like the crescent moon...

its was pretty rainy while we were touring ard the lake... we went to countless temple which house Yue Fei, Tang Sheng, Kong Zi and alot more others... We also pray for home safety for both our families..

we also went to this old street that sells many yummy street food such as the mushroom bao.. very big and value for money.. there was also these hand-made pottery shop which sells many beautiful hand-made pottery... and they claim they hand-made all the tea cups. pots, bowls, plates etc for Presidential usage...hehehe but its was pretty pricy and cuz it breakable, we did not buy back... if not it will be very beautiful for our new nest... ehehehe

Rest of the night was spent at the resort resting. and watching the Taiwan variety shows.. my fav show during the whole entire trip was the Mahjong show lor... the show host is Xiu Nai Ling, where invited celebrities and home viewers play on tv and the winer will ultimately challenge Xiu Nai Ling and the female host known as the Queens for more cash prize..

Dinner and breakfast was provided by the resort.. the resort has very nice facilites and the surroundings are surreal and scenic....
 

 

Taiwan Holiday - Day 7 (2nd Aug 09)

Day 7:

We took a bus to the "Yeu Mei" Theme park.. its has both land and water attraction.
We started off with the water theme park... we saw all the ppl wearing swimming caps and thot it looked really silly... but before we went onto our first water ride, we were stopped by the lifeguard saying that its a must to wear swimming caps for all the water rides... hai got no choice lor.. so have to go buy... and we looked really silly with the swimming caps on... muahahaa... all the rides are damn exciting ar...

For example under the water attractions, there was this ride which the slide is U-Shaped, then u take a 8-figure float and slide down... the starting point is abt 6-story high lar... and u can actually feel ur heart in ur throat when u fall.. and when it reaches fr one end to the other. u feel as if u are going to fly out of the slide but gravity will then pull u down and u slowly slide to a stop.. we went 2 rounds as well...

another ride is individual ride... u first climb up to abt 10-12 storey high... then u slide down a tube slide down on ur back.. the excitement comes when u free fall for abt 1-2 seconds... its damn shiok lar.. we went 2 rounds... muahahhaa

we then took a break and went over to the land rides... the first we took was the free fall roller coaster ride... like the normal roller coaster.. it will ride up slowly... when it reaches the very top, the whole carriage will be tipped 180 degree.. by then u will be looking down... u will be in theis position for abt 5-8 seconds.. where u will then free fall abt 2-3 seconds... then the normal up-side down turns for 2 turns... muahahah damn shiok lar.. we went for 2 rides as well... hehehe...

we also had bumper car ride, man-made white water rafting, some topsy curvy rides.. which Mr Ong could not take it.. mauahaha.. he cld not take those with turning .. muahaha

Then we went bk for more of the water team park rides.. we end the day with the famous man-made wave.. the highest wave went as high as abt 3m or more.. quite nice too... lidat we spent the whole day at the theme park...

we didnt take alot of pics as most of the time we are in water or on rides which makes it difficult to hold on to the camera...


dinner was simple, we had KFC... whenever u are overseas and u dont know what to eat... u could always count on familar food such as McDonald's, KFC, BK etc... it will nv go wrong...

Taiwan Holiday - Day 6 (1st Aug 09)

Day 6:

After a night of gd rest, we woke up at abt 415am to get ready for the hike up to "Chu Shan" to catch the sun rise...

the hike took us abt 1hr uphill but it was all worth it... the sun rise was breath-taking...

and of cuz, its romantic watching the sun rise with Mr Ong... while waiting for the sun to climb up, we have hot soya bean milk and some cakes and rice mochi...we spent abt 1 hr up there...

after the sun is high up in the mid day sky.. we went downhill and send a wooden post card fr the local 7-11 back to SG... we try as much as to send bk a postcard fr each place that we go to.. then it was back for check out then take the bus to our next destination: "Tai Zhong"

By the time we reach the bus station, it was lunch, hence we had lunch at the local McDonald's... muahaha its way cheaper then in SG.. and we bought some Hello Kitty toys for my sista.. she's a huge fan of the mouthless cat.. and as it was the cartoon's 36th Anniversary, there were 36 designs, each for a year.. so it was pretty cool...

The bus took a couple of hrs before we reach Tai Zhong.. we stayed 2days and we randomly walked into one for the hotels and paid for 2 nights... as it was abt dinner time.. we took one of the public bus behid our hotel and headed to the famous "Feng Jia Night Market".. this night market is even bigger then "Shi Lin Night Market" and its has lot more shopping and also food and drinks of cuz...

we had the must have drink.. there is this stall where by its onli NT$30 and u get close to 1000ml of either bubble tea, red tea or any sort of what they offer... damn worth it lar... we also had pineapple salad, stir fry wild boar meat, fried katsu chop, the famous sweet potato fries with plum powder...

there was alot of shopping too.. but was not really my type of stuff..muahaha
we heaed back for a night of god rest as we would be going to "Yeu Mei Theme Park" the next day for a full day of great land and water fun!!

Taiwan Holiday - Day 5 (31st Jul 09)

Day 5:

Most of the day is spent on train and bus to the trip up to Taiwan's famous "Alishan"...

We check out fr the hotel in "Xi Men Ding" and took the train to "Jia Yi", where we had a simple taiwanese lunch then board a bus up to "Alishan"...

We did not book in advance for the hotel in "Alishan", hence we just pick a motel.. the motel we picked was a newly renovated one so its pretty nice..

Day time weather in "Alishan" is about 17-20 degree.. feels like in airco room but its with the green nature...

Bu the time we checked in, it was late afternoon and as there was still some time left before dinner, we did a little bit of hiking ard the parks.. took some pictures and saw some amazing plants and trees.. example there was this tree that was named the "Elephant Tree" as the shape of the tree is like a Elephant and you cld even see its trunk!!

had dinner at one of the roadside stall... with the hot soup noodle and some stir fry pork, it feels warm even though the weather dipped to abt 14 degree...

last stop for the day before we head bk to the hotel to rest was the Tea Shop.
we had several rounds of different flavor tea with the boss if the shop. Learnt some precious tips abt Tea fr the boss... of cuz we bought some tea leaves back to SG.

Lights out to rest for the hike to catch the sun rise tmrw...