Day 6 (30 July 2005) Reached Taipei in the afternoon & checked into Delight Hotel after much difficulty in navigating the confusing maze. Apparently, the room seems like a refrigerator, far too cold and the water heater was not working most of the time. We took a train to Shilin Official Residence. Reminds me of Istana back home though. Strangely, the building itself is unattractive & seems very rundown. But thumbs up for the landscaping - impressive. We took an idyllic rest at the Bear Restaurant next to the MRT station. Love the place and highly recommended. Night falls at Ximenting and we chose to dine at the Cola Restaurant. As a kid, was always fascinated by cola collectibles, so the place suits me despite the typical American foods and seemingly lack luster service. The ... read more

Day 4 (28 July 2005) We left Taipei to Taichung after saying goodbye to the not so perfect url=http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g1432365-d1441171-r48734727-Amigo_Hostel-Taipei_County.htmlAmigo Hostel in the afternon. Phui ~ I'm not going to stay there again even its for free. From Taipei Main Station, the Tze Chiang Express train took 2.5 hours to reach the city of TaiChung. With little difficulty, we managed to check into the Fuh Chun Hotel opposite the train station at a mere NT780 or S$40. Yes, it's aging but it's certainly clean and relatively well-maintained for the prices we paid for 2 nights. Taichung is probably another Taipei in the making. Plans are on the way to introduce a similar MRT system in the not so distant future. Without the MRT system, 2 of us felt that we had lost our legs as transport options ... read more

Day 2 (26 July 2005) The sun rose early in summer in Taipei. But we couldn't care less. It was close to 8am as we woke up. After a quick breakfast, we headed straight to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall to pay respect to Taiwan's one-time dictator. Completed in 1980, it took us 89 steps to reach the Main Hall where an hourly change of guards was taking place. Our next destination was Taipei Main Station where we roamed around the Taipei Underground Mall . Lunch was at Mitsukoshi Departmental Store where we were greeted by the ladies manning the elevators to B1. We roamed around the neighbourhood before crossing the road to the 228 Peace Park and the National Taiwan Museum. The scorching heat took a toll on me and I caught some sleep ... read more

Day 4 - Day 8 (13th - 17 July 2005) For the next five days, the sun rose early. After a hearty breakfast, Uncle Sam continued to explain the significance of building the dams. He wanted to make sure that everybody in the team understood and believed in it before proceeding to issue the equipment for the expedition. After a brief photo taking, the group of us together with the local villagers set off to our “Destination”. We didn’t take notice how long it took until D took out the timer and showed it to us. “49 minutes and 17 seconds for us to trek and reach the worksite!” Of course, returning back to the village after work took much longer than that. So 2 hrs were spent everyday traveling from the village to the ... read more

Day 2 (11th July 2005) If there were perks for the 6 of us who arrived earlier than the rest, this was it. After all the materials needed for the expedition were gathered the night before, we had all the time in the day to roam around the city while waiting for the rest to join us in the evening. 5 of us set our sights to Chiang Mai Zoo, home to the 2 pandas from China, Chuan Chuan and Lin Hui and of course a host of other animals in this beautiful place. The entry fee was a fraction of what I need to pay back home but was nonetheless interesting. Few visitors were in the park as it was a weekday and we took our time to visit the various animals in captivity. ... read more