中學畢業旅行 之 台灣遊 （2011年3月）

[chin]

8 of us took a trip to Taiwan for sight seeing. This is the thread to share pictures publicly.

[kido]

先拋磚, these are some of the photos shot in the Floral Exhibition.  Except the red sky one, all photos are minor altered only.

[chin]

Nice pic!

[chin]

OK I will post some "pretty" pictures first.

Right after landing in Taipei, before checking into our hotel, we asked the driver to take us to places where we can see sexy betel nut girls. This is a very uniquely Taiwanese.

On almost every street in Taiwan, you can see glass "boxes" at the street corner, or small store front with large clear glass, selling betel nuts. Very often the glass box or store front would have simple blue or green florescent lights constructed like a neon light to attract attention.

Sexy betel nut girl 檳榔西施 is so famous that before my first trip to Taiwan, I thought you can find them in every betel nut selling stales. But I found out that the Taiwanese government have been trying to get rid of 檳榔西施 such that now it actually takes some effort to find them.

The girl in this picture is our first found.

[chin]

As soon as our van stopped, she came up to our van asking what would we liked. I then followed her out to the store.

I asked the girl in black if I can come in to take some pictures. And she said NO. Maybe I should have tipped first?!

Anyway, on reviewing the picture, I think the mama inside is prettier.

[chin]

Our driver then took us to another betel nut store. Again she came right up to our van, taking orders.

[chin]

This 檳榔西施 is very cooperative, and seemed happy to have pictures taken. A few of us took pictures with the girl. I asked if she would pose for me in front of her store sign, and she gladly posed.

At the end, I gave her a little tip of NT$200. I later asked the driver if it's common to tip. He told me it's OK to tip, but did not say if it was common.

My friend explained that these girls do not have much schooling, and by dressing sexily selling betel nuts and drinks to drivers, they can make maybe NT$10,000 per month. This is considered a very decent sum for what they can or willing to do.

[chin]

After 檳榔西施 and visit to the local golf store to buy some cheap balls, our next stop is Jiufen 九份. I have posted many pictures of Jiufen form my last trip in the link below.
http://chinman.com/index.php/topic,526.0.html

In my last trip, I was mainly walking the smaller streets to take pictures. This time I tried some of the street food in the 九份老街 - the main tourist trap in Jiufen. The first picture below shaved peanut candy wrapped in a thin waffle with some kind of ice cream or sherbet. It actually tasted very good.

The second picture features the famous Black Pig Meat sausage on the left, then squid and other varieties.   

[chin]

This must be one of the most photographed street of Jiufen. The sign on the top right says "悲情城市" which is a very famous movie that I never bothered to watch. (I like the music from the movie though.) I think the movie must have a scene in this street, in this house. Many many people, including my friends, stopped here to take pictures.

[chin]

More random shots taken in Jiufen.