I am alive!

As you would have read, I went for my overseas reservist in Taiwan. This time round, the exercise area is in the south, which is relatively new to me despite it being my 3rd time in Taiwan for military exercise. We were hit by a cold front and experienced rain while on the way to the exercise area. Knowing how stressed everyone back in orchestra would be, I took the trouble to order a bouquet of flowers before my departure. It was meant to arrive in school on the eve of SYF, so that I could convey my well-wishes. Together with the talk we had, I'm sure the orchestra members would be motivated to do their best.

Some students would have noticed a scar on my left forehead. Yeah, I actually got it from my reservist in Taiwan. In fact, it happened just 2 days after SYF. A civilian car crashed into the vehicle I was travelling in. As I was in the rear seat without any seat belt to secure me, I was thrown off balance and hit my forehead, resulting in 8 stitches and a scar. Now I'm the Harry Potter of BBSS, save without the flying broomstick, good looks, nor cool-looking wizard robes. (I do have a wand though). I'm just lucky to be alive an relatively unscathed.

Misfortune aside, this reservist also gave me a chance to study the city of Gaoxiong in southern Taiwan. Towards the end of the exercise, we were allowed to go to nearby towns to tour around. We came to a Taiwan diving beach resort area and patronise the stalls along the road. The kebabs were fabulous! For a small sum of NT$10, you get to enjoy 3 types of grilled kebabs! I choose beef, mutton & pork. Still miss the taste of it now!

The Taiwanese are pretty innovative when it comes to design and tastes. Here, you see a car being converted into a mobile stall which sells fishballs, fishcakes, rice cakes and stuff cooked in soup. The stall looks pretty ingenious and manage to contain all the necessary stuff for selling the food.
They have also stapled 3 mini cups to a big cup so that you can hold everything in 1 hand and savour the food in the other. Fascinating! The food looked tasty, but I was on a tight budget, so didn't try them out. Sigh, am still regretting my decision now.

I also had the chance to cross Gaoxiong's biggest river: Ai He (River of Love). Reminds me of Singapore river with all the commercial buildings on both sides of the river.

Next, I visited the night market in Gaoxiong. Night markets are a culture in Taiwan, and Gaoxiong alone has 5 of them. Over there, you see stalls after stalls of food, and some other accessories, clothes, souvenirs. Ever willing to sample good food, I visited stall after stall to try out various stuff.

Let me recall: Shanghai Dumplings, Fochow Pepper Ovenbaked Bun, Meat Ball, Oyster Mee Suah, Deep Fried Ice Cream and Passion Fruit Green Bubble Tea with Pearls.

Attention: The next few pictures mainly depict what I see, not exactly what I eat. The “七里香” you see in the picture is actually parson's nose, or grilled chicken backside. Taiwanese regard it as a grilled delicacy.


Being a region with Chinese as the majority, Carrefour in Gaoxiong has far greater things in terms of variety. Imagine you can buy braised pig trotters and cold spicy seaweed and hot tau pok there!

Taiwanese are also very environmental conscious, as they always use special bags in supermarkets. Convenience shops charge for getting paper bags and all rubbish is sorted into plastic, metal, paper and glass. Apparently, Singapore still has a long way to go!

Finally, home sweet home.