Cash and trip to Taiwan are our prizes for winning the grand prize in our 2008 Christmas Party musical dance contest which was held in Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati. We performed Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “CATS”. As the organizer and co-leader of our group, it was an overwhelming feeling that for two consecutive years, the Central Area did it again!

 

Our company is generous enough to pay for all our expenses in our six-day vacation. We were all so excited because we will perform again in their New Year’s Big Night.  Not only that, we will visit some of their branches as well as the famous places in the country which includes Taipei 101. We were equipped with thick jackets as February is a cold month in Taiwan.

First Day

We arrived at our hotel at almost 6:00 pm. After our dinner, we headed to Shilin Night Market which was often considered to be the largest and famous night market in Taipei. We rode in MRT (Tam Shui Line) and stopped at Chien Tan station. We had a long walk going to the market. T-shirts, souvenir items, and even foods were at affordable prices. I bought t-shirts for my family and souvenir items for me and for my colleagues. What I enjoyed eating here was the frozen sweetened strawberry threaded in a wooden skewer.

Though it was very cold outside, we didn’t go back to the hotel yet after our market tour. We explored the busy streets of Taipei and mingled with the crowd. The city lights were beaming. Funny, we ate ice cream albeit in the cold weather. I shared a room with Elena and Esther. Time for bed!

Second Day

This was our first morning in Taiwan. Everyone was so excited waking up in another beautiful land. We had a delicious breakfast and had a happy conversation with my colleagues.

This was our second day to explore Taiwan so everyone was so excited again for this activity. See our happy smiles?

We headed to North Taiwan to visit our company’s branches. We were so delighted to pass the Hsuehshan Tunnel, the longest tunnel in the country. The long drive wasn’t boring and I was widely awake watching mountainous landscapes in the glass window of our bus. It was like we were heading to Baguio City.

It’s good that most of our branches are located in shopping malls. From the last store we visited, I bought my favorite Transformer collections, Optimus Prime and Bumblebee for 635 NT with approximately P700 if converted to peso. Not bad.

We had our dinner in a shabu-shabu restaurant near our hotel. Then after a little rest in our room, off we went to the nearest stores and did some shopping.

Third Day

The day’s activity was visiting our branches again in Taipei. What we favored for the day was riding in a giant Ferris wheel in Miramar Department Store. It was operated by afternoon. Since it was for free, everyone experienced a wonderful ride.

Fourth Day

What thrilled me the most was visiting the reigning highest building in the world, Taipei 101. The building had 101 floors above the ground and five underground. The first few floors were filled with stores of foreign luxury goods. There were a supermarket and food court underground. We went to the observatory deck on the 89th floor by riding the world’s fastest elevator.

When the elevator closed, the lights were automatically turned off. We were delighted to see stars and constellations illuminating in the ceiling. The attendant served as a tourist guide. He talked so fast about the “Elevator” as fast as the ride. When he stopped talking, the door swung open. The experience was pretty cool. Haha!

There were so many good things to see at the observatory like pictures, reading material behind the construction of the building, and lots of tourists that flocked on the deck. We’ve seen Taiwan in its afternoon glory from the glass wall. We stayed there until darkness engulfed the entire city. We proceeded to the 91st floor at night time, went outside, and enjoyed the cool breeze. It was a chilly evening. It was so nice to see the top portion of the building illuminated by glistening lights.

We were so thankful of this wonderful break. Though we were so tired, the experience was all worth it.  We had a good nice sleep tonight.

Fifth Day

Another wonderful experience was our tour and ride at Leofoo Village Theme Park located in Guanxi, Hsinchu. It had four sections, Wild West, Arabian Kingdom, South Pacific, Zoo, and Safari Park. What we enjoyed most in the Arabian Kingdom was riding in Sultan’s Adventure, a high-speed jeep dark ride.

Other exciting rides are Mighty Mountain Flume Adventure, Pagoda’s Revenge, Screaming Condor, Intamin Drop Tower, Ring of Fire, Flying Horses, Monkey Trail, and a lot more to enjoy.

I tried the Mighty Mountain Flume Adventure. It was a smooth boat ride at first but got scary on the final plunge to the water. It has no safety belt nor handles to hold on to. What I had at that time was the courage to try it. It was scary but exciting! Haha!

We boarded a tourist bus in Safari Park. There we saw a group of baboons, lions and white tigers.

We ended our day buying various souvenir items in the souvenir shop.

The whole story was written in another article under Leofoo Village Theme Park, Hsinchu County, Taiwan.

Last Night, Year-End Celebration

This is the most anticipated day that we’ve been waiting for, to showcase our winning dance number in Taiwan. We rehearsed twice in the hotel by afternoon. We promised ourselves that we will do our best so our bosses will be proud of us for bringing the CATS group into their country.

Here are some of our pictures…

After we performed, we changed our costume to evening dress and mingled with the Taiwanese staff and officers. We even participated in their games on stage. It was a good experience dealing with them though they cannot speak English fluently; they are people who easily smile when greeted.

This is our third time to perform and I guess this is the last. But one thing is for sure, the memories of our CATS experience are something to treasure and cherish by everyone. It’s such a wonderful feeling organizing a team where everyone cooperated well from the start of our practice, from conceptualizing the costumes and make-up, the laughter, and eating snacks.

But I guess the bonding and camaraderie among the members are the best formulae for winning. I will surely miss this.

Last Day

We ate again a healthy shabu-shabu meal in Cash Country for our lunch. The vegetables were all fresh. Pechay leaves were so big. What a nice lunch we had.

That ends our Taiwan adventure. We were so thankful to our company for pampering us for six wonderful days.

Hoping to get back here in the future!