Photoshoot in Taiwan

Leaving on a jet plane on 19 September 2013, the feeling back then hides a little tiredness, probably due to the lack of sleep just because the flight at 7 plus in the morning and we had to make our way there at around 5 plus. For a night owl like me, that’s not easy to take. But somehow, that tiredness feeling was comforted by the presence of my wife-to-be, knowing the fact that we are about to go through what we have been waiting for, while at the same time, worried for the uncertainty such as the typhoon.

8 days trip can be very briefly summarized into one word, memorable. Of course, being our bridal shoot trip, we had expectations, especially after our first trip to Taiwan around 2 years ago. Flight, as usual, on a budget airplane, time would be more well spent sleeping. And we literally slept through our 4 hour plus journey enroute to Taipei.

Reaching Taipei brought us a tint of familiarity. The trip 2 years ago must have brought alive these imaginary anticipation that literally keeps me even more upbeat for my trip. Bought our prepaid SIM card (we definitely couldn’t live without one nowadays) and off we went to our long High Speed Rail to Kaoh Siung, where we were slated to have our wedding shoot done there/nearby.

The rail ride was like a scene plucked off from a Taiwanese romance movie, as I’m sitting by the window, sipping on my hot tea while the train zooms past the wide varieties of farms and scenery.  And in no time, we arrived Kaoh Siung. It was nothing like Taipei, much quieter, more serene and definitely less crowded. With my bulky luggage and her not so bulky luggage, we dragged them all the way to our hotel, Hotel Dua. 

With much expectation, we checked in like eagered kids, excited to know if the hotel room is indeed what we have seen from photos all around the website. And true enough, the hotel room feels luxurious. Dim lightings with nice room décor made us the only king and queen in our room for the next 2 nights. 

Blame it on our planning, we were rushing literally the entire day, just to make sure we had enough time for HER gown choosing and fitting. Of course, as you would have expected it, that wasn’t done in minutes but hours, especially when the one choosing is my wife-to-be. As we continued with our attire choosing and discussions with the photographer, the news of an expected typhoon continued to weigh in on us, leaving having to prayed the entire night and checking in the news channels even until wee hours of the night. I swear to god that I have never checked the weather forecast so often like how I was doing, every few minutes!

The DAY finally arrived and we rushed to the bridal studio. Sky’s dark but it’s not raining. We were given a crossroad decision and in the end, we decided to go ‘SAFE THAN SORRY’. Photoshoot was tiring, and it definitely didn’t help when my nose suddenly decided to pull a prank on me. My fiancée of course, look gorgeous. I have never seen her in such THICK makeup before and to be very honest, I loved it. After all, makeup is created for WOMEN for a reason, isn’t it. Deep down inside, I’m saying to myself ‘You should have put more make up more often right?’, even though I know she’s beautiful the way she likes it to me. Poor on her, the sun shone brightly that day and her hair and perspiration was her enemy while I struggled with my nose. And at last, we shot our last scene in the studio and off we went for a great feast at the nearest night market.

There is just something amazing about night market that always make me feel so excited like a boy to go roam around and tasting food very freely. That night, was the first night we slept real well and nice. A much needed one in fact because after this, we were going to Tai Chung!

Sadly, the typhoon arrived and disrupted some of our plans. Before the trip, I was struggling whether to bring the girl to Sun Moon Lake or Cing Jing Farm but now, god has plans for us, NEITHER. Typhoon made us worried about our plans to rent a car for some good driving time. In the end, guts told me I should not waste the International Driving Permit I registered prior to the trip. We rented, checked in Beacon Hotel much to her disappointment. Somehow, the hotel room I stayed is a vast difference from what I had stayed with my parents 1 year ago. But, I’m glad Tai Chung night market made up for it. More shopping was done here and this is definitely the place to shop and eat at night, no wonder this is my favorite night market in Taiwan.

Driving in Taiwan or specifically Tai Chung is indeed an experience. Taiwanese are generally nice, well-mannered and gentle people but drivers there sucks big time. They reminded me Singapore drivers, which unknowingly made me, drive like how I drove in Singapore. We visited the hometown of Sun Cakes and bought boxes back for families and friends. Seriously, don’t leave Tai Chung without buying them.

And so, we leave Tai Chung bound for Tai Pei in a much heavier luggage. By then, fiancée’s luggage is already almost full and of course, regretting not getting a bigger luggage which I DID advised her. And of course, you guessed it, I was mocking her throughout the trip about the luggage. Tai Pei was a much familiar place to us. Went to our facourite parts of Tai Pei such as Hu Xu Zhang (the always so yummy braised pork rice), Shi Da, Shi Lin night market etc, and of course, not forgetting new places this time, such as the Villa 32 for some nice hot spring, themed restaurant (A380 themed restaurant) and Wu Lao Guo after some recommendations by my colleagues.

We bade goodbye to Taiwan with a familiar sad goodbye because each and every vacation to us meant to much. Every vacation to us, never fails and always bonds us together. It reminded us why we were together, and the time spent together always allows us to care for each other in a different way as how we do it back in Singapore. So one could really understand the post syndrome we faced when we are back in Singapore and it will usually take us days and sometimes weeks to face reality.

It's month since we are back, and definitely, we acknowledge the reality now and we are definitely on route to our dream, our future, as husband and wife.