I went to Taiwan on 28th Dec 2010 to 6th Jan 2011, I know that now is already the end of February, this had been a really delayed post, but still want to share my experience of celebrating my new year in foreign country.
My first ever countdown experience is counting down to year 2008 in front of sungei wang plaza. and my 2nd time is counting down to year 2010 at the exact same venue.
星光三少 performance in front of sungei wang plaza on 1/1/2010
And this time, I got a chance to countdown outside of malaysia, in the city of taipei!!! There's a lot of saying about this countdown event in taipei, as this is the 100th year since the Republic of Taiwan was established, so the event is going to be huge. I was so looking forward for it.
we were in front of taipei city hall :)So, the event was held at the square in front of Taipei City Hall. We were there since around 5.00, the sky is getting dark at that time. We saw a really long queue over there. When I said that it's long, I really mean it, it is like you were queuing from the north court to the south court of mid valley. So, we thought that maybe we need to take an entrance ticket or something in order to join that countdown concert. Then we just started to queue. People coming around and ask us, what are we queueing for, and we don't know how to answer. Then a woman standing behind of us was like "You guys don't know what you are queueing for but you still standing here?" Then only she told us that we were actually queueing for the 3D spectacless as there were going to be 3D effect while the concert is going on.
besides a 3D spectacles, we also get a pair of inflatable sticks, ZA two-way foundation sample and a shiseido perfect liquid sample
It's not even 6 o'clock after we get those stuffs, so we decided to have a walk to Taipei 101. The sky is already dark, and the weather is getting real cold and it is really windy.
in front of Taipei 101
We have our dinner inside of Taipei 101 and then walk towards the countdown concert. It's getting really crowded by then and we can only find a spot which is way behind from the stage. I can hardly see the artist performing, can only see them through the big screen. The first artist that I see performing that night is Yen-J, 严爵. I'm so excited I get to see so many artists that I usually seen on TV in one night. The most pretty host in taiwan -- Patty Hou 侯佩岑, Rainie Yang 杨丞琳, Jam Hsiao 萧敬腾, Aska 杨宗纬, Mayday 五月天, and etc.... wohoo!!!
The biggest different between countdown-ing in malaysia and in taiwan, is the weather. In malaysia, it is so warm, but in taiwan, it is freezing as it is only 8 degree celcius. I wonder how those artists perform on stage without shivering as some of them only wear short pants or skirts. It is really tiring to stand whole night long, so some of the times we were just sitting on the ground, I just stand up when my favourite artists were performing.
I guess Mayday is really popular, as the concert going on, you can notice many people were sitting down. But as soon as Mayday coming out, all the people are standing together shouting for them and everyone were singing together with them. Too bad, I didn't update myself with Mayday's song, so i can only sing 1 or 2 of it :(
Love Mayday, going to their concert is definitely in my to-do list.
it's very very crowded
After Mayday's performance, it's almost 12 o'clock. Finally, the firework show that everyone had been waiting for. This show actually costs 60 million taiwan dollar.
fireworks at 101 building and city hall, not only these 2, actually a lot more fireworks show all around taipei city, can be seen if we turn around, but of course we want to concentrate on the 101 firework show :)
series of firework show pics (credit to mei fang ^^)
We were standing so near to the 101 building, the ashes were falling on our faces. But maybe there are too many fireworks at the same time, sometimes, i can only see the smokes. However it is, I still enjoy it a lot. At least it is the best fireworks show I have ever seen :)
this is why i say "sometimes, we only saw smokes"
As soon as the fireworks show end, we quickly rushing out towards the MRT station, you can see that many people had started to leave. Too bad that we can't see a-mei's 张惠妹 performance. As soon as we walk out, OMG!!!! Everywhere is crowded, we had a hard time to move on. Four of us holding hands so tightly afraid that anyone of us will get lost. As we getting nearer to the MRT station, we are totally stuck. We standing there and can't even move an inch. People are pushing one another and it is really frustrating. We stucked there for more than half an hour and only realize that all the MRT station nearby have been closed. We need to walk to Chung Hsiao East Road station 忠孝东路站 which is further away in order to get back to Ximending 西门町.
By the time we reach our hostel, it was almost 3am. We almost missed our train to Taichung the next morning as everyone was too tired to get up early the next morning.
Anyway, I enjoyed that night a lot. So glad that I can share the experience with mei fang, mei le and a bong. :)
