Taipei Floral International Expo

My schedule everyday now pretty much consists of practicing vocals, dance, and working out. May not seem exciting, but this is my interest so the days go by really fast!

Well, the competition is getting tougher and tougher, currently in top 14. I really wonder who's gonna make it to top 10 (obviously I hope I make it!!!)

It's nice to spend time with the other contestants though! We go out to eat occasionally.

ome of us at a restaurant in Shida Night Market after attending the HRC Annual Dance show

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, Jen (Rou Rou) left me to return to LA in the States. I'll miss your face!!!! :( This was our last taxi ride together

Khee Zhang! The Korean representative in our competition. She is the sweetest and most innocent girl I've ever met :)

My outfit for top 14. I really liked what they chose for me! It was a sleeve-less vest with a huge scarf tied by a belt. Also my hair was a mohawk and looked really cool from the side. I sang "Speechless" by Lady Gaga for this round as a dedication to my father.

So, now occasionally the company invites the contestants to attend special events. This time we were invited to the private screening of "Burlesque" with Christina Aguilera and Cher which releases in January in Taiwan. The movie was quite good! A lot better than I expected and makes me like Ms. Aguilera even MORE! but Cher...You got skill, but your voice is too deep for my personal liking.

The private screening room

Me and fellow contestant Eve Liang

The contestants that attended the event. They also gave us free dominoes pizza. I DESTROYED that shit!

So Taipei got to host the International Floral Expo, which is close to Yuan Shan MRT station. The entire expo is quite large and takes the whole day to walk through. During the daytime, make sure to check out the outdoor flowers (obviously), but nighttime, there are a lot of cool lighting areas around the expo so stay for the whole day!

The map

My favorite! A hedge maze!!! Like Alice in Wonderland!

Kind of a let-down.... but still fun. Too bad it felt like a summer day, otherwise I would have enjoyed getting lost more

Dramatic B&W Picture

So there are several themed pavilions around the expo, such as the one listed above called "the Pavilion of the Future" Why is it a pavilion of the future? Well, supposedly the plants inside are plants that will still exist in the future when the planet has gone to shit cuz we are wasteful human beings (bitttter).

Each pavilion had a line that took about 1.5 hours to get in. We missed one pavilion (the pavilion of dreams) because you have to get there before opening (9:00AM) to get tickets to see it, which I ruined cuz I woke up an hour late for our meeting time...woooops.

A sample of the lines...like for a ride at the amusement park.

Ooooo, the FUuuttuuuuureeeee

This Banyan tree is massive and is the first plant life displayed at the pavilion.

Cool looking plant

This was amazing! It's the only plant to respond to the stimulus of sound. When you put music next to it or even clap, the leaves will respond by vibrating. Isn't that cool? They call it the Dancing Queen plant (telegraph plant) hahaha So all these old woman surround it in curiosity and clap non-stop. ahhaha Poor plant "pppleaseee let me stopp dancing" as it cries in pain. hahaha (what?)

A chrysanthemum plant that can grow hundreds of flowers. Pretty impressive!

At the top of the Pavilion of the Future is this impressive view of the expo. The solar panels power the pavilion below.

Each Asian country has a little floral display. Hong Kong's was very pretty, but only during the day. At night, you can't see much.

I like this top of this little contraption. I want to use this as my desktop

Cool weaved-basket building

Prettyyyyy

The bottom view of a cool art piece. Another cool desktop pic.

There was a cool Avatar-like show displayed at the Expo. The stage was quite cool, it would be dry one second, and become a pool the NEXT! Everyone would ooh and ahh everyday the stage transformed and the waterfall started. Impressive!

I really liked this section of the Expo. Filled with beautiful fields of flowers!

Rainbow display of flowers on top of a building! Breath-taking in real life.

The EcoArk building was composed of recycled PETA bottles. Really really cool design, one of the most impressive sites of the entire expo.

Close-up of the bottles and arrangement

The bottles light up by LED lights at night!

The inside of the EcoArk building. Didn't really pay much attention to what was inside, so I can't really tell you what it was about. :P

Example of cool lighting around the expo at night. We thought this looked straight out of the movie TRON. ahhaa

The Floral Tunnel connecting two separate parts of the expo.

Cool sign for the expo!

So we ended the night listening to an orchestra play inside this huge....retarded looking bug (doesn't it look like it'd make a noise like derrr derr?) and left the Expo feeling quite satisfied with the 150 NTD (5USD) tickets. I recommend a visit to the expo, but not on a weekend because there are WAY too many children and old people around. I give the entire expo a B. I think they spent a lot of time and effort, obviously, but some places just seemed poorly attended, boring, and empty. Overall, a great way to spend a day! The expo goes until next year, but don't miss the chance to give a visit!

Getting ready for TOP 12 Next Saturday! If you're in Taiwan, it's the 11th of December! Let me know if you're interested! The themes are Top 13 (Judge's Choice of Song) and Top 12 (Radio DJ's Choice of Song)

Wish me LUCK!