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NAME: 大路痴
You only Live Once, so LIVE to dare, DARE to try, TRY to succeed, SUCCEED to fail, FAIL to learn, LEARN to live
VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE
Wishlist
* A Tablet
* Iphone 4
* Coach or Gucci bag/pouch/wallet
* A Mont Blanc Pen
* A Nintendo Wii
* A car license
* A car
* A diving license
* Qualify for Achievers Club 2010
* Reach my ideal weight of 50kg
* Try Bungee Jumping
* Try 'The Line' buffet at Shangri La Hotel
* A Man Utd Home Jersey
* Watch a Man U match live at Old Trafford
* Go Taiwan/HK/Thailand/Korea/Japan/
/USA/Aussie/Europe
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Thursday, October 15, 2009
TAIWAN TRIP!
Finally my Taiwan trip pictures are up! Think we took over 2000 pictures in total! *Faint* Didnt even realise that till i started uploading all the pictures. Simply can't resist taking shots at everything and anything i saw in Taiwan. Hee... This trip was the first time the 5 of us travelled together for a holiday. Usually it's so hard to coordinate everyone's timing. So glad most of us could made it this time. It's just so much fun to have a larger group :) Suddenly i miss Taiwan now. There are so many places we have not explore yet. I also miss my Ah Zong Mee Sua!!! But i will definitely be back again next time. Meanwhile, i can only have these pictures to keep as memories :)
DAY 1
 Arriving at Changi Airport
 1.50pm - Getting ready to board our flight
 Taiwan here we come! :)
 Guess what? Upon landing, i realised the stupid airline damaged my luggage! Arrgh!!! Thank god i bought travel insurance -_-'''
 7.15pm - Arriving at Taoyuan station to buy train tickets to kaohsiung
 Taking High Speed Rail to Kaohsiung. The train journey takes 1.5hr.
 11pm - Arriving at our hotel building at Kaohsiung. It has 85 levels! Woot!
 We booked a Shanghai Theme room there. The whole concept of the room made us feel very homely. Every single details was taken care of by the owner in order to fit the theme. Even the bathroom slippers are unlike those paper type commonly seen in hotel room. The attention to details really amazed us. In fact, the owner of the room is a very young and friendly lady who gave us a lot of tips and guides on how to maneuver around Kaohsiung. She also has 2 other theme rooms - Bali and Indian. Hmmm... Maybe we can try out the other 2 rooms next time :)
 Loves the gramophone. So retro!
 Taking a group shot with our beautiful room :)
 The view from our room! Just so breathtaking that i secretly wish i have the same view back home.
 We love it! <3333333
 Decided to check out the night markets at Zihciang 3rd Rd
 Bought some 黑轮+ some chicken and cheese pork chop at the roadside stall for supper :)
DAY 2
 Day view of the city landscape and Kaohsiung harbour from our room :)
 Arriving at Dream Mall, the largest shopping mall in Taiwan
 Playing around with the Kaohsiung World Games 2009 mascots - Gao Mei (高妹) and Syong Ge (雄哥)
 The interior of Dream Mall.
 Went to a Jap. curry place at the basement for lunch. Ordered a fried chicken cutlet set,cheese baked rice and tempura set and a mixed veg steamboat to share.
 After filling our stomach, we went up to the top level of Dream Mall to try out the famous Hello Kitty Ferris Wheel, commonly seen on Taiwan idol series.
 The famous Hello Kitty Ferris Wheel. Huge Isn't it?
 Bought the tixs at 150NT/pax, which translates to approx. S$7. The cabins are designed according to different cartoon characters to give tourists more options to choose from. So Kawaiiiii~~~
 We decided to go for the Hello Kitty cabin, which comes with a Hello Kitty cushion for us to take shots with :)
 View from the cabin
 Posing with the Pompompurin cabin and Hello Kitty Booth :D
 After the ride, we took the train down from Kaisyuan to Central Park Station. The train's tix comes in the form of a token. So cute, reminds me of a casino chip. Upon reaching Central Park station, we decided to check out the New Jyuejiang (新堀江商场)and Yuansu Yujhu(原宿玉竹商圈)shopping area, just next to each other. Managed to buy some clothes, gifts, a pair of shoes and sunglass there. Hehe...
 Night scenes of Kaohsiung. True to my colleague's words, Kaohsiung is indeed a magnificent place at night with all the multi-colour lightings and decorations. So pretty!
 Even the MRT station looks so grand at night. And as we travelled down the escalator, my camera just went into non-stop action mode again. Haha... It's just so nice and colourful.
 Alighting at our next stop - Formosa Boulevard Station (美丽岛) to go to LiouHe Night Market
 At LiouHo Night Market. Apparently, it is a must go place when you are in Kaohsiung. There are many stalls there. But most of the stalls there serve snacks and provide games for recreation.
 Passed by a stall selling snake meat! Scary~ O_o"' Any brave soul dare to try it?
 Bought some food at some of the stalls there. We noticed there's this drink stall with many signatures. Apparently, papaya milk is a speciality in Kaohsiung. Maybe that explains where those signatures came from. Coconut also found her "黑轮" at one of the stalls there. It seems to be another speciality in Kaohsiung as we can't find it anywhere else. We then went to this dumping stall recommended by Groundnut. Strangely, this stall has a funny T&C. Each person has to buy like 10 pieces before we are allowed to use their table. Crazy~~~ So we decided to order 1 box takeaway. We tried out the Bak Kut mee next door too. It was not bad - worth a try. At the end of it, we were so bloated!
 Spotted the artistically painted ceiling at the mrt station. Yup. This is Kaohsiung for you :)
DAY 3
 Having our complimentary breakfast at DCS, the cafe near our hotel
 Cam-whoring in our room. Love it! :)
 Leaving some feedback to compliment the owner for recommending such a wonderful room.
Checking out of our hotel. Bye Kaohsiung~
 Taking train down from Zuoying to Taipei
 Tranferring train from Taipei station to Ximending
 Finally arrived at our hotel - 'Royal Castle'. To our surprise, the room here did not have any windows at all! A total contrast compared to our Kaohsiung's room! But luckily they have all the necessary essentials, including a water cooler inside the room! At least we don't have to boil any water ourselves:)
 After putting down our luggages, we went for lunch at this interesting and unique place - 'Modern Toilet' restaurant. Yes, that's right, the concept here is all about toilet, shit and urine. Sounds disgusting? Hee...
 Is Groundnut having "constipation"? Haha...
 Fooling around with the cute pink shit! :)
 The "shitty menu"
 Look at how they decorated the interior. From the bathtub table, shower head, toilet seat and even the "shitty lamp". Cool right?
 My honey milk tea which came in the form of a urinal pot! Certainly not meant for the weak hearted. Lol... The other 2 items are hot coco topped with some flowery marshmallow and a corn soup.
 Some fried stuff and cheese baked pork cutlet rice served in a mini bathtub. Cute!
 Our main course - smoked chicken set and seafood set served in a toilet bowl, complete with a shitty cover!:)
 Who shitted on the toilet bowl cover??? :D
 We are having a "shitty feast" :)
 Too stinky???
 Life is great when you have a "shit" on your head and drinking straight from a "urinal pot"! Wahahahaha...
 Here comes the shitty ice-cream! :)
 Wanna have some? :)
 Me trying to "pour" some "urine" on Peanut. Lolz...
 Leaving a message for the restaurant owner :)
 Get to keep the "urinal pot" as a souvenir. Yeah!!!
 The bill
 Shopping around Ximending
 'Stay Real' - A fashion clothing shop owns by Mayday's Ah Shin
 Finally found 阿宗面线!!!!!! This place is highly recommended by my colleague when he knew that i was going to Taiwan. Apparently it is a die die must try place.
 The good stuff! The moment i took my first spoonful, i swear i could almost imagine fireworks exploding in the background. My colleague was right! It was the best mee sua i have ever eaten in my whole life! The texture of the mee sua is so different from those back in sg. Can even add chilli sauce or vinegar for that extra kick. Even though the ingredients are mainly pig's innards(i don't normally eat that), it's just simply too good to resist. No wonder it's still around after 34 years. Seriously, i think i can eat a bowl everyday and yet not get tired of it. Shiok! *Many thumbs up"!!!
 The downside is, there's no seat! So everyone has to stand up eating. But i guess nobody will mind as long as they can land their hand on that bowl of "divine stuff" :)
 Moving on to the next destination - Shilin Night Market.
 Finally arrived at the famous Shilin Night Market!!!
 Some fellows, young and old, playing some kinda baseball game. Power!
 Queuing up for the famous XXXL fried chicken. Look at the queue there! Incidentally, their english name is called 'Hot Star', rather rhyme with their chinese name 'Hao Da'. Think they did it on purpose. Haha...
 Erm... Their oyster omelette looks totally different from sg's version. Apparently, the taiwanese likes to top it up with tomato sauce all over it. Heard many feedbacks from friends who went Taiwan before that their oyster omelette was very yucky. But the one from this stall wasn't too bad. Still edible. Ha...
 Big biscuit wrap small biscuit. Apparently, it's some kinda prata skin wrapped with some biscuit crust. Kinda special.
 红油抄手! This is whooosssh too! It's actually wanton served in some kinda chilli oil and satay sauce. Very shiok! We ate it twice over there :)
 Stinky Tofu. Been wanting to try it for the longest time and always never have the courage to do so. Finally i decided to have my "virgin" try. Haha... Actually not that stinky but it tasted so so to me. According to Peanut, those from this stall were not "smelly" enough. O_o
 Another speciality of Taiwan - Coffin Board. Basically it's just some toasted bread with some fillings in the center. Not too bad :)
 After satisfying our stomach, we went to the other side of Shilin for more shopping!
 This was a funny scene. Halfway through our shopping, there was a raid (i supposed) and all those illegal vendors started disappearing within seconds. Suddenly the street became very empty after that. Haha...
DAY 4
 Waking up early in the morning to go for breakfast, only to be greeted by a rare sight of an empty Xi Men Ding street.
 The famous Rainbow Hotel favoured by many Singaporeans due to it's strategic location at Xi Men Ding
 Interesting signboard spotted along a row of shophouses :)
 Walked one big round around Ximending before we finally found the supposedly famous 永和豆浆. We found out later on that the one here is not the so call authentic one. -_-"
 Eating the breakfast that we bought from the 永和豆浆 stall. At least the food was still not too bad.
 Arriving at our first stop of the day - Elephant Hill footpath entrance. Yes, we are going to climb a mountain! *Gulp!* I know people out there must be thinking that we are crazy! Haha...
 And the climb starts from the road. See how steep it is even at this point *sweat*
 The Elephant Hill plaque
 And then the "real challenge" begins...
 Almost reaching the top :)
 Finally! This is worth the effort after all! The scenery from the top is just out of this world. Taipei 101 tower clearly stands out among the rest.
 The tower between the tree
.jpg) The tower under the control of our hands and fingertip :)
 The world is mine :)
 Jumping for joy at our achievement! Haha...
 1, 2, 3, 4 *Smile*
 Taking a group shot to commemorate the moment :)
 Taking a group shot with Taipei 101 before we returned to level ground :)
 Close up of Taipei 101 tower.
 Yeah! We have finally reached the foot of the "Giant" :)
 We went into the building basement and decided to have dessert at this stall recommended by Peanut. Finally something to cool us down after the "major workout" we just did :D
 Some DIY food stuff at their 7-11. Interesting~
 Statue of Liberty spotted in Taipei!
 Went to Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (新光三越) for more shopping! It's actually something like our department store.
 Bought this Jill Stuart Mix Blush Compact for only NT1300 (Approx.S$58)! Too chio to resist!!! Love it! Think it costs about 20 bucks more in Sg. Hehe...
 Went to this korea bbq place inside the building for lunch
 The package that we ordered - A five person meal
 The starters...
 The mains - Veg., pork, beef, prawns, scallops, fish. Yummy!!!!
 BBQ-ing in progess...
 Wrapped it up! - That's how it should be eaten :)
 This mix rice is so full of fragrance and oomph that i just can't resist eating it even though my stomach was already bursting by then. On top of that, the ginseng chicken soup was also hard to resist. *Delicious*
 Just so many food to finish!!! Super value for money considering the amount of food we ate.
 *Satisfaction*
 After that, we dropped by the Eslite Bookstore (誠品信義店)to buy some magazines and books.
 Moving on to our next destination: Wufenpu. Time to shop!!!
 The exhausted faces... Haha...
 After replenishing our energy, we moved on to our next stop: Raohe Night Market (饒河街觀光夜市). From a distance, we spotted this very prominent and grand temple just beside the night market. Didn't know a temple can look so outstanding at night.
 The entrance - Time to shop and eat again :)
 It's practically people mountain people sea there. The pepper biscuit from this stall is damn nice! Must try! No wonder there was a long queue waiting there...
 Finally time to end the night and back to our hotel!
DAY 5
 Setting off!
 Arrived at Xin Dian station
 The bus we took
 Wu Lai's street stalls
 Photo moment :)
 When we reached the spring water area, we saw some kids making use of the spring water to chill their drinks. So clever! At the same time, we also saw people bbq-ing nearby. Really gotta salute them cos the weather was so freaking hot!
 And then we spotted 2 dragonflies that appears to be sticking together even when they fly! Notice how they are join together. Weird isn't it? Or are they mating? Hahahaa....
 Enjoying the cooling water running through our feet. So shiok!
 Taking the log cart to our next destination: Waterfall stop. The ride was so fun! Reminds us of roller coaster! :)
 Finally saw the waterfall! :)
 Enjoying the scenery there :)
 Went for a hot spring bath after that with Peanut and Groundnut. Suddenly it felt so shiok to relax in there, especially after all the exhausting walks we had for the past few days. Immediately, we felt recharged after that!
 Went to the street stalls for some snacks. We passed by this interesting stall with some people crowding around. On closer look, we noticed a man shaving crushed peanuts from a solid block. Subsequently, he added 2 scoops of ice-cream and the shaved peanut on a piece of popiah-like skin before wrapping the whole thing up. We bought a piece to try and my goodness, it was just so yummy-licious! The cold sensation from the ice-cream plus the crunchy peanut bits was shiok to the max! Didn't know this combination works so well. Maybe can DIY at home to try :)
 We also saw another stall selling wild boar sausage with a super long queue. Being a typical singaporean who equates long queue to good food, we decided to give it a try as well. In the end, two words: "No regrets!". It was one of the best sausage i ever eaten in my life! Really die die must try, never try better buy! After trying it, the taiwan sausage that we often seen in our pasar malam is totally no fight at all! The one in Taiwan wins hands down!
 Saw this stall selling BBQ Muah Chee and decided to buy a peanut flavour one to try. Not too bad but we found another stall further up near the entrance and decided to buy a black sesame flavour from there to compare. We realised the quality of the muah chee from the second stall is much better! It's more Q!
 On the train journey back, 3 sleepy heads were spotted while only the green ones survived!:)
 Alighted at Sun Yat Sun Memorial Hall station to search for our dinner place. Passed by Taipei 101 again, but this time round, it's lighted up! :)
 Passed by a Macdonald celebrating their 35th anniversary using Hello Kitty as the theme. So kawaiiii~~~
 Finally found our dinner place - Mr J French-Italian restaurant, own by Jay Chou!
 The interior - everything inside contains traces of Jay Chou, including Mr. Qute, the other partition of the restaurant that sells desserts such as cakes and tarts
 Taking pic with our idol! :)
 The appetizers - calamari, salad and escargots!
 The mains -The spaghetti Mentaiko sauce was very yummy, no jelak taste at all *Thumbs up*
 *Happy*
 Went for some dessert after that at Tang Chao. Apparently it's open by Jacky Wu. Heh Heh...
 Ordered some mango pudding, shrimp chang fen, porridge and drink to share. Hmm... Somehow the standard in Hong Kong seems to be better.
 Our last meal of the day! :)
DAY 6
 Breakfast at KFC. Interestingly, they have this belgium chocolate egg tarts. So we ordered a box to try.
 Our first stop, 九份 - The best place to buy traditional local snacks and gifts. Love this place! Apparently, Jiufen got its name back in the Qing dynasty. Nine families lived there, and when ordering shipments it was always ‘nine portions’ (in Mandarin, “Jiufen”). Interesting right?
 Smelly Tofu - The one here was so much nicer than the one in Shilin night market
 Some other shops in Jiu Fen. As usual, everywhere was crowded. There is this jap looking stall there selling chocolate mochi. My fav! It's super nice! So different from the usual ones sold in chinatown. Think the stall name is 'Shou Xin Fang'. Shall be back to buy more chocolate mochi from there if i go taiwan next time!
 And then we saw this super eye catching lady at this particular stall selling squid ink sausage. She looks so comical with the huge sunflower on her head. Even the back of her shirt is a super duper big sunflower. Haha... I must say it's a clever strategy to attract more customers i guess.
 Found this shop here by chance. Didn't even know it's in Jiu Fen. Apparently, they are very famous for their pastries such as the pineapple tarts. The Tai Yang Bing here is nice too. It has a buttery taste which i like. In fact, our whole group ordered quite a lot from this stall cos they offer free delivery to our hotel. So convenient!
 We stopped by a dessert stall highly recommended by Groundnut and ordered some taro balls with sweet soup. Very chewy indeed :) They even sell those hand-made taro balls next door for people to buy and try cooking it at home. So we each bought a mixture of a few flavours - Yam, sweet potato, green tea,sesame etc :)
 The street feels very china-ish eh?
 It's like a walk down memory lane. Such a nostalgic feel...
 The scenery in Jiu Fen. Such a peaceful looking place...
 This cat caught the attention of everyone due to it's sleeping posture. It looks so stiff that some people thought it's dead! Hahahaaaa..
 Bye Jiu Fen~
 Went for dinner at 'Tasty', a chain restaurant highly recommended by Peanut
 Taking the lift to their dining area at the 3rd floor
 The set menu which consists of 8 dishes: appetizer, antipasto, salad, soup, sorbet, main course, dessert and drinks. Each dinner set costs NT$499 = approx. S$20. Super value for money! So we ordered 2 sets to share.
 The appetizers: Fresh shrimp and asparagus + bread top with some cheese
 The antipasto: Some pudding thing + garlic bread. The pudding thing is quite nice.
 Salad + prawn in potato. Normally i don't eat salad but the sauce here is damn good!
 Cream soup and seafood soup
 Lemon sorbet to clear our palette and the best thing is, it's refillable! Shiok!
 The mains: steak and chicken thigh. The chicken thigh was quite tender and juicy. The waiter even help to de-boned it for us on the spot. *Thumbs up*
 The desserts: chocolate cake + creme brulee! My favourite! Yum Yum!
 The drinks
 :)
 Our next stop: Danshui
 Busy street of Danshui
 The Tie Dan(metal egg) sold in many stalls there. Didn't buy any though as i don't find it fantastic at all.
 Bought this 冰梅 at Danshui which turns out to be very well received by my colleagues. Should have bought more!
 Suddenly i find all toilet related merchandise very cute. Wahahaaa...
 The boss is crazy~ Lolz...
 Went back to Shilin again and saw this super huge bitter gourd at the drink stall. Decided to summon up our guts to get a bitter gourd drink. Erm... It tastes weird but still drinkable.
 Big sausage wrapped around small sausage. Basically it's glutinous rice wrapped in an intestine casing, with a pork sausage inside. Didnt get to try it though cos Groundnut bought the wrong type. Ha... But we bought this sausage by mistake from the same stall and luckily, it turns out rather nice as well
 Wanton Mee
 珠珍草仙? hahahaa... The pearls from this stall is very Q though.
 Passed by this shaved ice stall and decided to stop by to cool down :)
 The menu
 Mango shaved ice
 Saw this eggshaped fortune telling object placed on every table for people to read their fortune based on horoscope. Good marketing ploy by the owner to earn extra cash! So i decided to insert a coin into my horoscope to read my fortune for fun. Hehe...
 My readings. Quite true for most part :)
DAY 7
 Asking directions from the counter staffs before setting off
 Having our breakfast at Dante Coffee Cafe
 Alighted at Jian Tan station
 Waiting at the bus station opposite Shilin night market
 Yes, that's right! The temperature that day was 35 degree celsius! No wonder we were melting ~~~
 Arriving at Yang Ming Shan!
 Entering the 3 dimensional tunnel? Ha... Looks kinda dark inside.
 Here we go again! Reminds us of our Elephant Hill expedition. Why are we making life so hard for ourselves while on a holiday? -_-"'
 The various checkpoints along the way
 Finally reached the top. I did it! Yeahhhh!!!!
 Inside the visitor centre. Nice! :)
 Funny figurines on display :D
 This huge patch of greens just behind the visitor center looks like the prefect place for a photo shoot
 Looking so small amidst the green grass, tall mountains and the clear blue sky
 The group shot which i finally managed to capture after running like a mad dog up and down the slope O_o
 Arriving at one of the landmark places mid way down the slope - Siaoyoukeng. In fact, it is one of the best-known recreation site in Yangmingshan National Park :)
 From a distance, we can already spot the volcanic area that vents forth gases. Definitely something that we don't get to see up close in Singapore.
 Spotted a hot spring by the side that discharges endless streams of boiling water. Think probably can even boil an egg in there. Haha...
 The source of the sulfuric smell and gas
 Loves this shot! :D
 Siaoyoukeng walkways
 Spotted some people at the mountain top! Out of curiosity, we decided to explore it too!
 Mid way through to the top. The path looks like one of those maze thingy often seen in those mystical fairytale movies. Hee...
 Datun volcanic area!
 Finally at the top! The view is fantastic! At one glance, we can see all the little blocks of buildings from afar. The hills and mountains nearby basically adds to the beauty of this place.
 Enjoying the view over there!
 Back to Taipei train station
 Queuing up to buy Mister Donut! The donut all looks very delicious!
 Going to Taipei underground mall to find cheap bargains :)
 1 pair of shoe for NT$200(approx. S$9). Cheap!
 Went for dinner at Fei Tian Hot Pot!
 Free flow Haagen-Dazs ice-cream here!!! Can you believe it??? O_o
 Choice of soup base. In the end, we chose the original, herbal and Ma La soup base
 The ingredients!
 Our selections
 Groundnut, the "aunty" who helped to break up the vegetables. Lolz...
 Are you hungry or you drooling now???
 The La La there was super fresh and juicy that i just can't stop eating it!
 A small trash bin was placed on every table for us to clear our leftover food. So convenient!
 The prawns there were super fresh too! I even created a mountain out of it before the waiter cleared away my plates. Haha...
 Fruits and desserts + Free flow Haagen Dazs ice-cream. Woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 Yummy~ Chocolate ice-cream is the best!
 Advertising for the shop. Haha... See the look on Coconut's face! Wahahhahahaaa....
 Our fav. convenience store where the masks were on huge promotional price! We swept so many boxes off the shelves as though it's free. Wahahahaaa...
 Our next destination: Party World! Lalalala....
 The upcoming stars. Haha...
 Beautiful lighting inside the building + Hello Kitty and Melody display!
 The reception/cashier counter
 So many bears! I want one too!
 Our receipt :)
 The interior of the room. Basically, they are using a computerized song menu to enter the song selection. The room even comes with our own private toilet. How cool is that!!!
 Our spacious room :)
 They even have a rating system to judge how well you are singing during and after the song! So sometimes we will get to see feedback such as 好棒.好棒! or 加油. 加油 to let us judge whether we are singing out of tune. So fun!!!!!
 The various scores! So cute right?
 Us singing away~~~ :)
 And then we started to get high!
 At one point, our rating halfway through the song was '出国比赛'!!!! Woo hoo!!!!! Can be a pro already. Haha...
 宝贝对不起 - The song which got me started on my own "mini concert". Wahhahahaha... 喔~~~ 喔 ~~~ 爱不怕!
 Taking a group shot! 高妹and 雄哥 are here too! lolz...
 Don't leave your things behind...
 Leaving Party World at 4am+ in the morning! *Yawn*
 The empty street in the middle of the night
 Walking back to hotel to rest for the day
DAY 8
 Went back to 阿宗面线 again to have breakfast for the last time just before we leave Taiwan! Lovin' it! I can eat this everyday! Seriously damn nice lah! <33333333333333333333333333333333333333333
 My empty bowl *satisfaction*
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