Taiwan - Kaohsiung May 2011

Due to some circumstances, Dar and I made a trip to Taiwan by ourselves. We had actually planned the trip with Claire but ... long story....

Took the HSR to Kaoshiung from Taoyuan.

Super~~~~~ clean and spacious~! Comfy trip all the way to Kaohsiung~ There's no need to book the ticket first as not many people will take the HSR since its more expensive than the train.

Weather was damn hot by the way, in Kaohsiung, we knew it will be warm but didn't know it's damn hot! 

Our accommodation in Kaoshiung, Kindness Hotel which is very near to the main station, very near to 爱河and also the night market 六合夜市. Room very small, and only have space as shown in the picture, enough for 2 pax to walk. The other side of the bed is wall. However, the rooms are clean enough, staff friendly and place is very convenient. There's 巴方云集(shop selling 水饺and 锅贴) and 贡茶 just opposite it. Free Wifi too.

This came from the a dessert shop just besides the hotel. Very nice~ green tea with red beans and the serving so much I couldn't finish. 

On our way to 六合...

Our main dinner for the night. 2 鲁肉饭, Meat ball soup, eggs, sausage and vegetables all at only NT160! Which is only NT80 per pax and this is calculated to approximate S$3. Very value for money and delicious too! Different from the 鲁肉饭at Taipei, the 鲁肉饭here has got big pieces of meat and lesser gravy. Preferred the food in Kaohsiung as it's less oily and less salty. 

爆浆水饺from the night market. Was alright didn't really 爆浆but maybe cause we ate when we went back to the hotel, after a roundabout walk. Should have eaten there but we were too full. 

Dream Mall ， 梦广场. Atas shopping mall which we visited by taking a shuttle bus there. A very big mall containing many branded boutiques. 

They have got an amusement park on the room top called the Happy 100 Sky Park. This place has got bungee jump too. Not the falling down kind but the upwards kind which I don't know what it is called. 

Hello Kitty Ferris Wheel~ 

There are 2 kinds of cabin, the one above, with cartoons on the casing and the one we took which is transparent all around. 

This is the one we took. Hello Kitty one with transparent casing. Though I know it should be quite safe but my heart still skipped a beat when we are in and it's moving. 

We are only staying for 2 days in Kaohsiung and though we had planned to visit places like Qijin (旗津) or Kaohsiung Rose Basilica, Kaohsiung Confucius Temple and Xizi Bay（Xiziwan), we didn't really have much time to go. The super warm weather is not conducive for travelling around too. 

Kaohsiung is too big for a 1.5 days stay. Do remember to stay longer if you are going there. 

We do however, have the mood to do some shopping~ New Juejiang Shopping Area. It's easier to shop in Kaoshiung, perhaps due to the lesser number of people filing around, compared to in Taipei, where it's more crowded. Quality and variety seems better too. 

Love River or 爱河.

You can take the tourist boat called 爱之船. Which though named after the river, it can actually also means "Aids Boat".

Professional looking, clean boat with an official tour guide on the boat who will explain to tourists the significance of the river and the building around it. Best to visit in the evening around 5, then you can see the beautiful sight of the river, changing as the sun sets and lighting up with blue lights.

There are dragon boats underneath the bridge. According to the guide, we've missed the training for the dragon boat festival. 

 Soaring Dragon Fish Statue

According to the guide, the bridge is called 高雄之眼. Eye of Kaohsiung due to the reflections on the river after the lights are on, the bridge will form the shape of an eye from above.

Went to 六合again to buy some food, got 牛榨糖as souvenir back for the Office people. Should have bought more cause they are very nice! With green tea, black sesame, original and I think caramel flavor. Love green tea the best. According to the person selling the sweets, they are made from milk produced by the farms in Kaohsiung.  

Walk back to the hotel and came by this shop in one of the lanes. Went in for a late dinner, and ordered original and black pepper Omu rice or 蛋包饭. Very big portion for only NT30! I wonder how the boss survived since it's a big portion and the ingredients used were fresh. 

On the whole, our trip to Kaohsiung was quite wasted as due to the weather and that we are down to 2 pax, there's not really a mood to explore the area +  it's not valued to hire a private cab to take us around. Hopefully we can go for another trip to KaoHsiung and also Kenting as there are many places I would like to go. Coming up, we are travelling to Taipei where I'll be blogging about 三峡which we have not gone before. 

Mockery

This is a mockery at people who despite all the hoo ha about saving the environment and the Apocalypse, refused to change their stupid stubborn mind and continue to burn things. Burn in the name of religion, burn in the name of prosperity, burn in the name of cleansing of sins.

"Tis the season to be burning falalalala lalalala. Heck care bout the air and babies falalalala lalalala. So what if they can't breath properly falala lalala lalala. As long as I can make money falalalala lalalala"
Sent from my iPhone
Jeslyn tee

Taiwan - Hualien May 2010

Kehaha~ Why am I writing a blog post about Hua Lien trip 2010 when 2011 had just ended? Because I may be going for another trip in 2012~!

Stayed in 小王子民宿 during our 3 nights trip there. Though due to some mis-communications, we were moved to the more ulu 吉安branch but the overall experience there was way way more satisfying than our stay in Taipei. 

Per the name of the residence, the whole 民宿was themed to the ''Le Petit Prince'' which happens to be my favourite ever. 

We opted for a 6 pax room and surprisingly, it came with a mini swimming pool which took forever to fill up. 

Very clean rooms and facilities, owned by a friendly couple and their toddler son who likes my hubby so much that he cried when it's time for us to leave. 

But still, Hualien is a place where it's inconvenient for tourists to get around without a car due to their lack of public transport. Our 民宿 helped us to get a cab that we can call when we needed transport and can bring us around attractions. First day there, we went to their famous 七星谭 where there's a beer factory, 柴鱼博物馆 where they display the history of fishery in Hualien, different fish types and also sells fish products.

The weather was quite unpredictable, raining a few hours after we got there and stopping an hr plus later. Was evening after we got out of the museum, our cab driver took us to where food was.

There was a shop that only sells pork 水饺 (and nothing else! not even rice~!) but I've forgotten the name. The 2 branches are very famous in Hualien, so you can just ask and people will know. Their 水饺s are superb! Delicious with a wham! Big, juicy with thin skin and a lot of meat filling. A definite must try when you go there.

The driver also took us to 公正包子店. A 24 hours dim sum store that the driver said was famous too. Their 小笼包, not the 上海小笼包that we usually eat at Crystal Jade but the thicker flour skin 包 steamed in 小笼(small basket). So now that you know, don't go and order 10 小笼包at the same time, otherwise you will really burst the seams!

Another shop that I want to recommend is 包心粉圆. A dessert shop selling shaved ice with various toppings.  Can't find the shop name cause the 招牌just stated 包心粉圆 ;P The crunchy balls have got water chestnuts fillings when topped together with yam balls on ice, is simply heavenly. I remembered the shop that we went to has got free flow condense milk or something but well, memory fails with increasing age I guessed.

Our driver took us to 太鲁格 (Taroko National Park) the next day, our first time in Hualien, we took the normal tourists route, meaning 砂卡礑步道, 燕子口,  九曲洞步道, 長春祠步道,天祥, 寧安橋,慈母橋. I hope to go to the route (合歡山遊憩帶) my brother went in August 10. Be sure to check with your guide or via the website for weather conditions and closure of tourist spots. Due to various typhoons and earth rumbles, there have been increasing floods and landslides in the mountains there. And also don't stupidly wear dresses and heels there (like we saw some China tourists did) , this place is full of rocks and stones. Unless you want to try your shot at limping all the way. Don't smoke too! (Like we saw ALOT of China tourists did, oh well, they always thought they are the 大爷where ever they are right?)

We went to the night market 自强夜市near to our 民宿. Though it was very near but we got lost and went one big round when the place is actually 5 mins away. Nothing much to say, though lots of people around, we didn't find anything we kind of like. Didn't have the kind of ooo~~ that we had when we ate at Taipei. 

After our tiring trip in Taipei and another tiring trip up Taroko, we went for a country-side trip along 花东纵谷. 林田山文化园区， 鲤鱼谭, 光复观光糖厂. Perhaps due to our super long 11 days trip through damn cold Taipei and warm Hualien, we weren't very enthusiastic about our 花东trip. Maybe because it consisted mostly of car travelling rather than activities. 

Finally blogging for May 2010 Taiwan trip ended. I still have August 2010 and May 2011 to blog about! I don't think I'll be going on for August 2010 trip since there are no new places. But will blog about Kaohsiung May 2011.

奶油雄狮

Here's the 2011 version of the super cute 奶油雄狮 ad~! I want I want~~ anyone going to Taiwan recently please get a plush for me~ ;P




and here is a very duh~ MTV of "Hoot" -.-"



Past posting:
http://themuxicbox.blogspot.com/2009/03/blog-post.html

Christmas 2011

24-25/12/2011

Our usual Christmas celebration, will be meeting up at my house for our usual self-prepared steamboat dinner. This year is something different, we decided to celebrate in a hotel room. Some searching around, we decided on Re! Hotel which has got a wonderfully Retro theme to it. No matter it's the lift, lobby or rooms. There are other themes to choose from though, if you prefer not to sleep in a surrounding of Fushia Pink. 

This Christmas gathering is rather strange, cause after Claire checked in the hotel, Dar and I reached, then all 3 of us went out, Dar and I to Tiong Bahru and Claire to Jurong.-.-" Some sort of gathering huh?

Soon, Dephil arrived, Dar, Dephil and I laze around in the hotel room while watching Prince Of Tennis (Btw, complimentary Wifi) for an hour or so before looking around for our Christmas dinner.

Further, our idea of Christmas dinner arises as I saw this Korean BBQ buffet around Tiong Bahru on our way out earlier. Finally we settled on this "Ko Ryo Jeong" Korean Restaurant at International Plaza. Which foodie reviews said it's authentic enough. 

Being a boring person who normally only eat the more conventional food like Kopitiam, normal Western restaurants, this Christmas dinner will be an interesting one. 

Making our way to International Plaza was the start of the "strange" Christmas 2011. We met an interesting cab driver, who asked us whether we are singing Christmas carols! We thought, whoa~ do we have the word "choir" tattoo-ed on us? How did he know we sing? Then he continued to coerce us into singing a few songs for him. Unwilling, we tried to divert his attention by talking about other things, but this cab uncle won't give up. He said he learnt singing back when he was young and so is very interested in us. Even making an offer to sing to us! In the end, he sang a very impressive Santa Lucia for our Christmas, we really appreciate his vocals but preferred not to be blasted in a cab. ;p

Our Christmas Dinner! Ginseng Chicken Soup set, beef rice, hot plate chicken, Kimchi Noodles! Damn full!
Love the Ginseng Chicken, clear taste that is not too oily, fragrance of the Chicken and Ginseng absorbed by the glutinous rice stuffed in the chicken, can make a meal by itself anytime. The side dishes that came with the set were not bad too, though most of them spicy so I didn't try.

Hot plate chicken and pork were not bad, meat tender though too little in portion. Not exactly delicious but it will do way~~~~~ better than the one Dar ate at Tiong Bahru Kopitiam.

Full from dinner and laughter, we now ponder over where we should be going or doing next. Don't want to go down Orchard, where the crowd of foreigners will swam us. And hey! what is Christmas without log cakes~? So we set on our task to get log cakes or cakes. Google was your best friend but nowadays, iPhones (with workable 3G and network that doesn't go down when you need it) surpassed that.

According to some searches by Claire, there seems to be a place that sells nice pastries down Maxwell, which is actually walkable from International Plaza, so the 4 of us walked the deserted roads down Maxwell, when it began to rain.

In countries where they snow instead, this will be a beautiful sight ~ we're happy tonight~ walking in a winter wonderland~~ 

.     .     .

Then we found the shop closed. ;(( aw~~~~ We now wonder where we should go next. In the middle of nowhere, shops are in the midst of closing, without cake and drenched. Still very determined on our mission to get cakes~~ we decided to take a bus to Bugis!

Satisfied that we bought cakes (not log cakes~ just cakes from TCC), we decided to go back to the hotel, which was quite inaccessible if not by cab. Hence it's another walk in the rain to the hotel, in my new cardigan and a body full of rashes. Yea~ I've gotten some rashes, rather unsightly, Friday at work, unsure of what triggered it but the rashes quickly became full blown, covering my elbows, knee caps, trunk and neck. Big, swollen and damn itchy that tormented me cause I can't scratch them and I can't fall asleep.

Won't be showing you the photos though, cos here's food again!

Sleeping at 4am watching old old hong kong movies on the Star channel, we woke up with just enough time to wash up, pack and let Claire/Dephil down a bottle of wine each.

Then we had our brunch at Re!Fill in the hotel.


Again, it's a color that Claire won't fancy.

and these are mine! Though Dar took the potato, some of the meat + corn cob -.-"

There's supposed to be a 10% discount but we forgot to make use of the voucher when we made our payment.