Taipei Trip 2011 - Part 4

Last day in wonderful Taipei! Like I said in my last entry, we have made reservation at the Hello Kitty restaurant. So the plan was to check out, have lunch, hang out awhile before heading out to the airport. But Sis suggested that we ditch the Hello Kitty restaurant and go to Danshui(淡水) instead. The Hello Kitty restaurant looks very interesting, but I wouldn't mind seeing another side of Taiwan. Besides, it's very convenient, just take a MRT train straight to the end of the line.

I really like how the scenery changes slowly from the grey city landscape into a lush and green sea side town. Our MRT definitely don't have a view like that!



We had to walk a distant to the 淡水老街 (old street), where there were plenty of tourist stuff like food, drinks, and souvenirs. On the way there, we saw a local restaurant named 大块牛扒(Big piece steak). Well, with a name like that, the food couldn't go wrong! Haha... So we thought we go settle our brunch there. It's pretty cool, the uncle would cook all sorts of steak at the entrance, so you place your order there and go sit inside.

It's awesome! It's like our coffee shop style western food, so it's a real good deal! One price for a steak with vegetables, pasta, soup and even free-flow of drinks! The stall was very vintage, filled with locals eating there before starting their day.



The soup was some sort of mystery vegetable soup, but pretty tasty. Oh and they serve warm mini croissants with the soup that literally melts in your mouth! My god, I wanted to eat the whole basket, but Sis told me to control myself!



Sis ordered lamb chops. Oh I forgot to mention that they add an egg on top of everything else. I think you wouldn't need to eat anymore after you clear the whole plate. -_-



I ordered their beef steak. It wasn't like restaurant standard, but it was pretty tasty. I could eat more, but Sis kept reminding me that there would be more food later at the 老街, so we just ate about half and headed out.



We didn't take much photos as we were busy shopping and walking. We were also a little concerned, as we were running out of cash. Haha, so we had to keep reminding ourselves that we had to control our spending. But it proved quite difficult as there were so many interesting shops! After walking awhile, I almost screamed and dragged Sis across the road because I finally spotted a cafe! I need my daily fix!

Check out the store owner's overweight golden retriever! He didn't even bother to move when I sat down next to him. It was pretty hot outside, so he chose the coolest spot in the store (under the ceiling fan) and just lay on the cool marble floor. Damn dog sure knows how to enjoy life.



When my order came, I frowned at how fancy my cappuccino looked. Then I checked the order form and realised that I ticked the wrong box and ordered a mochaccino. ARGH!!!



GREAT. The last time I had a mochaccino, I was 18 years old. Now my 1st coffee of the day was ruined! Sis asked me to order another, but I didn't wanted to waste more money. So I just drank sulkily. >_<

Anyway, we quickly drank and continued to explore the area. Maybe we shouldn't have eaten the steak, because there was so much snacks and food, but we were quite full and didn't feeling like eating more! But after walking awhile, we turned to the street facing the sea!

The place was very crowded with the Summer vacation folks, but I find that very festive. There were lots of people eating giant ice creams, so I wanted to try too!



Looks good, but its actually very bland, like watered down milk, and very icy. Not creamy or smooth. Threw it away after a few more bites. :P Sis ordered spicy grilled squid. I thought that they would be rubbery, but they were surprising soft, and quite good!



Ai-yu and lemon drink. Super refreshing and shiok on a hot day like this!



There was an uncle selling CDs of himself playing the aboriginal porcelain flute. There were classic Taiwanese songs and also newer songs. He even played the flute on the spot and he was so good! Sis bought his CD, saying that she likes to buy local music from different countries that she goes to.



We walked on a found a store selling local egg based cakes, but in Spongebob Sqaurepants design!



I bought these four designs. We were already going home, so I thought it would a nice breakfast for Jolie!



Cannot tahan, really curious how it tasted, so we decided to sacrifice Patrick the starfish! He was delicious! Very crispy on the outside, spongy and egg-gy on the inside! YUMZ~!



By then we have over-shot our time there and quickly took a MRT back to Taipei city. I think there's more to the place, but we didn't have the time. Their official website was quite boring, so I think this blog best describe the place. :)

So when we got back to the hotel lobby, I changed back into my jeans and we quickly headed to the bus station. On the way I bought two of those yummy rice dumpling from 7-eleven for my flight tonight. :)

When we checked in at the airport, we found out that Sis's flight was postphoned from 8pm plus to 10pm! So we headed to the cafeteria for dinner, and surprise! They have Hung Shifu Beef Noodles there! Cobby had asked me to bring Sis to eat the most wonderful beef noodles ever, but it wasn't in our itinery, so we didn't go. Imagine my surprise when I found out that they were selling it in the airport cafeteria.



Erm, well, it was quite disappointing, because the standard definitely wasn't as good as the one we ate at Maokong. That's the problem with franchise, the staff don't care that they were destroying Master Hung's reputation! Luckily Sis didn't order. :p So after dinner, Sis went into 'work' mode and killed time by going to the duty free stores to spy on their prices. She also found out that they have an executive lounge she can go to clear her work emails while she waited for her plane.

So when it was time for me to say goodbye, I felt a little sad. When will we have this chance again to spent time alone with each other? Not in the near future really.

This time round, I really enjoyed my flight alone. I had a great holiday, I'm going back to my family, this was great! But during the flight, my dinner didn't sit well with the shaky plane, and me watching movie on my netbook. So I threw up all my dinner! Thankfully I still had my rice dumplings, so while everybody slept, I was munching my dumpling and watching my movie. Sounds strange, but it was a great way to end my trip.

Taipei Trip 2011 - Part 3

This morning we planned to go to MELANGE CAFÉ for breakfast. The popular cafe in Taiwan was well known for it's awesome waffles, beautiful interior, but also long queues. So we wanted to be there right when they open. Unfortunately, the exhaustion has finally started to catch up on me, and I was having some difficulty waking up in the morning. So by the time we headed out, it was almost 10am.

The place wasn't very far, a few MRT stops away. But when we got out, we went the wrong direction and ended up wandering around for 15 minutes before getting our bearings right and finding the place. Our happiness was short lived. The place was already full and there was a crowd hanging outside, waiting to be seated! -_- So we just took some photos while we waited.




Their menu was designed to look like a newspaper. Since we're waiting, might as well decide what we wanted to order 1st. There were SO many types of coffee, tea, drinks and yummy looking dishes! How to decide??



Most of the people wanted table seats, but we didn't mind counter seats, so we managed to get seated before many other earlier than us! Whoo hoo! The place looks so nice and chic!




Cannot tahan liao, let's order! Sis ordered this Iced Coffee Malange with Jelly (NT140)Yumz...



I ordered this Iced Dutch Water Drip Coffee (NT140). It's delicious! The coffee may be iced, but it's still very rich and strong. I think it's the iced coffee cube that made the difference. YUMZ YUMZ!



We also ordered this beautiful Smoked Chicken and Ham Pizza (NT130). It's yummy! It's cheesy, the meat was nice and juicy and there was a thick slice of tomato in the middle. Sis didn't like tomatoes, so I ate hers too. It's sweet, not sour like the ones in Singapore.



The single scoop of egg salad on the side was very yummy too! I think if they sell it by itself I'll order it too! Next, the highlight of the day, waffles! We ordered the Caramel with Ice Cream Waffle (NT130).



It surprised me. First, the texture was crispy on the outside, but dense and fluffy inside, more like a cake than waffle. Not your typical waffle. Next, there was a very slight almond taste, like in almond tea, so it was a little turn-off for me. Was it IN the waffle? Or was it the almond powder they sprinkle on top? I'm not sure.



I wouldn't say it's uber delicious, but it's not bad either. I think I prefer the ones they serve at Geláre. :) It was a great place, great ambience. We loved sitting on the counter, watching the staff prepare the delicious drinks and food for us. How I wish we have an outlet like this in Singapore!

I asked Sis what role would she play in a busy cafe like this, and she said that she would like to be the manager, bossing people around. Me, I would like to be one of the staff preparing the food. Because I like the idea that people are happy and contended after eating my delicious creations! That says alot about our characters huh!

Check out their mission statement, simple and straight forward. I like that.



Oh I wish we didn't have to leave, but we gotta head to our next destination, 五分埔 (Wufenpu Wholesale Market). So exciting! I've never been there before, so I can't wait! But we ended up being too early. The stores only open around 2pm, so we wandered around and ended up eating lunch again...

When we got inside Farmosa Chang, I was thinking, "Oh my god, I just ate a cheesy pizza, waffle and coffee. How can I eat somemore?" But then the food came...



They looked sooo good! This is one of my favourite Taiwanese dishes, 魯肉飯. (Braised pork rice) How to resist???



We also ordered the braised pork trotters, which was ass-kicking good, but we forgot to take a photo. After the meal we were SERIOUSLY full. But it was still early, how? So Sis suggested something super crazy, she wanted to go for a foot massage. I resisted and resisted, I'm very sensitive to pain! I don't even go to spa massages! But she insisted, so we went.

As if my hell wasn't deep enough, they decided to be "generous" and gave us complimentary back and shoulder massages! I wished there was someone to take a video of us two. It must be hilarious. Sis was totally enjoying her massage, complimenting her Masseuse and stuff. Me, I'm squirming about, with a permanent grimace on my face, pleading my Masseuse to be more gentle and wondering when it's going to end.

Then comes the foot massage. >.< They have comfortable arm chairs with your personal TV sets, so it's a good way to distract you from the pain. But seriously, my face was constantly frowning. Only my amazing 忍功 was preventing me from screaming and kicking at my Masseuse. I was SO HAPPY when it ended. Finally we went to 五分埔. This is the one of the very few photos we took there because we were walking non stop in that labyrinth of shops.



They have clothes for everyone! Male, female, children, even older ladies and dogs! There's also accessories, bags, shoes and even dancing costumes. What really irks me was that the shoes were all very small size, and majority(or all) of shops have a NO TRYING policy for clothes, so I didn't buy much.

I got:

• 3 tops
• 1 bag
• 1 pair of heels
• 1 T-shirt and 1 pants for Jolie

I guess most of the time was spent looking for another shop that sells a pair of heels that I liked, but no size. Also, I was hunting for a nice bag to replace the one at home. We saw one at the beginning of the walk, but we couldn't find another one that was better, so we had to walk backward to the shop.

By the time we left, it was already late afternoon. So we decided to head to Hello Kitty Sweets Restaurant for dinner. Unfortunately, as it was a Saturday night, the place was fully booked when we got there! :( So if you want to go there, make sure you make reservations! Anyway, it's such a shame not to dine there, so we made reservations for lunch tomorrow, after we checked out. Yeah!

On the way back to the hotel, we saw this cute design on the MRT station walls. It features all the famous landmarks in Taipei. The Taiwanese are so good at making cute things!



So with our dinner plan spoilt, we decided to check out all the food outlets at the shopping centre below our hotel. It's pretty cool, like a giant food courts selling snacks, drinks and also restaurants. All the restaurants had long queues outside, so we decided to order our food to go and dine in our awesome hotel room. Tonight's dinner was Tonkatsu, Taiwanese carrot cake and Tau Huay for dessert. So we pigged out while we watched Glee. Shiok!

Taipei Trip 2011 - Part 2

Today we go 九份(Jiufen)!!! I've never been to Jiufen, only heard about how much fun it was from Sis. Sis, having gone there before with friends, got confused and thought that I went there with her. Duh~ So when I told her that I've never been there before, it became a must-do on our itinerary. Because we had to take a train, we dedicated the whole day for this short trip. So 1st thing in the morning, we took a MRT to the Taipei Main Station stop (台北车站).

On the way there, we noticed that there seemed to be alot of children of all ages out and about. It's a Friday morning, why aren't they in school? Apparently it was the FIRST DAY OF SUMMER HOLIDAYS.

OMG...

Little kids were out for their school outings, teenagers going on short trips with their friends, parents taking their kids to nearby cities for fun. So all sitting seats for the train were SOLD OUT. Only standing seats were available, but it was a 40 minutes ride, so we tried our luck again by going to the actual Taipei Train Station. I've seen it on the outside, but I've never been inside before!



Well, it's the same response, sitting seats sold out, only standing seats. Then I decided, we're tourists! We can't let this little setback stop us from going to our destination! So we just bought tickets for the next train out to Ruifang (Jiufen stop). The only problem was... the next train arrives in less then 10 minutes!!!

OMG, we were planning to buy yummy breakfast to eat on the train, but now we only have time to sprint to the 7-eleven and grab anything that appeals to us. Long queue at the cashier! Argh! After payment we still had to look for the boarding platform. Where is it? Where is it? We were in such a rush that I didn't even have time to take a picture of the train.

It's not as squeezy as I expected, but of course, having cushy seats would have been even better. -_- So as the train moves off, Sis prepared some yummy 饭团 (rice dumpling) from 7-eleven while I drank my iced coffee.



Actually it's not so bad, we ate, drank, chatted, listened to music and admired the view outside. Before we know it, we've arrived at our destination! It's just like a very long MRT train ride!



When we've arrived, we walked across the street outside the train station and took a bus up-hill. Sis said that they've changed their crappy buses to these brand new, air-conditioned ones. You can even pay with the Easy Card (equivalent to our EZ Link Card). We took the front row seats, so we got a full view of the precarious ride up the narrow hills. It's like a scary roller coaster ride uphill. Many times I was sure the giant bus was going to hit the walls or cars parked at the side, but the bus driver just swerved pass them by mere inches. 历害, 历害...

Finally we were there!



The place was awesome! It was just rows and rows of shops selling food, drinks and interesting souvenirs. One of the first and also my favourite buys was the family of cats. At first I didn't know where to put them, but Sis suggested that I put them on my fish tank at home. Which was a marvelous idea! Look how cute they are!



We also bought interesting porcelain flute originated from their aborigines. Since it was near to Sis's birthday, I paid for hers as a present. :)



Oh I just love their winter melon drink. Best drink on a hot day! You can even buy them home! Just melt the blocks of concentrated melon drink (see at the back?) and you can enjoy the drink at home! So I can't resist and bought 3 packets. I should have bought them on the way back, as it was SO HEAVY, it's like carrying 3 packets of bricks! Thankfully I bought the recycled fabric bag Sis gave me, saved my hands from alot of pain!



The stall next to the winter melon drink was selling Taiwan sausages. Sis was trying almost every Taiwan sausage stall we came across. I'm not crazy about it, so I didn't really try. But the stall was selling wild boar meat sausage, and I heard it was quite good, so I took a bite when she offered. Oh my... IT'S DELICIOUS! Usually Taiwan sausages tasted a little sweet and artificial, but this one tasted like, like a sausage! It's moist and yummy, and delicious! Haha...



Came across something interesting. The dude would shave a GIANT block of peanut candy with a wood shaver and add it to ICE CREAM and wrap with popiah skin.



Awesome! So interesting! I was all excited until sis told me that it's a pretty common snack, you see it everywhere. -_- Wet blanket...



Another interesting snack, grilled abalone mushrooms. I thought that it would be dry from all the grilling, but when I bite into it, there was an explosion of juices inside my mouth! Yum! And it's a little spicy too!



It's not all food, there were lots of shops selling interesting clothes, handicrafts, souvenirs and also accessories! The shop that sells adorable figurines of Taiwan's aboriginal tribes also sells cute little earrings. We bought a few!



By then the narrow streets were starting to get crowded...



One of Jiufen's famous eatery is Lai Ah Mah's taro balls. I've always seen people eating taro balls on TV, so I wanted to try it.



Well, it's quite refreshing, we chose the mixed flavours with green bean soup base. I find the balls a little tasteless actually, like balls of chewy jelly. Only the sweet potatoes one tasted like, well, sweet potatoes. Because it's cold, it's a great treat on a hot day. We were quite lucky. Sis said that when she was there with her friends, they would be all sweaty and sticky. But we didn't even break a sweat, thanks to the sunny yet cool weather that day.

After awhile we came to an area that had several tea houses and cafe overlooking the pacific ocean. We ate so much that we couldn't think about lunch, but a nice cup of tea and a place to rest our feet seemed like a heavenly idea. There were air-conditioned ones but I kindda like the open-air type. So we enjoyed our coffee while listening to the insects chirping and the soft music played by the tea house. Definitely a great way to relax our senses from all the hustle and bustle of the main street outside.







Since we're resting, it seemed like a perfect setting for some music! Even though there were other customers at the next table, I gave my flute a try. :)



Haha, thank you, thank you...

With our feet rejuvenated, we started to head back. On the way back, Sis was busy looking at some fengshui stuff, so I finally got to eat my stinky toufu! Yumz... my 1st one for this trip, because sis wasn't too crazy about it.



After a few more stops, we got back to where we started and waited for the bus down. Unfortunately there was SO many people that we had to wait for SOoo long! Finally a bus came, it was a direct bus to Taipei, so we thought it would be great to have a ride all the way back to the city. But we regret that idea when the bus took off.

The stupid bus driver packed the bus with too many people, we barely had any space to hold on. Thankfully we were surrounded by ladies and not stinky or lecherous men... Worse, the driver was so reckless! He was speeding and swerving and braking so hard, all of us standing passengers were struggling to hold on to our dear lives! It was so bad, our palms were all red and sore by the time we reached the foot of the hill. Even though we weren't going downhill, the stupid driver was still driving the same manner! No way we're going to sit in this kind of bus all the way to the city, so we alighted at the train station.

The train ride back was just as eventful. We were thanking our lucky stars that the ride back wasn't as crowded. We even got seats! So we were enjoying the air-conditioning and about to doze off when the announcement came on. The train was terminating at the next station and we had to take some other train. WTF?! No wonder not everybody rushed onto the train just now!

When we got off, the locals just automatically moved on elsewhere, leaving the tourists looking all dazed and confused. We had to move to another train platform that indicated "Taipei" and hope that the oncoming train would bring us back to the city! So we got onto the train and relaxed again as the train trotted on. It was more crowded on this train, so we had to sit separately.

Sis was asleep and I was listening to my music, suddenly I looked up at the flashing digital sign on the train door saying "Taipei City". Our stop!!! I quickly yelled at Sis and we scurried off the train, only to find out that it was the WRONG STOP! Taipei City was the NEXT STOP. Oops... So we asked the staff how to get back to Taipei city and he said just take the next train on the same platform. Luckily it wasn't too long before the next train arrives. Haha... so malu~

It was already late afternoon when we got back to the hotel. We washed up and rested for awhile before heading out to dinner. Tonight we dine at 干杯Bar. Unfortunately, since it was a Friday night, the place was fully booked, so we put our name down and headed to a nearby Haagen Dazs to hang out.



So shiok, the place was so nice and tranquil, and we got window seats and free wi-fi! Of course, since we're there, we ordered waffles and ice-cream. Haha... dessert before dinner! It was so relaxing I was about to doze off. But we have one more stop, Ganbei bar!



It was great! They only got counter seats, so it's very cosy. Plus the staff are all very cool and friendly. So if you like BBQ food, beer and hanging out with good friends, Ganbei bar is a must-go!

Kill of the day...