28 Jun- Sunday
Attended a fren's baby girl (Keira Lim) full month celebration. Gave kit (mum) a diaper cake hand made by D.D. and me. Should be a useful gift as I asked how much does a baby use a day. Close to 6 diapers, which adds up to about 1 packet of diaper a wk. Took some pics of the cute gal who was slping the whole time we were there except when she was hungry, she cried. Hehe. Very peaceful look on Keira's face which was abit flushed. After a light dinner, played with Keira's older brother, Kayden. Still as shy as ever, dun really tokked or played with us. Only when he was holding onto his digi cam (real one but spoilt already), that he sort of "took pics" of himself and smiled. Am happy that Kit has a happy family and will be getting their own house prob next year. Congrats! Waiting for mine to happen.

So here are the pics:

Group pic, trying to be as quiet as possible while Keira is slping:


Nervous me, look at Keira sleeping, she actually dropped her hand from my waist:


Feeding time:


Trying to take pics with Kayden, su sah lah!




Kayden carrying his sis with help from mommy:


A sweet kiss from kor kor:




Kayden playing by himself, see so happy!


Long eyelashes:




30th Jun- Tuesday

Had dinner at Bukit Timah. While walking to have Old Town coffee, we came across a store selling Durians (D24, red meat and the Cat Mountain King). D.D suggested that we buy durians for my Dad. I was abit hesistant as how are we going to bring it back home and only my dad and mom eats durians.
In the end, we bought 3 red meat durians for $20, the uncle opened the durians to let us see that its red meat. We walked home as we couldn't be so inconsiderate by taking a bus and taking a cab is a waste of money. Finally reached home half an hour later. Along the way, our legs got scratched by the torns, so funny. I really appreciate D.D.'s gesture of buying durians for my dad although i was the one who took the durians and told my dad. Thank you for caring for your future father-in-law lah. muacks!

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Day 5- Sun, 14th Jun

Last day to do shop and eat whatever we havent tried. Went to visit the Library. There were alot of display of Taiwan's history in the form of photos, videos, ink stamps where you can stamp on your map of watever for keepsake. There was the changing of guard here too! Slightly different, the guards have to march for quite a distant and then walk down the stairs to their resting quarters. Noticed that there were alot of teenagers dancing in groups outside the library's empty space. Think they paid a minimal amt for somebody to teach them how to dance. Looks like the link from City Link to Esplanade. After that, went over to Taipei Main Station and discovered that the concept was very similar to City Link. Many shops, different thing is that you can smell the very fragrant sesame seeds, almond, coffee bread and etc. After that, went to the department store in search of a treasure. Yeah!!! We found Porter bags. Bought 3 bags iin total. Tink they are slightly cheaper and in addition, there was a discount for some of the bags. hehe.. My 1st Porter bag. Had dinner at a small shop and had 3 treasure rice and beef noodle soup. I really like the 3 treasure rice; chicken, taiwanese sausage and duck. As the nite came, we headed for a 2nd try of Shida Night Market. Our 1st trip was ruined by the heavy rain. Thought that there were supposed to be alot of sports stores , but no leh. Nothing much. Bought a pair of shoes, my dad's badminton racket strap and a polo tee for him. In the end, we had drinks at this Live Music Cafe on Ximending.

Founder of Taiwan:


Change of Guard:


The treasure:


Noodles:


Live Music:


Day 6- Mon, 15th June

Woke up earlier and checked out of hotel room and left our precious lugguage with the reception counter. Weather not too good, gloomy and drizzling. Had Ah Zhong Mee Sua for breakfast and Mister Donut. Bought a donut and drink and got a free file, so good! Donut was very fluffy and not too sweet. On par or tastes better than our donuts in SG. Walked ard Ximending to kill time as our flight back to SG was in the evening. Visited the Red Theatre which was one of the places recommended in those Travel books. After that, walked past a temple along the modern streets of Ximending. The entire temple was very impressing, the walls, carved pillars, animals and etc made the temple came to life. Started to rain heavily, we headed to Mos Burger to have some drinks and light food. Sian, started to miss Taipei as we were going through the pics on my camera. Went back to hotel and took a cab to the Taipei Main Station to take the coach to the airport. It saved us about 800 NTD. Reached the airport and again we ended up eating expensive food in the departure hall. Grilled chicken leg rice and tomato rice. To ensure that our tummy will be filled during the flight, we had coffee and cheese pie after our dinner. Arrived at midnight in SG. Had many happy memories of Taipei and will definitely come back with D.D.

School in Taipei


Red Theatre


Temple


Found Gu Jun Pyo


Mos Burger



Tao Yuan Airport- Coffee and Cake






Our loots

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Day 4- Sat, Jun 13th

Had lunch at Modern Toilet Restaurant near Ximending. Before that, got lost while trying too find it. Some of you may know this restaurant from Jacky Wu's variety show. The chairs are all toilet bowls in all patterns. Food was quite reasonable with drink and ice-cream when you order a set. Funny thing is that locals or chinese people have to go down to the cashier to pay for meals 1st but our neighbour, could just pay the waiter and the waiter will collect the change for him. Wah lau! Different treatment leh. Anyway, here are the pics:

At the basement of the restaurant


Sitting on the toilet bowl


Very pretty toilet seat covers on the walls


D.D.'s set lunch, the curry really looks like shit in the toilet bowl!


Me with the ice-cream, a good way to end the meal is dessert


Next stop, Sun Yat Memorial Hall. We were very lucky as there was an event, tink its drug prevention event. The whole "parade square" was filled with different school's band. From green, yellow, black, red, blue and other colors. Quite impressive. Also, there were many booths with their army personnel demostrating to mostly kids. We were given stickers. haha... I must say that the place is really enormous and scenic. The ang mohs are the best, as I was taking pics for D.D., they offered to help us both take couple pics. After which, they commented that our care bear couple tees were very cute. Thank you man!

Think this is the place where the ppl came after they fought for freedom?


Performance by school bands




Really like this pic alot, look at the roof and the dark clouds


D.D. chasing a rat


At about 4pm, we caught the changing of guard which was one of the things to catch in Taipei. The whole place was so quiet, you can only hear the guards' stomping their boots with in-built horse shoes. The whole change of guard took about 10-15 mins. The guards supposedly are there on shift of about 2 hours and are not allowed to move prob only blink and breath. Poor thing.

Look at the tourists on the side viewing.


In the evening, we headed to Shida Night Market (very near to a uni, got alot of students). Unfortunately, it rained cats and dogs, even with the umbrella, we could not move ard. Changed destination and headed to Shilin Night Market for the 2nd time. Stayed under cover and had some food like the coffin bread. Its quite saucy, think there is corn, cheese and ham in it. Next, we tried the smelly toufu. Actually there is no smell till u bite it. The 1st few bites were a torture. It tasted bitter and wierd, forced D.D to finish the whole plate. Haha. At least I have tried it. Next up, we were pursued by fierce aunties of dessert stores opposite each other. Settled for one, not bad, u can choose your ingredients. We chose pudding, black pearls and kiwi sauce. The ice shavings was surprisingly fine and tasted abit like milk. After filling our tummys, we walked ard the place, nothing to do as it was still raining.

Food!! Coffin Bread


Toufu


Dessert


Ah, look at all the machines.

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Day 3- 12 Jun, Friday

After spending quite alot on Day 2, we decided to have a more scenic day. As usual, we woke up late and had breakfast at about 11am and this shop that served traditional taiwanese food. Ordered Braised tuofu, rice with pork and Oyster Omlet. Next to us sat 2 guys, immediately i could sense that they were from Singapore with their accent, nerdy look with black plastic specs and short hair. Recruits ah recruits. Anyway, the omlet and tuofu were very sweet and salty respectively. Only the rice was ok bah.

That's before we tasted the food:


My Fav cartoon, Dumbo (must bring Dumbo out for a holdiay too):


After breakfast, we strolled ard Ximending and chanced upon a poster. Woohoo! Korean F4, Gu Jun Pyo and Geum Jan Di! Must take pic even though i will look childish. Shop was selling korean cosmetics.



After that, we took the MRT to the end of the line, Danshui. Wanted to visit the Fisherman's Wharf where Taiwanese F4 filmed for Meteor Garden, Lover's Bridge where couples will be together forever if they walk on the bridge and Danshui Old Street where the famous Tie Dan originated from. The journey is like from Bukit Batok to Pasir Ris station. I noticed that there were some seats which were labelled as "Priority Seats" will be empty even though there were no pregnant women, children, elderly people or disabled people around. The passengers would always walk past the empty "Priority Seats" and look for seats elsewhere.

Arrived at Fisherman's Wharf, it was sunny and windy at the same time, different from the city where it was wet. Not many tourists or people around though. Took some photos and walked on the Lover's Bridge although there were no signs to say what couples could do to pro-long the relationship or watsoever.

Looks like a normal bridge rite?


Couple pic:


Ate some snacks (fried mushroom, chicken, fish and grassjelly dessert)

Yummy though the powder was a tad spicy:





Took a bus back to the mrt station after waiting for awhile. Nearly couldn't locate the Danshui Old Street till we saw several tour bus parked on the road and decided to follow the bus. True enough, we found the street where the goodies were hidden. Bought over 10 packets of Tie Dan, 5 boxes of Wife's Biscuit and mua chi for our friends and relatives. Also, we tried the super tall ice-cream that costs less than $1 sing, even cheaper than Mac considering the size of the ice-cream.

Danshui Old Street



Headed back to the hotel to deposit our heavy load before heading off to Shilin Night Market. Was damn crowded and the only thing I hate is the motobikes which will weave in and out of the lanes where people are walking, people are selling food or clothes. Super dangerous. Must becareful of snatch thieves, accidents or the motobikes' exhaust pipes which could burn ur skin. As it was evening, we had our dinner by buying snacks such as Shui Jian Bao, Hu Jiao Bao and Wah Kuay. Would recommend the Shui Jian Bao, tastes like Guo Tie but with soup inside. Power! Bought my mum's slippers that she instructed and D.D's sisters' stuff. Food and gifts down.

Wah Kuay!



To be continued....

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Day 2- 11 Jun, Thursday

Woke up at abt 10am and headed out for breakfast even though there were free sandwiches and milk tea from the hotel. The staff would just hang the bag of breakfast on your door knob. Anyway, walked to Ximending area and settled on this JSP shop. Dun noe what it stands for, but surprisingly there were still ppl eating breakfast. I had egg sandwich while D.D. had black pepper noodles. One thing different about their sandwiches is there is a sweet taste like kaya or some sort of special butter.

Our cheap cheap breakfast


Next, we walked to the MRT station. Destination was Sun Yat Memorial Station where the shopping centres are located.

Mrt Station (most of the stations are underground)


Weather was not kind on us, drizzling. We got lost while looking for the shopping centres, so we decided to change course and headed for Jacky Wu 's Dessert Shop, Tang Chao, which was near-by. Shops in Taipei really open late like 11am.
The restaurant is really spacious with the chinese paintings and furniture. Ordered watermelon and honeydew grassjelly dessert while D.D. ordered Pudding and dim sum. Food was very fresh especially the prawns and the quantity of the dessert more than makes it up to the above average price.

Look at the dry ice in my dessert




Somehow we found our way to Pacific Sogo Department Store, Taipei 101, New York New York and other shopping centres. Generally, I prefer to shop at the night markets as the stores there sell branded stuff or their prices are so high that the average shopper (Me) would not be able to afford. Hehe... Nothing special lah, must save more money for shopping at the night markets.





As D.D. was pestering to go to Jay Chou's cafe, we took a cab to the place to find out that it was just a walking distance. Anyway, kind of hard to find the restaurant as the road signs are all hidden. Finally arrived outside Mr J French-Italian Restaurant. Decor is very european with bits and pieces of the Jay Chou like the menu and merchandise that is sold off the counter. Our set meal consisted of an enormous pizza, salad, soup, pasta with duck drenched with orange sauce, tea and pudding (forgot the name). I particularly like the pasta as the sauce is very special, who new orange could complement the cream and duck meat.











As the sun sets, we moved on to the much anticipated night markets namely; Wu Fen Pu (fashion wares) and Raohe Night Market. Our target was to reach Raohe Night Market not knowing that we would come across Wu Fen Pu 1st. As we walked and walked, we saw Wu Fen Pu and decided to visit it 1st. Was still raining, we only combed a few streets. Bought a top while D.D. bought Tees. All the shops look very small and congested due to the piles of clothing being stacked. After that, we walked for another 2 km before reaching Raohe Night Market. Shopping wasn't that great, probably a food place. Had Taiwanese Sausage and Ai-yu drink, very different from the SG version. Anyway, by the time we got home, was very tired already from walking so much. That's about it for Day 2.

Raohe Night Market (the arch looks like chinatown in US)

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Time to share about my Taipei trip with D.D in june and since D.D is bz at the moment, shall blog about the trip 1 day at a time to occupy my time.

10 June 2009- From SG to Taipei

Reached Changi Airport T1 early and checked in our luggage. Initially, we were discussing what to eat for before going through the immigration counter i.e. Popeyes or something. BUT, this had to happen. I went straight into the gate where the policeman checked my passport with D.D. following me behind. And just when we got through the counter, D.D. said I thought we were going to eat 1st. At that moment, I just wanted to slap myself as I forgot about it and it would be a hassle to get of the gate back to the hall. Anyway, we had to settle our lunch at the foodcourt. $6 for a plate of chicken rice. Aiyo!! I felt really guilty abt my carelessness. In the end we were hungry on the plane to Taipei. Haha..

Our ill-fated chicken rice


Waiting at Burger King to board the plane


Arrived in Taoyuan Airport at about 7 plus, took a coach to the city area before taking a cab to our hotel. The bus looked wierd with its pink interior machem like KTV area like that. Hehe..

In the coach


The wierd coach


As our hotel was near Ximending (Shopping area where youngsters hang out), we headed there for dinner. Didnt know what to eat, so settled for a tea house. Food was okay and not really cheap, about $20 plus Sing, no choice we were hungry.

Ximending


Food glorious food




Goofing ard


Big movie poster


Our next plan was to try out Taiwan's KTV, so headed to this place called Party World. Sounds the same as the KTV place in SG, except that the whole building probably 10 plus floors are occupied with KTV rooms solely for ppl to sing songs. Spent about $40 for 2 pax, we could actually sing from 11pm to 4am, but damn tired, we left at about 2am. Great thing about the Taiwan's KTV is that there is a toilet within the room, very clean and the sound system is better and you could actually adjust the room temperature unlike SG.

See the amount of ppl wanting to sing KTV on a Wed nite


Singing K


D.D. looking very comfortable as he took off his shoes


That's about it for Day 1. To be continued.

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