Sunday, January 17, 2010

My Taiwan Trip 2009

Finally i got the time to blog abt my taiwan trip last yr. haha.

Day 1 (28th Dec 09)

baby n i reached tw in the afternoon. after we settled down at the hotel, we went to the 天外天near our hotel for an early dinner (we ate ah zhong mee sua b4 we went. hee)





my poor baby is sick after all the traveling (she was in 4 countries in 2 weeks)


steamboat is always good during winter

we went to ah shin's (mayday) shop n bought some (ok, i spent like 300 bucks) clothes designed by him. sweet. money well spent. look at the hello kitty's eyes. luminous.

after that, baby n i were v tired. we rested to prep for the nxt day.


Day 2 (29th Dec 09)




baby n i on the train, on our way to tao yuan's 小人国

ya, u r taller (so unlikely) than 120cm. MUST pay hor.

this thing is a "fortune telling" machine. the "lady" is suppose to go into the "temple", pick a lot for u, n drop it down for u. super creepy. but me n baby each got one lot. hahaha. fun leh.

c la, even the hands positioning oso sala....sigh


i love this mini great wall of china. it looked damn awesome from far. wonder how they paid the attention to the details.cool.

the place is having a "doreamon fair". this is baby in the 任意门.

me chasing the 时光机. sigh, how i wish i hav one


baby say she purposely blocked 小夫cos she dun like his big mouth n the fact that he always bully 大雄. i told her she damn bias.大雄deserved to b bullied anyway. :p


baby n i on the mini train

no, i wasnt trying to fart on his face or show my sexy butt to him. i was trying to SIT on it until i realised that its lap is too small for my gigantic butt.

baby was trying to find out wat on earth was the thing on doraemon's right hand. i told her its tong luo shao, but she said no. wat do u think it is?

we were hungry, so we went to the kids' world for some snacks. look at the potato chip (duno wat to call it, chip is supposed to b thin rite?? watever....), smiley face leh!!! taste good w chilli powder n special pepper.


baby wanted to try the merry-go-round


apparently, too many rounds. i was sick. abt to puke liao.

baby went on the enjoy hererself by venting her anger on this machine. look how giggly she was. i hav to help her by telling her where to hit. lou-eee.

this is an illusion. baby is not touching the look-taller-than-her-leaning-tower-of-pizza.she dun hav much strength tough. the tower is STILL leaning....hahahaha


we went to the doreamon museum after that. baby insisted to take this pix. she preferred doraemon's sis.

yes. i was so happy to c 大雄's father. hahaha.

opps!!! no, it wasnt me who broke your window!!!

we wan to hav dinner w them.

i can definately sing better than him.

the following pix is a classic one.






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steady bo? i nearly had a cramp while taking this pix. 0ld liao, muscles nt working well.


we went bk to si men ding after dat. this is our lunch.

i developed a weird rash all over my face after this meal. my face became v itchy, red and swollen, baby gt freaked out by my looks. we went to find a med shop n the pharmacist (he examined me w a amplifying glass) told me that i got a food allergy (which was pretty weird, cos i didnt eat "funny" stuff). he prescribed (ok, RECOMMENDED) a cheena brand med for me, say dat will cure me. i was skeptical, but given dat situation, i hav no choice but to trust him. i took a pill after i left the plc.


with my terrible rash, we still proceed to kiki for dinner. dun care, rash oso muz eat.





as u can c from here, my rash was GONE after we reach the plc.....i can oni say, the pill worked wonders. however, the side effect was that halfway thru the meal, i felt groggy n sleepy.


this is their signature dish, 老皮嫩肉. but it was NOT meat. it was juz fried toufu w sauce on it. i tell u, it was nt called the signature dish for nothing. it was SO SO DELICIOUS!!!! the sauce was flavourful, n the toufu was damn tender!!!! yumz to the max.



our fav 苍蝇头. no, we didnt eat flies. they r tau see.


cabbage tasted light n sweet. nice.


bittergourd w pork ribs soup. super yumz as well. no msg added as we dun feel thirsty after the meal.
as u can c, we've ordered quite ALOT of food. this always happens when we go to kiki. over order, over eat.
to help digest the huge amount of food we've eaten (yes, we finished them all w rice too), we went to 五分埔 n did some shopping. ok, ALOT of shopping. hehehe.

Day 3 (30th Dec)



our fav bfast, 炒米粉&鱿鱼羹. still as nice as before (1 yr ago). the beehoon was Q n sweet, while the broth is spicy (i added chilli) w yummy radish n veg. good for a winter morning. warms up ur body (n mouth) immediately. i am drooling rite now as i typed.

i noe i look hideous w the beanie. it was super cold dat morning, n i am v lazy to style my hair.

baby's daily dose of coffee. i dun mind paying more for a starbicks coffee. the service was damn good. i felt like a king there.
we went bk to the hotel (to DOLL up. hahaha) after bfast.
then, we went to a plc i've yearned to go (i've been thinking abt it since like almost 8 yrs ago)
ladies n gentlemen, presenting to u, PS Bu Bu.
ok, u may ask, wtf is that.
i am sure EVERYONE of u watched 流星花园rite? 杉菜&道明寺 went to this restaurant for ice-cream in one of the episode.



look, there r lights below the car.


my fav pix, although its abit blur.


another one. camwhoring at my max.

baby's turn.

this was the pink car that 道明寺 and 杉菜 sat in that show. we cant take this car cos another family was sitting in it. nd to mk reservations for it.....too bad.


camwhoring AGAIN.
i think we look good in this pix....heee

YEAH!!!! dream come true for me. eating ice cream in bu bu. ok, i noe, i am not道明寺.

n u r nt 杉菜 either, hahahaha.

the main course r not worth mentioning. nt really nice.







we went bk (took an exciting bus ride), n went straight to the hot spring at beitou.



once-a-lifetime-sexy pix.ok, dun puke. there will nt b pornography or naked pix in this blog. dun worry.

after a saisfying "soak" at the hot spring, w went to danshui for some food.



my fav 卤味.糯米肠,猪皮,猪脸肉 w chilli oil n soya sauce. yumz. u will miss the stall if n nv venture into the inner lanes of the streets. nt v sanitary plc (sit by the roadside w water leaking from the walls), but i dun care. hahaha. thank u baby for nt abandoning me.

and since baby ate that trashy food w me, i went w her to shilin night mkt for her fav (ok, my fav too) spicy smelly beancurd.



麻辣臭豆腐,卤大肠,肉丸,鸭血 and 冬粉all in one claypot. super smelly n spicy. but super yummy!!!!

afte all the heat from the smelly claypot, we desperately need somthing to cool off our mouth.

牛奶雪片冰w maple sauce n QQ pearls!!! wow, i declare that this is my fav flavour of ice from this famous shop in shilin nite mkt (u nd to Q for at least 20 mins). the ice was soft w milky flavour, disappear in your mouth once it touches ur toungue.....omg. i missed it so much.

baby stealing my share.
we went bk to our hotel to rest after all the food (n shopping of cos) from the nite mkt. i can oni say, i love the food in taiwan. cos we bought MORE food to our hotel after that (opps). cant stop eating.


Day 4 (31st Dec 09)




this is baby's fav bfast 饭团.its rice wrapped around 酸菜,油条,肉松 and egg. super duper yummy. i bought it from a cart downstairs. eat it w the soyabean milk. wow. i am drooling again.



baby trying to act cute w a bagel.

we made our way to the train station n took a train to ruifang.


baby w a headache. wan to noe y?

a stupid kid (no, nt me) beside us is damn noisy. n oso, there r a group of tourists (kor****) speaking as if all of them r deaf. v v noisy.

we reached ruifang early, n our nxt train to shifen is abt 1 hr ltr, so we went to 85 degrees C to hav some snacks.

our view from the track while we were waiting for the train.





finally, we reached qingtong station.



ppl write their wishes on the bamboo n tie together. (too commercialised for me. v ex too. n the best thing is, it was raining when we were there. v difficult to tie it in the rain). we didnt hang any of our wish there. too ex.



baby insisted to take this pix. it is ok for them to place the meat outside for a long time cos the weather there was DAMN cold dat day (abt 12 degrees i think). however, the stallholder frantically kept all the meat into the chiller after she say baby took this pix. haha. we were lucky nt to b chased by them waving a chopper at us.



i dun understand wassup w the hat + raincoat + umbrella. got storm meh???




we bought a postcard (wooden one) n wrote to each other, then posted out to my hse. we will noe eventually wat we wrote for each other when we recv the postcard. hee. so fun.






we felt hungry (AGAIN, no choice la, cold weather), so we went to one of the small shops n ordered a soup n chix roll.




we saw a couple taking wedding pix. poor bride, she hav to lie on the track on a rainy day. do u noe how COLD it was dat day????freezing cold!!!



we took the train again n went to shifen old street. baby was too cold to do anything. i wanted to make an MTV at shifen, juz like the sammi's song 旧项链. (dun laugh, go ktv n watch this mtv. u can c an orbit 郁方 running at the shifen railway track. no kidding). but baby was shy. too many ppl around. chey.
since i cant hav my wish as a music video director, i suggested to play w smth else.


we went to 放天灯.


my wish on the lantern.




baby's wish.




we can write on 4 sides. the other 2 wishes r for ourselves to noe oni.hahaha
it was said that we release the lanterns to the sky so that the gods in the heaven c our wishes n grant them. well, believe it or nt.
i got the whole process in my video cam. will load to youtube n post it here ltr.
after playing w the lanterns, we walked around in the old town.



this was an old site for charcoal mining. it looks v creepy n scary. baby n i both felt our hair stand (nt bcos of the cold weather) when we were there. we faster run off.


does this pix look familar? it looks like the one i took 4 yrs ago.hahaha



me n baby waiting for our train to arrive




we took the train bk to ruifang n went straight up to jiufen by cab.
as usual, the cabs there drove like initial d. we have to suck on some sour plums in order nt to puke our guts out.






fishball soup n dry noodles. we went there specially to eat this



and of cos, this. the 芋圆. it is cooked w red bean soup. it oso comes w sweet potato n green tea flavours. i had the mixed one.

we went to look for the legendary (n yummy) 太阳饼, n went bk to shilin nite mkt to da bao some food to bring bk to hotel (countdown day, alot of ppl outside. we rather watch the tv prog in the hotel.) we bought some crispy smelly beancurd (which we finished b4 we even reach e roadside), 水煎包,地瓜球,葱抓饼,麻辣鸭血......n more food (i cant rem).


as we ate the food comfortably in our hotel room, watching the countdown at diff plcs, si men ding is full of life too. fireworks every where, music blasting all the way (i want nobody nobody but u....puke), celebrations here n there.


even till 3am, fireworks r still blasting a way downstairs.


Day 4 (1st Jan 10)


we had a mister donut store downstairs. we bought some n eat in our room. i love the donuts. dense n Q.
some of u shd noe dat my cam went haywire during my last taiwan trip, deleting some of my precious pix i took for the 1st few days.


well, to "recapture" the pix, we went bk to this plc.

jay's restaurant. he used 不能说的秘密 as the theme for this restaurant.

however, when we reached the plc, we were informed that the plc will b closed for some private function in 10 mins time.
i dun really care though (although we planned to hav lunch there). we went straight in n order 2 drinks, juz to take some pix.



baby w the legendary piano. the deco spoils the beauty of the piano though.

no playing unless u r a pro.






baby w her purple drink (lavender tea)











叶湘伦wannabe. where's my 桂纶美?








no, this is nt from jay's restaurant. we were "chased out" (politely) after 20 mins of camwhoring. still hungry, we went to this famous chain for 卤肉饭 n had our lunch. i can oni say, disappointing.



baby trying to act happy.


after dat, we went bk to the hotel reluctantly to rest.

bad food make us hungry early.

we went 公馆to look for the 关东煮i had many yrs ago.

surprisingly, the shop was stillthere, n the boss is still the same person.

look at the stuff we chose. one full bowl of food!!!!



look at the size of the bowl!!!!



baby got a small bowl instead of the big one. hee.



dun eat so much la, muz watch out your weight


Day6 (2nd Jan 10)

baby camwhoring b4 lunch


we wanted to try some food at yong kang jie, but end up q-ing for ding tai feng



baby happy to sit down after waiting for 30 over mins


the famous xiao long bao



baby's beef noodle soup. yes, the soup is clear.



the xiao long bao is best. v v good. better than those we hav in spore


pork chop rice. the pork chop is well marinated, soft n tender.

we went to look for te nearest mrt stn.
end up, we walked in the rain for abt 35mins



baby trying to cheer me up by acting cute


we went bk to kiki (yes, again) for dinner.

we simply cant stop having dinner there.

food too delicious.

kangkong w 豆腐乳. as weird as it sounds, it tasted fabulous.


i forgot the name of this dish, but it was fried hard boiled egg w a delious sweet n fragrant sauce.super duper nice!!! oh, i think it is called 回锅蛋. i think la.

baby was telling me dat the nxt dish is too spicy for her. look at the jap lady behind her. starring at us. hahaha.
yes, this is the 麻婆豆腐. super spicy n numbing! me like!!!! i kept thinking abt this dish after i came bk to spore 2 yrs ago. it was damn good. i can eat 2 bowls of rice w this dish alone.
to cool things down abit, we ordered the wintermelon soup. yumz. their soup dishes were really v v nice. no msg effect on me. dat means its the real deal. worth my every cent n calorie intake.

as a usual (like how usual? hahaha), we went 五分埔after dinner at kiki.
we took a train there, n the train bk to hotel!!! its amazing bcos i bought TONS of stuff there.
yes, me buy alot.
Day 7 (3rd Jan 10)
baby n i woke up late, bought a ice cold milk latte downstairs n waited for like 30 mins for our lunch (oso happen to b downstairs. u stay in si men ding lor)
we went for the charcoal bbq lunch. its w a hotpot too!
lunch was like 30 bucks (sing) per pax, which i think is a good deal for buffet.
the hotpot comes w all the ingredients.

i've ordered alot of meat. this is the lamb (tasted so nice w the 沙茶酱). i am beginning to like lamb more than beef liao.


our meat (no, not OUR meat) on the charcoal bbq. sorry for the lousy pix. lighting sucks.


baby drinking the soup STRAIGHT from the scoop for the hotpot. eeyer.
we went walking aound si men ding after lunch, shop for awhile, bought some clothes (AGAIN!!!) n prep ourselves for our dinner (last one for this trip, sob).
we went to shilin for our 麻辣鸭血臭豆腐&冬粉, followed by our fav dessert ice.
milk ice w aloe vera n honey. we really cant hav enuff of the ice. the honey flavour is v flowery (in a good way), n the aloe vera is crunchy. yummy!!!!


baby is happy w her choice


look at the ice. taste like cotton in ur mouth. smooth n soft. despite the fact that it was winter (cold like mad), we still crave for it everytime we go taiwan.

we bought this bk to hotel for late munch. cherry tomatoes w sweet plums stuffed into the tomatoes. i think taiwanese r really creative w their food. i hope we have this here. yummy. the plums help to release the savoury umami taste of the tomatoes. do try it when u r in taiwan. the roadside stalls sell them.

baby say i look sadist. i think i look fat. btw, the thing on my hand is a gun-shaped 鸡蛋糕.
ya i noe, we ate ALOT in taiwan.
besides all these munchies, i bought duck tongues, fried chix butts n of cos, taiwan beer.
now i noe y i am so fat.
cant stop eating.

Day 8 (4th Jan 10)
baby n i went for bfast n oso her daily dose of caffeine at starbucks

happily posing w 菜菜子

we walked around in si men ding (wat else) for some last min shopping.
then we went for lunch.
i tell u, it was DISASTEROUS. to the max.
my bad.
i wanted to hav some curry rice.
we end up at a v decorated shop in si men ding.
i shdnt mention any names here in case i kena sue. but i can tell u, its v v v v obvious and prominent in si men ding. super BIG deco. its called the c**** w****. go figure out urself.
we went in to the almost empty shop, sat down, n the non-chalant waitress (i tell u, i love the svs in taiwan, they r really friendly n nice. but this, sux) passed us the menu.
we were thinking nt to hav so much food as we will b leaving for airport in 2 hrs time.
so we placed our orders.
the waitress rolled her eyes, n told us "我们有最低消费" n pointed to the bottom of the menu (w small words). ok, fine, minimum spending of i forgot how much.
she insisted that we BOTH order food (i wanted one rice n a drink).
INSISTED.
i do nt wan to mk a scene there, so i ordered the "chef recommendation" puff pastry soup.
na beh, suck to core.
like sugar water. puke.

i am so buay song.


this is the curry rice we ordered. no curry taste, damn salty. knn.
there's this couple beside us , who suffered the same fate as us (the minimum spending). they guy threw the menu down n wanted to leave the restaurant.
guess wat the waitress say?
she said "没关系,我可以让你点" n she "waived off" the minimum spending rule!!!!!
WTF!!!!!
win liao lor. tmd.
dun dun dun dun ever go there.
baby n i felt cheated (n we r nt full).
we went to kfc for our cravings for the egg tarts.

the original egg tart, the egg tart w black sugar mochi n some grilled chix wings. i love the tart w mochi. so so good. now singapore hav the original version. i hope they bring in the mochi one as well. n the grilled chix wings pls.

baby said that this tasted better than the curry rice juz now. of cos la. (look at wat finger she was using to "push" her specs up)

we went bk to hotel n pack up for departure (SAD lor) after the snack.

baby n i at the taiwan airport
that sums up our taiwan trip.
we took lots of video though. i will upload to youtube when i am free. hahaha.
we definitely enjoyed this trip, n of cos, i've gained alot of weight again.
time to hit the gym again!!!!