Saturday, November 22, 2008
台湾走透透 (四): 薰衣草森林
We plan a one-day trip to 薰衣草森林 (at 新竹
To reach there, we have to take the 9a.m. train from Taipei station to 新竹 station. From 新竹 station, we've to take a public bus to 竹东. From 竹东, take a train to 内湾. Upon reaching 内湾 (which is a 老街 ), we have to go to this 内湾 戏院 to take a shuttle bus straight to 薰衣草森林.
Before going straight to the introduction of the 薰衣草森林, allow me to touch briefly on 内湾老街
On the train ride, noticed a lot of 竹树 along the way, so guess that's how 新竹 got its name from. Quite interesting to see the really antique 戏院. It is actually still in operations. People can pay and go in to watch old films, and can have tea and meals inside. They also show the history of this 戏院. There is also a shop selling old toys and games.
Ok now to the main event for the day:
Entering into the Lavender Cottage is just like entering a purplish fantasy!! The cute signboards, and the little house, and the big teddy bears are all so kawaii!!! Upon entering the cottage, we had this 净身仪式 whereby we cleansed ourselves with lavender mist..Its so nice-smelling!!!
Love the picturesque and scenic views of the place. Almost like a postcard in real life! Oh, we even saw a wedding couple taking photos there. She is dressed like a big yam (purple gown)..haha..
After walking in the outdoors admiring the flowerbeds, and basking in the hot afternoon sun, we decided to take a break at its restaurant for late lunch and drink. The food is very very nice, and big in portion! The chef's and my recommendation is Spice Honey Chicken Leg with Lavender Garlic Sauce. Simply juicy, yummy, and delicious! Gota wear the plastic glove to sprinkle the pepper and squeeze the lime onto the chicken leg.. Feelin' hungry now? The drinks were refreshing and nice too..Mine (Osmanthus+Plum) a little too sweet though.
After the heavy meal, we took our 许愿卡 to the 许愿树. We followed the steps closely, and hanged our 许愿卡 on the 许愿树, silently praying hard for our wishes written on the 许愿卡. Hopefully they will come true la
Love this trip to 薰衣草森林 despite the long journey from Taipei, and the winding road up to the cottage. It's a worthwhile trip as we admire the scenery along the way, look at the culture and people around us. This is what traveling is about right?
To reach there, we have to take the 9a.m. train from Taipei station to 新竹 station. From 新竹 station, we've to take a public bus to 竹东. From 竹东, take a train to 内湾. Upon reaching 内湾 (which is a 老街 ), we have to go to this 内湾 戏院 to take a shuttle bus straight to 薰衣草森林.Before going straight to the introduction of the 薰衣草森林, allow me to touch briefly on 内湾老街
On the train ride, noticed a lot of 竹树 along the way, so guess that's how 新竹 got its name from. Quite interesting to see the really antique 戏院. It is actually still in operations. People can pay and go in to watch old films, and can have tea and meals inside. They also show the history of this 戏院. There is also a shop selling old toys and games.
Ok now to the main event for the day:
Entering into the Lavender Cottage is just like entering a purplish fantasy!! The cute signboards, and the little house, and the big teddy bears are all so kawaii!!! Upon entering the cottage, we had this 净身仪式 whereby we cleansed ourselves with lavender mist..Its so nice-smelling!!!Love the picturesque and scenic views of the place. Almost like a postcard in real life! Oh, we even saw a wedding couple taking photos there. She is dressed like a big yam (purple gown)..haha..
After walking in the outdoors admiring the flowerbeds, and basking in the hot afternoon sun, we decided to take a break at its restaurant for late lunch and drink. The food is very very nice, and big in portion! The chef's and my recommendation is Spice Honey Chicken Leg with Lavender Garlic Sauce. Simply juicy, yummy, and delicious! Gota wear the plastic glove to sprinkle the pepper and squeeze the lime onto the chicken leg.. Feelin' hungry now? The drinks were refreshing and nice too..Mine (Osmanthus+Plum) a little too sweet though.
After the heavy meal, we took our 许愿卡 to the 许愿树. We followed the steps closely, and hanged our 许愿卡 on the 许愿树, silently praying hard for our wishes written on the 许愿卡. Hopefully they will come true la
Love this trip to 薰衣草森林 despite the long journey from Taipei, and the winding road up to the cottage. It's a worthwhile trip as we admire the scenery along the way, look at the culture and people around us. This is what traveling is about right?
台湾走透透 (三): 忠孝敦化, 忠孝復興
We went for breakfast at 永和豆浆...We find it not as nice as the famous one in Geylang cuz find the glutinous rice quite tough & relatively tasteless.
Then walk around at 忠孝復興 area:
Then to 忠孝敦化 which is a more interesting place to us 
For what I know, Jay Chou's shop - Omni(敦化南路1段161巷52號1樓) is also somewhere around the street.
Lastly, we head to 鼎泰丰 for dinner. Heard that Taiwan's version is better than Singapore's one. Not sure if its true or not, but just went ahead to try it. Really not bad. Service is fast and efficient.
After the dinner, we took a stroll around the area and went to one of the shopping malls. Dear had his hand on the famous 灌篮 arcade game. - even "competing" with a big-sized 高手 side-by-side! 简直不自量力! 哈哈!
Then walk around at 忠孝復興 area:
- 太平洋Sogo (忠孝路4段45號, 忠孝復興站4號出口) - personally we dun like to shop in such malls.
Then to 忠孝敦化 which is a more interesting place to us - 小熊森林 (teaplace)- 敦化南路1段177巷25號 11am-11pm
For what I know, Jay Chou's shop - Omni(敦化南路1段161巷52號1樓) is also somewhere around the street. Lastly, we head to 鼎泰丰 for dinner. Heard that Taiwan's version is better than Singapore's one. Not sure if its true or not, but just went ahead to try it. Really not bad. Service is fast and efficient.
After the dinner, we took a stroll around the area and went to one of the shopping malls. Dear had his hand on the famous 灌篮 arcade game. - even "competing" with a big-sized 高手 side-by-side! 简直不自量力! 哈哈!Day 1 & 2 in Taipei
Day 1:
- Shopped around at 台北车站地下街(Good place to shop especially on rainy days. Bought 3 pairs of shoes from here)
- Also went to 新光三月 (don't ever try their foodcourt - it sucks big time! We totally regretted trying their food there), 统一元气馆 (akin to our Funan with lotsa IT gadets),
- Ate 鲜芋仙,福州世祖胡椒饼 which is just a stone's throw away from our hotel - Onestar hotel @ Chongqing South Road (www.taipeionestarthotel.com.tw). This hotel is highly recommended as it is located near 台北车站 and the room is clean and neat, thou it is not very big. It's also affordable too. Several friends have also stayed in this hotel before and recommended it to me.
Day 2: 西门町
- Tried the famous and recommended 阿宗面线, 蛋蛋屋, 鸭肉扁, 成都杨桃冰,老天禄卤味道
At night we went to eat 狠生氣炭火燒肉(永和店) - NT495 吃到飽
(Address: 台北縣永和市永和路2段318號 靠近頂溪捷運站的2號出口，中正橋前，在永和豆漿附近)
Thursday, November 20, 2008
台湾走透透 (二): 西门町
西门町 is considered one of our favourite places to shop, walk, and eat.
Food that we've tried and tasted, based on recommendation from Taiwan guide:
There are also many shops selling shoes at NT390, or even cheaper when on sale. Go and grab them if you like! I find them more fashonable and wearable than shoes from BKK.
Oh, we also went to sing KTV at Partyworld 钱柜
The whole building is theirs lor and you have to take the lift up to their KTV rooms. Their service is good, room is spacious (even comes with personal toilet!!), food is nice!! (we tried their fried carrot cake & char shao bao.. yummy! cannot forget it and even want to go back for more! And they promote very good hygiene, even have a cover for the mike every time there's new customer. My friend said that you can even try your score for your singing (some button on the control to press, but I wasn't aware)
My verdict: 西门町 is a MUST-GO!!
Food that we've tried and tasted, based on recommendation from Taiwan guide:- 阿宗面线 - 赞!!!
- 蛋蛋屋 - 赞!!!
- 鸭肉扁 - 不错, 我喜欢 (但老公不同意)
- 成都杨桃冰 - 冷冷酸酸, 女生会爱不释手!!
- 老天禄卤味道- 不怎么喜欢. 卤豆干很干,很硬!
- Bags for him & me
- Nice accessories for me (Some are from 夜市 thou)
There are also many shops selling shoes at NT390, or even cheaper when on sale. Go and grab them if you like! I find them more fashonable and wearable than shoes from BKK. Oh, we also went to sing KTV at Partyworld 钱柜
The whole building is theirs lor and you have to take the lift up to their KTV rooms. Their service is good, room is spacious (even comes with personal toilet!!), food is nice!! (we tried their fried carrot cake & char shao bao.. yummy! cannot forget it and even want to go back for more! And they promote very good hygiene, even have a cover for the mike every time there's new customer. My friend said that you can even try your score for your singing (some button on the control to press, but I wasn't aware)My verdict: 西门町 is a MUST-GO!!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
台湾走透透 (一)
We embarked on our 11 days 10 nights trip to 台湾 on 1st November 08. It was a first-time for me and I was looking forward to the trip with wonderful experiences shared from friends and colleagues.
Departed from Changi Airport T3 (our first time) early morning..Felt so sleepy that I kept dozing off during the flight. Luckily I've my Winnie Neck Cushion (souvenir from suling) with me.
Arrived at 桃园机场 after 4 hours plus flight journey. Weather was breezy. Welcome to Taiwan!
Will talk more about our adventures and trips that we'd in Taiwan... Just to give an overview impression of Taiwan after staying there for 11 days.
Taiwan, to me, seems like a "civil-minded" country. Let's put aside the messy and silly politics aside, they actually care a lot for their country, and their people. Talking about caring about the country, they are in fact caring for the environment. For e.g., they promote the use of recycling bins - practically you can find everywhere you go to in Taipei city. Even at night market. Some places even have "unofficial" recycling bins whereby they put 2 rubbish bins - one for general rubbish, and one for recycling purpose. Even at supermart like Carrefour, they also have this option for you to use recycled cardboards to put certain items you bought from them.
As for caring for the people, I mean people who may be disadvantaged, old, helpless, privileged, etc. At many places such as shopping centres, eateries, convenience shops, underground station malls, they have this "捐发票, 救贫穷" donation bins. To us, the 发票 ("receipts") mean nothing so we just throw in whenever we have any. But what we don't understand is, why and how can the receipts help the poor?? Its still a '???' to us... Anyway, if its effective, I would think this is good for the disadvantaged group of people who need help.
Inside the 捷运 ('MRT"). they have this "捷运心文化" which encourages people to spread the love and care to other disadvantaged, old, privileged groups of people (pregnant women, with children), by giving up the seat for them. Also, they encourage commuters to pledge themselves against "捷运心宣言" - to abide the regulations when onboard, to care for other commuters, to be considerate to other commuters by speaking softly on hp..
Aren't they environmental-and-people friendly? Singapore should really look up to them on their concerted efforts and do more to inculcate these ideas into the people's minds.
Talking about trains, next will be our experience with them.
Majority of the people there, do keep their right, when using the escalator. They also stand within the white lines when queuing to board 捷运. Me blur sotong, never look on the floor, so never notice the white lines till Dear highlighted to me, after a few days into our trip..hee..
And also, other than 捷运, they also have 台铁火车 (railway) which is the older version of 捷运, and also the 高铁通车 (Bullet Train) which is the latest and fastest version of train transport. We mostly traveled on 捷运 cuz' its convenient and pretty similar to our Singapore's MRT but 台铁火车 is the KILLER!!! Firstly we are not familiar with the train routes, end destinations, and which stop will it pass by. Secondly the station and the ticket will not show which platform you should take the train from, so we behave like lunatics, trying hard to see from the information screen which is the right platform/train to take. If not we would ask people for help, yet fruitless cuz they don't have the information either! Sigh.. we even tried running across from one platform to another (not literally "across" la.. we stormed up and down the stairs, trying to catch a train that was about to leave in 1-2 minutes time!!! Argh! Really pulling hair and panting hard liao. Also, the old version of the train will allocate seat no. and car no. to you. and you really have to board and sit on the right seat and car no. one leh. That's their practice there. *shrugs*
Oh, and there are many many staircases to climb in Taipei train stations... so much so that we've got phobia whenever we know we have to climb again, and again..
There's this 台铁便当that I bought at the train station, which I like it alot! U can see how much I enjoy eating it, from the picture above. I even ate twice! Yummy! This is a close-up pic of the contents of the 便当 - Drumstick, hard-boiled egg, steamed cauliflowers, ginger slice, ikan bilis, rice. All I like very much!!!!
Enuf of the train experiences, Taiwan is also very interesting with people like this....
~电梯小姐~
(candid shot! Caught her in shock! haha)
Departed from Changi Airport T3 (our first time) early morning..Felt so sleepy that I kept dozing off during the flight. Luckily I've my Winnie Neck Cushion (souvenir from suling) with me.
Arrived at 桃园机场 after 4 hours plus flight journey. Weather was breezy. Welcome to Taiwan!Will talk more about our adventures and trips that we'd in Taiwan... Just to give an overview impression of Taiwan after staying there for 11 days.
Taiwan, to me, seems like a "civil-minded" country. Let's put aside the messy and silly politics aside, they actually care a lot for their country, and their people. Talking about caring about the country, they are in fact caring for the environment. For e.g., they promote the use of recycling bins - practically you can find everywhere you go to in Taipei city. Even at night market. Some places even have "unofficial" recycling bins whereby they put 2 rubbish bins - one for general rubbish, and one for recycling purpose. Even at supermart like Carrefour, they also have this option for you to use recycled cardboards to put certain items you bought from them.As for caring for the people, I mean people who may be disadvantaged, old, helpless, privileged, etc. At many places such as shopping centres, eateries, convenience shops, underground station malls, they have this "捐发票, 救贫穷" donation bins. To us, the 发票 ("receipts") mean nothing so we just throw in whenever we have any. But what we don't understand is, why and how can the receipts help the poor?? Its still a '???' to us... Anyway, if its effective, I would think this is good for the disadvantaged group of people who need help.
Inside the 捷运 ('MRT"). they have this "捷运心文化" which encourages people to spread the love and care to other disadvantaged, old, privileged groups of people (pregnant women, with children), by giving up the seat for them. Also, they encourage commuters to pledge themselves against "捷运心宣言" - to abide the regulations when onboard, to care for other commuters, to be considerate to other commuters by speaking softly on hp..
Aren't they environmental-and-people friendly? Singapore should really look up to them on their concerted efforts and do more to inculcate these ideas into the people's minds.
Talking about trains, next will be our experience with them.
Majority of the people there, do keep their right, when using the escalator. They also stand within the white lines when queuing to board 捷运. Me blur sotong, never look on the floor, so never notice the white lines till Dear highlighted to me, after a few days into our trip..hee..And also, other than 捷运, they also have 台铁火车 (railway) which is the older version of 捷运, and also the 高铁通车 (Bullet Train) which is the latest and fastest version of train transport. We mostly traveled on 捷运 cuz' its convenient and pretty similar to our Singapore's MRT but 台铁火车 is the KILLER!!! Firstly we are not familiar with the train routes, end destinations, and which stop will it pass by. Secondly the station and the ticket will not show which platform you should take the train from, so we behave like lunatics, trying hard to see from the information screen which is the right platform/train to take. If not we would ask people for help, yet fruitless cuz they don't have the information either! Sigh.. we even tried running across from one platform to another (not literally "across" la.. we stormed up and down the stairs, trying to catch a train that was about to leave in 1-2 minutes time!!! Argh! Really pulling hair and panting hard liao. Also, the old version of the train will allocate seat no. and car no. to you. and you really have to board and sit on the right seat and car no. one leh. That's their practice there. *shrugs*
Oh, and there are many many staircases to climb in Taipei train stations... so much so that we've got phobia whenever we know we have to climb again, and again..
There's this 台铁便当that I bought at the train station, which I like it alot! U can see how much I enjoy eating it, from the picture above. I even ate twice! Yummy! This is a close-up pic of the contents of the 便当 - Drumstick, hard-boiled egg, steamed cauliflowers, ginger slice, ikan bilis, rice. All I like very much!!!!
Enuf of the train experiences, Taiwan is also very interesting with people like this....
~电梯小姐~
(candid shot! Caught her in shock! haha)
Walking Advertisements (for food, shops, new TV serials...)
地下街- 街头艺人
~They really sing very well.~
~They really sing very well.~
Monday, October 27, 2008
Family ties
Yesterday we just had a simple pre-birthday celebration for my dad - His birthday falls on 1 Nov, and we happen to be flying off to Taiwan on that day *sorrie dad*
As usual, his slow and inconsiderate actions made us kept waiting and waiting for this KING to be ready. Always can't stand this attitude of his! I was so fed-up that I wrote a note to him, on top of my handmade card. Anyway, apart from the unhappy episode, we'd a great dinner.
Had patronised this chinese restaurant at Hotel Royals @ Queens before and liked the food, so decided to bring them for their first time. Usually buiness have been good, but never have thought that the whole restaurant will be empty, except our table of only 4 guests! Wow! The waitress was very prompt in serving tea, changing the plates and our dishes came out pretty promptly! She even volunteered to help us take picture when she saw us taking pics. Such an "VIP" treatment we'd received yesterday... haha.. Wonder where's the usual good business has gone to??See how empty the whole restaurant is in the above picture!
On the card, I told him I would like to bring the whole family out for holidays one day.After another encounter of his slow and inconsiderate behaviour yesterday, I really hope this behaviour of his will improve by then, so that this wish can be fulfilled yet not causing everyone great unhappiness.
Just watched the "Money Not Enough II" vcd today, and made me cried a lot and think a lot... Especially thinking about own parents/in-laws who will age, have health problems etc one day, and how we, as their children will cope with situations like that. Thinking of how they have done so much for us, how they have selflessly gave their love and support to us, and how we can include them in our life when we eventually set up our own family. We cannot throw them aside just like that...
Family ties are really important to me. I hope we will have enough capabilities to take care of them when they grow old and weak.
As usual, his slow and inconsiderate actions made us kept waiting and waiting for this KING to be ready. Always can't stand this attitude of his! I was so fed-up that I wrote a note to him, on top of my handmade card. Anyway, apart from the unhappy episode, we'd a great dinner.
Had patronised this chinese restaurant at Hotel Royals @ Queens before and liked the food, so decided to bring them for their first time. Usually buiness have been good, but never have thought that the whole restaurant will be empty, except our table of only 4 guests! Wow! The waitress was very prompt in serving tea, changing the plates and our dishes came out pretty promptly! She even volunteered to help us take picture when she saw us taking pics. Such an "VIP" treatment we'd received yesterday... haha.. Wonder where's the usual good business has gone to??See how empty the whole restaurant is in the above picture!
On the card, I told him I would like to bring the whole family out for holidays one day.After another encounter of his slow and inconsiderate behaviour yesterday, I really hope this behaviour of his will improve by then, so that this wish can be fulfilled yet not causing everyone great unhappiness.
Just watched the "Money Not Enough II" vcd today, and made me cried a lot and think a lot... Especially thinking about own parents/in-laws who will age, have health problems etc one day, and how we, as their children will cope with situations like that. Thinking of how they have done so much for us, how they have selflessly gave their love and support to us, and how we can include them in our life when we eventually set up our own family. We cannot throw them aside just like that...
Family ties are really important to me. I hope we will have enough capabilities to take care of them when they grow old and weak.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)