Travel log Taipei: Disappointing lunch at Du Xiao Yue

My husband commented I looked positively happy in Taipei, all smiles and happily chatting with anyone from cab driver to people I buy food from. It was only natural I told him, since I get to stuff myself silly with my fav food and best of all, no language barrier. Not to mention the lack of loud mainlanders that will bound to ruin my day....

Even when we were at the Taipei 101 food court, I ended up being "translator" for this Dannish couple who had wanted to buy the "Buddha hand" fruit from the fruit store guy. I couldnt bear the 2 parties trying desperately to communicate to each other plus it didnt cost me anything to help. Well, at the end, I was even more surprised when the fruit stall guy kept thanking me and even gave me 10% discount for my drinks. Didnt see that coming but it was a nice gesture on his part.



Anycase, back to my travel log. On our last afternoon in Taipei, our hotel recommended this "popular" place 度小月。I should know better than to trust recommendations of a top end hotel that housed caucasians tourists...they wont recommend local delights but a more upmarket place that is more "comfortable" for their guests. I suppose overly local place may shock some of their cultured and refined guests.

Initially, I had wanted to also try the pork ribs place anna had suggested but it was kinda far so we had to abort plan since my partner didnt want to travel.

I had wanted to eat 鲁肉饭 while my husband prefered something soupy which was why we ended up in the recommended place since the hotel assured they had both. When we arrive at 度小月, there was a long Q outside. Damn. An alarm should have gone off when I saw the string of foreigners in line for their table. Oh well, too late to change plans.

We waited for about 15mins, before this male staff gruffly yelled for our number and showed us in. he wasnt rude but he sure wasnt exactly pleasant either. If there was anything called hospitality award , this dude sure wont be a winning recipient of it.

The list was simple and easy. I went for my rice while my husband went for 担仔面（danzaimian）. We also ordered the fried prawn rolls and another steam prawn patty. While the fried roll came and was yummy but oily.

The steamed meat patty was another matter all together. Firstly, it wasn event a patty as I had imagined. It was just like a huge lump of meat wrapped in a thick dumpling flour dough. In fact, the more accurate hokkien description would be “水kueh”. Frankly I thought the dish was rather plain, unappetising and bordering awlful. The 鲁肉饭 was also raher bland and bordering on too much salt without any sweetness. Apparently, the one I had in the night market with my mum back in April was SOOOOooooo much better. Who said all 鲁肉饭 are the same? Rubbish. This one had all the fatty bits in it that made it rather gross. My husband's soup noodle fared better but to me frankly, this place isnt worth the time, effort nor recommendation. What made it worse was that I had to wait for 30mins for my 2nd serving of prawn fritters, despite 3 reminders and lessening of guests. What the hell?!
I shall be frank. This place reeeks as a tourist establishment aimed to "con" tourists who doesnt know better as to where to go and find food, or lack of better ideas. I cannot believed I got suckered into this place by my hotel even after telling them I prefer local favourites and hangout. This is obviously NOT a place to go to if you want really authentic good cheap local food. What an utter disappointment.

Taipei Travel Log: Dawan - 大腕燒肉專門店

Back to completing my Taipei Travel log...

After a long day at Danshui, we returned to venture to this meat place which I had reserved dinner based on a blog entry I had read prior my trip. the place is called 大腕燒肉專門店 (Da wan barbecue meat specialty place). the place is located at Dunhua nan lu, amongst many little trendy stores popular with the younger crowd.
I have absolutely no idea how to get there by train even though there is a metro stop nearby. Seeing that we are running late, I opted for a cab, not before asking the hotel to call the place that we will be 10mins late. In hindsight, that was a super wise decision because the place was nestled in an inner street, and it was really FULL. I assume my seats would have been given up if no called to say we will be late since I didnt have a local number for the store to call and confirm my attendance.

The floor area isnt very large. The central area in a u-shaped is taken up by the staff cooking and preparing the food order, while the patrons will sit on the counter area. There is one table tucked away in a corner reserved for larger crowds. The place is packed with locals, not tourists, and brightly lit, well designed, well ventilated and filled with the very friendly and polite serving staff. The place even comes with discretely concealed drawers with a keylock that allows you to place your bags/ coats etc. Talk about thoughful.

We were shown to our seat promptly and since all the menu was in Mandarin (what's new), I honestly didnt know where to start explaining the long list to my husband. The place is kinda dedicated in serviing beef. of course there are seafood, and other food but I would say this is a beef lover place.

While I was busy staring and wondering what to get, the young guy asked what we would like to drink. I told him honestly I had no idea and am kinda lost and some help to start with would be fantastic. Knowing we are from out of town, he very swiftly recommended some of the store's specialities and this beef platter of wagyu beef of 3 different cut. Then he recommended this cocktail which he assured was asbolutely divine and I wont be able to discern the alcohol within. he looked sincere and earnest enough that I trusted him with the plan. I was not disappointed.
Dinner at Dawan proved to be my best meal in Taipei for the trip. Apart from the excellent service we had, the ingredients were undoubtingly fresh and reasonably priced. I would never ever pay so little for such high quality waygu beef cut. the meat was fresh and succulent and the staff timed the cooking over the charcoal flame so perfectly that every piece was cook to perfection (pink), where the juice will oozed inside your mouth as you take each bite. There was no additional sauces needed for dip. The meat is soooo good and naturally sweet that you will want to savour the full flavour on its own. Any additional condiments or sauces are excessive or rather unnecessary at this place.

We started off with this salad with small cubes of tofu. Each mouth was crunchy and delightful. The tofu was fried to prefection where the skin is lightly crisp without being oily, and the inside really soft and warm. The sald mix was light and non greasy either. (the girl was making our salad in the pix) What followed next was the grilled beef tongue with chopped scallions.




While we were eating, I started chattin with the girl who was "assisting" us in cooking our meat. She is very very sweet and funny. I told her she looked like the taiwanese actress/ singer Yang Chen Ling and she laughed. I prob made her day. We chit chat so much and laughed so much that she joked that Kirby her colleague must have overdosed my drink with too much alcohol... her other colleagues joined in the conversations and they started to guess my origins.


Too bad, no one guessed correctly where I was from with some thinking I was taiwanese. haaaa. As any typical reaction after the answer was revealed, she asked me what happened to the "funny singapore" accent. It's kinda hard to explain nor overturn this "deeply etched" WORLDWIDE perception that ALL SINGAPOREAN speaks BADLY in both English and Mandarin, so i didnt bother to elaborate. Its kinda sad if you really think about it.... Anycase, before I knew it, they had somehow coined 爱笑小姐 as my nickname for the night.

One of the best dish was 牛小排，甜美，又嫩又多汁，真没话说。After cooking to perfection, the meat will be taken away to be slice to small pieces and adorned wih a drop of wasabi that perfectly enhanced the flavour. The wasabi isnt the usual nasty choking usual but rather it has a very light flavour closer to english mustard but mixed with a tinge of something else. Combined with the sweet meat, it was divine combination.

The seafood was also fresh, unadulterated goodness as well.
Our neighbors had some rice ball that has salmon stuffing which didnt really appeal to us that much. I had another of the cocktail but of pomelo concoction this time as recommended by the girl to be her fav. I was sold and she was right.

Both my husband and I had a great time there, in terms of food and ambience and everything. To us, everything was perfect. If u can speak Mandarin, that is definitely a place to go. The place was constantly filled with customers and not a single empty seat in sight from 7.30pm to 9.30pm while we were there. As we were leaving, the place was still going strong with people waiting outside, and hence reservations is a good idea for this place. Would I come back again? Definitely. For the same meal, it would prob cost us an arm AND a leg if it was consumed in Hk or Singapore but not here in taipei. At the end, apart from the good food, I think the humourous friendly staff set the place apart. Creating a setting like you are dining at a friend's place where you can unwind, chill out or banter with the staff is a perfect environment to leave a memorable time for any guests, and most certainly have them come back again. Before I left, the girl and I said our goodbyes, and that I will definitely be back again the next time I am in taipei. It's a promise :)

As I left the store and was asking one of the serving staff (taking his smoking break) where to take a cab, he told me to head to the main street, not before cracking another joke to take my pick on any of the "cattle herd" parked by the side... That night, I went back with a big smile and a full belly.

Address: 台北市敦化南路一段177巷22號1樓０２－２７１１０１７９

operating hours: PM18:00～AM02:00

Taipei Travel Log: A Day in Danshui - 淡水一日游

On a glorious sat, I decided to take my husband out to Danshui for sightseeing. Due to our prior dinner appointment, we couldnt stick around for the sunset at the fisherman wharf. Plus, we figured we wont be missing out too much since we have seen so many sunset round the world that we figured this sunset wont be any much more different or more spectacular than the rest. Not that we think any lesser of the sunset at Danshui, but rather there wasnt much incentive for us to stick around since we were already there since 2pm. It's a pretty tiring day just from walking around.
In Danshui, quite frankly, the best thing is to eat. Just walk through the old Street (老街), you will pass by so many stalls that will set your senses alight, if it hasnt confused them from the varying fragrances and tempting visual delights. From the very first store, we were lured by the piping hot Taiwan sauage made from wild boar. It was much meatier, lengthy and juicer than the ususal Taiwan sauage. Next, we spied on the seasoned squid store and bought another cup of squid to munch on as we soldier on towards the Unesco heritage site.


[淡水最棒的一处就是边走边吃。天啊！摊位多得看得我眼花缭乱。说实在的，真的不怕没东西吃，只怕你没法饮得完，消化的不够快！当时的我，巴不得能够把全部都买回去试吃，但就是不能嘛。应为冷了，那股味道就变得不同了。加上饭店又没热锅能把买回去的食物温开来，太麻烦了，所以对有些摊位，只能眼睁睁，含情脉脉，依依不舍地说byebye了。那山猪制的热烘烘台湾香肠真是没乱盖的，好吃到棒！甜美多汁，虽很不起眼，也不算是美味佳肴，但对我来说，这简简单单的味道和吃法，也是一种享受，所以吃得无比的开心。鱿鱼酥更是好吃的不得了。除了具有不同的味道选择，口感更是一点都不会硬梆梆，真令我诧异！但话说回那阿姨，她样子还真是不开心。。。太热了吧！]
Along the way, I was tempted by so many things. From the muahchee, to the mochi balls, to the Ah ge, and huge slab of chicken cutlet...crap..there are so much to choose from that I had to restrain myself from overeating so that I wont be too full for my BBQ dinner tonite.

For dessert, we stopped by this store which allows you to choose from an assortment of ingredients such as yuyuan, grass jelly etc to go with the shaved iced soya beancurd. It's basically similar Singapore version of Ice Kachang without the Kachang (red beans) and different set of flavors combination.
We walked along the riverbay. hot hot hot. It was a really clear sunny day. I cursed aloud for forgetting my cap but at least i rem my shades. My husband had none. I gloated at him in glee...


We were pretty lucky. It was UNESCO heritage day in Danshui （淡水认识古迹日） that weekend, so for all the buildings and sights we visited, we didnt have to pay any entrance fee. One of the more interesting building was the Red Castle (淡水红毛城), initially built by the Spanish in the 17th century (secretly sneaking behind the Dutch rule of the area then) and later after a period of desolation, under China's rule, the building was rented out to the Brits as some diplomatic embassy office and holding cells. While inside, I was lucky to bump into this Malaysian group threesome who was being led around by a Taiwan guide explaining the history of the place, throwing in rumoured myths and stories of the hidden tunnel between red castle here in Danshui to the building in Kee long. My husband doesnt understand mandarin so we split up as he checked out the place on his own while I was more interested in what the guide was explaining about the building.

There was also a pretty ancient looking Chinese temple which was built based on numerous and generous donations by the locals back in 1782, showing the height of belief of the population then. It is the oldest Mazu (妈祖庙) temple in Danshui. Inside the temple nearest the main entrance on the left hand side, there is also an inscription of the history and orgins of the temple, as well as the remains of a stone tablet embedded in the wall. the tablet is actually an inscription declaring all the people who contributed to building this important lighthouse in the Tamshui region back then (which serve as a bustling port and shipping trades), to prevent ships from crashing and sinking, as well as guilding them around. Unfortunately, the Japanese had bombed and utterly destroyed the lighthouse during world war and hence, only the tablet remains to remind us of the little bit of history.

We walked further up to the Litle White House, which building is a small building that shows all the history of the place. Ok alittle boring, so we scouted out there in a jiffy since the building itself is not very interesting.

While strolling back to the station, we stop by this store which served this muahchee thingie, not made of glutinous rice but with fresh milk. I decided to try it since it sounded interesting. truthfully, while its not as sticky and filling as the glutinous rice version, this milk version was lacking in something. I cannot se exactly what but perhaps the milk flavour doesnt blend well with the black sesamee coating we chosed.

There are alot of cafes lined along the waterfront, which are all fully filled by 5pm of course. Its a nice respite from the sun and fatigue but you will have to go early to grab the best spot. The only thing is, they are directly in the sun during the afternoon sun so you wont want to be there too early either.

The only thing I didnt quite try was the black eggs called 铁蛋, literally translated as metal eggs. There is nothing metallic about it but rather its just fermented shrunk chicken eggs. I am no fan of eggs so despite all the advice that I should try it, I politely declined.

All in all, another good day, especially when it all comes free and a day filled with good history of another place. Throw in great snacks and food, what else is there to say.

Checking into Far eastern hotel Taipei

Due to a Travel package offer, we decided to stay at Far Eastern Shangri Hotel instead of my ususal Le Suite Taipei.

One of the most distinct thing I missed from Le Suite is the use of free mobile phone, which i can make free calls. It was super convenient for me back then to be able to call the hotel concegiere at the push of one button if I had wanted to know where to go and have my fav food. It was really service at a touch of a button.

In Far Eastern, my first impression wasnt that great. We arrived at about 12pm and there was a mob of other check in guests due to some seminar. I was told my room wasnt ready but she will upgrade me and I should come back 1.5 hrs later. We left our bags with the bell boy and I bundled my husband into a cab and swiftly off to taipei 101 to get that done and over with.

We ended up having Japanese lunch at the top floor. I didnt want to ruin my appetite for my hotpot dinner later so I ordered a small sushi platter. My husband as typical man, refuse to heed my advice that it was too much and went ahead to order an udon noodle set for himself. (which did ruin his dinner appetite afterall)
The ironical thing was when my chef was preparing sushi platter came, my husband got all "jealous" that mine looked so inviting. As we were at our counter seat, the chef overheard my husband's playful indignant cries and started laughing when we started to banter, where I obviously refuse to share any of my sushi with my husband. I told the chef to proceed in helping me to "taunt" my husband in mandarin “请你继续吧！让他羡慕死吧！哈哈” The chef laughed and commented that my husband can always order another one which I explained he shant due to our early dinner reservations.

Of course, in the end, being the "dutiful" wife as I am, I split some of my sushi in half for my greedy guts husband to "appease" his gluttony guts. :)

We went back to the hotel 2 hours later, giving the hotel an extra half hour from the advised time. To my horror, I was told my room wasnt ready. Now, this really wasnt what I was expecting. In Le Suite, my room would always be ready before I am back, not to mention with the extra half hour I had given Far Eastern. I asked how long more I had to wait, and it ended up another 30mins wait. My husband was so dead tired (from all his biz trip flying and morning flight) that he fell asleep in the lobby lounge sofa. I was obviously not in my best mood either though I tried to be as understanding as possible. Still, I dont like to be "lied" to.

The room was unusually big and spacious. We had an extra living room area wih sofa set where the floor area could easily fit another kind size bed in the room and prob throw in another single bed and still have space to walk around. It was crazy that size.

The Tv however isnt plasma and kinda placed in a weird angle that can get pretty tirin to watch from the bed. What was the worst was the temperature. The room was perpetually freezing and the thermostat in the room didnt seem to work. We turn it up to 26degree and it still felt like freezing Antartic pole. However, under the bed quilt, it was all nice and warm and inviting to sleep. Just that everymoring we had to pile on the layers before shooting out of our room and bask ourselves in Taipei sunny warmth.

Housekeeping was efficient as well. The hotel has a rather nice rooftop view where the pool is.We get to see a good niteview of the city as well as Taipei 101 at nite with the lights all turned on. The pool is nicely deep at 1.95m but it so freaking warm that you cannot really do serious lap swims.

However lobby staff.... hmm.. receptionist isnt all warm and friendly, and concerige staff isnt all knowledgeable in the best travel time and methods. Other than that, the hotel is kinda out of the way from everything and a good 10mins walking distance from the nearest train station. Given a choice, I prob wont head back to this hotel in a hurry.

Taipei Travel Log: Dinner at spicy Hotpot (满堂红麻辣锅)

I have finally settled down a little to blog about my Taipei trip. After all the grieve from Dell, I deserve a little pockets of happy moment to get thru this brand new week.

I didnt take much sightseeing pictures in Taipei, since frankly....hmmm... there is really nothing to see within the city area itself. As my husband so aptly put it, it's really all about food for me this trip.

The first food review shall be 满堂红麻辣锅 [man tang hong ma la guo]

This is a specialty store devoted to selling nothing but hotpot soup with your choice of own raw ingredients. While hotpot stores are aplenty in Taipei and prob in Asia, this store is especially known for their spicy chili broth. The broth is supposedly cooked for over 8hrs to get the really fiery spicy flavor into the soup.

I went to the branch at ai ren street and not the flagship store because its much nearer to Far Eastern Shangri La my hotel. As I have blogged somewhere earlier, its a good thing I book a week in advance to secure a table for the 5.30-7.30pm seating.

Arriving and locating the restaurant is a breeze though one should walk to the side street for the main entrance, instead of looking for the entry along the main road where their logo sign is being displayed. Walk up to 2nd level, you are greeted by the bustling busy but polite young waiters. We were seated promptly at this huge table and immediately I was askd if I wanted the 鸳鸯锅 (yuanyang guo) [definition: half portions of normal broth and spicy mala]

As I had done my Internet research prior the trip and knowing the potent power of the dried chili broth, I had specifically asked for the mildest version. The waiter acknowledged and immediately my pot of soup was served.

I was given this checklist of items to order or rather select. The price of the meal is fixed at about 450NT per adult for dinner time, so we can select whatever we want and the waiter will serve the various selections to the table.. The only thing u need to get yourself are the free flow of soft drink coke bottles, as well as different type of sauces from a range of BBQ sauce, vinegar, Japanese sour sauce, sesame seed oil, peanut power etc etc...there must be over 10 types of assortment there.

I checked the most of the list of beef options minus the bacon (about 3 different cuts) , clams, prawns, veges, chicken, assortments of mushrooms. The meat came in thinly sliced ham format. For the beef, there were the signature version, near the belly and one shoulder beef area. However, my fav dish was actually the minced prawn in the bamboo tube. That is the BEST dish for me.



Ok for starters, even their mild version of the chilli broth nearly killed me. It was really really really spicy. I didnt choke on it but you can feel the warm fuzzy feeling in your tummy even if all I did was to cook my meat in the broth and didnt drink the soup, which prob would have been suicidal. I rem another blogger had mentioned how he was stuck in the toilet the whole of next day after his meal from over consumption of the chilli broth and he wasnt used to the spice, so I was determined not to make the same mistake and ruined my hols. Hence I threw all my veges into the normal broth.

I was really lucky to get a really attentive and friendly male waiter. He noticed I didnt touch the chilli broth and asked if it was still too hot for me. I confessed it was really too spicy for me and I wasnt used to it. He grinned and added more of the normal broth into the chilli broth to dilute the spiciness. Initially he had mistaken I had returned back to Taiwan from overseas and he joked that my tummy had forgotten its "spicy roots". After he realised I wasnt Taiwanese, he actually stuck around to cook my meat for me. I look around and didnt see any of the other waiter cooking the meals for the rest of the patrons. Ok, I confessed, I like the special treatment. I didnt have to lift a finger, all I did was to eat whatever the waiter dished onto my plate. haaa

Of course, special treatment couldnt last the whole nite since the place was really jam packed with customers :) I had a jug of the 乌梅汁 which basically is some black plum juice. It was alittle different from what I had in mind and it was alittle too thick before the ice melted. Plus it had kinda a strong herbal taste too. However, it certainly clam the "fire" within the tummy after the intake of the chilli broth. Unfortunately, my husband has no interest in such "chinese" beverage taking preference with his coke and I couldnt finish my plum juice of coz.

All in all a good meal for the first dinner of the trip, not to mention dirt cheap. 2 hours is just the right duration for the meal. We decided to free up our table for the next guests and had our icecream in a cone as takeway instead.

The only thing that had my husband stumped a little was the male washroom. He was kinda taken back that there was little privacy. The washroom toilet door was kinda tinted in red but it was seriously not hard to see the "men in action" doing their little business as the urinal was place by the side of the door. I was so amused I started laughing. I was telling my husband that no one would really be interested to "look in" and stare at them peeing but he wasnt all that convinced...


滿堂紅頂極麻辣鴛鴦火鍋．

ADDRESS: 仁愛旗艦店台北市仁愛路四段228號之4０２-２７０１６６６９

OPERATING HRS: 營業時間上午十一點半至三點．下午五點至凌晨一點
(11am -3pm lunch/ 5pm -am dinner))

COST: 每人午間399元 (noon)，夜間假日450元(night)，單點另計，加一成服務費用，

TIME LIMIT :限時兩個小時．

仁愛本店：台北市仁愛路四段454號．０２-２７２９６４４３．晚上只營業至十一點鐘

Travel Pixs: Osaka and Taipei

I know this is like belated...but oh well, I finally found time to upload the Osaka pictures and Taipei picture to share. (Of course u can skip if u are not interested :P ). I decided to forgo Flicker as it TAKES forever to upload so I'm sticking to Windows Live which is getting pretty good. damn Microsoft..U just have to hand it to them.

Didnt take much for Taipei since there photography was banned in The National palace Museum, and the rest of the time my hands were too full from carrying my mum's goodies....and mine too *sheepish*

Spooky nite in taipei

People were asking me why i was so tired back from taipei.

One reason was too much work, second reason was more spooky.

We came back from massage and kate wasnt too well and so we went back to the room for a rest. By dinner time, we grab a cab to Ding Tai Feng for dim sum with Jo. I boarded the cab first, followed by kate. What was weird was the cab driver was staring at Kate the whole time!!!
And honestly, his eyes from the rear mirror looks really really spooky! 阴深的样子。

The minute Kate closed the door, the cab driver told me in mandarin "there is a ghost next to your friend" I freaked out!!!! I screamed and literally covered my ear and told him i didnt want to hear. Ok i am chicken shit! haa haa

kate saw my reactions and heard the word ghost and she got scared. What was more spooky was the cab driver said "your colleague has a younger brother correct? And she has a K in her name" That totally freak me out. I told him i didnt want to continue the conversation and I ignore Kate to ask me to repeat what he said. I felt i didnt want to talk about scary things at night, and considering Taiwan is not known for "clean" environment, i didnt want to invite more "trouble" by talking about it.

So the whole night, both of us was disturbed by teh cab ride and kate agree his eyes looked scary. The whole night, i didnt sleep and for once in my life, i left every single lights in the room on. I think what spooked me the most was that when i got back after dinner, every single freaking channel on TV that i turn to (about 10 channels) were about ghost when i flick to it!!!! Talk about bloody coincidental broadcast!!! It was either about some ghost places, screaming ghost movie trailers, and reporting of a dead Taiwan celebrity that night. Bloody hell, i was totally scared shitless as my imagination runs wild!!!!

On Monday, i looked and felt like shit and was increasingly frustrated and bad mood. Lack of sleep does that to you. And all the work problems didnt lighten my mood and i was ready to aim and shoot. I wish I didnt have to repeat myself a thousand times. By Tues, I didnt sleep well again, i guess elephant memory doesnt help in this case....Arrrggghhh!

I am just glad to be home, even if I am still by myself. At least i have my comfort pillows! haa haa

One more nite in Taipei

Time flies when you are on business trip and before i knew it, half day passed!

Shirley brought us to eat pork rb noodle with tomato based soup near our office.. OOOOOo yummy! I missed such simple soup based noodle. Hard to find in HK. So i happily slurp off the soup and headed off for Bubble milk tea at "50Lan". Ooooo soooooo gooooood!

In a flash, i was late for dinner by an hour with Allen and the rest. Havent seen Allen since he quit his previous job. Absolute delight to catch up, and of discussing the "absurd" TV variety shows which i missed so much on crappy HK TV. I didnt realise how influenced SG TV is by Taiwan movie that it had become so integrated in my life!

After TGIF, we headed off to iCE Monster @ Da An Yong Kang Jie coz i was craving for local dessert. It was soooo nice! Too bad jumbo mango was off season..(damnit!), so Allen and I settled for Mango yorgurt while Tim and Rosie went for more local options of sweet potato, grass jelly and green beans.....Its quite nice to be eating cold dessert, sitting in the open cool weather. I think I will so hate to go back to the humid heat in singapore if ever!



By 1am, we decided to call it a night since everyone has to work tomorrow. I didnt realised how much i missed hanging out sessions with friends like this and just chatting after work. Plus there wasnt anyone else in the lounge and felt like we were at home lazing at the sofa. In HK, never got to do anything like this. Just didnt feel the same. With allen and gang, felt theraputic..like back home with my old friends....

Despite being Monday, the group headed off for a quick drink @Lounge (Xiao Ke Ting). The moment i entered the place, i thought the guy behind the bar counter looked super familiar. I think he kind of realise and he didnt really want to make eye contact initially. I kept telling the group that he looked familiar and i thought i saw him on TV Taiwan drama before. They all laughed and said if that was so, it must be some second grade show or they are from "singapore" to not recognise their local actor. Anycase, we started chatted about other things like why chewing gum was banned in sg and i was telling Allen to head to geylang for food. (Sooo embarrassing that i actually forgot the name of the Geylang street!! Oh god, i am away from home for toooo long!!!!!). Tim shared more "disgusting" past that boys he knew ate their nose shit when they were young!!! the girls went "EEEEEEEeeeewwwweeeee grosssssss!!!" Haaa haaa

As we were clearing the bill, i couldnt help but asked the owner if the guy i saw the whole night was ever on TV. The boss paused and said yes!!!!!!! And i asked if it was local idol drama and he said yes, that he was from the show "Prince turned frog series" ! I was like "I KNEW IT!!" and the rest of the group all laughed responding "OH! we are all from singapore!!!" It was hilarious! Imagine that i actually watched MORE Taiwan drama than the Taiwanese?!?@!! Haa haaa.
Anycase, a pity i didnt ask earlier or i could have a picture! I demanded Rosie to head back and take a picture of Antony tomorrow!!! I dun care!!! Arrrrrgggghhhh!!

U-LAI Hotspring @ taiwan

We were totally in love with the hot spring spa session at Spring Park Urai Spa (春秋乌来）. Kate and I spent 4 solid hours for Onsen soak and massage. We took 40mins- one hour cab ride from Taipei city to the hot spring spot (about NT$900). We were in love with the green river and forest green view where the private room overlooks. Imagine the tranquil of soaking in your own private onsen with the cool breeze blowing, and the gentle peace amid the green. Abolsutely fabulous.

I fell asleep through the whole session, with the gentle rythmic touch. I almost thought i heard myself snoring from total relaxation of body and mind! After kate lunch after 4pm, we grab a cab back to the comfortable bed that awaits us... If u are in Taipei for the weekend, and your body craves for gentle touch, you should so give this a go!

Shopping & Eating & Drinking @Taipei City

we met Jo at Mitshiko mall so that we can attend the roadshow for spring collection today. Kate was so nice (not to mention rich) and she bought the whole brush collection, eye shades, the brushes stand and whole shades of mascara today! In today, it cost her NT26,000 (S$1,300) just for the makeup at retail price. The BA was so shocked that she said she has never had anyone bought so much in one go.

Then we went to have beancurd downstairs in foodcourt@Eslite bookstore and it was OMG. I LOVE IT and i missed good beancurd so much!!! The syrup is not just cane sugar, there's something different about it with brown sugar and its not sickly sweet. Plus Muah chee was soooo goooooooooood! Comfort fooooood!

Then josephine was telling us she bought these necklace at the "hawkers" stall outside the MRT station and it only cost her NT$100 (S$5). My jaws drop!!!! its sooo cheap and nice!!! So we went to the store and i grab 3 necklace and feeling so happy! In between picking, there was police raid and the guy just packup and went off. So we were staying there with necklace in our hands wondering what happened. Shirley told us"cops" and we went oh! The best was everyone just stood around waiting for the guy to come back and collect the money. No one walk away with the necklace! How great is that for honesty!!!

We got hungry and headed to 川巴子(www.cbz.com.tw). Again, it was OMG!!!!!!The soup base was sooo good! we had the double pot of fish stock and the spicy stock. The fish is sooooo soft and tender! AMAZING!

After dinner, we craved for icecream and headed to Haggen Daaz. So we sat there and swopping stories. God i was dying from laughing the whole night!

Then we moved on to Organo (886-227840555) @An ho road. The fries are fanastic!!!! We had another 2 friends of shirley and Jo to join us and again we swopped ghost tales of this famouse hotel chain in Taipei and stories from different companies. It was funny! Joseph used to be from a known brand chips and he was sharing how they invited chef from Japan to make a dish and how they convert that taste to chips etc. It was amazing to know stories from behind the scene! Not to mention him gaining 6kg from eating all teh chips and drinking softdrink due to food testing!

By 1.30am, we called it a night but it has been such a great night. I went crazy and bought lotsa mandarin cds. and tomorrow, we are heading to U-Lai for hotspring and massage! Meanwhile, i feel my tummy skin being stretched so much from all the food and drinks that i think my waist is so going to sag by morning..!!

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Extra "Mobile" Service

Did i say i love the concept of the mobile service in Les Suite Taipei? It is sooo cool!!!Basically the hotel provide you with a free motorola phone in the room. And u can use the phone in Taipei city for the whole stay., Best of all, land calls are FREE and you can do room to room calling using the mobile. Press "8" and it connects you to the service desk and you can ask for anything! It is amazing concept and me and kate love it!I didnt have roaming service for hp (fk up HK sim card doesnt even allow sms service even when i am willing to PAY). So This hotel service is a blessing!!!

Some stores i tried in shilin market-Taipei

For cynthia and anyone heading to Taipei (too bad I missed out on Alex in Taipei. didnt know till he emailed me after reading my blog! haa haa) , here are some stores which i tried in shilin market (stop at jian tan station 剑潭站 ）and I really love it!

I tried Aiyu (爱玉） which is some kelly gelatin made from seeds of a tree only found in taiwan. Not bad for a drink. (Store 536)

The next thing i wont miss is the mango ice (芒果冰）. wah pianz damn good! Thinking about it still makes me drool! (I think its at store 497) I dunno if there are any other place that has better mango ice but canx complain what i have!

I didnt really tried the food but there was this store that had some steam or panfried meat buns that smell really glorious and there was a Q for it. But i was conserving "Okane" $$ for other things so i didnt try the food. I canx rem the place since it is right in the middle and it was kinda like a cart in
front of the store and i didnt take note of the number.

My vendors brought me to this Pig trotters place. Sooo good, feels so at home!!! Except that theirs is not the balck vinegar style which i am used to from home. In fact they were so surprised when i said ours back home is cooked in vinegar! They couldnt imagine! HK food just doesnt suit me..except the canto dishes. But general food places makes me "sianz". Taiwan is so like home, chinese music, chinese conversation and people are just warm. Plus a good thing, I hardly saw any mainlanders! The last few modern city with minimal loud booming mainland toruists that disgusts me with their inconsiderate behaviour. And somehow, typical Singapore tourists are more subdued and quieter in Taiwan comparing to other places,maybe becoz they can speak mandarin and not their horrid english that made them more bearable. haa haa.

Taiwan is filled with stores of variety everywhere so its really hard to say where to shop. I think Anna told me there where at Wuchang or Wufeng place that was really good but i canx rem which... Anna!! U better tell me when u going back to Taiwan and let me tag along!!! hee hee

Les Suite Taipei

I really like Les Suite Taipei Hotel at 12, Ching Cheng Street. It is modern, free wireless and cheap. Can u imagine for a full set room service dinner that includes main noodle, soup, 2 appetiser, 1 vege plus 1 full plate of super sweet fruits (6 selections), it only cost 280NT + 10%service charge.

The superior room is spacious, bath room great with even simple thoughts of providing hair band and rubber band for ladies. I havent tried the bed yet but it felt alrite when i sat on it. The room has 100 channels, mainly taiwan programs and also Japanese programs (Ooops! I just saw an uncensored english channel with Jap subtitles flashing saggy boobs!)

Where can u get value like that? Good location (just next to MRT), fanastic plolite service and damn good looking stuff (guys) and new room and quiet location. Its amazing! The staff are so considerate and attentive, It was raining when they got me a cab. I forgot to ask for a brolly as it was sheltered but as i got into the cab, the hotel staff handed me a brolly and informed me to be careful as it was raining. He even put his hand on the cab door above my head in case i bump onto the taxi ceiling. Its really good service!! When i called for room service and happen to say I am hungry, the room service volunteered to give me extra serving and so I have 2 big bowl of vege soup atht tasted really good !! It was clear soup and healthy. I will definitely come back again for this is a value for money hotel!

Theer is a 24hr book store cafe but I am too tired now to check it out. But there is macs next door that close at 23.30pm and a 24hr family mart (7-11). What more can one ask for?

Compared to JW Marriott Shanghai, Marriott loses terribly in service. I was so fed up with the lousy room key which keeps deactivating and the staff keep jumping to conclusion that it was my phone or my other credit card atht affects the magnetism. For one, I kept my room card in my bag separate from my wallet and phone. So it was the card problem. 2 nites constantly and it was a hassle to walk to the recept due to weird layout. I was so irked that I wrote in to complain about the service. So Les Suite Taipei is indeed heaven sent!

shih lin market

had some time after work and so i headed to Shih Lin Nite market by myself after my colleague gave me instructions. Walked arounf for over an hour but i didnt buy anything but i tried quite a lot. So fun! Only because i FORGOT to change more money to taipei currency and only have enough money for cab back to airport (~NT$1300 to hotel).

It was amazing the collections they have and it was very interesting. As i walked, i reminded me of Anna and wished she was here. Damn, we should have come here earlier and we could have so much fun together!!! Shopping and eating!!! Oh well, have to wait a few more years now and the clothes wont even suit me anymore....

It was raining and so abit uncomfy since its not sheltered and a hassle to carry my brolly around. But i throughly enjoyed it. Didnt have time to go Ximen and janice said better not if too late since its not too safe. So next time Taiwan! I will be back! Now its's sleeping time! its 1am!

PS: canx believe i keep forget to bring camera

Where is my hotel!?

Has been more than 2 decades since i last visited Taiwan.

I was 12 when i first came to taiwan with my parents and cousin and honestly, my memory of Taiwan is vague and foggy. The only thing i remember was the Queen Elisabeth sand head statue at some beach. Only why the impression was so deep was because there was some storm and the wind was whipping upthe sand and hitting me damn hard and it bloody hurts!!!Other memories was mainly the tour bus where these 2 gay guys was especially sweet to me and chat with me through all the bus trip (only rem mum was always seemingly in foul mood...)

Anycase, it was a plesant surprise when the custom officer said "你好旧没来了哦!" I was stunned and laughed and said yes. He laughed and said more than 10 years right! I grinned and left.

After i arrived and check in, I didnt even realise i was in the wrong hotel!!! The hotel reception called me and told me my colleague had booked me at the other chain about 2 blocks away! Mind you, this is teh FIRST time i ever made a mistake and that is only because both hotel has teh SAME name in teh same district!!! So i had to grabbed a cab and rush to the other place, which is a good choice since this second hotel is newer and next to train station! Plus 10mins walking time to office.

Oh well, work day didnt end till about 8pm. Had a good chat with the D.M and I really like her. In fact i felt so at home in teh Taiwan office and had a superb time making accquaintances! People are even warmer than the shanghai office and somehow, I just felt more cosy and at ease. I felt more like new employee as i joked with Esther when she brought me around. They were wondering how i didnt have the HK mandarin accent and why my mandarin was fluent (though i insisted it really wasnt that fantastic though better than Hkongers for sure! haa haa), only to realise that I am a singaporean. They were even nicer! haa haa

Janice was so nice that she met me at the hotel and showed me how to take the train. It was very easy and i really like it and its dirt cheap. For some distance was only 30NT. I went to shih lin market for a quick look and it cost me only 30NT from Nanjing East station.

More later!