Showing posts with label Taipei. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taipei. Show all posts

Monday, June 6, 2011

M's Vacation in...Taipei, Taiwan (part 2)!

Why, hello. How was your weekend? Mine was highly unproductive but I am allowed to slack off. Harbourtown on a saturday arvo and then dinner with Anna, dressed nicely at the cas. Good times and sunday was Glee-a-thon in my sis words. And a nice 2 hour catchup with Lloyd at Dome with the comfy couches.

So it is my 250th post and I have been saving this for a good post. I thought I would make good my promise to j&m who commented on my first Taipei vacation post requesting for more. So here you go. More details and a whole lot more photos!

That's a good size room for Taipei, and a pretty comfy bed for a good night's sleep before conquering the city the next day.

Just like Japan, we get cool toilet seats with temperature settings and all. LOVE IT.

A unique bathtub shape and a bathroom that may have leakage when you shower. But it is not the worst I have come across. I can deal.

Walking to the train station on our first night there.I thought this is a pretty cool building to have in the middle of traffic junctions. Wonder what it is for?

About five minutes walk and we made it to...





Took the train (you need to change trainlines at a stop before hopping onto the right one to here if you are taking it from XiaoNanMen) down to Jiantan where you will get to the night market. DO NOT take the train to Shihlin! It is different.
I have shown you a photo of Jiantan Food Market...now the store we spent most of our time at. Which isn't really that good. And just remember you are there for food, not service.
All looks fantastic but no they don't taste spectacular.

A small bowl of lu rou fan, aka braised pork rice. It is not bad but I just wish it was better with more meat, chunkier pieces.




Fried rice for the vegan amongst us.



The oyster omelette Taiwan is known for. I don't know if this is how they make it there, but I much prefer the or jian in Singapore or Thailand even.
My first cup of bubble tea in taiwan! Always good.
SMELLY TOFU! I lovelovelovelovelove it. Best thing here so far. Key word, so far.

Loosely translated as 'coffin toast', just a thick piece of toast carefully carved out to fill it with mushrooms or chicken etc.
The wonderful stall selling such long and big sausages of all kinds!
From the same stall, different parts of different meats on sticks And they grill it hot for you right there so it's worth the wait.

I love these as well, pork bacon-ish strips wrapping jiu cai which is sort of like leek/onions.

Da chang bao xiao chang, big sausage wrapped small sausage in other words. I find the glutinous rice sausage too much which is the big sausage here. Small sausage is good though. Taiwanese sausages are always good. I want some right now!

Found this at the start of Shihlin Night Market itself. Really sweet honey coated strawberries. Korea has them too, but boy, it is real sweet! Even for the sweet tooth like me.




Our second day visiting Jiu Fen. Went down to a temple there too. If you go to Taiwan and you are a Buddhist or Taoist, visit the different temples just to see how beautiful and big they are. Very different from Singapore. They are just so vast and spacious.

Cuttlefish at JiuFen worth trying and them grilling on the spot for you.

Also found in Jiu Fen, Icecream pohpiah thing. It is quite different but very fragrant.


Found also in JiuFen, grilled mushrooms. HUGE eh?! But so so so juicy! Loves it. They cut it up into smaller pieces and give it to you in a cup.

I didn't try this...snails...I mean I love escargots but I find this abit iffy.

A place where frequent period drams are shot. (in Jiu Fen still)

At ShiDa Night market, more photos of the popular crepes now. Sweet, savoury, they have it all.

That's our crepes! I didnt know what to order so I just pointed to their big crepe statue and said I wanted that. Heh.


Big Mario hats! perfect for Halloween!
Famous Longshan Temple







Told you they were real big.

Down at the foodcourt at Sogo.


Cute lipbalm!
I don't think we are allowed to climb on them but whatevs. Good photo op! At Taipei101. wish we headed there abit later when the shops are open and had more time to check it out too...

Roit prata-ish. I LOVE IT.

Dimsum cart at Gongguan Night market. Not so good...

Mee Jiang Kueh but not as good as the ones we have back in Singapore... Dont waste stomach space...hahaha.

Also famous in Taiwan, beancurd. However, I didn't find this particular stall in Gongguan any good. Stick to Rochor beancurd, or the ones at Kallang airport in Singapore.

Shihlin morning market now, IT IS HUGE! I didn't try it though...they have such a big pan to make it!

Really really good portugese eggtarts!!! Round the corner from Shihlin morning market. You can eat it fresh or deepfreeze it and have it like icecream!


Standard Ximending photo eh? Just crowds of people. Phew.





Sweet potato balls, Di Gua Qiu with plum powder. They are just so good when hot and totally worth all the wait! Anywhere.


And at the airport, we still went on eating! These are liu sa bao, flowing custard buns which I love and they have both eggyolk and sesame flavours. Yummaye!

Photos credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com


And last but not least, Doraemon cakes I got from Taipei 7-eleven next to RaoHe Night Market. So cute eh! Hope you guys enjoyed the photos and have this urge to go find something to eat. Hahaha!


I now have work to do, like real work from my supervisors. Goodness... I just want to watch Glee all day long. WELL, I shall go on blogging even if no one is reading because it makes me happy. One day, I will go back to Taipei but I don't think it is high up on my to-do list at the moment! Let me know how your trips go if you guys head down, eat loads dont hold back is my advice!

Friday, May 6, 2011

Mayy's New Haircut

200 posts later, I shall do a little reveal (not so recent). I needed a drastic change physically to reflect the change in my life. So like always, I chose a new hairstyle. 2 years ago, I chopped everything off to a short bob. This time, I got my first haircut overseas (not Singapore, I don't even cut my hair in Perth).

At Shi Da Night Market in Taipei, I was so tired of shopping. No not really, I was just having a little head spin from the many shops and turns. So at a turn, I saw this big white clean hairdressing shop and thought, I would get it done then and there. When I make up my mind, one can hardly tell me otherwise...Unless you make a really good argument.

For 400NTD, I had a really enjoyable experience with Addy, the hairdresser who was responsible for the new haircut. My mother was away shopping THANKFULLY so no extra mouth yapping away and confusing the poor guy. Just me, and me alone to handle all consequences.


TA DAH! Wa Wa Tou. Bangs. Whatever you want to call it. There's Addy in the background getting his curler ready just to make it abit more fun. SIGHS. NOW WHY IS HE IN TAIPEI?! Who is going to help me maintain this now?! =(

The second day and it still held its shape pretty alright. I got abit paranoid with the wind and all. Bangs are quite the high maintenance cut eh? Blowdrying with a round hairbrush, the occasional eyeliner, goodness me.

With the Din Tai Fung wawa!



At Wu Fen Pu and trying on the new belt I got. And didn't take it off for the rest of the night!





And very happy with my bubble tea with both bigsmall pearls! I really liked the hairstyle for now because I feel different and it gives me an edgier, darker look that I like. So yeah. Happy to keep maintaining it. The question now is, shld I keep the hair (not the bangs) longer or mid-length?





With my hair done up by a lady in Shihlin Night Market's hair accessories store. NTD200 with the accessories. Upset at the long wait and empty plastic bag...

Photos credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com



And very very very happy with a whole BIG XXL chicken chop to myself. Yes I am a pig!