For those who wanna know more about Taiwan, there's some other place I have been before.
Food @ Taipei :
Hello Kitty lovers, check this HK café out located at Da An.
Operation hours : Monday to Sunday, 11.30am to 10 pm
My Hello Kitty seat!
You can only order dessert from the 'Sweet Menu' if you miss the lunch time or you were too early for dinner time. Hello Kitty overload for my dessert! Haha!
Even my ice cube is Hello Kitty!
Tiramisu is still ok.
Hello Kitty on the Hot Latte!
My Hello Kitty Jelly!
Cute but seriously taste bad. Do not try this! Don't get cheated by its cuteness! Haha!
These are some cake that is selling at the take away counter, more like a birthday cake for people to buy but not very sure about the taste.
The cashier at level 1 is also filled with Hello Kitty! There is some Hello Kitty product that is selling behind the counter.
The take-away counter.
Level 2 seats are different from level 1!
A big corner to hold a Hello Kitty party!
Even the toilet is about Hello Kitty!
Toilet Restaurant
Next, introducing the toilet restaurant at Xi Men Ding! Yes you didn't see wrongly, I really meant the Toilet! Haha... its call the Modern Toilet.
Huge toilet bowl as their sign board! If you cannot find just look out for the toilet bowl!
Operation hours : Monday to Friday, 11.30am to 10pm
Saturday and Sunday, 11am to 10pm
Even out dinning table are made of washing basin!
Our toilet bowl seats!
My toilet bowl cheese pork cutlet! Does it spoilt you appetite when you see your food in a toilet bowl? Haha!
Guess what is this for? Haha! Its actually my rice bowl cover! So cute!
Our dessert served! But it looks a bit...... real.....
Kimchi steamboat in toilet bowl too!
The toilet... I'm not trying to spoilt your appetite but this is not a picture of their toilet bowl, its their hand basin!
Another table, the bathtub ( with shower ) table!
Food there are not that bad not don't expect too much from a theme restaurant. Haha... But its fun eating there using all the toilet bowl and others as your bowl! ( I realise so happen that all the food I ordered are in toilet bowl but they do have other type of bowl )
鸭肉扁 （Ya Rou Bian）
This another goose meat restaurant at Xi Men Ding. Its one of the well know restaurant there.
( the sign board says duck meat but they are not selling duck meat. Haha! )
Food is not so fantastic. I prefer the another goose meat restaurant that I intro compare to this.
Heard from a cab driver that their goose meat used to be very tasty but after many generation, the meat is no longer tasty anymore.
鱼窝||贝壳情话泡沫红茶 （Yu Wo II Bei Ke Qing Hua Pao Mo Hong Cha）
This is another theme café at Xi Men ding. Below Hotel Puri.
Went in to try because its my favourite 'Beach' theme.
Bored while waiting for your food? Check your Horoscope Luck.
Bake rice. Like I say do not expect too much from a theme restaurant. Food taste normal only.
Stone art under the glass table.
Ice cream will not go wrong!
鲜芋仙 （Xian Yu Xian）
Xian Yu Xian is a dessert shop located at a lot of place in Taiwan. They serve very nice dessert!
Grass jelly with yam ball and.... (can't remember )
Freshly brew ice Winter Melon tea!
古典玫瑰圜 （Rose House）
Those who love high tea can visit this Rose House. Everything is about rose and flower there.
The outlet I went ( pictures below ) has already close down so please visit http://www.rosehouse.com.tw/store.php for the outlets that is available.
All sort of tea that you can buy!
Apple cubes in my tea!
My high tea set.
九斤二日式无烟炭烧 （Jiu Jin Er Ri Shi Wu Yan Tan Shao）
Lastly, a Japanese BBQ restaurant at Zhong Xiao Dun Hua.
Operation hours : Monday to Friday , 5pm to 3am
Saturday and Sunday, 11.30am to 3am
Price : Dinner, NT$399 ( SGD$16.80 )
Its a 'eat all you can' style. We have to write our order on the ordering list and pass to the waiter/waitress but after writing once, we decided to call the waiter for ordering cause we don't think they can understand our hand writing ( in Chinese ). Haha!
Kimchi steamboat!
The pig intestine is super yummy! Must try!
yummy pork!
Another must try dish is the BBQ apple!
Place You can Visit in Taipei :
九份 ( Jiu Fen )
Jiu Fen is also one of the famous place that people will visit. Its a old and vintage street where you can find lots of your childhood memory ( depend on your age too ) there.
1st you will take Taiwan Railway train from Taipei to Rui Fang (瑞芳 ),like how you Shi Fen( 十分).
Follow the signboard at the tunnel to your way out.
This time round you do not need take another train like how you go Shi Fen, you can take a cab outside the Rui Fang train station and tell the cab diver that you wanna go Jiu Fen. You can also take a bus opposite the station, Take the bus towards Jin Gua Shi ( 金瓜石 ), Ji Long Ke Yun ( 基隆客运 ) and you will reach Jiu Fen. If you are still not very sure, just ask around,Taiwanese are friendly and will be very happy to help you.
The view from the Jiu Fen.
Live performance! Haha... This guy is doing a perfomance using the hand made Ocarina that he is selling in his shop.
Hand crafted ocarina.
A very vintage games that was played during my parents time! Is it call Ti Gam Ti Gam? Anyway not very sure is there anything in the box but it seems a fun games at that time. Every box is NT$10 ( SG$0.40 ), so try your luck and see what you got.
Another vintage game but this seems more like pick a ang bao and see how much you get!
The vintage VS the new coke! No matter which generation,its still my favourite!
Hand drawn Tee shirt selling there too.
This is so good! Yummy BBQ mushroom!
Cute fat and sleeping doggie watching the door at one of the shop. He is too fat to move anywhere!
One of the famous Yam Ball dessert at Jiu Fen!
100% hand made! You will pass by these aunties when you walk to the seating area.
Ta da! Our ice yam ball dessert!
Looking at the beautiful scenery while having our dessert!
Someone's house with 2 cats watching the door! Btw, although this street is open to tourist to visit, there are still resident staying there so don't go into the wrong place to visit! Haha!
All the old school candies and snacks! Some of the candies can be found in Singapore too so I guess all this candies is the same in almost every country.
The very vintage black disc!
Vintage camera!!
My Grandma use to have one of this sewing machine!
Pose = 100%, Music = 0%
Look at the crowd!
Yummy sausage!
阳明山 ( Yang Ming Shan )
Heading to Yan Ming Shan, one of the national park in Taipei. Yang Ming Shan is also the best place to see cherry blossoms during spring. You can also go there for hot spring during winter time.
How to go : Train to Taipei Main station, Exit one, Cross over to the opposite to take bus 260
There is a unlimited bus ride for bus 108 to go around Yang Ming Shan but of course you can choose to walk around and to enjoy the breeze and fresh air there. ( we choose to walk ) Please note that the bus frequency is quite low expect for weekends and spring season.
This is the routing that the bus will bring you to.
We decided to walk up the mountain to stand at the tallest point in Taipei to look at the full view of Taipei!
Just 2 girls, no map, just follow the sign board. ( haha! I think we are too brave! )
Pass by a lot of nice scenery!
Finally we are at the top of Taipei!
The Scenery Pavilion! But it looks a bit run down already and we realise basically nobody went up there beside the 2 of us.
The view of Taipei! We went on the January ( winter ) and it was cold and super windy up there! ( All our face are covered by our hair in our picture! Haha! )
Going back down is quite thrilling for us as we met a fierce stray dog at the other pavilion that we pass by! The dog didn't bark at me but at my friend ( maybe I got dog at home so I got dog smell ) but lucky that dog didn't do anything to us. I assume he just got shock to see human up there and also don't want us to go into the pavilion ( its a very run down pavilion, worse then the one we went and it looks scary from the outside ).
While on our way down ( after the stray dog incidents ) we saw this beautiful waterfall and we can't help to stop by to take plenty of picture.
We decided to head off to Xing Bei Tou ( 新北头 ) for hot spring bath ( will tell you more about hot spring bath later ), so while waiting for our bus No. 9, we drop by the shop just behind the bus stop and have a bowl of hot soup.
Home cook style!
猫空 ( Mao Kong )
Mao Kong is a place where all the tea leaves plantation is and also where you can have your high tea up the mountain with a superb view.
How to go : Train to Taipei Zoo Station, Follow the signboard to the cable car station and take a cable car up. Its only NT$50 ( SG$2.10 ) to reach the top. Or if you wanna take bus and look at the scenery, you can take zong 15 lu ( 棕15路 ) bus, opposite ( in the middle of the road ) the zoo. ( We choose to take bus up and cable car down )
This are all the place where you can have your high tea! Spoilt with choices ( but mostly is Chinese style )!
We decided to go to the roadside café for our high tea!
P/s: free wifi there too!
Many many types of coffee and tea for you to choose and of course we are at the tea leaves plantation, we shall have tea instead of coffee.
The view we are looking while having our tea!
For tea, we had the Cranberry Apple Herb Tea ( the red one ) and Peach Herb Tea ( the orange one ), NT$160 (SG$6.70) per pot.
For dessert we had the Cheese Cake and Coffee Cake, NT$70 ( SG$2.90 ) each.
Tea + Dessert + Great Scenery + Good weather = Life is Good!
The tea is really good!
After tea time, we went to tour around the place and we found a temple there.
Looking at the views while walking back to the cable car station.
A Chinese style café...
Private property, Do not enter! ( I guess this is where all the tea leaves are planted )
Buying our cable car tickets back.
淡水老街 ( Dan Shui Lao Jie )
Dan Shui is one of the famous street in Taipei too. Lots of local snacks selling along the street there. They are famous for their sun set at the Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf and Lovers Bridge.
How to go : Train to Dan Shui station, Exit 1 and 2 mins walk.
To Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf : Train to Dan Shui station, Exit 1, Bus red-26, 836, 837 or you can take a ferry ride from Dan Shui ferry pier.
The famous super tall ( long? ) ice cream at Dan Shui.
The max is 55cm tall but I choose the normal length ice cream.
Iron egg is also something you should buy there! Personally I love the iron egg but because it is hard ( that's why its call iron egg ), not all people can accept it. Haha...
Uncle fishing at the ferry pier.
We took the ferry not to the fisherman's wharf, but to another place.
Yup, we took the ferry to 八里 ( Ba Li ), not the Bali you know of course. Haha! Ba Li is also another old street and also walk and enjoy the breeze.
Horse riding at Ba Li.
We had the Smelly Tofu at one of the smelly tofu shop. Yummy!
Vintage coke can be found there too.
Nothing much at Ba Li, but you can walk and enjoy the scenery and breeze.
Dogs are happily chasing and playing freely there.
Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall
Its a place about history of Sun Yat-Sen. If you are not a person who are interested in history then it will be a quite boring place to visit beside watching the military march pass.
How to go : Train to Sun Yat-Sen Memeorial hall station, Exit 4.
Mr Sun Yat-Sen.
A lot of people here practising dancing and walk their dog there.
School students is there to practise their school performance too.
Every hour their Air, Land and Navy Force will do a 10 mins marching ceremony to pass over their duties.
中正纪念堂 Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall
Recommend only for those who are interested in historical too, if not basically there is nothing there. They do have the military marching ceremony every hour ( same as Sun Yat-Sen Memorial hall ).
How to go : Train to Chiang Kai-Shek memorial hall station, walk few mins and you will reach.
National Theater.
The freedom square.
The giant statue of Chiang Kai-Shek. Be prepared to climb the stairs if you wanna see how Chiang Kai-Shek look like.
A peaceful garden at the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial hall.
台北101 ( Taipei 101 )
Taipei 101! Those who wants to have a look at the view of Taipei from the top, you can purchase the ticket to the top of the building. NT$400 ( SG$17 ) to the observatory deck.
How to go : Train to City Hall station, Exit 2, about 10 mins walks or take a shutter bus there.
艋舺龙山寺 ( Mong Jia Long Shan Si )
Those who wants to go pray then you can go to Mong Jia Long Shan Si, one of the temple build in 1738, in Taipei.
How to go : Take train to Long Shan Si station.
Hot Spring in Taiwan :
Wu Lai
Hot spring experience at the mountain top. Wu Lai is popular for their hot spring.
Things that you need to know before you start your hot spring bath.
We went to Wulai Spring Resort. Quite a long distance walk from the bus station but you can call the resort to ask them for a shuttle car to fetch you to their resort. There is public bath and also private bath area and we choose private. We had our own room for our hot spring bath with a nice view outside.
Pls visit www.wulai-spring.com.tw/ or call +886 226616161 for more details.
The good point of private bath is you can choose the water temperature.
Relax your body in the bath and looking at the natural view.
Xin Bei Tou
Xin Bei Tou is also famous for their hot spring area in Taipei too. There is many many hot spring hotel and resort there.
Villa 32 is one hot spring resort I visited.
Please visit www.villa32.com/ for more details.
Hotel lobby waiting for our private room to be ready. Very good service there too!
A very luxury hot spring experience.
Loccitane products provided there.
Roof top can be open so you can lie down in the bath and look at the blue sky.
Adjust the temperature of the hot spring water to your preference.
Can see the water is hot! Its call hot spring of course our water must be a little bit hotter to receive the best treatment of the hot spring water.
Shui Du Hot Spring Resort is also one of the hot spring resort I visited in Xin Bei Tou.
Open air hot spring area.
Its a shared hot spring bath area but nobody was there, only us!
A smaller area for your feet only.
At the resort lobby while waiting for the shuttle bus to bring us back to the train station.
Hot Spring Museum
In Xin Bei Tou, beside the hot spring resort, you can visit their hot spring museum to know more about the area and also about the history of hot spring. It is a free entry museum.
School excursion at the hot spring museum.
Their hot spring water came from the mountain. Try the hot spring bath if you went in the winter or autumn season, you will feel so refresh after that. If you are not comfortable in striping yourself and share the pool with others, just choose the private area and enjoy yourself when your friends or partner.
@ Kaohsiung
One day tour at Kaohsiung.
How to go : High Speed Railway train from Taipei Main station to Zuo Ying.
Inside the high speed railway train.
Taking their MRT to their Pier 2 Art Centre.
How to go : Train to Yan Cheng station, about 10 - 15 mins walk.
DIY library at the train station.
The Kaohsiung train Map.
Gong Cha is really from Taiwan! Haha!
DIY bicycle rental station at the road side. Those who don't feel like walking so far, you can rent a bicycle there.
Even their sign board are so artistic!
Here we are at the Pier 2 Art centre.
This is C4 Warehouse.
Even their seats are about art.
C6 Warehouse.
3D Arts.
Robot made of waste metal.
Used to be a railway but no longer in use.
Sculpture using waste material.
Arts in the container.
Every container have different type of arts.
What are they looking?
The artist of this piece of arts are trying to simulation what will happen on 29/11/2011, at 4.16am 4'16sec. The Ikea represent our "home".
Wall arts using all the screw.
3D arts again.
After visiting the art centre, time for some lunch. Pass by this restaurant and got attracted by the tent. Looks like those eating tent in Korea. Anyway the tent is to block the wind so that customer will not feel cold while eating and also food will not turn cold easily.
After lunch, we went to the famous Po Po Bin!
BBQ Mochi!
Spoilt with choices.
Fruity ice cream! Eating ice cream with fresh fruits during winter is the best!
This BBQ mocha is really the best mocha I ever had! A little bit crispy on the outside and soft in the inside with sesame and peanuts as topping!
Heading to the famous Liou He Night Market before taking the HSR back to Taipei.
Beautiful train station.
3D arts at the train station.
Food hunt at the Liouhe Night Market.
Super crowded.
The famous papaya milk stall at LiouHe night market.
Picture of the famous people who visited the stall. Looks like its really famous.
The papaya milk.
Red milk tea.
Quail egg with prawn.
Fried mushroom.
Back to Taipei. Bought the bento from the 7-11 to enjoy on our way back.
Cheap and nice bento.
@ Tao Yuan International Airport T2.
Basically all airport are the same, the only special corner about the T2 is the Hello Kitty corner. Hello Kitty lovers can go there and have a look and take pictures if you have time.
The hello kitty nursery room.
Sanrio gift gate.
Selling this Hello Kitty holding a air tickets and pulling a mini luggage in a small version.
Hello Kitty kids playing area.
Boarding gate for the ( Eva ) Hello Kitty flight.
The Hello Kitty flight only fly to these country. So sad that it doesn't fly to Singapore.
The Hello Kitty flight waiting area.
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