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Taiwan

Chinese, Hawker, Taiwan, Travel
Chronicles of Taiwan Lost Photos

Last week during my fortnightly lunch gathering with my lunch gang, I told them that I wanted to visit Taiwan again. I don’t know, but Taiwan really touched my heart! And hopefully with Kayden getting older, we can plan for a trip sometime soon. You don’t see me much in my previous series of Taiwan photos, coz I’m the one taking it…but of course May did some shots of me as well. Chicken Rice & BBQ Chicken courtesy of AirAsia meals. Me at the pier @ Sun Moon Lake. Bezel trees (which is also called Pokok Pinang here in Malaysia) Ah Q Instant Noodles. A staple diet for backpackers like us. Herbal Tea Egg, from the origins…Taiwan. Eating at a stall @ Jiufen that sells all sorts of fish ball. Looks like the owner also keen to taking self portraiture too. The entrance of Windsor Café @ Jiufen. Would have prefer to stay longer too coz I read that Keelung Night Market is full of seafood! Queuing up to get the Black Pepper Biscuit at Raohe. Paying for our Modern Toilet meals. Chilling out at Ah Zhong Mee Suah @ Shih Lin Nightmarket. These are some of the photos…
March 8, 2011
Hawker, Taiwan, Travel
Taiwan Day 6 – Shih Lin Nightmarket

My 40D will need to be sent in for warranty so I think for the next week or so, I won’t be able to capture any shots. Hopefully it will be ready by the time Kayden’s Birthday party. I think my Taiwan travelogue has been hanging for quite awhile, this is probably going to be the 2nd last post as we reached the last night at Taiwan, and as everyone always said, you haven’t been to Taiwan if you have not step foot onto the Shih Lin Night Market. There’s 2 MRT station that’s within walking distance to the night market, the nearer station is called Jiantan, and just across the road is the area where all the food stalls of Shih Lin night market is located. When we were walking out of the station, we thought that we were lost because there’s no food stall around the night market, just shops and stalls selling clothes, shoes and pets. We only found out much later that the authorities have moved the food stalls to another side of the street. It was only until we saw this sign that we could confirmed that we are at the right place. Haven’t been…
December 20, 2010
Taiwan, Travel
Taiwan Day 6 – Xi Men Ding & Modern Toilet Restaurant

It’s great to know that Wonstar Hotel provides internet facility so I’m connected back to the digital age. It was a tiring night and we slept in before checking out the hotel’s breakfast. Breakfast was alright, with a mixture of Western and Taiwanese dishes. One thing I fall in love is this dish here that’s eaten with either rice or porridge. The Taiwanese called it Liu Rou, basically means Stewed Pork. Layers of lard cooked in fermented beans, it’s a pity that I only know the actual name after I touched down in KL, because it’s sold almost every where in Taiwan. It’s good to eat with porridge too, along with some pork floss. We don’t do this that often here in KL. Our target for day 6 is basically walk around Taipei and hunt for some stuffs like my Starbucks tumblers, May got to know from her friend about this place that sells very nice shoes, but we searched high and low for the shop but to no avail. We ended up finding this place called Chin Chin Cafe. We were early and didn’t realised that malls only open at 11AM on weekdays, so we ended up having a…
December 3, 2010
Hawker, Taiwan, Travel
Taiwan Day 5 – Raohe Night Market

Resuming our Taiwan trip from here, we head over to Raohe Night Market by a taxi, as we are already exhausted with walking. It’s the 2nd largest night market around Taipei CIty and close to the city, the largest is of course Shih Lin which is a bit further north of the city. In terms of shopping, there’s not much to buy except for clothing and shoes, but our main intention is still to eat. Things to Eat – Pork Rib Noodle, Black Pepper Biscuit and Fried Dumplings The 1st shop that we stepped in for our late dinner is this place called Yang Pai Gu Su Mien, which were packed with people, that’s why we just go in as well to try. One bowl of this is about NTD60 (if I remember correctly). I must say that the ribs are so good. The broth is sweet and tasty too. May don’t usually like mee, but even she said it’s good. The worker acting cool, before making a funny pose after I took this shot. Next on the list, which attracts quite a queue at the other end of Raohe is the Black Pepper Biscuit. It’s a bit like our…
November 24, 2010
Taiwan, Travel
Taiwan Day 5 – Finally Taipei

After moving around for more than 4 days around Taiwan, we finally check in to our hotel in Taipei. That’s not before we had our breakfast at Beauty Age Hotel. May ordered the Taiwanese style breakfast, porridge with assorted side dishes. My western style breakfast, with egg and bacon, salad and toasted bread. We were so tired of walking that we took a cab to the Beitou MRT station to save time and energy. Us waiting to head back to Central Taipei via the red line. Taipei Things to do – There’s no need to explained things to do right? Right after leaving our luggage at our hotel, we took the bus to the Shopping District very close to Taipei 101. Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, a name that I often heard about while I was working with Amex, but never knew that it’s that big in Taiwan. We only walked a block of it, and it’s not until Jiun told me that there’s actually a few blocks of Shin Kong Mitsukoshi around the area to cater different type of customers. There’s not much things for me to buy but May managed to get a pair of Made in Taiwan Wacoal. Lunch…
November 5, 2010
Taiwan, Travel
Taiwan Day 4 – Goodbye Jiufen, Hello Beitou & Danshui

The drizzles at Jiufen lasted way past midnight but fortunately enough, it clears up the sky the next day. Taken this shot very early in the morning at 530AM right in our room. Nothing beats a great view on a perfect holiday. The hotel that we stayed for the night, by the hillside. We packed our bags early as we will be making a trip back to Taipei before heading to Beitou. Breakfast is provided by Windsor, which was quite tasty with ham as filling along with special sauce and a portion of fruits. Home made Milk Tea, nice, creamy and soothing…even better the the teh tarik here. The cafe is also by the hillside, so there’s this glorious view of East China Sea to compliment breakfast. Some artsy deco at the front of the cafe, you won’t know it’s a cafe until you went through the door. After breakfast, we left our bags there to do some last minute shopping and managed to get the automatic umbrella that’s much talk about by those who went to Taiwan before that can withstand the strongest wind. The view from the bottom of the very famous stairways that’s pretty much being used…
October 28, 2010
Taiwan, Travel
Taiwan Day 3 – Drizzling at Jiufen

And more than 1 and 1/2 hours later, we were greeted with this gloomy scenery of Jiufen. It’s very foggy and gloomy the entire day, but it makes the visit more memorable. Accommodation – ??? ???? Windsor B&B After reading great reviews from KampungBoyCityGal, we have opted to stay at this great Bed & Breakfast, located hillside overlooking the sea. Windsor Cafe, it’s a reception cum cafe.
October 20, 2010
Taiwan, Travel
Taiwan Day 3 – Sunrise @ Sun Moon Lake & Departing Sun Moon Lake

After a good night’s sleep, we woke up around 520AM on our 3rd day to catch the sunrise. There’s too much fog that morning so couldn’t capture the scenic moment. It’s so early that even the street is almost deserted. We head to 7-11 to get something to much while waiting. The assorted drinks that is available around 7-11. From Papaya Milk, Bubble Milk Tea to Lattes and Cappuccinos, it’s left us spoilt for choice. We get some packed buns with Sponge Bob’s and Doraemon’s cover, alongside a cup of coffee, sitting by the pier to wait for the sun to rise. With the fogs still around, the nicest photo that I could capture is this. The garden view of Laurel Villa, it’s been raining the night before so it’s pretty wet and damp, so we opt to sit inside. Breakfast is provided, with toasted bread, eggs, ham plus lettuces and fruits. A very healthy breakfast. May happily eating her bread. We checked out early as we are heading to Jiu Fen, and the trip involved us traveling the Nantou Bus back to HSR Taichung and then from there back to Taipei before switching to MRT and then by bus…
October 18, 2010
Taiwan, Travel
Taiwan Day 2 – Sun Moon Lake continued

After descending back to Syuanguang Pier, we catch the next boat ride to Yidashao Pier where there’s a few streets selling aboriginals handicraft and some local food. A view as we are approaching Yidashao Pier. There’s quite a number of eateries that’s closed that day. Like the one on the right, Sa Gua Mien. A souvenir shop that’s only available around Sun Moon Lake. We got some fridge magnets for Kayden as it’s his favourite type of toys nowadays. Eat – Wild Boar Sausage, Steamed Meat Dumpling The Taiwanese sausage available here are made from wild boar meat instead of pork and cost NT$40 per piece. The taste is ok and is very similar to some of the german sausages. Auntie Chen Mochi, which cost NT$10 per piece. There 6 flavours to choose from peanut, red bean, sesame, yam and 2 others. I’m not really a big fan of mochi so I thought the taste is so-so. Steamed Meat Dumpling for NT$40 selling at one of the stalls around. The steamed dumpling is very similar to our Teochew dumpling but the filling is meat instead sengkuan (Chinese Turnip). We ordered a bowl of Mee Suah as well since we only…
October 15, 2010
Taiwan, Travel
Taiwan Day 2 – Taichung and Sun Moon Lake

Taiwan, being geographically located very far east of Malaysia, shares the same time zone as us. This means that their day starts earlier when the sun rises at 520AM and setting by 6PM. Hence, it’s no wonder that their night market is such popular culturally. Our itinerary for Day 2 is to depart Taichung and head over to Sun Moon Lake, that’s not after we had the widest spread of buffet breakfast during our visit. There’s a selection of Taiwanese and Western food available. We were spoilt for choice not knowing what to choose. Western food includes bread and eggs while Taiwanese includes porridge with a wide variety of condiments. We got to know that Taiwanese ate this as part of their breakfast along with condiments such as chicken/pork floss, you char kway, pickled vegetables, bean curds, etc. There’s also others like stir-fried chicken, vegetables and Taiwanese Roti Canai, very much like the ones served here but there’s not curry for dipping. After having a hearty breakfast, we check out of the hotel and head over to the railway station to take the bus to Sun Moon Lake. There’s a number of bus companies that go to Sun Moon Lake,…
October 12, 2010