Here our Taiwan itinerary for 17 Oct …

Our Itinerary:

17-Oct [Sat]

0800 – Breakfast at You Chun Regency (友春大飯店)

0900 – Check out from hotel with Bass & yang come fetch us

1100 – Approaching 北角吊橋, stop by 小吃 stalls nearby to try 炸杏鮑菇 (my fav),炸野薑花,七里香 (kena con by Bass & Cody to buy, it’s actually fried 雞屁股, no wonder Bass keep 偷笑 when we eat)

Below is picture of the white 野薑花, around the field while we crossing the 北角吊橋

1130 – Taking some photos while we crossing 北角吊橋

1140 – Cody say has some more things to see & shops further down but too bad it has been blocked due to 虎頭蜂, there is a warning notice upon reaching the other side of the bridge

  

   
1200 – reach Lavender Cottage (新竹薰衣草森林)

entrance fee NT$100 per person, the entrance ticket in sweet pastel purple colour

 

Place quite big & beautiful :p  

1215 – The restaurant at Lavender Cottage is very nice & classy but food not cheap, one roasted chicken cost NT$390 is quite small & need to quene for at least 45 mins.

1230 – We buy some drinks & snack from a counter outside the restaurant & sit on benches near the field  to eat, the entrance ticket can used to offset some of the fees used when buying food from them.

We go in 香草鋪子 (a souvenir shop that sells perfumes, soap, lotion etc ) to take look, selling many cute stuffs

An ice-cream store near the wishing tree 

 

1350 – having lunch at 老街看戲, it’s a eating place which 播放老電影 while serving 客家傳統風味餐

 

We have order

1) 豬油飯

2) 客家小炒

3) 山雞

4) 貴竹筍

5) 四個混蛋

1430 – After lunch we walk around 老街, passby this "非吃不可"的粉圓豆花shop

 

we order one bowl each to share

1) 綜合粉圓冰(NT$45)

2) 粉圓豆花 (NT$45)

Both not bad but we feel 綜合粉圓冰 nicer, too big bowl for two of us, we can’t finish all…

1430 – Driving take awhile before reach Nan Zhuang (南庄), check in at 中華電信會館 & put our luggage first .

1700 – Walk around Nan Zhuang (南庄), passby 桂花巷

see one  香草鋪子 branch at 桂花巷

 

got shops selling 花茶湯圓

 
1730 – walk back 會館 to have a short rest.

1930 – Walk to streets, wah all shops have closed, maybe people at 鄉下 tends to sleep early , have dinner at 南庄媳婦的老店

 

香酥溪蝦, 炒山豬肉 ~ the prawn is small fried prawn more for eaing with beer, abit salty, pork so so

He & Cody order 客家板條 (dry one) each ~ taste alright but eat more abit salty

Me order 客家板條 (soup one) ~ abit 淡 compare with the dry one

Bass order 婆婆手工鹹湯圓 ~ got meat inside the 湯圓, taste not bad but definitely not enough as dinner

Total bill NT$530

2000 – After dinner, we go buy drink & snacks at 7-eleven before walk back to 會館 to rest as most shops have closed nonething to shop around …

Below is our VIP room, quite spacious, thanks Cody for helping us to book :p

 

----------------To be continued on next blog---------------------

Here are rest of our Taiwan itinerary from 13 Oct til 16 Oct’09…

Our Itinerary:

13-Oct [Tues]
0730 – Breakfast at You Chun Regency (友春大飯店)
0800 – Reach Romantic Life for makeup & dressing for photo shoot 
1047 – Outdoor photo shoot 
1830 – back to Romantic Life for indoor shoot
2130 – Walk back to 友春大飯店 to remove the “super” thick makeup, hair wash & bath                  2230 – Have dinner at MacDonald nearby our hotel as all other eateries nearby have closed

14-Oct [Wed]
0800 – Breakfast at You Chun Regency (友春大飯店)
1130 – Walk around areas nearby hotel, saw many 流动 stalls beside a 巷口 selling many foods, order 麻酱面 (酱taste abit like peanut, only mee, no meat or any ingredients one), 炸醬面, 水餃十粒 from a 流动面档 to try, food quite alright, price also quite cheap
1330 – Reach Romantic Life for photo choosing
1830 – We missed the yummy food at Shida Night Market (師大夜市), take 捷運 to Taipower Building Station to get there, eat 三舅媽潤餅捲, 許記生煎包,燈龍加熱滷味 again & shop around but didn’t manage to get any clothes this round, get thristy go buy green milk tea from 7-eleven to drink.

 
2100 – take 捷運 to Taipei Train Station Underground Mall and Zhongsan Underground Mall to shop, as read from web lots of cheap stuff, especially for clothes and shoes. But quality not that good, thought can get some shoes there, saw many shoes as cheap as NT$100 but dun like the design & didn’t see anything I like. Maybe different taste, I feel its quite a boring place to shop.

2200 – take 捷運 back to hotel to rest. Go buy bread from The bread (布列德手功麵包) opposite for next morning breakfast.

 

15-Oct [Thu]
0900 – Eat bread bought from The bread (布列德手功麵包) ,quite 好吃 as recommended by Bass 
1030 – Take 捷運 to Zhongxiao Xinsheng Station (忠孝新生捷运站) to pass stuffs to his friend 

1130 – His friend bring us lunch, ask we want 牛肉麵 or Formosa Chang (鬍鬚張), we choose 牛肉麵. Have 牛肉麵 with side dishes , 豆乾 & 海帶 at a normal 不起眼的 small stall which no aircon, but surprising it’s very yummy, even more 好吃than the one we have at Ximending (西門町), we both eat very fast & finish the whole bowl of soup as well, feel that 道地的牛肉麵 seems much nicer than those commercialised one but have to know which store is good. (too bad didn’t note down the shop name & price as his friend treating, also no photos taken).

1230 – Take 捷運 to 新北投,  passby the attractions there:北投圖書館,

 

北投溫泉博物館, also plan go 地熱谷 but it's has been blocked. Passby the 滿來溫泉拉麵 I wanna try but already 1.30pm & it’s closing at 2pm, since it’s open again at 5pm so we go Spa to relax first while waiting.

1350 – Reach Asia Pacific Resort (北投亞太溫泉生活館 ), we choose the Outdoor Private Hot Spring Room to relax for two hours at NT$1000 per hour. Free robe, towels, shower cap, slippers, and mineral water are provided.

1410 - Firstly, we are lead to a dressing room to change into robe & keep our belonging into locker, after that a guy will bring us walk through few stone staircase to get to the Outdoor Private Hot Spring Room, not too bad as on the top floor of the hotspring room, there is one personal bathroom with the shower.

Can go this link to view more of it…..http://www.apresort.com.tw/en/html/hot%20spring.htm

1630 – get changed & left Asia Pacific Resort, slowly walk towards the 滿來溫泉拉麵

1700 – Reach 滿來溫泉拉麵, quite a small & cramp eating house

We order one coke & one sprite (drink still in old traditional glass bottle type) with the following,

(a) 溫泉蛋 (NT$25) ~ melt in the mouth, quite cold just wonder how they boil it then make it so cold

(b)味增什錦拉麵 (NT$180) ~ many ingredients inside:花枝、魚片、肉片、蛤蠣、青菜、魚板 & 蝦, quite fresh & soup is sweet but feel it’s just average, the pork (肉片) abit hard

(c ) 英雄叉燒拉麵 (NT$190) ~ the 叉燒 too hard, soup taste so so, not really nice, this ramen not as tasty as those Japanese ramen.

Personally feel the food not as fantastic as mentioned on some blogs found on web, although it does packed with people, maybe different people different taste, quite disappointed as I specially make a trip for it.

Before leaving take a picture of the eating house, look nicer in the nite with those street lights

1900 – Take 捷運 to shilin nite market (士林夜市), go quene up to buy

豪大大鸡排(NT$50) ~ very big piece, crispy & yummy, quite worth at the price! :p

 

大餅包小餅 (can choose 3 different favour at NT$100) ~ many people quene up to buy so we join in to buy, but the biscuit wrapped inside too dried & personally feel not really nice

Then walk around as quite full after eating the ramen from 滿來溫泉拉麵, also feel the food stalls inside the night market quite warm & stuffy.

We quickly walk to the other direction that sells clothes, excited as have recalled saw many nice dresses sold there when we came during March’07, due to time quite packed by tour package not enough time to shop & only managed buy 3 dresses….

However, get disappointed as seems like there are some changes to 士林夜市 after these two years, somehow it has been “contructed” abit like our pasar malam. There is one big shop selling clothes & shoes at really cheap price but design not really nice as the clothes cutting is poor. However, I still managed to get a long sleeves stripes shirt & purple polo short sleeves shirt,  buying as standby for our coming trip on 17 & 18 Oct as I didn’t bring any long sleeves along, Cody have told us depends on weather, maybe cold as going up mountain to 日月潭.

2130 – Take 捷運 back & buy garlic bread from The bread (布列德手功麵包) nearby our hotel

16-Oct [Fri]  

1030–  I sleep til very late then wake up, Breakfast at You Chun Regency (友春大飯店) end at 10am so eat the bread bought yesterday nite
1130 – buy two 招牌便當 at  鬍鬚張 nearby our hotel for lunch, nicer than that day we ordered dishes to eat there directly (NT$79 per pack)

1230 – Take 捷運 to Longshan Temple (龍山寺)

feel the surrounding abit like our Chinatown where many old folks gather around there, but the temple quite crowded with locals or tour groups coming to make a pray. Other than that nonething much to shop.

1330 – Take 捷運 to Food St (美食街) near Zhongxiao Dunhua Station (中孝敦化捷运站)

Feel nonething much here, can't find the two Jay Chou's Shop (a)Omni & (b)Phantaci, Walk pass Breeze 微风广场, end up leg tired, sit down & have french fries & drinks at MacDonald

 
1530 – Take 捷運 to Houshanpi Station 后山埤捷运站 & slowly walk to Wu Fen Pu Wholesale Centre (五分埔) as it opens at 4pm

1600 – shop around, all very cheap as it’s selling wholescale (批發) but all the clothes cannot try & most of the shop owners attitude quite nasty as they rather sells bulk to shops then us just buying one or two.

Not too bad, as we both grab a few nice blouses, I buy most of my blouses from an shop selling Korean clothes as design there nicer & although more expensive but price still consider cheap. Morever, shop assistants there attitude quite alright & willing to give me new piece for the clothes I buy.

1800 – leg tired sit down a stall to eat beancurd, dessert sell there not really nice, beancurd not smooth enough.

2000 – We want to shop longer so decided not to go Rao He Nite market (饒河夜市) went before during previous trips, we sit down to have beef noodle from a stall, not very nice but not much nice food there.

2030 – walk back to shop at 五分埔 but it’s getting crowded & difficult to walk as quite cramp. Didn’t managed to find nice clothes this time think coz too many people walking & blocking, hard to see the clothes clearly.

2200 – leg damn tired & decided to take 捷運 back to hotel

2230 – when reach 民權西路 station, while walking back, the 刷刷鍋 restaurant that look yummy everytime when we passby already closed . Aiya missed the 刷刷鍋 wanna try. 9am next morning need check-out from hotel to join Bass & Cody to head to Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) le  

2300 – last minutes packing of our luggages & very late then go sleep

----------------To be continued on next blog---------------------

This is my third time to Taiwan! Previous is during March’07 via tour package while my very first time to Taiwan is during end Jan til early Feb of 2004. This time went there for photo shoot, as have to be on weekday, first few days have to be on our own as Bass & Cody can only join us during weekend til following Mon to go further.

Initially we had plan to go Alishan (阿里山) together but as road there been blocked & scenery ruined due to the Aug typhoon have no choice but to change plan to Moon Sun Lake (日月潭) & Sitou(溪頭) .

However, just one week before our trip, there is news on an unpredicted typhoon may hit Taiwan & heavy rain there everyday, so plan changed slightly again, end up go Lavender Cottage (新竹薰衣草森林) & Moon Sun Lake (日月潭) instead.

But we are quite lucky as only encounter a very short drizzling rain when we shop at Shida nite maket (師大夜市) on sun when reached, the rest are all sunny days which indeed quite warm during noon time. Just that I can’t 放肆地大吃大喝 as I just recovered from high fever just few days before the trip, been coughing at nite with phelgm stuck in throat, so some of the days I sleep til quite late then go travel around….Overall still a very enjoyable trip especially the last three days are very fun!

Our Itinerary:

11-Oct [Sun]
1150 - check in Changi International Terminal 1
1350 - Flight to Taipei 3K521
1830 - Arrival at Tao Yuan Airport Terminal 1 (Bass & Cody came fetch us)
1900 - check in at You Chun Regency 友春大飯店 & place our luggage there first before head to dinner
1930 -  Initially Cody want bring us have 羊肉麵 he & Bass feel yummy for dinner but change plan as my throat is still bad. After discussion we decided to go Shida nite maket instead.

2000 – Foods at Shida nite maket (師大夜市) are yummy, clothes design also nicer, it’s besides National Taiwan Normal University，NTNU (台湾师范大学) so price more reasonable as cater for students

台南鱔魚麵

Shared this small plate of 鱔魚意麵 (NT$90), Bass said eat more will feel 膩, we feel it tastes abit like eel

三舅媽潤餅捲

Price as stated in its namecard below,

look abit like our popiah but size much bigger with more ingredients & taste quite nice, skin also not too thick & don’t taste 粉粉

Bass buy 鮪魚 one for us to try, picture taken abit blur as we busy eating…hee,

ingredients inside the 潤餅捲 have 鮪魚, 豆干, 花生粉, 高麗菜, 紅蘿菠絲, 豆芽菜

許記生煎包

This stall is just beside 三舅媽潤餅捲

need take quene number to order as many people buying

5 pcs at NT30

we shop abit at a clothes shop just opposite while waiting, not bad taste quite yummy 

燈龍加熱滷味

There are many 滷味 stalls around, Bass recommend us try this 燈龍加熱滷味 which as they try before feel taste great

use thongs to select from a variety of “卤味”then pass back to the stall to cook & rinsed with warm 滷汁…

taste abit salty but really yummy, the 泡麵 Bass “大力推薦”& specially added in also taste great! haha lucky have her around as we see til bur dunno which “卤味”to select   

 

As this 滷味 stall don’t provide seat, to eat upstair you have to buy drink from another 奶茶 stall at minimum value of NT$30, end up I buy 芋香奶茶 at NT$40 while the rest buy other 奶茶, we feel the 奶茶 sell there taste quite nice

After 填飽肚子, we shopped around, managed to get new jackets for each other:p

My new jacket at NT$980 after discount

my flowery shirt at NT$99 & his new jacket NT$680 after discount

 

Our new blouses (just simple design & average looking) but quite cheap at NT$150 & NT$100

2150 – Bass buy some 北東釋迦 from fruit stall for us to bring back hotel to try eat, have to peel & eat the white portion inside, taste quite sweet.

2200 – take 捷運 to Gongguan Night Market (公館夜市), it’s just one stop away from Shida nite maket (師大夜市). Just manage to shop abit as most shops start closing.

2300 – take 捷運 back to 友春大飯店, Bass & Cody also make way back home as they need to work next day

 

12-Oct [Mon]
0800 – Having Breakfast provided at 友春大飯店, limited choice & just okable, not really nice….

1100 - lunch at Formosa Chang (鬍鬚張) just opposite our hotel

order

(a)魯肉飯(NT$30 )...when it comes then realise 魯肉飯  is just rice with some pork sauce on top of it, no wonder Bass said taste nonething special & Cody told me it's expensive, haha really quite expensive for a small bowl of rice with just sauce to cost around S$1.35....chey! thought it’s will be nice as seen it on web….

(b)薏仁綠豆湯(NT$35 元)

(c)燙青菜(NT$40元)

(d)石板鹹豬肉(NT$60)

Food taste just okable, portion quite small & expensive, desert 薏仁綠豆湯 at least better as drink liao quite 清涼

1200 – walk around areas nearby found Romantic life (浪漫一生) among the whole stretch of bridal shops along the Min Quan W. Rd.(民權西路), building look quite old , just beside a very classy 朱莉亞(Julia Wedding news) , both form a very funny 強烈的對比.....

we feel abit disappointed…as it’s old picture look much nicer. Romantic Life should consider a repaint for its building as its getting dirty 經過”風吹雨打”

But can’t go in yet as 1pm then open… looking up, building has around 4 or more floors then in a glimpse we saw an couple having their wedding shoots near its transparent window, we walk back hotel to rest first   

  
 
1400 – go Romantic life (浪漫一生) to select the style & photo shooting locations. Select & 試穿 my gowns & his suits...try again after gowns been altered to fit….after finish wah already 6.30pm…

1830 - take 捷運 to Ximending (西門町) for dinner

eat the 阿宗面线, have to stand to eat as they don’t provide seat

quite yummy total we order three bowls, but portion very little

saw this 八方雲集 we just go in to try eat , also don’t know nice mah

have order

a)红烧牛肉面 ~ NT$100

,

b)招牌鍋貼 (NT$5 x 4)

c)招牌水餃(NT$5 x 4)

All the foods taste not bad but price quite expensive, the 红烧牛肉面 is yummy but feel they put too much pepper in the soup so I can’t drink alot like what I usual do when eating 麵湯:(

2030 – Walk around Ximending (西門町) & saw this famous 鴨肉扁 which been mentioned on web but we didn’t try as don’t look attractive to us….

 

2330 – Take 捷運 back to our hotel to rest as need reach Romantic life at 8am next day for makeup & photo shoot.

----------------To be continued on next blog---------------------