Posted 2 blog posts about my trip to Taiwan in January. They are Day 2 and Day 3.
Ermm...... Sorry to say that I still haven't uploaded any photos. I'm so sorry. I'm still thinking of the best way to present those photos. If I were to upload them in the post, it would be so many of them and you'll get tired of scrolling. If I were to select only a few, that will take some time too. Please, please, need your patience and forgiveness here.
Stay tuned. Most posts coming up. Perhaps with photos. :)
Yes, my first post on my Taiwan trip is finally up. :)
Don't be too happy, it's only 1 post without any photos. LOL! Please give me time to draft them up and upload the photos. Sorry.
You can find the my Taiwan trip on the right sidebar, under Page Taiwan Go Go Go. There is currently a sub-page of my first day in Taipei.
I guessed separate my Taiwan trip out from the blog posts would be easier for you people to look for it.
Please let me know if you find any misleading information in my Taiwan posts. All feedbacks are welcome. :)
Stay tuned for more.
It was more than 6 months ago when I booked the air tickets. January 2010 seemed to be a long time to wait back then. But look, I am back from the trip.
Almost everyone told me I was out of my mind to go for a 8-day trip. I was worried too, about the money and the time. Tickets booked, I had to go ahead. After I've done some search on the internet, I realised 8 days in Taiwan ain't long enough to cover most of the tourist spots. Enough for Taipei and hopefully some other places nearby Taipei. Went to MATTA fair once to look for some tour packages, we couldn't find what we wanted. Everyone then decided we go free & easy.
The process of drafting our very own itinerary wasn't easy. We hardly meet, all we could do was communicate through MSN. We have had countless headaches with the accommodation and where to visit. We compromised a lot to reach a mutual agreement, trying very hard not to make each other feel that they're at the losing end. Disagreement did happen, to find the middle ground is harder than you think. Luckily we managed it well. Sometimes with so many inputs, I got impatient and confused. I am grateful I have friends who are willing to spare their patience on me. That left me feeling even more guilty than ever.
I felt a tinge of triumph when I saw the itinerary was all done and finalised. Special thanks to Melissa and Wan Yi who spent most of their time browsing through all the oh-so-confusing websites/forums. :) Their "web hunting" skills are incomparable! LOL! I sometimes wonder how did they get all those websites where I couldn't even Google them out! Hehehe.
The itinerary wasn't a perfect one, but it was good enough. I guess we were too greedy to have so many places woven into it, we didn't have the time to visit all the places as planned! LOL! Part of the reason being we are all shopaholics!!! Can't believe we shopped and spent so much, both money and time on shopping! Hahahahaha!
Let's see...... We dropped Shida Night Market on the first night 'cause we were all so excited to check out Ximending first. Second night, we missed the Fishermen Wharf in Dan Shui 'cause it was already dark when we finished our shopping in Dan Shui Old Street! Gosh...... Didn't manage to soak ourselves wet in the hot spring too. Strike out Miniature Museum since we got advice from Wan Yi's cousin that it is a waste of time. :P On the 4th day, we missed Sun Yat Sen and Chiang Kai Sek Memorial Hall!!! Terrible! But we made an impromptu trip to Mr. J's French-Italian Restaurant and the Miramar Ferris Wheel. :) Mel was sad that we didn't make it to Taiwan Storyland too. We spent 2 nights in Jiu Fen instead of 1 night! Sun Moon Lake plan sunk into the deep ocean. LOL! Jiu Fen is a beautiful place. We heeded the advice from the B&B owner to stay 1 more night to explore Jiu Fen. That we never regret. :) My only regret is we didn't make it to Yehliu Geopark. :(
Although we missed out those places, it didn't make this trip less pleasant. We all have had a great time. Traveling with a bunch of great "actors and actresses", I can guarantee you there will be no boring moment. We were laughing like mad people during the trip! Oh, not to forget, we ate a lot too! The weather and the walkings, made us hungry all the time.
Taiwan is truly a great tourism place. They make it so easy for the tourists to get around in the country. I can't help but think why can't Malaysia do that? Our public transportation here is a mess, the signboards here are a mess too. I imagined if I were a tourist in KL, I'd get frustrated with the transportation. Sigh......
I've fallen in love with Taiwan. She truly touched my heart. Will I migrate to Taiwan? I will if I could. I can't, I can't dump my responsibilities here. But I will definitely visit Taiwan again. Hopefully in the near future. :)
P. S. : I'll be posting my Taiwan trip itinerary slowly (please give me some time to compose). I have gotten all the information from the internet, now it's time to return the favor to those who need it. :) I was a lil' selfish in sharing it, until I realised "hey, you've gotten the information from the people who are willing to share, your itinerary isn't original like you think it is!" :) If you're willing to spend the effort, I am willing to share. Do watch this space for the Taiwan updates. :D
It was during our trip to Seremban and they suggested to go Penang. No one dared to commit until 3 days before the trip, the other girl said she has booked a home stay unit near Gurney drive. Supposed to be 5 of us, but one of the guys stood us up! Hmm...... So, 4 of us still went ahead as Andrew said didn't want to spoil the holiday because of one person.
This is again, another eating trip. We ate all the way during our trip. I wonder how many kilos I've put on after the trip!
Since this is the first time for the other 2 friends, we stopped at Bidor to have the famous duck noodles. It was almost 3pm when we reached KL. We went to Batu Ferringhi and Hard Rock Hotel. It's newly opened. I was so excited when I saw the Michael Jackson statue at the entrance! Hahahaha! The hotel gives a very comfortable look and feel. The swimming pool nearby the beach is huge! It stretches alongside with the hotel. The rooms on the ground floor all having private exit to the pool. We didn't want to get stuck in the traffic, we parked our car in the condominium that were staying and walked to Gurney Drive to have our dinner. It was only 15 minutes walk. The food in Gurney Drive was bad, still edible but bad. Last year Andrew and I got fooled once, this year with another 2 friends, we got fooled again. Hahahaha.
On the second day, went to Kek Lok Si again. The Guan Yin statue is finally done. Pretty spectacular. We were eating the whole afternoon. Then we headed to Khoo Kongsi. This place never fails to fascinate me. Every time stepped inside it just like stepped into a warp hole, taking me back into the old days. How they used to live their life, their history, their family tree, their clan, their ways......
Went up to the Penang Hill on the third day, wasn't a good experience. The tram was moving like a snail, took 45 minutes to go up and another 45 minutes to come down, not forgetting the waiting time. The tram to go up was so crowded with people! It was hot and noisy. I was grumbling all the way up! LOL! Luckily it was lesser crowd when we came down, had some space to breathe. Penang Hill has nothing much. The view is okay, you can see the Penang bridge from above. But that's it. If you wanted to go, perhaps you should try to go in the evening. I'd bet the night view would be much nicer. There are a lot of spiders on Penang Hill! They're everywhere!
My second trip to Penang was great. We even went to Tambun for some seafood dinner. Get to know a new friend through my friend, what a friendly couple.
Last year, Penang was my last trip of the year. This year, again Penang is my last trip of the year! What a coincidence!
After watching Avatar in the morning, we went to Seremban with Andrew's friends. His friend insisted us to tag along and they didn't even mind to wait for us to finish the movie. How sweet.
This trip was purely an eating trip. Hahaha. They even got the map and addresses for all the places that they wanted to go to taste the food. :)
First stop, beef noodles. Somewhere near the Seremban hospital, now I couldn't remember its name. Anyway, this is the shop. There's this beef noodles in Seremban wet market, but I heard from Melissa that the one in the market taste better. Andrew and I are not a beef person, but since we were there with the group, we had to adapt. No point yelling "eww I don't eat that" and making everybody feels awkward. No harm eating it. :) The beef noodles taste unique, it's dried with the gravy. The beef is a bit too hard though. Overall, it's special and good. I love the beef balls though!
After the beef noodles, they wanted to go for the Hakka Mee. I've been there before with Melissa and the rest. Hmm... This time my friends don't really like the Hakka Mee. They were saying the noodles are too oily.
I missed the Cendol, so I went ahead to have one! :D But this time was an Indian lady, didn't see the Indian uncle. And this lady wasn't friendly. :( My friends too had one, but they didn't really like it. LOL! It was a hot day, I just wanted something cold.
We headed to Port Dickson to see the sea and feel the breeze. Aww...... It was nice to set foot on PD again. The sea of course isn't as nice as those in the East Coast, but it's good to get away from the city and feel the sea breeze.
For dinner, we headed back to Seremban. It wasn't my first time to this restaurant Sun Yat Sing also, been there few times. Hahaha. Love the Marmite crab there. Again, my friends didn't find the dinner great as they were expecting something else. Only Andrew and I were enjoying the dinner! LOL! 2 of us were eating away like nobody's business. Hahaha.
It was one great eating day!
Many of us remember Phuket as an island of paradise, shopping, relaxation and tranquility. After the tsunami hit in year 2004, a day after Christmas, many now are in awe of how a small town could rebuild in such a short time.
My first time to Phuket, with my colleagues. It was a company trip, kind of to motivate and reward every one of us as we did not get any increment or bonus this year. Every one was excited about this trip, except me. Anyway, I'm glad that I went. Didn't enjoy much of the sea and beaches, but I did enjoy the Phantasea show and the shopping. :D The snorkelling trip was nothing, corals are all dead, fishes are of not many variety and it was crowded. You are bound to hit on someone wherever you swim.
Had our lunch in Koh Phi Phi island. The tour guide told us 3000 people died here. I couldn't believe that this is the place where more than 3000 people died in the 2004 tsunami. Looking at it, you wouldn't know that it has such a tragic history. The island is still full of people. Most of the buildings are newly built after the tsunami. There is even a tsunami evacuation route now. Too bad I forgot to take a photo of it. The tour guide told us he was on a boat when the tsunami hit, the sea receded about 1km and he found it weird. When the wave came, he could only feel the boat rising up and down and nothing much. He didn't know what happened on the shore until he returned at a later time. He said he was lucky to be on the boat and survived.
There is still a lot of development going on in Chalong and Patong beach. You can see that most of the buildings are freshly painted. Well, 5 years after the tsunami, they basically rebuilt everything from scratch.
On the second night, we went to Jung Ceylon shopping complex. We were late, they closed at 10.30pm. So, we wandered along Bangla Road. So many things to see, but not much that you could buy. Then we were in this street where all the pubs and discos are there. Thai girls dancing on the tables, pole dancing, men asking you to visit their clubs...... It was so happening there!
We then walked all the way back to our hotel, Andaman Beach Suites, all of us felt our legs were giving up on us. LOL! That was a long way to walk! We nearly got lost too. Fortunately saw our tour leader on his way back too. :D A tips to share, do not ever walk alone in Bangla Road, walk in a group! Not even if you're a guy.
We all woke up early on the 3rd day, to go to this Premier Outlet in Phuket town. Geez, Nike is cheaper by 30%!!! Got myself a pair of shoes. I regret now that I did not buy the backpack which is selling RM80++ here and it was selling at RM60 there!
Am thinking if I should go Phuket again middle of next year with Andrew. Just for shopping and walking around. :P
In LCCT airport.
Gems Gallery
Chalong Temple
Mind FM!!!!
The giant durian in fruits market.
It's a pity that I didn't get to go for a ride on that, no one wanted to go with me. :(
View from our hotel room! Nice!
Going for the Phantasea Show.
The buffet dinner in this restaurant was awesome! International standard. No regrets!
Getting ready heading to Phi Phi Island.
At Koh Phi Phi Don.
Sunset at Promthep Cape, we were late and it was cloudy, missed the sun.
Last dinner in Phuket.
When we reached the Phuket airport, we were shocked to see all the queues!!! The security check at all 4 entrance were full of people and the queue was so long even by the road side. Crazy!!!
Planning a trip is not easy, and what's more, when you're planning for the company trip, all alone.
A year ago, the bosses and management had approved the proposal of a company trip. Preferably local. Early of the year, there were 4 of us planning and brainstorming for it. After some surveys and search, the cost of travelling overseas in a group is about the same as travelling locally. Finally they bought the idea. Phuket, they chose.
Towards middle of the year, I was doing it all by myself. Liaising with the tour agent, discussions with my boss, deciding on the hotel, the air tickets, the dates...... Planning, organising, coordinating, negotiating...... They're no fun and no joke. Made some mistake too. I'm not bragging about I could do so many of them alone. It's just that now I understand how those people do it and I could appreciate more now.
The trip was postponed once, paid some penalty! What the...... Finally the day has come. I feel numb, after all the hard-work and efforts. I don't feel excited, I don't feel the thrill. I couldn't find a concrete reason not to go. So, I've got to tag along. I've never been to Phuket. Wanted to go with Andrew, but that plan has sunk deep onto the ocean floor the moment this trip was confirmed. And now, I am not looking forward to going to Phuket. I just want to get over it and done with, soonest possible!
My luggage is sitting beside my bed now, waiting to travel across the borders and seas with me.
With Andrew's snoring as the background music, I am feeling sleepy now. I have to wake up at 3am on Friday morning. Geez...... I'll be walking like a zombie in Phuket on Friday. HA! That would make great headlines, "Malaysian Zombie Crossed Border, Found Strolling On Phuket Beach"! Hahahahahaha...... LOL!!!
We were supposed to go Ipoh, but I had a photoshoot session back then. Hence, we postponed it to this week and we changed the destination to Malacca. :)
It has been 6 years since I last toured Malacca. Came here with Andrew and some other friends. Now to set feet on this historical heritage soil again, nothing much has changed. Only now that I am married and I am travelling with my girlfriends, not Andrew.
Most of the people in Malacca are friendly. Especially those in Jonker Street. We went to try the chicken rice balls in Jonker Street, it taste awful. The chicken meat was tasteless and the rice was cold. The cendol was delicious though. Then we went on to the Eye On Malaysia which is now in Malacca. A bit disappointed with the view when we were up there. Nothing much to see except the Straits of Malacca.
We didn't have an exact itinerary of where we would be visiting. Just roaming around in the car, stopped wherever we felt like to. A fun trip actually. Just pity Phoebe that she had to drive all day.
We will definitely go Malacca again. It is an interesting place.
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I'm so sorry that I posted this Singapore trip up so late! I went Singapore before Redang but I posted this after my Redang trip. Gosh...... Here it is.
It was a trip that I planned long time ago, to visit Adeline in Singapore. If you do not know just who Adeline is, click here for her blog. She married to a Singaporean last year and has been living her adventurous life there ever since. LOL! Ady, please don't kill me after reading this. :P
The plan was to have a photoshoot session with her, but due to some other factors, the photoshoot didn't materialise. Well, it's okay, I bet there's going to be more Singapore trips from now on since she's getting her own house very soon. :)
This is actually my second trip to Singapore. My first was almost 3 years ago, with Andrew. Spent 7 days there in his auntie's house. :P
I was in fact going together with Wan Yi, her husband and her boss' family. Her boss Mr. Lew (I'm not sure if I got the name correct) has got a beautiful daughter!!! She is only 8 months old, yet she is a laughing-baby!!! She just loves to smile and laugh.
When we were outside of the Ion, we saw this RED man!!! Yes, we have yellow man in Malaysia, and now they have red man in Singapore! LOL! They are from SingTel, a telecommunication giant in Singapore. Okay, I guess having too much of soup and sandwiches could get you go a little bit of crazy. I couldn't believe I suggested taking a photo with those RED men!!! Hell, now they were pushing me to go first! There I was, with Adeline, standing with 3 other red men. Hey!!! I was wearing red too!!!
When we reached Atria, we went to have our proper lunch in MOS burger. Geez, can you believe that I was craving for it like 3 years?! This time, I had the ebi rice burger instead of unagi since I've tried it before. Oh gosh... It was so yummy!!! Geez... I'm drooling now......
After 4 hours of shop and walk, Ade's husband came to join us too! Well, to find a seat in the restaurants at such hour was disaster. Most of them were full with long queue outside! So, we went to Haagen Daaz to have an ice-cream treat. Ooohhhh...... I felt so sinful! LOL! Adeline and her husband are so funny! 2 of them are definitely made for each other, so funny and full of jokes.
We went separate ways after the sinful treat, by Adeline's husband. He insisted on picking up the tap. Well, let him be the man then for this time. Hahaha.
The next morning, all of us woke up late, around 10am. Then we went to Ya Kun Kaya Toast in Lot 1 for breakfast. The soft-boiled eggs are so delicious!!! The eggs are so huge! What a satisfying breakfast. I bought some Giordano clothes there, for Andrew and myself. :) Wan Yi then brought all of us to the IMM mall. It actually has more of household items, but with one floor of the mall full of boutiques and food!
3 of us decided not to go for proper and filling lunch, instead we went for snacks and sharing the food together so that we could try more food! Hahahaha...... First thing we tried was this Istanbul Kebab, with 2 hunky macho men selling at the stall!!! LOL! Yes, that 2 Turkish men are definitely charming. We bought the beef kebab, and gosh, it was super delicious. I didn't expect it to be so delicious! I'm not a beefeater, I eat beef occasionally. I would say that the kebab made me feel like eating it again and again!
After the kebab, we went on to have some oyster vermicelli at Shihlin Taiwan Street Snack. I have tried the one in KL, it tastes awful, or I would say yucky. But this one, is way better from the one in KL. See, once again it shows that the standard in Malaysia and Singapore could be so much different. Why is that? Do they think that Malaysian has a bad taste bud that we do not require such higher standard of food? Geez......
We went to Esprit outlet, I didn't buy anything but Wan Yi bought a little dress for the baby princess and her husband bought a sweater which I think is cool. Hahaha. Well, we then had some ice-cream from Hokkaido Ice-cream. I had my favorite passion fruit.
We saw this wedding decorations shop and thought of buying a wedding gift for a friend. I saw this cute little pair of bride & groom decorative, but damn, the price is kind of steep for us. We had to give up the thought then. :(
Around 5pm we decided to go home and pack for the journey back to KL. Sigh...... Fun trip has finally come to the end. When we were back in Malaysia, we stopped in Yong Peng to have our dinner. The restaurant is previously being recommended by a local food show, famous for its Hok Chiew noodles. Well, the food isn't bad, just that it's a little too salty.
During the trip, I spent more on the clothes, because thanks to Mr. Lew who had actually paid for some of the food when we dined together. LOL! Also there were a few times Wan Yi paid for some of it. I am so lucky! Hahahahaha. Guess what? After all the spending and eating, I found out when I got home, that I still have SGD35 in my wallet! I was pretty surprised. I spent about SGD150 on clothes, and I only spent SGD17 on food!!! That is a new record for me!
Think I'll be going to Singapore again and again...... Hahahaha...... Next I'm going to eat all I can rather than spend the money on the clothes. :P
