Happenings @ TPE Day 1

-- Taipei, here we come! --

it's the 1st day of our trip, the very beginning and we were pretty hyped up!
Simon was really sweet to send us off to the airport and by 6.15am, we're off to Changi Airport. we checked in quickly once there and met up with Jinny, whom just returned from New York and was waiting patiently for us for breakfast. it's been such a long time since i saw her .. erm, in uniform! we had BK breakfast and boy do they serve great croissants with egg ~ yummy ~

we bided our goodbyes with our dear friend and off to the gates --> err, not exactly straight away but abit of detour here n there along Changi DFS shopping. hahaha! kinda lost track of time and we were late entering the gates to the plane. luckily we were not the very last ones to arrive. phew!

-- on the flight --

our flight to Taipei was “eventful”. had a bit of an "accident" along the way and in returned, we picked up 2 boxes of chocolates instead. hahaa ... here's how it happened :P

Ros spotted a box of chocolates under the seat in front of her and we thought that it belonged to the guy in front of us. she wanted to inform the guy but instead got her pants wet --> her hand hit the cup stow and the cup filled with plain water spilled onto her pants. poor gal. luckily for her, it was not hot tea or some liquid in colored else it would've been terrible. on flight crew as helpful, they brought us paper towels and a fresh blanket to keep Ros warm.

however, little did we know that the chocolates do not belong to the guy sitting in front of us. from a single box of chocolates we found 2 instead. oh well, guess it’s gonna be finders keepers!

-- on our way --

we arrived in Taipei approx 4 hours later. picked up our luggage and made our way to the hotel via bus - which dropped us off @ Taipei Main Station (joint station for both MRT and Train). We got kinda lazy with the thought of dragging our stuff via MRT hence we popped into a cab and made our way to the hotel instead. Our hotel is along Chengdu road (nearest to Xi Men MRT station) - Chengdu (Castle Royal) Hotel which is fairly near. Our cab far cost NT 100. Cheap!

once there, Chengdu's staff (Ms. Huang) checked us in and we didn't know we have been upgraded to a 2 bedroom suite until laterz! Ms. Huang has been really helpful during our stay – provided us with ample of support and advice as to where to visit / do what etc in Taipei. after some rest, we headed out to venture around Xi Men Ding. it was a weekday hence the streets of Xi Men Ding was kinda deserted. just right for discovery and shopping at the same time.

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while we waited for Simon & Grace to ETA Taipei, we made our way to try 阿宗面线. hmm, i won’t exactly say that it’s the best mee suan ever cos’ seriously, I think the one in Geylang (Yong He 豆花油条大王) is better ~! shared one with Ros, without chilli. Both of us ain’t in good health to take too spicy stuff! coincidentally, while tasting 阿宗面线 for the 1st time – both of us were greeted with a surprise! the nice SQ staff recognized us and said hi ~ which we couldn’t at 1st sight as they were out of their uniforms :P

as we walked along the many streets of Xi Men Ding, we found a cute little store selling yummy crepes from plain to ham & cheese to chocolate stuffing to …. WOW, just too many to describe!after filling our tummys with yummy crepes, we went in search of the tourist information counter. this has got to be my favorite spot while traveling in Taiwan!

the staff was really helpful and courteous! she helped us searched the net / called the agency with regards to our 花莲 trip (what to do, where to go, which train / time to take from Taipei) and gave us directions around Taipei city. really GREAT service and i was amazed!

how come Singapore standard so different or maybe only to tourists ?!!!

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finally our “lost” companions, Simon & Grace (well, not lost but just different flights lah~!) ETA Taipei, gave us a call and we agreed to meet them @ the hotel. Grace was telling me how HUNGRY she was and she can’t wait for dinner! luckily for them, we found 御膳, 刷刷锅 which is similar to “Sabu Sabu” steamboat that’s very near to our hotel – approx 10 mins walk.

their soup base was fantastic, tasty and brings out the best flavors of the meats and side dishes that we ordered ~ yummy ~ unfortunately, there ain’t that many pictures to share with you as we were famished and too distracted by our yummy dinner to take that many pictures :P





Unlimited ice cream served as dessert~ imagine that! Simon was "STRONG" enough to "TAHAN" the weather to go for it!

we proceeded for some sight seeing to end our 1st day in Taipei.

龙山寺 (Long Shan Temple) one of the oldest temple in Taipei. it was a very grand temple with gold plated figures however a bit too “smoky” due to the incense for my liking. 华西街 (Hua Xi Street) is another sight - also known as Snake Alley. Many tourists / locals will actually go there for a taste of snake’s gall. We saw a HUGE and ALIVE python sliding around an hawker’s leg while the hawker tried to entice us by patrolling his shop.

OMG ~ NO WAY am I stepping foot into that shop ~!!! ‘m not a snake lover!!!

i HATE snakes!

i HATE all SCALY stuff!

another sight to mention was the death of many, many, many turtles 山瑞. along the same stretch of华西街(Hua Xi Street), there was a shop displaying many of these creatures, still alive but WITHOUT their shells!!!

photography was prohibited therefore I cannot share with you any of these HORRIBLE scenes that we’ve witnessed within that short 30 mins! talk about cruelty to animals and i think CHINESE are one of the worse kind ever – i wondered if any activists ever protested around that area!

running along, we roam around one of the night markets near华西街(Hua Xi Street) – it’s our 1st experience of Taiwan’s night market and very much like Singapore’s “Pasar Malam”. on a cheaper price tag but bigger scale in size!

there were food stalls, game stalls and shops selling clothing and accessories. another “annoying” sight were the bikers riding along the night markets, the same walk way as the pedestrians. c’mon seriously ~ is it legal for them to do that?! oblivious to the safety of pedestrians or maybe i’m just not used to their culture?

perhaps i’m just too pampered / used to Singapore roads!

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