Day 4 Shopping at Sing Kong Mitsukoshi Taipei

A day of shopping at Taipei Main Station

So it's just food and shop and food. Started the day with breakfast in hotel. 

Light Breakfast @ Hotel.

Quick walk across the Huashan 1914 Creative Park.

Our only destination for the day: Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Taipei. First thing: Eat at food court at B1 before shopping! 

We had Cheese Cutlet (NT250)

After shopping inside the mall, we walked around 3 mins to this place called 北北车 for it's braised pork rice. (At the recommendation from the Porter staff)

It's nice! NT 150 for 2 bowls of Braised Pork rice, 1 soup and 1 braised tofu.

北北车

And here comes the drinks! I wanted to look for the Oolong Tea Project as I have been seeing outlets of them wherever I went. And tada! Indeed there was yet another outlet just around the corner. At the service crew recommendations for a lighter version of tea, I got the Spring Oolong tea for NT35.

Right around the corners were many cart food seller, and I couldn't resist my favourite mochi!

A pack of peanut coated mochi (NT60)

Ended our day with 凉粉! Been looking for this and it was really nice! But I cannot remember which mall I got it from, but it was at the mall basement. I need to go back for more! 

Day 3 Taipei - Tamsui

A revisit to Tamsui. 

We started our day with breakfast at hotel before heading out. We couldn't resist the egg crepe temptation so we went for one before we proceed to the train station.

Egg crepe

Soy milk

Rice Wrap with Egg and You tiao 

Traveling to Tamsui was easy. Head for MRT station, and proceed to change to the red line heading toward Tamsui and there we were.

 Been to Tamsui, so it was easy to get around Tamsui Old Street (Some photo taking + ate street food + souvenirs hunting) before we proceeded to their shopping centre nearby. 

souvenirs hunting

Snacking time

This is the MUST TRY milk mochi. Every time I visited Tamsui, this is my MUST-HAVE!

Shopping Centre. There was yet another NET store and we bought more!

After shopping, we took MRT back to Taipei Main Station for some Tendon!

Tendon @ Ten Kichi Ya Q-Square

After dinner, when we were heading back to hotel, happened to chanced upon live performance of musician/singer 0sensen at the underground shopping mall of Taipei Main Station. 

Day 2 Taipei - Ximending

At friend recommendations, we made an online reservation for a steamboat buffet prior to travelling for the weekend lunch slot at Ximending, Mala Hot Pot (馬辣頂級麻辣鴛鴦火鍋 漢口). 

From our hotel, there were 2 mrt stations that we can go to reach Ximen station. We bought the easycard at the MRT kisok. But the machine only takes exact amount of nt$100 for the physical card which we didn't have. Quickly changed notes at the station counter to purchase the easycard + top up nt$100.

But since we were earlier than our reservation time, we went around for some sweet treats.

Yang Ji Peanut Corn Ice

After the sweet treat, it was nearing the time for our buffet! Yay! It was weekend lunch and we opted for the lowest tier nt798, approx Nt1700 There were 3 tiers, with each grade up having more options for different premium beef cut/grade. 

Time limit of 120mins. Wide varieties of meats, vegetable, drinks and 8 wonderful choices of  Haagen-daz ice cream selection. Ordering of meat was via phone (scan qr code to access) and the service were fast.

We spent almost 110mins and left with a full and happy stomach. The mala was flavorful. 

After which was shopping time around Ximending. 

Years back, I was at NETs and I told myself I must go back especially their sizes goes from XS-2XL and the pricing was good. 

In the ended me and my hubby grabbed 17 items for approx NT3,900, meaning around NT$229.41/item. And for spending NT$3,000, they gave a big shopping bag (yay).

When we thought we should be skipping dinner after a sinful lunch, we were wrong. We shopped too much that by 5pm + we were hungry and exhausted. 

We dragged outside back to hotel and after alighting from Sandao Temple station to walk back to hotel, I finally spotted my craving gyoza!

八方雲集鍋貼

But of course it was takeaway to hotel for the night and that's it for today...

A Chill Chill Holiday to Taipei Day 1 Taipei

Year 2024! Finally got to go Taiwan again!

We touched down at Taoyuan International Airport around 4pm+. 

Egate

Had registered via online for the Egate enrollment. While queuing for the egate, we asked the officer who advised to go to the an immigration counter located behind the Egate section where we got a stamp and then we can proceed to queue at the Egate. But we weren't able to get through the Egate (so were a few others) so we were diverted to this "speedy" counter where we were cleared for entry ultimately.

Getting to hotel

We hired private transport with our hotel arrangement for NT $1300 which was approx. 55mins ride. Before heading out, we tried our luck for the lucky dip but nah.. didn't win anything though :(

                 Spacious, bright and neat

After a fast and smooth check-in to Ambience Hotel Taipei, we walked around the corners. Prior to this trip, I did googling and saw there were many places for food nearby. 

And this place 梨泰院 Itaewon 韓式料理 台北華山 was one of them so we went for it.

The food were great and the lady waitress was very friendly. 

After dinner was the time to hunt for AA battery which we needed for our devices. There was a shopping mall that has all the 3C products but couldn't find any batteries. But it was a nice place for IT  stuffs.

After searching everywhere and when we decided to just give up, we found the batteries at... The Family Mart. The lowest price was NT 79 for 4 PC AA batteries. And at the same time, we bought tibits and juices!

End of day 1 

Melaka Trip 2023 Day 2 + 3 - Just Food and View

No itinenary for Day 2 and 3. Purely follow friend's recommendation for food, food and food!!!

The food we had in Melaka for Day 2 and 3! 

Dim Sum for breakfast

San Shu Gong's Durian Chendol!

Fried Oyster Omelette

Not to miss Nadeje Layer Cake！

Duck Noodle 

Heard it so popular they closed by afternoon hours!

Melaka Trip Oct 2023 Day 1

My very first overseas trip since covid-19!!!

Hotel

Hotel booking as usual via online platform without any hiccups. Agoda it is.

Coach to Malacca

Coach booking via online platform (easybook.com) as well but now there is app to view the coach details. Even without app, the agency will send the bus details around an hour before the bus arrival at the pick up point. And this time round, we boarded at jurong east venture drive which is a lot nearer then going all the way to the east. Our coach travelled in Malaysia via tuas checkpoint. The tuas checkpoint seemed to be the only congested area where our coach seemed to take a longggg time before we finally get to alight and enter Singapore custom. But amazingly, it was swift and smooth departure. Even at Malaysia custom, it didn't take more than 15 mins to get in and board our coach!!! Totally amazed by the smooth transition.

Short break at Yong Peng

Short break at yong peng for some makan and toilet break

Nasi lemak for the start of our day. (Cost ringgit 12.90) chop chop eat and chop chop go

30mins break time and off we head for Malacca.

By the time we touched down at Hatten Hotel alighting bay, it was around 2pm. We walked a short distance from there to our hotel stay at Imperial Heritage Hotel. 

View from our room's corridor @ Imperial Heritage Hotel 

Our room - Heritage Deluxe Room

Hotel review

Great rates for an accommodation that is convenient to the shopping mall and just across the street, there are McDonald and 7-11. Comfy bed with 4 firm pillows and toiletries are provided. On top of that, it's non-smoking for the entire hotel.

What to do at Malacca? It's shopping and food for us. 

Just crossed the streets from our hotel lobby and we reached the shopping mall.

First stop was for some food and A&W it is. Just have the urge to visit A&W when I am in Melaka! 

Their signature rootbeer! 

Chicken Coney Dog. 

What's next? It was Shopping, shopping and more shopping at the mall before we settled for dinner at Jonker Street!

Sambal stingray (medium portion)

coney cheese corn dog

During weekend, the road is closed off from vehicles for the night market. So get ready for walking and see, eat, and buy! Along the street, there are "Taste better durian puff", "myEureka popcorn store" , "San Shu Gong", "Tan Kim Hock" shops etc.

 

Movie Review: Talk to me

It was just by chance that I went for this movie. 

Synopsis and Trailer can be found here.

Spoilers ahead! 

It was the second last day of Jcube shopping mall operation and decided to catch just one last movie before they closed for good. Saw positive reviews about Talk To Me and being a supernatural theme movie fan, I went with this movie. 

If one is looking for a scare, then this might not be what you are looking for. The parts which scared me would be the first time when Mia first got in contact with the spirits and when Riley was being hurt by the spirits during his contact with the spirits.

While the supernatural is the basis of the movie, the script worked around people's relationships and trust. 

The movie was quite straightforward to show how bad Mia's relationship with the people around her except for Jade and her little brother Riley. Jade's friends to Jade's mother clearly have trust issues with Mia.

The spirits' lies resulted in Mia ultimately in the very same predicament that happened to the guy at the beginning of the movie.
It seemed pretty well connected throughout the movie especially where the ending showed how the conjuring of spirit worked with the hand using Mia's spirit as the point of view.

At the end 

There were some questions left unanswered though, such as where did the hand originated from, how did the guys knew the process to conjuring the spirits, why did Mia broke up with Jade's boyfriend, was it really good enough to just discard the hand and let time mend the situation or was the hand looking for a replacement/candidate to fill in more spirits. 

Nice script and great acting by the entire cast. I only recognized one familiar face, Miranda Otto who portrayed Jade's mother. 

Pasar Malam Lobster Takoyaki

Bought $4.50 for 6 pieces. I was immediately tempted by the word "Lobster" even though I am certain I will not find what I am looking for inside.

 Surprisingly the taste was good. 

(But my favorite is still the octopus)

The opera cake

(Bought from Coffee Bean Tea Leaf SG)

After eating, I really feel like singing in opera because it was just so good. Although there were some cracks on the top layer, but it was the galaxy-like layer that mesmerized me.

The taste of very much like tiramisu but after a search, then I knew that some of their main ingredients differed.

Painting by numbers

Saw this painting by numbers canvas quite a while ago. Finally got it to complete as a gift. The set comprised of 3 different size paint brush, the set of colors required for the painting, the canvas with the color numbers printed, a small picture of the colored painting and the hooks.

Overall was fun but took me a few days to complete because I didn't want my painting to be accidentally smudged by the paint colors.

The completed version

I started with the smaller/inner areas and/or colors that are lighter tone.

Took roughly 2 weeks for me to complete because I stopped in between a few days as I want it to be completely dry. Some of the colors given in the kit set were already harden and I tried adding water to "revive" it. The other difference of what it was supposed to be was the outermost green color background as the green color paint was completed dried. I mixed the remaining colors from the kit set to obtain this base. So this piece would be slightly different as compared to the original.

Overall difficulty: 7 out of 10

There were many areas that required the smallest size brush to reach.