Taiwan, Oct 2013.

 

I went to Taiwan with my mother, brother and sister in Oct.  It was a 5 days 4 nights trip.  We stayed 4 nights in The Beauty Resort in Shilin, Taipei City, the best thing about the hotel was the location which was close to the famous Shilin night market.

We arrived in the evening, after checked in we went straight for dinner at the Shin Yeh Restaurant.  It was an old Taiwanese restaurant that is very popular among the locals and the tourists.  The food was indeed very good even a simple fried meehoon (rice vermicelli) was so good!  It was slightly expensive though.

 

Garden at the Shilin Official Residence

Next morning we started the day with visiting Shilin Official Residence which was the residence of late Republic of China President Chiang Kai-shek.  Chiang Kai-shek had a very famous wife Soong May-ling which all my family members are familiar with after watching the TV series of the 3 sisterf Soong family.

The residence was a 2 storey building and nicely decorated with a mixture of Western and Chinese style.  Too bad pictures were not allowed inside the building.

 

 

 

We went next to The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall which is an important landmark of Taipei City.  Today the memorial park and the Liberty Square has become a venue for mass gathering.

 

The Chinag Kai-shek Memorial Hall

 

 

 

Gate at the Liberty Square

 

 

 

 

 

 

After that we had lunch at the Ding Tai Fung restaurant, it is a famous Taiwanese restaurant chain with branches in many countries. We quite like the Ding Tai Fung in Malaysia and thought we should try it locally.  It was not a good experience as my mother was not happy that we had to wait for an hour before getting the table.  They did not allow reservation on weekends, by the time we arrived there were many people waiting, we took a ticket for a table and were told to go back in an hour.  My mother had no patient and did not understand why we had to eat there!   While waiting we already ordered the food, therefore food was served pretty quick after we got our table.  Not sure whether it was because we waited for so long, we felt the food was not as good as in Malaysia.

 

After lunch we walked around the Yong Kang Street, it was an area with restaurants, cafes and little shops.  I saw some restaurants that were recommended by bloggers but we really couldn’t eat anymore!

 

 

At night we went to the Wufenpu wholesale clothing  market and bought a few clothes, after that we went to the Raohe night market, it wasn’t a pleasant experience as it was so crowded, we just couldn’t stand and simply bought some food and headed back to the hotel to eat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day we had booked a tour to a few places.  My mother likes flowers but it wasn’t a good season to see flowers in Yangmingshan National Park, I searched online and found  Ta Shee Farm in Taoyuan  but I was quite disappointed as the flowers were not as much as I thought.  Luckily my mother was happy with the visit.

 

 

 

 

 

After that we visited the Cihu Park which had 152 statues of the late president Chiang Kai-shek, it was quite impressive and I like the garden style of the park.

 

 

 




 

 

We went to Sanxia next,  Minquan old street was built during Japanese rule and the Japanese colonial architecture was well preserved.  Today the old street has many stores selling local food, souvenirs, arts and tea etc. 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

On the next day, my mother wanted to go to the food market therefore we took her to the Nanmen Market.   It is a 3 storey building with more than 200 stores, very clean and tidy.  My mother bought some cured meat and freshly made buns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ximending is the heart of Taipei’s youth culture, you’ll find all the trendy stuff around there, the area is full of fashion stores, restaurants, cafes, book stores, cosmetic shops etc.   We walked around the pedestrian area, had lunch at a little food stall and did some shopping.   




 

 After that we went to Taipei 101, a landmark skyscraper in Taipei to take some pictures, we didn’t stay long in the shopping mall as the shops there are all luxury boutiques.

 

 

We had tea in a café that I found online, there are many nice cafes especially in the Taipei East area, I chose this one because their specialty is soufflé and I really like soufflé.










 

We had a relaxing afternoon and spent the night in Shilin night market.  There were not many people on that Tuesday night and we managed to do many shopping,  we bought phone cases, shoes, clothes and some souvenirs.  We had lunch in a restaurant over there, not great food but it was ok.

 

On the last morning we decided not to have breakfast in the hotel, I actually quite enjoyed the buffet breakfast in the hotel, but after having it for a few days we wanted a change.  We found a small breakfast place near to the hotel, we had some Taiwanese style pancakes, onigiri and soya bean for breakfast, it was very good and cheap!

 

 

 

 

We left for airport at noon time and everyone had a good time.  We all like Taiwan very much and considering going back to Miaoli, Hualian and Taichung.



 

Seoul, South Korea, February 2013

Can't believe this is my first travel blog after travelling for 10 years, this trip was actually back in Feb this year and finally I decided to do something about it!

I went to Seoul with my sister and my friend Jian in Feb this year after Chinese New Year, the weather was too cold for me and my sister, but it was just fine for Jian who comes from the North of China, I had to say I did not enjoy the weather at all especially at night it was freezing cold! 

We stayed 4 nights at Hotel Aventree Jongno which costed us KRW 348,000 for a triple room, a 4 star hotel with spacious room and just next to Insadong, it was a very good deal that I found from booking.com.





First night dinner at Insadong.

We arrived Seoul early in the morning, after leaving the luggage at the front desk we headed to Insadong.  It was a nice area to shop for Korean art, tea, souvenirs and cosmetic products etc, Many of the shops and restaurants hired Mandarin speaking staff to cater for the huge influx of Chinese tourists, therefore we had no problem in communication at all, even if you do not speak Mandarin, they could understand English as well.

After dinner we headed to Dongdaemun for more shopping, Dongdaemun is the home to many fashion wholesalers, there are many shopping malls open for business until early in the morning, definitely a shopping paradise!




The next morning went to the Korean folk village which is not in the city centre, there were several cheaper ways to get there but to save the trouble we took a taxi, the journey was more than an hour.

We spent a few hours in the folk village, it was an interesting place, there were many traditional houses to provide visitors an understanding of Korean culture and ancient housing style. 

 




     





The lively Myeong-dong.

After lunch at the folk village we took the free shuttle bus to Suwon Station and took metro back to Myeong-dong which is one of the main shopping district and tourism districts. I discovered Myeong-dong kyoja which was recommended by the book, we then had our afternoon snack over there, the dumplings were not bad, I was impressed by their efficient service too. After that of course more shopping for cosmetic items. While shopping I came across another restaurant that was recommended by the book, we then had our Korean BBQ dinner over there, it was a popular restaurant especially among tourists, food was good and price was reasonable, the funny thing was the owner gave us each of a picture of a Korean star of our choice, guess who I picked, Psy!

Dumplings at Myeong-dong Kyoja and Korean BBQ.

 









On day 3 we started the day with visiting the very old Jogyesa Buddhist Temple which was near to our hotel, there were some big Gautama Buddha statues inside the temple, worshippers were praying, it was peaceful and solemn.

We visited the Changdeokgung Palace next, it is one of the 5 main palaces in Seoul and a UNESCO world heritage site. The admission fee was only KRW5000 including the secret garden and there were complementary tours in a few languages, can't remember why didn't we join the Mandarin tour, we probably missed it and had to join the English tour. Anyway we did enjoy the tour and the palace was indeed very beautiful!

After the palace we had lunch at a Japaneses restaurant nearby,and then we walked to Samcheong-dong area where there were Korean traditional houses, nice cafes and shops.

 

In the evening we went to Namdaemun market which is the largest traditional market in Korea, our mission there was to buy food stuff especially seaweed.   We went in a seaweed shops where the Chinese speaking staff introduced different types of seaweed to us, we not only had seaweed tasting and they also served us my favourite Korean drink - citron tea, we ended up buying 2 big bags of seaweeds, Korean ginseng and citron tea. We had our dinner at the Namdaemum market at a little eatery, nice and cheap food!

On day 4, we went back to Insadong to a traditional tea house, we loved the place, the decor, the tea and the dessert.  We did more shopping and had lunch in a vegetarian restaurant in Insadong that was also recommended by the book.  I am not really keen on vegetarian food but my friend Jian wanted to try.  The restaurant's decor was so good, the food presentation was good but there was NO MEAT!   

Having tea and dessert at traditional tea house in Insadong.

Sanchon, a vegetarian restaurant in Insadong.

  

In the afternoon we went to Gangnam area, Garosu-gil in Sinsa-dong was a nice area with many nice cafes, restaurants and shops.  At night my Korean friend Ellen took us to a restaurant closed to Gangnam Station to have Korean BBQ pork, the food was very delicious.  That marked the end of our trip and we left the next day early morning.

 

 

It was a good trip, it would be even better if the weather was a little bit warmer.  I do not think I will go back to Seoul though, probably go to Busan in my next trip to South Korea.



Ke Yuan, Hakka restaurant in Puchong, Malaysia.

On my last night in Malaysia before coming back to Gibraltar, my sis and soon to be brother-in-law took me and my parents to Hakka restaurant Ke Yuan (客苑) in Puchong.

When we arrived there was only one table left which was reserved by my sis earlier.  It was Saturday night and restaurant was full with Chinese families having dinner.  Although the restaurant was packed but I was impressed with their quick service, the food was served not too long after we ordered.

There were many choices on the menu and the price was quite cheap, we ordered 6 dishes and cost us RM120.

Deep fried pork that was marinated with fermented red bean curd.

 

 

Sauteed fish fillets with ginger and spring onion.

 

 

A Hakka dish that was made of yam and potato starch.

 

 

Rice was served in a little ceramic pot.

 

 

Stir fried bitter gourd with preserved egg.

 

 

Winter melon soup with seafood.

 

Bean curd with mushroom.

Caldo cafe, a popular cafe in Taipei city centre.

I always like dessert, during my short trip to Taipei I even pre-arranged an afternoon tea session at Caldo cafe, it is a place that reservation is required as it is too popular among the locals.

Caldo cafe is famous for their souffle, four of us ordered 3 souffles, 2 sandwiches and a waffle.  The sandwich was such a big portion that we ended up with a table full of food!

 Original flavour waffle.

 My rice tea.

 Souffle with mango sorbet and sauce.

All of us enjoyed the souffle very much.

Restaurant Shin Yeh, a famous Taiwanese restaurant.

Our first meal after arriving Taipei was to Shin Yeh, a Taiwanese restaurant that is popular among the locals and the tourists.

The restaurant was so packed and reservation is definitely recommended. The food was indeed really good but it was very pricey too, it costed four of us TWD3343, the most expensive meal that we had while in Taiwan.

 Stir fried prawn with green bean and casual nut.

 Stir fried pig stomach with vegetable.

 Bean curd with mushroom and vegetable.

 Pan fried liver.

 Stewed chicken.

The best stir fried rice noodle.