Eat, sleep, play. Repeat.
Extremely inspired to complete the Taiwan posts because jeng, jeng, jeng... WE JUST BOOKED ANOTHER VACAY FOR TAIPEI!
I know, it seems like WHAT AGAIN?? But actually it's been almost a year since our Taipei vacay (we were last there in Feb!) and I miss my mee sua already plus I have friends to visit! And since we will be there for a week this time round, I hope to find the time to get out of the city :)
So anyway, back to our #garryflorataipei getaway!
PS- I had previously blogged about the Hello Kitty cafe (greatest highlight of the trip!), Taipei Day 1 and girls' night out parts of our holiday.
PPS - Quality for these pics aren't the best cause they were mostly taken with my iPhone 4s BUT for my upcoming trip I'm gonna be lugging my DSLR around and I also hope to do up the posts with more travel tips such as where to eat/ sleep/ drink etc then!
Arriving at Taoyuan!
On the cab to our hotel!
We took the red-eye and landed at 6am wtf. While this used to be my favourite choice of flight timing when I was younger (cause you get a full day when you land), I think I'm really too old to handle this anymore. I felt soooo tired and miserable the entire day... and all I could think about was to head back to the hotel to sleep but I couldn't cause I had two work meetings scheduled that day :sob:
Caught a glimpse of the Taipei 101 on the way to meetings!
BUT things were made a little sweeter cause I had the boy's company :) Not a word of complaint at all as he soldiered through meetings with me... I guess he knew what he's in for when he married me lol. With what I do, a vacation is never really a vacation unfortunately.
Streets of Taipei...
And my favourite shopping mall, BELLAVITA! I love the European-inspired architecture, tall “cathedral” dome-styled central courtyard and the shopping inside too (but don't tell the hubs hahaha). Makes a great place for afternoon tea too!
But to be honest, I did most of my shopping at... 7-Eleven!! hahaha.. I did get a litttttle crazy with the Hello Kitty shopping. Hello Kitty hand cream, Hello Kitty candy, Hello Kitty notebooks.. ooops.
Went back to the hotel finally, took a nap and headed to my favourite place for dinner/ supper.. SHILIN NIGHT MARKET!
That Lu Rou Fan 滷肉飯 was soooo goooddd I can eat it everyday!
And a clearer shot of my favourite smelly toufu :yum: :yum: :yum:
The husband saw this fried chicken cutlet and wanted to give it a try...
I loveeee this picture of him! Very fat and cute hahah. I sent it to the mother-in-law who replied "Wah my son so handsome!" Hahahahaha
The chicken that came stuffed with cheese!
Oozy cheesy goodness! But to be honest, I didn't find the chicken that fantastic... I'll suggest to stick to the popular Hot Star Large Fried Chicken.
Taipei will always be somewhere close to my heart.. it was the first destination the boy and I took a holiday to five years ago and I think there's something about winter and first holidays that make everything all the more romantic.
I remember him trying to catch these prawns then and going WTF to myself haha and for old times' sake, off he went prawning again this time round.
We caught 3 sad prawns which they will barbeque for you!
I used to see these malt candy sticks 糖葫蘆 on the telly when I was a kid and always wanted to try them but EVERYTIME I get them, I will regret because they really taste quite bad.
I insisted the husband try it cause he has never tried it before :satisfied:
He didn't like it either.
Queuing up for 大腸包小腸 (literally translated to "big sausage wrapped around small sausage" wtf)
It's some grilled sausage with glutinous (?) rice I think.. super yums!
Then we ended the feasting (for day one!) and went back to sleep.
Ehh.. actually I think we ended up having supper (Lu Rou Fan again) near our hotel that night :grin:
The next morning (Saturday), we got up and headed to Xi Men Ding!
FOR MY MEE SUAAAAAAAAAA~~~~!!!!!
ABSOLUTE FOODGASM :heart_eyes:
Because we couldn't find the stomach space for this the night before at Shilin, we ended up having this at Xi Men Ding.
It's basically mashed potato battered and fried and then drowned in nacho cheese sauce and topped with your ingredients of choice - here we went for the full works which came with ham, corn, tuna mayo and eggs I think. Mmmm.
Went for a blowout! It was only S$12 I think? Compared to the exorbitant prices I have to pay here in Singapore sigh.
And met my friends for dinner! We were asking our Taiwanese girlfriend where we could have the best beef noodles in town and she brought us to Yong Kang 永康牛肉麺館!
There was a queue but well worth the wait!
And shaved ice desserts after!
Can't go wrong with azuki beans and green tea.
My pretty girlfriends!
And one boyfriend.
Went back to change and headed out for drinks!
Camwhoring.. and I really, really, really miss my long hair now :sob:
We had drinks at Marquee which is listed as the Top 5 Bars in Taipei recommended by my girlfriend (who's the fashion editor at Cosmopolitan Taiwan!) and I absolutely LOVED this place!
Frequented by Taipei’s glitterati – socialites and celebrities – you name it; Marquee is a spacious and not to mention lavish cocktail lounge and restaurant, dipped in distinctive royal purple hues and featuring plush Victorian-inspired interiors. If you’re feeling peckish, they have a standard Western cuisine on hand (pizzas, chicken wings, pastas and the like), but the long bar is the main draw, boasting some of the finest award-winning bartenders and premium liquors in Taipei.
Marquee, No. 16-1,Section 5, Xinyi Rd., Xinyi Dist., Taipei
More blurry drunk iPhone shots from that night here.
Supper after that!
The next morning, we woke up realllyyyy late and headed to the Hello Kitty cafe for lunch/ afternoon tea much to the husband's annoyance.
And I think we went to Rao He night market that night but no pictures from there cause it was raining.
The next day, as our flight was in the afternoon, we had time for a quick meal around our hotel and off we went to Ippudo!
Ramen is always a good idea.
Standard is pretty much the same as that in Singapore but prices were lower... by about 20-30%?
The husband was very impressed by this garlic press that wasn't available at Ippudo Singapore yet at that time. But it's already available now I think!
Garlicky goodness for the soup!
And this concludes our weekend getaway! Can't wait till our next adventure :airplane:
But not before I buy as much Hello Kitty as I can at the airport before departing...
Rest of my Travel Diaries here
