♥June 5th♥
After leaving Penang, we continued our journey to Cameron Highlands using the Simpang Pulai way.

We arrived Cameron Highlands in the evening, and welcomed the cool weather.

We stopped at the first place that offered strawberry plucking. For RM20, we get half a punnet to fill up which is equivalent to 0.5Kg.

Zaria being helped by a worker to reach the nicer strawberries on the higher racks.

Each flower of the strawberry plant will turn into a strawberry.

Heading down to Tanah Ratah where our hotel, Hotel De La Fern, was located, we got stuck in the Brinchang jam which was caused by the night market (If you use the Simpang Pulai Way, you’ll reach Kampung Raja, then Brinchang, then Tanah Ratah). Don’t get fooled by the Hotel website, there’s nothing luxurious about it. It’s by the main road next to a busy steamboat restaurant.

Dinner was at Rosedale Bistro, Tanah Rata. Girls didn’t want any noodles or rice, so they have scones and strawberry ice cream for dinner.

We had an early night as we knew the next day will be a long day.

♥June 6th♥
12am, when the restaurant next door closed up, the staff started chatting away. This plus the clattering of dishes, the cars revving up the slope next to the hotel, made Daddy & I have difficulty falling asleep.

Our quad room is comfy, but I don’t think it’s worth the rate we paid for. With the noise pollution we got, not a place we’ll stay again.

We checked out soon after breakfast, and headed to Boh Sungai Palas Tea Plantation. As we neared the plantation, vege greenhouses were replaced with slopes of tea plants in different shades of green. It’s a very calming and lovely sight.

We drove, got out of the car, walked a bit, explored a bit, went back into the car, drove some more, and repeated the process many times.

At the workers’ quarters, girls played with the dog and cats there.

Workers who were home were quite friendly. This handsome man allowed us to take his photo.

We also spotted this.

A real ‘rooftop’ garden in one of quarters.

Near the quarters, is the Boh Sungai Palas Tea Centre.

Love the floor to ceiling windows in the cafe.

Tea served was good, scones was ok, but the the beautiful sights surrounding was the reason people came.

The factory itself has nothing much to see, but I think this is one place that must be visited when in Cameron Highlands.

Next on our agenda was mossy forest, which is near Sungai Palas. As a bonus, when we were driving there, we saw workers picking/cutting tea leaves up close.

Their supervisor, a veteran, watching over all these workers.

Me watching over the girls messing about.

As the road got narrower, the slopes too become more jagged.

Finally, we arrived the mossy forest; where fog was thick, and visibility lower. It got very cold too.

We tried going into one of the trails, but 5mins into it, we turned back out. We were not properly attired and the girls were complaining the ground too soggy to walk on.

So we walked along the tar road, and yet, it was still interesting.

For the girls, it’s another play time.

Before heading back to KL, we did some shopping at Brinchang. The ‘night’ market started trading at 3pm+.

Girls… went searching for things to buy for their friends and teachers.

See how the car boot is filled up with all the shopping from Cameron Highlands and Penang?

Continue from here.

♥June 4th♥

We spent the whole day in Georgetown, just eating, drinking, taking photos. I have to say the girls are really great travel companion. In the hot sun, they just followed us, as long as there’s occasional cold drinks and ice cream treat.

If it wasn’t for the sun and heat, we would have walked out noon time. It’s crazy actually to drive in Georgetown, the traffic was so bad, and it’s so difficult to get a parking lot, and even when you get one, there’s still some walking to do. By the time we got a spot to park, it was almost 2pm.

Lunch was at Shing Kheang Aun Restaurant. A restaurant that serves homestyle Hainanese and Nonya cooking.

Asam Prawn – What I like is you can order in the quantity you want, 1, 2, 4, 6, any number.

Gulai Pomfret (I didn’t drink up the sauce, so… it’s ok)

Stir Fry Tofu with Leeks (I want to cook this at home next time)

Chicken Chop. This was ordered for the girls, but they didn’t like it, so they skipped lunch. (Thank goodness for the hearty hotel breakfast).

(Shing Kheang Aun Restaurant is located at 2, Chulia Lane, 10200 Penang, Malaysia)

We spotted the Rainforest Bakery & Pastry which Daddy has read about. (This bakery is opened by twin brothers, and they supply their bread to a lot of the hotels in Penang. So he read.)

As breakfast was provided by the hotel, we didn’t get any bread but got cakes and biscuit instead. I’m quite a fussy person when it comes to bake goods, and I have to say, they make really good cakes and biscuit (the trail mix biscuit).

(Rainforest Bakery and Pastry is located at 300 Lebuh Chulia, 10200 Penang, Malaysia)

When the girls felt hungry, we went into the air-conditioned Yeng Keng Cafe & Bar run by Yeng Keng Hotel.

“Hmmmm…. aircon…” said the boss.

Love the air well, although sealed up, brought in natural light.

And the retro red velvet seats.

(Yeng Keng Hotel is located at 362 Lebuh Chulia, 10200 Penang, Malaysia)

At my insistent, we went to have the Siam Road Char Kuay Teow. An early dinner.

The wait for a plate of Char Kuay Teow here on average is 45mins. After finishing her drink, Zaria became bored.

But, they found some games to play to entertained themselves (no need for gadgets).

Our wait was 40mins this time. As usual, the Char Kuay Teow was delicious, although the plate that the girls have which was without chili didn’t taste as nice.

We then parked the car at the hotel, and went out for a walk in the evening when it was cooler.

Fading mural.

Teowchew Temple.

Everything can be turned into something interesting for the girls. Here, they were competing who can balance on these road decos the longest.

Seeing a man stringing jasmine flowers near the Kuan Yin Temple.

The man decided to give them each a string of jasmine.

The girls watching people praying in the Kuan Yin Temple; and they decided the flowers are nicer on the hair.

The Teowchew Temple lit up at dusk.

And then, while we wanted to look for some snacks to eat. We saw this.

Can you guess what it is?

See this…
One of the restaurant in Little India has this little stall set up outside, grilling chapatis. We always get our chapatis cooked on a flat pan, grilled over charcoal? This is my first time trying it. Very delicious indeed.

And then, we saw this new luxurious boutique hotel, Chong Tian Lou. A night there is ~RM1000. o.O”

Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped at Sri Malaya Heritage Restaurant for a drink.
Love all these little cafes scattered around Georgetown housed in restored pre-war shop lot.

♥June 5th♥
Time to say good bye once again to our lovely and comfy room.

Before we left Penang, we had to accomplish one of the missions we came to Penang for – To stock up on my favourite soy sauce from Kwong Heng Loong （廣興隆醬園醬油） in Pulau Tikus. After started taking this soy sauce in 2010, no other soy sauce will do for me. Their tauchu (bean paste) is also one of the best.

You can either buy the soy sauce in prepacked bottles.

Or bring your own bottle to be filled up.

(Kwong Heng Loong Soy Sauce 廣興隆醬園醬油 can be bought from their shop located just outside the Pulau Tikus market. Address : 7A, Jalan Pasar Pulau Tikus, Penang, Malaysia)

We asked the shop if they have any recommendation of hawker food nearby, and they asked us to go Kedai Kopi Sin Hwa (Apparently, the Char Kuay Teow there won 2nd place for best Char Kuay Teow in Penang in 2011 or 2010).

I didn’t have Char Kuay Teow but instead have a bowl of Asam Laksa. I’m no fan of Asam Laksa, but this was goooooood.

And the Char Kuay Teow too was delicious. I guess next time when we come back to Penang, we’ll be eating here instead of Siam Road.

(Kedai Kopi Sin Hwa is located at 329 Jalan Burma, 10350 Penang, Malaysia. Which is opposite the Pulau Tikus Police Station)

And then, it’s then time to leave Penang.

After exploring all the different holiday options, instead of going somewhere else, we decided to make our annual trip to Penang during the June holidays to keep our tradition of visiting St Anne’s church yearly alive.

♥June 2nd♥

We slowly crawled our way up North due to the heavy traffic, reaching St Anne’s, which is located in Bukit Mertajam, in the evening.

The church closes at 7pm, so we were asked to leave not long after we arrived. We decided to have dinner at Northern Coastal Seafood Restaurant in Butterworth (1, Pantai Bersih, Bagan Ajam , 12000 Butterworth, Penang).

Recommended by a colleague, promising great view of Penang Island, and fresh seafood, we were not disappointed.

(no photos of food, but the stingray in Nonya sauce is our favourite)

Girls loved the coastal wind and the view.

♥June 3rd♥
Girls were looking forward to the buffet spread at the hotel. It was one of the things they love about staying in Traders Hotel. 3 years in a row, we’d been staying here. The place is still well maintained and the service is tip top.

What I like best about Traders Hotel is its location. Soon after breakfast, we walked out to the Chowrasta market along Jalan Kuala Kangsar.

I would have tried a plate of Java Mee, if I wasn’t full. The noodle is fried with the sauce, instead of the KL type of just blanching the noodle then pour sauce over.

The Java Mee stall owner prepared a plate of Java Mee for his daughter, to share with her sister.

We saw a big crowd at the famous Penang Road Cendol stall. We’d never tried it before, so I queued for a bowl too.

And I don’t know what the fuss is all about. I shared a bowl with Daddy and we didn’t even finish it.

For lunch, girls insisted we go to Nonya Breeze (50, Lorong Abu Siti, 10400 George Town, Penang). We’d been eating at this restaurant on every of our visit, but never took photos of the food. This time, I we did.

I don’t think we can find this vege in KL, but it’s call kuaci cai on the menu. Fibrous and sweet leaves.

Asam Pedas Fish; I almost drank all the soup!

Zara likes this fried oyster mushroom.

Girls favourite, Inchi Kabin. Even on the journey, they already mentioned they wanted to eat this fried chicken in Nonya Breeze.

As usual, Nonya Breeze never disappoints. It was a good lunch.

We then took the long drive to Batu Ferringgi. As guests staying in Traders Hotel, we can make use of the Golden Sand Resort facilities, so we spent the rest of the day at the pool and beach there.

I wanted one of the girls to go with me on a parasail, but they both didn’t want. So, maybe next time.

Zaria is more of a beach person. Zara just wanted to go back to the pool.

Our ex neighbour who’s relocated came back to Malaysia for a holiday in April. Their eldest daughter CY is one of Zara’s best friend before they relocated, so Zara was really looking forward to meet CY again. A play date was arranged for the girls so that they can spend some time having fun together.

After some consideration, we decided to bring the girls to Petrosains, a place the girls have been before and like very much. It was CY first time though.

For 2 adults and 3 children, the ticket came to RM35.

Except for the wait to take the dark ride into Petrosains, there was very little wait time for each of the exhibit. The girls have a good time, and we just have to do some explanation here and there.

Photos of the trip.

Re-adjusting tubes to see how a ball rolled when dropped from top to bottom

Trying to catch the hologram car

Magnet fun

Robot Football – see who can score a goal first

Interactive image – trying to catch a butterfly on their shoulders/hands

Interactive image – sand flowing down

Interactive image – dancing to form designs

Hurricane simulator – only Zaria and I dared step in

Zaria trying to spot a fake star

Can’t recall what these were for

This is probably the girls’ favourite, each one getting a cannon of spray, and trying to create an imagine with all the virtual squirting

After Petrosains, we had late lunch, did a bit of shopping at KLCC, then since CY’s dad didn’t mind CY having dinner with us, we proceeded more play time at KLCC Park.

Zaria has strong arms and she can cross the monkey bar all by herself

It was a fun day for the girls. Zara will be looking forward to CY’s return next year.

The 2 BFFs walking back to KLCC

We drove to Singapore during the recent March school holidays (March 10th ~ 13th) , as a reward for all Zara’s hardwork during her 1st term exams.

Upon a friend’s recommendation, I bought a Marriott Vacation Club Holiday Package Voucher. A 3D/2N stay in Ritz Carlton Millenia for a very good price, and we extended another night at YMCA International House.

The room in Ritz Carlton is oh my, super duper nice. It’s been a while since we’d stayed in such a nice hotel as a family. The girls absolutely love it! We told them this is a five star hotel, and we can’t normally afford to stay in such a hotel.

The girls upon arrival, went to check out if there’s Carton Network on the TV.

(Before we arrived, Zara was telling me this, “Since it’s a high class hotel, maybe they won’t have Cartoon Network. They will only show all the modelling shows, arts on their TV.”)

The view, from the room and bathroom….beautiful; and what I love most is the bathroom with the big bathtub!

Continues from here.

♥Dec 7th – Sunny♥
Initially, I planned to spend the whole day shopping, but the weather was so good compared to the last 2 days I thought it would be wasted if we didn’t do any sight seeing.

We decided to go to the zoo, do a quick dash and see what the girls have not seen before, i.e. Panda, Penquin, Koala, and then we can do the shopping after that.

We wanted to take the metro, but the station master told us to take the bus instead, as it’ll be quicker. The 45mins bus ride allowed us to have a snooze, which was good.

We were glad we went to Taipei Zoo (臺北市立動物園), a zoo that encloses 165 hectares, including 90 hectares open to the public (compared to Singapore Zoo which is 28hectares and charging almost 10times more). It’s a big and lovely zoo, with lots of wide open space; with eateries, restaurants and rest areas scattered all over the zoo. The entrance fee was TWD60 for adults and TWD30 for children. What a steal for this world class zoo!

We could have spent the whole day there, with so many to see, but we had to be selective and spent time only on the animals we wanted the girls to see.

First stop, Giant Panda House. Unfortunately, both the Pandas were far away from us.
One munching on some bamboo.

Another taking a nap.

They have a big gift shop at the Giant Panda House, girls wanted to choose something to bring home.

She wanted to get something cool for herself.

And when there were children having a go at the vending machine, both girls wanted a go too.

Zaria with her prize.

We have to dash to the next point of interest, the Koalas, after the Giant Pandas (with a zoo so big, it was quite tiring actually).

(no photos of koalas although we saw quite a few of them).

We had lunch at one of the rest area, bought some pizzas and buns from a bakery (no inflated price, btw), and just ‘picnic’ there.

When we asked what’s the nicest thing they did or saw in the zoo, the answer was “Jumping on the hippos.” at the African Animal Area.

Decos around the African Animal Area.

Caught one real hippo surfacing.

We spent some time at the Nocturnal Animal House to look at Owls (Influnce from Harry Potter and Legend of the Guardians), then it was to see the Penquins.

There’s a children zoo as well, but we didn’t have time to check out. It was already almost 4pm when we left the zoo. Next time, we have to come back and spend the whole day there.

We took the Metro this time to the Cityhall Station (市政府).

While having tea at one of the food court, the girls poured out the content of their bags. Their goodies from Taiwan.

Zaria’s loot from Taiwan

Zara’s loot from Taiwan

We wanted to head towards Taipei 101 and have dinner around there, and just our luck, we saw a huge Budhist procession near Tapei 101. It’s a procession with ~500 monks, where a Buddha’s tooth relic was featured (佛光山佛祖舍利台北巡境祈福). It seems these monks are doing a round island procession.

Hundreds of monks were walking along the busy Songshou Road (松壽路).

No special privilidges. They wait like us to cross the busy road.

Along the roads, there were little tables set up to provide offerings.

We were also given bottle of waters, little book marks and souvenirs for just being there!

There were African, Indian and Caucasian monks as well.

Monks passing Taipei 101.

The procession was so long we didn’t wait till the end.

We went to City Hall area actually just to see Taipei 101but was lucky to catch the procession.

The busy Songshou Road.

We had dinner in a Ramen Restaurant, a meal was not worth mentioning, and then did food shopping in the supermarket and food halls around that area.

♥Dec 8th – Drizzle♥
The day has come to go home. Girls were getting excited, but Zara was dreading the flight home.

After breakfast, I went out to Shida Market to shop for some food stuff. After that I came back to pack, while it was Daddy’s turn to go to the market to take photos. These were the shots taken in the market. (And if you’d followed my site long enough, you would have realised we always like visiting markets every where we go).

Shida Market lane.

All sort of fish.

The market was not too crowded, and rather clean

Chicken seller. (Take note the chicken there have ‘black feet’)

Cooked meat seller.

Super delicious dried persimmons (we bought some).

Sesame oil and tea oil for sale.

Bamboo shoot.

Breakfast counter

Vegetable stall

Hot spring salted egg.

Humongous Chinese Yams.

And guess what this is? Each of them the size of my palm?

BBQ Goose eggs it seems. Didn’t try it. Should have just bought one and tried.

By 12:30pm, we were out of the hotel, and headed to the airport for our flight.

It was a good trip. And the girls can walk. On a daily basis, we left the hotel at 11am, and returned at 9pm. They just walked and walked and walked with us, sometimes even refusing to take the escalator but use the stairs instead at metro station. Just so much energy.

Taiwan is relatively cheap compares to Hong Kong or Singapore, and there are still so many beautiful places we’d not seen. I believe, we’ll be going back to Taiwan again when Daddy accumulated enough airmiles.

Continues from here.

♥Dec 5th – Rain♥
We planned to do sight seeing today, taking the Pingxi (Pingshi) Railway Brunch Line (平溪線鐵路) which will bring us through sleepy mining towns which are famous for sky lanterns. Alas it was raining!

We thought since we’ll be taking the train, maybe we can still see some sights and with some luck, the rain might stop, so we stuck to our original plan.

After breakfast (of ham and cheese sandwitch, the standard breakfast Windsor B&B offers), we took the bus from Jiufen to Ruifang station, bought ourselves a Pingxi Railway all day pass (平溪線一日週遊券), which is TWD52 for adults and TWD26 for kids. The pass will allow us to hop on and off the train at the various stops along Pingxi Railway Line.

Despite the rain, the spirit was high.

We chose Qingtong (Chingtung, 菁桐), the last stop on the Pingxi Raiway Line as our first stop.

The rain was quite heavy, so we only managed to walk around the station. Spotted a pagola hung with lots of bamboo wishes

We dropped by a restaurant across the station, thinking of grabbing a quick bite. However, there was only 1 person working there, and he took time to make the drinks as well as cooked our pasta, making us miss our train. We had to wait for more than an for the next train.

In the rain, we really couldn’t do much. We had to kill time in the small station.

Zara did drawings after drawings (she’s well prepared).

It was pure time wasting. By the time the train arrived, it was turning dark. We decided to go to Shifen (Shrfen, 十份). Our last stop. The rain was even heavier, but since we saw some sky lantern upon arriving, we went to search for the location where they were releasing the lanterns.

There were lots of shops along the rail way track providing such servies. You can purchase the lantern, write your wish on it, and then they will help you light it up so you can release it. We saw some Korean getting theirs done. .

3 of us getting back to the station (that was how we travelled the whole day)

We didn’t stop at Pingxi, and headed back to Ruifang for a simple roadside dinner (asked around and were told there was no restaurant near the Ruifang station), then took the bus back to our B&B in Jiufen.

It was a wasted day in my opinion due to the rain. Hmphh!

♥Dec 6th – Drizzle♥
The rain has subsided to a drizzle, which was good news to us. As we planned to go to Jinguashi (金瓜石) a small town notable for its historic gold and copper mines, about 10mins bus ride from Jiufen.

After breakfast, we checked out and left our bags at the B&B and then took the bus to The Gold Ecological Park (黃金博物園區) at Jinguashi.

The park has several attractions. The first we went to was The Japanese Style Residence (四連棟) which housed Japanese officials during WW2.

The Restaurant at the Park to is themed. It’s called the Miner’s Canteen. You can get Miner’s lunchbox here, which is pork rice in a tin box with a set of cutlery wrapped in a scarf.

We had something Western. Nuggets and smiley fries for the girls.

Spagetti with a kind of watery pesto sauce (quite unlike our pesto) for Daddy.

Horrid testing sesame chicken mee-sua (wheat noodle) for me which I didn’t finish.

To give visitors an experience of being in an actual mining tunnel and understand the working conditions underground, the old Benshan Tunnel No 5 (本山五坑) was opened to public. We paid TWD50 to get a miner’s experience.

First you put on the hygience cap,then the hardhat.

Listened to some instructions then off we went to the tunnel.

Then it was out for more adventure.

We have our hands on Gold Panning (淘金體驗) as well for TWD100 per head.

The Gold Ecological Park has huge grounds, and pretty scenic, with an old rail track serving the tunnels.

(Little one trying to hold her breath when we wanted to take a photo of her)

What we missed was entering the Museum Of Gold, which you can actually touch and try to lift a 220kg 999 pure gold ingot.

The surrounding area of Jinguashi is very hilly.

There was a nice cafe around that area, but becasue it was quite far we gave it a miss.

Instead we have dou-hua/taufu fa (豆花) instead at the park.

It then started to rain again, by the time we got back to Jiufen, it was pouring. Our plans to go to Keelung (基隆) has to be changed. We headed back to Taipei instead.

We decided to have a nice dinner, and selected a restaurant recommended by my guidebook.

Upon arriving at the Zhongxiao Fuxing (忠孝復興) metro station (where the restaurant is located), the girls were so happy to see all the various art works at the station.

3D art work showing all the famous Taiwan Snack.

They were so attractive, Zaria requested photos to be taken.

The restaurant Sashimiya, better known by its Chinese name, 三四味屋, was a good choice, as the whole family loves Japanese food.

Here are some of the things we had. Chinese Yam (山藥) chips.

Girls love the chips!

Fried prawn.

Grilled chicken wings (for the little one, a chicken fan)

Grilled Onigiri

We were back at Li Yuan Hotel for another 2 nights stay.

(continues from here)

♥Dec 4th – Cloudy♥
After breakfast, we checked out of Li Yuan Hotel, stored our baggage there, and headed to Taipei Main Station (台北火車站) using the Metro. We bought our tickets to Ruifang (瑞芳), our transit point to Jiufen (九份). Adults and kids ticket with numbered seats cost NTD76 and NT38 respectively.

Train was comfortable, and took us about 40mins to arrive Ruifang.

Ruifang Station Underpass was turned into a photo gallery

Girls were not interested in the photos, but the ‘sparkly’ pebble washed wall. o.O”

This girl will use the disable ramp instead of stairs; and climbing through barriers, instead of just walking passed it.

And she’s always eager to do something dangerous. o.O”

We wanted to have lunch at Ruifang. We walked through the street market but could not find a place to eat.

Pork sausages.

So we got a bus and headed to Jiufen (九份), a picturesque town which used to be a prosperous mining town.

The moment we arrived, signs of minsu (民宿) or homestay is every where.

Using the directions sent to us by the minsu owner, we found our minsu, Windsor B&B/溫莎堡景觀民宿, easily.

The entrance to the reception area of Windsor B&B or minsu.

We got room no. 3 for our first night. Girls love the spacious room we got. With 2 queen beds; a balcony; bathroom with wooden tub; separate living and dining area (although cooking is not allowed); and a little attic with floor to ceiling window, which the girls loved the most. Zaria called it the ‘secret’ room, and everytime we got back to the room, she would ask us to go there to share secrets.

Our room balcony.
Jiufen’s main attraction is the old street, filled with eateries, and shops selling food stuff. It was good place for us to get some snacks as late lunch.

Instead of pop corn, there’s pop rice (a crisp made from puff up rice)

This stall stinks, but it serves extremely tasty fried stinky tofu.Don’t miss it if you were in Jiufen. The shop name is Jiufen 1st Shop (九份第一家).

We actually went back for another serving of this stinky tofu before we left 2 days later.

While we had stinky tofu, girls had the fishball there (not bad too).

This is a very famous snack in Jiufen. A dumpling made with red yeast and pork or Hongzao Rouyuan (紅糟肉圓).

A group of workers making the dumpling.

Boiling them in water.

And this is how they look like.As it’s filled with pork, we didn’t try any.

Yam/Taro Balls or Yu Yuan (芋圓) is another famous snack in Jiufen. This is the balls that you get in your Snowflake dessert.

Business is brisk for this famous Taro Balls shop Lai Apo (賴阿婆). Tourists buy them raw to bring home as souvenir..

Making of taro balls in Lai Apo

Most people would just buy a bowl and eat in the shop. (we’re not most people, instead we went to another shop for Taro Ball Dessert o.O”)

Vendor selling various stew dishes.

Signage of a herbal tea shop.

Shaved peanut brittle with ice cream (花生捲冰淇淋) is another popular snack. A big block of peanut brittle is shaved, and laid on top of a springroll wrapper, 3 scoops of ice cream is added, and then topped with some coriander leave and wrapped up. We had one without ice cream. The coriander and the crunch of shaved peanut brittle was a nice combination.

Jiufen has some ‘traditional’ toy shops which of course attracted the girls.

Jiufen is a place to sip tea, relax when enjoying the view, so the old street is lined with tea houses with fabulous view. Jiufen Teahouse (九份茶坊) is probably the most posh one.

Love the way they boiled water for tea brewing.

After checking how much it cost to have some tea here (~RM300 for the whole famiy), we thought better of it. What more, Zaria was touching everyhing, and I was worried she might break something.

We continued walking came to a cafe (988 Cafe).

Zaria decided to hang around and try out riding on a bike while Zara and me went into the cafe to get a table with a view.

The cafe didn’t serve nice drinks, but the view was spectacular.

We can see other cafes or tea houses along the old street.

As well as Keelong town far away.

After sunset, Jiufen is still very picturesque.

The restaurant street of Jiufen in the night.

Looking up at the restaurant street.

We took dinner hopping from one stall after another while the girls took the onigiri from 7-11 (which they loved and had it a few more times the rest of our trip).

To be continued.

(Continues from here)

♥Dec 2nd – Drizzle/飘雨的台北♥
My collague, Teresa, came to the hotel to meet us. Somehow, Zara and her ‘clicked’, and the rest of the day, they were glued together (oh well, Teresa was looking after Zara for me).

Because it was drizzling, our plan of going to the zoo has to be changed. We went to the National Palace Museum (故宮博物院) instead which was packed with tourists who came in bus load.

Zara showed lots of interest in the artifacts, reading the didactic to learn more about them, not Zaria though.

However, both were intrigued by this longish painting from 1085-1145, which is 528cm long capturing the daily life of people from the Song period at the capital. It’s called Along the River During the Qingming Festival (清明上河圖).

You can view the animated River of Wisdom, to see why it’s so interesting for the girls.

(No cameras are allowed in the museum, so no photos of the artifacts)

Teresa bought us a simple lunch at the Museum Cafe (delicious!) and then we went to Shinkong Mitsukoshi. The Taipei Station branch there was having an aniversary sales, and I don’t know why, I didn’t buy anything even with the good discount. o.O”

Teresa bought us dinner as well in Shinkong Mitsukoshi, and got the girls some presents. The girls said Teresa took care of them like their Gu-ma(姑妈), and called her their Taiwan Gu-ma. o.O”

In the night, after we parted with Teresa, we went to Shida Night Market again (師大夜市) since it’s so near the hotel.

Trendy boutiques to cater for university students are every where. This one has some rocking horses at the shop front.

Another funky shop.

The display window.

Bubble tea is sold everywhere, this one has miniature samplers.

A nightmarket can’t do without some stalls selling food. This old man was burning grilling some corn.

Eww. Pig’s blood cake.

Tangyuan (Glutinous rice balls) shop where we had 2 bowls of tangyuan from. Maybe because they do tangyuan with pork too, the sweet tangyuan we had tasted a bit porky. o.O”

♥Dec 3rd – Sunny/放晴♥
After a day of drizzling, it was sunny. Lucky for us, because we’d made plans to meet up with my collagues at Bali (八里), a seaside town near Tanshui (淡水).

We took the metro to Guandu (關渡), one of my colleagues, Iris, met us there, and then together, we took a cab to To House (兔子餐廳), and met up with the rest of my collagues.

To House (八里兔子餐廳) is a theme family restaurant with a compound housing lots of rabbits.

Healthy looking rabbit in To House.

Besides rabbits, there are other animals too, i.e. Parrots.

There’s also a pig!

Girls spent the whole time petting and feeding rabbits. Coming in only to have their lunch. Leaving me lots of time to catch up with my collagues whom I was meeting for the first time.

Deco around To House.

We left the place only at about 3pm with Iris, we took the bus and went to Bali Ferry Port.

The Streetfood, mainly selling seafood, around the Ferry Port, attracted lots of customers.

Salted eggs are supposed to be famous here as well.

And in Taiwan, Stinky Tofu is sold everywhere.

Guess what? We didn’t buy anything from these stalls, except a stick of squid cake. We were too full from lunch, and I didn’t feel good everytime I wanted to get something, Iris rushed to pay.

We took a short Ferry ride to Danshui.

Over at Danshui, it’s the same, food stalls are everywhere and each one of them were very crowded.

This is the famous Amah’s sour plum drink, but we didn’t really like it.

Danshui street.

Catching the sunset is one of the main attraction, but the evening was gloomy.

Girls found a new game of throwing pebbles into the river.

Riverside Living Statue.

There are lots of streetfood available too.

As the only pork eater at home, she has the honour of having a stick of famous Taiwan grilled sausage.

There are grabbing game machines again.

And other games.

Once we got to the Metro station, Iris, left us to run her own errands.

Outside the metro station, we caught a puppet show.

Lottery icket seller outside the Danshui Metro Station.

Busker crooning Jacky Cheung’s hit.

We had BBQ buffet dinner at Danshui before taking the metro back to the hotel.

To be continued.

When we suggested for a holiday further away from Hong Kong, Zara made some noise, “What’s the point of going for a holiday when all we do is walk walk walk?” “It’s so boring taking the plane.” “I have ear problem, and you still want me to take the plane” etc etc.

We gave her 2 options, either go with us, or stay home with Jelly. Of course, she chose the former.

Daddy’s airmiles could cover 4 of us to either Perth, or Taiwan. Looking at the AUD exchange rate, we therefore decided to go Taiwan instead. We have to time our trip according to flight schedules claimable by airmiles and to make sure I’m in town on December 9th because I have bought tickets for Jacky Cheung’s concert. Hence, the trip was made during the wet season in Taiwan. Sigh.

♥Nov 30th♥

We arrived at Taipei about 7pm+, it was already dark. Upon arriving at the hotel, a package from my Taiwan colleague, Teresa, which consisted of a Taipei Guidebook and 2.5Kg of Taiwan rice welcome us.

Our hotel for the next 4 nights will be Li Yuan Hotel (儷園飯店), a small hotel located near Shida (師大) and 1 minute walk from Tai Power Metro Station (台電大樓站).

We got a family room with 2 queen beds. The room is small but functional and clean.

Soon after we checked in, we went straight to Shida Nightmarket (師大夜市) for dinner. We picked a restaurant which specialises in herbal chicken soup, 龍涎居雞膳食坊. We were too hungry to take any photos, but Daddy who’s not a chicken eater claimed they serve one of the best chicken soup he’s tasted.

We did some walking about the nightmarket after dinner, and then headed back to rest.

♥Dec 1st – Gloomy♥
We woke up late and missed the hotel breakfast and had to eat out.

Our first destination after breakfast of road side pao and bubble tea was Bo Ai Road (博愛路), the Taipei Camera Street, to get a lens Daddy was eyeing (he did the research before arriving and knew exactly which shop to go to. o.O”).

We spent sometime in Ximending (西門町), for lunch, to glance through some of the small shops.

Shops and stall at Ximending :

菓風小舖, the sweet shop where we spent most time in.

Roadside Sweet Potato Ball Seller

Girls kept asking for money for these ‘games’, but I didn’t let them.

Lots of shops have dogs at the door front, this is one of them.

上海老天祿 stewed duck wings

The Red House (西門紅樓), Taiwan’s first public market now a theater.

Girls were fascinated with the many costume shops across the Red House.

Besides getting some sweets from the sweet shop, we didn’t buy anything else in Taipei’s shopping street. o.O”

As Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall (中正纪念堂) is nearby, we thought we’ll visit it as well. Not knowing we’ll spend so much time there. As it’s surrounded by a big park, lots of locals walk their dogs, do team practice for various events etc etc.

We saw a brass band practice in the park.

Zaria spent so much time chasing after pigeons.

School team practicing march.

Li Zhen’s Sculptures (李真雕塑) were exhibited in front of the Memorial Hall.

Girls wanted to take photos of the sculptures.

And wanted to be photographed with the sculptures.

Inside the Memorial Hall, the girls could not believe the still guards were real, and not human.

Zaria asked who the statue is “Is he the King of Taiwan?” o.O”

As we were there in the evening, instead of change of guards, we managed to catch the flag lowering ceremony (at 5pm).

As night fall, they started lighting up the whole park.

Li Zhen’s sculpture.

That night, recommended by my Taiwan colleague, we went to the Eslite flagship bookshop (誠品信義店). A bookshop with 8000m² of floorspace! Heaven for me!

We even had dinner there at their food court, then just glanced through the various floors.

We love the 杏仁燒, an almond dessert with grass jelly, peanuts, red bean and tosted almond chips from this dessert shop Summer Tree Sweet (夏樹甜品) at the food court. (sorry no photo).

(To-Be Continued)