Taipei trip.. Grandparent

Finally back to SG.. hardly hv time to update.. so busy with so many stuff.. meeting families n friends.. chilling out.. fun n enjoyable till date.. 

Before departure.. @_@ fresh..

Right after arrived in Sg.. departed to taipei 5hrs later.. haa.. hectic..managed to pop by the salon to get my hair fixed.. n then off to taipei.. 4D3N.. fun n enjoyable.. first night in taipei.. headed to ximending night market.. just 10mins walk from our hotel.. stayed in Riverview hotel.. 5-star.. up to my expectation for a 5star hotel.. clean n tidy.. nice customer service.. although ppl do not speak english.. they r pretty friendly.. ate lots of local delicacy.. dumpling..bun.. oyster noodles.. rice n yam cake.. bubble milk tea..Plenty of nice shoes n clothing too..

Dumpling

Meesuan

Wa kuai

 

Steam dumpling

Day 2 - headed to Taroko gorge fall.. took a domestic flight..approx 30mins from taipei kaoshiung airport to hualian..glad to hv a knowledgable and friendly tour guide.. she brought us to many tourism attraction.. taroko gorges.. red bridge.. tunnel of nine turn..swallow tunnel.. marble factory.. jade factory..aboriginal village.. ate bamboo rice for lunch.. drank from a black piglet cup with tasty rice wine.. Visited the rice cake factory.. plenty of varieties.. peanut.. sesame..green tea.. red bean.. chestnut.. charcoal.. 

Domestic plane from taipei kaoshuing to hualian

Entrance of Taroko gorge

Sculpture of aborigine arts..

Gorge fall - if i rmb correctly

Rice wine in piglet

Delicious bamboo rice

That's the way to drink the rice wine from the black piggy..

Add caption

Long n old bridge..

Scary.. but fun.. more than a century old

Swallow cave trail..

 

Climb down to the bottom.. to feel the icy cold water

Rice cake factory

Marble factory

Outside the main theatre play bldg.. where concert are held..

Then after.. took a train..approx 2hrs back to taipei.. all was pretty hungry.. headed for korea BBQ.. traditional BBQ style with addtional hotpot at the sides.. tried diff part of beef..mutton.. squid.. tempura.. etc.. ate till we drop..haa... headed for a short walk at ximending again..to digest our food.. shopping again..haa.. as it the winter season..hence nothing much to buy.. 

 

Korean BBQ

 3rd day.. Shop around our area and SOGO.. Found an interesting vietnamese cafe..drank the most interesting vietnames coffee called the "balance syphony coffee"..uses the balance of water.. fire..heat and air to brew the coffee.. delicious NY cheesecake and black squirky pasta.. before heading to Yangmingshan national park + hotspring.. once again..Got a friendly and chatty tour guide.. had a fair amount of rain.. but.. did not stop us from heading to visit yangmingshan.. arrived right on time.. to hear the big gigantic flower clock chimes.. with some chinese music.. walked around the park for awhile.. saw an adorable and flurry dog.. looks so gentle.. aRr.. cant resist but snap a shot of he/she (*unknown sex - haa)..Headed for hotspring after the walk in the park.. sulfur smell overpower us..nearly fainted.. as we left the hotspring water tap running.. nearly fainted after 40mins.. supposely.. should not exceed 25mins soaking in the water.. sides effect are feeling dizzy.. vomit.. Hotspring are meant to be good for our body circulation.. revitalise..rejuvenate.. and soften our skin.. indeed.. beside the point of feeling dizzy n gonna thrown up.. feel kind of fresh after resting for awhile.. tour guide even brought us to visit the hotspring museum and the famous public hotspring in that area called the "hotspring of hell".. due to the vaporisation of the vapor.. it makes the whole area looks like hades.. that's how it got it names.. Drove about 40mins.. to shiling market.. bought the famous pineapple tarts..crackers.. and ate plenty of food.. such as "Huge Chicken Cutlet".. was huge indeed.. oyster mee suan.. smelly beancurd.. fish.. long shopping street.. walked for nearly 2hrs.. sat down again and hv some mutton soup.. yummy..

Balancing syphony coffee

Entree + Starter

Dessert not to missed - NY cheesecake

Black squiky pasta

Dad is fascinated by the coffee brewer.. wanted to buy one from the shop..but.. not for sales...was told can be purchase outside for about NT 3000 = SGD 200..

Musical flower clock

Yangmingshan national park

Adorable doggy

Park..

Park 2..

HOT spring

Dormant volcano - strong smell of sulfur

Part of the volcano

Shiling market

Local delicacy

Day 4.. Visited the flower spring festival.. as told by one of the cabby driver.. he said its a must see event since we are here.. plenty of flower decos.. exhibition to see and pictures taking session.. realised it a long quene into order to get in..ended up.. simply walked around the area.. visited the garden.. mini water feature.. teahouse.. exhibition.. mini concert.. and headed straight to Building 101.. tallest bldg in taipei.. it was indeed tall and magnificent.. shops - mainly branded stuff such as gucci.. prada.. burberry.. etc.. parent was tired.. so was us..sat down at a paris restaurant for coffee and cakes.. Coffee: Espresso + Cafe latte + Long black..Cakes: Black sesame w/ green tea cake + Choco lavare cake.. rating: 6/10.. 

Entrance of flower spring festival

Caterpilla

Bldg 101

Black sesame w/ greentea cake

Choco larvae cake

Coffeess...

Posing..

Posing...

Goodies that we had bought..

At about 6pm.. took a cab and headed to the Airport and back home.. had a fulfilling trip... 

Arrived in SG on sat.. first thing..on sunday..to visit both my paternal and maternal grandparent..missed them so much..as ppl get older.. they since to be cuter and sweeter..haa..

My fav ahma ..adorable..use to sing in the church choir..

Maternal grandma - wearing the red blouse i bought for her..