Good afternoon!
I've been on hiatus for at least a month because of work. Energy drained but I really enjoy what I'm doing now. May this last for long I pray :)
For now, it's time to update on my trip to Taipei with my Mum. It was an impromptu trip because I needed a break from my internship (it wasn't a good experience there) before I started on my first permanent job. I reckoned that there'd be lots of stress because during the interview, the director mentioned the peak period and non-peak was only that one week out of the whole month.
At that time, Expedia had some on-going promotion and I told Mum that if she wants she could tag along because no matter what, I'd definitely make my trip to Taipei for sure! So yep, she decided to join in the fun and there we were!
We had only 2 hours of nap before we headed to the airport for our flight to Taoyuan International Airport. I didn't really do much of the planning for this trip because we both we before twice and I thought that things would more or less be the same.
Safely landed in Taiwan and the first thing I bought was the SIM card. Hahah, I can never live without data for a day! We booked a private car through Expedia and we only had to wait for, say, 5mins before the driver reached our point. TBH, I think it's really not needed lah but le Mum said it's more convenient so ok lor. But Mr. Z and I went through the budget way by taking the shuttle bus and train to Taipei Main Station previously.
The driver dropped us at the road side near to West Gate Hotel and directed us to the lift behind the small shops. The lifts are very lok kok kind... And Level 8 is where our hotel is at - Airline Inn. Anyway this hotel is located just behind West Gate Hotel. Oh, how much I miss staying in this hotel!! :(
Left our baggages there and headed for our first meal in Taipei at 老王記牛肉麵大王. Never ever trust Google Map. It brought me to the other side of Ximending. The weather showed no mercy too! We were already feeling super tired with that weather, long walk and also the bad flu that we caught on our way to Taiwan!
Reached the place. But sadly, no photography is allowed at the cooking area and the place where we were seated at did not have any good lighting and that explains the photo below.......
Anyway, not sure if the noodle and brother were bland or that I wasn't feeling well. Mum agreed that the broth was bland too. But one thing for sure was that the beef was reallllly tender!! The photo does no justice lah!
Checked into our room thereafter and we had our 2hours nap because both Mum and I weren't feeling well. We have the tendency to catch flu bugs whenever we travel overseas. No idea why though! Up from our nap, out and about!
Had wanted to bring Mum to Yongkang street but since we too tired and only wanted to be near our hotel, we decided to comb Ximending on this evening. I was surprised to see Ximending changed a bit. It's not the same as how it was when I went there in 2015!
Anyway, the first street snacks that we had was the fanciful Instagram-worthy drink: Dream Colour!
This drink has been one of the popular stuff to buy in Singapore, places like Geylang Serai / Artbox @ Bayfront. The one of the left is of a sweeter flavour while the one on the right is of sour flavour. Bought the one that is sour because I thought that sourness could clear your flu. HAHAHAH! Not sure how true this was lah. Anyway, another reason I bought this was because of the bottle. So this pretty drink costs NT$85.
Found this highly raved grilled mochi stall along the street and yay!!! I could finally have my grilled mochi in Taiwan! I ordered two mochi at one go because... Who can resist mochi?! Sadly, the person confused my order and gave me one wrong flavour.
Ordered Peanut mochi but he gave me cheese instead. The cheese tasted weird to us.
Felt really bumped by the fact that they gave us the wrong order. But we were lighted when we saw a small stall at one of the back alleys! Ordered peanut and made sure that it's peanut this time. Woots!! 很好吃! So yep, Japanese soy sauce and peanut are really nice! I think there's also matcha flavour?
I've been on hiatus for at least a month because of work. Energy drained but I really enjoy what I'm doing now. May this last for long I pray :)
For now, it's time to update on my trip to Taipei with my Mum. It was an impromptu trip because I needed a break from my internship (it wasn't a good experience there) before I started on my first permanent job. I reckoned that there'd be lots of stress because during the interview, the director mentioned the peak period and non-peak was only that one week out of the whole month.
At that time, Expedia had some on-going promotion and I told Mum that if she wants she could tag along because no matter what, I'd definitely make my trip to Taipei for sure! So yep, she decided to join in the fun and there we were!
Day One
We had only 2 hours of nap before we headed to the airport for our flight to Taoyuan International Airport. I didn't really do much of the planning for this trip because we both we before twice and I thought that things would more or less be the same.
Safely landed in Taiwan and the first thing I bought was the SIM card. Hahah, I can never live without data for a day! We booked a private car through Expedia and we only had to wait for, say, 5mins before the driver reached our point. TBH, I think it's really not needed lah but le Mum said it's more convenient so ok lor. But Mr. Z and I went through the budget way by taking the shuttle bus and train to Taipei Main Station previously.
The driver dropped us at the road side near to West Gate Hotel and directed us to the lift behind the small shops. The lifts are very lok kok kind... And Level 8 is where our hotel is at - Airline Inn. Anyway this hotel is located just behind West Gate Hotel. Oh, how much I miss staying in this hotel!! :(
 |
| Airline Inn |
Reached the place. But sadly, no photography is allowed at the cooking area and the place where we were seated at did not have any good lighting and that explains the photo below.......
 |
| 老王記牛肉麵大王 Ximen Station, Exit 3 (NT$220) |
Checked into our room thereafter and we had our 2hours nap because both Mum and I weren't feeling well. We have the tendency to catch flu bugs whenever we travel overseas. No idea why though! Up from our nap, out and about!
Had wanted to bring Mum to Yongkang street but since we too tired and only wanted to be near our hotel, we decided to comb Ximending on this evening. I was surprised to see Ximending changed a bit. It's not the same as how it was when I went there in 2015!
Anyway, the first street snacks that we had was the fanciful Instagram-worthy drink: Dream Colour!
 |
| I bought the one of the right |
 |
| After mixing |
Found this highly raved grilled mochi stall along the street and yay!!! I could finally have my grilled mochi in Taiwan! I ordered two mochi at one go because... Who can resist mochi?! Sadly, the person confused my order and gave me one wrong flavour.
Ordered Peanut mochi but he gave me cheese instead. The cheese tasted weird to us.
 |
| Left: Japanese Soy Sauce Right: Cheese grilled mochi NT$35 each |
When I was queuing to order, I heard many customers ordering matcha so I guess it's also one of the popular flavours for grilled mochi. No harm trying all flavours if you don't mind trying cheese and matcha! :) The more the merrier!
Brought le Mum to have 阿宗面线 and she approved of it! I still find it so-so after these few tries.
What is Taiwan without my favourite sweet potato balls?! Throughout my trip in Taiwan, I made it a point to try all sweet potato balls in Taipei. Tested and proven... The one in Ximending is the nicest that I've tried!
I really like the crisp on the outside and having nothing on the inside! No filling at all. I missed this street snacks after I came back from my trip both in 2015 and 2017! Someone should sell this in Singapore!
As time didn't permit us to Jiufen during this trip, we decided to try peanut ice cream at Ximending. Hmmm, the one in Jiufen is still the best! It doesn't taste as nice as the one we had there. It's as if the whole thing was lacked of something.
This was how we spent our first day in Taipei, Ximending. We ended our night really early, like at about 1030pm as we were really tired from our flu. Onward to day two in Taiwan!
Purchased our 72-hrs metro train passes. Just very happy that there are one-day, and 72hrs passes because we were left with only another 5 hours after the 72nd hour after these tickets expired.
On this day, we were supposed to go for 永和豆浆 for our breakfast but unfortunately the one in Ximending is permanently closed and we only found out one night ago. What a disappointment!!
Headed to Taipei 101 shopping mall. Our agenda wasn't to go up to the observatory tower as both of us had been there before. Settled our lunch at the food junction - Japanese cuisine. Isit whichever country I go to, I also have to eat Jap? Noms!!
We saw this cute stall while walking past after our meal. It sells beverages in cute bottles which have to be purchased additionally.
People like me would definitely go for the bottles instead of the drinks. We could even choose the expressions of our choices!
As most of the drinks over there weren't what I'd go for, I decided to order orange juice. HAHAHAH! What a boring person right!
Also, at this mall, I purchased 2x sunblocks that had its appearance on 女人我最大 for NT$1500. Currently using it and so far so good as long as it doesn't give me any breakouts!
Ended our shopping at Taipei 101 Shopping Mall. Bidded goodbye to this mall by taking some photos before we started our journey to Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Mall and ATT 4 Fun for more shopping.
On our way there, the sky was starting to turn dark with ominous clouds and it made it looked so much like the Taiwanese dramas I watched back in Secondary school days!
Oh! There's this Line friends store at Shin Kong and that's where the camwhore sesh started!
Then just beside this Line store, we came across the snacks that Mr. Z and I had back in Tokyo! I was sooooo excited upon seeing it and told Mum that she had to try no matter how long the queue was! Guess what! We regretted not buying two each! LOL!
金峰魯肉飯 was next in line for dinner. There was a crowd outside the shop but thankfully they were waiting for their takeaways! We had our seats in no time.
The staff was very friendly and because he saw that I had some difficulty reading the words in Chinese, he offered us a menu with photos for our references!
I saw somewhere that wintermelon was one of the recommended soups at this place but sadly I see no such dish on the menu. Ended up ordering bittergourd soup instead. Anyway, personally, I find that the braised meat rice here is nicer than 胡须张卤肉饭 but each to their own I guess!
师大夜市 was next and erm... It was raining and I recalled the previous time when I visited this place with Mr. Z, it was raining heavily as well. Thank God that the rain lasted for only 10 minutes or so this time!
Gonna leave Day 3 to 5 in another post because this is getting really long!
Goodbye :)
 |
| Peanut - NT$30 |
 |
| NT$50 (small) |
I really like the crisp on the outside and having nothing on the inside! No filling at all. I missed this street snacks after I came back from my trip both in 2015 and 2017! Someone should sell this in Singapore!
As time didn't permit us to Jiufen during this trip, we decided to try peanut ice cream at Ximending. Hmmm, the one in Jiufen is still the best! It doesn't taste as nice as the one we had there. It's as if the whole thing was lacked of something.
This was how we spent our first day in Taipei, Ximending. We ended our night really early, like at about 1030pm as we were really tired from our flu. Onward to day two in Taiwan!
Day Two
Purchased our 72-hrs metro train passes. Just very happy that there are one-day, and 72hrs passes because we were left with only another 5 hours after the 72nd hour after these tickets expired.
 |
| NT$380 each for 72hrs pass |
On this day, we were supposed to go for 永和豆浆 for our breakfast but unfortunately the one in Ximending is permanently closed and we only found out one night ago. What a disappointment!!
Headed to Taipei 101 shopping mall. Our agenda wasn't to go up to the observatory tower as both of us had been there before. Settled our lunch at the food junction - Japanese cuisine. Isit whichever country I go to, I also have to eat Jap? Noms!!
We saw this cute stall while walking past after our meal. It sells beverages in cute bottles which have to be purchased additionally.
People like me would definitely go for the bottles instead of the drinks. We could even choose the expressions of our choices!
Ended our shopping at Taipei 101 Shopping Mall. Bidded goodbye to this mall by taking some photos before we started our journey to Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Mall and ATT 4 Fun for more shopping.
On our way there, the sky was starting to turn dark with ominous clouds and it made it looked so much like the Taiwanese dramas I watched back in Secondary school days!
Oh! There's this Line friends store at Shin Kong and that's where the camwhore sesh started!
Then just beside this Line store, we came across the snacks that Mr. Z and I had back in Tokyo! I was sooooo excited upon seeing it and told Mum that she had to try no matter how long the queue was! Guess what! We regretted not buying two each! LOL!
金峰魯肉飯 was next in line for dinner. There was a crowd outside the shop but thankfully they were waiting for their takeaways! We had our seats in no time.
The staff was very friendly and because he saw that I had some difficulty reading the words in Chinese, he offered us a menu with photos for our references!
I saw somewhere that wintermelon was one of the recommended soups at this place but sadly I see no such dish on the menu. Ended up ordering bittergourd soup instead. Anyway, personally, I find that the braised meat rice here is nicer than 胡须张卤肉饭 but each to their own I guess!
师大夜市 was next and erm... It was raining and I recalled the previous time when I visited this place with Mr. Z, it was raining heavily as well. Thank God that the rain lasted for only 10 minutes or so this time!
Gonna leave Day 3 to 5 in another post because this is getting really long!
Goodbye :)
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