taiwan trip-day 5, 6, and 7

ok. this is getting kinda tiring but its the last
at least I'll have something to look back years from now and remember something from this trip :)
so here is day five, six and seven

DAY 5
started off with a three hour journey to Taichung.
stopped at several places
1.peacock garden-where it started to drizzle abit..
2.Wen Wu temple-where it was RAINING. and then stopped. apparently Johnny said he prayed for the rain to stop. and it worked:D
and something interesting about this temple...there was an earthquake years ago and the step leading up to the temple was damage. BUT the main temple was not affected at all. Amazing, huh?
3.sun moon lake- never really stopped at the lake but got to see it from the bus all the way
4.Formosa Aboriginal Cultural Village. its name is kinda misleading cos its actually a theme park but has aborigines "villages" scattered around. a very nice place. sat the cable car and watched a cultural performance. and IT RAINED :( quite heavily too. sad la. spoil all the plans.... my sis dragged me to an indoor roller coaster which was quite fun except the part where you get all dizzy after that. and there was this absolutely beautiful European garden..perfect for photos :) make it seems like you are in some European country.
5.and the main culinary attraction for this trip: dinner at the 5 cents driftwood house!! i did an extensive coverage on it
6. Taichung night market. the biggest night market in Taiwan. i was looking forward to the pasar malam the whole trip...BUT we were only give ONE MISERABLE HOUR. hellooo???how are we supposed to find anything GOOD in one hour? the place was so packed full of people.its not like the night markets in Malaysia. its actually shops.as in shop houses. and there were some stalls along the road. its super messy and very chaotic!!! it was after all a Saturday night plus it was the summer school holidays. so it was EXTRA PACKED. seriously can get lost in the crowd. and i noticed local girls like to dress up real nice and put on makeup and all..to go to PASAR MALAM. hmmm...and it closes st 2am!! so happening! LOL
did not get to buy much stuff. just a very versatile chain/belt right before we board the bus

DAY 6:
Last day of tour :(
Headed back to Taipei..
stopped by a couple of places..
1. fisherman's wharf. it was so hot and sunny, i think that was where i got my sunburn :( its a nice place with a so called "lovers bridge" and shops!! we even managed to squeeze in some shopping there!!(for snacks to bring home)
2. Tamsui Old street, charming a quaint place with lots of small shops selling souvenirs, food and stuff.sadly we were only given 30 minutes. and we were rushing like mad people.
3.Lunch and the mongolian bbq restaurant.
4. a visit to the Taipei 101 building. did not actually go up (it cost NT 400 Per person!!) but we just walked around the shopping mall.
5. another pasar malam. shilin night market. this one was slightly better cos we were given more time (one hour 30 minutes) and this night market was more organized. huraah!!! so i bought a bunny keychain, a pink top, a mini cardigan and a LITTLE BLACK DRESS :) and pink flip flops with bright pink flowers. happy happy. at least we could get some good stuff!!!
6. pineapple tart shop. to get some gifts.
then back to the hotel to spend the last night in Taiwan

day 7 was basically saying bye-bye to Taiwan.took the 9.40am flight back to Malaysia. after a whole week in a foreign country, i was kinda looking forward to going back HOME.

all in all, it was a very enjoyable trip. mostly-la. except the part where they would bring us to some place, listen to some speech promoting some ridiculously expensive stuff and then convincing ppl to buy buy buy. and there would be NO TIME LIMIT THERE. cisss. and when they bring us to a nice place with lots of stuff to see/buy like night markets, chiufen and tamsui old street, they RUSH US LIKE CRAZY. that's the only think i dislike about this trip.and also the LONG bus rides, but i know that is inevitable... guess its part and parcel of the tour. the rest was pretty good.and I'm really thankful that there wasn't any natural disaster (it is after all the typhoon season) and only rained a few times... accommodation was good (3/4 star hotels) and meals were excellent (except some plain weird dishes) tour guides were helpful and very knowledgeable and the other ppl in the tour group were generally nice and a very co-operative bunch. so i had a fabulous time!! Taiwan certainly did touch my heart ^_^

taiwan trip-day three and four

day3:
after breakfast at shangrila farm resort (the only one thing bad about this place is the breakfast. very very limited choice of food. ended up eating porridge)we left for Hualian. it was a 2 HOUR coach ride on the super winding mountain road.
first stop was the TAROKO NATIONAL PARK, where we watched a documentary. i was dozing off 3/4 of the time. zzzzz.
then we went to the TAROKO GORGE. a really beautiful place where the water was just so clean and cooling. wish i could take a bath there!!

next stop was a marble factory..which was kinda boring too. then a cultural dance from the a-mei Aborigines tribe (who-hoo my OWN tribe. LOL) and then dinner..and back to the hotel to rest...

DAY 4:
morning call was at 5.45am. very horrible hour to get up :(
left the hotel at 7.30am and headed to taichung. 6 hours of coach ride. that was the longest journey we had. very very boring. yawn. Johnny was telling all sorts of stories, i was half listening and half drifting off to sleep. and the whether took on a turn...it was dark and cloudy and since we were on the road facing the pacific ocean, we could see the waves that were very strong and sooo ganas. johnny said it was a tropical storm, and it was nothing to worry about.. it was the typhoon season FYI...had lunch at some aborigines restaurant.
first real stop of the day was the FOGUANG SHAN a.k.a the Light Of Buddha Mountain which was quite a spectacular place. it was really huge and thus we had to do alot of walking!
next was the spring and autumn pavilion, which had a dragon head and a tiger head. lol. but the place was very very stinky. ewww. cos it was low tide.
next stop..something i have been looking forward to, DREAM MALL!!! it was the largest mall in Taiwan. unfortunately we were only given 2 hours, which isn't even enough to do proper shopping. so we had to do speed shopping..which isn't all that fun:( spent most of the time in DAISO which had all sorts of good priced at NT 39 (about 4 ringgit plus) we bought NT500 over worth of stuff. very worth it. hehehe
and then a MCD'S dinner and thats the end of day 4....

taiwan trip-an extremly long food post.

last part of my Taiwan food post
presenting...the rest of the food. of course this isn't all, i skipped some breakfast photos cos basically the buffet breakfast are almost the same..
and dinner on day 4, dinner was on our own, supposed to have it in dream mall but we were more interested in shopping. when it comes to priorities...shopping tops food this time :) so in the end after checking in the hotel, we went out to eat own our own. guess what we had...
MC DONALDS. good old chicken burger and french fries!!!hahaha, bored of all the same type of food and having a somewhat craving for fast food..we went searching for a fast food joint and came across Mcds first. and when the our tour guides found out (we met them in the lift) they were HORRIFIED. hahaha

so lets begin...

start the day right with breakfast. typical breakfast includes porridge and all sorts of condiments, bread, cornflakes, pau, and sometimes some western food like bacon, ham, fries and chicken nuggets.
and an abundance of fruits, since Taiwan is blessed with the conditions to grow tropical and so many other fruits...
ah. the nice rice.
some vege with what i think is kimchi
meat in gravy. still remember this dish cos it was very salty!!

miso soup. something interesting. Taiwan has very strong influence from japan. in the sense of food, culture, shopping, love for pets, and even the design of the town!

fishie.
and prawns were on almost all our meals (lunch and dinner)
if I'm not mistaken this would be dear meat

yummy mussels cooked in lots of ginger and garlic. seafood rocks :)

weird mushy meat rolls. kinda gross bamboo shoot soup. award for the grossest food award goes to bamboos shoots. it smells really funky. like damp musty cupboard. ewww. maybe we are just not used to eating it...

so called sweet sour spare ribs..it was just skin and bones, and the sauce was so starchy.yucks >.< stubborn skin fish. seriously all the fish weren't good at all. well, besides the COD fish in 5 cent driftwood house

joys of all joys. spaghetti served during breakfast. pleasant surprise since I'm very much a pasta girl :) i know its all carbs but i don't care. hehe
condiments for porridge, basically a staple food in Taiwan.
another fish

chicken
more vege. notice that they serve tea in PAPER CUPS!!!

black pepper meat.

ah-ha. something to praise at last...FRESH MUSHROOMS.

omg, this was really good, juicy and fresh and no other words can describe.
this was good too, in terms of taste and presentation. little shrimps. small in size, big on taste:)
here is where we had our lunch. it was typical aborigines food. some were pretty good but some were just plan weird. they did take spicy food also so sometimes we would get some spicy dishes. but yet again, nothing beats MALAYSIAN FOOD!

on the last night, we had a big big big big big dinner (according to johnny) at a HUGE restaurant in Taipei. we were served a 9 course (plus dessert) banquet dinner. but i did not enjoy this dinner as much as the one we had in 5 cent driftwood house. Anyway here is the food!

this dish was quite good, soup with a whole chicken and lots of vege and even apple slices to make the soup sweeter. the soup was delicious and nourishing =)

chewy elastic squids

prawns. yet again. pity my "prawn peeler" was not with me..had to peel my own. hahah

glutinous rice a.k.a lo mi fun with teeny crisp shrimpies. good as well
so called Buddha jump over the wall. tasted weird, with a yammy flavour and lots of fatty pork.
fishie again...
pork knuckle

fried something....squid and fish i guess

the cutest desert. mini paus shaped like bunnies/ pig. what does it look like? we were abit confused also. and being evil ppl...we mutilated the paus. well, my cousin started it first, sis and i were just helping out. and the whole table was in fits of laughter.....
because of what we did to the innocent pig/bunny pau....those are prawns eyes btw, idea courtesy of yours truly :p

and no, the prawn did not appear in my dreams to haunt me. hahaha

and breakfast the next day (last meal in Taiwan.sob sob) was packed because we had to head to the airport SUPER EARLY (6.30AM!!!) a very dry sandwhich, orange juice
and cheerful crackers to brighten up your day :D
and a meal high above the grounds...airplane meal. sis rolled her eyes when i was snapping photos of my meal. lol.

so thats the end of my taiwan food post, hoped you enjoyed it!

it was a gastronomic experience!

p.s: i did not get diarrhea the whole duration of this trip. after all the weird food i put into my mouth..so proud!

BUT ironically, after some spicy kimchi noodles back in malaysia, i've been running to the toilet more often that i would like to. will spare the details cos it might make readers loes their appetite.this is sad :(

taiwan trip-day one and two

ok, so here is my real post on my Taiwan trip!
foodie post will resume after this:) photos have been uploaded in a slide show cos it takes too much time and effort to post up all..
a simplified itinerary of out trip...
there were 8 of us. mummy, sis, grandma, auntie and uncle plus two cousins. too bad daddy could not come cos his stupid company did not allow him to take leave.cissss

day one:
took the flight at 2.40pm. EVA air..
reached Taipei airport at 7 and went through all the immigration and stuff.
met out tour guide, a Taiwanese guy, Johnny Hu
took a double Decker bus to our hotel in the city..
first culture shock...ppl in Taiwan drives on the LEFT side. it was so weird to see the oncoming cars from the opposite direction.
anyway there wasn't anything planned for the first day. checked in the hotel and we took a short walk by ourselves. but most of the shops were already close :(

day2:
rise and shine at 6.15am. the sun was up shining merrily at 5 am plus. so its not so bad, getting up so early. had a buffet breakfast and headed out at 7am. our group was pretty co-operative. a very good thing. but there were too many annoying little kids for my liking.
first stop was Chang Kai Shek Memorial click on it if you're interested in finding out more.
the weather was so freaking HOT. the sun was burning!!!
and weirdly enough Johnny said the morning sun is the worst. and it will get cooler in the afternoon.

next stop was chiufen or known as little shanghai. its high up on the mountains, so we were rewarded with beautiful scenery of the pacific ocean on the way up. it was really breathtaking... chiufen used to be a gold mine. according to history, nine families went up to the mines and they found a really huge piece of gold. so it was divided to nine parts. chiufen literary translated of nine-shares.

then we headed off to yilan. specifically to a hot spring resort where we got the chance to dip in the hot hot water. it was so relaxing and the place was very nice too.*no photos yet, have to get from cousin *

next and last stop for the day was the place that we were going to spend the night, shangrila farm resort. its a very different place. unlike the busy cities its basically back to nature. but there was no compromise on the hotels, in fact the hotel was quite luxurious, with two double beds.had a good night's sleep cos did not get much on the first night. the only thing was that there were insects hanging out at the corridor. we had a tour round the orchard, met the resident piggy, ah bui which was very cute (for a pig) black and pink and fat. it was "wagging" its tail even :P and the resident terrier, toi toi, which was so so small, cute and adorable ^-^ then dinner and night activities-top playing, making tang yuen and releasing lanterns. and a night walk again at the orchard to admire the view from the mountain top. absolutely beautiful. and back again to play bubbles...its like going back to childhood again. lol, as if we are that old...

day 3 and 4 soon to come...