The wonder of Taiwan's receipts

Most of the time when we buy things, we disregard the receipts. Either we refuse to accept them or we accept just to ignore them inside our wallet. And eventually when our wallet become bulky, we tore them up. Gone. Just like that.

BUT!!! You should not do that in Taiwan. Why??

Because these papers are your lottery tickets in Taiwan. Cool eh? No? Confused? No worry! Keep on reading!

Every two months there is a lottery in Taiwan (of course this is not the only kind of lottery in Taiwan). If the last several numbers (or all numbers) of your receipts match the winning numbers, you can win some cash! Not all stores provide receipts but so far, I think most of the stores I went into e.g. convenience stores, supermarkets, book stores, etc all give receipts in return of my purchases. Awesome right? No need to especially go and buy lottery tickets. =P

The winning numbers will be released on the 25th of the next month. For example, for the period of January and February, the winning numbers will be released on the 25th of March. 

In addition, you can only collect the prizes on the stated collection dates. For your information, you can see these dates at the back of your receipt. For example, if you win prizes for the period January-February, you can collect your prizes at the nearest post office within 6th April - 5th of July. 

So what are the prizes? All of them are cash prizes and is listed in the following orders:

Match all numbers - win NTD 2,000,000

Match final 7 digits - win NTD 40,000

Match final 6 digits - win NTD 10,000

Match final 5 digits - win NTD 4,000

Match final 4 digits - win NTD 1,000

Match final 3 digits - win NTD 200

If you don't want to check the numbers manually, you can go to this link and type in your number accordingly. http://postaround.me/taiwan/Taiwan-Receipt-Lottery-Checker.aspx

Okay, I've hit the jackpot. And now what??

1. If you are a foreigner, you are still eligible to collect the prizes if you have a valid Taiwan visa. 

2. If you've won the 2 million NTD or the 40,000 NTD, you can only collect these from The Taiwan Cooperative Bank (http://www.tcb-bank.com.tw/)

3. For all other prizes (i.e. NTD 10,000 to NTD 200), you can go to any Post Office. The officer may ask you to produce some kind of ID number, and to save the hassle, I think it's easier to ask help from local friend to help collect the prize on behalf. Make sure to treat them something in return, okay? They are nice people. =)

Start collecting your receipts, people!!! And good luck! 祝妳成功！ 

Taiwan Cafe: Cama Cafe, Gongguan

If you love to chill out in a cafe, Taipei is a place for you to be. There are cafes at every corner in Taipei. I love it!

The mascot of this one particular cafe drew me in.

Cama cafe is one of coffee shop's franchise in Taiwan. Its size is smaller when compared to Starbucks. 

But it serves a variety of coffee from americano to espresso to latte to macchiato. And it's way cheaper than Starbucks. 

If you are non-coffee drinker, Cama Cafe sells tea and chocolate too. Yummy!

Not sure why the Christmas decoration are still hanged. But I do notice that Taiwanese like to leave out Christmas decorations at certain places. Well, one year is passing by very quickly. I suppose they will spare the hassle by leaving the decorations hanging there? LOL.

If you want to brew your own coffee at home, you can buy the coffee powder at Cama Cafe. I'm not a fan of DIY coffee because I'm such a lazy bum at home. That, and I like to hang out with friends outside my house because my house is very small and there's basically no space for all of us to move around.

Cama Cafe sells coffee maker too, if you are interested. 

Finally, my order of ice milk tea is ready. Time to slurp it happily. I love Taiwanese milk tea. Awesome! ^^

Transportation in Taipei: How to ride bus in Taipei?

Taking a bus is one heck of a challenging affair for me. Especially during those first few weeks in Taipei. But once you are used to it, it's pretty convenient to take bus to go from one place to another in Taipei.

First of all, we need to find the bus stop first. Bus stops are located almost everywhere in Taipei. And you will be able to see which bus stops at this bus station. 

If you look closer, you will be able to see the complete route of the bus. Some of the stops (like MRT stations) have their English name written below.

One thing to note is the direction of the bus. You need to see the "arrow" mark to know which direction the bus is going. And sometimes this can be quite confusing. It'll be easier once you get used to Taipei's road direction. =P

OK, you know where you are going. You have successfully give signal to the bus driver to stop and now..how are you supposed to pay the bus driver? You just need to get your EasyCard (yes, that MRT card) ready and..tap?? Wait a minute! There's another step that you need to see before you decide to tap or not. 

Oh no! Another bus sign and it's in Mandarin. O_o!

Basically bus fares in Taipei is divided by section (one or two), and this, affects when the passengers pay. When you step into the bus, check this sign out. If the sign begins with 上 you tap in the EasyCard when you get on the bus. If the sign says 下  you tap the EasyCard when you get off. 

If you paid when getting on and the sign changes to 下 during the journey, do not panic! (I was panicking a bit when that happened the first time though. I thought I saw the sign wrongly!). If that happens, simply tap again when you are getting off the bus because you have traveled through two bus zones.

Intimidating enough? Don't worry and take the challenge. Once you have taken a few rides, you'll start to love the buses. Sometimes they are more convenient than the MRT. Really! And the most important thing, they are cheaper! Especially if you are students! Woohooo!

Find great hotel deals in Taipei here! 

Taipei Eats: Hello Kitty Sweets, Zhongxiao Fuxing

It happened that my birthday fell on one of the days I'm living in Taipei. It does not happen every year that you celebrate your birthday overseas so yeah, I'm pretty excited about how to spend my birthday. Hehe.

And to make it even sweeter...my friend brought me to Hello Kitty Sweets. Awww, I'm into Kitty so I'm very happy. Teehee.

The cafe's decoration is easily spotted from outside. 

The cakes at the display are too cute to eat...Aww!

There is a minimum order of 300NTD for every dine-in customer. Looking at the price of the drinks, 300NTD is not that difficult to achieve. 

We came to the cafe around 4pm-ish and at that time, they were serving tea-time. So each of us ordered a cake-set, which comes with Hello Kitty milk pudding. It tastes normal but hey, it's Kitty. XD

My cake-set, I chose the chocolate cake simply because I love chocolates. And the cafe does well on the presentation. The chocolate cake tastes pretty good.

My friends ordered Mango pudding with cookie base. It's not bad but I like my chocolate cake better. Hehe.

My latte tastes pretty sweet. I tried drinking without destroying that Hello Kitty stamp on the float. Pretty difficult to do. =P

Don't forget to visit the washroom. It is decorated with Kitty all over its mirrors. 

The total bill comes at 790NTD for two. It's definitely not cheap but it's worth it if you are a Hello Kitty fan. =)

But, where is it located anyway? To start off, you can take the MRT to Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT Station. Take the exit no 3 and just follow the direction on the map to point A. It's easy to get lost in Taipei's alleys. I did snap the picture of the map before going there so yes, it helps to have a map on hand. =)

Wandering into Beitou Hot Spring Museum, Taiwan

On the way to the thermal valley, we saw a queue in front of a house. Turned out it is the entrance to Beitou Hot Spring Museum.

This museum shows how the bathhouse looks like during the Japanese colonial era.

Inside the bathhouse, there is an old cinema too...showing Chinese movies played long long time ago. XD

Beitou Hot Spring Pool. So many people soaked themselves inside the hot spring pool in the olden days.

After soaking themselves in the hotspring pool, the olden days people lounge around in the terrace and have some chit chat...

...while enjoying the view. Hmm, okay, those buildings did not exist on those days.

The museum is quite fun and informative and most importantly, no admission charged! Woot! =)

Note: You need to take off your shoes/ sandals and change into the bathhouse sandals. You can put your shoes/sandals in the prepared lockers and make sure not to lose the locker keys while wandering inside the museum. =)

What to see in Xinbeitou? - Part 2

If you keep walking along the road, you will see a unique building like this.

This building is Taipei Public Library Beitou Branch. And this is a Green Library. Why is this the case? 

The sloping roof preserves humidity and moisture build-up and drains water to rainwater recycling troughs. Then, the recycled water is used to water plants and flush toilets in the facility. This arrangement result in reducing water and resource wastage. Another thing, the rooftop has photovoltaic cells which are in place to capture solar energy and in turn, generating 16 kilowatts of electricity. Awesome, right?

The hot spring water is flowing just next to the library.

If you want to have a taste of how the hot spring feels like for free, you can do what the locals do. Just find a place to sit and soak your feet inside the stream. The feeling must be very comfortable in winter days. 

Oh one thing to note, do not go for hot spring activity a day after typhoon. Simply because the water will look like...chocolate milk. Took this picture exactly one day after Typhoon Soulik passed. Well, some people still went for it though. Haha.

At the end of the road, you will see a lot of people taking a cross following the direction to Beitou Thermal Valley. 

The smell of the rotten eggs (i.e. sulfur) is on the air...

And finally, we have reached the Beitou Thermal Valley Sulfur Spring. If you put a raw egg inside, it will boil. And you can eat it. XD

It can get pretty hot and steamy here. If you can, do visit the spring in the colder days. =)

What to see in Xinbeitou? - Part 1

Once we checked our position in the map, we walked to the nearest spot, Beitou Park (北投公園/ Běi tóu gōngyuán). It's actually located just behind the map. XD

Taiwan has a lot of parks and I suppose this is a good thing for its residents. When the weather is good, they can simply pass the time by hanging around in the park, either playing with kids, walking the dogs or chit-chatting with the neighbours. 

The park has..something that looks like a fountain. But it didn't work at that time. 

Just across the park lies the Ketagalan Culture Center. Inside, you will know further about the various indigenous tribes of Taiwan including the northern Taiwan Ketagalan Tribe. I think the tribe is extinct now. But if you are curious to know more, you can pop by here. The center is closed on Mondays. 

The next landmark to visit is called Plum Garden. This was once the summer getaway home for famed Chinese calligrapher, Yu You-ren. The house was built around 1930s and it has a spacious courtyard with a lot of trees, including plum. The house has Japanese-style wooden structure. Nowadays, it has become one of tourist attractions in Beitou area.

There are a lot of trees but the yellow hibiscus caught my eyes. So pretty. =)

Taiwan Travel: Where to go for a hot spring in Taipei?

To be honest, whenever people mention hot spring, my mind go straight to Japan and not its neighbouring country, Taiwan. Oh boy, how wrong I was. Taiwan also has its own hot spring (溫泉/ Wēnquán). And you don't have to go so far to reach the place, since it's still located within the MRT system. Simply take the MRT to Beitou Station and board this special train to reach Xinbeitou Station.

The train to Xinbeitou is quite different from the normal MRT. It has the hot spring theme.

There are some interactive program going on that monitor I think. If not, the kids won't be so curious looking at it. 

The train's design is so cute and colorful. =)

If you see the statue of kids and sulfur rock, you are at the right MRT station. 

You don't have to worry about getting lost because there's only one way out from the MRT station. Go straight and cross the road. 

And you will see a very useful map. Just make sure you follow the main road and you will pass through a lot of key places to go in Xinbeitou. 

And our adventure begin now! =)