Enjoying the local art @ Simple Market, Taipei

The adventure at Simple Market has not ended yet. I went to the one of the house. I think it's the one near Good Cho's. And I was welcomed by the art installation on the wall. Nice!

Closer look at the pictures hanged on the wall. I could not draw this good when I was small. To be honest, my mum often drew for me in those days. =P

Not sure if this doll is the mascot of the place or something. But it just stood there so yeah..

The place also sells snacks. A different kind of snacks.

And condiments. I don't really cook or eat at home so these things are useless for me.

The next thing I'm gonna show you is more suitable to my liking. Food! Bagels, to be exact. 

And jars of cookies. Cute eh?

And that's all about Simple Market at Taipei. If you have time to venture around here, please do so. And make sure you are enjoying yourselves here. =)

Fun day at Taipei Simple Market, Taiwan

I'm so glad weekend finally came. Although now I'm kinda sad because just one hour left before Monday. Uuu...

Is everyone having a great weekend?

I decided to go visit the weekend flea market which is located just at Taipei 101's vicinity. It's called the Simple Market.

Simple Market only opens on Sunday. So yep, it's a perfect activity for the weekend. It's basically something similar to the Western's farmer market. It's a place where the local seller come and sell their things. 

The locals sell a lot of handmade craft in Simple Market. Things like earrings....

Jam...

And a lot of cards for every occasion. I tell you something, Taiwan's greeting cards are so damn cute. And not boring. And cheap!! =)

And of course, some T-shirt too. I am not very sure on the size so I did not buy any. 

This is one of the good locations to take a picture with Taipei 101. So if you happen to be around this area on a Sunday, do visit and give support to the local market. Hehehe. =P

Oh right. I forgot to say where Simple Market is actually located. It's located in the middle of Xinyi Public Assembly Hall. And it is held every Sunday from 1 to 7 PM. =)

Taiwan Travel: Longshan Temple, Taipei

My friend has been accompanied me to go to a church while she's not a Christian so in turn, she asked me to accompany her to visit the most famous temple in Taipei, Longshan Temple.

I suppose it's really famous since it has its own MRT station.

Longshan Temple is crowded. Very crowded. And you can spot there are a lot of old people hanging around the area. They are either talking with each other, napping, selling things, or playing mahjong. 

The entrance gate has pretty decoration.

There is a big lantern in front of the second entrance. I suppose it's only here during the CNY season (we visited the temple one week after CNY). A lot of people queueing to pray for prosperity. Well, that's what my friend told me. I suppose that should be right. =P

Silvers and golds are spotted. Ka-ching!

If you visit Longshan Temple during festive occasions, be prepared to see a lot of people. By a lot, I mean A LOT. 

As my friend "joining"/"fighting" with the crowd to pray, I waited for her outside and spotted a fish pond. When I look inside, I could see a lot of coins inside. So I suppose this pond is a kind of wishing well?

Longshan Temple is surrounded by lanterns. And this make it looks very pretty and easily spotted, even from afar.

When my friend finished praying, we walked back to the MRT station because we have another destination to go after this.

Exactly at the exit of MRT station, you will see a lot of stalls selling different type of things. If you have time, you can take a look of what things they sell, which are ranging from food, sandals, clothes, medicines, etc.

Make sure to visit Longshan Temple if you are in Taipei and have a local taste of tradition and religion here. =P

Taipei Eats: Sushi Express, Gongguan

I'm back in Taipei and suddenly have a craving for.....sushi. I know! This is so weird. I should have had a craving for crispy chicken or maybe smelly tofu. Okay..not smelly tofu. =P

To accommodate my craving, my classmates and I went together to the budget-friendly sushi franchise -> Sushi Express. =)

We went to the one located at Gongguan, just opposite National Taiwan University (NTU). Each plate costs 30NTD. Cheap cheap cheap! 

Corn and tuna inari. 

My favourite salmon sushi. ^^

One of my classmates loves pork floss. I suppose this kind of sushi is not available in Japan? 

Kani Mayo Gunkan sushi. 

Another type of sushi I've never seen before. Cashew inari? This is interesting. LOL.

If one type of nuts is not enough for you, you can try this one. Mixed nuts inari. Oh wow. XD

The waiter/ waitress will ask you question of whether you'd like to have green tea and miso soup when assign you the seats. We did not know the Mandarin words for miso soup so we just said "bu yao". Now we know that miso soup is called 味噌湯/ wei4zeng1tang1 in Mandarin. So if you'd like to have one, simply say "yao yao". =P

Singapore Eats: Jonas the Grocer, Mandarin Gallery

Hello guys, long time no see. I've been away for few days for a short break in Singapore. And glad I did it, 'cause I really enjoyed my time there catching up with my friends. Love it! ^^

Like Taipei, Singapore has a lot of cafes too and..don't even mention shopping malls, I think the tiny island has so many shopping malls. Not good for my wallet. O_o!

Well since I'm a shopaholic, obviously the chosen venue for catching up session is located along..Orchard Road. Could not help it. =P

We went to Mandarin Gallery, which looks very posh from outside.

My friend brought me to Jonas the Grocer which is located inside Mandarin Gallery. For a second I thought she brought me here to buy groceries.

But this place is actually a grocer/ a cafe, oh wow. That's kinda interesting. 

For a starter, we ordered tapas to share. We chose to order chorizo sausages. Taste too salty for my liking. =S

Other than the tapas, we also ordered Portobello Mushroom with Salad. Because it looks interesting. That, and we are fans of mushroom. And yes, they are tasty.

For the mains, we ordered Coq Au Vin and yes, none of us know what is Coq Au Vin. Luckily the menu comes with description. Which is basically chicken cooked in wine plus some veggies including, yes, you guessed it, mushrooms. So-so only. 

Nothing is complete without a dessert. And to share the sin, we ordered a slice of red velvet cake. Their red velvet is pretty yummy. We like it. <3

If you happened to be in Singapore and want to visit this grocer/cafe, you can ride the MRT and go to Somerset MRT Station. Walk towards Mandarin Gallery and go to level 4. No reservation is required as we didn't make any booking before we came here. =)

Get the best hotel deals at Orchard Road here

What to do in Ximending?

Ximending is like...an awesome place to be if you want to be surrounded by the youngsters. And of course, it's very happening even on a weekday nights. =P

If you want to go to Ximending by taking the metro. You can go to Ximen Station and go to exit 6. Once you come out from below, you will be welcomed by this sight.

Ximending has a lot of restaurants and cafes. You don't have to worry of not being able to find anything to your liking. Worst case scenarios, fast food restaurants like McD and KFC are here as well.

What is the best food in Ximending? If you are asking me, I can't help but pointing you to Ah Chung Mian Xian.

It offers the best mee sua in town. And it's so damn cheap. 45NTD for a small bowl. When you talk about portion in Taiwan, nothing is small. The small bowl can stuff my stomach happily.

Other than eating yummy mee sua, Ximending is well-known as a venue for the youngsters to..sing to their heart content. Looking at the size of the Partyworld KTV in Ximending, I believe singing is a passion deeply embedded in most of Taiwanese's hearts. LOL. (p.s. my Mandarin teachers are not really into singing though. Too bad.)

If you are looking for a shopping mall in Ximending, you can go to Eslite Amba. Amba also serves as a hotel. And they are quite conveniently located in Ximending. Although I have to say, you can find cheaper accommodation in Ximending as Amba can be considered quite expensive. To find other type of accommodation, you can click here .

There are so many things you can do in Ximending, I could not write them all in one posts. No worry, I will post whatever activities I have seen or done in Ximending in the future. 我愛西門丁！=)

Taipei Eats: Sadaharu Aoki, Bellavita Taipei City Hall

Taipei is a big city and like the other big cities in the world, it has a lot of shopping malls. Since my roomie and I don't have anything planned this Sunday, we decided to go to Xinyi and just wandering into some shopping malls. Good thing to do on a rainy day.

And Bellavita is our chosen shopping mall to wander into. Simply because it looks majestic from afar. Like some kind of European-influenced-building.

Bellavita was opened in 2009 and it houses mostly those luxury brands including Hermes and Tiffany & Co. The design of the mall is heavily influenced by European architecture and it took 5 years to build the building.

Don't you feel like grabbing those shoes in display? XD

Like any other shopping mall, Bellavita has its own food hall which is called "Gourmet Hall". It's located at level B1. 

The gourmet hall is occupied by mostly those expensive restaurants. One of the famous patisserie, Sadaharu AOKI is also located here. 

We only ordered one cake and two additional macarons because the price is literally killing my student's wallet. One macaron costs 90NTD while the cake's price can easily exceed 200NTD. U_U.

The place is not really camera-friendly so we need to take picture in stealth mode. Oh well, at least the taste of the cake and the macaron is not bad although we don't really feel they are worth the hefty price tag. Do visit when you have just gotten your paycheck. =P