Walking around National Taiwan University (台大)

I am really curious on how does a national university looks like in Taiwan. Knowing that my Dad has studied here before, I become even more curious to see it. Lucky for me, National Taiwan University (NTU) or 台大 (táidà) is located just one stop away from my place. Yes, it is located near Gongguan MRT station. So if you want to see it too, you can just hop into the MRT and go to Gongguan MRT. Exit 3 is the nearest exit to the university.

I was quite amazed when I see the parking lot for the bikes. It seems that most Taida students ride bike to school?? I'm quite sure if I ride bike to Shida from my house, I would probably have hit someone or something or dogs. Oh gosh, the dogs here are cute, I'm so not gonna hit them. *digress*

The university's entrance gate.

When I passed the gate, I immediately came into realization on why Taida students ride bicycle. The university is spacious and the distance between the entrance and the university library is...what you see below. O_o! *faint*

The palm tree boulevard looks cool though. =P

The university building looks like those buildings which are built during the war times (another way to say it -> old). Well it's not surprising because the universities were built during the Japanese occupation and it was called Taihoku Imperial University. You can really get the historical vibe from the university complex.

The building located at the far end is the main library. At this point, our feet were already screaming and we still have a distance to walk to go back to the main entrance. Anyway, we would not be able to enter the library without a student ID. So yeah, we just saw it from this distance and went back to the main entrance. XD

If I'm a Taida student, I will have a good exercise everyday by visiting the university since it's so far from the other buildings. O_O!

For your information, Taida is the best university in Taiwan and it is a prestige to be able to pass the national university entrance exam and get into Taida. Wow, I have never thought my Dad is really that genius. Sorry, Dad. XD

Taiwan Travel: What to see in Sun Moon Lake?

The first thing came to my mind when I heard about Sun Moon Lake is...well, it's a lake. So are we just going to see the lake and that's it? I admit I was hesitant to go for 3 hours trip from Taipei just to see a lake.

But looking at this tour map, I guess I was wrong? =P

The thing is we did not have a lot of time to spend here because we did not have a plan to stay the night and we need to rush back to Taichung HSR station to catch our train back to Taipei. Yes, you can only go back to Taipei from Sun Moon Lake by coming back to Taichung first. 

We decided to just go to the main attraction like Wen Wu Temple.

There is a small market opposite the temple where you can buy stuff from souvenirs to street snacks.

From the restaurant's window located on the 2nd floor of the nearby hotel, you can take a good picture of the lake. It will be easier to do this when you are dining there though. =P

The weather was kinda cloudy on that day so we were kinda hoping it would not rain, especially since we wanted to take the boat tour around the lake. The cost for the boat trip is around NTD300 per person. But if you want a nicer boat, I think they will charge a bit extra.

The boat tour took approximately one hour. And before we knew it, we really need to go back to Taichung. So we took the Sun Moon Lake bus (same bus that we took from the cable car to Wen Wu Temple) to Sun Moon Lake Shuishe Visitor Centre. From here, you can ride the bus back to Taichung HSR Station. You can ask the visitor centre's guide to show you which bus going to Taichung. From Taichung, we took the HSR back to Taipei.

Transportation in Taipei: New Metro Line

Tomorrow is the expected date of the launch for the new Xinyi Line. Yippie!! I totally can't wait.

The Xinyi Line is an extension of the Red Line which terminates in Tamsui. It runs parallel to the Bannan Line (Blue Line).

The news further said that if you are commuting from Shilin District, your travelling time to Xinyi Commercial District (where Taipei 101 and Taipei World Trade Center are located) will be cut by 20 - 30 minutes. Awesome right?

I suppose if you are traveling from Tamsui or Beitou, you can reach Taipei Main Station way faster than the usual route. So yes, this is a good news for tourists as well! =)

In addition, if you are looking at the Ximen Line (Light Green), you will notice that the current route (Ximen - Xiaonanmen - Chiang Kai Sek Memorial Hall) has been extended to Guting and Taipower Building Station. Hip Hip Hooray for those of you who are studying in NTNU (Shida). Now you can simply take this extended route from either Guting or Taipower and just sit down and ta-dahh, hello, Ximending! =P

Happy enough? If you are already in Taipei, do try the new Xinyi Line as there is no fees charged for the first month. Damn cool! This never happens in Singapore. Boohoo!

Have fun riding the new metro line. ^^

Transportation in Taipei: The awesome High Speed Rail

Yoohoo! Finally my friend and I decided to embark on a trip outside Taipei. Not that far yet, but we are going to the middle of Taiwan. Somewhere near Taichung (台中). So, we decided to give the famous High Speed Rail (HSR) a try. ^^

The HSR station in Taipei is located at Taipei Main Station (台北車站/ Táiběi chē zhàn). You can reach Taipei Main Station by taking MRT. You can follow the sign on Taipei Main Station (they are everywhere) to reach the HSR Taipei Station.

You can book the ticket online if you have the identification number, but, since it's so troublesome for foreigner like me and my friend, we decided to buy tickets on the day itself from the ticket vending machine.

Okay, the bummer part about taking HSR is the ticket price. One way ticket from Taipei to Taichung costs you 675NTD. O_O! But considering that you will reach Taichung within one hour, I suppose you really pay for what you get. If you want to opt for a cheaper way to reach Taichung, you can take either the normal train or bus but it will take around 2 hours to reach Taichung. 

There are two type of tickets that you can buy, standard or non-reserved seats. We bought the non-reserved seats ticket since it's cheaper and we guess there would be not many people who travelled to Taichung on a weekday morning. =P

Since we bought the non-reserved seats, the ticket indicates that we can only go to the free-seating-car number 10 - 12. If you are wondering where the cars are located, you can see the map below. The HSR has toilets, area for wheelchair, area to put luggage and an area to make a phone-call.

If you are confused on the which train to take, you can always check with the security guard or ticketing officer. Basically there are two directions which are shown on the schedule board, Southbound and Northbound. Taipei is located at the North of Taiwan, so to make it easier, just remember that the train going from Taipei to Kaohsiung direction is called Southbound while the other direction is called Northbound. You can see the HSR map of Taiwan below (could

Whenever the train nearly/ has reached a destination, they will make an announcement in both Mandarin and English (actually they will announce in Taiwanese too). The seats are so comfortable, you will wish the journey last longer because you don't want to get up from the seats. =P

Before we knew it, we have reached our destination, Taichung. Awesome, eh? Do give the HSR a try when you have the chance to visit Taiwan. =)

Introducing Taiwan's Pop Culture - Part III (The Group)

Of course the introduction would not be completed without introducing the group. And Taiwan has a lot of amazing group/band. Although I only like..two of them. Hey, quality over quantity okay! =P

So here comes the group....*JUMP*

1. Mayday (五月天/ Wǔyuètiān)

Mayday is a Taiwanese rock band and yes, if you have visited Taiwan before, I bet you have seen their faces somewhere along the billboard (Note: HTC's advert). If not, I suppose you should at least recognize the lead singer, Ashin, as he's..so handsome? ^^ *fangirl mode ON"

Heard their concert ticket in Taiwan is pretty hard to get and one ticket can sells around 5000 - 6000 NTD. But they do have those free concerts too now and then. Although you have to queue (or camp?) for a long time to get a spot for those free concerts. My teacher is one of their hardcore fans and she said the reason the band is so popular is because their songs are mostly encouraging. Especially when listened during those bad days. Make you want to sing OAOA (yes, the title of one of the songs is called OAOA). =P

Other than those uplifting songs, they also sing quite a few of anthem song. Those songs that make you feel so awesome especially when you are singing the song together with fellow fans, while waving your hands. If you like this kind of song, you can start practicing this song, Noah's Ark (儺亞方船/ Nuò yǎ fāngzhōu).

2. S.H.E.

S.H.E. is a Taiwanese girl group whose members are Selina Jen, Hebe Tian and Ella Chen. The group has recorded 12 albums and they have also acted in a lot of drama series. Each of them has their own solo songs too. Recently, S.H.E. has just concluded their concert, 2gether 4ever. I did not manage to get ticket in Taipei, but thanks God, managed to get ticket to watch the concert in Singapore. Woot!

This song is my absolute favourite from their latest album, Flowers Have Blossomed Again (花又開好了/ Huā yòu kāi hǎole). For your info, Ashin from Mayday is the one who composed the lyric for this song. ^^

Each member of the group has their own solo career. And I like Hebe the most. Simply because she's pretty and her song is amazing. My friend can't stop singing one of her songs, 寂寞寂寞就好 (Jìmò jìmò jiù hǎo). 

So sorry for not introducing more than two groups, but the thing is, I really only like these two groups from many music group/ band existing in Taiwan. XD

I suppose the songs from the above two groups will be enough to occupy you for a few days. Hehehe.

Introducing Taiwan's Pop Culture - Part II (The Ladies)

Helllooooo, so after my last post, are you already an expert in KTV room? At least, you can sing some of the guys' songs right? Hehehe. I admit I'm better at singing guys' song compared to ladies' song. I guess my voice range is somewhat..low? Oh well.

But I do sing a few of songs which are originally sang by ladies singer too. So let's start introducing them.

1. Rainie Yang (楊丞琳/ Yáng Chénglín)

I really admire Rainie Yang simply because she becomes prettier day by day *swoon*. Hehe. OK, before I sound very pervert, I admire her acting skill too. Although I really fail at singing her songs. She acts in a lot of Taiwanese drama like Why Why Love, Devil Beside You, Hi My Sweetheart (must watch!) and Drunken to Love You. All her dramas have quite good rating I think. As she is also a singer, of course, she sang some of dramas' OST. She has just recently released a new album and I like the song called "Hurried Life"(匆忙人生/ Cōngmáng rénshēng). Kinda like what I'm experiencing right now.

2. Jolin Tsai (蔡依林/ Càiyīlín)

I am not really a fan of Jolin Tsai but there's no way I'm gonna missing her name here cause I must admit, her career is great and her English is good. She even held her concert in London. O_o! If you like those upbeat dancing songs, then I suppose you may like her songs. One of her song  "The Great Artist" made her nominated for Best Asian Act in the 2012 MTV Europe Music Awards. She was the first and only Taiwan artist nominated for the award. 

3. Lara Liang (梁心頤/ liángxīnyí)

If you ask me who has the most beautiful voice, I can only say up 'til now, I am still captivated by Lara Liang's voice. Ever since her duet with Jay Chou on Coral Sea (珊瑚海/ Shānhú hǎi). This song has been a KTV favorite for ages. Although whoever sing Lara's part may have a sore throat afterward due to its high pitch. LOL.

She was used to be in a group called 南拳媽媽 (Nán quán māmā) before having a solo debut. She's a mixed between Russian and Taiwanese and yes, she looks very beautiful.

This is one of her solo songs, I post this one because I have a crush on the guy in the MV (修杰楷/ Xiūjiékǎi). Hihihi. 

I guess if you cannot sing their songs, you can just admire their beauty while your friends busy catching breath to sing the songs properly. =P

Introducing Taiwan's Pop Culture - Part I (The Men)

The fun thing about studying a new language is you will have the chance of meeting different kind of classmates from different nationalities. And often, I've received a question both from the teacher and the fellow classmates on which local singer are you listening to? Or is there any Mandarin songs that you can introduce to me?

To be honest, I used to be such a noob on this topic but thanks to my friends and a few karaoke session, I suppose my knowledge has improved. LOL. So without further ado, let's start introducing the guys:

1. Jay Chou (周杰倫/ Zhōujiélún)

Jay Chou is the first Taiwanese singer that I heard of. I guess you may have seen him before from the blockbuster movie the Green Hornet. He's an all-rounder juggling singing, acting, song-writing, directing and managing his businesses such as restaurants and music agency. Awesome, huh? Since he's the first singer that I've heard of. My inspiration to learn Mandarin came from mostly his songs although I must admit his songs may not be the best to learn Mandarin from as his pronunciation is not really clear sometimes.

These are a few of his songs that I love. The first MV is called Silence (安静/ Ānjìng) while the second one is called Fragrance of Rice (稻香/ dào xiāng). Both songs are my favorite in the karaoke session although I admit I sing the first better than the latter. =P

2. Wang Lee Hom (王力宏/ Wánglìhóng)

After listening to Jay Chou's songs, obviously I started doing some research on other Taiwanese singer and my eyes are caught by the handsome Wang Lee Hom. My teacher said he's too good to really exist. But he does exist and super handsome. Other than singing, he acts in movies too. Lately he's busy shooting a movie together with Zhang Ziyi. Ah too bad, I hope he will release a new album soon. Meanwhile, I guess I will search for his movie in the internet since I think the cinema is no longer showing it now. =P

I love his song called A Simple Song (一首簡單的歌 / Yì shòu jiàn dàn de gē). Such a simple and soothing song. =)

3. Yen-J (嚴爵/ Yán jué)

The third singer that I am introducing to you is my personal favorite. Teehee. I started listening to his songs ever since I heard that closing song for Taiwanese drama called Drunken to Love You (醉後決定愛上你/ Zuì hòu juédìng ài shàng nǐ) starring Rainie Yang and Joseph Chang. The drama is fun to watch but the ending song is really captivating both my ears and my heart I guess. Goodness, I'm sounded super cheesy here. Pardon me. =P

You can hear the ending song called Good Things (好的事情/ Hǎo de shìqíng) below.

Don't you think he's super shuai (re: handsome)? Hehehe. Okay, I better stop fan-girling now. 

Since this post is already very long, I'll continue with the part II (the ladies) and part III (the group) later on. Okay? Happy listening! =)

Sweets for Happy Occasions @ Taipei Story House

This is an overdue post. I just somehow found the series of pictures in my Iphoto folder. Hahaha.

And to further confirm that it's an overdue post, I went here in spring. Oh gosh! Totally months ago. Sorry about that....U_U.

Okay, without further ado, welcome to my house Taipei Story House. =)

Wondering why the house does not scream Taipei at all? Well, the house is used to be a 1913 English Tudor-style heritage house. But now, it serves as a mini-museum to showcase historic cultural life in Taiwan. 

The house also serves as exhibition venue. If you want to know what kind of exhibition is being held at the moment, you can check their website as they have both English and Mandarin version: 

http://www.storyhouse.com.tw/main/modules/MySpace/index.php?sn=storyhouse&cn=ZC53377

When we were there, Taipei Story House was showing Sweets Exhibition. Oh sounds yummy!

I was thinking more like Chocolate cakes but obviously those cakes are not traditional cakes for happy occasions in Taiwan. Like what written on the sign, happy occasions are wedding, child birth and birthday. For me, weekends are happy occasions too. XD

The cakes for happy occasions are more like those desserts you can find in dim sum restaurant. 

For weddings and child birth, there are more variety of traditional sweets. Some of them looks grand and each sweet symbolizes certain meanings.

Spotted traditional steam cakes. Looks kinda real, huh?

Some type of sweets are used in the worshipping too. Like this sweet tortoise cake.

There's a sign showing the meaning of the shapes of the sweets. Now you know why there are a lot of pineapple cakes during Chinese New Year. =P

These sweets look cute. I suppose this kind of sweets is popular with the kids back then.

Feels like getting some sweets? You can pop by to the store. Taipei Story House sells some goodies too. Both edible and non-edible goodies. =)

For details on the opening hours, admission fee and how to go there, you can click the following link:

http://www.storyhouse.com.tw/main/modules/MySpace/index.php?sn=storyhouse&cn=ZC23204

Laughing my sorrow away watching LINE Offline

Hello guys. This is a bit random but my friend just shared this video from Youtube few minutes ago and if you have not known it yet, yes, it's the anime adaptation for LINE characters.

The anime is in Japanese but if your reading comprehension is good enough, you can read the Chinese subtitle. If the Chinese subtitle is too advance for you, well, there's always English subtitle out there. Ok, I cheat too. There's no way I can read the whole sentence in split second. LOL.

If you are bored and you have time to kill, watch this anime series called LINE OFFLINE. Have fun. =)

Taipei Eats: Random Japanese Don, Ximending

Ximending is still crowded even around 9PM. If you happen to be in the area at this hour and you are hungry. No worry because a lot of restaurants still open at this hour. We happened to walk pass this sign and we did not realize that it's the sign for a Japanese restaurant until the auntie (which happened to hold the restaurant's menu) told us.

We did not really immediately go in because we could not tell for sure if this is really a proper restaurant or what. But since our stomach were growling, we decided to just give this place a try. Especially since the food prices are rather student-friendly. Later on, we found out the name of the restaurant is i-Ramen. Well the mascot is kinda cute. i-Ramen sells mostly Japanese ramen and don (re: rice bowl). 

I ordered a yakiniku don. The bowl looks kinda messy with all the eggs and corns but it tasted quite good. It gives you that kind of comfy feeling. 

My friend ordered the Tempura Don. I guess all rice bowl comes with corns. Haha. She loves it. 

The rice bowl costs 100+ NTD. I suppose that's quite a good price and I saw a lot of school students hanging out here. I could not really explain where exactly the place is located. So sorry but if you are interested to visit the place, I guess you have to rely on the yellow sign. And the aunty who hold the menu. =P

Taiwan Travel: The Red House, Ximending

I and my friends usually just go directly into the middle of Ximending after exiting from Exit 6 of Ximen MRT Station. But this time, we decided to look at the other side of Ximen, to be exact, the other side of the exit 6. =P

If you don't know which side to go, it's the side where the police station is located.

And our location for the day is the Red House (西門紅樓), which is located just beside the police station.

The Red House is one of the cultural place preserved by Taipei Government. Now it also serves as an independent tea house, featuring exhibitions of those old-school decoration and tools in the dining area for a tea-tasting experience.

Other than the traditional tea-tasting experience, you can also wandering into a lot of cute stores. 

The Red House displays a lot of cute statue too. Love them! =)

There is a display of old photos. This kinda give a retro vibe to the whole place. 

You can find a souvenir shop here as well. Like those postcards. Just like this display. =)

All I have to say is, the Red House is one awesome place to visit when you are in Ximen...^^.