Jakarta Eats: Reunion dinner at Paradise Dynasty at Central Park

新年快樂， 身體健康， 多多有錢， 天天開心!!! Woot, Happy Chinese New Year! Gong xi gong xi! =)

Before we know it, it's already the year of horse. My goodness, how fast time flies. O_o!!

How's everyone doing? Have you had your reunion dinner with family? Or better, have your received your hongbao yet? ^^

I went back home to celebrate the beginning of horse year and my family decided to have it at Paradise Dynasty at Central Park, Jakarta. We are kinda lured by the colorful xiao long bao. Hahaha.

It's kinda last minute decision so we paid the price by waiting for one hour for a table. O_O.

Finally we had a table. Whew. I'm starving.

The orders did not take long to prepare so it was indeed a good news for us, hungry monsters. Here come the mapo tofu. 

Minced meat green beans. 

Chicken Kung Pao.

And the main star of the reunion dinner, colorful xiao long bao!! Each color has different taste. There's cheese, truffle, ginger and crab roe. I only tried the crab roe though because we shared this amongst a lot of hungry mouths. Hahaha. 

Chinese new year will not be complete without Chinese New Year cookies right? My favorite cookie is called Sagu Keju. It's cheesy and crunchy. Damn awesome! You can buy this at any traditional cookie store in shopping malls in Jakarta. Citraland has one. 

For your information, Paradise Dynasty is located at Central Park basement (the level which is full of food). 

Wishing you all an awesome year ahead! Hope we can enjoy a lot of happy days in our life! ^^

Cingjing Farm Eats: Having lunch at CartonKing 紙箱王

If you have never been eating inside a restaurant which is full of cardboard, this is probably gonna be one of those weird but fun experience for you to try in your lifetime. Near the Swiss Garden (小瑞士花园 / Xiǎo ruìshì huāyuán), which located opposite the car park where the bus stop (see previous post), there is a branch of Carton King (紙箱王 / Zhǐxiāng wáng). To be exact it's branch no. 6. 

The decoration, tables and chairs are made of cardboard. For a moment, I was quite concerned whether the chair is strong enough to hold my weight. I mean, cardboard is light while my butt is..not? >.<! 

The restaurant opens from 11 AM to 8 PM. So if the minsu (see our minsu in this post) has not allowed you to check into your room yet, you can pop by here and have lunch while waiting. As you can see from the menu below, their food price ranges from 220 NTD to 380 NTD. These are set meals and drinks are included.

My friend did not feel like eating meat so she ordered vegetable spaghetti (the one with the price tag NTD220). If you are a vegetarian I guess you will only be able to eat this because the rest of the menu involve meat. 

I am a carnivore so I definitely opted for meat. I ordered curry pork chop (咖哩豬排/ Gālí zhū pái) which is the third item from the bottom on the menu (price tag NTD320). The pork chop served together with a bowl of rice, miso soup, salad and dessert. 

My iced tea is served inside a cardboard box. 

I kinda forgot what my other two friends eat but if I'm not wrong, this one is the first item on the menu (the one with NTD380 price tag).

While this one looks like item no. 3 from the top in the menu (NTD 350 price tag). Haha if you ordered it and it came out different, please forgive my misleading memory. LOL.

The food is definitely on the higher side because it tastes so-so. But the most interesting thing about the restaurant is everything that they use here is environmentally friendly. I heard if a customer breaks the chair (see, it can really happen!!!!), they will just simply whisk it away for recycling. But, will they give that customer another cardboard chair? Who knows. Let me know if you experience that, ok? =P

Hotel Review: Misty Villa, Cingjing Farm

If you are looking for an accommodation at Cingjing Farm, you may want to consider staying in Misty Villa. It's one of the better minsu (i.e. villa) at Cinjing Farm. After you make a booking with them, they will arrange someone to pick you up at the terminal (more like empty space) where E-go Bus drop you (see my previous post on E-go Bus).

The distance from the drop point to Misty Villa is not that far but the way is uphill. If I have to drag my luggage up there, I'm going to die. Really.

After a really short drive (less than 5 mins), we have arrived and a parrot welcomed us.

While my friend was busy with the checking in and paperwork stuff, I was busy looking around and taking pictures of cute decoration all around the receptionist/ dining room.

I always imagine myself sitting on an armchair in front of stove while sipping hot chocolate and white snows falling outside my window. Okay, I don't wish for snow. If it's snowing, I'm gonna be frozen. It's already cold enough without all the snow.

Their dining room is full of decoration. It kinda brings you "homey" feeling.

The minsu is managed by a family. Seems like they are having quite a good business. My friend said we were kinda lucky to be able to secure a room last minute. For your information, the check-in time is 2PM. We opted for a family suite and it costs us a total of NTD4800. 

The price varies between day. For the complete listing of the price, you can refer to the website: http://www.misting.com.tw/room.php

	觀景雅緻四人房 Luxury Family Suite
	5200元
	5850元
	6500元
	7150元
	歐式經典壁爐、ADSL、古典浴缸、有線電視、(獨立更衣間、獨立陽台)

You can see above the price is divided into 4 categories. The 5200 NTD is the price from Monday - Thursday, 5850 NTD for Friday and Sunday, 6500 NTD for Saturday and 7150 NTD for public holidays (e.g. tomb sweeping holiday, Chinese New Year holiday, etc).

The last sentence mentioned that there is a fireplace in the room, internet, bathtub, cable TV and private balcony.

I didn't see the bathtub in my bathroom but I probably did not really pay attention to it because I did not even feel like taking a bath at all. It's super cold at night. Brrr~~~

Thanks goodness for a fireplace!

It's an electric one so you don't have to worry about smokes. Our one night stay at Misty Villa is quite comfortable. So if you are interested, you can make a booking via its website: http://www.misting.com.tw/. Otherwise, you can search for other accommodation option here.

Have a great stay! ^^

Taiwan Travel: How to go to Cingjing Farm from Taipei?

Before I left to study Mandarin, my ex-colleague told me that she's definitely going to Taiwan to visit me. I asked her where does she want to visit. The first place that she wanted to go is Cingjing Farm (清境農場/ Qīng jìng nóngchǎng). And my first reaction to her is "Eh?? What? Where is that?".

I totally had not idea where and what to see in Cingjing Farm. So we google it and guess what, there's a website to promote the farm tourism (in English too!) -> http://www.cingjing.gov.tw/en/about/

Cingjing Farm is also widely known as the Alps of Taiwan. Really? Suddenly I feel so outdated. Hahaha.

First question popped to mind though -> How to go to Cingjing Farm? 

There are a number of ways to go to Cingjing Farm. But since we didn't want to fork out money for HSR, we decided to go by bus from Taipei. The bus is called E-go Bus and the bus trip will be started from Taipei Railway Station. One way ticket to Cingjing will cost you NTD 750 per pax. Hm? You don't know which building is the Taipei Railway Station? Okay to make it easier, the building looks like this.

If you take the MRT to Taipei Main Station, go to Exit M4 and take the escalator opposite Starbucks up (to outside) and you will see the exact picture above. Why do I ask you to go to this station? It's simply because the meeting point before boarding the E-go bus is located at East Exit 3 of this building (there are a lot of exits at Taipei Main Station, I don't even want to start). So to help you saving the time of roaming blindly inside Taipei Main Station MRT area, you can just go directly to this building and look for East Exit 3. 

For your information, our bus departed at 6.50 AM in the morning. O_O! This is the best timing because the journey to Cingjing Farm will take around 4 hours. So far. 

The bus looks like this. 

The inside of the bus looks like this. The bus is quite comfortable and there is a guide telling us about the surrounding sceneries (something about a dried up lake) and what to do around Cingjing. Quite helpful I suppose. The guide can speak a bit of English but she shared the whole thing in Mandarin. I guess she only speaks English in term of...emergency?? Hahaha.

How to book a trip with E-go Bus? We asked the help of the minsu owner (fyi, minsu is the other name for guest house located in Cingjing Farm. Visitors usually spend at least one night at minsu because of the long journey time to Cingjing.) For your information, we stayed at Misty Villa. Since we are booking a room there, they are willing to arrange for transportation from Taipei all the way to the guest house. My friend received a confirmation email (complete with the instruction of the meeting point and contact details in English) after she requested for the arrangement. 

Find great hotel deals in Taipei here! 

Taipei Eats: Comfort food at Xian Tian Xia, Shida Road

Winter days...all I wanna do is eating. Oh my goodness. Howwwww???

Since there's no other way to fight my appetite, all I can do is..eat right? (If you can't fight your enemy, join him? *twisted reason I know*) Okay, today's post is not definitely not going to help you on your diet in Taipei (anyway the food in Taipei is awesome, going on a diet here is definitely a sin! =P).

If you are studying in Shida and you walk to school from Taipower Building MRT Station, you will go via Shida Road i.e. a road full of good food. If you happen to be in an emergency situation of starvation and you feel like having comfort food, you can try out the restaurant selling dumpling/ potstickers. If you see the sign plastered on my soya milk's cup, you'll know which restaurant I'm referring to. (fyi, soya milk is called 豆漿 (Dòujiāng) in Mandarin).

Ahh, you know the place right? Haha. Or maybe you spot the same restaurant somewhere else? You are not wrong. 鮮天下 (Xiān tiānxià) is a franchise of dumpling restaurant in Taipei. 

Whenever you have the chance to eat here, make sure to order their specialities. The first one is the steamed dumpling (水餃/ Shuǐjiǎo). 水餃 is a character that you can find on every corner of Taipei's street. I guess it makes it easier for us to memorize the character. If you are not careful with the tones, you may say it wrong as 睡覺 (Shuìjiào) instead and it means to sleep. Totally different meaning. LOL.

The 2nd speciality is potstickers (鍋貼/ Guōtiē). It looks kinda burned because like what the name says, it sticks to the pan (or pot?) when it's cooked. The price for the 10 pieces of potstickers/ dumplings is less than 100 NTD. It's 65 NTD if I remember correctly. Crazy cheap. And yummy too. My Canadian classmate can eat these everyday. She's addicted I guess. Haha.

You can make it a set of 80 NTD if you ordered a soup. I ordered sweetcorn soup (玉米湯/ Yùmǐ tāng). Other than this, they also sell sweet and sour soup (酸甜湯/ Suān tián tāng). Both taste quite comforting especially on a cold day.

Xian Tian Xia is located at Shida Road right opposite the Shida Road Rou Bao. So if you happen to be around Shida road, you can eat both of them in one visit. If you want to stay near Shida Road, you can check out Li Yuan Hotel's rates and offer at Tripadvisor or Expedia.

Taiwan Travel: National Palace Museum, Taipei

One afternoon in class on a summer day (yes, this is a very late post! Sorry!), my classmates and I were discussing about a conversation on our Mandarin book. And we saw a picture of National Palace Museum. The teacher asked us whether we have visited the place and from a total of 8 students, only 2 has raised their hands. Oops. I suppose the rest of us are attracted more to the local delicacies rather than local museum.

But. On a fine Saturday afternoon, I decided to go and I dragged one of them with me. She's willing to accompany me with a promise of dinner in Ximending after that. What the heck. Still thinking about food after XX days in Taipei. I can't blame her really. Hahaha. Taipei food is awesome! *thumbs up*

Okay, back to the topic....

This is the entrance gate of National Palace Museum. The place is grand.

The museum itself is still faraway from here. And there are a lot of stairs in between. *gasp*

*gasp* *pant* *sweat* Okay I dunno how but we finally made it up here. The staircases are actually not that many but to us, lazybums, it is enough to kill us. XD

This is pretty high, no? But the view from the top is quite nice. And the wind too. 

The museum complex is pretty huge. This is the view of the building complex on the right side of the main building.

Okay, time to get our tickets. The ticket to enter the museum costs 80NTD. 

No photography is allowed inside the exhibition rooms. And the security guards are very strict about it. The moment they see your camera is in your hands, they will go to you and warn you straight away. 

If you are curious about what collections are being exhibited inside, you can visit the National Palace Museum's official website: http://www.npm.gov.tw/en/Article.aspx?sNo=03000131

The most famous collection is the jade collection and Jade cabbage is the star of the collection. Which means, a lot of tourists will swarm and surround that collection to take a look. Haha.

At the basement level, you can visit the souvenir shop. It sells a lot of souvenirs of jade cabbage. 

How to go to National Palace Museum:

You can take the MRT to Shilin Station. From Shilin Station, take bus R30 (Red 30), 255, 304, 815 to the plaza in front of the National Palace Museum. 

If you want to secure your seats, you can opt to go from Ximen Station instead and take bus 815 from the bus stop outside Exit 3 of Ximen Station (near FE21 Building). I did this and to tell you the truth, there's no way you can sit in the bus if you take the bus from Shilin Station. The good news is, the distance from Shilin Station to National Palace Museum is not that far so you don't have to stand for a long time. 

Taipei Eats: Oma's German Bakery, Gongguan

How's everyone coping with the winter? Used to it? Enjoying it? If you hate winter, hang in there okay? ^^

Today I'm gonna share about one of the delicious bakery that my teacher shared with me. My teacher is one heck of a sport junkie and she enjoys walking...for a long distance. O_O.

By long distance, I mean is from Gongguan to Xindian. Oh gosh, just listening to her story makes me wanna faint.

Therefore a bakery located in the neighbourhood will not be hidden from her walking path at all. LOL.

This bakery is not selling local breads or Japanese breads (yes, there are a lot of Japanese-look-alike bakeries in Taiwan). As what the bakery called, Oma's German Bakery is selling European breads (or specifically German breads? I've never been to Germany so I don't really know about the authenticity). Oh, they sell German ice cream too. 

One thing that I love about the bakeries in Taipei is..the availability of the samples. Yum, I love tasting food, including breads. Hohoho.

Aawww, I'm weak against these tarts and cookies. >.<! 

Fyi, the apple tarts are good. 

"Oma" is grandmother in Dutch and German. A lot of Indonesians call their grandmother "oma" too. I guess that is due to the Dutch colonization years ago. Here's the bakery's oma. Cute, right? 

Did I mention about cakes? Yes, Oma is selling cakes too. And all looks so yummy. *going mental*

The branch that I visited is located at No. 44-46, Sec. 1, Xinhai Road. If you are walking from Exit 2 of Taipower Building MRT Station, go cross the street until you reach the fruit store and turn left. You are now at Sec. 1, Xinhai Road so what you need to do is to walk straight until you see the signpost of the bakery. 

Taiwan Travel: K Underground Mall at Taipei Main Station

Raining. Free time. Alone. Perfect activity? Take a stroll at Taipei Main Station. Why? Simply because there are a lot of things to see there.

When I just arrived in Taipei for few days, I did a mistake which is visiting the mall at Taipei Main Station too early (by early, I mean around 11ish in the morning). If you want to see all the stores opened, I suggest you don't come too early. Come after lunchtime. Really. 

I feel like taking a stroll in the underground mall today especially since it's pouring cats and dogs outside. To spare you the agony of turning around in circles (I have lost my way quite a number of times in Taipei Main Station. U_U), you can directly go to exit M4 (the one beside Starbucks) and you will see the sign of Eslite (a famous bookstore chain in Taiwan). 

Go to the level below and you'll arrive at K Underground Mall.

You can find restaurant, fast food stalls (KFC, McD), shoes store, clothes store, accessories store, etc here. Quite fun to go in and go out from each stores to find out what they are selling. 

I love this shop called 86shop. This is a heaven for ladies looking for skincare and makeup. Similar shop has opened in Shida Night Market but you have to leave your bag in the locker outside. So troublesome. You don't have to do that here. 

Bought a few eye masks from My Beauty Diary here. I love wearing these eye masks. So comforting although I'm a bit skeptical of whether it works for my dark circles/ puffy eyes. In addition, I bought 咖啡麵包 (Kāfēi miànbāo) or coffee bun from the small bakery stall just outside K Underground Mall (at the Taipei Main Station Z Area). The smell of the buns lured me in 

successfully.

Other than the original coffee bun, the one I ordered have sausage inside. Meat + coffee at one go. Nom nom nom. Yummy! Think it costs around 30 NTD if I'm not wrong. 

If you are not tired yet, you can go to another section of Taipei Main Station, which is also full of stores. Awesome station, right? ^^

Find great hotel deals in Taipei here!