Jiufen Old Street, Taiwan

After successfully reached Jiufen, we were so excited on exploring the old street. Ever since our teacher has told us a lot of Jiufen's food. We are totally easy prey for food market. =P

The entrance to Jiufen Old Street is located straight beside 7-11, which you will see upon alighting from the bus/ taxi.

I am not kidding, it's full of food stall. And by the way, do you know that the setting of Japanese animation called Spirited Away is apparently inspired by Jiufen?

Other than food, you can see a lot of other things in Jiufen Old Street. Like clothes and some handicrafts. 

If you happen to visit with your loved one, I suppose you can take picture here to make some nice memories? =P

The store has some other designs too if you are interested. Some of them are quite funny. Hahaha.

The store near the top of Jiufen Old Street is selling cute cat dolls. Meow~~~

I personally do not think it's necessary to stay the night here as I heard most of the stores will close around 6pm-ish. But if you are looking for a staying-experience at an old tea house then I suppose you can try it. =P

We'll explore more in the next posts. Stay tune! ^^

Taiwan Travel: How to go to Jiufen?

I was so in love with Jiufen, I ended up visiting the place 3x within my short stay in Taiwan. Super love!

There are actually more than one way to Jiufen so you can actually pick whichever way you prefer.

1. Taking the train from Taipei Main Station to Ruifang Station. Followed by taking bus from Ruifang Station to Jiufen. 

There'll be lots of sign in Ruifang Station to point you to the correct bus stop to take bus to Jiufen.

Both buses going to Jiufen so you can take either one. We did take the bus no. 1062 because we were busy looking at our phones when bus no. 846 passes by. You must flag the bus if you are the only one waiting at the bus stop because if you don't...the bus driver will just pass the bus stop without stopping. XD

2. Take the bus no. 1062 all the way from exit 1 of Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT Station

This way is my most favourite option of reaching Jiufen because I can simply sit all the way from Zhongxiao Fuxing to Jiufen. Total journey time is around 1 hour 30 minutes. The bus stop is located straight in front of Kao Chi and usually there will be a number of people already queuing so you will not miss it. =) 

3. Taking train to Ruifang Station and then take a cab

If you don't feel like waiting for the buses, you can take cab instead from Ruifang Station because there will be a lot of cabs parked right in front the station. 

No matter which option you choose, when you see this view from the left side of the bus/ cab, you know that Jiufen is near. You can start prepping yourself to alight from the bus/ cab. The journey from Ruifang Station to Jiufen takes approximate 10 minutes (if there's no traffic). 

Welcome to Jiufen! 

Taiwan Eats: A typical breakfast in Taiwan

I love eating breakfast in Taiwan. Most of my breakfast in Singapore nowadays consist only bread. But for nearly same price, you can get a breakfast combo in Taiwan consist of...

1. A glass of milk tea

A choice of either..

2. Fried egg and sausages

or..

3. Spaghetti

Btw, do you know the Chinese name of Spaghetti Bolognaise? It's actually quite easy to memorise, 肉醬義大利面 (ròu jiàng Yìdà lì miàn). 肉醬 is literally translated to meat sauce. And I kinda like the Taiwanese version of Bolognaise. It has the homey feeling in a Taiwanese way. I suppose it's because we didn't eat this at some kind of a luxury restaurant. We had these meals at hole-in-the-wall kind of breakfast place. Which makes it kinda home-ish? Hehehe. 

The combination of milk tea + fried egg/ sausages costs around 50-55 NTD while the combination of milk tea + spaghetti costs around 70NTD. Cheap eh? =)

Taipei Eats: Chun Shui Tang Tea House, Zhongshan

Nothing beats the taste of bubble tea drinks in Taiwan. Really. If I don't care about my waistline, I would have drink bubble every day. In fact, my Mandarin teacher claimed that she drinks it everyday but at the same time she only eats once a day.

...Okay, I don't think I am able to eat once a day. Especially when I stayed in a city full of food such as Taipei.

Back to the bubble tea...

My friend and I were strolling in side Shinkong Mitsukoshi at Zhongshan after having our meal at Shin Yeh (see here), we stumbled upon Chun Shui Tang. Since we never really drink bubble tea in the tea house concept, we went in anyway. #random

Since we had just our lunch, we could not try the food item. They do sell noodle and rice too if you want to eat. This time, we only ordered milk bubble tea and normal tea. Slurp~~~

Both taste good and refreshing but I still prefer my bubble tea after all. Hahaha. #bubbleteaaddict

Chun Shui Tang has a lot of branches in Taipei but the one that we went is located at Shinkong Mitsukoshi Dept Store Level B1 at Zhongshan. Do visit if you happen to be there. =)

Back in Singapore, Back to Counting Dollars

I just can't sleep. I can't believe it. I have insomnia because of a glass of frappe from Coffee Bean. O_O!

The culprit, Black Forest Ice Blended, tastes good though.

Since I am really wide awake now probably it's time to break the news. I am back earning $$$ in Singapore. Sustaining a living can be hard. But I guess since it pays for the bills...and those expenses that I've incurred for my life in Taipei and other travelling expenses. Oh well. 

This means...the end of my Taipei posts? Definitely no! Since I still have a lot of..what-they-call lateposts. XD

I have to say I really miss Taipei though. Although I don't think I want to settle down there to...work. Hahaha. I simply hate working (but love earning money). Contradicting much?

So..what's gonna becoming of this blog? I suppose you will see a super random mixture of posts from now on from my slice-of-life in Singapore, my ex-slice-of-life in Taipei and travel stories from wherever I've been to. So..bear with me? =P

And as usual, thanks you for reading my blog (despite its randomness). LOL.

Taipei Eats: Yongkang Beef Noodle, Yongkang Street

I have not finished editing my HK posts so I'm gonna cheat by inserting a filler of foodie post in Taipei. Hahaha.

Did I tell you that Taiwanese (and tourists in Taiwan) has an abundance amount of patience in queueing? The place that I'm gonna share with you guys always have long queue formed in front of its door. Some of the people who queue even stand in line with their luggages. Crazy.

Okay, what's the deal with this Yongkang Beef Noodle?

Like most of eating places in Taiwan, it boasts its long existence in the market. Hahaha. 

Beef noodle is one of those expensive food that I've eaten in Taiwan. My teacher said the price used to be cheaper but I suppose since it gains a lot of popularity with the tourists, everything goes up. Zzz.

We did not manage to get seats on the first floor so luckily we could still get seats on the second floor.

They do give big chunks of beef and I really appreciated that. The dish is best enjoyed on a cold day (my personal preference) and it tastes quite good for beef noodle (which is unfortunately not really on the top of my favourite food in Taiwan). 

The price however leans on the more expensive side at NTD220. *sobs* *sobs*

For your information, it's nearer to reach Yongkang Beef Noodle from Dongmen Station. If you come from Taipower Building Station you need to walk through Shida and passing through the neighbourhood before reaching the place. 

Hong Kong Eats: Hunting Snack in City Super, IFC Mall Hong Kong

One thing that I love to do when I travel is hunting snacks in the supermarket. And Hong Kong is no exception. I could not hide my delight when I found out that there's City Super in IFC Mall. Woohoo!

Some of the items here I've never seen before. Like this Me-to-You Chocolates.

Some weird taste chocolates. Hahaha. Too bad I failed in persuading my friend to try this. =P

I was super excited when I saw Muller Lite here. This is my most favourite yoghurt brand ever and I still remember buying them a lot of times when I was studying in the UK. Although I seriously doubt the health-value of Muller Lite's yoghurt though. Hahaha. 

This how it looks like. Yummy~~~

I have to say I did go a bit overboard whenever I stock up my snack stash. You can buy all these things in City Super at IFC Mall. =P

Hong Kong Travel: Wall Mural in Central Hong Kong

Some interesting wall mural that I saw while trying to find my way to the mid-level escalator at the Central Hong Kong.

"Just another day in the busy daily life of Hong Kong people."

"You can do whatever you want but me...I'm gonna lie down and take a nap here."

"There is only one way to go, forward."

"Imagination painted on a crumbling wall paint."

Do you love seeing this kind of street art? =)

Hong Kong Eats: Agnes B Cafe, IFC Central Hong Kong

We did not really buy anything in IFC mall simply because most of the things sold here are not within our spending power. U_U.

And just like that, we ended up spending our time in a cafe (at least we could afford cakes) called Agnes B Cafe. Okay, the complete name of the cafe is longer than that actually. XD

Not sure why the place is decorated with Christmas trees. We visited this place in the middle of the year and definitely not near Christmas. Nonetheless, it is a cozy place to spend time for an afternoon tea time. 

Cakes...glorious cakes. *drool*

Since there are two of us, we decided to choose one cake each. I chose this one. 

While my friend chose this one. Noticed that the cafe does not use plates to serve cakes. Not sure if they are trying to go green? =P

Happy eating!! =)

For your information, Agnes B Cafe is located at level 3 of IFC Mall. 

IFC Mall, Central Hong Kong

After a hearty dim sum breakfast at Luk Yu (see post), we are ready to explore Central area again. Our random walk to the harbour area brought us to IFC (International Finance Centre).

Although the building is called finance centre, it is also functioning as a mall. Otherwise, we would not even be the least interested to step our feet inside. =P

There's a huge Apple store inside. The design of the store is quite stunning.

There's Tim Ho Wan at the basement level but the queue is simply crazy. We did not want to spend hours queuing so I suppose we should be contented with Tim Ho Wan in Singapore? XD. I'll post on that later. 

There's a viewing deck at level 2 of the mall. Nice view of Hong Kong city I must say. Too bad blue sky is apparently a rare sight here.

You can walk to the pier area to see some ferries if you are interested since the pier is within walking distance from IFC mall. 

Hong Kong Eats: Luk Yu Tea House, Central

Those of you who have been guessing from my last post will definitely see this coming, another dim sum food post. Hahaha.

Since Dim Sum Bar has the modern vibe, this time we are going to those old-tea-house style dim sum place, Luk Yu Tea House. The main door, interestingly, was guarded by a foreigner when we arrived. We thought we were at the wrong place. =P

The first floor is already fully occupied so we are ushered to the 2nd floor where there is still a lot of seats. The restaurant is fully manned by those mid-aged men who looks like they are in kungfu movie. I sense a HK-mafia-vibe here. But no worry, they still serve us politely despite their appearance. =P

We are so excited looking at the menu on our tables until we see this...traditional Chinese characters. Aughhh. Since it's gonna take us long time to read this menu, we ask if there's English menu instead and yeahhh, they have it. I love HK restaurants. 

Let's start with the dim sum pictures~ *drum rolls*

1. Char Siew Bao (BBQ pork filled buns)

2. Baked version of Char Siew Bao 

3. Pan-fried Pork Dumpling

4. Steamed Glutinous Rice 

5. Egg Tarts

Overall, the dim sum taste more on the okay-ish side but if you want to get the vibe of eating dimsum inside tea house, you may want to pop by a visit (since it's not that crowded and all). 

Now, please excuse me, I'm gonna eat them all. Hehehe. 

For complete details of Luk Yu Tea House, please go to this link.