Wandering Fel

Hello Tamsui!

I love Taipei's weather in April. Although it can be pretty chilling at time. If you see the sun comes up, it only means one thing. It's time to walk around. Woot!

Today, we are going to Tamsui, a sea-side town at the outskirt of Taipei (it's part of New Taipei City I think). Nice sunny weather welcomes us once we alight from the MRT. =)

There are a lot of tourist attractions in Tamsui. If you are interested to go to the old street (淡水老街/ Dànshuǐ lǎo jiē), it's practically located just across the MRT station. You can see Starbucks as your starting point. If you are still lost, you can follow other people. I suppose most of them will go to the old street anyway. Hahaha.

Why is the old street so popular? Simply because there are a lot of things to see, buy and eat here. But one thing that pique my interest are...the motorcycles. Because the motorcycles are parked somewhat rather nice on the sideway (so random I know).

My friend, being less random than I am, spotted something to fill her tummy, bullhorn bread.

The bread comes in different flavors. My friend chose the original. It kinda tastes bland. =S

But at least, it gives something to tame our stomach while we continue our journey in Tamsui. =P

Taiwan's Family Mart Food Review

Did I tell you that I am a fan of Taiwan's convenience stores? I think I can even call myself a convenience-store-junkie although I believe this title belongs to the majority of the Taiwanese. LOL.

I mentioned about the awesome-ness of Taiwan's 7-11 here. But now, I'm gonna introduce you to another convenience store called Family Mart (全家/ Quánjiā). Well I guess, if you've been to Taiwan before, you'd have definitely seen this store. Just like 7-11, they are everywhere, at every corner of Taiwan. Haha.

Why I suddenly bring up Family Mart? It's because it was recently taken over by little cute managers. =)

If you are bored, you can watch the clip of how these little managers manage the operation of the store. So cute!!!

For full link, you can go to this website . In fact, that's where I found out about this. Hehe.

Other than the cutie managers, Family Mart do sell decent and yummy food. My favourite is the microwave-able fried rice (I did not say healthy). I think Fami is the name of the brand.

You can ask the staff (not the little managers, the real staff) to heat the food for you. Once it's heated, this is how the fried rice looks like. Really not bad and it tastes good! ^^

I would not say the same about Family Mart's sandwich or 7-11's too, for that matter. If you want sandwich, it's way better to buy it from the breakfast stall rather than convenience stores.

I prefer 7-11 to Family Mart but I love it to come there whenever I'm bored with the selection at 7-11. Hahaha looks like I'm spoilt for choice in Taiwan. =P

Releasing Sky Lanterns at Shifen

After we had enough food to stuff ourselves with along the rail track in Shifen, we took note of our surrounding and we saw an interesting stuff hanged just beside the track.

Chopper!!!???

If you have not realised it yet, Shifen is also famous for its releasing-sky-lantern activity. You will see the lantern stall at the right and left side of the rail track.

One color lantern will cost you 100NTD but since each color represents different meaning of the wishes (e.g. pink is for love-related wishes while yellow is for money/career-related-wishes), visitors usually choose 4-different-colors for their sky lanterns.

Once you have done picking the color and settle the payment, you are ready to write. The ink and the brush are provided by the shop.

We totally write random stuff on our lantern. Since we cannot remember all the Chinese characters, we mixed our wishes with English. Hahaha.

Once you are done writing wishes, you can let the shop staff know and he/she will help you release the sky lantern. To be honest, all you have to do is holding the lantern while they are preparing the stuff and pose! pose! pose! The staff will help you take picture. Hehehe.

Hope our wishes do come true!!! =)