Bit's Birthday Trip.

TAIWAN-DAY TWO

Okay, finally finally finish compiling the photos, this is going way too slow. hehe.

Signed up for the Sunrise tour from Alishan KaoFeng Hotel the day before.

The tour guide picked us up at about 5am from hotel in a mini van for 9,

and the package includes some special attraction, and bringing us to the best spot for Alishan Sunrise.

It's at TWD300 (SGD12+) per pax.

First up, they brought us to 观景台.

Freezing cold, it's below 10 degrees and it's not even 6am. 

Kind of bright hor? lol.

No, we're not going to see the sunrise from here..

夫妻树

The guide explained how the name came about.

Long long ago, there was a couple deeply in love..

However, both jumped down Alishan due to strong objections from their families.

Then these 2 trees started to grow, out of nowhere.

They withstand many wrath of nature together..lightning , fire, etc.

Still standing tall and strong.

A touching love story isnt it.

We reached the best spot for sunrise at around 6.10am.

The sun is estimated to rise up from the mist at around 6.20am.

The man who stood on the ladder with loud hailer..

He was telling us about the sunrise and promoting some Alishan snacks,

which later on we tried and bought. yummy! love the rice crisp :D

We were so lucky to catch such a clear sunrise!

We were told that many tourists, even Taiwanese..didnt get to see the sunrise even coming to Alishan for 3-4 times..due to the mist.

The sun must have known it was my birthday that day,

Thank you sun for giving me a great morning! :D

Happy Birthday to me, with Sunny & Love.

Glad that mama brought me to this world. :')

Bright sun, dark faces. hehe.

Next up, the guide brought us to see these monkeys.

He warned us not to carry any plastic bag out of our van,

because the monkeys will think that there is food.

but some auntie from the other vans apparently didnt know about that..

The monkeys looked here & there, spotted her, grabbed her plastic bag & tore it apart.

Sure enough, there were biscuits.

They so smart!

Distributed the biscuits in individual wrapper,

opened them like a pro, like a human! hahaha.

After the monkeys, we got to this 2700 years old tree.

got down all those steps to see it.

The trunks are really thick!

Dont the trunk look like a piece of wall in our photo..

it's too big to be captured on cam. haha.

First time feel so happy to be in the sun.

warmed up our freezing hands!

And then we need to go back to those steps. *pants like old woman*

End of our 3 hours tour.

Back to hotel at about 8am.

Had breakfast that was provided, 粗茶淡饭 max. lol.

Porridge.

Sometimes, life can be simple yet happy. :)

Our day 2 driver came to pick us up at 9.30am.

We engaged him at TWD 4500 (almost SGD200) to bring us from Alishan to Sun Moon Lake, & Destination Ching Jing.

A tad steep, but we prefer the great convenience!

Cos it's really not easy to get up and down mountains, got to transit so many different kinds of transport.

we are a lazy couple la hehe.

This driver is good too.

He will provide some guided tour as he drives,

yet giving us time to doze off from the long journey.

He will say "you all wan to sleep? if wan to rest I stop talking"

hahaha.

you dont wan a driver who jus goes on and on and u got to entertain him right. lol

Sum moon lake at around noon, so it's time for lunch!

pigging out again. hehe. Alfresco style by the lake.

Coupled with some street singers performing tribal songs,

relax max. :)

Cant rmb exactly how much our lunch cost liao..think around SGD 10+ ba.

We ordered wild boar and ostrich,

but they served wild chicken instead of ostrich. haha!

lots of exotic meats on this trip.

Some photos with Sun Moon Lake after lunch.

The driver said it's called Sun Moon Lake because when seen from above, it looks like a sun and a moon.

Anyway, this mushroom ice cream TWD50 (around SGD 2) is ...not so much to my liking.

I threw away after 1 mouth. lol.

Reached Ching Jing at about 3pm..

Checked in to our Min-Su.

SpringGround B&B Hotel, SGD124 per night.

春大地度假山庄。

We totally love this place.

Super Awesome!

I think we booked the deluxe room.

Our room was quite far from the Min-Su reception,

need to take lots of steps.

So be prepared to lug all ur luggage if u are going to stay here,

there's no elevator or whatsoever, all nature. lol.

Bathroom & Breathtaking View from our Balcony!

So going to come back to this resort :)

Cannot resist taking lots of photos before we head out. lol.

The resort owner is a very good man.

He offered to fetch us to Ching Jing farm/Little Swiss Garden,

and got us to call him after we're done so that he can fetch us back. :D

Got these tickets from the resort.

it's a package to dinner at 纸箱王 & entrance to 小瑞士.

Great savings because dinner alone was about TWD350 per set, tickets to Little Swiss Garden was TWD120.

But with the resort tickets, its only TWD300 for everything!!

You see the restaurant, everything made of cardboard..

The furniture, the deco, the drinking cup, the bill tab...EVERYTHING.

I am amazed lol. Sua ku.

Jake's beef cube set & my lamb rack set.

Healthy & yummy dinner.

They have this apple vinegar as starter, main course with nice salad and dessert. :)

The bee outside the restaurant, so cute.

Little Swiss Garden was somewhat like our Gardens by the Bay.

But I'll leave u to decide which is nicer, hehe.

Little Eiffel, Cinderella Carriage, Fountain, & Flowers!

Windmill & more flowers~

Air was fresh and cold.
None of the after-work-rushrush in the evening.
If only everyday can be so perfect. hehe.
Had some ice cream from 7Eleven again before going back to enjoy our awesome resort.
Rained super heavily that night, thunderstorm!

Next entry will be on Ching Jing Green Green Grassland (meh meh farm), Old England, & Feng Jia Night Market at Taichung!

love,
meiying.

Bit's Birthday trip.

TAIWAN- DAY ONE.

Got our Return air tickets abt 6 months ago from Scoot at SGD330 per pax including Baggage.

Reached airport at around 11.15pm to check in.

Took off at 0055 hour. :)

As it was after work and we will be having a really long day upon arrival,

tried to sleep during the flight but didnt really sleep welll.

Reached Taoyuan Airport at 0540, so early right!

But doesnt matter cos we continued to travel uphill-Destination Alishan.

Hired a private driver at TWD2800 (ard SGD120) per car to pick us up from Chia Yi HSR.

So we took Ubus at TWD30 (SGD1.30) per pax from Taoyuan Airport to Taoyuan HSR.

Had breakfast at Taoyuan HSR, too hungry so we settled for 7-Eleven.

The store totally amazed me, favourite!

They have practically everything, so much more variety than Singapore's, and the price is not marked up like what we have here.

Can u imagine our excitement. loll.

Booked the HSR ticket at early Bird price, 

20% off so we only paid TWD735 (SGD31.50) each.

We happily strolled to the platform to wait for our 757am train,

took photos somemore..slowly find the right angles, as seen above. -.-

Then something unforeseen happened.

ITS 757, NO ANNOUNCEMENT YET???

it was then we thought of confirming with the staff,

only to realise we waited at the wrong direction and the train has already left,

the train leaves on the dot. :(

So we had to go back to the ticket counter, pay the ticket difference (Top up the 20% that we initially saved), to get a ticket at 821am, the next ride. boooo.

After the drama..

Taoyuan HSR - Chia Yi HSR - 68 minutes ride.

We had no choice but to get front-back seats tickets since it was too last minute.

Thanks to the kind souls in TW, we got to sit together eventually!

really good impression the Taiwanese gave us. :))

Had some small talk with a lady on her way to work,

she said I speak good mandarin. hehe.

must pronounce the words accurately while we were there, cannot throw Singapore's face. haha!

Met up with our driver, Mr Zhang.

First up, we get to the foot of the mountain first- 地久桥

There's a 天长桥too but according to Mr Zhang, that suspension bridge did not receive proper maintenance, so it was closed off due to safety issues.

So we only crossed this 地久桥, our love will last eternally. :)

Ah, by the way we were on this suspension bridge around the Earthquake timing,

since already so shaky, no wonder we didnt feel the earthquake at all!

think it's either this or because we were on the move, inside the car. haha.

We were so lucky to be safe! phew.

Next, we move midway up mountain-奋起湖

No there's no lake, the name arise due to dialect. haha.

Another drama happened, my water bottle leaked!

Busy cleaning my bag while the car move left right left right, up the winding road.

I began to have car sick.

It was a kns feeling, giddy and feel like puking. :((

He brought us to a teahouse to get some genuine Alishan tea. 

I went to the washroom, tried to throw up but didnt managed to.

Bought some tea while feeling giddy and all loll.

Then we reached. It was a temporary relief because I finally can rest for a while to let the car sick feeling go away.

Stopped for lunch at this Bian dang stall. Super nice!

The driver's personal fave, hidden in a corner.

but i got no appetite so we only bought one set to share.

I swear I would have snatched the food with Mr Jake had I not been feeling sick. lol.

Took some photos at the railway, and had a walK down the old street selling some traditional snacks.

Of course we had to lug some home. hehehe.

Feeling much better, we continued our journey up Alishan.

reached there at around 2pm.

Checked in to Alishan Kao Feng Hotel.

Around SGD140 per night.

Not fantistic but at least it's clean.

we had no choice bcos almost all fully booked when we planned for hotel! haha.

Without worries of getting car sick again, I began to feel so hungry! hehe.

Went out to look for food and we had this awesome sausage, must try!!

Noodles was not bad and soup was good for the cold weather. :)

Registered for a Taiwan HP number with 中华电信.

Cost us TWD300 (ard SGD13) for calls only.

They have the pure Data option, 

as well as Calls + Data (TWD450).

Took the Mini Bus from the Tourist centre at TWD50 (ard SGD2.10) per pax..

On our way to search for Cherry Blossom!

We got the wrong info that mid march - mid apr was the season, NO!

Mr Zhang said actually the season for Alishan Cherry Blossom is early Mar,

He regret to inform us that we may not get to see the pink blossoms because of the time lag in media reporting :(

Nevertheless, we went up with some hope.

of course we cannot expect to see a pink forest anymore.

Third drama of the day,

Mr Jake stepped into this pile of wet cement which was used to smooth the roads.

He was wearing his new shoes.

Used up my whole packet of wet tissue to clean.

2 minutes later, another Ang Moh stamped into the same pile of cement.

He let out a laugh. haha.

if it's me i would have cursed and swear.

Came to this Sisters Pond.

Everything was in a state of tranquillity.

It makes you feel very calm to be walking in Alishan's forest.

So quiet, not even Birds chirping.

We like it so much.

This pavilion is so much like the ones we see in Gu Zhuang TV show hor!

Then we came to this heart-shaped tree trunk, it's natural!

not man made de.

"Love Forever".

And then we finally found some leftover Cherry Blossoms,

the ones which have yet to wither,

waiting for us. :D

Next time must come earlier lah! hehe.

Super many photos, I can only select some to upload.

Hungry again after 2 hours walk.

Had dinner at this restaurant, set meal at TWD500 (around SGD21.50) for 2.

Too much for us to finish, and not very nice leh. :(

Dessert and Roasted milk tea from my favourite store in TW, 7 Eleven!

hehe, liked the container.

The ice cream cost about SGD4, not that cheap but still cheaper than what we have in Sg.

We always like to eat ice cream when it was already very cold!

Think got 10degrees that night? hahaha.

Back to hotel to rest.

Heading to Nantou area the next day, prayed no earthquake!

And blessed we are.

Next blog entry will be on Sun Moon Lake and Ching Jing. :)

Taking veryyy long to put up blog entries bcos got to compile the photos.

always a challenge after every holiday trip! lol.

But got to do it for our keepsake.

love,

Jace.

Pre-Birthday with 新蛊惑仔gang. :D

Had dinner at BistroBar Rochester Park.

Grilled fish with spicy avaocado and mango salsa on top of fluffy couscous rice.

I liked this.

But I liked this more!!

Crayfish Pasta, so good! yumss. 

Definitely going back for this.

The smell spreads to the other end of the dining table.

aiyo, so hungry now.

Had my only cake & candle this year from Pies & Coffee.

 

The sisters.

The Brothers.

and my only love, he's all I can wish for.

We hit the Club!

First time at Butterfactory,

warmly invited by Lesmin (one of Liwen's good friend).

The music not so updated leh.

Liked Phuture more.

But we havent been to it for more than a yr,

music may have already changed lol!

Had some champagne, shots & Vodka.

Not that much to make everyone high enough though. hahas.

Really like gangsters lol.

Thanks to everyone, I had a great Pre-Bday night and lovely Wristlet! :))

Happy Bit.

Looking forward to Birthday Taiwan Trip with dear yan!

loves.

Korean BBQ Birthday dinner with family and dear boyfriend at CitySquare.

Super bloated. hehe.

muchloves.

Meiying's 24th Birthday dinner with BFFs at Porn's!

I don't need alot of friends, I just need those who'll be my by side no matter what :)

It was my first time trying Porn's Sexy Thai Food.

These are the 2 dishes out of the few that night which left an impression.

Tom Yum Soup.

it's only SGD$12.90 per pot, this BIG!

we ordered the chicken one.

were saying if the 4 of us shared only this..with rice.

Our dinner would have been so damn cheap lolll.

I'm a fan of hot and spicy.

Love this fish "soup/gravy"

Super hot and strong lime taste.

Me likey!

Present from Wanyan :)

Present from Alicia :)

Reading your cards made me nostalgic in some way.

Thank you girls for growing up with me! loves.

And also, special thanks to Mr Jake for being the photographer that night.

muacksss.

Updated 14 blog posts in one shot. 

So many backlog bcos couldnt find the time & energy to blog.

But cant bear to give up leh, for our personal records ma. hehe.

Do click on "older posts" if you are one of the few who still visits. :)

Mellben Seafood 

232 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3

#01-1222

Tel: 62856762

The queue was crazy on a Sat night.

We queued for 1hr25mins,

waitied 20 minutes for food to be served.

To our surprise,

most of the people queuing were youngsters.

Nowadays all so rich, so young can afford to eat seafood liao. haha.

FYI, they dont take in phone reservation.

So you have to go there physically to queue.

Ping papa and mama were so patient to join the line.

the rest of us went AMK Hub to get Koi so as to kill time and the fight the hunger. lol.

deer meat.

nice mantouuu.

love this toufu with pork floss.

my favourite salted egg crab! :D

Crab bee hoon soup.

V crabby taste lol.

Dont really like the milky base.

Still prefer the salted egg crab. hehe.

Thanks Yueh Shyang and Wan Fen for the treat! :)

Marble Slab at PS new wing.

rated good. will go back for it.

hehe recently on waffle ice cream attacks.

Tell me how to have small tummy. lol.

Liwen's birthday brunch at Arbite!

It's just opposite Chomp Chomp.

Egg Ben.

榜下有名，

only slightly better than Rider's Cafe.

I didnt finish this, can only take in calories for nice food.

Cannot grow fat for nothing right. lol.

Truffle fries.

not bad.

But will go for House at Barrack's.

Pauline & Edwin.

Jace & Jake.

Delvin & Liwen.

Lifen & Bao Long.

Liwen, Reyers & Pauline.

Since it was so near Wimbly Lu,

decided to go back for desserts.

It's a different feel in the afternoon because of the see-through ceiling.

Happy Birthday Liwen!