Peiru - Travel Journal

Street market @ Frankfurt - Saturday

2015-06-16T20:13:00.000+08:00

Saturday at Frankfurt Street Market, there's always this crowded street filled with stalls selling sausages and hot dog bread, cheeses and other stuff.

It's pretty much where we usually settle our lunch when we land at Frankfurt most of the time.

If you are lucky, you may see mascots walking around.

You may see birds eating all the left over food along the chair area.

Bicycles parked at various places, usually under the tree.

7 days Romantic Road Trip - Germany

2015-06-15T20:08:00.000+08:00

So much about Paris, here's the update on the latest road trip that we went to lately..

We had about 7 days road trip in Germany, driving along the Romantic Road from Frankfurt to Munich..

The actual main romantic road was from Wurzburg to Fussen.

Reference: Image from Google Map Screenshot

The main things to plan for was that you need to have all the way points you need for romantic road especially if you are going to just have a DIY free and easy one where you book everything yourself. From the car rental to the hotel bookings. Here's one of the guide you can read: http://www.romanticroadgermany.com/general/travel.php

Nuremberg is not exactly part of the romantic road but it's a pretty big city with lots of shops but you can walk around it though.. I think you should just stay over for a day if you are actually going there. But because it's city, parking isn't cheap so make sure the hotel you are staying has either fixed full day / overnght parking rate or free parking in order not to burst your wallet.

Reference: Image from Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_parking

Also, you need to have the parking disc for some of the places you wish to visit.. You can either buy a parking disc or get one for free when you pump petrol (if you can get a translation for it to get your message across). I'd say that Munich petrol / diesel pricing was actually pretty good so if you don't really need to pump your petrol, you can pump them all when you reach munich. Otherwise, you would need to keep an eye on the prices as it varies along the road at the middle of it, it's the most expensive though.

The reason why you need a parking disc is because certain places allow you to park 1 or 2 hours for free then after which, you may get a fine.

Also, do take note that on Sunday or public holiday, there's no shopping area open so it's actually best to plan such that you are visiting sight seeing places on Sunday and not in any actual town / city (e.g. Nuremberg, Fussen, Munich, Frankfurt, etc).

If your car rental comes with GPS like ours, it would be perfect.

Paris - Disneyland

2015-06-14T15:35:00.002+08:00

Paris' Disneyland is definitely somewhere that you shouldn't miss visiting at least during your first trip there.. It's definitely worth your time.

Depending on when you are visiting, the decos might be slightly different.. like during my time, it was the 20th anniversary, so it had special decos, discount to the theme park's entry pass. We are even lucky enough to see the chingay like event at around 1hr prior to the closing of the theme park..

See more about disneyland at my original post: Paris Day 2 - Disneyland Tour

Paris Itinerary Planning

2015-06-13T15:21:00.000+08:00

I've been slacking on my posting for quite some time and I am going to continue it again..

Just to continue my post from here since I stopped at the transport pass.

When visiting Paris, it's best to plan your itinerary well. Because none of the malls or shopping area are open on public holidays or Sunday. As such, you should go to sight seeing places during such period. However, popular sites such as Disneyland has to be visited on a weekday because it would be so crowded with the locals as well if you do visit on Sunday.

This is definitely a short post as the next one would be able Disneyland :)

Also, should you visit during periods where the day time is long and night time is short, especially on public holidays or Sunday, please ensure that you have your dinner or at least order your dinner take away by 7 or 8pm otherwise.. there's a chance, depending on where you stay that there's actually no real food around the area. We got that before during our first trip there as it was a public holiday.. due to the bright sun.. it feels like 6pm even though it's already 8pm... by the time we reach our hotel near the airport.. there was nothing to eat, even the bar at the hotel was closed.. The only option we had and we were lucky to have some coins to buy snacks at the subway station vending machine for dinner.

So do be aware of that. It might be much better now.. but we always make sure we have food, we will do that for all the cities that we visit now :)

Paris Weekly Metro Pass - The Key to My Unlimited Train Rides..

2013-06-04T22:53:00.000+08:00

My Paris trip is mainly from Wed till Sun and I only need a 1 way ticket to the airport on Monday morning. So I decided to buy the Paris Weekly Metro pass as that's quite a lot cheaper than getting a 5 day pass + 1 way ticket. According to what I had read so far, the latest day of the week that you can get the pass is Wed, so even if it's cheaper, you can buy the ticket / topup after Wed. Also, this weekly pass is just flat pass from Monday till Sun last train.

The pass itself cost about EUR $5 and the weekly pass around EUR $39 if I remember correctly. Which is still way cheaper than the 5 day pass which costed about $57. If you ever buy this pass, keep it for the next trip as the card itself is non refundable anyway. Also, I came to realized that the best way to buy a one way ticket, especially if you stay near the airport is via the ticket machine. As I checked with the machine and found out that if I had bought from the machine it only costs about $8+ for 2 pax but because I bought it from them, it's $9.50 per ticket.

Reference: http://parisbytrain.com/paris-metro/ - here's where I got all the necessary information for price comparison.

This pass worked in the exact same way as our Singapore's EzLink card where we tap to go in and tap to leave the station. But not all station exits requires us to tap the card to exit. As visitors, it's best to abide by the rules, although I do observed that a number of their Paris "foreign talents" seems to by pass all the rules and enter station via all the loop holes possible. So keep your eyes open and look around for "interesting" sights.

As they also have many street and train performers around, if you don't plan to tip them for singing songs that we don't even understand, avoid them and look away, as they'll take some cups and walk around the train / bus or wherever they had performs for "tips".

From Taipei Airport to Taipei Main Station

2012-05-20T21:04:00.000+08:00

For my past 2 trips, we had been taking this same bus Kuo-Kuang (国光客运) 1819 from the Taipei Airport to Taipei Main Station and I find it pretty value for money. After all it's only TWD$125 per person which is < SGD$6. This bus is similar to a tour bus as it has this luggage compartment and they tagged every single luggage which means, we will need to exchange our tags for our luggage to prevent mistakes.

So far, the bus had served us pretty well. After all, you can get to anywhere from the Taipei Main Station.

However, only when we took the Hi-Speed Railway that we realised that Taipei was on one extreme end and Kaohsiung on the other. Which means, if our first stop after arrival is not Taipei itself, take a different bus to the Taoyuan Hi-Speed Railway Station might had been a better choice. But since, I'm going to buy my contact lens @ Taipei Main Station Area, it is still logical to go there first. :D

Watching Guess X 3 (观看你猜你猜你猜猜猜) @ Taipei

2012-05-16T20:30:00.000+08:00

I'm very blessed and glad that I'm able to visit the Guess Guess Guess (你猜你猜你猜猜猜) program during my first Taiwan trip. Although they usually have their recording slot on a monday, they might not have recording every week so, a lot of things really depend on our luck. I'm so lucky to make it for the slot. :D

The timing I got was 1.30pm to 7pm which the waiting time starts from 1.30pm and I think we only managed to get into the building for our session at around 2 to 2.30pm or so. So try to reach just on time instead of too early.

We opted to walk there and on our way, we passed by Auto 21, where they had this legal strike going on due to employees not being paid by that company.

Here's the photo where we press the voting button haha.. Thumbs up!

Led light, spinning dance performance...

Jacky Wu :D How I wish, I can take a photo with him.

The forfeit.. Actually, whether your guess is right or not, the balloon will still get pricked lol! So funny..

The guessing game

The music control "teacher"

How to Register:
Call: (02) 2781-3888 or Email: youguess3@gmail.com
Venue:
中視(台北市南港区重阳路118号)
CTV (No. 118, Chóngyáng Rd, Nangang District, Taipei City, Taiwan 115)

For more information, visit http://www.wretch.cc/blog/guess3 or http://www.facebook.com/youguess3312.

Note: You will only get the schedule of the program about < 3 weeks prior to the recording time. You will need to provide them with the number of people attending the program, and the contact person's name and contact number. So if you are getting a local SIM card, make sure that the number you had provided is reachable.

How to Get There:

By MRT / Bus:

Take MRT and alight at Nangang Exhibition Station
Take Bus Red 32 (红32) and alight at the 2nd stop. (There are a few other bus you can take but this is the fastest.)

By MRT / Foot: Alight at the Kunyang MRT Station, Exit 4 and walk for about 20-30mins according to map below.

Here's the rest of the photos I took at the show:

Xiao Ren Guo (小人国) @ Taipei (台北)

2012-05-13T22:05:00.000+08:00

Xiao Ren Guo (小人国) is a nice place to visit and spend 1 full day at. It's amazing to see the various iconic miniatures constructed for display at the area. It's feels like taking a trip around the "world" in 1 single day.

Taking photo with the liberty statue makes me feel like I've saved a trip to New York.

Here's the Pisa Tower - Italy

Drawing a lot just to try out how the machine works haha.. so cool.

I like their cute looking icons too.

Happily taking a train ride

I can't remember the name of this stones but it's one of the typical default windows wall paper that we get to set.

That's how tall each buildings can be and the details of the buildings are really very refined.

That's the blue sky

Ferry wheel which I didn't ride on

Japanese buildings

China Palace.. it's so much like those which I saw in China Dramas mini people included too.

Waterfall

The Great wall of China were we can admire the entire stretch within minutes :P

Feels like it's a 1 day "world" tour doesn't it?

Sunset @ Tamsui, Fishermen's Wharf (淡水, 渔人码头的夕阳)

2012-05-11T20:30:00.000+08:00

During my 2nd Taiwan Trip, I finally got a chance to watch the lovely sunset at the famous Tamsui - Fishermen's Wharf (淡水, 渔人码头). My dreams came true, with a free trip thanks to my boyfriend and my company - Jetstar. So I only need to pay for my spending during the trip :D I'm so blessed.

Here's the fishermen's boats perhaps...

That's a self taken photo with the strong wind blowing at my and the sun almost setting behind me

With my new camera (my birthday present), I managed to take a paranomic photo of the sunset and the area. Well, it's dark as the sun is setting..

Here's me with the sunset :D

There are 3 main area that you can watch the Sunset from, in fact, this place is in existence for the sake of admiring the beauty of the sunset.

The sunset platform (higher ground)
The protruding side of the harbour (lowest ground)
The lover's bridge
Well, the 4th place is unless you are lucky enough or is able to time very well, on the boat itself through the glass panel (if you do get the first row view), for this, no photos for you as it's really hard to take one with the moving boat.

Here's the sunset platform, built to admire the beautiful sunset. On a weekday, you might get a chance to see the beauty of the sunset along with the reflection on the floor.

Here's the sunset there I took at the 2nd location, sitting on the stones of the harbour where people are fishing at. I felt closer to the sunset here.

This is a miniature photo of the lover's boat with a speeding boat. As it's kind of too far for me to reach after taking so many sunset photos, by the time, I'm there, the sun had set already.

This is the view of the other side of the bridge, where you might get to see sunrise (cos the other side is sunset, so this side must be the sun rise).

Here's the lover's bridge, with a couple on the bridge and it's not us :P The night view here is nice because of the lights that are on once the sun sets..

Here's a glimpse of the shops next to the harbour, where they existed, I felt, to support tourism in the area.

How to get here:

This place is in Taipei, Tamsui MRT Station (台北，淡水捷运站).
Take either a bus (about 1/4 the price but slower, Red 26);
or Take the boatTWD$50 (1 way) / TWD$100 (return) to Fishermen's Wharf around sunset timing, preferably on a weekday (remember my last trip's lesson at Tamsui?)

More photos of the Lovely Sunset @ Tamsui, Fisherman's Wharf

Visit to Tamsui (淡水半日游)

2012-05-06T15:42:00.000+08:00

My main itineraries for the day during my first Taipei trip was to:

Visit The Red Castle (红楼)
Visit The schools
Eat the famous A-Gei (阿给)
Visit The weird museum (搜奇博物馆)
Watch the Sunset at the Fishermen's Wharf (渔人码头)

Before you visit that place, make sure that you had downloaded the Taiwan Tourism board's flyer on Tamsui where it shares with you the various places to visit and other details.

As mentioned previously, during our visit to Mika Coffee for lunch, the friendly uncle gave us these 2 slips of notes :D

Alighting at the Tamsui MRT Station (淡水捷运站) in Taipei (台北), I notice quite a number of portrait painting booths.

Most importantly, we need to take a photo of the Tamsui Map to help navigate around the area

As the A-Gei (阿给) shop closes at 3pm, we hurried to locate that place and have a taste of the food.

Address: 6-1号淡水真理街，台北 (No. 6-1, Zhenli Street, Tamsui District, Taipei)
Tel: 02-2621 1785

This famous local delicacy dish is steamed with stuffed mince pork, braised crystal noodles and sealed with ﬁsh paste, served with specially blended sweet and sour sauce. I would say that it's more of a acquired taste kind of food, although many people recommends it. For me, it isn't really my taste. But I would say that you should at least try it once to be able to figure out for yourself if you do like it or not.

Here's the various schools in Tamsui that's opening for tourist visits...

This is certainly an interesting sight as I didn't expect to see this within a secondary school.

To cool down from the hot weather, I decided to give the rose ice-cream a try. The shop really know where to place their advertisements to tempt me for the ice-cream. It's pretty nice looking but because the petals are made from raspberry ice cream it's really too sour for my taste buds. I should do better for a strawberry flavored pink flower will definitely suits me more. I love sweet ice-creams :P And if only the ice-cream petals can be placed in such a manner that it won't just keep dripping due to the hot weather, it'll be even better.

Here's a photo of the red castle (红楼). It's really pretty hard to locate, so you really need to look out for the signboards and it's on top of a hill or was that actually another building? Anyway, I think it might look better at night, with the nice looking light and ambiance but in the morning, it doesn't look that crowded and isn't as nice as what it looks on the photos. See the nice looking photo below:

If you are interested, look out for the big red castle signboard along ZhongZhen Road Ave 14 (中正路14巷). It's up the steep staircases at a hidden lane.

We managed to visit the weird museum (搜奇博物馆) and would say that apart from all the weird looking creatures and specimens inside, I noticed that there are quite a number of such museums during my 2nd visit to Taiwan. We didn't visit the 2nd one as it really looks pretty much similar and it's exceptionally crowded on a weekend.

From the look of the queue in this photo, it's like 4 lines worth of queue that we need before we get to the Fishermen's Wharf (渔人码头).

And here's the sunset that after seeing it disappearing above sea level, I decided not to take the boat anymore. Lesson learnt: Visit such tourist attractions on a weekday is much better!

and the boat continues to serve the rest that are in the queue...

This is one of the nice dessert that I had during my trip, not a lot of food around and I'm pretty hungry then :D

Here's where I bought my hello kitty name tag haha... The one I wore to work :D, it's pretty cute.

This is the nice shop where we pass by with nice tasting "cow horns", which is a pretty hard but tasty bread.

Here's the rest of the photos from my trip today:

erer

Sunset @ Telok Blangah Hill Park

2012-05-03T23:14:00.000+08:00

Taking a break from my various Taiwan posts to say something about Singapore :D The Telok Blangah Hill Park is one of the nice scenic parks in Singapore that's worth a visit during the Sunset timings, thanks to the beautiful Sunset sky view that you can see from the park itself. (Well, if you read further, you will know, why it's just the sky and not the sun in focus)

Depending on your camera's settings, you can get different sky shades of the sunset view. I'm blessed with the early appearance of a full round moon, prior to the actual sunset. I love the nice sky view at the top of the mountain.

Here's one with a much bluer sky with a total different setting from the above.

With luck, I managed to capture a shot of a loving couple after their run together at the park, and the moon at the background too.

Every journey starts with the very first step of our foot :D Yeah, this is pretty much out of the point actually. But it's the last shot of my pretty white boots that didn't last that long. After all, what do you expect from a AUD$25 boots?

The plants in the area are pretty as well

The lovely looking tent-like shelter for us to take a break under it.

It's a pity that the actual sunset is not located on the nicer side of the park. Perhaps the sunrise might be at the right position but when will I ever wake up early enough to take a photo of that? *wondering*

Here's the sun, setting behind the trees at another side of the park.

Still, it gives a pretty view of the reddish looking sky and nice trees :) After all, we are actually there for a stroll and not exactly there to take photo of the sunset. I'm pretty blessed to catch the sun setting though.

With the sun gone, here's a glimpse of the strong vine stretching itself below the big strong tree..

The stairs and the lights are now on...

Here's my pretty looking face :D with the nice looking sky behind me.

Address: Telok Blangah Green off Henderson Road

How to get there: Talk Bus 176 from Blk 44 Bus Stop, Opp. Telok Blangah MRT Station

If you travel along the Henderson Road, you will pass by the Henderson Bridge, which is another pretty nice place to go for a walk for the nice scenery.

Live Performance @ Xinyi District (信义区)

2012-04-26T21:10:00.000+08:00

Along the Xinyi District area, mainly at Taipei City Hall Station (市政府站) area, near Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (新光三越), there are various live performances in this area, most of which I noticed are singing or band related performances.

During crowded night time, there are even traffic police standing in the middle of the road, controlling traffic conditions. This is really something very common that I've been observing at various more crowded area of Taipei. In fact, I believe the police might have been there every night, just to ensure that the traffic will be smooth.

This group is perhaps the most popular performers on the street as they mainly performs and sell their CDs of their music with lots of crowd surrounding them, enjoying their performance. I would say that their performance is really pretty good. :)

Apart from Chinese performance, there's also this black american guy (I think), playing guitar and singing on the street.

Goodwell Cheese House (固德威) @ Eslite Xinyi Store (诚品信义店)

2012-04-19T22:07:00.000+08:00

My favorite Cheese House @ Xinyi District (信义区).

The Cheese set meal that comes with 3 dipping and breads.

The sausage platter

Address: 台北市，松高路11号B2
远企店台北市，敦化南路二段203号 B2
Hotline: 02 2892 0365
Website: www.g-well.com.tw

How to get here:

Take MRT (捷运) and alight at Taipei City Hall Station (市政府站) . Exit the building and look around. It should be quite obvious.

Note: There's a minimal spending at this place on a per person basis. We usually have our heavier breaks there, e.g. lunch / dinner. If you did bring the ANZ or Citibank Credit Cards over, you might be entitled to some promotion. :D But I didn't bring mine

Xinyi Shopping District (信义区)

2012-04-15T21:16:00.000+08:00

Obviously, there's the usual (atlas) shopping center: Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (新光三越). A pretty common and grand shopping mall in Taiwan. It reminds me of Takashimaya (Ngee Ann City) from Singapore, where the higher floors from level 1 onward sells branded stuff and the basement sells food and other interesting stuff that are less expensive.

Too bad, we aren't there late enough to see the Japanese Exhibition... (日本商品展).

It's at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (新光三越) where they celebrates Taiwan's 100 anniversary or was it their own anniversary? Whichever the case, it doesn't matter as there's really huge sales going on, with some of the counter cosmetic products selling at around 70% discount!! I almost bought the eye mask set they are selling if it comes in smaller packs at similar prices.

Address: No. 9, Sōngshòu Road , Sinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110
新光三越信义店, 9号，松寿路，信义区，台北市，台湾110
You just need to exit from the Taipei City Hall Station (市政府站) and you will be able to see this place.

Of course, along that stretch of road, there are other high class shopping area as well..

Inside one of those shopping malls, I saw this interesting looking seats of a restaurant / cafe I guess, where it has little sushi figuring, hanging on top of big human size cups where people gets to sit inside them.

And there's this antique type writer that I can't help taking photo of at the Eslite Shopping Mall.

And this is the Eslite Bookstore and Shopping Mall at the Xinyi Shopping District (信义区). This is just next to Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (新光三越) building.

There's a water feature in front of one of the shopping malls.

One interesting sight is that I saw a DBS building in this area!! So proud to be a Singaporean as our banks are located at one of their high class district area. :D

Xinyi District (信义区) - Taipei City Hall Station (市政府站)

2012-04-11T21:14:00.003+08:00

At Taipei City Hall Station (市政府站), apart from all the high class (atlas) shopping experience, you also get to see Taipei 101 and various interesting structures. All you need to do is to alight at the Taipei City Hall MRT Station (市政府站) and get out of the building.

You will see the wheelchair like seats, where kids enjoy playing with.

The robot like statue...

With some luck, you might see other structures around like this "RICH" structure next to one of the shopping malls that I can't help taking photos with.

Here's me imitating the book reading panda :P

And Me again, just wanna feel rich and waving the notes in front of the middle panda..

and me again with my last pose with the cute RICH pandas.. :D

WuFenPu Fashion Area (五分埔)

2012-04-07T22:20:00.004+08:00

As mentioned previously, the Houshanpi Station (后山埤站) is a commoner shopping area where Wu Fen Pu Fashion Area (五分埔) is located at. Near the area, was the Rainbow Bridge (彩虹桥) and Raohe St. Night Market (饶河街观光夜市).

Here's the map to the area:

Address: 台北市信义区五分埔 (110, Taiwan, Taipei City, Sinyi District, Wufenpu)

How to get there: As shown on the map above, Take the MRT (捷运) to Houshanpi Station (后山埤站), Take Exit 1.

Once you reach the Wu Fen Pu Fashion Area (五分埔), you will see lots of fashion shopping area. As I was there too early so mostly what we see are mainly those few shops that are opened which is the kids shopping zone. There's an entire stretch of shopping street selling just kids and dogs clothes!!

Finally, we reach somewhere that sells adults fashion clothes but due to the weather being autumn, most of the clothes are preparing for winter so we didn't managed to get anything. (I was here at around mid to end Oct)

Of course, we managed to find some tasty butter Crepes (可丽饼) sold by Mr Crepes (可丽饼先生)

Spotted a very cute and interesting looking helmet.

Quite a number of Temples is located in the area...

With an interesting street decoration...

Here's the rainbow bridge!! Wasn't interesting in the day probably it's the decoration and lighting at night that's interesting but I was too tired after various days of shopping and walking around to walk over and take a look again when night falls.

Here's the yellow bridge nearby as well.

There's the Raohe Night Market (饶河街观光夜市) just a short walk from the Rainbow bridge but because it's only opened from 4pm, we gave it a miss and didn't visit it again at night. Neither did we drop by during our next trip. It's in my bro and sis-in-law's itinerary so let's see what they got to say about this night market when they get back :)

Shopping @ Sinyi District (信义区)

2012-04-02T22:28:00.001+08:00

At Sinyi District (信义区), there's 2 main shopping area:

Taipei City Hall Station (市政府站) - High Class (Atlas) Shopping Area
Houshanpi Station (后山埤站) - Commoner Shopping Area - Wu Fen Pu Shopping District (五分埔)

As recommended by our guide book, for full day tour, we should visit the Taipei City Hall Station (市政府站) first, followed by Houshanpi Station (后山埤站) as the Wu Fen Pu Shopping District (五分埔) is more of a night market type of place, so a lot of the shops aren't quite opened too early in the morning.

However, during my first Taiwan trip, I didn't quite noticed this part and ended up visiting the places in the opposite order which means, I was shopping at a almost dead town as the shops aren't mostly opened, with lots of stores selling dog clothing (that resembles kids clothes) and real kids clothing. So, the Taipei City Hall Station (市政府站) is still opened at night so not that bad. Just that we probably need to visit the Wu Fen Pu Shopping District (五分埔) again the next time round.

We learned a lesson of reading the recommended guide area prior to the trip in order not to waste our precious travelling time. :)

The good thing is that, we still got to see the Taipei 101 building in both day and night view. The night one is pretty much more spectacular than the day view thought. So, I'm still pretty glad that I was nearer to the building when night falls.

My Melbourne Trip - Mar 2012

2012-03-28T22:45:00.022+08:00

While I'm at Taiwan, here's some of the photos from the Melbourne work trip for you to look at. It's a pretty busy and hectic trip, as I was practically attending meeting during the entire trip. Although I got the chance to buy certain stuff back, I missed Haigh's chocolates.. As the shop was always closed by the time I was off work. Perhaps, it's not one of the most memorable and fun trips I had, it's one with lots of nice food.

Of course, I've got piggy with me during my trip as I ended up sitting at the Economy class ride on my way there. Luckily, the seat space is pretty reasonable for a long haul flight so I still managed to get some sleep. I still prefer to sit in the Business Class rides as I personally find it more comfortable than normal SQ / Qantas Economy rides as the seat space is better. Also, now we had the screen attached to the back of the seat like most other full class carriers although the actual movie experience is a option in one.

Hollywood After Hours @ Universal Studio - Sentosa

2012-03-23T22:26:00.004+08:00

So much about my Taiwan Trip, here's some sharing on the Universal Studio at Sentosa (Singapore). As I don't think I'll dare to take the rides, so I went for the $5 per person Hollywood After Hours to take a look around the street, take photos and watch the fireworks. :) The timing of this event is from around 7pm to 10pm (only on Fri and Sat).

I'm pretty glad that I actually called up their hotline @ +65 6577 8888 to find out about their operating hours before visiting, otherwise, I'd waste a trip down on the wrong day of the week.

Do check out what they have and their ticket prices before your visit if you are keen to visit as well. Not sure why but there wasn't much info about the Hollywood after hours's event. For me, my main plan was to watch the fireworks from inside Universal Studio, which is the "Lake Hollywood Spectacular" event at 9pm. If you do visit only the after hours part, this is something not to be missed.

Beware of standing too close to the lake as the heat from the fireworks and sound created might give you a shock at times.

On a normal Friday night, the crowd of the Malaysian Food Street is pretty much manageable and acceptable. But if you do visit on a Saturday or Public Holiday period, here's something you might see...

This photo was taken on one of the Chinese New Year holidays period and the street was packed with people even before you can ever enter the area. OMG!!

But you do get to see nice decorations like these dragons...

This gift shop is located outside the Universal Studio.

Don't forget to take more pictures for sake keeping :)

Don't bother trying the bubble tea at Only You Desserts. The mascot is cute and the logo is nice, the bubble tea is reasonably priced but the taste was pretty much off. The pearls are pretty mushy and doesn't have that chewy feeling that I like. The tea is just so-so...

For this price I had paid for the Hollywood After Hours experience and watching of the Lake Hollywood Spectacular, it's pretty valued for money. As for the full Universal Studio experience, it's something for you to find out. After all, my sister-in-law visited that place about 3 times so far, so it got to be pretty fun I guess. She highly recommend the 4D movie experiences as well. Of which, I might find one weekday to try that out.

Here's the rest of the photos...

Me & My Travel Blog

2012-03-18T23:07:00.043+08:00

Hi,

Just to side track a little from my usual tour / trip reviews, I will share with you today one of the reasons why I setup and wrote this blog. Apart from sharing my view point with others and wanting to help others who might also be interested to perhaps planned on their trips to the places I had been as well, this blog helps me to track on the places that I had been to as well. It helps me in locating each interesting places that I might want to visit again the next time round, so that it's actually easier to find my way around. :)

If you do know me as a friend, you would know that apart from my dream to travel around the world, one of my dreams is also to achieve financial freedom. So that I can wake up everyday, feeling happy and carefree. I would say that there's 101 or more ways to achieve my financial freedom target / dream, from MLM (multi-level marketing) business, investments, internet marketing, to even doing your own business. Opportunities are actually everywhere, I just need to find that one that suit me most. Hopefully, it'll be me doing whatever that I do best and enjoying my life during the process.

I had friends that called to ask me join the travel MLM company which sounds interesting at first but as I think more into it, is that really something that suits me? If I'm an end-consumer, will I pay that much money to enjoy that kind of discounts, I asked myself? Well, if you know my character, the answer is certainly no. I usually go on free and easy trips and do self planning on my own itineraries. I get to go for trips where I can spent way less money as compared to a tour package.

Do you know that for my last Taiwan trip (8 days, 7 nights), I spent merely ~$500 per person on flights and hotels. Btw, that was confirmed flight and hotels. Probably ~$500-600 of pocket money mainly on the items that we bought home. After all, I bought a nice looking bag and 2 pairs of expensive shoes, which contributes to the bulk of the expenditure.

As compared to the $700 Hong Kong (5 days, 4 nights) trip offer that my friend told me, it wasn't exactly very attractive. To me, backpacking was the experience and the process on how we can get the best deals within our knowledge so that we have more budget to do shopping :P So in the end, I decided that I should just reject the kind offer of my friends and perhaps work on my personal stock investment plan to achieve my dreams instead.

That's all about me. I hope my blog had helped you in one way or another and you will come back to read more.

Thanks for reading. :)

Modern Toilet

2012-03-14T22:21:00.000+08:00

Modern Toilet Restaurant
*Photo Taken By: Norman Foo

Saw the very cute looking Modern Toilet Restaurant photo from my friend's photo album. From the various photos, it really looks very cute haha.. This wasn't in the guide book that I've bought so I didn't actually visit it during my last trip. From the looks of my friend's comment, it doesn't sound like the food is nice lol!

He says it's a short walk within Xi Men Ding (西门町). Maybe I'll drop by just to take a look during my next trip at the end of the month.

Dinner @ Xiao Nan Men (小南门)

2012-03-10T22:00:00.001+08:00

Xiao Nan Men (小南门) was where we had dinner at when we were at the Taipei Main Station area. I would say that the food is nice and value for money.

I love the steamed cod fish

Steam Pork Bun is nice too

Location: 台北市北平西路3号2楼
within Breeze Centre at 3 Beiping West Road Level 2

MUJO to GO (无印良品)

2012-03-06T22:46:00.002+08:00

Quite a number of interesting products to see, mainly convenient products meant for travelling or on the go people. Here, we bought many-in-1 colored pens and a mini calculator at pretty value for money prices as compared to Singapore. A place you can consider visiting during your trip.

Location: 台北市北平西路3号2楼
within Breeze Centre at 3 Beiping West Road Level 2

Souvenir Store (手信坊) - Moji

2012-03-02T22:04:00.022+08:00

The nice and tasty Moji which I take away a box of moji, to eat on my flight back. According to the shop assistant, if I keep my moji in the fridge once I reach home, I can keep it for about 1 week.

Here's the chocolate flavour one which I bought a box. I love the not-so-sweet formula and the chocolaty taste.

Here's the dark sugar flavour moji with red bean paste which I only bought 1 back to try as there's no sample. It tasted great too! Finished that on the plane home :P

Address: Breeze Centre (微風台北車站) on top of Taipei Main Station, level 2 as well.

Dancing Rice, Almond Tea (陈记：舞斗米杏仁擂茶)

2012-02-27T22:26:00.003+08:00

I had a walk after dinner along the Taipei Main Station and found this Dancing Rice Shopping Cart near Muji To Go. I think it's at level 2.

After trying their teas, I decided to get myself the Almond Tea flavour of the Dancing Rice as that's what I liked most. Actually, I wanted to get more but due to luggage weight issue, I only got one box. :)

Will get more should I visit again as it serves me well as breakfast in the office for about 2 months or so.

Website: www.dancingrice.com.tw

Tel: 07-6140-068
Order Hotline: 07-6163-968
Location: 台北市北平西路3号2楼
within Breeze Centre at 3 Beiping West Road Level 2, near Muji to Go

Other Locations in Taipei:
SOGO復興店(專櫃), B3F, SOGO復興館(專櫃)
大葉高島屋百貨(專櫃), B1F, 陳記、舞斗米