Lobster paints...

Travelogue: Taiwan 2012 - Yonghe Lehua Night Market 永和樂華觀光夜市 #TTOT #Travel #Taiwan #Food #LP

2013-05-21T08:30:00.000+08:00

After a rather unsuccessful trip down to Wulai 烏來 (Read about our experience here...) during the earlier part of the day. And to ease the slight disappointment, we decided to honor ourselves with a round of feasting at yet another night market in Taipei! Read on to find out more! :)

[Taiwan September 2012]

24th Sep 2012 - Day 13 @ Yonghe Lehua Night Market

The initial intention was to head over to Sunset Market 智光黄昏市场 at Zhiguang Street in the Yonghe district where the food stalls will roll out during dusk and serve homely dishes at affordable prices. But because of a small miscommunication while we were asking for directions, we ended up at Lehua Night Market 樂華觀光夜市 instead!

Well, it isn't all bad after all... I supposed we found another place that is equally good!

Just like the Sunset Market, the food stall vendors at Lehua Night Market will start to line the side of the streets gradually at dusk as we inch into the night. Eventually a normal street in the day gradually evolves into a bustling food street at night! Although there's so many attractive food stalls, we were craving for something rewarding to the taste buds and decided to start off at one of the eateries serving a typical Teppanyaki style grills.

Ah Tai Grill and Spaghetti House 阿泰鐵板燒
Address: No. 21, Bǎopíng Rd, Yonghe District New Taipei City 新北市永和區保平路18巷21號

Complimentary Cream of Corn and Seaweed and Egg soup...

Japanaese Chicken and Mushroom Curry with spaghetti

Teppanyaki Chicken with garlic, scallions and chilli served with a platter of mixed vegetables and rice.

There were a couple of eateries along the same street that serves grill and since we're not too sure which one is good, we just pick the first one that looks the most appealing to us. I cannot remember the exact amount we paid for the meal but I do remembered the food was good and definitely worth the price we paid for. And not forgetting the fact that service was great and swift!

After our sit-down dinner and while exploring the streets of the night market, we spotted this stall in one of the alleys serving Thai mango salad with a snaking queue! But we didn't want to waste time standing in the queue but I am still wondering if it is really that good! Hmmm...

Milk tea with traditional tapioca balls or what we know commonly as pearls now! Got a small cup (at an affordable NT 35) to try it and love how fragrant the milk tea was and the tapioca balls were really chewy and delectable!

Marlin fish paste on stick 旗鱼串

We were attracted by the preparations for each stick and we had to stop and buy one stick to try for our own! They fried the Marlin fish paste with a slice of hard boiled egg filling inside before serving with a dash of their homemade sweet chilli sauce, salt and pepper. Every stick costs NT 15 and I would say that it tasted more than scrumptious with soft and chewy insides while it is crispy outside. I love the mix of textures with every bite!

Trio Seafood Soup 三鮮羹

What attracted us this time was this endless stream of crowd (irregardless of dine-ins or takeaways) at this particular store serving seafood soup and Taiwanese rice cake. The soup is served with three variations of ingredients namely the prawns, crab meat and mackerel. And we went for the choice with a mix of all three ingredients! In that bowl, we had more ingredients than soup and all of the seafood items were all so fresh!

To add, you can actually opt for additional noodles, beehoon or vermicelli at NT 10 for a portion if you'd like to make your choice a complete meal.

A nightly affair at every night market we visit, the legendary STINKY TOFU!

And with that, we ended our little exploration at a less touristy night market in Taipei and we're glad that we had an equally great evening with great food too! No doubt, Taiwan is a true food haven. No matter where you end up at, there's bound to be someone somewhere to serve you something worth additional attention!

More posts from Taiwan September 2012 travelogue series:

Foto Friday: Roti Jala/ Roti Kirai

2013-05-10T08:30:00.000+08:00

Roti Kirai @ Pu3 Restaurant

Roti Jala or Roti Kirai is derived from the Malay words where the word roti means bread and jala means net or kirai will simply means an endless line. From what I understood, the people in Malaysia will call this dish Roti Jala while the people here in Singapore will use the term Roti Kirai. And irregardless of which name is used, the laced crepes are usually eaten with curry or served alternatively as a sweet with serawa (a mixture of boiled coconut milk, brown sugar and pandan leaves).

If you've been following me on Twitter (@lobsterpaints), you would have noticed that I recalled this dish from my childhood and I've been craving for it ever since! I've been around and searching high and low for it but to no avail. So you can imagine how joyful I was the other day when I found it over lunch hour somewhere near where I work!

There and then, a life lesson occurred to me.
We might try all means and ways or try so hard to find the "treasure" we yearn to have. At times, we even give up trying because we think we've given our best searching for it. But sometimes whatever we are looking for is probably right there in front of us or right there under our noses! So instead of forcing our way through in future, we should really take a step back to get a clearer overview before proceeding all in all! Keep calm and go on!

Travelogue: Taiwan 2012 - Wulai 烏來 & Bitan 碧潭 #TTOT #Travel #Taiwan #Food #LP

2013-05-07T08:30:00.000+08:00

After a whirlwind of moving around the island of Taiwan for almost two weeks, we are finally back in Taipei for a last round of sightseeings there before heading home! I've heard all about the scenic Wulai 烏來 and didn't manage to visit the place during my first trip to Taiwan. So here we go... Wulai! :D

[Taiwan September 2012]

24th Sep 2012 - Day 13 @ Wulai & Bitan

Even though Wulai is located in Taipei itself, it is actually quite a distance from civilisation. We had to wake up early in the morning, hop on the MRT bound for Xindian Station 新店站 from Taipei Main Station 台北車站 before transferring to bus from Xindian Station headed for Wulai! There and then, we managed to arrive at Wulai slightly before noon time.

If you're going to ask me which bus, I'm gonna have to tell you to ask the Visitor Centre counter there at the MRT station because I can't recall anymore! :P

Wulai 烏來

Welcome to Wulai!

Wulai 烏來 is a small mountain village located down south of Taipei and its name was derived from the Atayal 泰雅 phrase kirofulai meaning hot and poisonous. But of course, the hot springs at Wulai are clear, transparent, colorless and odorless carbonic acid springs and no where close to being poisonous actually!

However, there's more than just the hot springs there! You can immerse yourself in awesome food and culture at the old street, sightseeings via the sightseeing trail train or cable car and not forgetting the Wulai Waterfall! If you're looking for a place for all day relax and recreation in Taipei, I guess this is the best place for you! :)

Tonghua River 桶後溪

Nanshi River 南勢溪

The two rivers that intersects at Wulai are namely the Tonghou River and Nanshi River. Aside from the hot spring waters that flow through these rivers, you can do river tracing and enjoy the scenic trekking session or take too!

In addition, other than the luxurious hot spring experience in the hot spring resorts at Wulai, you can opt to enjoy an equally holistic hot spring experience along Nanshi River just like the locals! Such a pity that I didn't know that we can actually do that or I'll definitely go prepared and join the locals and enjoy a hot spring session right in the midst of the beauty of mother nature! :)

Wulai Old Street 烏來老街

Both sides of the street is lined with eateries serving authentic aboriginal cuisines, food stalls offering traditional aboriginal snacks and even souvenir stores. Thankfully it was a weekday when we decided to head over to Wulai, there is absolutely no crowds at all! :)

Grandma's Shop 阿嬷的店

We walked passed one eatery with the signboard that reads "60 years old shop" and that's what caught our eyes since we were eager to try some authentic and traditional aboriginal cuisine. And since it was almost lunch time when we arrived at Wulai Old Street, we stop and have our lunch there to satisfy our hunger.

We ordered a couple of dishes like Deep-fried Fresh Catch, Omelette and Mountain Vegetable Soup to share between the both of us. While the omelette is quite normal, I thought the other two dishes were interesting to me!

To highlight, the Deep-fried Fresh Catch platter consisted of shrimps and small fishes so fresh that they were just coated with minimal batter and then deep fried till golden and crispy. There's also no need for any accompanying sauces!

And even though we were told that the waterfall is quite a distance away, we proceeded to take a slow walk down Wenquan St 温泉街 and Pubu Rd 瀑布路 after the scrumptious lunch. Here are some of the shots along the way...

A hungry looking stray... But hey, we're not food yeah?

Wulai's Hydroelectric Power station

Don't you think there's a major rustic touch to this beautiful view?

Us with the power station and river behind...

Wenquan Street just before Lovers Pathway 情人步道...

Morning dew...

We didn't manage to take either the cable car ride or the trail train since both services were actually destroyed during the typhoon that hit Taiwan and not yet fixed prior to our visit. And even before the morning dew managed to evaporate away, it started raining while we were halfway through the walk up to see the waterfall. Caught in the middle of nothing but a stretch of road without shelters in front, we had to abort the mission and took shelter at the Wulai Atayal Museum back at Wulai Old Street! :(

Wulai Atayal Museum 烏來泰雅民族博物館

Website: http://www.atayal.ntpc.gov.tw/index2en-us.php?link=about_3

Wulai Atayal Museum

Since we were taking shelter at the museum, we checked out the exhibits at the same time and we managed to learn more about the Taiwanese aboriginal people's folklore! Very interesting actually! Check out some of the exhibits we saw there...

Mapping the number of aboriginal people in Taiwan...

Traditional folklore fabric... Very colourful! :)

Knives and weapons used in the various aboriginal groups and some interactive exhibits too!

The weather forecast for that day when we chose to visit Wulai isn't very favorable actually so when the rain subsided a little, we had to make the run and catch the bus back to civilisation. Such a pity that we didn't manage to do anything much after anticipating the trip there!

But oh well, I'm definitely going to revisit and make sure I am more prepared for any unpredictable weathers! :D

Bitan 碧潭
If you already made plans to make your way over to Wulai, it really doesn't hurt to just drop by Bitan for an afternoon stroll since it is located just behind Xindian Station!

Walking over to Bitan from Xindian Station... Just less than 20 steps away!

The Xindian River branches off the Tamsui River and winds its way through Bitan area where the lake's steep cliffs and aquamarine waters defines the scenic spot. The area is actually suitable for canoeing, fishing, barbecuing, rowing and exploring nature. And not forgetting, the eastern shore where we arrived at from Xindian Station is lined with a park with viewing stands and terraces with eateries too! To me, the area does resembles a less developed version Clarke Quay in Singapore and it is definitely a good place for people to relax and enjoy their weekend!

And just like what I mentioned in my previous post on Sun Moon Lake, Bitan is also one of the eight famous attractions in Taiwan!

No matter what is your nationality, you've got to be a responsible dog owner!

So looking forward to seeing something like that in the parks here in Singapore!

Ok, there's nothing in this picture but I really need some help here! Anyone knows how to read the Chinese character on the signage?

And with that, that wraps up our day at Wulai and Bitan! Do stay tuned for next post for the Taiwan September 2012 series where we went around for a last round of night market musings! :D

More posts from Taiwan September 2012 travelogue series:

101 One Pot Meal Recipes: Hiyashi chuka x Cha Soba (Japanese Cold Noodles) #recipe

2013-04-26T08:30:00.000+08:00

If you have noticed, I'm quite a travel junky. And in order to make every trip even more worthwhile, I've made a mental note to try and pick up (steal is what I really mean) some recipes of my favorite dishes from the locals I met over every trip. And here I am with the first one I'm trying to replicate from my trip to Taiwan (September 2012)!

The temperatures in Taiwan during our trip was pretty merciless and the best solution to cool down after a long day out has got to be a hearty platter of Japanese cold noodles! It is one dish we'll never fail to return to the convenience store every night to bring back to the comforts of our room as supper!

Hiyashi Chuka x Cha Soba

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:
400g dried Cha soba noodles
4 eggs, hard boiled
12 seafood sticks, shredded
2 Cucumbers, grated
3 Carrots, grated
1 bottle Kinnogomadare sesame dressing with roasted nuts
Sesame oil

Method:
1. Follow instructions on packaging and blanch dried soba noodles.
2. Drizzle sesame oil until the noodles are evenly coated. Leave to chill in the refrigerator.
3. Grate cucumbers and carrots. Dry them properly before leaving to chill in the refrigerator.
4. Shred the seafood sticks. (You can boil before shredding them first if you wish)
5. Boil the eggs and half them (or any other alternative cuts).
6. Assemble all the ingredients, top with 2 spoonful of Kinnogomadare sesame dressing with roasted nuts and serve.

Hiyashi chuka, translated as Chilled Chinese, is a Japanese dish invented in Sendai in 1937 and served in restaurants in Japan during summer. The dish is served with lots of toppings and while toppings can vary, they are normally served as colorful as possible. Some of the common toppings are thin omelette strips, boiled chicken, cucumber, boiled bean sprouts, tomatoes and many more.

This Japanese cold noodles is actually so easy to pull off and considering the fact if you buy the ready-made dressing from the supermarket just like what I did, I can assure you that you do not have to be a master chef to do it well! And although I should be using the chukamen to make the dish, I actually switch it for cha soba in this variant I made. I'm so glad that it turned out equally well! :)

I hope I'll be able to fine tune my own sesame dressing and share it with everyone soon!
Meanwhile, hope you enjoyed this easy recipe! :D

Travelogue: Taiwan 2012 - A side trip to Tainan 臺南 #TTOT #Travel #Taiwan #Food #LP

2013-04-23T15:52:00.000+08:00

When I arrive at this point of my travelogue series for Taiwan September 2012, I have already shared about my trip from the little adventures at the seaside in Yilan and Hualien to the mountain peak at Taroko National Park, or eating from the popular spots in Taipei to the night market in Taichung!

It's surely an extensive list of posts thus far and if you are interested, you can scroll to the bottom of post to check out the list! Pretty impressive huh? :D

Anyway, after two days down at the western areas of Taiwan, we made a side trip down to Tainan 臺南 to meet up with one of Deserved One's friend. Read on to find out more! :)

[Taiwan September 2012]

22nd & 23rd Sep 2012 - Day 11 & 12 @ A side trip to Tainan!

We left the comfort zones of the new little food haven we found in Taichung and headed down south to Tainan 臺南 to meet up with one of the Deserved One's friend living in Tainan. We left our time entirely in his hands after we arrived at Tainan. Thankfully for his hospitality, we saw Tainan in a more localized manner. Here's some of the highlights from our time spent in Tainan!

Wushan Macaque Natural Reserve 烏山獼猴生態保護區

Due to human overcrowding, hunting and pollution, monkeys at Taiwan's Formosan Macaque gradually became hard to spot. But thanks to the efforts of Mr. Lin who took care of the Formosan Macaques since 1989, visitors can still observe the monkeys in their natural habitat now.

Mr. Lin's Wushan Monkey Conservation Area is located along the Tainan County and Kaoshiung County 高雄縣 border in Nanhua township 南化鄉. There's no admission charge but food for the monkeys and refreshments for visitors are sold to help support the reserve.

Check out these monkey business... :)

We were advised by the people manning the cafe at the entrance to the monkey area to avoid taking on the trail since we had a toddler with us as the monkeys can get really aggressive. So we basically hung around the cafe and entrance, bought some peanuts to feed them and left.

Cigu Salt Mountain 七股鹽山
Website: http://cigu.tybio.com.tw/en/home.jsp

Ever since the Dutch were being expelled from Taiwan, the salt industry had been an important industry on the southwest coast of Taiwan. Beautiful salterns was once the collective memory of Taiwanese people but due to the high cost of productions, TAIYEN had to close all its salterns in May 2002. The salt industry thus became a part of history.

And even though Cigu Saltern was the youngest saltern in the history of salt industry in Taiwan, it has since developed into the largest saltern in Taiwan under the management of Japanese companies and Nationalist government.

Now, the park of Cigu Salt Mountain is dedicated to preserve and feature not only the Salt Mountain but also the history, industry, culture, art and ecology of Taiwan's salt industry amid other park facilities and highlights like the Taiwan Salt Museum.

Salt Mountain

The Salt Mountain, measuring 20 meters, used to be the piling space of Cigu Saltern. The highest peak was once the last place to dry the salt and it was piled with about 60 thousand tons of salt. Over a long period of time, the peak have naturally crystallized with the dust in the air to form a rigid surface.

Now, looking like a giant rock standing in a desert, it has become the landmark of Cigu.

One look at the ground and check out what we're stepping on... SALT!

Here's the view from the top of the Salt Mountain!

The ATV tracks and one of the many salterns...

The boat rowing area with a gianormous statue of a wild boar infront! haha...

Taiwan Salt Musuem in the background!

Website: http://www.taiwan-salt.com.tw/english/

Some of the delicate artwork on display...

All of the above is actually made of salt! Ooo salty~

A close up look at the one of the salterns...

Amusement area for the kids...

Deserved One's friend, Bear, his kids and us! :)

It was actually quite an enriching trip for both the adults and the kids at the Cigu Salt Mountain! I never thought there could be so much history or information we can learn for something as simple as the salt we use in our daily cookings!

An Ice Shop 有間冰舖
Address: No. 152, Zhongzheng Rd, Yujing District Tainan City 台南市玉井區中正路152號

Yujing 玉井 is a rural district in eastern Tainan city and the place is famous for its cultivation of mangoes. And that's explains why the best mango ice in Taiwan has got to be served here!

芒果無雙
NT80

We were more than amused when the bowl of dessert arrived at our table. In that humble looking bowl, we have shaved mango flavored ice topped with fresh mango slices, mango puree and mango flavored ice cream! It's an ultimate mango galore! Seriously speaking, what else can you ask for isn't it?

Oh no... scrap that. If it is not available on the table. you can actually ask for additional condensed milk toppings that gives the entire bowl of mango ice an additional kick! :D

And with that, that's the highlights of our side trip to Tainan before we head back to Taipei for the rest of our trip before heading home to Singapore. Well, one day in Tainan might be a little too short but I guess this side trip makes me want to go back again and check out the southern areas of Taiwan!

More posts from Taiwan September 2012 travelogue series:

Travelogue: Taiwan 2012 - Temple Run at Lukang 鹿港, Changhua 彰化 #TTOT #Travel #Taiwan #Food #LP

2013-04-16T08:30:00.000+08:00

One of the request from the Deserved One prior to our trip last September was at least a visit to one of the many Mazu 妈祖 temples in Taiwan. And I managed to source out one of the oldest Mazu temple located in Changhua 彰化, and that's actually pretty near Taichung where we were the day before this.

So the plans for the day out at Changhua was simply breakfast at a joint located at Changhua City and a visit to the Mazu temple. But a twist of fate changed our day totally. Read on to find out more!

[Taiwan September 2012]

21st Sep 2012 - Day 10 @ Temple Run at Lukang, Changhua

Woke up early morning and hopped on to the one of the first few railway trains from Taichung to Changhua so that we can have our breakfast in the town near the railway station before heading over to the temple!

Changhua Railway Station 彰化車站

Good morning Changhua!

The Deserved One and me, all ready to conquer you! :D

Grandma's Egg Crepes 阿婆蛋饼

Address: No. 215 Minsheng Rd, Changhua City Changhua County, Taiwan 彰化市民生路215號

Following the recommendation from a Taiwanese variety show, we arrived at the address and a place we didn't expected the breakfast joint to look like. But a poster and the handwritten stand outside the place confirms that it is indeed the breakfast joint we were looking for.

Each of the above food items, the egg crepes or sandwich we ordered, is priced ranging between NT 20 or NT 30 only. That's approximately about a dollar each and not forgetting the cup of soy bean milk costs only NT 15! The food were hearty and simple like what you can do at home yourself but it is really affordable. It was no wonder they were featured!

By the way, it's either the fact that I am prone to mozzie bites or that area is infested, please remember your mosquito repellent if you're heading over! And to add, they provide free wifi there! It's definitely great for tourists like me trying to catch up with some research on traveling directions while having breakfast! :D

Changhua Bus Station 彰化客运

Website: http://www.changhuabus.com.tw/

There are actually a couple of bus services and routes that can take you to the town of Lukang from Changhua city. I seriously cannot recall the bus service number of the bus we took but we actually managed to acquire the suggested route to take over the information counter at the station. The service with the fastest route should take you to Lukang in approximately an hour!

Since it was a long bus ride, we dozed off and the next time we woke up, we thought we had overshot our stop and we got off the bus at the next possible chance. Luckily we weren't too far and manage to find the visitor's information counter located inside the building of the Taiwan Sugar Lukang Station and attained a map and found our bearings! YAY!

Map of our "Temple Run" at Lukang...
(Click to enlarge view)

Lukang, along with Tainan 臺南 and Mengjia 艋舺 (Mohua City 萬華台北市), was honored as the greatest antique cities in Taiwan. And this city that is located along the west coast of Central Taiwan was actually the second greatest antique city with a climate of glorious literature and a wealth of cultural heritage.

But with that said, we realized that there were more than one temple that's worth checking out so we decided to go around on foot and have a good look at Lukang!

Longshan Temple 龍山寺
Website: http://www.lungshan-temple.org.tw/

Signs clearly pointing for us the way to Longshan Temple...

While many are familiar with the lavish Longshan Temple in Taipei, this national monument from late Ming Dynasty to early Qing Dynasty period in Lukang was dedicated to the Buddhist goddess Avalokitesvara. The temple was relocated to its current location in Lukang in 1786 and the local gentry took responsibility of restoring and establishing it.

Today, the compound of the temple covers a total area of 5290 square meters.

View from the main hall of the temple...

Ba Gua 八卦 ceiling

This octagonal ceiling caissons on the under side of the roof above the Chinese opera stage not only signifies peace and wards off evil in the Chinese tradition, it also helps to generate the effect of resonance during a Chinese opera performance! What a masterpiece!

One of the many circular doorway in the temple...

Circles represents openness and hospitality in the Chinese culture and it is said to be more inviting than a rectangular doorway. It is also believed that the circular doorway or the significance of red color on the buildings represents luck.

Fengshan Temple 鳳山寺

Unlike the Longshan Temple, the Fengshan Temple is built in dedication to the Honor King Guo Hong-fu and named after his wife.

The temple, on a way smaller scale too, is characterized by a sequence of two principal buildings with two entrances and one inner courtyard. The earthen sculptures and Koji ceramic art on the ridge of it's roof is the earliest preserved masterpiece of the Xian-feng era in Taiwan.

Earthworm Meesua House 蚯蚓龍山麵線糊

We were musing around the wet market of Lukang and noticed the crowd at this stall selling meesua. And it's not that we were hungry at all but it surely smells so damn good and a bowl of meesua will cost us NT 25 only so we decided to settle down and have one bowl each.

I had a couple of meesua around Taiwan since it is one of the many authentic Taiwanese street food and commonly available everywhere but none of them is as good as this one we had in Lukang! Well, it might be just my opinion but this variant we had in Lukang is so budget-friendly yet so delectable! Not forgetting that there's a tinge of homely flavors and each bowl is served with generous portions of the accompany ingredients!

And in case you are reading and rereading the name of the place in disbelieve, the name Earthworm is actually just the nickname of the boss of this meesua stall! Of course, you will not find any wiggling earthworms in your bowl of meesua. Hehe...

Nuns helping an elderly lady heading towards the market street...

Yu Chen Chai 玉珍齋

Website: http://www.lukang.org/lukangweb/index.asp

We were drawn to stop and check out this pastry store because we noticed (yet again) a crowd inside. And little did we know that the store based their pastries and teacakes on original Qing dynasty recipes! Speaking about authenticity and tradition!

If you happen to be around Lukang, don't forget to drop by and get yourself some of their popular items like the Phoenix Eye cake 鳳眼糕 and Green Bean cake 綠豆糕!

Lukang Historical Reservation Area/ Lukang Old Street 鹿港古蹟保存區/ 鹿港老街

The Lukang Historical Reservation Area or more commonly known as Lukang Old Street is the first pattern of the old market street preserved in Taiwan. In the area, there are hundreds of residences on the various streets. And when the Lukang Harbor opened in 1784, firms started to develop along the street that was initially developed along the Lukang River. There's really no better way to describe the experience walking down Lukang Old Street than to say that it seems like we've travelled back in time!

Then again, we didn't noticed the map properly and we actually missed the chance to see the Lukang Assembly Hall, the Ai Gate and even the Half Well which was well within the vicinity of the reservation area.

Nanjing Temple 南靖宫

The structure of Nanjing temple is characterized by a sequence of two principal buildings with single-door width and two entrances which includes the front hall, main hall and one inner courtyard. And the temple, located at one end of the reservation area, was established alongside the Lukang Harbor when immigrants from Fujian Province brought the statue of Saintly Emperor Guan to Taiwan in 1783.

Lukang New Mazu Temple/ Xinzu Temple 鹿港新祖宮

Well, we were a little confused and wondered if this is the mazu temple we were looking for but we manage to figure out after checking the name of the temple again and again.

Xinzu Temple was established by the government of the Qing Dynasty and was devoted to Goddess Mazu, as well as Clairvoyant and Clairaudient. It was ruined during the World War II and restored to its original structure completed with the present door gods painting by crafts master Guo Xin-lin and calligraphy inscribed on the screen next to the door done by master Huang Tian-su.

Chen Huang Temple 城隍庙
Website: http://www.cheng-huang.com/

This temple is dedicated to the Cheng Huang 城隍, the official of the Underworld. I didn't liked the aura I felt inside this temple in particular so we made a brief and quick stop to offer some incense and left. That's also the reason why I only had one shot of the temple at the entrance only.

Anyway, we must be mad to decide to go on foot to check out Lukang in the hot afternoon sun. So when we stumbled upon a dessert house near the Chen Huang Temple, we had to stop for a bowl of something iced cold!

Shaved ice with brown sugar syrup

Yes as simple as that to cool ourselves down from the scorching heat!

Inside the dessert house, we actually manage to get a quick history lesson of the Lukang township through a pictorial board!

Walking along Jhongshan road 中山路 heading towards our last destination at Lukang!

I was pretty tempted to go in to have a look but it does feel a little creepy like the Haunted House at a theme park or something so skipped it in the end! Hehe...

Me at a hat stall with the hat of one of the characters from One Piece!

Do you know who? :D

Lukang Mazu Temple 鹿港天后宫
Website: http://www.lugangmazu.org/

Alas, our last destination in Lukang... The magnificent Mazu Temple!

Courtyard in front of the main hall...

There she is! Goddess Mazu in the main hall!

妈祖娘娘您好！幸会了! :)

If this doorway takes you back to any time in your life you desire...

Which phase will you want to go back to?

Carving on one of the columns in the temple! Very delicate craft there!

The second courtyard...

Guardian Lion or also known as Stone Lion 石狮...

I thought this Guardian Lion in particular looks really amiable and made a mindless comment about it but I was chided by the Deserved One for being rude. Oops! But it's really cute isn't it?

Entrance to the Tai Sui 太歲 Hall...

Feels like the entrance to an imperial hall yeah? :)

Lukang Mazu Temple First Oyster House 廟口第一家蚵仔煎

That big bright red signage is really catchy... Yes it caught our attention!

A fellow diner's messy lil Silky Terrier...

Hey buddy, I think you need a grooming session pronto!

Oysters done in two different variations, the oyster omelette and oyster pancakes!

There were generous servings of fresh and juicy oysters and chives in both the omelette and pancake. I love the salty and savory sauce (I supposed it is sweet garlic sauce) that these oyster goodies are served with! And that makes it very different from the ones you can get at every night market in Taiwan! Must try if you love your oysters and if you are visiting the Mazu temple in Lukang!

And with that, that's the end of our version of "Temple Run" we had in the town of Lukang!
The afternoon at Lukang surely gave us a good break from the buzzling city and hectic lifestyle! And you might think that we are mad but I really enjoyed being immersed in the culture and the fine craftsmanship of the architectures of the old temples albeit the horribly hot sun. It feels like I've been thrown back in time and living through those good o' days!

With that, we'll be moving on to Tainan 臺南 the following day! Stay tuned for my post on our little side trip down to Tainan 臺南 before heading back to Taipei for the rest of our trip! :)

More posts from Taiwan September 2012 travelogue series:

101 One Pot Meal Recipes: Chicken in Tomatoes & Mushrooms Stew #recipe

2013-04-12T08:30:00.000+08:00

The Chicken with Tomatoes & Mushrooms stew or also known as Chicken Cacciatore is a rustic stew that is served with a different variation based on the the different regions and cultures. For instance, the cacciatore served in Southern Italy usually includes red wine while the chefs in Northern Italy would use white wine.

And it must have been a drastic change from the first recipe of Tteokbokki (Spicy Korean Rice Cakes) I shared for my 101 One Pot Meal project although both are stews in a red colored sauce base. But yes, I am quite a mercurial person! :D

Well, my version of the stew was one of the basic ones and here's my recipe...

Chicken in Tomato & Mushroom Stew

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:
6-8 boneless chicken thighs, cut into chunks
1 tbsp olive oil
1 pound mushrooms, trimmed and quartered
2 carrots, diced
2 potatoes, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can (14.5 ounces) stewed tomatoes
1 bottle Tomato with Basil pasta sauce (Optional)
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
Coarse salt and pepper (To taste)

Method:
1. Season chicken with salt and pepper. In a large saucepan with tight-fitting lid, heat oil over medium-high heat; swirl to coat bottom of pan. Cook chicken, turning when it easily releases from the pan, for 4 to 6 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a plate.
2. Add mushrooms, cover and cook for about 5 minutes or until softened. Add garlic, tomatoes and oregano. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook with lid over for 10 to 15 minutes or until tomatoes have broken down.
3. Return chicken and any accumulated juices to the pan and cook until chicken is opaque throughout. Turn chicken to coat with sauce and serve.

If you noticed the optional item in my recipe, that's where I somewhat cheated... :D
We found the stew a little too dry at one point during cooking and since I received a goody bag from Naturel quite a while ago that leaves me with a bottle of pasta sauce in the pantry, I decided to throw in the bottle so we can have more sauce to add up as a dip for the crusty bread I served the stew with instead of compromising to a diluted one if I merely added water. Well, I guess we love gravy and sauce too much.

And while we had the stew with a loaf of crusty bread, I figured the stew could really work well with rice or great as a dressing for your pasta too!

The Ultimate Travel Tip

2013-04-09T08:30:00.000+08:00

If ever you needed from me just one travel tip to sum up a good holiday, I'd say...

[Credits: Google search]

Experience Okinawa with De Dietrich & Chef Tadashi Takahashi #recipe

2013-04-05T08:30:00.000+08:00

Once again, I was invited by Ellena (Cuisine Paradise) to join her at a cooking demo jointly organized by De Dietrich, FoodNews and Four Seasons Gourmet Market held at De Dietrich's demo kitchen at Cendex Centre.

Chef Tadashi Takahashi behind the De Dietrich counter...

The cooking demo was led by Chef Tadashi who is currently preparing for his new restaurant, Hashi Japanese Restaurant, here in Singapore! He was really humorous as he bring us through the steps to create the dishes he'll be sharing during the session.

There were 3 dishes all in all and I loved the mozuku and tuna cold dish! It was light and refreshing and I thought it'll serve as a good starter if you're preparing some course meals at home. And most importantly, there's no funky culinary skills required other than slicing! :D

Here's the recipe...

Okinawa Mozuku with Tuna

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:
Okinawa Mozuku, 120g
Tuna, 120g
Cucumber, half

Marinate for Mozuku
Rice Vinegar, 100ml
Soy, 50ml
Lemon juice, 15ml
Dashi, 165ml

Marinate for Tuna
Soy, 90ml
Sake, 30ml
Water, 30ml
Mirin, 30ml

Method:
1. Mix ingredients and marinate Mozuku for 2 hours.
2. Blanch tuna in boiling water.
3. Mix ingredients and marinate tuna for 30 minutes (15 minutes each for top & bottom).
4. Slice cucumber, dry and add a pinch of salt.
5. Remove tuna from marinate, cut into cubes (alternatively, you can serve in slices).
6. Plate tuna with Mozuku and cucumber toppings. Serve.

Okinawa Vegetable Tempura

Okinawa Pineapple with Ice Cream

Some of the other dishes he prepared were namely the Okinawa Vegetable Tempura and Okinawa Pineapple with Ice Cream. While the ice cream dessert is more on cutting up and plating the pineapple and ice cream, you can find the recipe for the tempura on Cuisine Paradise here!

It was an enriching session with Chef Tadashi learning about the cuisine and the various ingredients in Japanese cuisine. Once again, thank you very much to the relevant organizers for having us!

So with Chef Tadashi's recipes, do you think I can already be passed off as someone who can prepare decent Japanese cuisine now? Hehe!

Travelogue: Taiwan 2012 - Fengjia Night Market 逢甲夜市 #TTOT #Travel #Taiwan #Food #LP

2013-04-02T08:30:00.000+08:00

I'm not sure if I ever mentioned but we had two weeks worth of travel adventures in Taiwan last September and I have already covered the first half of the trip under my Taiwan September 2012 travelogue series.

The first half was more on sightseeing where we covered major locations along the eastern coastline of Taiwan like Yilan and Hualien or towards the central areas like Taroko National Park, Cingjing Farm and even Sun Moon Lake. The second half and what I will covering in the remaining posts, are more of our gastronomic adventures from Taipei to Taichung to Tainan! Stay tuned and if you'd like to catch up on the various write ups I did previously, please scroll to the end of this post to find the links! :)

So while the brother and sis-in-law left Taiwan for home, the Deserved One and I stayed on for another week and our first stop, we landed ourselves in Taichung 臺中!

[Taiwan September 2012]

20th Sep 2012 - Day 9 @ Fengjia Night Market

Before my trip down to Taichung, I always thought I have had been to the best night markets that dishes out awesome Taiwanese street food. But little did I thought that it'll be even better when a night market has endless streets of aawesome food stalls!

Yes, that night market is none other than Fengjia Night Market!

A simple map showing the extend of Fengjia Night Market...

Every street and every corner we turned into, it's just more food stalls and even more food stalls!

The streets of Fengjia Night Market is lined with so many food stalls that I can hardly remember if there's also other shops or vendors selling stuffs other than food! We were in awe when we started down the streets of Fengjia Night Market. There were just too many choices and in fact, it's pretty intimidating until we notice a crowd around one food stall and that's when we decided that we will start eating from there.

But even if there's a million and one things to eat there, here's a couple of items that the space in my stomach allowed and what I deemed worth the mention too!

BBQ Chicken Leg 逢甲夜市腿板燒

We made an order for the BBQ chicken leg with their sweet vinegar marinate 和风糖醋 and after a long wait in the midst of the growing crowd, we finally got our hands on our food!

The boneless chicken leg was huge (I will say good enough to share) and served with stir-fried bean sprouts! Loved the simple sweet vinegar marinate and the thick and succulent chicken leg combination. It was seriously very delectable and very satisfying.

Guan Zhi Lin Glutinous rice sausage 官芝霖大肠包小肠

The Taiwanese glutinous rice sausage is typically split and served with a pork sausage and generous fillings like shredded vegetables or other meats. It is a rather common street food in Taiwan but I thought this one really deserves a mention.

At this stall, each wrap costs NT40 and you can choose from different options if you prefer spicy food and so on. We went for the original one and I just loved how the glutinous rice is cooked just right with a slightly chewy texture then paired with a tender not-so-porky sausage and generous fillings of cucumber, egg, pickled vegetables and so on that makes the entire wrap so appetizing!

Dengue Steak House 天狗さん炙燒牛排

After the owner's trip to Hokkaido and "meeting" the Masked Goblin at Otaru for the first time, he decided to bring it back to his steak house to share the tradition of touching the hooked nose of the Masked Goblin to receive blessings. Thus the name of the place.

It must have been fated that we happen to catch a Taiwanese variety show introducing this place the night before we arrived at Taichung. We decided to head over to check it out!

The salad bar without salad...

Hehe I'm just kidding at the bar, that's where you can find free flow of drinks, soup of the day and toasts with various spreads...

Beef Steak

There was a good variety of meat choices ranging from beef to chicken to pork and each meat choice is served just like what we had in the picture above - with a generous portion of noodles or rice, salad greens and a sunny side up. And there's three different sauces for you to pick from according to your own taste preference, black pepper sauce, garlic sauce or a mix!

We were a little disappointed when we were told during ordering that the choices of the better grade beef steaks were actually sold out and we were left with the typical beef steak as our choice. But sometimes, it's just human instincts to judge away.

We went for the mixed sauce with our steak and we were surprised it was so good from the doneness and texture of the steak to the robust flavors of the sauce and even the satisfaction with the portion. It was simply scrumptious. For NT 120 which is an equivalent of about SGD $5.00 or so during the time we were in Taiwan, this definitely worth more than every single penny you put in!

Ah Hua Oden Stand 阿华黑轮

This Taiwanese variant of the Japanese winter dish is said to be widely available throughout Taiwan too but I only managed to spot this stall serving the oden and decided to give it a try.

It was pretty similar to our yong tau foo but with Japanese processed fish cakes or ingredients unique to Taiwan like the pig's blood pudding. And if you're wondering, the crowd there is pure madness. When we got our orders, we were somewhat pressured to finish up quickly and give up our seats for the next customers. Thus, I didn't get a picture of our food when it arrived...

XL Fried Stinky Tofu 金牌巨無霸香酥臭豆腐
Photo was on my Instagram account during the trip!

If you are an avid fan of the stinky tofu just like the Deserved One, you should go try this XL stinky tofu at Fengjia Night Market! Of course, it's not all just about it being huge in size!

The sweet yet savory sauce with a slightly spicy tinge was really lip-smacking and these giants were fried till golden brown and crispy on the outside while the insides were still kept soft and tender. Can you imagine eating them together? It's definitely an indulgence for the stinky tofu lovers!

I guess I kind of over-exaggerated earlier but Fengjia Night Market has a good mix of food, self-indulgence and shoppings! The ladies should look out for a stall amid the food stalls near the oden stand that does manicure and pedicure too! What was supposedly an express pedicure for me at NT300 comes complete with pretty nail art too!

But on a serious note, if you have an awesome appetite or if you simply need a one time introduction to the Taiwanese street food and also their creative variants in their cuisine, Fengjia Night Market is definitely the place for you!

Well, there's nothing but a food galore at Fengjia Night Market!

More posts from Taiwan September 2012 travelogue series:

Sushi Airways 寿司航空 Sushibar @ Baghdad Street

2013-03-22T16:58:00.001+08:00

I have always been a fan of themed cafes or restaurants, I just love to sit in to a different ambiance every time I sit down and dine. I will always muse at all the theme cafes in other countries like Taiwan or Japan and secretly wished that Singapore will have something like that too! And it seems, that simple wish was granted!

I was so excited when I heard about this new joint serving Japanese food in an aircraft themed setting and since I was in the area one of those days, I decided to drop in to the small and approximately 25 seater place for lunch!

Menu at Sushi Airways...

I found the squarish fonts so hard to read and understand totally. Although there are some images, I took a brief look at the menu and gave up almost immediately. I wasn't being fussy but in my opinion, it was rather strenuous for my hungry soul.

[Photo credit: Sushi Airways]

Thankfully it was lunch hour and there's a much more readable (not because of the ladies!) lunch menu to pick our orders from!

Chawanmushi

$8.00

The variant served at Sushi Airways is cup of the usual Japanese steamed egg with gingko nuts, mushrooms, seasonal seafood and completed with a tinge of (what we really thought it is) yuzu flavors. Well, the chawanmushi has got to be that one item that doesn't exactly require the menu to order.

Chicken Teriyaki

Airways Chirashi

Inaniwa Udon

Soy bean pudding

Each of the mains above is priced at $15.00 and served with garden salad in wafu dressing and miso soup for starters and supposedly dessert of french vanilla ice cream but we received soy bean pudding instead that afternoon.

In general, the lunch was just decent. Period. I thought it was quite a let-down when our food wasn't serve in a manner that relates to the entire airplane experience since they are themed to replicate dinning in an air craft. I was relatively disappointed after anticipating so much.

To sum up, it will not be my first choice when I want to have Japanese food or even if I am in the area.

Sushi Airways
20a Baghdad Street, Singapore 199659
Tel: 6291 1151

Website: http://www.sushiairways.com/

Travelogue: Taiwan 2012 - Good Morning with MACC 早安! 美芝城 @ Sun Moon Lake #TTOT #Travel #Taiwan #Food #LP

2013-03-19T08:30:00.000+08:00

We spent a fruitful day at Sun Moon Lake 日月潭 the day before, exploring the scenic lake itself via water, land and air means and finishing off with an afternoon at the theme park of Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village with One Piece theme! If you missed it, read it here... :)

Then we had a restful night at Sunmoon Starlight Resort House where we lodged at and woke up fresh and ready for another day! Of course, the day won't start off well without a great breakfast! Read on to find our breakfast find at Sun Moon Lake!

[Taiwan September 2012]

19th Sep 2012 - Day 8
@ Good Morning with MACC 早安! 美芝城 at Sun Moon Lake

There's attractive breakfast choices at the cafes located at the lobby of various hotels nearby Shueishe Pier 水社碼頭 (including Starbucks!) but our minds were set on trying something unique to Taiwan instead of yet another American breakfast. And not before long, we chanced upon...

Good Morning with MACC 早安! 美芝城

Website: http://www.macc.com.tw/

Good morning Sun Moon Lake! :)

Hash brown 薯饼

Gyoza 锅贴

Ham Egg Crepes 火腿蛋餅

Carrot Cake 港式蘿蔔糕

Guessed we were pretty drained from the full day activity the day before and we were very much in need to refuel ourselves, we ended up grabbing a little too much "small bites" while waiting for our sandwiches to be prepared!

After a short wait, our sandwiches arrived! From Bagel to Focaccia to French pastry puff, you name it all! And each and every one is stuffed with generous shredded lettuce & cucumbers mix and tomatoes with fried chicken, bacon and omelette and so on! All of them tasted so good! Love the scrumptious sandwiches we had!

To add, we noticed quite a number of locals stopping at the small eatery for their breakfast or taking along some food on their way to work or school too! Seems like we've found and experience a typical morning breakfast for locals living around Sun Moon Lake! :D

Since we are leaving Sun Moon Lake this very morning, we attempted to take a morning walk around the vicinity of Shueishe Pier after our breakfast...

We chanced upon a lookout point near the pier with a view of the pier and the lake...

Anyway, this is what Sun Moon Lake really looked like that morning...
No fancy camera settings and Sun Moon Lake was this gloomy that morning... No joke!

We didn't want to get in the rain so we gave up the thought of having a morning walk and decided to leave Sun Moon Lake earlier so we spend the rest of our day back in Taipei.

Last shot of us in a distorted reflection at Sun Moon Lake...

With that, that's the end of one week worth of our Taiwan trip in September 2012!
While the brother and sis-in-law left Taiwan for home, Deserved One and I continued another week in other parts of Taiwan exploring, sightseeing and enjoying all the awesome food too! Stay tuned for the other half of my Taiwan (September 2012) travelogue series!

More posts from Taiwan September 2012 travelogue series:

Perfect Italiano Masterclass with Chef Lino Sauro

2013-03-15T08:30:00.000+08:00

When I was approached by Ellena (Cuisine Paradise) to join and partner her at a masterclass, I was a little skeptical. I mean I do a little light cooking on my own but you see, I really don't know if I can actually manage a masterclass!

It's the Perfect Italiano Masterclass with Chef Lino Sauro to be exact, and I'm really glad I agreed on it in the end! Chef Lino, executive chef and owner of Gattopardo, actually made the entire session so relaxing while he demonstrated and taught three different dishes we can make with Perfect Italiano cheese!

Palate Sensations

The masterclass was held at Palate Sensations and I really loved how the particular area where the sinks/washing points were! Well, I really liked the simplicity of having all your cooking utensils on a rack over head or hung in display and of course, the white brick wall at the back!

Chef Lino beginning our masterclass when all attendees arrived! :)

Irene (but I really still prefer to refer to her as Moonberry :D) with Chef Lino's assistant, Sean
and their coincidentally matching outfit! :)

My partner, Ellena and me sharing the same station!

I worked mostly on the preparations while Ellena does the work over the stove or vice versa! I guess we make a good team like that! :D

Some behind-the-scene shots of us at "work" during the masterclass!
Looking like pros yet? Hehe... :D

Anyway, the dishes we prepared were somewhat a fusion between Italian and Asian cuisine and I was surprised that the dishes were so good and so easy to make! Read on to check out the dishes we made and their recipes respectively!

Wonton Ravioli with Soy Marinated Prawns
and Parmesan Fondue

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:
100g Perfect Italiano Parmesan Grated Cheese
100g Unsalted Butter
20 pcs of Wonton skin (square shaped)
20g Light Soy sauce
30g Olive oil
2 garlic cloves
110g full cream milk
1 stalk of Spring Onion
20g White wine
10 pcs of large prawns, halved
1 egg, beaten

Method:
1. Peel and marinate prawns with soy sauce, garlic, olive oil and spring onion.
2. Make Parmesan fondue by mixing Perfect Italiano Parmesan Grated cheese, full cream milk, butter and white wine.
3. Warm up mixture in a bain-marie till creamy and season with white pepper and set aside.
4.

Fill wonton skin with prawn. Seal wonton wrap nicely with egg. Put in boiling water for 2-3min.
5. Pour fondue on plate and lay down the ravioli.
6. Season with Perfect Italiano Parmesan Grate cheese and spring onion. Serve.

Rice Roll with Mozzarella Cheese and Salmon
(Serves 4)

Ingredients:
300g Perfect Italiano Mozzarella Grated Cheese
200g sushi rice
4 sheets of nori (seaweed)
150g cured/smoked salmon
100g cucumber (cut into strips)
50g rice vinegar
5g wasabi
200g mayonnaise

Method:
1. Place a sheet of nori on bamboo sheet.
2. Spread and flatten rice on top of nori.
3. Lay down salmon, cucumber and Perfect Italiano Mozzarella Grated cheese in the middle.
4.

Hold on to the ends of the bamboo mat and roll

Make sure that the ingredients are held inside it.
5. Remove bamboo mat and cut rice rolls by one inch.
6. Warm up rice roll to melt Perfect Italiano Mozzarella Grated cheese.
7. Serve with mayonnaise and/or wasabi.

Deep Fried Potato with Mozzarella Cheese
Served with Sweet & Sour Sauce

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:
200g Perfect Italiano Mozzarella Grated cheeese
400g potatoes
50g corn starch
50g onion (chopped)
5g Cinnnamon
5g Ground black pepper
5g Curry Powder
2 eggs
4 garlic cloves
30g lemongrass (minced)
20g shallots (minced)
300g Japanese breadcrumbs (panko)
Lemon zest
Oil to fry

Method:
1. Peel skin and parboil the potatoes. Mashed it in a mixing bowl.
2. Mix dry seasonings, corn starch and all remaining ingredients (except cheese, breadcrumbs and oil) and mix well.
3. Roll potato mix and Perfect Italiano Mozzarella Grated cheese filling in the middle into a ball. Coat all around with breadcrumbs.
4.

Heat oil in pan. Fry until crisp and golden on both sides.
5. Drain and serve with sweet and sour sauce.

Out of the three dishes, I really liked Deep Fried Potato with Mozzarella cheese and I think I picked up a quick new way to make sauce for my pasta in future with the parmesan fondue in the Wonton Ravioli dish! Love it!

By the way, here's a little something for everyone!

Want to have earn yourself an exclusive Parmesan Grated cheese trial pack, go on to my Facebook page and look out for the picture above for more details!

Travelogue: Taiwan 2012 - Sun Moon Lake 日月潭 & Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village 九族文化村 #TTOT #Travel #Taiwan #Food #LP

2013-03-12T08:30:00.000+08:00

After two awesome and relaxing days at Cingjing Farm (Read here) and lodging at Villa Relax, we continue advancing through our itinerary and left for Sun Moon Lake 日月潭!

For the drive from Cingjing Farm to Sun Moon Lake, we spent approximately NT 1500 and managed to engage a driver through the recommendation of lady boss at Villa Relax. Our driver was a perky and humorous guy who chatted with us, played oldies and encouraged us to sing along with him throughout the ride. And all thanks to the driver, we arrived at Sun Moon Lake safe and sound and he definitely made that hour long drive feels like just ten minutes only!

With that said... Behold, this is going to be a lengthy post on our day at Sun Moon Lake!

[Taiwan September 2012]

18th Sep 2012 - Day 7
@ Sun Moon Lake & Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village

We got a room for the four of us at Sun Moon Starlight Resort House for our night at Sun Moon Lake. It was a clean and cosy room with toilet attached and although it doesn't have a beautiful view from the window or balcony, it was just 1 minute walk away from the main jetty, Shueishe Pier 水社碼頭, at Sun Moon Lake! It costed us NT1800 and I thought we scored a great deal!

And thankfully for the kind owner at the resort house, we managed to do an extremely advance check in to leave behind our bulky baggages and enjoy our day out exploring the Sun Moon Lake! :D

We were offered a full-ticket at a cheaper rate than the usual NT 300 by the owner of the resort house and we rushed to catch the first morning trip from Shueishe Pier 水社碼頭!

Arriving at Syuanguang Temple Pier 玄光寺碼頭
It was just a short 5 min ride across the lake from Shueishe Pier...

Up up up the flights of stairs!

Faster and faster to get away from the mad morning crowd at the pier and to the washrooms! Hehe... :D

Syuanguang Temple 玄光寺

Master Xuanzang was a famous Tang Dynasty Buddhist monk who was sent to India under the orders of the Tang Dynasty emperor to seek Buddhist scriptures. And after more than 10 years, he returned with more than 650 sutras and together with his disciples, he translated 75 of them. His efforts made great contributions to the spread of Buddhism in China.

During the war between China and Japan, a fragment of Master Xuanzang's bones were acquired and enshrined in Ci'en Temple in Japan's Saitama Prefecture. Then in the early 1950s, this piece of bone was brought to Taiwan and after the temple was built at Sun Moon Lake, Syuanguang Temple, located about 2.5km from Xuanzang Temple the relics of the Buddhist monk were re-enshrined there.

Anyway, it was hopelessly crowded and we could hardly get into the temple. All we could do was to make a quick offering outside and moved on.

The scenic view of the lake from the temple!

Sun Moon Lake 日月潭

Divided by Lalu Island, Sun Moon Lake got its name from the unique terrains that looka like the sun on one side and crescent moon on the other. The Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area is praised for it's five major recreational systems including the lake and aside from offering key tourist themes like high mountains and lake, indigenous culture or nature ecology. The lake is also famous for the source of hydroelectric power.

The Sun Moon Lake Scenic Area attracts more than six million visits each year. No wonder Sun Moon Lake is crowned as one of the eight wonders of Taiwan!

Granny's Mushroom Tea Leaves Egg 阿嬤的古早味香菇茶葉蛋

After arriving back at the pier, we dropped by the stall to try the famous mushroom tea leaves egg at Sun Moon Lake! Each cost only NT 10 and it was really tasty, very flavorful but a little on the salty side.

It was said that the Granny can sell up to 10,000 eggs on average during peak seasons! And that's no wonder why Granny is the probably the only one selling tea leaves egg and subjected to income tax by the Taiwanese government!

Beautiful wild flowers... :)

Back at the pier, caught the next ferry service and headed off to the next jetty!

After less than 10 min of the ferry, we arrived at Ita Shao Pier 伊達邵碼頭...

View from boardwalk connecting the pier to the cable car station...

Prior to the trip, we managed to obtain complimentary theme park tickets from TTB Singapore and we were really wondering where and how we will be utilizing them. Upon arriving at the resort house and when the owner told us that the current theme at the theme park at Formosa Aboriginal Culture Village is none other than the Japanese comic One Piece 航海王!

As you can see, we're sort of rushing through the first half of the plans at Sun Moon Lake because we're just so eager to get to THIS part! :D

Showing our tickets and getting access at the entrance to the cable cars at Sun Moon Lake!

Oh yes the complimentary theme park entry tickets includes the cable car ride too!

Undoubtedly, there's One Piece themed cable cars too! And we've were in a yellow one with Sanji to accompany us on the scenic ride across the mountains and to Formosa Aboriginal Culture Village!

Taking off from the cable car station...

Us during the cable car ride!

Check out the drop behind us in both pictures above!

View of Sun Moon Lake when we're at the peak-most during the cable car ride!

I wasn't lying that it was a scenic ride isn't it? ;)

Arriving at the entrance of Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village 九族文化村!

Entering the culture village... The start to our rather long early afternoon walk...

Wan Shan Stone Totem 萬山神石

The stone totem, now set and displayed in Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village, was discovered on Wan Shan 萬山 in Kaohsiung County. And as the myth goes (without a definitely significance or saying), the aboriginal people living in Wan Shan 萬山 tried to reproduce the nature landscape and carved images like snakes, human forms and concentric circles.

That's the best I did with translating (with the help of Google Translate) my understanding but if you can manage your Mandarin, do read on from an excerpt from the webs! :)

萬山神石是依照高雄縣萬山鄉所發現的巨石圖騰和魯凱族的神話傳說，特別在九族復原重現的景觀，大石上，鑴刻了許多蛇紋、人形或同心圓，其來源和意義說法不一。此外，這裏還設了一土地公石和前謝副總統東閔所提之『飲水思源』碣，以紀念九族文化村建村創園鑿水源的傳奇故事。

Roots growing through the stone and walkway... the beauty of nature :)

Near the Indiana Stone Totems 印地安圖騰區, a nice rock path punctuated with wild orange flowers!

Passing the Nalu-One Theatre 娜魯灣劇場
But nothing is happening there at the theatre so we moved on!

After passing the Nalu-One Theatre, we arrived at the Paiwan Group Zone 排灣族 and the Aboriginal Plaza where the nine different aboriginal groups in Taiwan were featured in their own zones, from their individual unique cultures to lifestyles in their village.

We arrived at Paiwan Group Zone and checked out a typical layout of the traditional house in their village. It is amusing to learn how a typical living room size in Singapore can be a house to the Paiwan people, completed with sleeping quarters and kitchen. And while we have beautiful decorative at home here, the people of the Paiwan Group displays the jaw bones of the wild boar hunted from the hunting trips. Pretty creepy to me having those bones displayed at home though.

House of Traditional Festival 祭典会所 at the Aboriginal Plaza

While you can get really festive and extravagant performances at the Nalu-One Theatre, you can expect an authentic performance at this amphitheater showcasing their traditional offerings to the gods. You can witness how the aboriginal people relating their lives with myths and legends through their dance and singing.

By the way, you can find the various show timings here.

Plaza Cafe just beside the amphitheater that didn't have a menu that attracted us to stay for lunch...

Behind the amphitheater, a sweet yet humorous aboriginal lady demonstrating how a beautiful and colorful glass bead is made inside a small souvenir store where the glass beads were made into beautiful bracelets, necklaces or even key chains...

A gift from the Deserved One!

Photo originally posted on my Instagram account @lobsterpaints. Follow me yeah? :)

I only know that everything pattern symbolizes something in a good aspect and I cannot really remember what my colorful pendent is supposed to symbolize but it's really pretty isn't it? Anyway, if you know how to decipher the patterns, do leave me a comment and tell me what is it ok? :)

One sign I've seen in most retails shop in Taiwan and one that I loved their humor for...

It reads: "Monitoring, smile please!"

At the plaza with the traditional houses of the Rukai Group 魯凱族...

I must say this is quite an obscene totem... Hehe!

Inside the Rukai Group Men's House with Ancestral Statues...

It sure looks like a clubhouse where the chief of the group or noble and important people will meet.

A traditional house of the non-noble people in the village of the Rukai Group...

As compared to a traditional house of the Paiwan Group, the house is relatively spacious and notably more cooling with the use of the slate tiles in the interiors. Of course, they have all the required "rooms" for their livelihood in the house itself too.

Another souvenir store after the Rukai Group zone...
This store retails the traditional textiles from the different groups...

Puyuma Group 卑南族

The various wax figures showing the usual activities in the village of the Puyuma group...

Passing the Pine Trees Garden...

At the last corner covering Saisiyat Group 賽夏族, Atayal Group 泰雅族 and Seediq Group 賽德克族, there were stone carvings of the different facial tattoos from the different aboriginal groups.

And with that, we're at the end of the walk learning about the various aboriginal groups in Taiwan!

The route between the educational part of the culture village to the fun Fun FUN part looks absolutely tranquil isn't it? Can't imagine how much more beautiful it'll be during the blossoming season in spring! :D

And if you're wondering what fun Fun FUN part I was referring to...

Notice the pirate flag there?
Yes we have arrived at the One Piece themed theme park and the Pirates of the Carribean Water Ride!

Us with the ship behind!...

The boys with the life-sized figurines of the characters from the comic series!

Look at that grin! These boys are in wonderland!...

Taking his soul away!

Cheers!~ together with Luffy and his brothers at Luffy's Childhood Memory Lane 童年魯夫三兄弟 :D

Spotted Luffy's Thousand Sunny Pirate Ship 千陽號!

Entering the halls where there are photo booths, One Piece jigsaw puzzles gallery and also get to "dress" up as the characters in the comic series at 草帽海贼团变变变!

The brother as the living skeleton musician Brook...

Apparently he is too tall for that character! Hahahaha...

Deserved One as Franky, the shipwright of the Straw Hat Pirates...

Of course, not as macho as Franky! Hehe...

Me as Tony Tony Chopper... and I don't have a blue nose! Haha!

The brother again... This time with Luffy's ultra stretching and huge fist!

The Deserved One with Roronoa Zoro's swords!

Shopping lane 航海王商店街

At the shopping lane, you can find souvenirs to bring home with you!

The gallery 草帽海贼团典藏官 just beside the shopping lane

with the full range of One Piece figurines and jigsaw puzzles available at the shopping lane!

This is supposed to be the welcoming lane from the main entrance!

But because we entered from the back, we saw this somewhat at the last! LOL...

Baratie Restaurant by Straw Hat Pirates' cook, Sanji!

At the games corner...

We gave our best but couldn't ace any prizes! :(

Check the boys rushing down to the main entrance of the theme park...

Through the Culture Hall 文化广场...

The happy boys and their completely stamped pamphlet and ready to exchange for their gifts!

The boys with their prizes for completing the pamphlet with stamps!

Did I forget to mention? You can get a pamplet from the many stamp stations, simply collect the stamps at the various location in the theme park and you get to exchange it for prizes! Yes, this is the reason why they were rushing down towards the entrance and the information counter through the Culture Hall!

Heading back into the theme park to explore the rest of the areas...

Doesn't this look more like a proper entrance to the park than what we did earlier? Haha!

While waiting for the next time slot for the One Piece 3D movie, we wondered around the House of Aladdin 阿拉丁广场 checking out more life-sized figurines on display...

The boys with the characters again...

We've got photo bombed on board the Pirate ship ride! LOL!

If you've noticed and wondering why... I guess we're too old with too weak a heart to take the other thrill rides so the pirate ship is the only one we took in the entire theme park! Such scary cats isn't it? Haha!

And finally, joining the queue for the 3D movie!

3D glasses checked!

Well, I must say that the 3D movies is just 10 minutes only! Not that the content is not up to standard but the length of the movie is quite disappointing after anticipating and queuing for so long! :(

After the short 3D movie, we checked out the One Piece Memorial Log 航海王故事官...

The prisoners escaped!

ROAR!!!

One of my favorite photos inside the memorial log! Hehe...

Round 1... FIGHT!

And after the walk through the memorial log, we ended our adventures at the One Piece themed theme park! We stumbled into the beautiful European style garden at the main entrance of Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village!
Considering the fact that the Deserved One and the brother both looked super happy during and after our afternoon at the theme park and it surely seemed like they enjoyed the place very much... I hereby call out to all One Piece fanatics! The One Piece theme will stay until June 2013! So don't miss it!!!

The garden is completed with a steam train and it surely feels like we have teleported in to Europe!

The setting sun at Sun Moon Lake

Time flies when you're having fun and it was such a pity that the day had to end. So we decided to quick hire a private car to take us back to Shueishe Pier 水社碼頭 area so that we can get our dinner and fix and head back to the resort house to rest up for the day!

The dark and lifeless road at Shueishe Pier 水社碼頭 after hours... :(

When we got back to Shueishe Pier 水社碼頭 after our day out, we were surprised that there was such a huge contrary to the busy and lively morning we experienced earlier that day! Most shops had closed for the day and the roads are quiet too. We regretted not getting our dinner settled at the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village earlier and almost thought we would have to settle for cup noodles for the night until we chanced upon a street with a few restaurants still opened! HOORAY!

There were a couple of Chinese restaurants still opened along the street but we pounced on the first one nearest to us!

The food we got at the restaurant were decent but we really thought it was quite costly. I guess that's because of the fact that we're in one of the prime tourist location in Taiwan! Well, in comparisons to having a sad cup noodles dinner in our room, our costly dinner at the Chinese restaurant isn't that bad after all.

And that's summing up our day at Sun Moon Lake! Thank you if you're still following me and my lengthy post until this point! HEHE! Anyway, next up in my Taiwan September 2012 travelogue posts, I'll be covering Taichung! So stay tuned! :D

More posts from Taiwan September 2012 travelogue series:

Foto Friday: To infinity & beyond!

2013-03-08T08:30:00.000+08:00

The "dusty" looking photo of stars against the night sky from my Taiwan (September 2012) travelogue series!

This space is definitely lacking of updates! I'm just too held up with everything these days to actually sit down and be able to write whatever I've came across or experienced that is worth sharing!

But that doesn't mean I am not giving up this space. I am currently forcing myself to slow down before I turn insane. And I'll be back. Yes, I'll be back till infinity and beyond~

Keisuke Tori King by Ramen Keisuke @ 100AM

2013-02-19T14:50:00.000+08:00

There was a hype a while ago about this newly opened Japanese ramen joint, Tori King, and being a fan of ramen (or rather, noodles and soup in general) I told myself I had to give the place a try for myself. It was a rainy December weekend afternoon and there isn't a better choice than to have a hot bowl of ramen for lunch.

The restaurant, though small, is set in a cosy old school 1960s to 1970s interior style that serves ramen according to your taste preferences. Like the name Tori King suggests, it is serving ramen in chicken-based broth to be exact.

Anyway, there are also complimentary marinated bean sprouts and boiled eggs on every table for the diners consumption. I loved the marinated bean sprouts but I can't figure how I can afford some stomach space to enjoy the complimentary boiled eggs after I have made orders for my ramen with all the toppings. Or maybe, the guys or someone with a bigger appetite can!

And if you're wondering, I forgot to snap photos inside of the vicinity thus I have nothing on the interiors as mentioned above to share. Hehehehe...

Tori King Ramen Special
$15.90 (All toppings)

Black Spicy Tori King Ramen Special
$16.90 (All toppings)
Both the orders came in a bowl with springy noodles in their signature chicken-based broth and completed with toppings, namely a large piece of nori, chasyu, shoyu tamago and a fork-tender chicken leg that was simmered and marinated in premium soy stock overnight and grilled upon order.

We were also provided with a mix of black and white sesame seeds to grind and top the ramens with so it gives the broth a whole new dimensions in terms of tastes.

If you'd ask, I will say that the mere difference between the two choices has only got to be the dash of black spicy sauce that actually reminds me of the Chinese mala 麻辣 broth. Oh! If you love your food spicy, you should go on and try their spicy miso available on every table that is said that it goes well with their chasyu. (p.s. I choked on a tiny pinch of the spicy miso by the way...)

To add, there was a couple of hits and misses with the service we received while dining in. And that's why, although there's a variation with the broth served, I have to say that I preferred my overall experience (food and service) at their other branch, Keisuke Tokyo Ramen (Read here).

And I think I still prefer my ramen in tonkotsu broth... :)

By the way, they say that every bowl of Tori King Ramen contains a lot of collagen.
Ladies, believe it or not, it's up to you! :)

Keisuke Tori King by Ramen Keisuke
100 Tras Street, 100 AM
#03-15 (S)079027
Tel: 66046861

Website: https://www.facebook.com/KeisukeTokyoSG

101 One Pot Meal Recipes: Tteokbokki (Spicy Korean Rice Cakes)

2013-02-15T08:30:00.000+08:00

101 One Pot Meals
It was the rainy season in December last year and we were having pretty regular steamboat sessions over at our shop. And when the mom got wind of that, she suggested that I start cooking meals for the brother and sister in law with the induction stove and stainless steel steamboat pot every time I am down at the shop. Well, that idea struck me.

Why one pot meals?
Doesn't preparing a complete meal of three dishes and a soup for a small crowd of say between two to four people (especially for newly weds or small families) feels too perky to begin with? And to confess, I personally love one pot meals! Love how most one pot meals are easy to prepare and there's no fuss eating them too! :)

And considering the fact that I am not professionally trained, all I have is maybe some time to offer and for the fun of it, I have set myself to achieve 101 different recipes (well, just trying to be ambitious here but it does sound catchy isn't it? *sheepish grin*). I tend to over prepare sometimes, probably inheriting my mom's habit of having abundance, so I'd be suggesting possible alternative serving options for situations when you happen to have left-overs.

Let's see where this self-challenge will take me to and what I can come out with from one mid-sized pot, an induction stove and a small pantry!

No. 1 of 101 One Pot Meal Recipes
Tteokbokki (Spicy Korean Rice Cakes)
(Serves 3 or 4)

I remember visiting Mt. Sorak in Korea in winter some many years ago, the warm smile from the ajumma when she passed over our order and how that bowl of tteokbokki warms us up in the winter. Ever since, I was constantly looking out for spicy rice cakes in Singapore or always wanted to pick up a recipe that resembles what the ajumma had served us with.

And inspired by the convenience and the availability of Korean goodies from the Korean super mart nearby our shop, the first one pot meal I actually prepared has got to be these spicy Korean Rice Cakes!

Ingredients:
4.5 cups of water
1 handful of dried ikan bilis
1 piece of dried sea kelp, about 4-5" square piece
600g of rice cakes
4-5 tablespoons of Gochujang (Korean red chili paste)
3 tablespoons of sugar
1 cabbage, diced
1 leek, sliced
1 garlic, chopped
1-2 tablespoons of ketchup (optional)
Korean flat fish cakes (optional)
Roasted sesame seeds (optional)
Pepper (optional)

Method:
1. To make stock, boil water, ikan bilis and sea kelp in a pot and then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let it sit for another 10-15 minutes to get the full flavor.
2. Pour stock to a pan (preferably non-stick type) and add gochujang and sugar. Mix well. Add rice cakes and cabbage. Boil over medium heat, reduce heat to medium-low.
3. Add fish cakes (optional) and garlic. Continue to simmer for another 10 minutes until sauce thickens to your liking.
4. Add ketchup and stir well (optional). Sprinkle pepper and sesame seeds. Serve.

Alternative serving option:
Throw in some Korean ramyeon or instant noodle to your tteokbokki and there you have it, a completely different dish, Rabokki!

Note:
The recipe as stated above is at regular spiciness. I actually tweaked and played around with the amount of gochujang, sugar and ketchup I added while cooking to make sure the dish didn't turn too spicy to fit the preference of the brother and sister in law! And if you like to achieve the bright orange color for the sauce, do remember to add the ketchup! :)

Travelogue: Taiwan 2012 - Cingjing Farm 清境農場

2013-02-12T08:30:00.000+08:00

Previously, I wrote a post for my Taiwan 2012 travelogue series sharing on the B&B place we lodged at during our trip to Cingjing Farm (Read it here) and here I am, sharing on our experience at Cingjing Farm. From star gazing to catching the sunrise to mingling with wooly sheep, you name it all!

Read on and check out our day at Cingjing Farm! :)

[Taiwan September 2012]

17th Sep 2012 - Day 6 (Part 2) @ Cingjing Farm

Star gazing on the midnight of Day 5!

We ended our day after the road trip through Taroko National Park (Read it here) with movie marathon in our room and star gazing from the balcony. It might look like a dusty black piece of paper but that's twinkle twinkle little STARS!

And learning from a mistake from my previous trip in July 2011 when I assumed that the sun in Taiwan rises around the same time as Singapore, we woke up early some time between 3:00am and 4:00am and manage to catch the horizon slowly lit and eventually the sun rising! And very much obviously, in the comfort of our room and the balcony!

It is rather cloudless throughout Cingjing probably because we're already IN the clouds level or else, the sunrise will definitely be even more beautiful with dramatic colors and shades with those clouds!

Dozed off a wee bit and the next time I woke up, the sun is high up and blazing already!

That also means, time to wash up, have breakfast and start our day!

After breakfast and on our way out, we spotted a sign that points to the B&B we're lodging at!

That way to Villa Relax 白熊屋! :)

Scaling a series of stairs so that we hit the main road to get to the bus stop for the public buses to take us off to other parts of Cingjing Farm for the day! Beautiful morning don't you think so? :)

Evergreen Grassland 青青草原!

When we arrived at the Evergreen Grassland, the sun was already up high in the sky and we are so thankful for the beautiful weather! Or at least, definitely great for us to check out the pastures and sheep at the farm! :)

Bought our entrance tickets (NT 160 each) and helped ourselves to self-service entrance stamp!

That's my sis in law... sometimes sweet and nice, sometimes EVIL! Haha...

Getting a stamp on your hand will facilitate re-entering the Evergreen Grassland again for free on the same day! Remember to do that when you're there! :)

Stepping into Evergreen Grassland and I have no idea what's on the right that caught their attention!

There was this one sheep accidentally wandered its way into a pavilion and got surrounded by all the curious visitors. That poor thing was panicking like mad but it made a series of loud BAHS and not before long, a crowd of sheep came to its rescue! And then we know, it was calling out for help! Cute! :)

So basically, the Evergreen Grassland is a huge pasture area and that's definitely a haven to all the sheep! They were all busy grazing and feeding on the grass and low shrubs that we somewhat got influenced to join in the fun! Haha...

The scenic Evergreen Grassland!

Although it is cloudless and very sunny, the surroundings was really cooling due to the altitude Cingjing Farm is located! You can really enjoy basking in the sunlight (but at the same time, unknowingly risk getting a sunburn at the end of the day) and still remain cool! That's the thing I really loved Cingjing Farm for.

We continue wondering into the Mountain View Pastures 清境觀山牧區...

located adjacent to the Evergreen Grassland...

At the Mountain View Pastures, the sheep looks like they had been harvested off their wool. But just like those at the Evergreen Grassland, they are equally busy stuffing their faces with grass and more grass! We have to grab a handful of grass and hand feed them just to get their attentions!

Sis in law's failed attempt to get sheep's attention!...

Then she prepared a bigger handful of grass and she got the attention on the second attempt! YAY!

Seems like the brother failed his first failed attempt to get the sheep's attention too! LOL!

But he was smart, he approached a lazy one. It's definitely going to give my brother all it's attention!

I think the sheep were getting smart after a while noticing us feed the rest.

That one in the picture with me was literally waiting for me to pull all the grass and feed it!

Just so you know, we were over at the Mountain View Pastures to catch the horse show!

Arriving at the amphitheater...

We arrived little earlier and managed to get a front row seat! :D

And not before long... the horse show by performers from Russia!

The lead stuntman has performed several dangerous acts in major movies and together with the rest of the performers, they pulled off several stunning skills in the small confined area of the amphitheater. The show, though short, was really entertaining keeping the crowd going ooo and ahh. And of course, the show ended with an extremely long and loud round of applause!

When the show ended, audiences were allowed to head on down into the ring to take photos with the performers and their horses and at the same time, feed the horses with fresh carrots too! I've got to say, the lady performer was really gorgeous!!! :)

Sheep and more sheep... all busy filling themselves with the endless supply of grass at the pastures!

So much so that we hardly saw any of their faces!

It's not until this moment when I finally understood why the area is named Mountain View Pastures!

Looks like the old man is enjoying a therapeutic rest with a beautiful mountain view!

Really awesome view and we wished we had our picnic basket ready!

Checked out who photo-bombed us!

But a grumpy photo-bomber indeed... lol!

Checking out the section between the Evergreen Grassland and Mountain View Pastures

There were so many makeshift stalls selling stuffs from food to fruits to even souvenirs and so on!

There's also a store which harvests fresh unprocessed honey for sales!

We settled down after a walking around a bit and decided on trying out food from a stall manned by friendly aboriginal people!

Stir-fried wild boar meat, stir-fried wild cabbage, fried noodles and bamboo rice!

Pretty yummy and decent home cooked style food!

Bought sausages to complete the lunch but that has got to be the most expensive sausage we had ever!

Each sausage costed us about SGD$3.00! So much for a tourist spot huh?

Back in Evergreen Grassland after lunch...

Deserved One with a sheep that was eventually surrounded by overly excited visitors in the background...

At the amphitheater at Evergreen Grassland, we spotted the sheep lazing around...

And that was puzzling enough until we found out from a kind local that the sheep shearing shows are not going to happen that day for some reason... :(

Well, even though there isn't any shearing shows...

There's definitely more than enough sheep to go around at the amphitheater!

Just beside the main entrance to Evergreen Grassland, the Sheep Musical Castle 绵羊城堡!

Well, there isn't sheep performing a musical at the castle though, just a souvenir shop but there are lots of cute lambs just outside the shop for you to feed and play with them!

Sis in law has little lambs like Mary from the nursery rhymes! Hehe...

Anyway, it was rather stinky standing around the fenced up area with the stench from the lambs' droppings! We gave up feeding and playing with them after a short while actually! HAHA!

Innocence, written all over the baby's face! :)

Back at Cingjing Farm's visitor centre collecting more stamps!

We intended to visit other parts of Cingjing Farm (i.e. Sunset Trails) but ended up not doing so because, we simply loved how cosy Villa Relax 白熊屋 was. We called it a day pretty early and end up bumming at their cafe and our room! Hehe...

Our next stop after Cingjing Farm, we were down and enjoying ourselves at the scenic Sun Moon Lake! Stay tuned for my post! :D

More posts from Taiwan September 2012 travelogue series:

Table @ Pip's - Wine & Dine @ Kilat Court

2013-02-08T08:30:00.000+08:00

You probably might have noticed that somewhat, I have spent most of my weekends around Bukit Timah since last December. That has full credits to the opening of a family business, Pet 'Tails' along Lorong Kilat. And ever since, I was enjoying myself having a gastronomical adventure around that area!

Well, I do hope I find great stuffs around the area to share and first up, I'll begin with Table @ Pip's!

The wine and dine bistro is set to serve fresh and unpretentious food in a smart yet non-stifling atmosphere. I must really mention that throughout the dining experience, we received warm service that made us feel very comfortable dining in with them!

Whilst waiting for our orders to be prepared, we were served with complimentary bread topped with olive oil, herbs and sea salt. And yes, that little alteration to a typical bread served definitely makes a great difference. Love it that it was much more fragrant and even better when I dipped it into olive oil and balsamic vinegar!

Tomato Pumpkin soup (left) and Mushroom soup (right)

Our mushroom soup was served topped with walnut that gives an interesting texture but we couldn't decide if we liked the slightly overpowering aroma of the roasted walnuts. In contrary, we thought the tomato pumpkin soup was refreshing and the additional pumpkin puree gives the soup an interesting twist to the usual tomato soup!

That's Chef Philip, chef and owner of Table @ Pip's, showing us the tenderloin before proceeding to cook it on the grills outside the bistro itself.

And I managed to find out that his intention of grilling his steak outside the kitchen and even outside the doors of the bistro was simply to entice any passerby especially the hungry ones! Sounds pretty evil to make the hungry souls drool but definitely an interesting concept!

NZ Grilled Tenderloin Steak

$39.00 (Set Dinner with soup and dessert)

Our tenderloin steak arrived at the table plated beautifully together with grilled vegetables seasoned with herbs and pepper and red wine sauce that compliments the steak well. Anyway, we requested for our steak to be done medium rare and it turned out exactly the way we requested it! Such a pity that I was to engrossed with eating and forgot to take a cross-section picture!

Lamb Shank Stew

$39.00

Duck Leg Confit

$28.00

For a variation of meat on the table for sharing, we picked the lamb shank and the duck confit also.

The lamb shank, thankfully without a gamey flavor, was slow stewed to perfection that there's no need to wrestle the shank with the fork and knife because the meat simply falls off the bone easily! And the duck confit was also soft tender inside but crispy and slightly charred on the skin. I quite enjoy the duck confit served with a sweet and slightly tangy red wine orange sauce and I thought it reminds me of pork knuckles! Hehe...

To add, the main courses were served with vegetables that varies on different occasion for the benefit of returning customers. We had grilled zucchini and tomato topped with cheese this time!

And for the first time ever, I am so excited and can't wait to start harping about the desserts!

Yes, I'm not desserts-person and I have enjoyed my post-meal desserts at Table @ Pip's that evening!

Butter & Bread Pudding

$11.00

A good bread pudding seems quite difficult to come by and despite many failed attempts to get a good one, I went ahead and took a gamble to try those served at Table @ Pip's!

Frankly speaking, tell me why I shouldn't love the bread pudding that's nice and mushy but neither overly greasy nor dry with a surprise layer of melted chocolate chips in between. Then it is further topped with creamy milk sauce that isn't too sweet that it overpowers and dominate the flavors of the dessert.

Durian Chocolate

$15.00

This is an amazing dessert layered with a base of chocolate sponge cake, chocolate mousse, durian mousse, chocolate glaze and finally topped with orange zest. I can't quite explain but the chocolate and durian flavors tasted totally harmonious together.

And for the first time ever, something with durian is served but there isn't a bit of aroma (or stench to those non-durian eaters) until we started digging in. A little of probing and I found out from Chef Philip that the durian mousse is actually a D24 durian and white chocolate mix and it seems that the white chocolate helps to lock in the flavors of the durian completely!

Chocolate Lava Cake

$13.00

The white chocolate lava cake isn't the usual lava cake with a sponge cake enveloping the hot and fragrant chocolate lava inside, it is actually pretty similar to the texture of the bread pudding! Seriously heavenly combination!

Sparkling Yuzu Sake

We ended our dinner with a complimentary bottle of sparkling yuzu sake kudos to Chef Philip and even though the percentage of alcohol content was rather high, it was sweet, refreshing and easy on the throats! It is definitely a favorite among men and ladies alike!

All in all, we had a great dinner experience at Table @ Pip's, food and all. And although it is always said that food is subjective but I still have to say that I truly enjoyed the experience especially the desserts and I'll be back for more!

Table @ Pip's
17 Lorong Kilat Kilat Court
#01-09 (S) 598139
Tel : 6467 6867

Opening Hours : Tues - Sun: 11am-3pm, 6pm -10.30pm

Website: http://www.tableatpips.com.sg/

[Wordless Wednesday] Plaza Brasserie @ ParkRoyal x CNY Prosperity Feast 2013

2013-02-06T08:30:00.000+08:00

Plaza Brasserie @ ParkRoyal

7500 Beach Road
Singapore 199591
Tel: 6505 5710

Festive Periods	Dates	Lunch	Dinner
Pre and post Chinese New Year	28 January to 24 February 2012	Adult: $45 Child: $27	Adult: $58 Child: $35
Chinese New Year Eve	9 February 2012	Adult: $45 Child: 27	Adult: $78 Child: $47
Chinese New Year First & Second Day	10 and 11 February 2012	Adult: $62 Child: $37	Adult: $62 Child: $37
Banquet Reunion Dinner	9 February 2012		Adult: $65 Child: $39
Reunion Steam Boat Buffet at Banquet (Minimum of 8 persons per table)	9 February 2012		Adult: $58 Child: $35

*Child below 4 years old dines for free.

For more info, visit their website:
http://www.parkroyalhotels.com/en/hotels/singapore/beach_road/parkroyal_on_beach_road/specials/prosperous_celebrations.html?override_form=689

Travelogue: Taiwan 2012 - Villa Relax 清境白熊屋民宿 @ Cingjing Farm #TTOT #Travel #Taiwan #BedAndBreakfast #LP

2013-02-04T08:30:00.000+08:00

As promised on my previous post on our road trip through Taroko National Park (You can read it here...), here's me sharing on the Bed and Breakfast we put up at during our trip to Cingjing Farm 清境農場!

Initially, we are so absorbed with Villa Relax 清境白熊屋民宿's brood of four Pyrenean Mountain dogs 大白熊犬 as mentioned on their website and we decided on the place with little considerations about how our experience will turn out. But we were glad everything turned out more than well!

Scroll on to check out my series of photos I shot at the B&B! :)

[Taiwan September 2012]

17th Sep 2012 - Day 6 (Part 1) @ Villa Relax (Cingjing Farm)

Villa Relax 白熊屋

Address: 南投縣仁愛鄉清境農場定遠新村30之1號

Website: http://www.villarelax.tw/

Bed:

We actually reserved a room just enough for the four of us ( 景觀陽台四人房 ) but due to some upgrading works at that particular room we requested for, we were offered a bigger room fit for six people! Check out the luxuriously spacious double storey room 景觀樓中樓六人房 we put up in!

The living room area from up above...

A closer look...
On one side, the couch, coffee table and dressing table...

And the other side, there's a queen sized bed and TV...

Second level where there's two more beds...

Frankly speaking, it gets pretty chilly after the sun sets and we were really grateful for that the beds have got warmers attached!

And if you're interesting, you can find more photos of the room on their website:

http://www.villarelax.tw/homestay/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10:room-v6&catid=1:2010-07-14-09-00-09&Itemid=2

Waking up to a small butterfly on our window one morning.

Proves we are that close to nature... Hehe! :)

Scenic view from our room's balcony!

Breakfast:

Simple but satisfying breakfast at Villa Relax

Sunny-side-up, ham, fruit salad and thick toast completed with a hot cup of milk tea.

Check out the sleepy heads having their breakfast! Haha...

Cafe:

Right outside the cafe cum reception area...
Give me a book and a cup of tea, I think I can sit there all day!

Probably it's partially being lazy but it was really nice and cosy that we scrapped half of our itinerary to explore Cingjing Farm to just relax at the B&B!

Enjoying tea and sandwiches over a lazy afternoon at the cafe with the owner's 2 year old daughter!

She's really adorable!

And not forgetting, the dogs at the B&B that we were so keen to meet!
One of the four, named Bear Bear 熊熊, said to be the elder sister of the three remaining, has unfortunately passed on. Now there's three of them namely Kiroro, Mountain and Ammy. Ammy is slightly older and aggressive thus, we never managed to get a chance to meet her. Here's Moutain and Kiroro! :)

Mountain, sad every time we're heading out...

And Mountain again, always there to welcome us when we got back and heading back to our room!

Such a sweet boy actually! :)

And pictures from my previous post and that's Kiroro! :)

Taking an evening walk with Kiroro to the convenience store nearby...

She has taken over the responsibility of directing people to the convenience store after 熊熊 has passed on and she really knows the way! Anyway, we took the evening walk so that we can stock up on junkies for the movies marathon after dinner! MUAHAHA!

Check out our loot! I believe that's the biggest loot ever throughout the entire trip!

Recalling the daily routine to the convenience store now makes me think we've spent way too much moolah there! But then again, all these drinks and snacks are really quite irresistible!

When night falls at Cingjing Farm...
We do nothing but movie marathon and junkies in the comfort of our room!

My take:
Although Villa Relax isn't located in the heart of the Cingjing Farm but it is actually just approximately 5 min walk away from the farm's visitor centre or Small Swiss Garden! We loved the place for the room and their cafe were so much more cosy than what we expected. And not forgetting also that the owners were really hospitable and helpful with providing us with information or extra services like arranging miscellaneous transportations.

We will definitely return to this B&B if we ever visit Cingjing Farm again! :)

More posts from Taiwan September 2012 travelogue series:

Lunar New Year @ Park Palace, Grand Park City Hall #sgfood #Chinese #CNY #food

2013-01-25T08:30:00.000+08:00

It seems like we were just done with Christmas and we hardly have time to breathe and here we are, welcoming the Lunar New Year already!!!

Frankly speaking, I can hardly catch up with the transition but I'm glad that Ellena (Cuisine Paradise) took me along to her tasting with Park Palace at Grand Park City Hall. There and then, it's the cold hard truth in my face that Chinese New Year is drawing near! Haha...

We arrived at the restaurant to an exquisite table setting for the diners! :)

And when everyone arrived and settled down, LUNCH IS SERVED!

Staff helping us to assemble the yu sheng for the lo hei before the main courses were served!

Golden Shunde Yellowtail Yu Sheng

Imperial Suckling Pig (First course)

Golden Happiness Crispy Garoupa

Chinese New Year Flambé Pen Cai

Imperial Suckling Pig (Second Course)

Auspicious Glutinous Rice with Foie Gras and Preserved Meat

Steamed Mini Pumpkin Dumpling with Green Bean Paste

At Park Palace, you get your Imperial Suckling Pig served in two different ways. First, you'll enjoy the air-dried and roasted pig with just the skin topped on a thin pancake. Then, the remaining suckling pig will be brought back to the kitchen and oven baked further with lemongrass sauce till the meat and skin is beautiful glazed.

And that said, the Golden Shunde Yellowtail Yu Sheng was an interesting variant using fried vermicelli instead of shredded vegetables and topped with soy sauce and peanut oil instead of the usual plum sauce. It was indeed light and refreshing but I thought I preferred the traditional yu sheng better.

Also, while the chefs are trying to be innovative, I couldn't quite agree with the pairing of foie gras and the traditional preserved meat in the Auspicious Glutinous Rice with Foie Gras and Preserved Meat dish. If taken separately, the preserved meat and glutinous rice or foie gras and glutinous rice combinations went pretty fine.

Well, my favourite has got to be the Chinese New Year Flambé Pen Cai not because that pot contains lavish ingredients and flambé with cognac to enhance the seafood flavors. But for the fact that aside from assembling all the 18 different "treasures", the chef has to painstakingly slow cook everything to get a good pot of pen cai!

Not forgetting the Golden Happiness Crispy Garoupa was crispy on the outside but moist inside. The dish is surely notable for the freshness of the garoupa and the mild homemade sauce that compliments the fried fish so well. And the dessert of Steamed Mini Pumpkin Dumpling with Green Bean Paste with slightly inconsistent skin thickness (since they are handmade skins) that has a slight tangy orange peel tinge.

Well nonetheless, we surely had a scrumptious and an extravagant Chinese New Year lunch at Park Palace. How are you going to celebrate your lunar new year this year? :)

Park Palace @ Grand Park City Hall
10 Coleman Street
Mezzanine Level, Grand Park City Hall
Singapore 179809
Tel: (65) 6432 5543

Website: http://www.parkpalace.com.sg/

Travelogue: Taiwan 2012 - Carton King @ Cingjing Farm #TTOT #Travel #Taiwan #Food #LP

2013-01-22T15:31:00.001+08:00

We planned in such a way that we ended our road trip through Taroko Gorge at Cingjing Farm 清境農場 instead of returning to Hualien City and then ride the entire long mountain route all over again to get to our next part of the travel itinerary! If you've missed my post previously on our road trip through Taroko National Park, you can always catch up on that here! :)

Anyway, read on to find out on our first evening at Cingjing Farm!

[Taiwan September 2012]

16th Sep 2012 - Day 5 (Part 2) @ Carton King (Cingjing Farm)

We arrived at Cingjing Farm after our road trip through Taroko National Park some time near evening time. So after we checked in to the B&B we'll be lodging at for the night, we could only settle for dinner and rest up for the next day.

We walked a wee bit from the B&B and found Carton King Creativity Park located just beside Small Swiss Garden 小瑞士花園! And to tell you the truth, I spotted the themed cafe while doing my research for our travel itinerary and I'm dying to visit the cafe!

We chanced upon one of their retails branch at Yilan's National Centre for Traditional Arts (Read it here!) and we were so curious about how it feels like dining in their cafe! From tables to chairs to benches to baby chairs to the false ceilings to serviette holders or even decorative around the vicinity of the cafe and so on and so forth, you name it all and they are all made of cardboard!

Even the cup holder is made of cardboard!

Clinking the glasses but without the clink obviously! =P

I surely looked very amused with the cafe isn't it? LOL!

The bench at the cafe can take the weight of two big guys... Very sturdy indeed!

As much as we were so carried away with checking out the cafe built out of carton boxes, we didn't forget our objective of visiting the cafe all in all - Our dinner! :D

First to arrive at the table, our honey drinks served in a carton box
which you can bring home after your meal and it serves jolly well as a piggy bank! :D

Sanxia Grilled Chicken Wings 三峽碳烤雞翅

NT 120

You seriously cannot go wrong with a good marination and piping hot grilled chicken wings served at your table! Great finger food to share while waiting for your main courses to arrive!

Deep Fried Sweet Fish with Honey Chutney Sauce Thematic Set Meal
酸辣檸檬蜜醬香魚排主題精緻套餐

NT 280

Stewed Pork Ribs with Champagne Honey Sauce Thematic Set Meal
香檳蜜汁豬小排 主題精緻套餐

NT 300

The thematic set meals comes with a total of four sides namely the rice, assorted vegetables, soup and matcha jelly dessert.

Taiwan Livestock Snowflake Pork Slice with Tomato Kimchi Soup
台畜梅花豬肉片蕃茄泡菜湯火鍋套餐

NT 380

Selected Sirloin Beef Slice with Hokkaido concentrated milk soup

特選沙朗牛肉片北海道特濃牛奶湯火鍋套餐
NT 400

As you can see, we ordered a set meal each. The stewed pork ribs were soft and fall off the bones while the honey chutney sauce for the deep fried fish was a great combination but because of the temperature due to the altitude we are at, every thing turned cold too soon! Evidently, the hotpot sets with rich piping hot soup seems much more worthy at this point of time!

But comfort aside, I thought the hotpot were note-worthy for the remarkable amount of seafood and stuffs we got in each pot! Don't you agree? :)

Our food served and us at Carton King! :)

Post-dinner, we explored the creativity park where the cafe is located!

Deserved One and bumble bee outside the Honey Museum No. 6! Haha!

Big rocking horse and baby rocking horse!

Retailing at Carton King's shop therefore, made of cardboard of course!

The Post Shop at Carton King's Cingjing Farm branch is standing at 1750m above sea level...

Probably the "tallest" post shop ever! Haha...

Even at Cingjing Farm, our daily routine to the convenience store without fail!

If you're wondering what's inside that huge bag I was holding in the previous picture... TADA~

It's junkies and more junkies, drinks and instant noodles because we were preparing for a long night being couch potatoes because we've got an awesome movie channel on the TV in our room! :D

Carton King Creativity Park 紙箱王創意園區 - 清境小瑞士店

南投縣546仁愛鄉定遠新村28號 (小瑞士花園)
Tel: 049-2803828

Opening hours: 9:00am - 9:00pm
Restaurant hours: 11:00am - 8:30pm

Brother, sis-in-law and Keroro, one of the mascot of the B&B we lodged at Cingjing Farm...

She's really really big but gentle and sweet!

Look out for my following post with more photos and info of our stay at Cingjing Farm and the B&B!

More posts from Taiwan September 2012 travelogue series:

Majestic Bay 冠華 @ Gardens by the Bay #sgfood #Seafood

2013-01-18T08:30:00.000+08:00

While Chef Yong Bing Ngen is known for his contemporary Chinese cuisine, he has always wanted to open a seafood restaurant. So following the success of Majestic Restaurant and Jing, Chef Yong's newest venture of a 110 seater seafood restaurant located just below the Flower Dome at Gardens By The Bay, sets to offer the freshest sea treasures and a luxurious view of Marina Bay waterfront.

I managed to experience Chef Yong's new innovations and other classic favourites myself all thanks to Ellena (Cuisine Paradise) for letting me to join her at the tasting session with Majestic Bay!

And so, we began our dinner with 3 selections of Dim Sum 精选点心三款...

Steamed Shanghai Pork Dumpling 上海小笼包and Steamed Siew Mai Dumpling 香菇蒸烧卖

$4.20 for 3 pieces and $4.50 for 4 pieces respectively

Chilli Crab Meat Bun 辣椒蟹生煎包

$4.50 for 3 pieces

Out of the three items in the selection, my favourite has got to be the Chilli Crab Meat Bun! It can be simply translated as pan-seared mantou coated with sesame seeds and stuffed with chilli crab filling. I must say that it is a creative variant to our usual chilli crab!

And to add, the handmade skin of the pork dumplings were notable for they are really thin and delicate!

Soup of the day 瓦煲老火汤
$18 for 2-4 pax/ $27 for 5-8 pax

It was slightly rainy day and nothing beats a hot bowl of Corn and Trio-Carrot Pork Ribs soup that has the flavors of the ingredients after boiling for six hours!

Steamed Live Prawns with minced garlic 金银蒜蒸开边生虾

Market Price

When the platter was served, the aroma of the minced garlic that follows was really enticing. I love it for the fact that it was savory yet light on the palate and you basically get to taste the natural sweetness of the fresh prawns!

Bay's Signature "Kopi" Sauce Live Crabs 冠華咖啡焗肉蟹

Market Price

I'm absolutely not a coffee drinker but I found myself enjoying the crabs coated with aromatic coffee sauce with apple jam and marmalade and not forgetting that the crabs were flambe on the spot with a mixture of rice wine spirits and coffee liqueur with coffee beans. However, it was a real pity that the crabs we had that evening was on the dry side and I had a hard time wrestling to get the flesh off the shells!

Nonetheless, I really think that it is an innovative variation to the usual preparation styles of crabs here.

Assorted Seafood Baked Rice in Chef's Recipe sauce 海鲜大烩焗饭

$68 for 4-6 pax/ $88 for 7-12 pax

Inspired by Chef Yong's trip to Macau, the dish is prepared in a sequel where the rice was fried first then baked with assorted seafood in his own recipe sauce. It somewhat resembles the Portuguese style baked rice but more robust and tastier.

Among all the dishes served over the tasting session, this was probably the only one that everyone at the table agreed on, so I'm sure it's definitely worth the try!

Wok-fried Radish Cake with Prawns and XO Chilli sauce 极品酱鲜虾萝卜糕

$20 for 2-4 pax/ $30 for 7-12pax

This platter of radish cakes might be the most expensive I had to date. Of course, the platter justifies for itself with soft fluffy radish cakes with fat juicy prawns and further topped with homemade chunky and savory XO chilli sauce.

Sweet's Temptation 甜品诱惑

(Includes Glutinous Rice Dumpling with Yam Paste stuffing, Glutinous Rice Dumpling with Fresh Cream stuffing, Steamed Custard Bun with Salted Egg Yolk filling and Bay's Chinese Pancake with Red Bean Paste)

$20 for 4 pax

I enjoyed the custard bun with fragrant salted egg yolk filling and the Glutinous Rice dumpling with yam paste stuffing that resembles the Pulot Hitam dessert. I found the Glutinous Rice Dumpling with fresh cream stuffing and the Chinese Pancake with red bean paste a little too sweet for my liking. Not that it is bad but I'm just not a sweet desserts person to begin with.

All in all, I have to give in to the fact that it was a great dinner experience in the vicinity of the restaurant with relaxing neutral tones completed with an impressive night view!

Majestic Bay 冠華
18 Marina Gardens Drive #01-10
Flower Dome, Gardens By The Bay
Singapore 018953
Tel: 6604 6604

Opening hours:
Lunch (Monday to Friday) 11:45am - 2:30pm
Lunch (Sat, Sun & PH) 11:30am - 2:30pm
Dinner 5:45pm - 9:30pm

Website: http://majesticbay.sg/

Travelogue: Taiwan 2012 - Taroko National Park

2013-01-15T08:30:00.000+08:00

I have heard so much about the place so no doubt, one of the highlights of my trip to Taiwan last September and what I was really looking forward to was the day when we planned to do a road trip through one of Taiwan's national parks, Taroko Gorge!

Read on to find out about our road trip and the different stops we made!

[Taiwan September 2012]

16th Sep 2012 - Day 5 (Part 1) @ Taroko National Park

We heeded the advice from most locals we met during the earlier part of our trip to start our road trip through the Taroko National Park early so that we will have enough time for everything especially when we are caught at periodic road closures for maintenance along the way.

So we set out from our hotel in Hualien City at 7:00am, grabbed breakfast on the move and arrived at the entrance to the national park before 8:00am! It was a sunny and hot morning, definitely the perfect weather for the road trip! :D

Taroko National Park Central Cross-Island Highway Entrance
太魯閣國家公園東西橫貫公路入口

Greeted by a majestic and gorgeous view of the mountains

and the view of a creek at the entrance to the National Park!

Caught the sis in law enjoying her breakfast while enjoying the wonderful view!

Gateway to Taroko National Park!

We were told that we should have a picture WITH the gateway or we can never claim that we have had been to Taroko National Park!

And check out the unwillingly grumpy morning faces when we were told to take photos! LOL!

After much probing and urging, here's us with the gateway before setting ourselves en route our road trip!

Eternal Spring Shrine (Changchun Shrine 長春祠)

The Eternal Spring Shrine from across the Liwu River...

The Bell Tower and Changuang Temple high up above at the end of the Eternal Spring trail ...

The shrine is constructed to commemorate the 226 military veterans who died during the construction of the Central Cross-Island Highway between 1956 to 1960. As spring water adjacent by the shrine flows all year round, the Highway Bureau named it after the "Changchun Falls".

In 1987, the cliff by the river collapse and destroyed the pavilion next to the shrine and after 10 years, it was restored and open to the public again where the Eternal Spring Shrine becomes a scenic spot with special significance on the Central Cross-Island Highway now.

Deserved One and me with the shrine behind us...

Ok, I know I look more interested with my breakfast than posing for photos! Hehe!

Eternal Spring Bridge 长春桥

Brother and sis in law with the Eternal Spring Bridge...

View from the bridge... It's a river and beyond!

And so we crossed the bridge and followed the trail so that we can get a closer look at the shrine...

From the Eternal Spring Bridge, we passed by the Guanyin Cave...

View of Liwu River from Guanyin Cave...

And the trail is actually a tunnel route starting from the Guanyin Cave and when we emerge from the other side of the tunnel, we're already at the shrine!

Frankly speaking, if not for the crowd from another tour group that turned up at the Eternal Spring Shrine at the same time as us, we would have stayed longer and have a better look at the shrine rather than just taking a brief look only at the exterior areas only!

Swallow Grotto (Yanzikou 燕子口)

At the Swallow Grotto, the Liwu River runs its swiftest and the distance between the gorge walls are so narrow that they almost seem to touch each other. The cliffs are filled with small caves which serve as a natural nesting place for the swallows. The swallows bring life to this quiet valley, thus the name.

Arriving at the start of the trail to the Swallow Grotto and the amazing view of the valley behind us...

Following the trail and checking out the Swallow Grotto!

Deserved One taking a peek over the railings and guess what he saw?

The view of the river from directly above!

Where safety is a concern at the windy and dark tunnel, cars goes through the mail tunnel on the left while visitors can go on foot on a narrower tunnel on the right!

Brother and sis in law with a sign that is telling visitors not to cross over the railing...

And by the looks of this, I seriously wonder which silly fool

would ever want to try cross over the railings at the Swallow Grotto!

The sides of the cliffs are punctuated with marble rocks that adds a colorful touch to the gorge!

It's beautiful, don't you think so? And can you spot the little caves the swallows built their nests in? :)

The famous rock formation with the side profile of a Red Indian Chief!

Check out the lower left corner of the photo... Can you see it? :)

Motherly Devotion Bridge (Cimu Bridge 慈母橋)

We were surprised that our driver pulled over the vehicle when we see nothing significant in sight.
Then there, he pointed out a road that's cutting the middle of the mountains, sharing with us that that's the first roads constructed that cuts through the Taroko Gorge. Although the road is not used by most visitors anymore, the aboriginal people who still lives in the mountains still uses the road till date.

Can you make out the road cutting the mountain in the middle?

And he urged us across the road...

He showed us the many different rock types formed at the edge of the river (probably granite and marble) but because the names he used were in Mandarin. I can hardly understand and differentiate anything he said... =X

Motherly Devotion Bridge

And then when our driver finally told us to take a look to our right, I finally understood why he pulled over! He was trying to show us the bridge that was built in honor of a mother's devotion and the natural rock formation beside the bridge that resembles a frog with the pavilion perched on top of the rock resembling it's crown!

Yue Fei Pavilion 岳飞亭

Our next stop over at the Yue Fei Pavilion was minutes from the Motherly Devotion Bridge.
The pavilion that was built during the construction of the Central Cross Island Highway is named after the folk hero or ancient China, Yue Fei. And there's a suspension bridge across the river that leads to access to the forests of some of the major mountains in this part of the gorge - the main peak of Liwu Mountain, Panshi Mountain and Chilai Mountain. This access point also leads to one of the park's Ecological Protection Areas and entry is not allowed without a permit.

Walking over the suspension bridge...

Us on the suspension bridge!

I've got to admit that we didn't know that the bridge was actually out of bounds for general access too as the railings get pretty short towards the center and it actually can be very dangerous!

Nonetheless, the awesome view of the river from both sides of the bridge!

From the suspension bridge, we managed to catch a glimpse of the waterfalls on the opposite side of the river but my picture turned out horrible since it was too glaring to check the outcome of my shot on the spot so I'm not sharing it! Haha...

Pudu Bridge 普渡桥 & Xiangde Temple 祥德寺

Pudu Bridge

Since there's no car access to the Xiangde Temple, we had to alight at Pudu Bridge and cross it on foot to reach the temple...

The Tianfeng Pagoda and White Robed Guanyin very prominent from the bridge...

Door of Liberation 解脱门
My travel mates, set free! Haha...

We were told that we should get to the pagoda and go up to the top to see a stunning view over Tian Xiang 天祥 and here's us walking through the compound of the temple towards the pagoda!

To reach the pagoda, it's stairway after stairway and more stairway after stairway...

Spotted a Buddha in quaint garden by one of the stairways we passed! How serene... :)

At the main temple, we made a small donation each and received a bottle of holy water each... :)

It really felt like an endless walk but thankfully, the trail towards the pagoda was pretty scenic! :)

And finally, the Tianfeng Pagoda!

Check out those double chins after 4 days of gorging on Taiwan goodies! Buahaha! =X

We really wanted to see the stunning view as said by our driver but the air was really thin and we're panting so badly from the ascend from the Pudu Bridge to the Tianfeng Pagoda that we aborted the plans to take up the challenging looking long flight spiral stairs! Just a photo inside the pagoda and we left!...

Then, we also wanted to see the White Robed Guanyin up close but we had no freaking idea how to access the lower tier at the side of the mountain where it is situated! What a pity! :(

After the visit to the temple...
At Tian Xiang for a short toilet break before proceeding with our road trip... :D

Bilu Sacred Tree

The Bilu Sacred Tree from afar...

The ultra thick trunk of the sacred tree...

Situated between Ci'en and Bilu, the tree is the largest old tree along the Central Cross-Island Highway!
I'm not sure if it's me or the fact that the surrounding temperature is dropping as we ascend the mountains, it feels really mystique standing next to the sacred tree!

One of the Lunta fir (Taiwan's native tree) among the cluster that is withered and dead... :(

Xin Xin Restaurant 欣欣餐厅

We were too carried away with the sightseeing and it was actually way passed mid-day when we decided to make a quick stop at the restaurant for lunch, probably the only eating house we spotted aside from the cafe near the Bilu Sacred Tree actually! Haha...

Well, it's a simple restaurant with natural air-conditioning considering the fact the altitude we have scaled since morning! :)

There at the eating house, you basically get a serving of rice and you pick your desired dishes and amount you want from the array of simple stir-fried dishes displayed out like on a buffet line. You are then charged according to the weight of the amount of food you have picked! Interesting concept isn't it? :)

Our lunch and us! :D

After lunch comes my favourite part of the road trip when it gets so so so breathtaking as we approach the highest peak of Taroko Gorge!

I guess we were ooo-ing and ahh-ing at the scenery from the view of the car windows too much that our driver decided to pull over and let us enjoy the view before proceeding to the Wu Peak! Beautiful right?

Pathway to Heaven? :)

I've no idea how high up in the mountains we were already on but this is not pun intended...

I left my jacket in the car and IT'S MAD COLD!

The picturesque background and us!

We left pretty hastily after the pictures because we just can't wait to see the Wu Peak!

Wu Peak (Wuling)

Finally, WU PEAK! And it's a whooping 12 degrees only with strong winds!

I'm frozen... LOL!

Wu Peak, the highest spot of Taroko Gorge, stands at an altitude of 3,275 meters and that is about two times taller than Genting Highlands (1860meters). Our driver told us that it was actually very out of the way from the usual Taroko Gorge tours and he was surprised that we insisted on visiting Wu Peak.

But please allow the following photos to justify the stubbornness and insisting of making a detour there!

Ever wondered how it feels like to be at the top of the WORLD? :)

From the platform at the lookout point at Wu Peak...
The view of the peaks of the mountains of Taroko Gorge covered in a blanket of clouds!

Well, we were forewarned that it can get really cold at Wu Peak but we really didn't expected that it will be THAT cold and just our jackets didn't keep us warm enough eventually when the wind blows!

The peaks of Mt Hehuan 合歡山 surrounding the Hehuan valley...

To tell you the truth, I was rather disappointed that the Shakadang Trail 砂卡礑 and Baiyang Trail 白楊步道 were closed due to the destructive typhoon that hit Taiwan before our trip but the view of the Hehuan Valley simply writes off everything! That has got to be my favourite moment and shot out of the entire trip! :D

The brother and freezing sis-in-law...

Deserved One and me! HEHE!

Cingjing Farm 清境農場

And after Wu Peak, we ended our road trip with arriving after a short 15 minutes drive at Cingjing Farm where we'll be exploring for the following day!

I've got to say that it somewhat gotten us a little bored to have to sit inside the car most of the time but seriously, the series of scenery we saw throughout Taroko National Park along the way makes it all worthwhile!

Did I mention? We wanted to be a little adventurous and do the road trip on our own but decided to get a driver and guide for our own safety since the Taroko Gorge is absolutely foreign to us. Thank you very much to Hualien Travel for assigning such an experienced driver and guide to us! It was really comforting to have someone who knows every bend and niche of the national park with us! :)

More posts from Taiwan September 2012 travelogue series: