Taipei - Day 5 & 6

Hello there.. paisay if I've kept you waiting! hehe.. v happy that U're keeping urself posted.. hopefully U'll try to do so even when u're NOT on leave.. cos U do have a 'LIFE' besides work rite?! hahahaha

Following up from our hectic photo shot on sunday (i.e. Day 4), we already planned for today to head for the hot spring resort!!! We MUST pamper ourslvs after a tiring day rite?! Thinking of spa/jacuzzi, I miss the days where Tampines 'old' sports complex have a indoor streambath + jacuzzi room where you only pay $5 ! N there's even hot shower lor! no more now!!! SO sad!

OK , so we took the mrt to Beitou (北头) which is akin to getting fm Bugis to Boon Lay. I must say I was alittle tired maybe fm ytd's shoot but still I very 'enthu' for the spring bath!

Beitou is like a resort area for everyone even the locals cos you can see signboards all over the streets, buildings, directions heading towards the resorts & even designated free bus ferry pickup point by each Spa.

We got to Spa Spring resort (水都) recommended by the bridal shop sales but too bad the private rooms were full for the moment & we dint want to spend an entire day / overnite on another package so we opt for the public pool which at that time has only 2 guests so Y not? N u know Y only 2? Bcos its getting damn hot & sunny, which locals on a working day will wana come for hot spring la?! hahahah... I can tell u the 2 guests were not local cos they were too friendly la.. smiling to thomas & volunteering to take photos for us. We could tell the accent.. Hongkies..

Warning!

For the 'mandarin -iliterate', this sign is simply telling you;
- their bath are 100% spring water & it has healing-beauty benefits..
- pls soak for 3-5mins taking a 10mins interval for 3-4 times.
Pls do NOT over-estimate yourself
- Not suitable for babies, people with ezcema, high blood pressure, heart attach, pregnant or any1 wounded

Hello I'm here!!
There's a cold pool, so do make alternate switch between the hot & cold pool to stimulate your blood circulation.
This hot pool that I'm in is really v hot.. I'm a person who LOVES hot shower/bath/water/soak but for this, I cant stay even with body half submerged for more than 2 mins under the hot weather. U might start to feel groggy.. Be warned

台北中政纪念堂
Taipei Memorial 'smthg'.. LOL

台湾民居纪念馆
Taiwan People Memorial Hall
*not accountable for wrong name/translation/interpretation!*
Statue of Jiang Zheng
Oh this funny little thing here is a smart invention.. its suppose to flashes when ur order is ready to collect.. so smart that it dint 'work' cos the restaurant is so slow in serving the food that Thomas walked up to the counter umpteen times that we dint need them to alert us for collection!

Food finally!
*Ah-hem*.. the 2 rice balls were 'so strategically positioned'...

Photos selection!!
Look wat the bridal ppl bought us?! Meat buns! By rite, I should always be glad but we just had our lunch so we're kinda full.. nevertheless, I shan't reject their kind offer.. REALLY la! They bought it specially for us to taste the unqiue meat bun thats cooked by 'sticking' it to the walls of the stove. Meat inside is nothing fantastic thou & the skin is like those dim sum baked meat bun lor.. those browny types.
We're jus having fun whilst making the toughest decision 'ever'! ha..
We reached @ 4pm but guess wat time we got the job done? - 11pm!


We begin by browsing over our 400+ photos (which had already been sieved out bad ones by Michael) & deleting dos that we din like.. we cut it down to 300+ but we couldn't take too many photos into our album which our package only include 30pcs & any additional photo cost SGD$45 each. Note; in SG it cost SGD$70-85 per pc!

We tried to throw away as many photos as we could & forced ourselves to be very stringent on the quality of the photos to keep. E.g. Facial expression, repeated pose, similar backgrounds etc.. Thoughout the selection there's always at least one assistant to oversee, its to assist us actually & also to make sure we don throw away too many that in the end they couldnt negotiate us to buy the soft copies in CD! For extra soft copies to be touch-up & burn into CD, they will charge SGD25 each & would suggest min 100pcs.. We dint buy into this eventually cos we selected additional 37 pcs + 1 FOC into our album and thought that these are the best to be kept already, there is not need to keep extra 'lose' ones in CD. hee!

See Thomas.. I've said he enjoy Michael's presence.. even after kana 砍chop

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Day 6!

If u rem this; the prata-like egg/ham wrap.. Thomas likes it alot

龙山寺

wah, pls don expect me to translate all of it..
if you understand, u WILL understand..
if you doesnt understand even if u know wat its written, it just mean u DON understand no matter wat! U know wat im saying?
=p

Mee Sua ! 1 of my fav! & there's diff flavors
btw, I really must comment on this stall owner. He was very polite & very considerate to give additional bowl to us even thou we din ask for it (knowing tat we're sharing). After we step out of the shop we rem we've forgotten to pay! So we turned back immediately & apologise.. guess wat? The boss say: "Oh.. doesnt matter.. I don even rem abt it too.. I could jus treat u.."
woo.. how rare is such a kind man?

We head to Dan Shui so we don miss out 1 of the tourist attraction

Can you guess what is this?
Yes... OBVIOUSLY ITS AN EGG! but wat kind of egg la?!

三味蛋 - 3 taste egg

ha.. bet u dono la... its actually a combination of Salted egg, Century egg & tea egg. As each mentioned are done thru diff processing, preservating methods so this 3 Taste Egg has to be prepared at different stage which are time consuming & takes up to months, hence, more expensive.

Wat its taste like?
- dump 3 of those Salty/Century/Tea eggs all @ once into ur mouth lor.. u'll know
*wink*

Yu Ren Ma tou! Fisherman's Wharf

Act cool

Wat the.. this Lover's Bridge was commissioned by that Ah Bian
(Ex-Taiwan-corrupted-jailed-President)? Kaoz.. spoiler + damper man

Back to Shi Lin Night market.. We're back to search for our 七里香 BBQ sotong but we cant find it!! We realised that all those food stalls are mobile & the 'original' location was taken over.. we walked 2 rounds looking thru the corners but jus don have.. wah liao we were so SIAN la..

den we saw this SUPER JUMBO HOTDOGS.. kaoz..so big its scary

Another dessert... all kinds of them in Taiwan..

Not superb la.. it's something like chee-cheong-fun with the gluey paste - so don worry, u're not missing out much. hee

Hope you have fun reading! Wait for more!

Nitez,
Hanbaobao

Taipei - Day 4

Helloz!! I'm back with more 'sick-kick actions'!

This is the day that we've planned for. After You, You & You whom had been asking for more photos so now I'm giving you more glimpse of it. Let's get into details!

Yez.. me in painful state.. how often do u see Hanbaobao like tt?!
There're more at the back of my 'brainfreeze-nerveful-head'..

Tip: Pls use button-shirt so that U will not mess up the makeup & hairdo when changing out of your clothes

Viola!


Thomas's turn!
Even he was sian lor.. or ?


Side view

Top view
Like the Ultra-Boy of sort hair.. agree??

I quite like Honey in this actually.. hehe.. so "......" - dono wats a suitable word to describe

Wahzz! Have you seen a bride like this?!?! How sad it tat expression la..?

The process of spraying tons of 'hardening' sprays on your hair to fix a style & den RIPPING it apart with a METAL-comb is HELL..

Lunch time!

Bring me a smile !

The 2nd set of photo. On way to Yang Ming Shan now & have about min 30mins to travel

Survived 3rd round of hair-do by the road side..

CHEEZE!
ga ga ga.. We feel like celebrity lorz! hahaha.. Huang shifu (driver) taking pic for us.. hehe..
Grateful we had a team of nice helpers

The dumb circle is the spot when I had to LAY FLAT on the grass...

Michael (photographer) shouted: "Lay down on the grass.."
Me: "HUH?! is the grass wet? huh.. ???? " - continue staring at the grass
Michael: "Ya, lay down there.. rite.. lay down"
Me: "grrr..... damn.. ok.. heng it dry"
Michael: "Now lay COMPLETLY flat with your arms stretch out"
Me: " .......????????????.......... GRRRRRRrrr "

Cool bird.. Cool tail..

"My eyes can kill you look"

Double eye lid - Checked
1 set of false lash - Checked
2nd set of false lash - Checked

5th set of gown

Thomas was so happy being around Michael... cos they are both FULL OF CRAPS & 'dirty'-jokers..

Our sole purpose for going Taiwan

Good whole day spent for this.. more to come, be patience ya?!
*wink*
Hanbaobao

Taipei - Day 3

Feeling drowsy while posting this, got watery nose. Niece is down with fever, cough & flu! Could we had possible swine flu?? Not to worry, u wont kana reading this =p ! (ok, chill wind blow across your neck..)

Btw, having stomachache @ e same time now.. I think due to the honey.. happened twice last nite & 10 mins ago, that after I dunk that glass of raddish-carrot-honey+smthg else drink, my stomach start churning... damn. Some recipe for youth by mum.. :S

Day 3 on a Sat & we are going out of Taipei!

Taipei station TRA
We're taking the train there. The small tickets are in chinese & dint exactly indicate on it where is the exact station (瑞芬) we're suppose to be headed. Instead, it state the final station of the TRA line we're taking. Same like if i'm going Bedok, the ticket will state Pasir Ris. So we were quite puzzled & very uncertain if we're at the right line. FYI, their trains are VERY on-time so we dint wana miss it.

BTW, I think this pic is kinda 'artistic'.. hee..

Here we are after approx 45mins of standing.. v bored by it.
Also, I thought this 芳 fang looks the same as my name 芬 fen. Y is it pronouched as 'fang' rather than 'fen' ? Look carefully.. the 2nd part is different - 方 vs 分 ! lol.. & know wat? The 芳 & 芬 derived from the primary character are the same sound!! Y the heck created so many different characters then??
I HATE LANGUAGES!!

Ah.. I bet you cant figure out what is this.. neither do u know where its heading.. hehehe

OK, out of station, right opposite the station we still need to take a bus up the moutain to our final destination we came for today.
九份
(directly translated as 'nine shares - hee!)
What nice scenary!
Wooooo... I see, smell, hear & feel FOOD !!
Little map
Lunch finally!
Almost every other shops are fish balls eateries. I think this is 1 of the crowdest & looks more established. Its so packed every1 had to share & squeeze.
Top: Jelly
Middle: Veg, vermicelli 东粉
Bottom: Jumbo fishballs with meat like Fuchou fishballs.

Talk about this meat-stuffed fishball, its so juicy inside that when Thomas big mouth munched into it ALL the oily 'juice' squelched out & onto my arms, forearms, hands, blouse & thighs!!! Yet he gave me tat 'innocent' look?!?

However, the fishball is a little tough.

Tea-time
Tired from standing & walking we had to rest.
Thomas sweet-tooth as he is, ordered the Longan-red dates tea. V sweet indeed!
Chrysanthemum Pu'er
This is mine..
Mere looking at the blossoming of the flower is therapeutic...
not to mentioned we overlooked down the hills & to the sea with warmth sunshine & gentle breeze...

Dyfunct cinema
U cant go in.

Xi Men Ting !
We stayed jus 5mins away tucked in some corner..
U see the station name?

Dinner finally!!
Goose meat?? I wouldnt miss trying!

The meat's texture akin to duck but the aroma is way better. Ordered only the noodle initially but cos meat tasted so nice we order 2 other plates - meat & kidney.
eh-hem,, NO liver.. goose-liver super ex don u know??
*thats exactly wat I asked & thomas replied. haha

OK, that's about all for today folks.. need to bed & have gd rest.. Team is rather shorthanded even though we'd expand in size. Taken on new functionss from other dept.. & when any1 goes on leave..damn.