Beijing Adventures - Day 1: Buffet Lunch at Tai Yi Chun

  

     One thing I love about China tours are the lunch and dinner included in the package.  I mean, China tours are by no means cheap [we had to pay a handsome sum of USD 420.00+ per person for a three-day tour and 6 days, 5 nights accommodation, which excludes the airfare and tips].  However, if you factor in the lunch and dinner they provide, plus refreshments at times, and the transportation, you'd realize that you don't have to spend for anything during the trip.  After all, the lunch and dinner are so filling and delicious that you won't feel hunger pangs at any given time during the tour.  And, since it isn't summer, the need for water isn't that compelling.  I couldn't remember a day when I had to drink water, tea or soda while on tour, except when dining.

   
     For the first day of tour, we had lunch at Tai Yi Restaurant, and it was buffet!  I wasn't hungry at all because we had buffet breakfast at the hotel, but well, I had to eat because we still have a long day ahead of us.  The food was really yummy, especially the kung pao chicken (it was spicy but I ate a spoonful), and the sweet and sour pork.

     We had a late lunch; and surprisingly, some of the westerners we saw at the Forbidden City come in to the restaurant after we did (they're part of a large tour group).  Small world, eh.   Good thing we got there first; the line at the buffet table suddenly got long.

     This is where we ate, somewhere near this street: Xinjiangongmen Road, not too far away from the Summer Palace.

 

 
     The restaurant has a huge lawn with trees...it was kinda romantic outside, really.  Maybe because I love trees.

      Right after lunch, we went to the Summer Palace. Yipee!

Baguio Adventure: Day 1 - The Manor at Camp John Hay, SM Baguio and Cafe by the Ruins [May 2010]

     We went to Baguio last May.  Suffice it to say that it was work-related, although it was more like a yearly Baguio vacation than work.  Still, our presence was required; we just needed to make sure that we're seen and afterward, we're off to enjoy Baguio on our own.

     For accommodation, we were billeted at the Manor in Camp John Hay because nobody wanted to stay at the old, service house that was provided for us.  For one, it was creepy.  Who knows if ghosts abound.  Ha!  Anyway, it was my second time to stay at the Manor and I was glad to see that it was undergoing a face lift and that the garden at the back was revamped. Besides, if I wanted to "scout" for ghosts, then I'd better do it in style. Heh.  The downside to staying at the Manor, aside from the cost, is its seclusion.  If you don't have a car, then good luck to you.  The good thing?  The Manor promises both rest, relaxation and community with nature.  Plus, if you know how to play golf, you're in luck.  There's a golf course at Camp John Hay.

     Looking back, I realized that we hardly did anything on our first day in Baguio.  We spent the morning resting because we were tired from the four or so hours trip up north.  We had lunch a restaurant a few steps from the Manor, and then we rested, again.  Yup, that happens when you're traveling with a large group.  You end up resting over and over again.

     We had nothing else to do so we decided to go to SM Baguio.  How weird is that?  It's not a tourist spot but we went there.  Funny, really.  That's what happens when girls travel together: they end up in the malls.

     Good thing that one of our peers suggested that we go to a coffee shop called Cafe by the Ruins.  We didn't know where it was, only that it was near Burnham Park but we asked some locals around, including some officers in uniform, for directions. By the time we found the Cafe, it was already dark.  I didn't buy anything from there but I just took pictures inside.  It was quaint, sort of like a cafe with an enclosed outdoor dining area.  According to my companions, the pastries they bought were delicious.  

     Of course, we had to end our day early because we had nothing else to do.  I managed to get out of our room and take pictures at the Manor's back garden.  It was really beautiful and enchanting at night.  It was nice to walk around the garden at night while wistfully hoping for some cute guy to keep me company.  Lol!

Our room:

Taiwan Travel Adventures 2011 - Day 3: NTU Education Tour, Part 2, and the Gongguan Night Market

View of the Taipei 101 from the NTUgrounds.

     As I have said a couple of posts back, I had an impromptu snacks tour during my trip to NTU.  And rightly so, my guides ushered me to where the locals buy two (2) of the most popular snacks/treats inside NTU before leading me to the Gongguan Night Market.

     Me and my tour guides, Ms. Annick and Alice, walked towards the right side of the Main Library until we came to a small, cottage-like store packed with people.  The guides told me that NTU sells some produce from the NTU Farm and their by-products, including NTU's very own ice cream!  And they're selling like hotcakes!  When we got into the NTU store, the ice cream wafer/sandwich was sold-out and there were no more ice cream on cups left in the freezer.  Good thing we waited for a while because the staff restocked the ice cream on cups, about half a pint each, and they wiped out in mere minutes!

The NTU store.  

See how the locals spend their Sunday afternoons: outdoors!

     After buying the ice creams, we faced a little challenge finding an empty table where we could eat and chill.  There were tables and chairs outside, al fresco style, and a couple of picnic tables.  We found a vacant picnic table, and I had the opportunity to hang out as the locals do.  Not long thereafter, I met the cutest and the smartest Taiwanese I've ever met, pictured here:

      This boy's parents shared our table and the kid and I hit it off immediately.  All he did at first was to glare at me but after some time, he relaxed and even played with me.  He's just 2 years old but he can recite the English alphabet and can count in English.  So cute! And smart!

     While playing peek-a-boo with the toddler, I ate my ice cream, which was vanilla, and it was creamy and delish.  Then after an hour, I quickly forgot about the waffle my guides volunteered to buy.  Apparently, you buy it from a nearby store, if I remember correctly, or is it at the same store?  I forgot because I was buying the ice cream when the guides bought the waffle.  Anyway, our number was in the hundreds and it had a time for pick-up.  Yes, you buy the waffle then wait for an eternity because there are about a hundred people ahead of you.  It was worth the wait, though.  The waffle was perfectly done:  it was crisp outside and soft inside.  It almost melts in the mouth. 

     After we finished off our ice cream and waffles, my guides brought me food tripping at the Gongguan Night Market!  Yay!  

     Ms. Alice asked me if I have ever eaten any of the famous Taiwanese snacks.  I told her no, with the exception of the Hot Star Chicken and the waffle that we just had.  She was so shocked!  So, she and Ms. Annick dragged me to what they tell me is a very famous stall at the Gongguan Night Market selling a thick misua soup of some sorts and stinky tofu.  They swore to make me eat stinky tofu, which I did, and I even ordered the misua soup.  The stinky tofu was not so bad.  It was delicious but the odor is mildly off-putting.  I say mildly because apparently, the stinky tofu served at the stall was not as stinky as the ones I smelled at Jiufen.  I was not able to consume the soup because it was so heavy and the stinky tofu was filling by itself.

The popular stall selling stinky tofu.

The delightfully delicious stinky tofu and soup.

     After eating, for the second time in about two hours, we rounded up the streets of Gongguan Night Market and a lot of snacks along the way, including roasted duck heads:

     As the day went darker, the throng of people and cars got thicker.  And yes, there are a lot of young people at the market since it's so near NTU.

     Finally, we reached our ultimate destination, to a hugely popular bubble tea shop.  It's easy to spot.  Just look for rows of some more than 50 people and that'll be it.  There's even chalk marks on the ground to let people know where to line up.  Yes, if you see people lining up in Taipei, it's probably for some famous snacks.

     The guides told me that it's arguably the best bubble milk tea, and the secret? Brown sugar for the tapioca.  I was like, we've been doing that back home since like, forever.  So, the taste was way too familiar for my buds.  And the shop sign has a crazy long explanation why the written logo is long or something.. It's also on the plastic cups, like a logo. The guides told me that it's a strategy to deter copycats to copy the store's logo. Anyway, the bubble tea was yummy and worth the 30-minute wait.

My order being prepared.

My bubble tea.

    

     After finishing off our bubble teas, we went back to the Gongguan MRT station.  I had to board down a stop ahead since it's nearer my hostel.  And after saying my goodbyes and gratitude to Ms. Annick and Ms. Alice, I got off my station.  Sigh.  That officially ends my free Taipei city tours.


   

Taiwan Travel Adventures 2011: Day 2 - Ximending and Sophisca Candy Shop

     Since I came back early in Taipei from Jiufen, I took a short rest at the Hostel.  A shower with hot water came after that.  Then I went back to Zhongxiao Fuxing Station to buy some Jill Stuart cosmetics.  

     Anyway, for one reason or the other, I decided to dress up.  I bought a dress just for my Taiwan trip, and I wanted to use it that night.  I even curled my long hair.  Call me vain, and I won't take it against you.  Besides, I want to look great for my night out in Taipei, plus, I was hoping Eric from the hostel would see me in my kinda pretty state.  And, it never hurts to look presentable.  Who knows, I might meet someone.  Heehee.

This is me, all dressed up, with hair curled, and looking grotesque.

     So, I decided to go to Sogo first.  I know my way there and so I just took the blue line and alighted at Zhongxiao Fuxing Station.  I headed to the cosmetics department which took me a while to find.  I bought  some Jill Stuart cosmetics because I've almost emptied my compact.  And I found myself withdrawing cash at an atm.  Oh, well.  

     A Jill Stuart sales person helped me find a great lipstick, pinkish, which works best for me, and a very flattering blush.  However, the sales staff thought I won't be buying the lipstick and the blush, so they weren't added to my bill.  I guess, it was not really meant for me to buy those.  At least, I looked nice in the lipstick and blush I had on my face.

     So, I went to Ximending, a place I was not able to visit the first time I got to Taipei. It was easy enough to find.  It was on the blue line, too.  However, when I got to Ximending, I was like, "this is it?"  Well, let's just say that I was a bit disappointed.  I felt the place didn't appeal to me.  There were a lot of people, for one thing, and I think, I am just too old for the place.  It's hip and young, and I am not.  Heehee.  Besides, it was not bright and as colorful as I hoped it would be; not that I was hoping to see Rainbow Brite or anything.  It was even hard to take pictures using my point-and-shoot camera.  So, none of my photos turned out great.  They're either overblown or overexposed or blurred.  Well, I am partly to blame because I don't really know how to work a camera.

     I wandered around Ximending.  One thing's for sure, the place is alive, and there are a lot of cinemas!  They're everywhere.  And since I came around dinner time, the restaurants were packed and I saw a lot of food stalls with really long lines.  I wanted to line up, too, but I was not up to it.  I still needed to find a candy shop that I specifically intended to visit.

     And the shop is called SOPHISCA. They sell candies and chocolates in cute and novelty packages.  There's a condom choco, sanitary napkin marshmallows, jelly syringe, candy boobies and more.  There were a lot of people inside so I was only able to take a photo or two.   As to how I found Sophisca? I just walked till I got to the right alley and saw a white sheep against a pink background  (logo).  It was luck.

 Don't forget the logo!

      Inside the shop.

     I got these photos of Sophisca's products from their website:

      FYI, there are branches in Jiiufen and Danshui, too.  And these are the stuff I bought at Sophisca as treats and souvenirs for my friends and family:

     I couldn't remember if I ate dinner that night.  I don't think I did. I remember my feet burning because I had been walking with flat shoes since early morning.

Taiwan Travel Adventures 2011: Day 2 - Jiufen Once Again, and Crazy Bus Drive Back to Taipei

 

     I took a bus from the Gold Ecological Park to Jiufen.  As it was a Saturday, Jiufen was crazy full of people.  And it's magic seemed to have waned on me.  Perhaps there were so many people it was suffocating.  So, I didn't stay long, although I planned on having tea at A-Mei's tea house.

     However, I finally tried eating some goodies but just a little because I just had lunch.  I focused on the food stalls and some quirky shops, squeezed my way through herds of people and wandered up and down the narrow alleys and stairs.  And I survived!  Yay!

     Afterwards, I boarded a bus which says "Taipei."  I didn't ride the train anymore so I'd know the difference.  And what's different?  Well, the driver was cute, really nice and polite.  He greets each and every passenger who boards the bus and says good day to those who depart.  But he drives like a maniac, on a winding, narrow one-lane road of Jinguashi! Well, let's just say that I uttered prayers not only directed to Jesus but also to Buddha.  And almost all of the photos I took of the view from the bus were hazy because I couldn't steady my hands with the way the cute driver was driving.  So I gave up taking pictures.  It was that or risk my camera slipping off or being thrown away by the impact of the crazy driving.  On second thought, bus drivers in Hong Kong's hilly, one-way slopes are just the same.

     While the ride was crazy, it was fun.  There were a bunch elementary kids with their teacher (about 15 kids) who rode the bus from Ruiefeng station, and they look like they're in first grade or so.  They're so, so cute!  I wanted to pinch and hug them all!  Plus, there were no more sudden twists and turns!  We're back on the plains!  Yay!

     The bus finally made the end of its journey at the Zhongxiao Fuxing Station in Taipei.  If I remember correctly, the bus passed by a known night market, I think it was Raohe night market.  Honestly, I just boarded the bus without knowing where it would finally stop.  Heehee.  I got to Taipei safe and sound, around 4:00 p.m., and, I was lucky since I am familiar with the area around Zhongxiao Fuxing station as I used that station extensively the first time I came to Taipei last year. 

     

Food trip!

A-Mei Tea House: Spirited Away!

 A shop with old charm...

 ...beside a cave full of graffiti.

 Jiufen's First Tea House

Chinese Calligraphy

 In case you need one...a condom shop!

 Even Jiufen was not spared by the tween-bait known as Twilight, the movie.

 Obligatory picture-taking of the view.  It was the best I could 

because it was so darn foggy.

Taiwan Travel Adventures 2011: Day 2 in Jinguashi (Part 5) - A Miner's Lunch Experience and Strolling Around the Gold Ecological Park

     I know, I have way too many posts about my Jinguashi trip.  But don't worry, this is the last, I promise.

     The gold panning experience wrapped up at lunch time.  Before I headed down, I snapped pictures of the surroundings, including the dogs that seem to live in the area I found sleeping at different places in the Park.  While going down, I saw a very dilapidated Japanese house.  It looked forlorn and desolate.  There was a sturdy wooden gate but the house itself was beyond repair.

     In one of my earlier posts about Jinguashi, I wrote about the food stall of Show Luo's grandmother in Corner with Love.  It's actually part of the alfresco dining of a restaurant at the Park.  And, the restaurant's offering a miner's lunch set which comes with a stainless lunchbox, chopsticks and cloth wrapper.  Very Japanese.  It has rice and breaded porkchop inside and pickled side dish.  It's such a treat!  It was for TWD 230.00, if I remember correctly.

     .There are other interesting places at the Gold Ecological Park.  Even the police station looks really, really cute.  It's the best looking police station I've seen anywhere.  It's made of wood, too, to blend in with the Japanese feel of the Park.  There are food stalls, too, selling those Taiwanese sausages.  And there's a very quaint, very cute coffee shop with the cutest owls and dogs decorations ever!  It's in front of an old, dilapidated wooden house that looks straight out of a suspense movie.

     And, there are dogs inside the Park.  I don't know if it's the same dog, but I've seen it around the Park, sleeping!  So, so cute!

     And, if you need to use the  toilet, don't fret.  They're clean and I think they have western toilets, too.  But I used the eastern toilet.  I think it's cleaner since your skin won't have to touch the seat and the  flush. You just have to face the hooded end and press the  flush with your foot.