Exploring around School

Decide to explore the area around school these few days and discovered a few nice places.

Went with Shirlynn one night to find a dinner place and chanced upon this restaurant/cafeteria selling lunchbox sets. Erm, train lunchbox sets supposedly. Thought it was quite interesting so we decided to settle our meal here.

The order counter decorated as a ticket counter. So cute.

From the inside of the "train"

And this is my lunchbox! It's actually alot. I can't even finish it. But it is really nice. 

And today, I was searching for cafes online, and found that there's one near our school, so Xinrong and I decided to check it out. 

and here it is: 舊是經典咖啡室

The menu. All the drinks cost 100ntd with a small snack like a bun or crackers. Rather affordable for students.

Their shelves are full of home decor books.

And snoopy figurines!

After waiting for a while, our beverages are finally here!

This is Xinrong's Iced Chocolate Latte

And I decided to try something new - Iced Rose Cafe Latte. A flavour that I have never encountered.

This place certainly didn't let me down. According to Xinrong, the chocolate latte isn't too sweet. And for me, the rose cafe latte really has the subtle fragrance of roses. It is neither too sweet nor too bitter. Just the right amount of taste. Even after the ice has melted, the coffee doesn't taste diluted as well. 

Definitely a cafe that I will go again. 

苗栗國際煙火節

27 October 2012

It was the last day of the Miaoli International Fireworks Festival, so Xinrong and I decided to go and catch the last few fireworks show. From Hsinchu to the venue by train is very fast! Around 30 minutes. Thank goodness the ticket counter person told us to go earlier because there really were a lot of people. The festival was really big scale.

We watched 3 fireworks show altogether. The first one was by Taiwan. And I would say it is the best out of the three we watched. My camera just snapped photos of it all the way. Almost nonstop. The second one was by America, the pyroshow. Heard about it, but it was actually quite disappointing as there's too much smoke. Way too much. Not much photos were taken because of the smoke. The third one was by China. Not bad, the display fitted the music perfectly. But the variety of fireworks isn't that much. But we still enjoyed the night :)

Now for some stills of the fireworks:

雙十節快樂！

10 October 2012

Public Holiday! because it was Taiwan's National Day.

On that day, Xinrong and I travelled to Taipei for the show we had been waiting for~ ShinHyeSung Music Show in Taiwan!

Because Xinrong had a makeup class, we left Hsinchu at 1 plus. Chiong like mad to the TICC... after which we realised we walked a longer way. zzz. Anyway, the show was awesome! Totally melted listening to Hyesung's singing. And interaction time was so funny! I'm so glad I had the chance to watch it :D The translator and the emcee was so good. (much better than the ones in sg I feel).

When the show ended, we saw this when we stepped out of the building:

The words on taipei 101 are actually moving. Haha, wishing Taiwan a happy birthday.

After that, we went to meet Xinrong's friend and headed to 師大夜市! We were so hungry by then so the first thing we did was to find food. Well, if you are in Taiwan, how could you ever miss.... 滷味！

basically, it's a bit like yongtaufoo. You choose the ingredients (THERE ARE A LOT BY THE WAY. TOO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM) then give it to the owner to cook in the 滷汁 (gravy). It's very affordable. Such a big plate for only 140NTD (~SGD6). And it is super delicious! I finished almost everything. Although I ate until I was so full my stomach could explode.

After that, we did a bit of shopping before going to 士林夜市 for more shopping! It was autumn already, so there were shops holding their summer clearance sale. Which is so beneficial for people like me who live in countries that has summer all year round because they sell their clothes there for really cheap!

After walking around for quite some time, we were all so tired so we went back to Xinrong's friend's house to spend the night.

The next day, I had to go back to school already because I have a lesson in the afternoon :(

那些年，我們一起～～ 逛彰化！

6 October 2012

We decided to go to 彰化! Where the movie 那些年，我們一起追的女孩 (you are the apple of my eye) was set in.

We took the TRA. It was around 1+ hours and we stood all the way. Okay, almost. :/

Once we reached, the first place we went was...

okay doesn't say anything. But if you have watched the movie, there is this scene where the guys were eating 肉圓. This is the shop they ate it at!

doesn't look like 肉圓 I know, but it is! and it is damn yummy!!! :D

plus our 貢丸湯.

Then after that we went to...

永樂觀光夜市商圈. Okay it wasn't night when we went, but still there are actually places to shop. But, we didn't go there to shop, so not much money was brought. T.T The things are actually quite cheap there.... Anyway, this is the place where 沈佳宜 and her friend went to buy the red bean cake after school haha. But you won't see the stall here, because according to my friend, that stall was specially set up for the movie.

Our next destination, the place where the vampires appeared~ 八卦山.

To go up to the main attraction we actually walked the longer route. ZZZZ. But we saw many other things as well!

and here we are!

the view from up here is amazing:

The actual main entrance:

Our next destination was 扇形車庫.

This is where they store their railway carriages. :D Because pictures say a thousand words,

and... a somewhat 'artistic' photo of me XD

It was too late to go 天空之橋 and 鹿港小鎮 because we had to catch the 830pm train, so we decided to have dinner and then walk around the area nearby the train station before heading home...

Week 2 and 3 of SCHOOL~

It has been a lot of weeks since I updated. Haha. School has been quite busy I would say, there's already homework! And I have tests in two weeks time.

So let's see, where have I gone and what have I been doing?

27 September 2012
Since I only have class in the afternoon, Xinrong and I decided to do our hair. She wanted to have it cut and I wanted to have it dyed. Found a salon near our school. At first I was quite worried how the service and the quality of the outcome would be, but I guess it is not bad! What is best is it is really worth the money. I had my hair dyed plus treatment for 1340NTD (~SGD 50+)

The colour was much brighter when I first had it dyed. But still nice now! Although at the moment is laksek until cannot.

Then at night, Hyunmin brought the three of us to 東門市場. Which is actually the city area. There is a mini shopping street there, but I was too out of the shopping state to buy anything. For our dinner, I had 魷魚羹米粉 while Xinrong and Shirlynn had 炒米粉. Conclusion: 新竹米粉 is damn nice.

30 September 2012
Typhoon passed, so we decided to go Taipei once again! This time, we went to Taipei 101 building! Although I went before last time, always can go again! Haha. Ate at the food court downstairs. The food is not bad! But kind of expensive. (like duh~)

After that, we went to 師大夜市. The clothes there are really fashionable, and I bought my jackets there, since I needed them for the cold season. Recommended for youngsters I would say.

Oh, forgot to mention. That day was Mid-Autumn Festival. At first we thought we would not be able to see the moon because of the typhoon, but we saw it! It was so round and big and bright :D

3rd October 2012
It's october! Yes time has passed so fast. Anyway, as a dancer, how could I bear not dancing for so many months! So on this day, I mean, night, I went in search of my dance studios in Hsinchu. There are 2 so far, that I knew of. MIX dance studio and MerryMonarc.
Decided to try MerryMonarc's class, and realised that in Taiwan they kind of focus more on techniques. For a 1.5 hour class, 30 to 45 minutes will be spent on warming up and stretching. It's super thorough. And the remaining will be teaching the choreography, but the length of the choreography is not very long. I suppose I will be able to train my basics and techniques here....

First week of School

Well, it has been a week since I started school, and there's not much time to travel around anymore..

so,

on the 22nd of September,

Xinrong, Hyunmin, Hahye and I went to Taipei. It was Hyunmin and Hahye's first time there so we decide to bring them around. Went to 西門町 so that they could try 阿宗麵線! And of course I had to get a bowl too! Who could resist!

And for dessert, we went to...

Their 雪花冰 is a must-try! Highly recommended haha. Loved it to the max. There are many other flavours too!

After which, we went to 五分埔 for some shopping! This place is totally a heaven for girl's who love to buy clothes. It is an area that gathers wholesalers. So the clothes here are really cheap. What's more attracting is that they change their clothes every week. So you will never have to worry that there is nothing to buy!

五分埔 then leads to a very popular night market - 饒河觀光夜市. Which is where we went next.

There's basically two entrances for this night market. At the entrance that we were at, there is definitely one stall that catches your eye. And this is something you definitely have to try when you come here.

This! It is like a bun with minced meat and spring onion filling. The most important thing, it has a lot of pepper. Enough for you to taste it when you eat it. The queue is always very long (well of course since it is so famous).

There's a lot of food around too. Many choices haha. And there are also stalls selling clothes. The store for the taiwan online shop PGMall (sells bags) is also here.

It was a Saturday when we went to this night market so as you can imagine. It is super crowded. But too bad weekends are my free-er days.

On Sunday, Xinrong and I decided to stay in Hsinchu because we were too tired to travel. So, we went to the shopping mall here - Big City.

It is actually very convenient because they have a shuttle bus from Sogo near the railway station.

Big City... is really big. Haha. It also links to another SOGO departmental store there. Inside, there is a cinema, foodcourt, hypermarket, there's even Daiso! It's not a bad place to hang out, and outside Big City there are shops to walk around too.

And I had a first time there ----- Cold Stone Creamery!

My first time trying it. There are stores in Singapore! But I have never gotten down to trying it. So here I am eating it for the first time in Taiwan!

That's all for travelling till now. Till the next time.. It's studying and more studying... XD

Orientation

Yes, orientation. Not the kind where you play all sorts of games, but the kind where the admin staff briefs the exchange students about school and visa and what nots. Finally, I got my student ID! Yay to all the student prices!

This is a rest day again. After the orientation, had our lunch, then bought our dinner - cup noodles and went back to our rooms, only coming out to settle our dinner. Haha.

清境農場 + 墾丁 10/9 - 13/9

Woke up and travelled to 台中 with my big backpack. After about 2 hours, we reached 台中and met up with Xinrong's friend Miki. With that, we travelled for another 2 hours to our destination, 清境農場.

The weather there was so nice! It is so cooling but not too cold. Exactly what I wanted to experience when I came to Taiwan.

After leaving our bags at the accomodation, we went to 青青草原. What to do there? Very simple.

Get close to the sheeps! The sheeps here are free to roam so you can just go close to them and snap some pictures. There are also vending machines that sell sheep feed so that you can feed them.

There is also a shop where they sell 羊奶 and their products. There's even ice cream! Finally I got to drink my 羊奶. Haven't drank it for so long and they have it here! Super happy.

青青草原 closes at 5pm so we went to 小瑞士花園 after that. By the time we walked there, it was already dark. I forgot to bring my camera flash so no good pictures at night. :( But the night view is really very pretty! 小瑞士花園 isn't very big, so we came out very fast. The exit leads to a souvenir shop called Carton King. The things they sell inside are really interesting. All made of paper or cardboard. They even sell paper lights. I bought the Eiffel Tower one, but I'm only going to assemble it when I get back to Singapore.

The next day, we woke up early to go to 小瑞士花園 again, this time to see the day view. I can say it's really different. Actually we wanted to catch the sunrise but none of us could wake up. :/

It's the pinwheel festival apparently, so there were many exhibits that are all made of pinwheels.

After that, we travelled to 墾丁. We couldn't bear to leave 清境 actually :( But if we don't go 墾丁 now I don't think we will have the chance to go anymore.

It was a very very long ride down. Around 4 hours. By the time we reached it was already the evening, and we are all very hungry. To solve this, we went to the night market!

Ate so much until I was so full but the food is nice! Bought some souvenirs as well.

The next day! The main reason why we came to 墾丁 haha. After breakfast, we went to...

 yup the beach! and did so many water activities. We bought the unlimited package that entitles us to every activity offered, including snorkeling, jetskiing (but of course with the coach), banana boat, etc. The result? we were all sunburnt quite badly. But it was really satisfying!

At night we settled our dinner at the night market again. This time trying the 鹽酥雞 that the guesthouse owner recommended.

Take note of this yellow signboard!

Yup. At night we all crashed because we were all so tired from the water activities. Haha.

Woke up on the last day and it was quite a rush. Had to rush back to school for a health check-up, so we had to take the HSR. Took a taxi to 左營 HSR station and bought our tickets. The ticket is really expensive. 1160NTD for the journey to Hsinchu. But it took really fast to reach! only 1 hour 30 minutes.

And this marks the end of our short trip. After the health examination we all went back to our rooms to rest because we were so tired (and sunburnt) to do anything else.