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 :(

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

去看動物咯！

Woke up early in the morning just to catch the morning movie. Shirlynn wanted to watch 犀利人妻, and that was just what we watched. Movie tickets are kind of expensive here, but the food is cheap I would say. Popcorn and 2 drinks were bought at 99NTD (around SGD 4.50).

After our morning entertainment, we went to 台北市立動物園!

The zoo is so big! And there are so many animals that Singapore zoo does not have. We saw Koalas, and the two pandas 團團 and 圓圓! We saw penguins too! So many of them! The point is, the enclosures are not side by side. The animals have ample space to move around. I think Singapore is too small for this. Haha.

Wanted to go 貓空 after that but it just stopped raining and the cable car wasn't working for the moment. Sadly, we left. But when we reached 台北車站 there was an announcement that the cable car had resumed. PFFTTT. :(

Anyway, we decided to go 士林夜市 instead. To those who have went there a long time ago, let me tell you. The place has changed a lot. It is no longer so complicated. Now, all the food stalls are located at the basement, and the clothes shops on the road level. There are still food stalls on the road level, but the encircle the side of the night market.

The first thing that we could not miss would be:

Yes! 雞排! Okay as we continued walking we saw 豪大大雞排 but who cares? this is nice as well. The only downside is that it has bones.

Want a drink? Try this.

Yes. 青蛙下蛋. It's actually mainly 愛玉 and different things that go with it. 青蛙下蛋 is 愛玉 with 粉圓. But I'm not that fond of 粉圓. So I bought 愛玉檸檬. Very refreshing!

After that we went down to the basement and had

滷肉飯 and 蠔仔煎! Of course, it is nice! So yummy. We were really full by the time we finished all this. So we went to shop. The clothes here are not exactly that cheap, but still, it's nice. I'm still waiting for the end summer sale. Haha.

Before we head back to Hsinchu, we had our last food

起士馬鈴薯! This store is recommended by the programme 時尚玩家. And it is really yummy! For those who love cheese that is. This store can be spotted easily when you walk from 劍潭 station to the night market. And how can I forget? I had my beloved papaya milk again! :D

漁人的幸福

Really comtemplating to start posting all these in Chinese. Haha. Like a more feeling only.

First Destination：Hello Kitty 餐廳.

Located in 東區. It's not hard to find it. The inside is totally pink. Even the uniform of both the female and male staff. Got a place to seat, but we were only allowed to dine for 1 and a half hours, and each person must spend at least 300NTD. So take note if you ever want to dine here. It is actually not hard to reach the 300NTD mark, because the set meal alone is more than that.

I ordered a bread bowl set meal, and it came with a drink, salad, soup, starter, the main course and dessert. The salad I ate it with caesar sauce. The soup came with a bun and the bun had a Hello Kitty logo on it. Really cute. Starter I ate smoked salmon.. Now comes the main course...

so cute right! the bowl is Hello Kitty shaped leh! can't even bear to start eating it. And the food is nice! although a bit pricey, but come here once in a while to splurge is actually okay I feel. At least they don't compromise on the taste.

So after the meal, we walked around 東區 for awhile before heading over to 淡水! It is really a beautiful place!

Come to Tamsui definitely must walk the 淡水老街! So many souvenir shops and nice food! And of course, not forgetting the famous 鐵蛋! Too bad I could not find individually packed ones, so I couldn't buy or else I have to finish the whole packet of eggs when I open one. :(

And I tried 阿給! It is actually 油豆腐 but the inside is emptied and filled with 炒冬粉. Very nice! Should try if you ever come here.

After eating we took a bus to 漁人碼頭. It is really really pretty.

The lights at night are so beautiful. Can't stop snapping pictures when I was here. I don't think you will see such a nice place anywhere else.

Venture to Taipei!

Today, we ventured to Taipei.

From Hsinchu, we took 客運 to Taipei. A return trip costs 240 NTD. Rather costly but taking the railway would cost around the same as well. Our first stop in Taipei would have to be 西門町. So from the Taipei terminal, we took the metro. Our student ID would have acted as our 悠遊卡, but we haven't gotten it yet, so we bought the single trip ticket. Well.. a ticket it is. But in actual fact, it looks like..

西門町 is supposed to be a shopping district, and yes there are a lot of shops here. However, it is not that cheap to shop here. Maybe because it has become such a popular place to be in hence the rise in prices occur. Walked around, had our lunch, I did buy a top for 190NTD (less than SGD 10). Then we left and headed to 東區.

At 忠孝復興 metro station, there is an underground mall that leads to 忠孝敦化 station. From there, you can exit the underground mall to go to 誠品敦化店. 誠品 should not be unfamiliar to Taiwanese, as it can be found in a lot of places. Also known as Eslite, it is known as a bookshop. But other than books, it does sell nice pretty stationery and other things. Something like Kinokuniya.

東區 is another shopping district. However, the products sold here is quite expensive as well. The first thing I saw when I came out from the metro station is a dance school. This is when I wish my school was in taipei, because there are so many dance schools in taipei, and only so far two that I found in Hsinchu.

Oh. one more thing. 東區 is kind of the clubbing area. with famous clubs such as Luxy.

After that, we met up with Xinrong's friend, Bing Jen for dinner. We went to this very high class restaurant for Chinese cuisine. You wouldn't be able to imagine how happy we were. Not to be eating at a high class restaurant, but to be eating Chinese cuisine, as the three of us have not eaten any since we arrived in Taiwan. Some of the food we ate:

Minced meat with leeks. what the people there refer to as 蒼蠅頭 due to the black colour ingredient.

Some shrimp dish. Shrimp fried with 油條 you scoop a few spoonfuls of it into the cabbage and eat it.

Many should be familiar with this. 東坡肉!

A chicken dish. I forgot its name.

The restaurant we were at was situated in 誠品信義. Yes. Eslite again. The biggest Eslite in Taiwan.

Left to right: BingJen, Shirlynn, Me, Xinrong