Day 1 @ Taiwan : FengJia Night Market

After the arrival at the airport, we need to look for King Bus (国光客运) to reach Tai Chung Chou Ma Station （台中朝马站). It is very convenient to get to the ticket counter, they are several options such as FeiGou飞狗 and Tong Lian 统联. We got our tickets from King Bus at NTD 240 per person. The customer service personnel will label your luggage and later on you can redeem your luggage from the driver by showing the tag. For our case, we need to carry ourselves because the driver ask us so :( 

Due to traffic jam, we took around 2 and a half hours to reach ChouMa Station. We were walking around to see if we can get a prepaid sim card to stay connected. Just in case we need to make any calls to our hostel. 7-11 is everywhere but we couldn't get one. Some said sold out some said the worker is not around. We give up and get a taxi to get back to our "home" for the first night in Taiwan - Eiffel Tower Hostel. 

I personally highly recommended this hostel because it is new, spacious and clean. I think this is the best among the 4 places that we stayed throughout our journey. It is only TWD 1200 per night for two person. Basic facilities are provided like water heater, TV, hair dryer and of cause, the room is air-conditioned. Free Wifi too :) Remember to bring along one Universal Traveler Adapter because it is different from what Malaysia use.

If you forgotten to bring any of the followings, no worries, because these are all provided:- tooth brush, tooth paste, shampoo, shower creme, shower cap, indoor slipper, soap and razor. The weather is only 18' Celsius but it doesn't really affect us. It's just like you're in Cameron Highlands. FengJia Night Market is just within walking distance.  

It takes around 5-8 minutes to walk from our hostel to the night market. Along the way, there are many shop lots that will capture your attention away. We almost missed the entrance to night market while we walked down the streets. We also managed to get our prepaid sim card at TWD 800 for 7Days (Unlimited Internet Access + Free Calls) We only get one plan, cause the internet can be shared via hotspot. It is much convenient to have one valid phone number to call and let others to reach you. I feel safer by having this.

Right, present to you the FengJia Night Market. It is very crowded even on a weekday's night. We don't really know where to start and we keep looking around to ensure we are familiar with our surroundings. This is to ensure we know our way out, it will be quite funny if we got lost inside the night market itself :P  

We were quite hungry after a long journey on the bus, plus carrying our luggage walking around town to look for 7-11 :( The first thing we had is this -

This is a heavenly drumstick, and you can choose any flavour you like. By eating this, I don't know I need to run how many kilometer to burn them all. It is juicy, crunchy and heavenly. We bought two, one is original flavor and another one is curry. For curry they will just pour the curry powder on the drumstick and it is not spicy at all. Highly recommended if you happen to see one :) 

There are lots of foods along the street and you might have hard time to choose from. Here are some photos because we can't manage to try them all. 

The second thing we had is this - Grilled rice :) Looks like Sushi and but taste is not. It is something new because I never see it in Malaysia yet. Most importantly, it is HOT, so it is a perfect food to match the cold weather :P 

We were then continue to walk around until we feel the rain drops. Ohhhhh, we forgotten to bring our umbrella. :( A lot of people are wearing raincoat and get their umbrella out. I have not seen people in Malaysia wear disposable raincoat in night market, but it is quite common in Taiwan. To hide ourselves from the rain, we found ourselves a restaurant to have a proper dinner. Taiwanese likes to have their food served with black pepper. I had pork-rib rice and the love got himself drumstick rice. Both are served with black pepper powder @.@

The rain did not get any smaller and we have to walk + run all the way back to our hostel. The wind get stronger and we were shivering. Poor little tourist who were first day in Taiwan only :( 

Not much photo after the rain pour and we just want to reach our "home" and get ourselves clean and happy!!

Stay tune for more <3

Where to stay?
Eiffel Tower Hostel 逢甲艾菲尔
Address: 台中市西屯區福星北一街
Website: fccheaphostel.fengchia.tw
Contact:
(i) LINE ID: eiffel_tower
(ii) Email: fccheaphostel@gmail.com
(iii) Mobile: 0972-793539

Fly Back from the Heart of Asia

Hello, I'm back!

Taiwan is amazingly awesome, I wish the time will just freeze at that point of time because I seriously do not want to come back :’( It is a total of 9D8N trip to Taiwan and our itinerary consists of Taichung and Taipei only. Some people might ask “huh, 9 days only Taichung and Taipei?” Yes, only Taichung and Taipei, me and my love enjoy ourselves so much!

I’m gonna write a super long-winded and detailed post about my Taiwan trip, you can skip only to photos if you think that this is boring (please don’t). This is a free and easy trip and we managed to visit every place we intended to and visited few additional places as well.

We had our itinerary after few months’ hard work on researching. I shall share with you the actual one for our 9days trip.

Day1   : Malaysia LCCT – Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport – TaiChung – FengJia Night Market – Accomodation: Eiffel Tower Hostel 
Day2   :TaiChung – CingJing Farm – Accomodation: Star Villa 
Day3   : CingJing – Sun Moon Lake – Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village – Accomodation: Mei Jen House 
Day4   :Sun Moon Lake – TaiChung High Speed Rail Station – Taipei MainStation – Xi Men Ding – Long Shan Temple – HuaXi Night Market 
Day5   : Yehliu Geo Park – Jiu Fen – Shi Fen 
Day6   : YangMingShan National Park – Bei Tou – Tam Shui Village – Shi Da Night Market – He Bin Gong Yuan 
Day7   : The Palace Museum – Chiang Kai-shek Shilin Residence - Martyrs' Shrine in 228 Memorial Park - Chiang Kai‑shek Memorial Hall - Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park – Shi Lin Night Market 
Day8   : Mr. J French Italian Restaurant – Taipei 101 – Wu Fen Pu – Mao Kong 
Day9   : Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport – Malaysia :’(

Some people suggested us to rent a car + driver to bring us around. But since there are only 2 of us, it is not worth it (and to cut budget) so we decided to walk on our own. After all it is very convenient because their transportation system is superb. Okay, let's get the journey started. 

It takes around 4 hours and 20 minutes from LCCT to reach Taoyuan International Airport. We brought 2 x 24" luggage and the checked-in weight is only 19kgs for both. We bought 35kgs :( We also pre-order meals, Terriyaki Chicken for the love and I had Chicken Rice. Each pre-booked meal comes with a 300ml Mineral Water. AirAsia being AirAsia, I wonder why they don't served pre-book meals first until we have to ask from them, and they are still blur and said they have to check whether they have any of this left @.@ If there isn't any left, so what is the meaning of pre-booked leh? Well, here's a pic of that "finally arrived pre-booked meal".

After 4hours of flying, finally, ta-daa.... Taoyuan International Airport!! Get to the immigration gate and claimed our baggage. Ready, get-set, go!!! These are some photos took in the airport upon the arrival. Welcome to Taiwan <3

Stay tuned for upcoming post and I will share with you my amazing Taiwan trip!

It’s time for Taiwan

I’ve always wanted to visit Taiwan since I was young. And now this gonna be so real… because It’s time for Taiwan!

Chinese New Year is over and I’m continuing to plan for my Taiwan trip. I’ve started to plan for my Taiwan trip since last November. This will be my first free and easy trip. A lot of homework to be done but I truly enjoy doing it. If you don’t know where to start and how to plan, please log on to http://chinese.cari.com.my and http://www.backpackers.com.tw/ (for those who read Chinese only) The people there are helpful and they will share their travel experience with you.

I have read a lot of blog posts and forum sharing to plan out my Taiwan trip. At times it might seem confusing, but I just can’t wait for the day to come. While doing research, I can really see how Taiwan Tourism has put effort in promoting this beautiful island. There are benefits which are especially for tourist such as discounts, you can also apply for a free phone (have to return one) during your visit to Taiwan, and they called it Digital Buddy.

I have so many things on my mind and I’m also worry that I might not be able to find my way to my destination. According to all the posts that I’ve read, most of them claimed that Taiwanese are very helpful. Hopefully I'll be able to get some help when I needed.

I bought the air tickets last year when AirAsia having their promotions. It was a super rush decision made but there was no regrets. I never have the chances to study overseas, so my wish is to visit one country in a year (cannot afford too many also). Upcoming I will plan for Hong Kong, hopefully.

Can’t wait for that. Counting down…. 34days!

My Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year is awesome and I actually break my record because it’s been a year I didn’t go back to my hometown. Although my mum visited me and my bro once in a while, going back hometown makes me feel so much relaxing. Stress-free life is what I mean. J I don’t feel much intense as compared to when I’m in the city.

I can teman my grandmother watches TV for the whole day, while playing “Candy Crush” (the hottest game for this moment) my mum cook all my favorite food, my aunty make desserts for me. My cousins has all grown up, not like last time the little tiny who will always cry for milk. We spent time together as we seldom meet each other ever since I started working, and they further their studies elsewhere.

I always feel a bit sentimental during Chinese New Year. I don’t know why J and this year my brother wasn’t around due to last minute arrangement, he has to travel to China for 8 days. My cousin who supposed to come back from UK was delayed cause of the company arrangement. Thank you for technology and we can still take our yearly reunion photo *excluding my bro*.

Unto this age, Chinese New Year is not so much about ang-pow anymore. In fact, I love it when I can bless my family members in return by giving them ang-pow. It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Meeting friends in hometown is like tuning into news section. Getting updates on who’s getting married, who’s having new babies, and lots more. Sometimes I really couldn’t believe that we had actually grown up. Things that seems will not happen during our school times has all came to passed. Well, I’m happy that all my friends are doing well.

And now Chinese New Year is over, get back to reality and … move on!

My 2013 Resolutions

I know it's a bit too late to write this post when it is already mid of January. In fact I'm still sorting out what are the things that I would like to achieve in this year. It is quite funny when I start to think about this topic, suddenly my mind floated this - Be Happy! Well, it is not that I'm sad for the last whole year, but I've been through a lot of challenges and struggles. Of course, I still have some good and happy memories (which I supposed to write my "Reflecting 2012").

This brand new year, I would like to make a [c h a n g e]. Change is necessary for growth and I think I should have take the initiative after procrastinate for so long. I would like to (1) learn something new and (2) read more books this year. It's been a long time since I pick up a book and read it ever since I started working. While sinking in the working environment, reading a book should be able to refresh my brain :)

As for what to learn, I'm still figuring it out. I know I need to have a specific goal in order to work towards the goal. Please share with me what's interesting if you know one :)

2013 should be a great year, striving to make a better living for myself and my family.