Athena’s 8th Birthday Party

We are very honored to be invited to attend Athena’s birthday party at Pizza Hut located at Punggol Safra. Athena is a good friend of Lady Faith where they attended childcare together when Lady Faith was just 21 months young. From there, they build their beautiful friendship till today.

This party is really special as Regena invited all her childcare days friends and it was like a class reunion party for them than a birthday party. After graduating from K2, they barely meet up or bump into one another though most are staying around the same area. This would be a good time for them to catch up and relive those K2 days once again.

It was really sweet to see them hugging one another when they met at the restaurant and they could start chatting right away despite them not meeting each other often. Super amazing kids! They were enjoying their conversation with each other over pizzas and chicken wings while the parents also took the opportunity to catch up too.

I would say that this group of parents are one amazing bunch. Very warmth, friendly and casual. It really feels like we have known each other for the longest time and there is no barrier of any topics to talk about. Thumps Up!

We were surprised that the restaurant was really quiet and it was just the party group with no outsiders. It felt like Regena booked the restaurant for the birthday – super cool! The kids had fun playing ball and bubbles outside the restaurant while some younger ones were entertained by art & craft.

The mummies helped Regena to gather the kids round the table for the cake cutting ceremony and it was such a breeze to do so as all of them were excited when we held up the goody bags – they came running towards us and stood around the table.

With the count of 1,2, 3, the kids sang the loudest birthday song and it echoed the whole restaurant. They were so excited about the goody bags that they helped us distribute the cakes to everyone and hurried to finish their portion. Pretty good idea to lure them to help and finish up quickly. 😊

Thank you Regena & family for having us today. It was a fantastic party and we wish Athena a blessed birthday!

Goodbye Taiwan

Our one-week holiday in Taiwan is finally over and we will be returning to SIN. We brought parents and kids to Ximending since they did not have an opportunity to visit during the trip. We took them for a short walk around the area and found a restaurant that served Malaysian and Singapore cuisines.

You might have guessed… YES, they were so happy and you could see their eyes brightened when they were told. At the restaurant, they ordered their favourite food such as Hor Fun, Fried Kway Teow or even Fish Head Noodle soup for their lunch and they gave thumps up for the best food in Taiwan!

We continued to walk around till Mr. Wang came to fetch us to airport. When we arrived at the airport, we were quite early and decided to check in anyway. After clearing the immigration, we looked out for a café for the elderly to sit while waiting to board. 

Finally, after boarding, I am seriously looking forward to having my dinner back at home. I am really missing the food back home and while the kids took their naps, it was time for me to relax and think of our next holiday.

Day 6 In Taiwan

Our holiday is almost coming to an end and this would be the first time I am so looking forward to going home. I do had fun in Taiwan but I realized it wasn’t as fun as I saw those travel channels where they introduced Taiwan as SO FUN!

Today, we visited the Yehliu Geopark, a home to a number of unique geological formations including the iconic "Queen's Head" (女王頭), and is located along a cape stretching out from the town of Wanli.

Part of the Daliao Miaocene Formation, the cape stretches around 1,700 meters, formed as thousands of years of geological movement forced the Datun Mountains to change their shape, jutting out into the ocean.

Besides the Queen's Head, other remarkable formations include Sea Candles (燭台石), Fairy Shoe (仙女鞋), Ginger Rocks, Elephant Rock, Ice Cream Rock, Kissing Rock, and Princess' Head. However, it was almost impossible for us to tour the whole place under the scorching hot sun and the elderly were so tired and the area leading to those formations were not too elderly friendly. 

The weather was so hot that even the kids were tired out and we decided to leave the premises and had our refreshing drinks under the cool tree. The place was interesting but it will be good to walk around under a cooler weather.

We left for Jiu Fen Jiufen, another popular tourist destination for Taipeites eager to relive scenes from the past. It has provided the setting for several period movies. For example, Hou Hsiao-hsien's film A City of Sadness (which won the Golden Lion award at the 1989 Venice Film Festival) and Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away.

Unfortunately, it started to rain and it was pretty difficult to walk around with the crowd taking shelter. We decided to stop over at one of the shops for lunch and found out that they were serving Yong Tau Foo but Taiwanese style. It was quite similar to the ones we had back home and the taste was not too bad though I very much preferred the version in Singapore.

There wasn’t much to walk around when it was pouring outside and the path was uneven and slippery which made it more difficult for the elderly to walk. We stopped over at the coffee shop and let the elderly and kids to have their coffee and desserts there while hubby and I explored the area.

Basically, the shops sell almost the same things along the path but I managed to purchase some ginger tea from a shop and some souvenirs. I believed if it’s not raining, it would quite a nice place to explore and some tea at some of the tea house.

As it was a heavy downpour, the elderly requested to return to the hotel instead and after settling down at their room, hubby and I went to Ximending once again for our own shopping. We managed to get some of our stuff and bought back some food for the elderly & kids as dinner.

For us, since it was the last night in Taiwan, we found a Japanese restaurant located just behind our hotel and we were happy to have our dinner there. Finally, I enjoyed my dinner for the first time in Taiwan and it was Japanese! Sighz… that sounded really sad isn’t it. 

Day 5 In Taiwan

Woke up to a cool day this morning and we are all set to check out other interesting sightseeing in Taiwan.

Our driver Mr. Wang decided to bring us up to the Yang Ming Shan today and we heard from him that it is home to numerous parks, hiking trails, interesting plants and wildlife, and the internationally famous hot springs.

When we arrived at Yang Ming Shan, we stopped to take some pictures and the kids were amazed by the tennis ball thingy which the aunty was selling. She was really nice to allow them to play and even taught them how to use it. They kids had so much fun and decided to get one set for them to share.

We continued our journey up to the mountains and Liu Huang Gu. With its growth as a centre for sulphur mining in northern Taiwan, many Han Chinese such as the Hoklo from Fujian and the Hakka began moving to the area to cultivate tea plantations and other agricultural products, and today, wide-scale agriculture has been replaced by more boutique-style agriculture with a tourism focus, such as the Calla lilies at Zhuzihu (竹子湖). 

It was certainly an amazing view up there and we could smell the Sulphur and some restricted areas have boiling water on the ground. I felt like I was on a volcano… hahahaahahah. 

We went to a small local town which is not very far from where we were for lunch. The old streets were really cool and looked very old. He recommended us to this restaurant that served food with a twist. We arrived at the restaurant and managed to get a big table for our family. He then took us to the open kitchen which you have to walk for 2 minutes and from there, you pick up the plates of food you wished to eat. I was obviously shocked! The kitchen area was so busy and you can see cooks cooking speedily and at the other end, a few ladies were preparing the ingredients at the same time. 

Hubby took a quick look at the food and picked up a few and returned to the restaurant for our lunch. I wasn’t being picky but I was really shocked and speechless on how they handle the food. The dishes were okay but never the best I have tasted. It was very simple and comfort food for the locals I trust but for us from a modern city, I am totally not used to it.

We continued our tour to explore the Shihmen (Stone) Arch Park is located at the north tip of Taiwan amidst many famous northern coastal scenic spots. It is named after a huge rock by the seashore. After years of sea current erosion, a hole is formed on the rock. As the earth movement pushes the rock further ashore, the entire piece looks like an imposing arch from far. 

We continued to explore one of the most famous locations in Taiwan, the Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf is well known for its beautiful sunsets, seafood, and, more recently with young people, its high amount of party boats.

Within the past few years, the wharf has gone through a major renovation process, building several new buildings including restaurants, hotels, shops, and the Lover Bridge of Tamsui, completed in 2003. At night, the bridge illuminates with a wide variety of colours. We did not climb up the bridge as it was too hot to handle the heat and given those stairs were not too friendly to our knees too…. Hahaahahah

Before returning back to hotel, we went to the Tamsui Old Street. Tamsui Old Street is a boardwalk-like area full of shops, carnival games, restaurants, cafés, and xiaochi snacks. The waterfront area is a great place to watch the sunset over the Tamsui River. Vendors will generally start in the afternoon and stay open until the last MRT train at 12 midnight. Visitors who arrive early can first walk around the town area and visit other local attractions. The kids had a ball of a time wasting grandparents’ money on the vending machines while I was busy shopping for souvenirs.

After settling the elderly and kids at the hotel, hubby & I went to Ximending to do a quick shopping and pack dinner for them as father in law wasn’t feeling too well. We hurried down the streets and found an eating place selling food that might boost the appetite of the elderly and kids after a few rounds of disappointing food the last few days.

We returned to the hotel with fried rice, pan fried carrot cakes and some other street food which is quite similar to those we can get from Singapore for the young and old. They seemed to be quite happy with the food we bought and enjoying themselves.

Hubby & I went to the hotel lounge to watch the World Cup game and had our dinner there. The dinner was awful and I ended up eating more chips as my dinner while watching the game. My burger tasted like the washing detergent and it was absolutely disgusting! I feedback to the waiter about my food and they wanted to replace my burger but I was already disgusted by the taste so, I rejected their offer.

We thoroughly enjoyed the soccer game with our good wine and chips. We will be back here tomorrow for another ‘live’ game telecast but not for dinner definitely.

Exploring Taiwan

Woke up on a cooling morning and weather was cloudy and we were praying hard that the rain will spare us today. Headed out for a day of sightseeing in Taipei since we decided to skip Sun Moon Lake due to bad weather.

Our guide brought us to some of the old streets to walk around and at the same time, we settled our luncheon at their local restaurant. We dined at one of the restaurants that attracted father in law with their dish. It was the pig’s blood. He has been wanting to eat that delicacy as we can no longer find them back home.

We browsed through the menu and ordered some simple dishes for lunch as we were somehow not confident of the food they served after a few days of disappointment. Okay… the lunch is not as tasty as usual and somehow we are kind of used to it. In my opinion, the food in Taiwan definitely cannot compared to those in Hong Kong. 

We continued our sightseeing and ended up at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall and museum. The elderly immediately identified the history of this person and started discussing among themselves about the past and what happened during his time. It was quite interesting to know his story and we were lucky to get to witness the change of guards while we were walking along the hallways. 

The name of the square is officially Liberty Square (自由廣場), as seen above the front gate, however the name change was politically motivated and most people in practice still refer to the entire complex as CKS Memorial Hall. It was indeed an interesting tour at the museum which I had some wall through history lessons.

As the evening came, we decided to head down to the famous Raohe Night Market. When we arrived, we noticed it was pretty crowded and many of the stalls had long queues. We walked around and we tried some street food as we walked along the street though most of the stalls were repeated. 

We stopped by a restaurant and decided to have Japanese Yong Tau Foo since the weather is quite cold due to the rain. Hubby and I went to get some street food to share since we may not be able to try all the food. I did not enjoy the street food too and to this point, I am actually pretty disappointed with Taiwan. Sighz…

The Wonders Of Colours

It was our 3^rd day in Taiwan and our guide brought us to the famous attraction The Rainbow Village to check out some beautiful paintings. I was initially wondering what kind of paintings but I was totally blown away when we arrived.

The whole place was painted with beautiful colors and those painting were really cute and beautiful. There was a story about this painter who tried to stop the government from demolishing the place and Mr. Huang also known as the “Rainbow Grandfather” who was still living here was against the demolishing plan and decide to come out with a unique way of protesting the government. Having some art talent, he started to paint the building out of his own imagination and that’s how Rainbow village was born.

We were also honored to be able to meet the painter himself “Rainbow Grandfather” who was at his own corner welcoming visitors and was happy to sign any autograph with purchase of his own merchandise. 

Since it was raining, we decided to have an early lunch before heading up to the mountain. Our guide, Mr. Wang brought us to a Hakkha Restaurant in Taichung and man… the food was pretty good. I would say that this is one of the best foods we had in Taiwan so far. REALLY GOOD!

After lunch, we travelled up to the mountain for the night as to prepare our trip to the Sun Moon Lake tomorrow. As we travelled up to the mountain, the rain got heavier and when we arrived at the hotel, we discussed with our family and decided to skip the trip to Sun Moon Lake as we received news from Mr. Wang’s friend who was there stating that they were experiencing thunderstorm. 

I was really shocked by the fact that there wasn’t any air-conditioning in the hotel room as they are depending on the nature air outside though they provided 2 table fans in each room. The furniture was old and I thought I was taken back to the 1950s! hahahahahaahah

Mr. Wang brought us to the restaurant nearby and we invited him to have dinner with us. He asked him to place order for the dishes as he knows what was good. My verdict for our dinner, food was not too bad though slightly oily but was quite nice though I can’t really swallow most of it after noticing a baby roaches came out of the rotating centre piece… I was seriously disgusted but kept my cool and hurried my food. 

I was so glad to be back to our room after dinner and can’t wait to be back to Taipei tomorrow. Good night mountains!

Fun Taiwan

Waking to a totally different view was pretty great and I was really caught by surprise when I opened my eyes this morning and saw a giraffe roaming around and seeing the birds chirping at our window. I did not notice any glass windows last night when we checked into our room as the sky was already dark. 

The kids were super excited and can’t wait to be out feeding the animals after our breakfast. We headed for breakfast but it was rather a disappointing one though the spread was not too bad. I guessed it was the taste that I am not used to or familiar with coz’ I really did not enjoy the food at all. 

We took a stroll within our resorts after the breakfast and both kids and elderly enjoyed looking at the animals at close distance and they too wanted to take some pictures with them too. As there weren’t much to do in the resort, we went to the resort theme park which was just a few minutes’ drive from our resort. 

As my father in law wasn’t feeling too well, the elderly decided to sit at the café while we brought the kids to explore the park. It wasn’t crowded and we managed to take some rides the moment we entered the park and we went for the bird show which was quite educational in my opinion. They talked about saving the wild animals by keeping the environment clean and not to destroy the nature. It was quite good and though it was in Mandarin, the kids were able to relate just by watching the birds and the animals.

We returned to the resort after 2 hours of fun at the theme park for Zoo Safari where we were taken onto a designated vehicle to the African Tribe Herbivores Speacial Area and observe the different animals’ behavior in their habitat along with the professional, interesting introduction by the guide, bring the adults back to the fond memories of entering to zoo over 20 years ago.

The Zoo Safari was quite a cool experience where you get to see the animals up closed and the closest was the zebra which roamed around the zoo and came close to our vehicle. That was really cool!! The tour lasted about an hour and it was totally worth the visit if you are staying that this resort.

We checked out of the resort in the mid afternoon and headed back to Taipei city. Our guide took us to the nearby popular Feng Jia night market where we had our dinner at one of the restaurants. I heard so much about the night markets in Taiwan from friends and they always mentioned to try their local street food which was pretty tasty. Yes, we did. Hubby brought the smelly beancurd to try but did not give the thumps up while I took the safer choice which was the Gai Dan Zai Taiwanese Style and it was pretty tasty. 

Honestly, I dun supposed that will go wrong anywhere in the world! The kids were more interested in wasting our money on the vending machines than to try out any street food. Out of all the street food we had tonight, my favourite would be their milk tea… hahahaha…. Thumps up!

Taiwan, Here We Come

Many friends were surprised when they learnt that I have never been to Taiwan since I am a huge fan of Hong Kong. I didn’t really want to visit but my parents in law would like to visit at least for once, we decided to go.

It was nice to celebrate Father’s Day by travelling together and the kids were excited when it comes to being at the airport. We chilled at the boarding area while waiting for our plane to be ready for boarding after 45 minutes of delay.

It was a short flight of 4 hours from Singapore to Taiwan and it was cloudy when we arrived. We were picked up by our friendly driver Mr. Wang aka (ONG LAI) and he took us straight to our resort hotel where it was about an hour plus drive. My first impression of Taiwan was the place is pretty much similar to Hong Kong apart from the language spoken. 

When we arrived at our Leofoo Resort after a long ride, it began to rain heavily. I was quite annoyed by the weather and it was quite cold for the elderly and the kids. We hurried to our room which was a bridge away from the lobby but without any shelter.

It was pretty much inconvenient as we had to hold the umbrella on one hand and luggage the other. I was hands full as I had to hold on to Emma with umbrella and my luggage too… it was annoying to start our trip this way.

Our rooms were big and spacious but the area outside our rooms were quite smelly due to the animals who lives within the resort. Since it was raining and we are in the resort, we decided to dine at their café to have a simple dinner.

We browsed through the menu and ordered some food to share and a kid’s meal. Honestly, I was utterly disappointed with our first dinner. It was terrible! Our fried rice was so oily that you could see the layer of oil on the plate and not tasty at all with that bag of salt added! Lady Faith did not enjoy her kid’s meal too and she preferred to have milk earlier than usual. 

We returned to our room after dinner and noticed that my father in law wasn’t feeling too well. We suspected that he might had caught a chill from the heavy rain and the cold wind. We urged him to have an early night after taking meds.