Ever since I got back from TW I've been missing it so, so much! I never thought I'd love it like I did cause it's not all that different from Singapore but I have fallen in love. Perhaps it was the fact that we went on tour, and through a fab tour guide learnt much more about the country and its culture. I was adverse to the fact that it was a tour group at first, but it wasn't so bad after all!

I tried reconstructing a timeline but failed, we went to a different place each of the 8 days and so many attractions within each location. Chronological order's messed up, but at least its smthg to remember the trip by!


Ruifeng night market in Gao xiong. Didn't love the night market itself, it was like a food market mixed with some accessories and clothes and a funfair type thing but I did love the shops on the streets that were around it!


On one of the days, we got to go to chun shui tang, the most famous bubble tea franchise there to make our own bubble tea. We tried making the red and milk tea. The red tea was fantastic! Their custom blend was super fragrant. KOI there is apparently not well known there. I had a field time trying to ask the locals there where the shop was when I later found out that its called a completely different thing in taiwan (by their parent company, if I remember right). Eh.. doesn't matter. Chun shui tang's the big thing there. The place where we had the bubble tea workshop was this massive multi-level restaurant they had, and at 10+ in the morning it was already bustling with people sipping tea!



A shot in the restaurant on the morning of the 8th where Francis and Junlong surprised me with a birthday cake.. and song. It was so uunexpected! Had no idea they knew anything about my birthday.


Taken on the first night in ximending. Was holding a cup of the famous bittergourd juice with aloe vera bits in it, and was pleasantly surprised that it didn't actually taste bad.





3 pictures above are from one of my favourite restaurants on the trip! Its a chinese style buffet which allows you to order items ala carte from a rather extensive menu. I'm normally against buffet line restaurants but ala carte's pretty ok. Besides, their portions were very managable and above all, it was delicious! All our meals were paid for in advance but it only costs like $16 sgd there for a lunch buffet? Completely affordable. I will come back!


On the bullet train from.. I can't remember hahaha. Very spacious and comfortable. The view was gorgeous too. All greenery or ocean.


Cakes from a shop in gao xiong. So pretty all of these and thery're all $2+? T.T All the stuff there is so cheap!!! I bought 2 to eat in our hotel for supper teehee.


Bing tang hu lus in one of the national hertiage centers. Bought the tomato stick cause I've ever tried anything like it but it sucks! Too sweet and ten seconds into eating it starts dripping everywhere, some of it got on my dress. Hot mess.



The very famous guan cia ban in shilin. SO DELICIOUS!! Should have bought more. Didn't like the whole underground concept though, its so stuffy and weird that a night market is underground?


Really cute doggie we met when we were at tai ru ge in hualien (otherwise known as taroko national park, the place everyone goes to in tw) most of the roads there were closed off due to the major landslide they had there a week before our trip. So lucky cause we were actually sposed to go to taiwan earlier and wld hve met with the earthquake!


The beautiful sand and waters in hualien. Perfect for a short getaway from the city!


When we were at the airport, ready to go home. That's francis with us! Loved him, he was entertaining and knew so much about taiwan!



In front of the yuan shan da fan dian in taipei. Apparently its been mistaken multiple times for a huge temple but it actually is a historical site and hotel famous for hosting foreign delegates and big shots. Also yes, my mom must have missed the memo about wearing stripes. Hahahahaha. I was also wearing the $4 dress I got from wufenpu that my mom went around telling everyone what I good deal I got. -_-


In jiufen! The streets there are so old school!


At the temple in sun moon lake. I really loved the sun moon lake, everything there is so pretty and scenic!



Jap restaurant we went to on Francis' recommendation. Their salmon slices were so thick, juicy and sweet, I rose to food nirvana. Its incredibly cheap too. Must must must try. This place's packed with locals too.


View atop the jiufen area.


Caught eating. We ate so much on the trip, it was horrible! I was trying to watch that I ate but everything was so good. And so cheap. Bleah.




Writing and releasing the sky laterns in shifen!


View form our lea lea hotel in sun moon lake.. Loved this hotel the best!





This was by far the most architecturally intriguing restaurant I've seen. It was so unique! The interior looked like a cave..? But had very quirky seating and tables. And fact that this restaurant was located in the city, juxtaposed against the rest of the landscape.. very special. The building actually is two ladies with long wavy hair, with their faces turned upside down and their hands stretched into their hair. So in a way, the restaurant was actually in her skirt. The themes of feminism was strong and was actually ironic considering how the owner was a grieving widow who kept white fishes in all her restaurants as remembrance for her husband who passed.



Enjoying the cheap room service.... you honestly can never go hungry here.


Street artist dressed as a bing ma yong in the temple in sun moon. We all thought he was a legit statue at first! Struck a pose with me and for me after I dropped some cash in his money box. So cute. And so real, too!


Aboard a cruise touring sun moon lake! The wind was so strong but francis insisted on helping me take a photo hahaha




On the train. On the first day, Francis actually thought we were attached (both of us were repulsed at the idea, rectified him immediately) and jibbed at us even more when we turned up wearing matching striped outfits hahaha. We had to chase away a whole fucking bunch of prcs who were in our seats. I hate them!


Wu fen pu, and 50% of the reason why I was so excited about going to taiwan in the first place! I'm still miffed cause I didn't get to fully shop, I only managed to squeeze in time to go there twice, and it was after 11pm so most of the shops were already closed. I still got a lot of good buys though! Very happy teehee. They have those racks that go for like 100-150/200? Damn cheap! So so so much better than bkk/chatuchak/platinum. Those plcs are overrated, expensive and choke full of tourists!

Abrupt end of post, but I really enjoyed taiwan!! I can't wait to go back soon!



I am shameful to have to say yet again that I have greatly neglected this space, this time to such an extent that I literally pushed the existence of it to the back of my mind until friend and I discussed diaries the other night. But oh well! What better than to sporadically post like a superstar! Ok I don't make sense..

Much of the time that has lapsed between the last post and now, I have been pretty much working my ass off giving tuition, socializing (yes socializing, damn it), and more recently being utterly enslaved to my new boss whom I am a PA to. Being a PA was actually one of those things I've kinda always thought was pretty cool (sensationalized portrayals in media no doubt). It is only when I started this job that more than once I found myself drawing many parallels between myself and Anne Hathaway as Andrea Sachs in the Devil Wears Prada.. Meryl Streep aka my pretty god damn rich ass boss throwing curveballs and being very demanding. Ugh. In a way I do hope I become equally successful in the future to warrant having a PA to hold your bags and do all your shit for you.

The word that I did a $35/h job has spread amongst my circle of friends (I must attribute that partially to my joy and blabbermouthedness -pardon my english- when I got the job) and I have extreme difficulty trying to explain what I did during that three days of the trade summit @ marina mandarin. It is a completely legit job but expressed verbally, it is a disaster. Extremely risque. Now I'd be lying if I said the event didn't have a fair amount of schmoozing, and that it wasn't a complete coincidence that only girls were chosen for the job. All the girls except one were fab and a joy to be around, and a common enemy only forged ties faster. But the thing I loved the most was obviously the $$. However that said the money is taking an insanely long time to be wired from london and we just hope our worst fears of this being a too good to be true scam don't actually realize T.T

That's it for now! Flying off for a more than well deserved break tomorrow and I can't wait!