It seemed as though I booked the whole restaurant! There was only us until around 7 pm when one more couple stepped in. And no, that doesn’t mean the restaurant suck. Far from that.

We had one of the most enjoyable expensive dinner since I can last remember.
They had a free appetizer or bread with vinegar and..I can’t remember what’s the yellowish sauce.

We shared a Caesar salad with grilled chicken, which came in generous portion and it’s really delicious.

Next up was Enzo thin crust pizza, which is basically peking duck + japanese cucumber in special sauce. The taste was unique enough and much better than any of the pizza in pizzahut.

GF ordered a slipper lobster linguine with panfried cherry tomatoes. Now I must say I’m never a great fan of cherry tomatoes as they’re either too sweet or too sour. Not this one! Really the best cherry tomatoes I’ve tried so far. The white wine base for the spaghetti was also very nice and fragrant. Slipper lobster, well is just slipper lobster, but it’s definitely fresh.

 
We had our fill and decided to do some exercise for better digestion!
Then brought her to this new Keppel Island introduced to me by Angela, which is not accessible if you don’t drive! However, I found it a bit overrated as there’s nothing special about it, except the surreal feeling of don’t-know-where-you-might-be-heading when you first drive in. There’s this very spacious area some distance away from the main building at the little island, and also a good big patch of green which I think will be a very good place for picnic though!

silly girl

her birthday!

Went up Mount Faber after that but it was crowded and came down shortly after and proceeded to have our ice cream at Island Creamery @ Serene Centre! We had double scoop of Kahlua Latte & Chendol. No words can describe the shiokness of the ice cream. Just go try it!

And that’s the end of her birthdayS! I hope she really enjoyed it this year.

Ah, the Mango cake from Rive Gauche is NOT NICE and too sweet. It definitely looks better than tasted! The Guanaja is still the best!

On Saturday, we met the couples, without Heng, for dinner at Saizeriya @ Liang’s Court. Lucky I told Jielun in advanced to go early otherwise we might still be queueing up at 7+! Thanks babe! The food was really cheap for a japanese restaurant, pretty good for the price and filling! All of us tried our first escargo too though it may not be very nice!

Then we finally fulfilled Poh Ru’s wish to go to Winebos together. To digress a bit, we now call her Dao Ru, or Bao You, while we were making fun of her being a Dao You (tour guide). Anyway wines at Winebos is cheap! And they having a buy two get one free deal! How cheap! Our total bill resulted to only $75 (after extra charges) for 5 pax! We were lucky as they had a free bbq night there where we can help ourselves to any of the food they bbqed. They told the bangladesh staff that it was GF’s birthday and asked for promo/free stuff. The very friendly bangladeshi then said he’ll give us any item on the menu FREE the next time we visit. We’ll definitely be back!!

And there’s only 2 couples in the restaurant, us and another! My baby is rich enough to book 9/10 of the restaurant for me! haha

We shared a starter, Foie Gras for $19.90, which was our first experience of the delicacy. It was not bad. Not bad because we never tried it before and hence no base to judge on.

Our main courses were poor. I ordered breaded porkloin which tasted very normal, nothing extradordinary. Just two slices of meat with a small chunk of tasteless spaghetti in chilli padi.

Gf ordered a seafood spaghetti which tasted almost like my tasteless one, with lot more chilli padi! However, the one good thing, they are generous with the number of prawns and scallops! Really a lot compared to any restaurant we tried before!

Why I said it will be our last, is because there wasn’t much satisfaction (besides the Foie Gras) and fullness. Maybe we aren’t suited for fine dining!

After dinner, we weren’t decidedly full, and went for British Takeaway’s Cheese Sausage! Always our favourite And that ends a beautiful day with my lo

And this will be the last time I organise anything for a group I swear.

Day One

• Arrived at evening. Take 国光bus (125NT) to Taipei Main Station. Don’t take Freego (飞狗) lots of problem. Then take a cab down to hotel – that’s the fastest and pretty cheap.
• 剑潭站 25NT
  • Exit 1, shuttle bus to Miramar Ferris Wheel (200NT)
  • Shuttle bus back to 剑潭, Shilin Night Market
• Back to 西门站 (25NT)
  • Partyworld KTV (~420NT) – Highly recommended ‘cos it’s a different experience!

NB: 剑潭 to Miramar last shuttle bus at 2115. Miramar to 剑潭 last shuttle bus at 2230.

Day Two

• 杨明山 early morning!
  • Take Bus 260 from Taipei main station to杨明山 bus terminal
  • Take Bus 108 from杨明山 bus terminal to wherever you want (ask the local)
  • Take note that there’s bus up and bus down very long! Meaning it might be better to take a cab back down to the bus terminal.
  • Alternatively, you may take train to 士林站 and take a bus up (may be faster than first route. Ask local for the bus.)
  • Bus Red 9 or Bus 230 to 北投 for 温泉 (treacherous journey…you’ll know why when you’re in the bus!)
  • After温泉, walk to 新北投站 to take a train to 淡水站. (35NT)
  • From there, you can choose to take a ferry ride to opposite island, 八里 to see sunset and have seafood.
  • Or you can walk the 老街which is their night market, and don’t forget to try the 铁蛋!
  • Or you can take bus Red 26 to 渔人码头 to romantic at night. Don’t go when the sun haven’t set!
  • Then you can choose to take a boat back to the station from the wharf at 40NT or the same bus back.
  • The above-mentioned can be planned nicely if you plan your time nicely!

Day Three

• 0745 – Taipei Main Station, railway train ride to 花莲 （445NT)
• Booked car (7-seaters) to 太鲁阁国家公园 (Taroko Gorge) (500NT I forgot is per pax or car but I think should be pax?)
• At Taroko Gorge, be prepared to walk and walk and walk.
• Ask the driver to bring you guys to 七星潭, which is a beach facing Pacific Ocean. Try the 大包包小包 or something like that at the beach also. It’s nice!
• The trip to Taroko Gorge and the beach can take almost the whole day.
• Then the driver will bring you to buy Mua-Chee! Buy 小米酒 and try too!
• Also, he’ll bring you to buy fireworks to play!
• All in all, the driver is bao-ka-liao, which will be arranged by the 民宿 lady boss. Please google sutohome 石头之家 and book early!!
• The lady boss arranges night activities, as she’ll bring you to watch the 阿美族 performance.
• Dinner wise, either she will drive you out to eat or you can ask for BBQ at the民宿 for around 250NT/pax. Everything will be set for you so you can straightaway BBQ and enjoy your小米酒!
• You can also buy 孔明灯 from the lady boss!

Day Four

• There’s two things you can do：
  • Whale Dolphin watching out on the sea (800NT)
  • Ocean Park, around the same price.
  • The lady boss arranges both too. So you can see she’s really bao-ka-liao!
• Take railway train to 松山火车站 (368NT) to go to 五分埔 (Wu Fen Pu) and 绕河夜市. They are at two different ends of the station. Ask the local.
• Personally, I feel that this night market is the best in Taipei with a lot of better food and nice bargain for shopping.

Day Five

• Early morning! Take train to Taipei Main Station and get a railway ticket to 瑞芳 station (best to get it early or the day before)
• Share a taxi up to 九份. It’s pretty cheap.
• Idiot-tourist proof from there. There’s a shop selling all sorts of magic stuff just near where the taxi will drop you. Just walk and enjoy the cold fresh air! A must try is the red bean soup with yam (DAMN NICE!)
• After done with九份, go to the bus stop opposite the tourist information centre (ask local) to take a bus to 基隆 (the bus journey is pretty long so try to get a seat!)
• From there, you can either go to the harbour for a walk or go straight to 庙口夜市 for their variety of seafood.
• Then then then, you’ll take the railway train back! (ask local for directions as it’s some walking distance away)

Day Six – Day Eight

• Self-exploration of 西门町，公馆.
• There’re two underground malls in Taipei. One at Taipei Main station，the other at Zhong Xiao Fu Xing station. On Saturday noon, there’ll be cosplay at the underground mall in Taipei Main station area. Go explore!
• Taipei 101 at Taipei City Hall station。
• There’re also long stretches of shops along 忠孝东路. Sogo is at the exit either at 忠孝 Fu Xing or 忠孝Dun Hua where you can experience the 电梯女郎 (they aren’t pretty by the way)

NB：

• 自强号 is the fastest train in Taiwan
• For 9 Days 8 nights Taipei-Hualien, Hotel (TS Hotel in Taipei & Stone lodge in Hualien) cost ~ 5600NT/pax.
• Get EasyCard when you’re there for the MRT. 500NT/pax. In Chinese is called 悠游卡

• 万年商业 building has cheap onitsuka at a shop called Liz Fashion.
• 三妈臭臭锅 is a must try! Available at many places including 西门町 (must ask around), 士林 and 绕河.
• Ah Zhong Mian Xian: when you walk into 西门町，the first junction you see, turn right. You’ll first pass by a bubble tea shop (yes must try) then the stall.
• 三吉外卖: at 武昌街二段85-7号. Just near to the cinema. Opens after 11am.
• The ice at 西门町 is not nice. Try it at 士林! It’s pretty near their 三妈臭臭锅 if you can find it.
• 鸭肉扁. Very nice. It’s along the street opposite party world at 西门町. Just walk all the way down and you’ll see it.
• Last but not least, don’t forget to try LOR BA PENG!!! 鲁肉饭！or 卤肉饭 whatever you called it! Anywhere is nice!
• Oh and Teppanyaki in Taiwan is cheap and nice and good big portion. Many many! Can also ask the lady boss in 花莲 to bring you to eat nice teppanyaki or nice food if you’re there!