Disneyland Paris cos it’s MM’s Birthday Today!

It is Mickey Mouse’s birthday today thus I decided to dedicate a blog post on my day at Walt Disney Studios and Disneyland while I was in Paris. We did not reach the parks very early. We first lost our way at the train stations, then decided to visit the Premium Outlets for some shopping before dropping by the parks. Though late, we still enjoyed ourselves for the rest of the day.

Even though, my children were not with us on this trip, I still wanted to visit Disneyland. It is one off my bucket list and I am left with the last to visit, Disneyland Florida, for now and another upcoming one in Shanghai (opening in 2015).

We missed most of the shows and parades but it is all right. Pictures taken and place visited. I bought a 2 parks 1 day hopper tickets. So off we go to Disneyland park.

There is always something magical about Disneyland whether is nearer in Hong Kong or further away in Paris. Jonathan said, this is the only place with so many princesses (with the little girls dressed in their favorite princesses costumes). We seemed to be teleported into a fairytale land and for a moment, we were detached from the reality world, away from worries and stress. To children, this is a place where dreams come true and for adults like us, it is a place where we can live our dreams (even for the slightest moment). I love the Small, Small World rides, so vibrant. By placing the different countries’ culture in one place shows that everyone can live in harmony. The exciting and ‘life-threatening’ rides are no longer my cup of tea. Maybe I have grown older and became less brave. So glad that Kaitlyn is not here with us else, we would be forced to ride with her.

Of all the Disneylands that I have gone to, I love Tokyo Disneyland best maybe it bought back the most memories. I enjoyed that most even though I do not understand their language. It was my first time travelling with my first  and last batch of Primary 6 graduands (a graduation cum exchange programme to Japan). I recalled the planning of rides the night before looking at all the excited faces. I took the dangerous and lungs-breaking rides with them while they watched the calm and ‘lame’ (to them) Electric Night parade with me. 🙂 So is there any Disneyland trips that leave you with the deepest memories?

In this post, I hereby once again wish Mickey Mouse a very

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Moulin Rouge at Montmartre, Paris

 

Moulin Rouge, I first heard of in 2001 in the movie cast by Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman. The touching story is about the love of a poet and a terminally-ill cabaret star of Moulin Rouge. Extravagant costumes displays and lovely use of popular music inter-twined into the story of the movie.

Cabaret is not one if without females dancers, high kicks, flamboyant costumes and some tasteful nudity. We are talking about culture and good behavior. If you think about getting into Moulin Rouge and look at a bunch of females with boobs, 🙂 you are in for the wrong reason. 🙂

Could  not decide on the River Seine cruise or the Moulin Rouge + Feerie show dinner, we booked the tickets only the night before the show. Jon called Moulin Rouge and was glad to secure two seats as I heard of the place being full house all the time, particularly popular with tourists. We decided to have a good dinner followed by the show.

Just ten minutes walk from our hotel, Moulin Rouge is just opposite Blanche metro station. Dinner was to start at 7pm but there was a already a queue forming when we reached at 6.30pm.

Dinner was awesome. Though a three-course dinner (appetizer, main, desserts), it lasted about two hours and was fulfilling. Why so long??? LOL, Food was served in slow pace, giving us a chance to really enjoy the food, soaked in the atmosphere and to have our casual conversations. We were given 2 set menus to choose from and we decided on Belle Epoque, with Sirloin steak as main. Jon had the Lobster thin Pie à la Parisienne, while I had the Duck foie gras with sea salt for appetizer. Waiter said all desserts were good and were Moulin Rouge’s specialties, so we just chose any on the list. In between meals, we sipped champagne while enjoying the live band music on stage before the real show started. The ambience was immaculately chic with lowly-lit red table lamps beside us. The only sad thing was that we were not allowed to take pictures the moment we set foot in the dinner cum show area. There were photographers around to take pictures for a price. 🙂

Show started at 9pm and ended at 11pm. There were two shows. The one that started at 11pm would end at 1am but if you are thinking of having dinner, you can only take the earlier show. The show, “Feerie” was exceptional good. Look at the  picture above with the long queue waiting to enter for second show after the first show ended and you will know. The show featured a troupe of eighty performers dressed in spectacular costumes, a jaw-dropping experience especially for me who likes musical. The frequent changing sets and vibrant use of lightings refreshed my senses with the colorful backdrops. Most amazed me was the gigantic aquarium which rose slowly in middle of the stage and the moving staircases which was lowered towards the end of the show.

I was so glad that I actually chose to experience Paris in such way. I would say not cheap for the dinner + show but for once in a lifetime experience. Worth it!.

Since there were no pictures, I would include a short video clip of what to expect from the show. Enjoy! 🙂

Price: €210.00 per person

which include Belle Epoque dinner + 1/2 bottle champagne and Feerie show

Moulin Rouge

82 Boulevard de Clichy, 75018 Paris, France ‎

+33 1 53 09 82 82

Website: http://www.moulinrouge.fr/?lang=en‎

Montmartre – Bohemia, Cabaret, Modern Art?

Montmartre is an interesting area. I stayed in Pigalle (famous for its nightlife and a red-light district similar to Singapore’s Geylang) which houses rows and rows of night-clubs, bistros and sex stores. Main reason for choosing the area is the convenient of metro to airport, Moulin Rouge (cabaret) which I had wanted to visit since the movie in 2001 and Sacre-Coeur, the majestic church.

Street was pretty quiet in the morning when I strolled along on the first day. Shops were not opened and could only view items from the windows. Streets increased in gradient as I walked towards the highest point where Sacre-Coeur was. The walk reminded me of the days I was in San Francisco. I walked passed Sacre-Coeur but did not go in as I wanted to save the visit with hubby.

Montmartre to me, is an area with many artistic feel. It is a place where many artists, including Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh, had studios or worked in. There are many interesting shops selling unique handmade jewelry and quirky items. Pop colours and interesting displays in shopfront attracted my attention. I love the range of blue bracelets displayed in one of the shops. The jewelry designer presented a creative way to create stack without having to put them on one by one. Another shop display was packed with pinks and burgundy to remind me that summer is coming to an end and we should welcome fall. I was intrigued by a shop selling adorable household items which I had seen them for sale in one of the shops in Hong Kong’s Harbour City. All these items can be found along the street of Rue Tardieu.

Walking along Rue de Steinkerque, seems to teleport me back to Bugis Street. The road that leads me to Sacre-Coeur from Anvers metro station, is filled with shops selling Paris souvenir. I love this street. It is filled with tourists and trinkets that can be brought home. Personally, I love the musical box. Usually musical boxes are square but the ones sold here are round and beautifully decorated with significant Paris icons. On the same road, it is a must to visit Maison Georges Larnicol which sells chocolates. Even if you are not a chocolate lover, walk in to view the amazing chocolate artwork of Notre Dame.

Lastly, gonna leave a picture of Chicken Spot. Hubby and I had cravings for fried chicken and apparently, could not find any KFC. We were so glad we found Chicken Spot and went back two days straight for snacks. It was really good.

Loving the Trains in Paris

I can’t help but to share more about my observations and feelings on the RER or metro. I caught the metro every day while in Paris. It was the most important form of transport for us. Every morning before going out, I would pull out the metro map and discussed with hub on which line we should take and changed. There were just so many choices that we could make. Sometimes, we bickered insisting that ours were the shortest way. Sometimes, we blamed ourselves when we realized that we had taken the wrong route. After two days of trial and errors, we decided to ask the information counter before we confirmed our routes.

Metro tickets are at €1.70 per trip. If taken together with RER, it will be wiser to buy from the information counter as the staff will combine the ticket price. As compared to Singapore, the price of the ticket does not account for distance. One ticket allows me to travel to any station at any distance. So even if I plan a longer route, I will only waste my precious time.

The interior of each station is unique to make me slow down my every walk and to see more.  There were different interior designs for each station. It’s like an art gallery! Some days, I would see workers in coveralls holding rolls and rolls of posters, changing the big posters in stations with scraper and pail. At times, there would be street musicians playing in the underground. This sight is quite common in Singapore but to see a group of eight musicians playing and promoting their music with different kinds of big instruments is somehow rare.  🙂 Stations hardly have escalators too. Every day, we had to walk many flights of stairs to reach and out of the metro. A lot of training on our calves. 🙂 Vending machines for snacks and drinks can be found before boarding the metro so which means food is allowed but the metro remains clean.

The metro is not as long as Singapore’s MRT and they have cabins that do not allow passengers to pass through. The doors are not automated for older metro. Passengers have to push a button or lever to open the doors in order to alight or board. An ingenious idea is the lever chairs near the doors (like our olden days’ cinema chairs). When the metro is not crowded, passengers tend to push down the chairs to rest. There is a rule on the metro that these chairs should not be seated if the metro is crowded.

As the metro passed by many stations, graffiti can be seen almost on every walls in the tunnels, all beautifully drawn. At times, sudden blast of music could be heard in the metro, someone personified as Michael Jackson dancing to his hits or just an old man playing on his button accordion. At the end of their performances, they would go around to collect gratuities.

RER is somehow not as exciting as metro in Paris but a good time to enjoy the scenery. Maybe it travels a longer distance and further out of Paris. Pictures above were all taken in a RER on my way to Disneyland Paris. We took the wrong route and got stranded in Gare St-Lazare, one of the main stations. In the end, we had to seek help from the Metro information counter to direct us the shortest way to reach our destination. It was my first time on a double-decker train. Train was pretty empty and clean. 🙂 Since a long journey, we camwhored!

Train system in Paris is so complicated and definitely needs time for further investigation. Put aside the inter-twining routes and fifteen color-coded lines, I think I am in love with the train systems in Paris with so much to see and feel.

Hi Paris

Arriving at Paris CDG airport on a Friday morning. It was my first time travelling alone and setting foot on a country that I had never been. No cars and with no intention to take a taxi to my hotel, I scampered together with other travelers to the long waiting queue of the lifts. Holding tight to the luggage and making my way to the train station, my heart palpitated as I wondered if I would lose my way in Paris.

There were three types of trains that I would need to take. The CDGVAL shuttle train to RER station, the RER then a Metro from CDG airport to Montmartre where my stay would be.

CDGVAL is easily identified as major signboards are located along the way. Not knowing where to head to, I just followed the crowd. RER is one of the train services, from lines from A to E, travelling further out or into Paris. I took the RER B line to reach Gare du Nord (aka Paris Nord) to switch to a Metro. Comfort of escalators were gone once I reached Gare du Nord station. I had to lug my luggage up and down numerous flights of stairs starting from there to the place I stayed. A Metro, with 15 lines (complicated but coded with different colours) connected all over Paris, was the next transportation I took. I boarded Line 2 (blue) train, from La Chapelle to Pigalle. Walk from Gare du Nord was a short 10 minutes with an underground connecting. Maybe it was in the morning, I kinda of eased a little when I saw many people in the underground.

Journey to Pigalle was quite fast. Stops from station to station was pretty short but crowded. Only saddened by the rain when I reached my location, thinking how on earth was I able to carry a 17kg luggage up the flight of stairs and holding an umbrella. Stranded, I waited together with others at the end of the stairs but decided to just cover myself with my scarf as I did not feel really safe alone. On my way up, some offered help but I declined, for fear that they might be pickpockets (being warned by many about pickpockets in Paris).

I will be sharing my Paris in snippets of locations instead of days as there are quite a number of pictures. 🙂 So I will start off with food on my first day since I did not visit much places while waiting for my hubby to arrive in Paris in late afternoon. Of course, the jet lag played a part and knocked out in hotel.

Had a little snack at a café opposite the Metro after placing luggage in the hotel. An awesome raspberry tart with fruits melting in my mouth. A hot chocolate to soothe my cold body after being in the rain.

Price: about €5.00 for a set

Location: La Brioche Dorée, 16 boulevard Clichy, 75018 Paris

Tel: 01 46 06 18 16

Shopped a little at Avenue des Champs Elysees and popped by La Maison del’ Aubrac recommended by a Sales Assistant from Montblanc. Upon hearing that we were from Singapore, his eyes sparkled. He started to reminisce the days he did his internship in Singapore and how he enjoyed his stay. 🙂

Food was fantastic at Aubrac especially love the succulent Veal Skewer and Zucchini. Hub had the Roast Chicken with Herb and Fig while his colleague had the Sirloin Steak and potatoes. All receiving good comments. Bistro alike ambience where soft music is played and lightings. A good place to eat and chat comfortably. Perks, there is wifi connection in the restaurant. 🙂

Price: about €30 per person (including a glass of wine)

Location: La Maison del’ Aubrac, 37, rue Marbeuf, 75008, Paris

Tel: 0033 (0)1 43 59 05 14

Taiwan Trip 2010 Day 6

Finally, I am updating my last 2nd day of the trip. I will not be doing a travelogue of my last day as it was a short day to departure.

On day 6, we were in Taipei and was really happy to check in Taipei Grand Hyatt for the last night which is just a stone throw away from 101 Shopping Mall. A five star hotel at last. 🙂

In the morning, we visited the usual places of interests in Taipei.

We then visited National Palace Museum. No photos as all were crowded around the exhibits. It’s a place that holds the world’s largest collection of priceless Chinese art treasurers with almost 5000 years of history. We then proceeded to Yehliu to take a look at the natural rock formations. We were looking for this in Yehliu, The Queen’s Head.

Walking towards our destination, we saw some cute statues along the pathway. Couldn’t resist and started taking photos with them. 🙂

Okay, definitely trying to act cute. LOL

Walking on, I decided to take some scenery photos with Jonathan’s pro camera. Wanted to try out my photography skills also which I doubt I have.

What do you all think? I think not bad for first timer. Sometimes, it’s really nice to have a good camera on hand. 🙂

Finally a picture of mummy and daddy. 🙂

Picture of my daddy. People always say daughters are usually closer to daddy. My daddy is fun to be with cos he always has many interesting stories to share. LOL

Oh great! We found the head!!!! Hmm only certain angle looks like the queen’s head. 🙂

By the time we finished visiting Yehliu, it was about 5pm and the next destination was the YangMingShan TienLai Hotspring. Didn’t go for the hotspring as it was really cold. What did we do? We had coffee at the coffee house listening to gossips.

Taiwan is really a nice place to go to especially during the winter. Loves the cool weather since we don’t get it at all in Singapore. Planning for another one end of the year with family members. Hope we can all go together. 🙂

Awesome Nat + Taiwan Trip Day 5

Before I moved on to my Taiwan Trip updates, I am gonna share you a video of Kimmy’s daughter, Natacia, being captured in her daily training for her Cold Storage Kids Run 2011. Kimmy and I were from the YWC (Young Wives Club) set up by ourselves randomly. LOL There are 6 gals in this club. Studying together but young, we were all attached or married at that time. Hahaha, now we are known as OWC (Old Wives Club). Ladies, it’s been a long time since we meet up.

Anyway, Natacia is awesome to the max in this video and the video is well made. 🙂 Support Nat by viewing the video. The closing date for the video contest is 13/5/11 at 2359:)  We are looking at the view counts. Go on and click, click, click. A new star arising…..

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Now back to the Day 5 of Taiwan Trip. We are travelling back to Taipei. Early in the morning, we boarded a train from HuaLian to SuAo. The main reason was to cut down the time taken to travel on bus and also to experience the train ride in Taiwan. I was glad that I bought the data SIM card. With my iph, I spent the 1 hour ride watching shows from YouTube. 🙂

As we did not have our luggages with us, the train was pretty spacious. It was very comfortable and happy to say that, I am satisfied with the ride. 🙂

Almost reaching Taipei, we visited the NaTien Temple. It is a landmark of NafanAo (南方澳). This temple is used to host the 妈祖, a goddess which was said to be there to guide and bless the fishermen. In this temple, we could see  the goddess statues made with three different types of materials. Besides the goddess, the view of the harbour is breathtaking.

I was totally mesmerized by the architechtural structures, the dragons and the red tiled ceiling.

Ooooo, then we spotted the peanut ice-cream crepe. It was a disappointment. 😦 It was not as good as the ones we had in ChiuFen.

The “Yakcult” in the 7-eleven also caught my attention. It’s so much bigger in size than the ones we have in Singapore. 🙂

Oops… I bet you can’t see the size difference. LOL but yes, it’s about double the size of our Singapore Yakcult.

Finally back in Taipei. Today, the tour guide took us to all the historical sites. Firstly, we stepped into The Chiang Kai-Shek ShiLin Residence Park which was a homage to the former president. Besides visiting the home, we got to embrace ourselves in different flowers and garden scenary. To avoid getting lost in the big park, we sought the help of the map.

This is the house where the former president lived.

We are surrounded by flowers. 🙂

The Shine Cafe in the Park. Love the nostalgic feel to this place. Old vintage photos and decorations make this cafe comfortable to be in. I think is one of the attractions in the park as many people were sitting outside the cafe enjoying the scenary and coffee. 🙂

Next destination was the Martyr’s Shrine where we got to watch an elaborate ceremony of changing guards. Anne and I actually walked all the way into the shrine to view the whole ceremony despite the hot sun. 🙂 The guards are very professional. The funny thing is tourists who were there would follow the changing guards from main shrine to the main entrance. LOL

Oh, somewhere in between the trips, we dropped by the Grand Palace Hotel which was established by the former president Chiang’s wife, Song MeiLing. It’s really grand and according to the tour guide, some feng shui was taken into considerations in building this hotel. High hotel rates as well.

Finally, it was dinner time. This time round, we had the famous Xiao Long Bao for dinner. Dumplings in different skin flavors and colours. Not to be missed was the Sweet and Sour Soup. *YUMMY*

After dinner, we were given time to stroll along Hsienmenting (西门町). The first thing, we looked for was the Ah Zhong Mian Xian. Thumbs up for that one. Never to miss if you are at Hsienmenting. 🙂

Taiwan Trip 2010 Day 4

It’s like taking me ages to finish up my blog for my taiwan trip. I really need to buck up on my time management skills. 😦

Day 4 was a short day as most of the time were spent travelling along the coastal areas.

My first pit stop for toilet break and this view is just beside the toilet. Breath-taking. 🙂

Something that we cannot go home without. Custard Apples, some would call soursop but they are not. Love it and we actually bought 2 boxes home. Definitely got to hand carry. 🙂

These are fresh from the farm. Just pluck that morning.

Finally we reached the Taroko Gorge. Taroko Gorge didn’t seem to be that beautiful compared to 2005 when I went. According to the tour guide, the part that was opened for viewing a few years ago was already closed and this was a new viewing site in the recent years.

According to the tour guide, the gorge was formed by rushing river waters which have cut straight through the marble and granite. The result of it was beautiful, narrow ravine with waterfalls and patches of mist clinging to the mountains. I used to stay in a house laid with marble flooring and I must said that it’s really beautiful but of course extra work is needed to maintain the sheen and shine. 🙂

Too bad that I just brought 1 type of camera lens with me; thus, could not capture a nice picture of the gorge. 😦

With the extra time given and the slight drizzle, Aunty suggested for coffee to warm us. Weird thing was, we bought 2 cups of coffee and we were given free bamboo rice. 🙂 The bamboo rice is fragrance and with the chillie sauce, it was edible. 🙂

Thanks Daddy for the nice trip. I totally enjoyed it eventhough I felt guilty leaving the children at home. 🙂

By the time we reached HuaLian, was already dinner time. After dinner, we visited the Ami Aboriginal Cultural Village aka A-Mei tribe. People of Ah-Mei are renowned by their beautiful voice and fascinating life style. It was quite enjoyable listening to their singing and their dance. In the end, Anne and I were even invited out to do the Aboriginal dance with them together with other tourists. Daddy took the pictures but mostly were blurred due to the fast movement of hands and legs. Nevertheless, a souvenir picture was taken and brought home. 🙂

Taiwan Trip 2010 Day 3

Day 3 was on 25 December 2010 thus was Christmas Day. It’s great to be able to celebrate with family members. Jamie and Victor had also planned Christmas party for the two kids over at Singapore.

The first stop we arrived was the 日月潭 (Sun Moon Lake). Remembered 5 years ago that I went with Jonathan, that was a beautiful lake. I think is due to the quake that has left the place in ruins and on the mist of rebuilding. Why is it known as Sun Moon Lake? Seems like in the northern part of the “Guang Hua Island” (in the middle of the lake) looks like the shape of a sun and the southern part like the shape of a moon. We visited the 文武庙 (WenWu Temple) which worships Confucius, Guan Gong and Yue Fei.

Picture description from L to R: The entrance of the temple, The temple staff explaining the procedures of the praying, The well-wishes that we could place in the temple, the entrance from the other view.

Since we were given quite some time to wander around, how could we miss taking pictures of the scenery. 🙂

Yea to family picture. Thanks to the tour guide who is “well-versed” in photography, we got this nice picture taken. 🙂The three little children from the same tour group. Seeing them, I missed my two children at home. 😦

Can’t remember when was the last time I took picture with Daddy….

Sista with Daddy. 🙂

Leaving our footprints, we walked to the bus. Could not resist the Taiwan sausages stalls just beside the bus. 🙂 It was quite a long journey to the next destination. Took a pit stop for coffee and snacks…. and I caught someone in the act.

Hahaha… That’s my tourguide. Check out his equipment for phototaking. He carried these camera stuff throughout the journey.

Finally, we reached the 美浓客家村 (Mei Non Hakka Village). Purpose? To know more about the Hakka culture. Definitely the easiest to know them is through their food. We had a sumptuous Hakka lunch following by strolling around the village.

Everyone was so curious about this old man who could create music with different household items. The most amazing one to me was the toothpaste. “Impressive” is the word Kaitlyn uses. 🙂 Besides that, he appeared in different TV shows and one of the mediacorp show had him featured.

Dropped by the 85 Building for a city sight and mountains. The elevator easily took the group up to the 75th deck in just 43 secs which is 600 feet per minute. *Fast*

Oh before I moved on, we were at Kaoshiung. So we must visit the Love River. Took a 20minutes boat ride without taking any nice pictures. 😦 Too shaky and cold to hold my cam.

Daddy and mummy before we boarded the boat.

The sun set early due to the season which meant it was time for dinner. Fun days always passed by extremely fast. 🙂 For the past two nights, we were at the night market. The third night, we visited a shopping area cum night market. 🙂 We were only given an hour half to roam the place. Totally not enough for hardcore shoppers like us. After we reached the hotel, we took a cab down to 新崛江夜市 (New Chueh Chiang Night Market) for 2nd round of shopping. 🙂

Sister and mummy checking out the socks for they were really cheap. Probably due to the weather. 🙂

Day 4 was really short cos most of the time was spent travelling on the bus. We will be in Hualian on Day 4. Check back soon. 🙂

Taiwan Trip 2010 Day 2

Day 2 was a long day. The fun started with a drizzle at 九份 (ChiuFen). Totally in love with the old fashion building. I remembered the last time I stepped on this place with Jonathan in 2005, it was drizzling as well. 🙂 ChiuFen is well known for some local dishes such as Taro and Sweet Potato Ball. Both sides of the small alley are packed with stalls selling local food. One of them was the 姜母茶. 

How could auntie and mum give it a miss? 🙂 They spotted the orangy packing tea recommended by dearest cousin, Christina. 🙂

What is 姜母茶? It’s basically made up of ginger, some red dates, black sugar hardened into pieces. Then mix with water to make it into a drink. I like the taste of it and always boiled it for a while more for the ginger taste to be stronger.  Said to be good for cold days and to remove wind. 🙂

Oh… then one of their local food caught my eyes. Could see the queue building and without thinking further, I joined in the queue. It’s actually shaved sugar peanut accompanied by ice cream wrapped in popiah skin. The best I have tried for the whole of taiwan trip. We couldn’t resist and went to queue for second helping.

While taking pictures of each other… auntie went to get the taro and sweet potato balls.

Daddy decided to explore the balcony of the shop… A magnificient view awaited us. Glad that he asked me out to take pictures. 🙂

Check out the way daddy enjoyed his popiah ice cream with the magnificient view behind him. 🙂

Back to the main shop, the taro and potato balls waited for us. 🙂 It’s always nice to have a bowl of hot dessert on cold weather. Moreover, it’s drizzling. 🙂

The 2nd destination was to the 深坑豆腐街 (SanKeng Tofu Street). Both sides of the streets are lined up with stores selling the famous beancurd. We didn’t have any of the beancurd since our tummy just packed with the popiah ice cream and taro.

It was nice just walking along the street and looking at the type of food sold.

LOL managed to captured a picture of my dearest family. 🙂

We then moved on to our 3rd destination of the day, the 莺歌陶瓷老街 (YingKo Ceramics Street). I am totally overwhelmed by the amount of ceramics. From household to decorations, you name it, they have it. IMPRESSED!!!!

Did not buy anything as it’s too heavy to bring home. So the only thing we brought home are the pictures for remembrance. 🙂

We then departed from the place and proceeded to destination 4, 逢甲夜市 (Feng Jia Night Market). The place is great for low priced clothes and delicious snacks. One of the best night market I been to throughout the trip. Managed to grab nice food and pretty shoes. 🙂

Totally in love with this prawny stick.  While waiting for the sticks of prawns to get ready, auntie bought stewed chicken feet from the next stall. Both are good but I still prefer the prawns *not because I am lazy*. 🙂

While walking… spotted a shop selling helmets. Most of the people in taiwan travel by motorcycles. The helmets are super duper cute. Almost bought one Thomas helmet back for Kaiden.

Thirsty, thirsty, thirsty… Decided to try their tea since Taiwan is well-known for bubble tea. Yucks… one of the worst milk tea I tasted. Nevertheless, I still finished it.

To make up for my bad tea day, I decided to have this and no more road side tea stall. 🙂

Yea to KOI and checked out how excited sis and I were. Finally a good cup of tea.

My last food before we left for dinner. Oh, I got to tell you… the mushrooms are really good.

Before leaving FengJia, I was so glad to find DaGeDa, the teleshop to buy a Taiwan simcard. I got a sim card with unlimited data plan for 5 days. Can’t remember the price but was so glad that I could msn with Jonathan while he was in Indonesia, call home to check out my kiddos and watch youtube while on the journey. It’s a really good buy. For those going to taiwan, you can try it.

Out last destination before we retreat back to the hotel was to a very unique restaurant, the 伍角船板 (Five Cent Driftwood House). The architecture is very special. It is a cavernous eatery built without blueprints. Most of the items to build up this place are by driftwood and recycled wooden train tracks. Could not take nice pictures due to the dim lighting. The food is not bad. A place which is more for visual enjoyment. 🙂

A family photo taken by the tour guide to end the day’s trip. Nice picture. 🙂 Totally loves it. 🙂 Tour guide is a photographer lover and is holding the same camera (Canon 7D) as me. Decided to bring along Jon’s camera but yet did not know how to use it wisely. Felt so paiseh when I knew nuts about Jonathan’s camera and he kept talking to me about photography. LOL