taiwanese really EAT

WARNING- do not read this post if you're feeling hungry.

hello everyone, i'm back from taiwan. 5 days of non-stop fun, laughter, eating and shopping just ended like that. it was my first time in taiwan and i really enjoyed it. parents and i were suppose to go to japan, but we just couldn't find the suitable dates. taiwan was our second choice, the 3 of us flew up to visit my dad's old business friends. they should really deserve the best host award in the whole wide world. they accompanied us the entire 5 days, from picking us up at the airport to sending us off to the airport. they paid for every single meal (!!!) and gave us really good gifts (from bread to jewelry). we felt so paiseh, dad kept putting money in his pocket, but he kept insisting that we shouldn't pay a single cent.

took tons of photos 300+, but i shall just upload the main gist of my trip. the rest are up on facebook, so my friends can view them there. oh, i may also do a video of my trip too. that's provided if i have time to do so. lots of meet-ups already planned. :)

tuesday, 28/6/10

sitting an airplane is like a sleeping drug for me. i sleep immediately once i board the plane, and i seldom eat or drink anything. since young i've always had airsick, but it's getting better. :)

plane left at 8am and we reached taiwan around 1pm. uncle and aunty pan came picked up us which was a hour drive away from the hotel. we stayed at hyatt, and had a suite to ourselves. the hotel was so beautiful and big, especially the rooms! by the time we checked in was around 3pm, so we settled for high tea at hyatt. it was such a good buffet meal. we had crepes, sashimi, dim sum, pastries, and drinks. the breakfast was even better, from dim sum to waffles with movenpick ice cream. you really pay for what you get, it was 400+ a night.

thereafter, we went to 101 building which was directly beside the hotel. all the branded shops were there. we shopped awhile before heading off to an awesome japanese restaurant. there were 12 people, met up with his children and their bfs/gfs, and some of their friends. really friendly and nice people, had a lot of fun talking to them. during this trip i realised that the taiwanese are very well mannered, polite and friendly. felt so welcomed. :) the food that night was so good. it's actually opened by a japanese so we had authentic japanese dishes. somehow, taiwan seems very similar to japan, guess they're high influenced by them. that's a good thing, luckily they don't follow the mainland chinese.

we had more than these, way more! i think we had to take away 2 dishes or something cause we were really full. i really don't know if it's the habit for taiwanese to order way too many dishes, or is it just uncle and aunty pan. they over-ordered every single meal. i already ate so much as the food was really delicious, and yet they kept giving me more. i put on 2 kg from this trip. it's a disaster, but i'm determined to run to loose that weight. :(

dinner ended really late. we all just kept talking and drinking. funny how they always like to do the cheering of glasses thing. we stayed in the restaurant 7 to 11, we were the last to leave.

wednesday 30/6/10

papa went to play golf with his friends, while aunty and her friend brought me and mummy to ye liu. the drive there and back was really fun. stopped by many places for food and sight seeing. our first stop was at a little fishing village, and we had really fresh seafood. love the oysters (didn't snap a shot of it)! it was only the four of us, but aunty ordered almost 6-7 dishes.

finally reached our destination- yehliu geopark, after a short drive from lunch. nothing much though, it's just looking at the formation of rocks. to me, it isn't interesting at all. but oh wells, it's a good change from staying in the city. the weather was so hot, that i had to wear shades and use the umbrella.

thereafter, we made our way back to taipei city. we had soft bean-curd as well as barbecue corn on the way back. the whole journey was just eating and eating. we were so full from lunch and snacks, and yet we were making our way to hello kitty cafe! thanks to cixian i got to know of its existence. i was so excited to go there, but the adults weren't really interested. BUT. when we got there, the 3 middle aged women were more excited than me. they kept taking pictures, non-stop! haha.

welcome to hello kitty world. everything in the cafe was hello kitty. from tables, chairs, food and toilet. everything was so cute and pretty. apparently, there's a hello kitty house in japan, heard it's way better.

not only was the food appealing, but it also tasted good. you can really trust the japanese to perfect things. pretty and delicious. the price was affordable too, i think it's worth opening one in singapore! more photos of the sweets up on facebook!

here's the toilet. crazy hello kitty fans will faint if they were there.

after our afternoon tea at hello kitty sweets, we did some little shopping on the streets. bought plenty of hello kitty stuff. got really cute mirrors, mouse pads, and a mouse for my macbook. :) now my laptop is really red, love it! not long after shopping, we met up with the men, and went for dinner. EAT again. so full from tea, and uncle pan kept giving me food. didn't take pictures of the food, but it was really good. local taiwanese delights, really awesome. would have eaten more if my stomach wasn't bloated. again, there was more than enough dishes, takeaway!

thursday, 1/7/10

woke up really early and left our hotel around 6am. bad thing is, we skipped our hyatt breakfast, and the good thing is, we were sitting a plane to hua lian. it's a 30 minutes flight out to the country side. we spent half a day there looking at gorges, mountains, rivers, marble stone factories, and ate plently of mua chee! my parents bought so much mua chee back, cause they are really so good, soft and sweet.

we had to wear helmets at certain areas in case of falling rocks. apparently, a china lady was killed by the rocks last year at hua lian. scary much.

lunch was at an aboriginal restaurant, we had really authentic food. had rice wine served in the little wild boar "cup", and rice served in bamboo. nice.

we continued to tour hua lian, and only left the place around 4pm. this time we sat the train back instead of sitting the plane. it was a 3 hour ride, and the scenery back was really nice. it's my first time seeing so many scarecrows, got them captured on video.

immediately after we reached taipei, we took a taxi to a japanese barbecue restaurant. yes, eat again, non-stop. instead of korean bbq, we had japanese, nice! frankly speaking, i'm quite sick of korean bbq already. we ate beef the whole night, had different parts of the cow. from the ribs to the tounge. yes, i can't believe i tried it! had one, and it was enough. oh, uncle pan forced me to drink the whole glass of japanese beer!

raw beef, so good man. especially with the lettuce and sweet sauce.

meat from the ribs.

can't remember which part of the cow it was. but those 2 pieces were huge! we could only barbecue one at a time.

i was so full, but i just kept eating. really couldn't resist it. anyways, after dinner we all went for foot reflexology. it was really comfortable, especially after a day of walking. certain areas hurt though. apparently the foot reflexology place is really famous, all the taiwanese stars like SHE goes there.

friday, 2/7/10

mummy and i went to xi men ding for shopping. the place looked a little ah-lian, but if you really search properly, you can really find good stuff. we were holding 4 shopping bags each. it was crazy man, we shopped till we had no more cash.

one of the sales girl was so nice to give mummy and i a discount as we had no cash to cab back to the hotel. mummy totally forgot that we can't use visa there. hence, the little cash. :( we had to return after spending 4 hours there. after returning to the hotel, we continued our shopping at the shopping centers near our hotel. while uncle pan and papa went starbucking.

thereafter, we went for dinner. the whole group who met up on our first dinner in taiwan were there, plus more guests. they way how this restaurant serves their food is crazy! HUGE portions. just wait and see.

abalone as starters.

look at how big/long this sashimi boat is?! wide variety of sashimi.

godlike oyster porridge. so good, we had 2 of these pots. they also ordered some prawn bee hoon soup. it was also very good.

this was my favourite dish! lobster and crab with udon. SO GOOD, more!

that's not the whole group, 4 more people came. really want to thank them for being so welcoming. :)

mummy, aunty pan and i then left for wu fen pu, while papa went to one their houses. anyways, wu fen pu is a wholesale place for clothes. so clothes were really cheap, dresses were selling for 15 bucks each. i'm sure blog shops owners go there. if only i am free, i would set up one. anyways, i bought so many clothes. we had like one whole big suitcase full of clothes. :) sadly, i can't wear them in melby, cold!

received a miu miu gift from aunty pan's daughter, lisa. love the colour and design, it's so sweet!

saturday, 3/7/10

mummy and i met up with aunty pan and lisa for shopping near our hotel, while papa and uncle pan and friends went for golf again. anyways, we went to this huge 24 hour bookstore. in that building there's plenty of shops selling really pretty stuff. wide range of items, from stationary to cameras, almost everything is imported from japan. bought some stuff there, and then we went for lunch at 1010.

this was my favourite dish! tiny beef cubes with sticky rice.

we continued shopping at different shopping centers, love all the shops. there's so many brands that we don't see in singapore. mainly from japan and europe. anyways, they brought us to elite bakery, which is located in the most high-class shopping center in taiwan. they bought us some bread to bring back home, and we also saw some really interesting pastries.

sigh, these macaroons make me think of those from pierre herme. jonny's suppose to get them for me from london. thank god for rachel and cindy who are there right now.

take a look at this real gold plated cake, the whole cake costs $240 sin.

before heading to the airport, we had haagen das ice cream. super long queue, as if the ice cream was free. anyways, lisa dropped her mercedes benz car keys at the bakery. we only realised it when we reached the car park. thank god it was there, if not we'll prolly have to postpone our flight. met up with papa and uncle pan at the airport, they went for foot reflexology done by blind men after their golf sessions. apparently, blind people are really good at that, and the money goes to charity.

i really love taiwan, wouldn't mind going back there again. but before going, i need to loose more weight than normal. after seeing so many pictures of such awesome food, i guess no one can blame me for putting on that extra fats! :)

want to say a big thank you to uncle pan's family for being such great hosts and friends. can't wait for them to come to singapore, and it'll be our turn to host them. shall we try katsuya? :) papa needs to prepare a few thousand if the whole family's going.