Taipei, Taiwan: Day 4

On day 4, we set off for Danshui! This is Danshui Old Street 淡水老街.


We had our first try of Aiyu - it's basically iced lime jelly.


Then we stopped for a lunch of Ah-Gei (阿給), which is kind of like tofu with a fishcake top, stuffed with crystal noodles, and served with a sweet, slightly spicy-ish sauce. Yum!
The famous foot-long ice-cream which melted really fast in the summer heat and ruined my leather shoes. Looking on the bright side, I threw them away at the end of my journey so that made my luggage lighter. Haha!



At the seaside, near the jetty.


We took the ferry to Fisherman's Wharf (渔人码头) which is a great place!
But first - a stop at the restroom. (Of course we went to the other one!) Just thought this is so cute cos it looks like a gentle man. ^^


The Lovers' Bridge (情人桥) is awesome! It's so breezy on the bridge, I could stand there forever! And it's really a lovers' bridge - Tracy found her soulmate there!!! :O But that's another story for another day... :P






So that was Fisherman's Wharf. I miss it!
We had a dinner of Danshui fishballs which have meat stuffing. Not bad! I had pudding milk tea from Quickly too - there used to be Quickly in Singapore but not anymore, and I really miss the pudding milk tea! But the Taiwan one tasted different - sad.
Tracy bought candied haw - she liked the candy and I liked the haw! Awesome. :D

Here's the whole bunch of iron eggs (铁蛋) that I bought - they're like Danshui's specialty. The Ah-Po Tie Dan (阿婆铁蛋) are apparently the real thing, but after eating I think it's kind of hard and chewy and takes some getting used to. Then again, they're meant to be that way, that's why they're called iron eggs! The Naughty Eggs (頑皮铁蛋) are a newer brand but they're softer and more like 卤蛋, so I think they're better for young people. I bought some hair ties too, even though I have short hair. See, I'm the epitome of a crazy illogical shopaholic. ^^V
We went back to our hotel at Ximending to put our stuff down, then headed out again to Carrefour! The Carrefour in Ximending is open 24-hours, a large-ish 4 or 5 story building. We bought loads of stuff! Upon Tracy's (or rather Janice's) recommendation, I bought some instant beef noodles too, and thank God I did cos they taste fantabulous, scrumptious, absolutely 100% slurptastic!!!!!!! :D Tracy bought like so many back for Janice, lol.

The caramel milk tea, I bought on recommendation from my younger sis' friend... but it's merely ok. I knew it - little kids cannot be trusted. :P The Oolong tea biscuits were a lucky find of mine - they're really fragrant and yummy!!! :D

Till my next Taiwan entry - Day 5 will be Taipei Main Station, Wufenpu (again - crazy shopaholics) and Shihlin Night Market!!!

Ice-skating!

Went ice-skating with uni-mates today! I'm SO BAD at it! Jo's a good teacher though. :P And I fell down once and this nice little girl asked me if I was ok. Lol! The little kids are so good at skating too! So annoying!

I can't believe school's starting next week. To do: Tidy up room, jog, print timetables and course documents. Chop chop!

Review: Renew Rosehip Oil

I really need to start catching up on my reviews. And like, blogging on my Taiwan trip. But this is a really great product that I've introduced to loads of people and one that Tracy totally finished using in Taiwan so it's really good for dry skin! (And regular skin or oily skin as well - I have the most freaking oily skin ever and it's great on me!)

Renew Rosehip Oil
It's a small 15ml bottle with a 6-month useby date. 15ml seems really little but it can last a long time if used every night - 2 months or more! I use about 9 drops on the face each time. Rosehip oil is totally non-comedogenic even though it may feel oily. It looks oily too, which is why I use it only at night. And the smell - it smells like cod liver oil because it contains omega fatty acids, just like fish! [Update: I have also reviewed the Renew Antioxidant Moisturizing Cream so take a look!]

Usually I use it on its own, but drier skinned people can use it as a serum with moisturizer over it. It leaves my skin really hydrated, reduces flakes, and in the morning I wake up with brighter, plumper skin! I think the brighter, plumper skin is due to the omega fatty acids which are great antioxidants! After using it, you'll love feeling your smooth skin in the morning... and like what the Taiwanese say, you can feel the QQ feeling of your skin!


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Anyway, it has been a great weekend back at work! On Sunday, I went out to watch the latest Harry Potter movie with my sisters and we had the most healthy cinema chow ever - cut fruits and ham sandwiches! Then we had dinner at Manpuku and I bought a new dress from the kids section of Uniqlo! (The regular stuff doesn't entice me much, too bad!)

Yesterday I went to karaoke with my Jap class friends and we sang Jap songs which made us crazy high! Then today I went to cut my hair with TW (great chocolate-mint shampoo) and we had a late lunch at Aerin's, which is a great place at Raffles City that my friend Wanzi introduced to me. It's next to the fountain and it's almost always crowded but not on a weekday at 4pm, like today. :P The pasta was great and the lemon meringue was amazing too! I'm looking forward to trying the 3-tier tea set next!

I have a free day tomorrow - tidy up and washing up day! My room is almost, almost mugging-conducive now. Yea right. :P

Taipei, Taiwan: Day 3

I'm getting so bad at this recap thing: I think I'll copy most of the stuff from Tracy's blog. HAHA.


My dearest shorty friend. Haha!!
We tried the free breakfast at the hotel that morning... quite bad. Everything was cold except for the porridge. So we decided to never have breakfast there again. Furthermore, Tracy takes so long to get ready, we find it hard to make it before the 10am end of breakfast HAHA.

Hot pink eyeshadow and a yellow Topshop dress that is quite distinctly un-me.
The cutest umbrella shop that says "10% off on sunny days, no discounts on rainy days". They have lots of other funny rhyming couplets (?) too.






We went to the Xinyi District for shopping today! There are lots of stuff - 3 buildings of Shinkong Mitsukoshi 新光三越, Taipei 101 and New York New York, the one with the statue!


There's a walkway that links all the buildings together on the 2nd or 3rd level. There's an Eslite bookstore 誠品書店 as well that's like Borders or Kinokuniya.
We took a photo with the elevator lady at 新光三越!We took loads of photos at the observatory at Taipei 101. The circular thing is the Miramar Ferris Wheel that we took on the 2nd last day!

Seriously, go there before the sun sets. We had an audio device that pointed out the famous places we should be seeing but they'll say like, "Look at the green building on your right!" and I'll be like, "What green? It's all black!" :P I just found it quite amusing that we could see the traffic jams from up there. And I noticed it was glittering with lights everywhere except for on the mountain ranges, which kind of freaked me out cos I'm a city girl and can't imagine what it must be like living in the dark on the mountains.
The mechanics of the elevator.
388m above sea level!
There's a computer animated walkway that makes you feel like you're walking above the city! Taking photos was a killer though cos the digital clouds kept trying to obscure the view just when I was trying to snap a picture.

The observatory was quite dim, and filled with little exhibitions of traditional toys and stuff which I didn't really care for. :P I guess I don't like dark places. They depress me.


The damper that keeps Taipei 101 steady is its mascot! Look at the 101 that makes up its eyes and mouth! Pretty neat!



We had dinner back at Ximending, in a really cute "fish nest" 魚巢 restaurant that's made to look like an aquarium! The seats are swings and very relaxing, though I found it a challenge keeping my balance as I tried to lean forward to take a bite of my food. I had cheese baked beef curry noodles and the cheese was really good!



The stuff I bought - value box and pack of My Beauty Diary Masks, Mister Donut and magazines from Eslite! The Play magazine with Gu Jun Pyo on the cover and a special on SS501 was quickly sold out! By my 2nd last day, I couldn't find it anywhere. Thank God I grabbed it! :D

So that was the end of the day. Now let me wait for Tracy to send me more photos! Yay! And in the meantime... tidy up my room. T.T