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Saturday 28 November 2015

Taiwan Itinerary 2015 - Day 5

Wakey wakey... Eeyore up before 7AM, not early enough to catch sunrise.


My donkey going down the stairs


Look how blue the water looks


See, the entire Taroko Gorge is made up of stones of marble
My driver - Neil Zeng said that the entire Taroko Gorge is very valuable =D

I love how Neil managed to take such a photo

Eternal Spring Shrine Trail

My fatty donkey in helmet! Bwah ha ha...

Due to Typoon earlier, we are not allowed to climb. What a pity!
Looking from afar will do for now...

Chang Chun Bridge
The only reason why I added this in is the rays of sunlight

Swallow Grotto
Was told that there's no swallows in the holes anymore...



Went here for an Aboriginal Lunch



These are just some of the dishes.
I began eating and was so engrossed that I forgot to take photos of the rest of the dishes.
I thought this was nice until I had an even more delicious Aboriginal meal later...

Qing Shui Duan Ya (Qing Shui Cliff)


I LOVE this photo of us!!! Me and The Dowager a.k.a. my fatty donkey =)

The next few photos were taken in the evening from our hotel




Dinner - Wantons from a shop named Bian Shi in Hualien City

Neil bought these for us - Mochi! 1 in Yam and 1 in Peanut
We ate, love it so much and went for it again a few hours later

Brand is Zeng Ji, BEST Mochi I ever had!
I'm still thinking of them!

We love it so much, we bought 2 each for the both of us

Look at the amount of peanut in 1 x Mochi!

This shows you how chewy it is

Okie that's all for Day 5. 

Stay tuned for Day 6!

Dreamy C

Trattoria Italian Kitchen

A short break from blogging about Taiwan. 
Went to this place last Saturday - 313 @ Somerset.

The Christmas tree arrived and that's an opportunity to take a picture!

My Mickey Mouse top from Taiwan

With matching shoes which I later change to...

THIS!

Matching earrings...

Had Bruschetta Ai Pomodorini E Basilico as 1 of the Starters.
It is basically Oven baked bread topped with marinated tomato.
Verdict - Not bad... Bread crispy, wish there's more herb though

2nd Starter - Calamari Fritti
It is succulent pieces of fresh squid coated in our Trattoria butter, deep-fried to taste
and served with tartar sauce.
Verdict - Best Calamari ever tasted. Don't taste oily and it has a nice crunch.

The earlier 2 Starters were meant for J.
My Starter - Crema Di Mushroom Porcini
It is home-made cream of fresh Porcini mushroom soup perfumed with
truffle oil and topped with croutons.
Verdict - I would have loved it more if the chunks of mushroom is slightly bigger. 
Bistro Du Vin has better mushroom soup but that's French. This is Italian.

Fatty's Main - Penne Alfredo E Funghi
It is penne with wild mushrooms, cheesy cream sauce
Fatty wanted “Trattoria” Spaghetti Carbonara but somehow, ordered the wrong thing.
J said it tasted good but Fatty somehow did not think alike. I took a bite and I think if I want to go the creamy way, I would have preferred the Carbonara much instead...

J's Main - Pizza Napoletana
Verdict - I didn't try but J said it was good

I had wanted pasta but as I'm going to have spaghetti for dinner, I opted for a Pizza instead.
My Main - Hawaiian Pizza
Verdict - To be honest, I prefer the pizza from Prego @ Swissotel

My dessert which I ended sharing with Fatty.
Tiramisu
Verdict - Honestly, this is by far THE best Tiramisu I've ever tasted! It's even better than the one in Prego. I wouldn't bat an eyelid having another and I'm not going to share the next time! Ha!

No restaurant is perfect, not even Les Amis. Having said that, go to Trattoria with no expectations and there will definitely be dishes that will wow you and those which will leave you in disappointments but it's those which is memorable which makes you want to go back again.

Have a nice Saturday Peeps!

Dreamy C

Friday 27 November 2015

Taiwan Itinerary 2015 - Day 4

Day 4 begins with my 1st visit to Ah Zhong Mee Sua
Verdict - I simply cannot have enough of this! It is THAT good...
Now that I'm back home, I miss this whenever weather's slightly chilly here. I need to go back again!

We head down to Taipei Main Stn next and I had my 1st try at Mister Donut.
I got the original one and it's chewy and nice. It would be better if it's warm. Still, good enough!

Mommy bought this from I-don't-know-where
I only know it's from Taipei Station
Tasted better than any mochi we've tasted so far but definitely not as good as the ones from Zeng Ji which I'm going to talk about tomorrow.

Waffle tasted ok nia...
Blueberry - my favourite!

Uncle Tetsu Cheesecake
My 1st time trying even though there's an outlet in Singapore
Don't like it as it's not rich like a cheesecake should be.
Hence, I call this an imitation of cheesecake. It's an insult to the real deal i.e. 

We then bought our Train Bento. It can be found everywhere in Taipei Main Stn, the area where the bus Kuo Kuang 1819 drops you when you make your way from Taoyuan Airport to Taipei City.

Our train is at 1PM and we had asked our driver to help us make the purchase since my Chinese isn't that good to begin with...
Upon reaching, I was informed that the railway to Hualien was cancelled and might resume from 5PM. I literally went crazy that moment. I asked for directions to Hualien and it would seem like I can take a bus to Yilan Railway or something like that. From there, I can take the train to Hualien Railway. Looking at Mommy's luggage, there's no way we can put that on a bus.
So, I inquired on the rate from a cab directly to Hualien Railway. We were quoted a whopping NT7K! I took it without thinking as I didn't want the hassle. Along the way, we asked him to drop us at Yilan Railway instead and he quoted us NT2.2K for that. We found out later that we've been ripped off. It ought to be less than NT1.8K. Oh well... it's a vacation after all! No point lamenting over it. =)

The Bento we purchased? We had it at Yilan Railway.
I know... I know... Not supposed to put the chopsticks this way but hey! Mommy did it! =D
Verdict - Don't bother... Wouldn't taste nice even if it's hot. Ours was still warm...

Not much luck with the Railway as I ended up standing the entire 1.5 hrs. Mommy managed to get a seat which is at an area where people can get water. Yes, there's water and toilet available on the train. After 1.5 hrs of standing and sitting, we finally arrived Hualien! We got out and the driver of our hotel (Hotel Bayview) arrived shortly. It was a hotel recommended by our driver. I engaged a driver for the next few days in Hualien and his service as well to drive us up to Cingjing. I shall tell you more about him in the next post.

After checking in, we took a short rest. I booked the Honeymoon room with a balcony. Turned out to be a great idea as we can dry our clothes in the balcony after washing them and Mommy can also smoke there. I hate the smell of smoke. Also, the scene from our room is magnificent! 
A photo on the next post!

We went to Zhiqiang Night Market for dinner on the 1st day.
You have GOT to give this a try when you're there...


They were delicious! Especially the Squid and Mushrooms. So yummy, we bought it again when we were about to return to our hotel. Yummy yum yum!


Had this next - Coffin Bread
Verdict - So-so. Filling as it's bread. You can give it a miss but for the sake of at least having tried, I suggest you eat it once. Once is enough. Honestly.


Took a photo of this but did not try it.


Homemade Nougats which I bought quite a bit...

Grape Juice


This corn is famous but Mommy & I don't find anything special about it

My favourite drink thus far... from 7-11

Another bath to end the night!

Not much splurge this day as all I bought were the Nougats.

Come tomorrow, it's all going to be pretty, pretty pictures so stay tuned!

Dreamy C