Taipei Part 2: Yilan, Jimmy's Park

We took a train from Luodong ( hostel is located at) to Yilan in the noon. We were heading to a newly opened park, which showcases Jimmy Liao's (a popular Taiwanese author-illustrator) works. They have life size murals which you can take photos with your favorite character that you have read from Jimmy's books.


We had lunch nearby Yilan train station before heading to the park. One of the good things being in Taiwan is you can find roadside and clean eateries everywhere and the food will be good and cheap!

My braised pork rice NT40

After a light lunch, we walked to the garden. And I really love this picture book-themed park!
Pretending to wait for bus haha

Some golden words~




With my favorite girls <3





Act emo



This is so emo, like the movie "向左走，向右走" where the guy and girl can never meet when they are going in opposite directions. This is one of the famous scenes that people would recognize, and it's one of Jimmy's works!



Having fun imitating the scene~











We spent like 1 hour plus here admiring his works and having a lot of fun taking photos! The words are really beautiful and I am going to end off with this quote from the movie I've mentioned above:

"They're both convinced that a sudden passion joined them. Such certainty is beautiful, but uncertainty is more beautiful still." (Wislawa Szymborska)

他们彼此深信 是瞬间迸发的热情让他们相遇。 这样的确定是美丽的， 但变幻无常更为美丽。

Taipei Part 1: Dazzling Cafe

Day 1 was spent at Dazzling Cafe, a very popular cafe for the locals and tourists to have their afternoon tea. The best honey toast in Taiwan would be here!!

They have several outlets all over Taiwan which you can find in their facebook page. Each outlet has their own theme. I went to the outlet at Zhongxiao. It's a pity I didn't take enough photos of the interior of the very classy cafe because I was too hungry, lunch-ing at 3pm :O We have made a reservation 3 days in advance and were considered lucky to have seats. My taiwanese friends told me that the cafe is so popular, that sometimes you have to make a reservation weeks in advance. o.m.g

I ordered a honey toast and it really didn't disappoint me ^^ It was 3pm by then so I didn't order their mains, leaving my stomach for dinner :P

It actually looks smaller here. It is quite filling and perfect for 3 peeople to share! This is SOOOOO goooood.



They have a minimum spending of 1 drink per person regardless of what you order.

My ice matcha au latte. Love the creamy matcha taste :D



My friend's mango drink. It was only available during the summer season when it is the harvesting time for mangos.

Check out their fb page(Dazzling Cafe) and I am sure you will see more mouth-watering honey toasts! Will definitely go again on my next trip :P

We took the railway from Taipei Main Station to Keelung night market after this and I will update more on the night market in my next few posts!

TATA~ xx

The Marmalade Pantry

Had a date with my mum last saturday and we went to try the much raved Marmalade Pantry! My parents are not a huge fan of brunch and they usually stick to chinese style breakfast. However, my mum said she was interested after looking at some of my instagram photos hahaa! So I decided to bring her there since we are heading to Ion Orchard for some shopping.

We reached at 1 plus and there was still a short queue and we waited for like 15 mins.



I ordered Eggs Any Style with bacon, sauteed mushrooms(love love!), baked beans, tomatoes and two pieces of whole wheat toast. I intended to try their nutella cupcake/cake but I was too full after this D:





I ordered the never-go-wrong eggs benedict for my mum!





Whatttt I LOVEEEEEE most was their JOY smoothie!!!



It was thick and creamy, very refreshing for me :D And it's not sweet at all! It is mixed with natural yogurt, mango, banana, soy milk and honey. I don't mind going there again to try their other smoothies plus a cupcake ^^

xoxo

Yilan ( Luodong Night Market )

ALOHA~ I need to start updating my last 2 weeks spent in Taipei soon! I had a short getaway to bkk this week and it was totally a right decision before my busy days come soon! Ok, back to taipei.

After being in Taipei for like so many times, I F-I-N-A-L-L-Y made a trip to Yilan. I took a bus from Taipei Main station to Luodong(part of Yilan) and it costs like only SGD$6(around) for a round trip. A single journey there is only about 45 mins??

I managed to travel with my favorite bunch of friends made in NSYSU which makes the trip more enjoyable :) Yilan is very big and you need to plan where you intend to go so that you can book a hotel that is just nearby. We stayed at Luodong because we wanted to go to the popular Luodong Night Market at night.

The bus dropped us at Luodong Railway Station and it was a 20 mins walk to our hostel.
TATA! Our one night stay was here~





Their lobby~


They have cute hello kitties awwwwwwww. Can I bring one home?



Our room! For 6 people and there were 3 double beds. The room was better than I expected, very spacious and with a small balcony. And we only paid SGD$20 each for a night! Supppperrrr worth it~

I took this when we were checking out so its kind of messy, haha.





It was already 5pm when we checked in, thus we headed out straight to the night market after putting our bags. Took some photos opposite our hostel because there is a looking-fresh green pasture~It would be good if we could picnic here!!







We were lazy to walk another 20-30mins to the night market plus we saw some bicycles outside the hostel, so we decided to ask if we could borrow their bikes. They were so nice to lend us!

After a 10-15 mins ride, we parked our bikes near the night market.

Looking around for food~







I love this! Waited 10 mins for this because many people were queuing~





Cheese and egg with lobster roe inside, yummmmeeeyyy~



This is also one of the best stinky tofu I had in Taiwan!! I am not a lover of this but this was really nice, esp the sauce ^^



Other nice food that we shared...





This is their famous dessert stall which sells frozen yogurt, shaved ice, ice-cream...



And their speciality was this!! So chio~~ It is actually quite tasteless but very crunchy, to my liking:>









Played bball to digest our food lolol. I think it helps to strengthen my arm muscles because I felt the aching the next day~





My grad bear?? Haha



That's about all. Headed back to the hostel after this :D Luodong Night Market has their own local food which I recommend you to go if you are sick of Taipei ones~

XOXO

Buffet at Kaohsiung

Our big feast during our exam week in NSYSU!! I am really amazed how they can be so stress-free and willing to fork out 4 hours of their precious time to eat buffet, rather than cooping at home to study! SALUTE~

We reserved places from this restaurant 1 month in advance because it is quite crowded, even on weekdays !

This is near Kaohsiung very famous night market, Ruifong. Plus it's just next to "Kaohsiung Arena" MRT!







Attack the seafood first! veryyyyy fresh!







Cheerrrrs! Red wine which I only drank like 2 mouths? haha cos I know I am easily drunk :/



What I will always look out first in a buffet ^^ I made the effort to even arrange them nicely hehe. They tasted as good as it seems here :)



AND AND, they have haagan daz ice-cream!! They tried to mix the ice-cream like how cold stone did and it was really thumbs up!





I love this family photo of us but too bad my eyes were closed D:



Very focused with his food



With my most adorable friend :P



We ended the gathering with a few group photos :D I am missing them soooooo much already D:





This is how we deal with stress for our finals, say YAY! :D