Alice Travelogue

How I move around in Guangzhou

2012-01-31T21:41:00.003+08:00

How I move around in Guangzhou. Armed myself with a street map of Guangzhou that comes with the metro train route map too. Can get the map from the tourist board office in your own country or at the airport. When I was there, they run out of the English Version of the map at the Guangzhou Airport but luckily I found a tourist office in Beijing Lu Shopping District and got a English Version of the map even though I can read mandarin, I still prefer the English Version cause the information I got are all in English and I am more at ease in the english language cause English is our official language in my country.

You can view a clearer map of the city as well as the metro route map from TravelChinaGuide.

With the help of the information I got from the internet before I arrived in Guangzhou, I easily can move around in Guangzhou and visit the places that I wanted to. :)

The promotional airfare that I got from Singapore Airline is a very good deal. I pay only S$442.90 for Singapore to Guangzhou and back to Singapore per person.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 5 - Guangzhou International Airport - Home Sweet Home

2012-01-30T21:30:00.002+08:00

As we took the 1.50 am flight we need to reach the airport two hours before hand for security check. We decided to take the metro train from Haizhu Square to the airport. It was so super cheap at only CNY7. We save so much on transport.

I had a great time in Guangzhou and enjoyed so much and hope to visit Guangzhou again.

As ours was the morning flight, we had breakfast for our inflight meal. Argggg, I was sleeping so comfortably in my seat on SQ flight, my hubby had to wake me up for breakfast. Did not eat much cause I was so sleepy. We actually make a right choice taking the wee morning flight so we could save a night accomodation cause the next flight will be around 12 noon and make no sense to just sleep in the hotel for few hours and to head to the airport at 10 am for security check and dont forget the metro train take about one hour from Haizhu Square to airport. So I figure we had to check out around 8 plus am in order to take the 12 noon flight.

Hubby had fried noodles for his breakfast while mine was omelette and sausage and hash brown.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 4 - Grandview Mall

2012-01-29T21:11:00.007+08:00

Being the last day of our short visit to Guangzhou, we decided do some last minute shopping. We took the metro to Tianhe Sports Center Exit D3 and made our way to the biggest mall in Guangzhou.

Grandview Mall located in the heart of Tianhe district. They got super-sized cinema for 3D movies, indoor ice-skating rink, etc. The mall is huge and outside the mall everywhere looked so huge to me too.

I could not see the end of the road, there were so many tall buildings on eitherside of the road that seems to lead no where. Thought I was in the Land of the Giant. So much changes in Guangzhou as compared with my first visit in 1986 (very antique visit lol).

Wow, there were so many people but everywhere in here is peaceful and calm. Very clean and beautiful district.

Saw a familar bank - DBS (Development Bank of Singapore) in Guangzhou. A branch belongs to a major Bank of Singapore.

Amazed by the rows and rows of tall and modern buildings in Guangzhou.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day4 - Garden Hotel Guangzhou

2012-01-28T14:28:00.004+08:00

I wanted to visit Garden Hotel cause when we first visited Guangzhou in 1986, we stayed in this hotel but this trip I did not stay at Garden Hotel cause I wanted to stay near Pearl River and also the hotel was cheaper over there hahaha.

So much changes, the streets are so much cleaner and not dusty and gone are the hundreds of big black bicycles, they can now afford luxury cars and traffic jam is now a common sight.

I cannot recognized the interior of Garden Hotel anymore except for the reception area. The big beautiful panel at the reception is still the same while everywhere in the hotel had gone for major renovation.

We had dim sum lunch (very late lunch) at Garden Hotel.

Not much choices of dim sum left cause we were very late almost 2 pm. We check out of our hotel Canton Landmark at 1 pm and left our luggage at the hotel's lobby for safekeeping as our flight was about midnight and took the metro to Taojin Metro Station to Garden Hotel (very convenient - the station was just infront of Garden Hotel).

First time I had this deep fried har gow

Deep fried spring roll

Steam har gow

BBQ pork bao (Char Siew Bao)

Glutinous Rice wrapped in lotus leaves

Siew Mai
The dim sum dont costs much but the tea was expensive. Do check the different type of tea. We had chrysathemum tea at CNY25 per person although they come in a pot they counted as per head but have free refill to the teapot. They have even more expensive tea. Do ask for the tea menu if unsure what to order.

There's a 15% service charge to the bill.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 4 - Yide Lu

2012-01-27T21:56:00.007+08:00

Yide Road was just a short walk from our hotel at Haizhu Square. (See the above map for Yide Lu/Road and One Link Plaza). Yide Lu is the wholesale market for toys/stationery and also some dried food stuff.

Most sold items in bulks and some do sell to walk in customers.

Saw this beautiful church while walking along Yide Lu. The Stone Church built with pure granite and also known as the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Hahaha was thinking what is whole salem arket but actually is a spelling mistake should read as wholesale market.

Wow take note of the huge mushrooms.

Was in Guangzhou last month, and they were already selling Chinese New Year decorations. They were really cheap, if you buy more it was so much cheaper and some shops only sells in bulks.

Yide Lu is a very busy road as they were busy doing business. These migrant workers were waiting to deliver goods with their trolley or carts or bicycles. You have to be careful not to block their way cause they were so busy as if they were a colony of ants working very hard. Most of these workers are from other provinces of China that came down to Guangzhou to work.

One Link Plaza - wholesale for stationery and toys - worth going to have a look.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 3 - Buffet at Hotel Landmark Canton

2012-01-26T10:03:00.000+08:00

After a long day out, we finally returned to our hotel and have buffet dinner at the highest floor of the hotel. As we are the hotel's guest we got a 15% discount on the buffet.

Love the christmas decoration in the restaurant and they have a great view of Pearl River too but too bad I did not get the window seat.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 3 - Guangzhou Railway Station - Fashion Wholesale District

2012-01-24T22:08:00.007+08:00

We headed to Guangzhou Railway Station by metro.

Wow this station is very busy and filled with lots of people carrying goods and luggages. Very busy station. The Guangzhou Railway Station at Huanshi Road is the largest and the most important one, operating trains between Guangzhou and to other China cities.

Guangzhou Railway Station is the center of clothing and wholesale market in Guangzhou. It is the original and the oldest Guangzhou Station. It is surrounded by many wholesale industries, such as clothing wholesale distribution.

From the map inside the Gangzhou Railway Metro Station, we can find which exit to go to which wholesale plaza. We decided to go to Tianma and Baima Plaza.

They have long distance buses too that goes to other part of China. Do be careful of your personal belongings cause it is really very crowded here.

Saw this Fashion and Fur Market not far from the metro station but we did not visit it.

Baima Plaza

Tianma Plaza

Not sure what to eat, we decided to have lunch at KungFu Fast Food Restaurant where they sold mainly chinese food. See above photo (Circled - Kung Fu Fast Food Restaurant)

Hubby had some spare ribs with rice while I had salted chicken with rice - yummy.

Difficult to shop at the wholesale plaza cause they were so busy doing business as they were wholesale distributors, so we headed to the underground tunnel shopping. There were several entrances to the underground tunnel shopping and they were linked to some of the plaza. It is easier to shop at the underground tunnel with price tags easily visible.

There was a food court in the underground shopping complex.

Street scenes of local food

BBQ cuttlefish anyone?

Short video of street scene - very congested and crowded

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 3 - Shamian Island 沙面岛 Part 4 street scene

2012-01-23T22:50:00.005+08:00

On the way to the Huangsha Metro Station after our visit to Shamian Island.

Some candid shots on the street scene infront of Shamian Island, taken from the overhead Pedestrain Bridge.

Not sure what they are sunning on the street, looked like some kind of dried food stuff.

Creative way to carry the goods on a bicycle, no need to make so many trips to deliver them hahaha but very dangerous.

A new condominium coming up just next to Huangsha Metro Station and just opposite Shamian Island. Not sure if there's a shopping area in there too.

Hahaha creative way to carry their bag with the help of a pole.

Huangsha Metro Station

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 3 - Shamian Island 沙面岛 Part 3 - Statues

2012-01-22T20:42:00.000+08:00

Shamian Island looked like a very beautiful park filled with various and beautiful statues. I had a great time going round taking photos of the numerous statues hahaha. The statues shows the daily life on the island from the past to recent.

These three statues of women represent women in China. How the dresses changes from generation to generation. From traditional clothings covered most part of the body to cheongsum to modern dressing covering lesser part of the body.

Because of the colonial past on this island, there are many statues which shows western influence.

Traditional games played in the past as shown in these statues.

Statues showing the past where Chinese businessman doing business with a western businessman.

Vendor selling candy to kids

One statue wearing chinese traditional clothes while the other statue is that of a western lady wearing western clothes.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 3 - Shamian Island 沙面岛 Part 2 - Wedding Photography

2012-01-21T20:35:00.000+08:00

We saw many wedding couples taking photo shoots on Shamian Island. Must be a popular choice with many wedding couples.

Hahaha, it was winter, and after this photo shoot, I saw the bride quickly grab a winter jacket to cover herself. When she began to walk, I realised she was wearing jeans inside when her assistant was helping her to lift the skirt.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 3 - Shamian Island 沙面岛 Part 1 - How to go there

2012-01-20T21:20:00.004+08:00

Our next sightseeing trip was to Shamian Island 沙面岛. It is not really an island, just separated from the mainland by a canal.

It had been a tourist attraction as well as an important port for Guangzhou's foreign trade from Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. You can read more about its history from source.

We took the metro and alight at the Huangsha Station just a short walk to the island, via an overpass crossing the busy Liu'ersan Road .

Once you exit from the Exit D from Huangsha Metro Station, look to your left and you can see an overhead pedestrian bridge. Walked towards the overhead bridge and cross over to the other side, you can see a bridge over a canal. Cross over the small bridge over the canal and Shamian Island is right there.

It is very safe over here,lots of policemen and security camera all over the place.

There are a lot of colonial buildings over here due to the short occupation by western countries during the Qing Dynasty.

It looked more like a park to me, very clean and beautiful.

More photos of Shamian Island in the next post.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 3 - Chen Clan Academy Part 3-Statues

2012-01-19T20:57:00.000+08:00

Chen Clan Academy has a very beautiful garden at the back and many courtyards linking all the buildings. Inside were several statues worth taking photos with.

Saw this plant looked pussy willow plant.

Lots of statues in the museum showing the daily life of the locals

A mother and child sharing some lychee fruits.

Oh I love these statues each with different expression.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 3 - Chen Clan Academy Part 2-Inside the museum

2012-01-18T22:33:00.006+08:00

Before entering the museum, do take a look at the good workmanship of the roof filled with beautiful statues and craftings. They were so lovely. It was not my camera in black and white but the roof really looked like this as if they were black and white photo.

Inside the statues on the top of roof are more colourful.

Two huge door gods guarding the entrance of the academy/museum.

Inside the academy are many rooms and building connected via courtyards and corridors.

Exhibits of ancient furniture. Oooo, I love the study area and study table and cabinets.

They have very huge and tall doors.

Exhibits of life size wax figures. They looked so real.

Very high ceiling and it was really cold in here especially during the winter.

Ancestral hall, I think they used to place the ancestral tablet on the red shelves.

Very beautiful courtyard connecting each building.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 3 - Chen Clan Academy Part 1

2012-01-17T22:19:00.007+08:00

Day 3 of our trip, we started by taking the metro to Chen Clan Academy Station to visit Chen Chan Academy. It was so easy taking the metro, once we exited we could see the academy, is actually a museum.

The street above the station is so clean.

But first we had to hunt for our breakfast. Just a short walk from the staion was a HongKong Cafe that sold bread, pastries, dim sum, noodles, etc.

We had some sandwiches and toast bread and tea, they dont serve coffee :(

The Chen Clan Academy ( 陈家祠) is an academic temple in Guangzhou China built by the 72 Chen (It is usually romanised as Chan in Cantonese) clans for their juniors' accommodation and preparation for the imperial examinations in 1894 in Qing Dynasty. Later it was changed to be the Chen Clan’s Industry College, and then middle schools afterward. Now it houses the Guangdong Folk Art Museum (广东民间工艺博物馆). You can read more information from wikipedia.

Right infront of Chen Clan Academy was this huge arch.

It was so cold that morning, easily below 10 degrees celsius. We saw a group of women performing some drum dance. Not sure if this is a daily routine or just for a Television recording. We saw a TV station and hosts filming the drum performance.

Need to pay an admission fee of CNY10 to enter the Chen Clan Academy. I like visiting this museum, love the beautiful ancient building and there are some nice exhibits inside as well as many lovely statues. Very worth the visit.

A short video of the drum performance infront of Chen Clan Academy. Love the performance, so glad I was there at the right time.

More photos of Chen Clan Academy in tomorrow post.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 2 - Pearl River

2012-01-16T21:45:00.002+08:00

After dinner, hubby and me had a nice long walk along Pearl River. We did not managed to catch the river cruise cause we took too much time for our day sightseeing and having a few days in Guangzhou only but we walked more than 30 minutes along Pearl River and it was freezing with the temperature of only 10 degrees celsius (could be lower), my hands were frozen.

The cruise was not expensive and was as low as CNY38 only.

Almost all the buildings along the Pearl River were lighted up and it was so beautiful. I had a similar cruise in Shanghai when I visited in 2002.

Teenagers roller blading along Pearl River. Must be fun to roller blade in such cold weather without perspiring. They seems so happy.

The lights opposite was that of the seafood restaurant just behind our hotel landmark Canton in Haizhu Square.

Short video of beautiful Pearl River in Guangzhou

Short video showing the teenagers having fun roller blading.

View of Pearl River from my hotel room.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 2 - Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street

2012-01-15T21:26:00.009+08:00

Our next visit was to Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street. Can take the metro and alight at Changshoulu Metro Station.

Lots of shopping in here.

This street is more tourist friendly and lots of restaurants and eateries.

Surprised to see the people very fashionably dressed. The last I visit was in 1986 and the streets were not even closed to traffic.

Lots of such statues all over the Pedestrian Street.

Oh I like the statue of this lady stepping out of the rickshaw.

A side alley selling mostly local food.

Yikes, fried insects from scorpio to centipedes for sale. No thank you, I am not eating them hahaha.

Man in chicken mascot selling sweets.

As stated in wikitravel, this Guangzhou Restaurant is very famous and need reservation to ensure seats. As we had a rather late and heavy lunch, we did not eat anything from this restaurant, what a waste. :(

Another famous restaurant, Taotao Ju Restaurant.

Feeling so tired after a long day out, we decided to head to Changshoulu Metro Station to take a train back to our hotel.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 2 - Guangxiao Temple

2012-01-14T21:43:00.006+08:00

After lunch, we decided to visit Guangxiao Temple, so we took the metro and alighted at Ximenkou Station. Once we come out of the correct exit, we looked on the left and we can see Guangxiao Street, the temple is at the end of Guangxiao Road. Easily can view the temple from the street.

There are quite a few beggars at the temple, they wont disturb you if you dont pay attention to them.

Two huge gods guarding the entrance of the temple.

The temple is grandest and most influential temple in Guangzhou with a history of more than 1,700 years. It is the popular saying among the Cantonese that Guangxiao Temple predated the founding of the city of Guangzhou.

The temple was initially the residence of Prince Zhao Jiande, the third-generation offspring of the Nanyue Kingdom during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 24 AD). You can read more information from source .

Along Guangxiao Road just outside the temple, lots of vendors and shops selling incense paper and joss sticks.

I was curious to see what the shop was selling with people queueing to buy stuff. It is actually a bakery shop selling some pastries.

Guangzhou Guangxiao Christian Church, one of Guangzhou’s largest churches, is located in the center of the downtown.The church was entirely funded and built by Chinese Christians.
(Information from source)

Some street scene at Guangxiao Road

The Ximenkou Metro Station in the above photo (circled) just beside Guangxiao Road.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 2 - Lunch at Food Street in Mariot China Hotel

2012-01-13T21:25:00.005+08:00

After visiting Western Han Nanyue King's Tomb Museum, we walked just few buildings away from the museum to Food Street Restaurant at China Hotel in front of Yexiu Metro Station.

They served Dim Sum to award-wining roasted meats and even seafood too.

The waitress are all very friendly and helpful and the food is really very good and tasty. If you do not know how to read the menu in mandarin, do ask for the English Menu.

Do remember that the tea was based on per person, can range from CNY8 to more than CNY48. Always ask for the tea menu if you are unsure what to order as they have a menu for tea too.

Hubby's favourite sweet and sour pork

Gongbao Chicken

Tofo with vegetables
The lunch is really good...yummy.

If I am not mistaken the bill also include a 15% service charge.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 2 - Western Han Nanyue King's Tomb Museum

2012-01-12T22:22:00.003+08:00

After visiting Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, we decided to visit Western Han Nanyue King's Tomb Museum just a short walk from Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall about ten minutes walk.

You can see from the above map how to walk to the museum from the Sun Yat Sen memorial hall. Just exit from the side door (on the right hand side of the statue of Dr. Sun Yat Sen), then turn to the right and cross a smallroad, and turn left, walked all the way down till the road junction where you can see a overhead pedestrian bridge, dont climb the steps, you can always use the other pedestrian crossing on the right.

After crossing the road , turn to the right and you can see a bright orange building, that's where the museum is. Best to take photo of the map in the Sun Yat Sen metro station and you can view the map from your camera screen so you wont get lost. Difficult to ask people the direction if you do not know mandarin.

The Museum of the Mausoleum of the Nanyue King ( 西汉南越王博物馆; literally "Western Han Nanyue King Museum") is a museum in Jiefangbei Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, southern China. With an area of 1,4000 sq. m, the tomb is the witness of Guangzhou’s history of over 2,000 years. It is well known for its well-preserved tomb and funerary antiquity from the Han Dynasty, as well as elegant and grand architecture from the Lingnan (south of the Nanling Mountain) area.

The owner of the tomb is the second king of Nanyue, Zhao Mo (r. 137 BC – 122 BC).

The tomb was discovered in 1983 and the museum opened in 1988. It is 20 meters under Xianggang Shan (Elephant Hill) in Guangzhou on a construction site for a hotel, and was excavated. The tomb is nearly 11 meters long and over 12 meters wide. It is divided in seven parts, with a front chamber, east and west wing rooms, the main coffin chamber, east and west side rooms, and a back storage chamber.

You can read more information from wikipedia

Need to pay an admission fee of CNY 12 per person. Opening hours are 9 am to 17.30pm.

The tomb of the King. There are many exhibits in the museum but too bad I cant take photos of them.

Remember to watch the video of tomb of the king in the museum. It shows how the king was buried with a lot of treasures especially Jades.

Site of the tomb.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 2 - Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall

2012-01-11T22:09:00.007+08:00

Woke up fresh and eager to explore the city. After breakfast, we took the metro from Haizhu Square and head to Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall Metro Station. It costs us only CNY2.

Upon alighting, we saw the station was quite empty and very clean indeed.

They even have umbrella for rent incase of rain. Very convenient.

Best to take a photo of the map(so you can view in your camera screen) if you decided to visit the nearby Western Han Nanyue Musuem which is about 10 minutes walk from Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall. Will show you the map again when I posted about the museum.

We need to pay an admission fee of CNY10 to visit Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall.

The smell of chestnut attracted us.

We bought about 2 katis of chestnuts at CNY20. The smaller chestnuts tasted better than the huge ones.

Interesting to see the hawker weighing the chestnut with the old chinese weighing scale. Used to see this type of chinese weighing scale when I was young. Back home we dont get to see this type of weighing scale anymore except in chinese medical hall.

I still can recall this statue, it was still in the same place as when I first visited in 1986. Guangzhou Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall is really a magnificent building in the shape of octangle.

Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall is built in order to commemorate the contributions of Sun Zhongshan, the great predecessor of Chinese revolution for democracy. It is a memorial construction donated by the people in Guangzhou and the overseas Chinese and is listed as one of the first class cultural relics in Guangdong Province. Designed by the famous Chinese architect, Mr. Lu Yanzhi, the construction started in 1929 and finished in October of 1931. You can read more from source.

Statue of Dr Sun Yat Sen.

Inside the hall was a stage for performance and exhibits of historical documents and photos related to the works of Dr Sun Yat Sen.

Statue of Dr Sun Yat Sen and his wife

Ceramic Tripod to commemorate the completion of Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall in Guangzhou.

The back of the statue. Nearby are many government buildings.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 1 - Beijing Road Shopping Street

2012-01-10T22:30:00.008+08:00

We finally arrived at Beijing Lu (in Guangzhou), a section of it was closed to traffic.

Beijing Lu

Best time to visit Guangzhou with Chinese New Year and Christmas decorations.

Everything in here was big.

Billboards were big too.

The last time I visited here was in 1986, I could not recognize the place anymore. It is now very tourist friendly as compared to last time. Very clean and beautiful.

It is interesting that there's history in Beijing Lu. Right in the middle of Beijing Lu, there's a showcase of ancient road underground. The roads were built during three dynasties, Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Saw this man begging for money with an eldery woman (looked sick or bedridden) besides him. Quite sad for this sight as it was winter and very cold. I guess he wanted people to pity him and give him money. But most of the time, they are not real.

Short video showing traffic at the junction of Beijing Lu.

Short video of the ancient road right in the middle of Beijing Lu.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 1 - Gao di Jie (more than 100 year old street in South China)

2012-01-09T22:33:00.006+08:00

After checking out the cruise ships at Tianzi Pier, we walked towards Beijing Lu and saw many beautiful old buildings.

But we had a wonderful find as we walked towards Beijing Lu. We found a more than 100 year old street (see circled in red in photos).

Being so curious, hubby and me decided to walk into the alley. It was mostly wholesale for undergarments, stockings, socks, pyjamas, etc and they do sell to walk in customers. The street was so long we could not see the end of the street but we had to turn back after walking like forever in the street with no end.

Hahaha we spotted lots of undergarments in red as Chinese New Year is approaching, red are popular during this festive.

While walking along the narrow street, we gotta be careful not to be knocked down by these busy and hurried migrant workers pulling/pushing their trolley of goods. They were like a colony of ants so busy working. The migrant workers are originally not from Guangzhou but from other provinces in China(mostly from countryside) but came to work in Guangzhou to earn more money.

In the street next to this street we spotted some old women giving some services of removing facial hair with strings. It is an ancient art.

Spotted some delicious snacks in one of the shop.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 1 - Checking out the Pearl River Cruise

2012-01-08T17:23:00.006+08:00

We decided to check out the ticket prices and time schedules of the Pearl River Cruise. We hope to make it back in time in the night to take the cruise but sadly every night we were late from our other sightseeing lol cause we only have few days in Guangzhou.

Sunset near Tianzi Pier along Pearl River Guangzhou. There were a few piers along Pearl River that offer the river cruises.

Saw the tallest TV tower in the world in a distance but as the weather was very misty during the few days we were in Guangzhou, we could not see the tower from where we were standing. We also decided not to spend so much money going up the observation tower of Canton Tower as it was not cheap and seeing nothing with such misty weather.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 1 - Cantonese Operat at Haizhu Square

2012-01-07T15:07:00.002+08:00

After checking into our hotel, we decided to explore the streets near our hotel.

Saw this little park just infront of our Hotel Landmark Canton. There was a man singing very good Cantonese Opera. Lots of old folks sitting around the park listening to him and also to pass the time.

Nearby there are lots of exercise equipments for those who wanted to do some exercises.

I got a short video of the man singing Cantonese Opera. He is really very good but too bad we only have few days in Guangzhou so we need to spend our time wisely and explore the city so we cant sit there for a long time to listen the whole song.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 1 - Hotel Landmark Canton

2012-01-06T15:51:00.007+08:00

Finally we get to check into our room at 3 pm. Glad we got the newly renovated room, everything looked so clean and new.

Bedroom slippers in the side cabinet of the bed, was looking all over for the slippers lol.

Clean and nice bathroom

Nice to have protective masks in the room, incase of fire, we could wear the masks and run out without suffocating in the thick smoke.

Hidden power point

View of surrounding area from the window of our hotel. Glad we booked this Hotel Landmark Canton cause of the convenience of the nearby Metro Station and a nice view of the Pearl River.

Modern Buildings and Old Buildings next to each other. Hope they dont modernize too much otherwise it is so boring.

View of the Pearl River day and night. Try to get the rooms with full view of the Pearl River, we managed to get partial view only.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 1 - Dim Sum Lunch at Chinese Restaurant Hotel Landmark Canton

2012-01-05T15:39:00.004+08:00

From Haizhu Square Metro Station to our Hotel Landmark Canton is less than 5 minutes but do be careful when crossing the road. They are left hand drive so crossing is different from Singapore roads. Gotta look both sides really hard, we always looked the wrong side first and thought it was a one way street....lol.

As the hotel just renovated certain rooms on certain floors, we of course asked for the renovated room for comfort but cannot get the high floor cause those are not the renovated rooms. Have to settle for 13th floor (in Cantonese means sure live sure live) and they dont have 14th floor lift button in the lift, I guess 14 means sure die sure die so there's no 14th floor? We asked for river view, non smoking room too.

As our room will be ready only by 3pm, we headed to the second floor of the hotel's chinese restaurant and had a sumptous dim sum lunch.

They have english menu accompanied with pictures so do ask for the english menu if you cant read mandarin. Although we can read mandarin but we normally order our food in english back in Singapore so we have to have both menus in two languages to compare so that we are sure we order the right food lol.

Century egg porridge with lean meat - yummy

Char siew bao (BBQ Pork Bun)

Har Gow

Pan fried bean curd skin stuffed with shrimps

Chee Cheong Fun or Steam rice roll with shrimp

Siew Mai
Do note that tea was based on per person and not per pot (although the tea comes in a pot but they will refill hot water to the tea leaves if the teapot is empty), so do ask for the tea menu if you dont know what to order. Tea can be as low as CNY8 per person to more than CNY48 per person depending on what restaurant you are in.

China - Guangzhou Trip - Day 1 - From Baiyun Airport to Hotel

2012-01-04T13:45:00.002+08:00

Finally we reached Baiyun Airport Guangzhou China around noon. We tried to search for the counter for the airport shuttle bus to our hotel but we really cant figure out which bus to take cause there were so many routes that also go to other parts of China. So we decided the safest way was to take the metro (MRT). Lots of signs in english and mandarin to direct us to the station. Very easy to find our way to the metro station.

One can take the taxis too but they might not know the way to your hotel unless the driver is a local driver and they dont speak english. Best to print out the name of your hotel and location in mandarin. You can read information about tips on getting taxis in Guangzhou from this very useful website. According to the website, three taxis companies are the yellow taxis of the Baiyun Group, the blue taxis of the Guangjun Group, and the maroon taxis of Guangzhou Transportation Group. So the best bet was to take the yellow taxi as the drivers are local Guangzhou citizens and familiar with the city.

The fare for airport shuttle bus to city starts from CNY20 (S$1=CNY4.80). You can find out more from this website.

The taxi fare to city is about CNY100 to Haizhu Square where my hotel is located.

I took the metro and it costs me only CNY7 - really very worth it and fuss free. I need to change the train from Line 3(orange) to Line 2 (Blue) to go to Haizhu Square. Just alight at Jiehewanggang and cross over to the other side of the station and take the train to Haizhu Square. They would announce in both languages at each station. Best to go during weekdays where the train is not crowded.

Tickets can be purchased from the ticket machine at the station. The machine accepts only CNY1 (coin), CNY5 (note) and CNY10(note). If you dont have the notes, you can change with the station personnel. The one thing I dont like was that the notes they change are really very old and dirty. Chances are that hotels and restaurants would change newer notes to you.

In the metro train cabin, we can see racks where we can put our suitcase but I am the worried type, kept my suitcase close to me lol. After hearing about so many unsafe and bad stories about Guangzhou was abit worried and scared before my trip. But all these were unfounded, Guangzhou was nice and beautiful and safer than I expected but still we got to be vigilant just like when you visit any country. I was advised to dress down and not to carry handbag, put my money in different pockets but I saw their locals carrying handbags and haversacks on their back and they dressed very fashionably. I looked out of place lol.

In my opinion, Guangzhou City looked just like Hongkong and you cant really differentiate the two cities they both speak the same cantonese languages but there are many migrant workers from other provinces who came down to Guangzhou City to work and make a living and they speak mostly mandarin only.

Surprising their metro trains are very clean , I expected to see cockroaches, etc hahaha but then the last time I visited Guangzhou was in 1986. So much changes, back then they dont even have the metro and there were hundreds of those big black bicycles. But now I dont even see a single big black bicycle and only a handful of bicycles. Most of them commuted via the bus, metro, taxis or have their own cars. Traffic jams are so common in Guangzhou City cause most of them own cars. The best was to take the metro to reach your destination faster but do note you have to climb some stairs/steps to ground level from the metro station as most stations dont have lifts. If I live here for another month, am sure to lose weight and live a longer life, good exercises hahaha.

The lights will light up on the board to show the destination.

After alighting from the train, we looked at the signboard inside the station to locate which exit to use to find our hotel.

There's also a map inside the metro train station to show the location of the buildings around Haizhu Square. Best to take a photo of the map so that when you are lost you can looked into your camera screen and find your way around. I will be posting this map again when I need to explain another place where I visited in my future posts.

I saw my hotel (circled in the photo). Please note that you need to climb some stairs/steps to ground level, most stations dont have lifts. So if you have heavy and big luggages best to take the taxis or airport shuttle bus to your hotel.

China Guangzhou Trip - Day 1 - Airline Food

2012-01-03T12:04:00.003+08:00

I managed to get the good promotional Singapore Airline Ticket, we paid only S$442.90 per person including of tax for Singapore/Guangzhou/Singapore. It paid to check the website regularly, they have different promotional prices for different days and months. I guess the price I paid was the lowest and best price in December 2011 and I got the timing of the flight that I wanted. :) Took the morning flight and reach Guangzhou around noon, was about three and half hours flight and very smooth and pleasant ride.

As ours was a morning flight, we had breakfast for our inflight meal. Hubby got the noodle while I got the hashbrown, omelette and sausage.

Will post and explain in details how I move around Guangzhou. No regret about this trip, was better and safer than I expected but still got to be vigilant. It is the same in any country, if you are in the wrong place, wrong time, something bad will happen. Best to stay low key and know when to take photos. No problem taking photos in tourist areas but those not in the tourist areas, best not take photo of their products infront of the owners, they wont like it. It is best to stand further away hahaha. But some owners have no problem especially if you patronize them.

China Trip

2011-12-18T15:44:00.003+08:00

A last minute decision to go for a short trip. Guess which part of China I intended to visit. :) Answer will be in 2012 when I returned.

Taiwan Trip Day 7 - Final Day in Taiwan - Bye Bye Taiwan

2011-11-25T11:34:00.007+08:00

Time to say bye bye to Taiwan. I fall in love with Taiwan, so much to see and not enough time. Will visit those places I missed if I come back to visit Taiwan again. :)

After checking out of our hotel, we made our way to the bus station just diagonally opposite Casear Park Hotel about less than 5 or 10 minutes from our hotel (depending how fast your walk). There are two bus stations near Taipei Main Station so got to make sure you head to the right bus station for your bus to the airport. The bus station that heading to the airport is known as Taipei West Bus Station while the other bus station above Q Square shopping centre heads to other towns in Taiwan.

Inside the Taipei West Bus Station, we headed to bus route 1819 to board the bus. We bought our return bus ticket on Day 1, but there are ticket counters in this station which also sell tickets for the bus.

There are also other buses to other parts of Taiwan from this bus station.

Finally after one hour journey, we reached Terminal 2 of Taoyuan Airport to board our SQ flight.

Priority given to passengers who check in via the internet earlier.

SQ food tasted so good - the oriental version that consists of rice, chicken and vegetables. I used to hate airline food but times has changed airline food have definitely improved a lot.

Western version - Baked fish with roasted potatoes and vegetables

Dessert - pineapple tarts (so yummy) and Haagen Daz Ice Cream

The gift coupon that I collected from Taiwan Tourism Association in Singapore before I flew to Taiwan, I got to exchange some Taiwanese Snacks and chocolates.

Taiwan Trip Day 7 - Final Day in Taiwan - Peace Garden

2011-11-23T09:24:00.010+08:00

Surprised to see a beautiful park near our hotel. Later I learnt that the park was named 228 Peace Memorial Park. It has a long history and the park contains a number of memorials to victims of the 228 Incident of 1947, including the Taipei 228 Memorial that stands at the center of the park. The National Taiwan Museum stands at the park's north entrance. The park also features a bandshell and exercise areas. You can read more from wikipedia.

Nice to see a famous statue at the park. The statue was that of a great man, Confucius.

Saw lots of beautiful pavilions in the park.

Lots of locals using the park to do morning exercises.

The park is really beautiful with lots of nature and birds

From the end of the street where our hotel was, we could spot the museum in the park.

The museum contains history of the park.

Saw this peepul tree in the park. I think it is also known as bodhi tree.

Taiwan Trip Day 7 - Final Day in Taiwan - Breakfast

2011-11-21T15:19:00.000+08:00

Our last day in Taiwan, had a really good breakfast at the cafe below our hotel. As usual we bought the breakfast voucher from our hotel at only NT100 (about S$4). I had the taiwanese porridge with some scrambled eggs, pork floss, broccoli and vegetarian. The porridge was really very hot. Very good breakfast. :)

After breakfast, we still have some time before heading to the airport, we decided to walk around the streets near our hotel.

There were lot of stores selling breakfast but was a buy and go type means no dine in. As there's lots of office buildings around here, most office workers would buy their breakfast and bring it back to their office.

Saw a vendor selling breakfast, looked very interesting and good.

Poor doggie.

Taiwan - Seven Eleven Minimart

2011-11-20T21:20:00.003+08:00

There are so many seven eleven and family minimarts around Taipei. Every night, we would get ourselves some hot drinks and snacks and glued ourselves to the many channels of taiwanese programs. :) Love their variety shows the best.

Inside seven eleven and family minimarts, there were many taiwanese local food and snacks.

It is so convenient with the minimarts around, one will never goes hungry in the middle of the night.

Taiwan Trip Day 6 - Huaxi Night Market

2011-11-19T23:25:00.005+08:00

Day 6 night, our last night in Taiwan, we decided to take a train to Huaxi Night Market. We alighted at Longshan Temple MRT Station. There were a lot of cheap stuff on sale in here.

Some exoctic animals for sale in a restaurant. Yikes I spotted some pythons. I am not very adventurous with exoctic food.

Lots of stalls selling pig's trotters - I never like pig's trotters, the fats and skin around it are already very unhealthy.

Lots of cheap VCDs on sale here not sure if they are genuine or imitation.

Longshan Temple directly opposite the Longshan Temple MRT Station.

Could not find any suitable food at Huaxi Street, we ended up going back to our hotel for late dinner lol. We were too fussy with food.

The cafe at our hotel served very good food. Hubby had beef steak and tempura prawns.

I had grilled chicken thigh with tempura prawns and lots of vegetables.

Each dish costs us less than NT400

Taiwan Trip Day 6 - Jiufen - Lunch at Teahouse

2011-11-18T22:11:00.002+08:00

We had our lunch at one of the teahouse at the hill top. The scenery from the teahouse is superb and with beautiful music too. We really enjoyed our lunch.

I had three cups chicken with vegetables. Three cups chicken is a Taiwanese chinese dish. The name “three cup chicken” comes from the three main ingredients: sesame oil, Chinese rice wine, and soy sauce.

Hubby had black pepper beef and vegetables.

Our lunch comes with free fruits and tea.

Taiwan Trip Day 6 - Jiufen

2011-11-17T16:15:00.002+08:00

Jiufen means nine portion.

During the first years of the Qing Dynasty, the village here housed nine families, thus the village would request "nine portions" every time shipments arrived from town. Later Jiufen ("Nine portions" in Chinese) would become the name of the village.

Just beside the seven eleven minimart is the old street of Jiufen. There were many shops selling food, snacks, souvenirs and many tea houses with great view of the scenery of Jiufen and the sea.

Famous dessert in Jiufen, looked like doggie like a taste of it too.

Familar sight in Taiwan, ice cream with shaved nuts wrapped in popiah skin.

Stall selling ducks's feet and tongues.

BBQ squids and snails.

You just had to be there to feel the atmosphere of eating and shopping or just walking around the old streets.

Beautiful scenery of the sea,north of Taiwan.

I had lunch at one of the tea house with a great view.

After lunch, we walked further down the alley where not many people would walked cause most tourists had only limited time to wander around and had to head back to their tour bus. As hubby and me have time on our side, we just take a slow walk around.

Many hidden gems in the quiet alley.

Saw lots of home run inns along the alley.

Finally after touring Jiufen's old streets, we made our way back to the seven eleven minimart. We had to crossed over the road to the opposite of seven eleven to take the bus back to Ruifang Train Station. Opposite the seven eleven and just beside the bus stop is this cake shop selling nice pineapple tarts and sun biscuits. I bought quite a lot of boxes of them and I prefer the sun biscuits, it was so soft and tasty.

Finally the bus arrived and we made our way back to the train and of course we sat near the driver so that we can alight easily.

Taiwan Trip Day 6 - Gold Ecological Park in Jinguashi

2011-11-16T22:45:00.001+08:00

Jinguashi is famous for its gold and copper mining. Gold was discovered here in 1889, and the Ching Dynasty government set up a mining bureau between 1892 and 1893. However, in 1895, Taiwan was ceded to Japan, and Japan took over the mining operations. In 1905, copper was also discovered here and began to be extracted. You can read more from source.

The Gold Ecological Park served as an eco-museum, the aim being to combine community power and completely preserve the precious natural resources, mining relics, landscape, historical memories and cultural property of Jinguashi, attempting to give them a new life. You can view more from source.

The Crown Prince Chalet was built to welcome a visit by the Japanese crown prince. Although he did not actually stay here, it still bears his title

Very beautiful view of the mountain from the park.

The Park houses the Four Joined Japanese-Style Residences which were restored allowing visitors to take a glimpse into Taiwan’s Japanese colonial occupation period and mining industry of days past. The residences are converted into a museum, offering free guided tours in different languages, including English.

As it was a Monday, the tunnel museum was closed so we did not get the chance to view the tunnel.
So we made our way back to the exit and crossed over the road to take the bus back to Jiufen only one bus stop away. It costs us only NT15 per person for the bus ride.

Taiwan Trip Day 6 - From Ruifang Train Station to Jiufen

2011-11-15T15:31:00.000+08:00

Finally after about one hour train's ride, we arrived at Ruifang Train Station.

From here if we wanted to take another train via the Pingxi Line to visit Shifen or other towns, we can buy tickets from the platform's office once we alighted from the train if not we made our way down the stairs. We decided not to waste any more time taking more trains so we opt Shifen out of my original plan to visit it. Perhaps the next time we will buy the one day train pass to visit Shifen and other towns. You can find out more about Shifen from this website.

From the above map, we could see that Ruifang Station is very near to Yehliu and Keelung Harbour. As we had visited these two places in our last trip, we decided to skip them for this trip. We decided to visit Jiufen only.

From Ruifang Train Station, we had to cross the road and take a bus to Jiufen. The bus stop is just next to the Wellcome Minimart.

I have no idea which bus to take to Jiufen, I just ask the queue, seems like everyone were heading that way and taking the same bus. When the bus finally came, I did not see any bus number on the bus but had to take the bus driver's words that the bus was going to Jiufen. Best to sit near the driver cause they do not open the back door for exit. It cost only NT15 to Jiufen and only 15 minutes ride.

I found out about this too late cause I missed my stop at Jiufen and ended up one bus stop away.

The bus stop to Old Street of Jiufen. The bus ride from Ruifang Train Station to Jiufen was about 15 mintues and the road was very narrow and winding. The bus stop to alight for Jiufen's Old Street is just before the seven eleven minimart.

Before hubby and myself made our way to the front exit, the impatient bus driver drove away. We missed the bus stop and had to continue our journey to the next stop. The next stop is Jinguashi's Gold Ecological Park. We have no intention to visit it cause the tunnel museum was closed on a Monday but now we had to visit the museum's other attractions due to the missed bus stop.

The people at seven eleven are tourists waiting for their tour bus. The arrow points to the old street of Jiufen. (will talked more about Jiufen in later posts.

Taiwan Trip Day 6 - On the way to Ruifang Train Station from Taipei Main Station

2011-11-14T15:33:00.001+08:00

Day 6, we decided to take the conventional rail to Ruifang Station to visit Juifen.

Looking at the board in the huge Taipei Railway Station, we could not understand any of it even though we understand mandarin lol. Cause the board only shows the final destination.

We decided to seek help from the information counter which proves very helpful. The information personnel can speak English and Mandarin. They showed us the computer monitor of the trains going to Ruifang Station. We just choose the time and train station we wanted to go and yes we could choose to take the normal train or the express train of couse the fare will differs. We took the Chu Kuang (which is the middle range train while the express train is Tze Chiang train).

It costs us NT59 each for one way and we got the reserved seats. The journey to Ruifang Station was about 1 hour. If you get the non reserved seat means you dont guaranteed a seat, if all the seats were occupied you gotta stand for the whole hour.

From here it was easy to follow the signs to our platform to get to our train at the correct platform.

Before we made our way down we had to look at the above screen to see that the train we were taking, had flashed onto the screen. We dont want to take the wrong trains. As this is not the high speed rail trains, the duration between each conventional trains can be quite close.

The yellow portion is the high speed rail station while the blue is the normal train station.

We could eat in the train so we bought some snacks and drinks from the seven eleven store in the train station.

The train was quite cramped and not as spacious as the high speed rail. It was a mad rush cause Taipei Main Station had a huge crowd and many trying to get down the train and just as many as trying to get up the trains. The train will move off and not wait for you so you gotta to be punctual.

Those passengers standing in the front were chased out of their seats cause the rightful owner came to claim their seats. These passengers bought the non reserved seats so they gotta stand for the whole journey. No warden will checked your tickets.

View outside

The train that we took to Ruifang Station.

Short video of housing estate and the next train station.
Before we board the train, we had checked the computer monitor screen at the information counter and counted we need to alight at the sixth station for Ruifang Station. But depending on which train and final destination you are taking, do not take for granted Ruifang Station is the sixth cause some trains skipped a few stations so Ruifang Station could be the 3rd or 4th Station. Best to check with the information counter before boarding if you are unsure.

Even though they announced the station, it was quite noisy in the train so we could hardly hear properly the announcement.
Before the train pulled over to the Ruifang station, we hurried to the exit cause we need to hurry down as many people will tried to go up the train and you wont be able to alight in time.

Taiwan Trip Day 5 Night - Ximending

2011-11-13T21:08:00.001+08:00

In the night, we still have some energy to visit the night market at Ximending. Ximending is a nice place to visit for its fashion and also a place for the youngs. This is the place where all the activities are, especially during the weekends. Can be very crowded.

Spotted this hotel right in the heart of Ximending. The hotel is a favourite with budget travellers. It is very convenient for eating and shopping but can be very noisy as Ximending is always crowded.

Stall selling radish cakes. Looked very interesting and we had some of it.

Pan fried radish cakes

Fried Rice

Ice Kachang from another stall, we could picked as many ingredients as we could for the same price. I forgot how much we paid for it. The ingredients were topped with ice shavings.

The stall vendor was very good in cutting out the little girl's shihouette.

Another attraction near the Ximen MRT Station, some dancers and a singer. I think they were promoting some kind of singing and dancing show.

Taiwan Trip Day 5 - Bitan

2011-11-12T21:38:00.001+08:00

After our tour of Wulai, we arrived back at Xindian MRT Station. Just behind or next to this MRT Station is a little town called Bitan.

Bitan means Green Lake, referring to where the Xindian River widens to form the lake. There is a well-known suspension bridge that is used only for people on foot. The bridge can be seen on the crest of Xindian. There are many restaurants, carnival activities, and pedal boats in the area.

I did not crossed over the bridge to visit the other side of the town cause I have another place to visit. If I ever visit Taiwan again, will definitely come here again.

Some school children posing for a group photo.

The streets behind the Xindian MRT Station were lined with street hawkers selling Taiwanese delicacies.

Wow really so much to see in Taiwan, my legs really ached during this trip hahaha.

Taiwan Trip Day 5 - Wulai Part 2 - Waterfall

2011-11-11T23:32:00.012+08:00

Very interesting to see the buildings built so near the river. The air is so fresh up here in the mountain.

Wulai is famous for its hot springs.There are many hotels and spas that you can pay to enjoy or you can enjoy open air hot springs along the riverside.

Can you spot several people enjoying the hot springs along the river in the above photo.

Crossing the bridge to see the tallest waterfall in Taiwan. And this end of this bridge we can opt to take the trolley train but I forgot about it and had to walk for more than 30 minutes to see the waterfall. But I took the trolley back down cause I was really very tired.

The little train brings you to the terminus of the cable car that brings you to the top of a nearby mountain. From the main tourist street in the town, cross the bridge, and take the wooden staircase across the road. It goes up to the left. Follow the pedestrian street to the station. The little train costs NT$50 each way and takes you one and a half kilometers up the valley.

The long walk to see the waterfall.

The waterfall is quite narrow but will be wider if there's rainfall. It is about 80 metres tall.

Aborgine statue with his dogs near the waterfall.

Locals wearing the aborgine costumes to attract customers to their stalls.

We decided not to walk back to the base of the mountain so we took the trolley train back.

Ticket of the trolley train at NT50 each for one way.

Feeling so tired we made our way back to the bus stop and wanted to take a bus back to Xindian MRT Station but there were many cab drivers looking for passengers to make up four people to fill the cab so that they can made their way back to the MRT Station. So hubby and me decided to take the cab.

On the way to the waterfall.

The Wulai Waterfall - I have a fear of heights, that explained why I did not take video closer to the edge lol.

Close up view of the waterfall.

Taking the trolley train up to view the waterfall.

Taiwan Trip Day 5 - Wulai

2011-11-10T20:46:00.000+08:00

Walking along the streets of the little town in Wulai, we could see many interesting stalls selling all kinds of aboriginal food, like wild boar meat.

I love this ice cream wrapped in popiah skin (thin paper-like crepe or pancake made from wheat flour) with shaved peanuts and two scoops of ice cream, very nice to eat ice cream in the cold weather.

Taiwan Trip Day 5 - Wulai - How to go to Wulai?

2011-11-09T11:41:00.001+08:00

Our next destination is Wulai. Wulai (烏來) is a small town in Taipei County, Taiwan, famous for its hot springs and aboriginal culture. The name of the town derives from the Atayal phrase kirofu ulai meaning "hot and poisonous. You can read more from wikipedia.

On arrival at Xindian MRT Station, we headed to the correct exit to proceed to our next destination, Wulai. From this exit, to take public transport to Wulai, we can turn right to take either the public bus or taxi and if we wanted to visit Bitan, a small town we turn left from this exit. I decided to visit Wulai first so I turn left from the MRT exit. Will talked about Bitan in later post.

It might be scary if you dont understand mandarin when you looked at the bus stop, they are mostly in mandarin. But it is easy cause only one bus go to Wulai and it is bus no. 849. The bus stop is just next to the MRT station, you dont have to cross any roads. Beside the bus stop is a taxi stand and rows of cab drivers will try to get people to take their cabs.

Dont take the cabs immediately, wait for the cab driver to approach you cause the official rate for the cabs is NT600 for a cab, the cab driver will then lower their prices cause everyone prefer to take the public bus which is about NT40. The cab drivers will try to get a group of four at NT100 each. So it will costs a group of four NT400 instead of NT600 for the whole cab a discount of NT200.

For comfortable ride, better to take the cab cause the bus stop was crowded with people and when the bus comes we might not get seats on the bus, the journey from the bus stop to Wulai is about 40 mins and the road can be winding. If you are younger then should be no problem but hubby and me decided to share a cab with another couple and we paid NT100 each only for a comfortable ride.

Sit on the ride side of the cab or bus for a nice window view of the scenery.

According to wikipedia, "the easiest and fastest way to get to Wulai is simply to take a taxi from Taipei. It only takes 30 minutes from Taipei station and is cheap, don't waste your time taking the bus. If you have 2-4 people it is cheaper than taking the bus. You can negotiate with the taxi drivers". I cant vouch for this cause I came down from Shilin MRT Station but if you want to take a cab in Taipei, best have someone who can speak mandarin with you cause most of the cab drivers dont speak English or have someone write down the mandarin name for Wulai and the cab fare you intended to pay.

Board indicating the cab fare to places of interest.

The cab will stop near the Wulai Bus Terminal and will pick up passengers at this stop too. From here, we made our way to Wulai Little Town about 10 mins walk from this bus stop.

View of the mountains from the bus stop.

Video of scenery of Wulai behind the bus terminal at Wulai.

Taiwan Trip Day 5 - National Palace Museum Taipei

2011-11-08T14:57:00.002+08:00

Day 5 of our trip - after a nice breakfast at the hotel cafe, we took the MRT from Taipei Main Station to Shilin MRT Station. Costs us NT25 per person. As always the MRT Station has lots of signs to direct us to places of interest.

Our plan was to visit the National Museum Palace, so we headed straight to the main road from the MRT Station.

We spotted the bus stop very easily which was located just along the main road infront of the MRT Station.

Lots of signs and explanation on which bus to take to the places of interest. I spotted Yamingshan, not visiting this place cause we had already visited during our last trip.

From this bus stop, we took the Red Bus No. 30 to the National Palace Museum. Costs us only NT15. It was some kind of loop service, the bus will terminate at the National Palace Museum (last stop) and the bus will also pick up passengers back to the MRT Station and continued its journey. It was easy to spot the museum.

Too many scaffoldings spoilt the whole museum look. I think there's some kind of exhibition going on.

The statue of Dr Sun Yat Sen in the museum.

Very surprised to see so many people in the museum. From this point onwards, I could not take any more photos. Photography are not allowed inside the museum. When you have visited the museum, do remember to visit the souvenir shop, they have lots of nice and beautiful souvenirs.
You can visit the official website for more information on the visiting hours and admission tickets.

If you remember before my trip, I collected the free museum tickets from the Taiwan Tourist Association. You can read about it in my previous post. We used the free museum tickets to enter the exhibition halls.

After visiting the museum and shopping at the souvenir store, we took the red bus no. 30 back to Shilin MRT Station. As it was almost noon, we decided to hunt for our lunch at the alley next to the MRT Station.

Spotted this nice chinese restaurant and they served very nice and yummy chinese food.

We ordered a bowl of seafood noodle and rice with sweet and sour chicken. The portion were very huge and price reasonable. They come together with drinks.

I think this is the best lunch since I arrived in Taiwan hahaha

The rice came with some chopped vegetables, eggs and intestines. ( I did not take the intestines cause was quite tough) Love the chopped vegetables and the sweet and sour chicken tasted so good.

After a nice lunch, we proceeded to our next destination.

Taiwan Trip Day 4 - Danshui

2011-11-07T21:31:00.001+08:00

From Wufenpu, we took the MRT from Houshanpi MRT Station to Danshui MRT Station. We need to change at Taipei MRT Station to Danshui MRT Station. It costs us NT60 each. It was a long ride.

The temperature was dropping in the evening, was so cold and misty. Luckily we brought along our wind breakers.

It is named after the Tamsui River, the name means "fresh water". The town is popular as a site for viewing the sun setting. Although it was around 5 pm, the whole place was misty, we could not view any sun. We could take the ferry across to the other side but the misty weather and rough sea put us off.

Terminal for taking the ferry.

These are all just next to the Danshui MRT Station, very easy to locate.

The streets behind this building were active with lots of entertainment and shopping and with the buildings blocking the wind, it was not so cold when we walked between the buildings.

Lady trying to sell her iron eggs. Iron eggs (鐵蛋) are eggs which have been repeatedly stewed in a mix of spices and air dried. The resulting eggs are dark brown, chewy and, about half its initial size. The famous Iron eggs store is Grandma's Tiedan (阿婆鐵蛋).

I like this place, lots of interesting stalls and shops.

Before you decide to return to the Danshui MRT Station, do take note that opposite the MRT Station are more shopping streets. We quickly cross over to the other side from the Danshui MRT Station.

We were really very tired after a long day of walking in the streets. Very happy indeed and good thing the Danshui MRT Station is the terminal, we could find empty seats. The train is really very clean.

Some videos to show you the activites in Danshui. I will come here again when I next visit Taipei.

Taiwan Trip Day 4 - Wufenpu Ready Made Clothes Business District

2011-11-06T13:21:00.001+08:00

We took the MRT from Taipei Main Station and alight at Houshanpi MRT Station. It is easy to travel around Taipei via the MRT. We just have to look out for the colour code of the MRT Line to reach our destination and sometimes we need to change the train at the MRT interchange depending on where we were going. Best to have the Taiwan Street map with you whereever you go for easy reference.

On reaching Houshanpi MRT Station, lots of signs in the station and on the streets to direct us to Wufenpu Commercial Zone.

There were so many shops in Wufenpu. If you like shopping for fashion, this will delight you. The price is wholesale price and the more you buy the cheaper it will be.

On the downside, you cant try on the clothes as this is the wholesale area. Monday is stock taking day for them and also for retailers to get clothes from them so can be quite messy so best not come on Monday.

I managed to get some clothes for myself at very cheap price. :)

There's a night market near here too but we have no time to visit cause we have already planned to visit other night markets.

Taiwan Trip Day 4 - Back in Taipei Again

2011-11-05T21:57:00.000+08:00

We were finally back in Tapei from Kaoshiung. Before checking in back to YMCA Hotel, we headed for lunch first at Taipei Main Station. There were lots of restaurants and food court on the second floor.

We settle in this food court for our lunch. I guess it being a Saturday, there's a huge crowd everywhere.

I had some taiwanese meal while hubby had Japanese curry rice.

The temperature in taipei was lower than where we were first here on Day 1. It was about 21 degrees celsius and showering and quite misty.

We checked into YMCA Hotel and had a different room on the different level. Thanks goodness the bathroom came with showering bath better than the bath tub which was a bit high to climb in. I hope they would change it.

Before we went to Kaoshiung, we left one suitcase with the hotel staff. They kindly take care of our belongings while we were holidaying in Kaoshiung. We do not want to bring too much clothes to Kaoshiung as we were returning back to the same hotel on Day 4.
After collecting our suitcase from the hotel staff, we dump all our suitcases in our room and went shopping at Wufenpu.

Taiwan Trip Day 4 - Bye Kaoshiung

2011-11-04T11:01:00.000+08:00

Day 4, we had to say bye bye to Kaoshiung. Make our way to the Kaoshiung mrt station to Zuoying MRT Station to take the high speed rail train back to Taipei.

Above the Zuoying MRT Station is a Japanese Department Store. As we were early we browse around the supermarket and mall before making our way to the HSR Station.

We were soon met by a huge crowd. There's seems to be a kind of anime exhibition.

Manage to capture a photo of the side view of these anime costume characters. There's a whole lot of photographers taking photos of them from the front view. Need to pay some kind of fee to pose with them.

Long queues mostly made by teenagers to enter the exhibition hall to meet their favourite anime characters.

Wasting no time, we took the escalators back to the HSR Station to take our train.

We had already bought our return HSR ticket back to Tapei, but there were vending machine to purchase the tickets on the spot. As long as it wasn't some kind of holidays, no problem getting tickets on the spot back to Taipei.

Local products on sale in the HSR Station

Enjoy our trip in Kaoshiung, now looking forward to second part of our trip in Taipei. There were several empty seats on the train that we took. This section was the reserved seats (means seats with numbers), it was slightly cheaper for the non reserved seats section (means you can sit any seats in that compartment. No cheating - there's a warden going round to check on tickets.

Taiwan Trip Day 3 - Kaoshiung

2011-11-03T08:49:00.000+08:00

After visiting Cijin Island, we walked back to Sizihwan MRT Station and take the MRT one station away to Yanchengpu MRT Station. This is the station where we can visit a few places.

But difficult to cover all so we just choose a few that were closed by each other.

Saw this cat sculpture outside the MRT Station, so cute.

Lots of signs directing us the places of interest but they are not nearby, need to walk a distance to reach them, we actually lost our way trying to find the museum...lol.

There's a small park just next to the museum. There's a huge statue of Sun Yat Sen in the park.

Kaohsiung Film Festival Statue

This is the Municipal Film Archive Building

Kaoshiung Historical Museum - admission is free but no photography.

Love River

Famous Wufu 4th Street where some eateries and restaurants are

Suddenly the rain came and we ended up eating at MacDonalds.

We cancelled our planned trip to Love Pier to see some arts installation because of the heavy rain.

Decided to go back hotel to rest but ended up shopping in Jiouru Road the road where our hotel was. Surprised to find so many shops selling clothes , etc I bought a few oriental blouses at a shop just next to our hotel. The oriental blouses comes in handy for my Chinese New Year in Janaury 2012 . :)

After browsing along the street (see the above photo with the arrow pointing behind the building where more shops were), we head back to hotel and rest.

Then it started to rain very heavily in the night, so we decided to stay in the hotel and had a sumptous buffet dinner at NT390 each only. Great service and good food.

As this is not our first trip to Kaoshiung, we only visited some places of interest and ommitted those that we already visited in our previous trip.

If you decided to visit Kaoshiung, you might like to visit other places of interest as mentioned in their travel guide in their official website

Taiwan Trip Day 3 - Qijing or Cijin Island

2011-11-02T14:03:00.000+08:00

From the ferry terminal, it took us about 10 to 15 minutes to reach the beach.

The beach dont look inviting cause the sand looked quite blackish but there were people fishing and surfing in the sea.

I spotted some geese near the beach.

There were other performances near the beach too. Love their singing. Some videos showing the activities.

Surprised that the sea is suitable for surfing.

There were more attractions on the island like the lighthouse, etc but they were located on top of the hill. Hubby and me dont have the leg power to climb/walk up the hill to see more attractions. We were trying to save our leg power for more sightseeing back in Kaoshiung lol.

Taiwan Trip Day 3 - Qijing or Cijin Island - Walking around the island

2011-10-31T21:18:00.000+08:00

The ferry took only about 5 mins to reach Cijin Island from Kaoshiung. The ferry has frequent services between the two islands. I think is about every 5 to 10 mins.

On arrival we could see some beautiful colonial building which is now the port for Cijin Island. There's a tourist office on the left in the above photo. You can collect a map or any information about the island from this office.

We could see a lot of bicycles for rental. Some bicycles are built for four. Looked like a lot of fun. Wish my two sons were with me then we could rent the bikes for four.

If you do not want to cycle, you can ride on the trishaws or cabs. But we choose to just walked around the town. Only half of this island are mainly for tourists, etc while the other half are mainly residential buildings.

There's a chinese temple on the island too.

Lots of seafood stalls and restaurants on this island too.

Taiwan Trip Day 3 - Qijing or Cijin Island - Taking the ferry

2011-10-30T20:14:00.000+08:00

On day 3 of our Taiwan Trip, we decided to visit Cijin Island after a sumptous buffet breakfast in the hotel.

We took MRT from Kaoshiung MRT to Sizihwan MRT Station. From Sizihwan MRT Station to the ferry terminal is about 10 minutes. Look at the map and directions on which is the best exit to go to Gushan Ferry Pier.

Once we exited from the MRT Station, there were many signboards to direct us to the Gushan Ferry Pier. You might encountered some bicycles shop owners asking you to rent their bicycles. It is not necessary to rent from them cause you can always rent from the island itself. But if you choose to rent from them, you can cycle to the ferry pier and cycled into the ferry to go across the island.

Finally after a short walk, we saw the ferry terminal.

We need to slot NT15 into the box at the gate to enter the ferry. The fares for adults are NT15, Students NT12, senior citizen aged above 65 and small kids are NT8, Motorbikes are NT20 while bicycles goes in free on the ferry. Residents of Cijing Island rides free on the ferry.

Passengers take the upper deck while vehicles take the lower deck.

Short videos of the ferry and the surrounding scenery.

Day 2 Night - Kaoshiung - Liuhe Night Market

2011-10-29T15:30:00.001+08:00

After admiring the dome of light, we exit the Formosa Boulevard MRT Station to visit the nearby famous Liuhe Night Market. At the Formosa Boulevard MRT Station, there were several exits. The exit nearer to Liuhe Night Market was EXIT 11 but we had to climb several stairs up so we used EXIT 4 with escalators to go up to the main road and from there we followed the directions on the signboard which direct us to Liuhe Night Market. It was just across the road from EXIT 4.

You just have to visit the night market to feel the atmosphere and also to try the streets food.

This is the stall we are avoiding, the stall selling stinky or smelly tofu, it's really very stinking hahaha.

After a long day out, we finally decided to return our hotel via the MRT. This is EXIT 11 near the night market, we walked down several stairs down(walking down is easier than climbing up the stairs). By this time, my legs were very aching and painful after a long day out.

Some short videos showing the night market.

Stall selling some ice cream wrapped in popiah (thin paper-like crepe ).

Taiwan Trip Day 2 - Formosa Boulevard MRT Station - Dome of Light

2011-10-28T13:51:00.000+08:00

A must visit MRT Station at Kaoshiung Taiwan.

Situated at the Kaohsiung MRT transfer station for the Red Line and Orange Line (Formosa Boulevard Station), the Dome of Light was created by renowned artist Narcissus Quagliata. The dome is the world's largest public art installation made from individual pieces of coloured glass.

The dome tells the story of human life in four chronologically arranged themes: Water: The Womb of Life; Earth: Prosperity and Growth; Light: The Creative Spirit; and Fire: Destruction and Rebirth, with an overall message of love and tolerance.

A short video showing the art installation. It is really very big and beautiful.

Taiwan Trip Day 2 - Kaoshiung - Sanduo Shopping District

2011-10-27T11:43:00.000+08:00

After dumping our bags, we headed for lunch. Saw many restaurants opposite Kaoshiung MRT Station.

We settled for a nice Japanese Restaurant for our lunch.

I guess it was past lunch time, there weren't much customers in the restaurant. It was almost 3 pm.

Free refill of rice and soup were available at self service.

Hubby had Japanese curry rice with pork chop.

I cant remember what I had, I think it is chicken.

The meal comes with drink and dessert.

We took the MRT from Kaoshiung MRT Station to Sanduo Shopping District. There were a lot of malls and shops there too but we did not find anything we like. The things sold in malls were almost the same price of what we can find in Singapore.

From Sanduo MRT Station, I could see the highest building in Kaoshiung. That is the Tuntex Sky Building. We did not walked to the building.

Went into Sogo Shopping Mall, wow they had I think 17 floors, and we went to every floor upto the tenth floor and almost every floor were shopping areas. Did not bother to go higher than 10th, so we took the lift down and walked along the streets.

Taiwan Trip Day 2 - Checking into hotel in Kaoshiung

2011-10-26T14:11:00.000+08:00

Not sure if we choose the correct hotel or not but there dont seems to be any hotel near zuoying HSR/MRT Station. Seems like most hotels are located near Kaoshiung MRT Station, so we choose King's Town Hotel near Kaoshiung MRT Station.

The hotel looked very cozy and the price is reasonable but problem is accessing the hotel from Kaoshiung MRT Station we need to cross over the railway track via a bridge.

There's only one exit from Kaoshiung MRT Station and once we exit, we can see the railway station on our right. We need to go into the railway station to cross over the railway tracks via a bridge but we need to pay NT6 (S$0.25) just to use the bridge.

So we got the tickets from the information counter. Best if you can speak mandarin otherwise you need to find someone to translate for you.

So we just show our tickets to the person in charge at the entrance of the bridge, he wont collect the tickets from us, only another person at the end of the bridge will collect the tickets from us once we exit the bridge.

There's a lot of people using the bridge but most of them will exit somewhere in the middle of the bridge to take the conventional (slow) trains to Taipei or some other towns.

This is the end of the bridge to our hotel at Jiouru Road.

From our hotel room window, I took photo of the railway station and the bridge and the Kaoshiung MRT station at the top left hand corner. Everyday we need to cross the bridge to access to the MRT station from our hotel.

Once we check into our hotel, the hotel will issue two ways platform cards each time we want to use the bridge so we dont have to pay any charges to use the bridge.

The other end of the railway station facing our hotel.

This is King's Town Hotel where we will stay for 2 nights. The hotel staff are very friendly and helpful and our stay comes with daily buffet breakfast.

The hotel room looked cozy and the bed very comfortable. I had good night sleep maybe it was because I was so tired.

The hotel's lobby.

Taiwan Trip - Day 2 - Taking High Speed Rail to Kaoshiung

2011-10-25T14:35:00.002+08:00

Woke up to a beautiful morning and we had breakfast in the cafe at our hotel.
We bought the breakfast vouchers from the hotel at NT100 in exchange for breakfast costing NT120, if we ordered any above that, we need to pay the difference. We had coffee too but they waive the charges for the coffee. Very good service and the food is very good.

The cafe is Royal Host which have few branches all over Taipei.

As we had bought our high speed rail tickets the previous night, we can take our time to eat our breakfast.

After breakfast, we used the free internet service to send emails to our family and check out of our hotel and then we headed to Taipei Main Station or Taipei Railway Station to take the High Speed Rail to Kaoshiung.

As long as it is not some holidays, there is no problem getting tickets on the day itself. We choose 11.30 am for the train departure time, cause we worried we might overslept hahaha.

There's a lot of ticketing machines to get the high speed rail tickets but as we are not familar, we choose to buy our tickets from the customer service personnel over the counters. They can speak English too.

The high speed rail to Kaoshiung costs us N1490 each (S$62) which comes with reserved seats. This is the express train which stops only at Banciao, Song Shan, Taichung and Zuoying (Kaoshiung) and takes only 90 mins. Some trains stop at more stations and could take about 2 hours to reach Kaoshiung.

You can take other trains to kaoshiung too at cheaper cost but longer rides. You can get the information from seat61 blog.

Just look at the screen for your train no., departure time, your car (or carriage) number and platform number and slot in the ticket at the correct gate barrier. Normally they let you board about 20 mins before the train depart. Do be punctual, the train is very punctual in leaving the station.

Dont worry, the screen comes in English too. Just looked out for the train number, the time and the platform number.

Inside the train, they have personnel selling food and drinks but you can bring your own food and drinks in too.

The train captain is in the middle of the train.

This is not our first time to Kaoshiung, our purpose of going Kaoshiung is also to experience the high speed rail. If we will to go with package tour, they only let you experience one station (i.e. 5 mins) of ride on the high speed rail.

Finally after 90 mins, we arrived at Zuoying Station, Kaoshiung. Very smooth and pleasant ride.

Lots of signs in English too to direct us to the MRT station. Our hotel is located at Kaoshiung MRT Station, so we just take the escalator down to Zuoying MRT Station and take the MRT to Kaoshiung which is about 15 to 20 minutes ride depending on the waiting time.

Taiwan Tour Day 1 Night - Shilin Night Market

2011-10-24T13:59:00.000+08:00

After checking into our hotel, we just dump our luggages in our hotel room and head out to Shilin Night Market.

We took MRT from Taipei Main Station. It is easy to use those ticketing machines, just looked at the map of your destination on the machine and touch screen your destionation fare and slot in the fare amount.

Then collect your change (if any) and the tokens.

Tap the tokens on entering the gate barrier.

On exiting, slot the tokens into the gate barrier and the door will open for you to exit.

To visit Shilin Night Market, do alight at Jiantan MRT Station and not Shilin MRT Station. Once you come out of the train, looked for the signboard on the top to direct you to the correct EXIT 1 otherwise you got to walk a long way to the night market.

Lots of street food and fashion for sales in this night market. A must visit for tourists.

Read so much about the famous Ah Zhong Mian Xian in Shilin Market, we managed to find the stall and ordered the mian xian(also known as mee sua or rice noodles). It is quite starchy, not everyone will like this cause in my country our mian xian comes in clear soup not the starchy type. I think they comes with some pig's intestines.

Although there's lot of people ordering the mian xian, it is very fast cause they are pre cooked and the stall holder just scoop from the pot. We collected our bowls of mian xian and headed inside the shop to eat our mian xian. They have chairs and benches inside but not tables.

Taiwan Day 1 - Taipei Airport and checking into hotel

2011-10-23T15:06:00.002+08:00

The flight from Singapore was pleasant and the service by the SQ crews were fantastic, made our ride in the plane enjoyable and pleasant. The flight was about four hours and forty five minutes.

After claiming our luggages we went in search for the airport bus to bring us to our hotel.

Lots of signs to indicate the bus station. So we just followed the direction to the bus station. It depends which terminal you are in. The one in the above photo is terminal 2 as we took Singapore Airlines.

It is easy to find the bus station or rather the counters where different bus companies are.

Some bus companies go to Taipei Main Station while some goes to Ximending or other destinations.

As our hotel is located near Taipei Main Station we bought our bus tickets from Kuo Kuang Bus Company. The fare was NT125 per way per person and there's a discount of NT5 if you buy both ways. So we bought both ways(i.e. airport to taipei main station and from taipei west bus station to airport). They will direct you to where to board the bus. Bus route 1819 goes to Taipei Main Station. The bus drop us off at the side of Taipei Main Station. When you want to take Bus route 1819 back to airport, you need to take the bus from Taipei West Bus Station which is next to Taipei Main Station (will explain this on the last day of my taiwan tour story.

The journey from the airport to Taipei Main Station is about 1 hour 15 mins depending on the traffic.

The above is Taipei Main Station or Taipei Railway Station (before the MRT and HSR were built) which houses the MRT(Mass Rapid Transit or Metro), HSR (High Speed Rail), and the conventional train. It is a very busy station with a lot of people.

We found M8 exit which is only about 3 mins from YMCA Hotel. There are so many signs in Taipei Main Station can be quite confusing. Once you exit M8 you can see YMCA opposite the exit of M8.

We stay only for the night on Day 1 cause Day 2 we heading to Kaoshiung (southern part of Taiwan).

The hotel room looked quite old and old fashioned, we actually plan to change hotels but after the next few nights we found we spend so little time in the hotel and the hotel staff are very friendly and helpful and the best is the cafe served good breakfast hahaha.

Dont like the bathtub cause it is quite high and those with weak knees might have problem climbing into it. Thanks goodness on our Day 4 when we rechecked into this hotel, we got the 6th floor which have shower type of bath.

They have washing machines and dryers on the 7th and 8th floor and hot and cold water dispenser every floor.

After staying four nights in this hotel, I found that the hotel is not that bad after all despite the old fashion looking furniture. The location is very convenient too.

Taiwan Day 1 - Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3-Butterfly Garden, SQ Airlines Food

2011-10-22T15:41:00.006+08:00

Day 1 of my Taiwan trip started from Terminal 3 Changi Airport. Different flights departed from Changi Airport from different terminals. There are four terminals in Changi Airport, Terminal 1, Terminal 2, Budget Terminal and the latest and newest Terminal 3.

This is the first time I departed from terminal 3. It is really huge and very impressive. Lots of shops and food in here.

The best part was the butterfly garden. It had two levels and you can access the garden on either levels. Hubby went for his meal and I hurried to the garden to take photos of the beautiful butterflies.

There are so many of them. I almost forgot I had a plane to catch hahaha. If you happen to be in Terminal 3 Changi Airport, do remember to give the garden a visit.

There's free internet just before the boarding gates.

Been a long time since I take Singapore Airlines. I love the inflight entertainment and the food. They served drinks and nuts first before the lunch.

I had the oriental lunch while hubby had the western lunch. They are both so yummy and tasty. Very good. :)

Ice cream after the lunch.

Before Taiwan Trip

2011-09-09T14:35:00.004+08:00

The last time I visited Taiwan was during my honeymoon in 1984. Geez really long time. hahaha

Next month, hubby and me plan to go Taiwan on our own instead of joining any package group. It gives us the freedom to choose where we want to visit and the freedom to stay in any place any time.

We managed to get promotional tickets with Singapore Airlines and booked directly with the hotels that we wanted to stay.

So I went to the Taiwan Tourism Bureau and collects some maps, brochures and they gave us a gift pack that consists a gift coupon that can be redeem at duty free shop in Taiwan airports and tickets to the National Palace Museum in Taipei.

MTR card should be included in the gift pack too but too bad they run out of stock. The Taipei or Kaohsiung MRT card–NT 50 value inside and you can top up and use it on MRT & bus.

In order to collect the gift pack, you need to produce copy of Hotel & Air ticket confirmation

Address & office opening hours
Taiwan Visitors Association
5 Shenton Way # 31-11 UIC Building Singapore 068808
Mon.- Fri
9:00-17:00

http://eng.taiwan.net.tw/m1.aspx?sNo=0002071

Will tell you more when I visited Taiwan next month. :)

Malaysia - Johor - Street Scenes

2011-07-14T09:20:00.006+08:00

As I was in Johor for half a day, spend most of the time dining and shopping in City Square, did not venture much into the street as there's lack of time. Maybe the next time, we will move around more.

View of the street scene from the food court in City Square.

View of street scene from the outside of City Square

Malaysia - Johor - Food Court/Restaurants

2011-07-13T13:48:00.005+08:00

Dining in City Square Mall, Johor Bahru wont be a problem, cause there are so many eateries, food court and restaurants to cater to your budget.

Ate some portuguese tarts and had nice coffee for tea break.

I like the concept of the swinging seats in this restaurant.

The next time I would like to try the food at the Sarabat. Sarabat is actually a stall, traditionally Malay-owned, selling drinks such as coffee and tea, and occasionally food as well.

Surprised to see Food Junction Food Court in JB, thought Food Junction is only in Singapore food court. :)

Malaysia - Johor - Lunch at Nandos

2011-07-12T14:45:00.004+08:00

This must be the favourite part of my shopping trip in Johor Bahru. Lunch at Nandos at City Square, JB.

They are in Malaysia Ringgit and very worth eating here than in the branch in Singapore...hahaha

1/4 chicken with meditarranean rice and peri chips - RM15.90

1/4 chicken with peri chips and peri beans (the beans are the huge kidney beans)

1/4 chicken with peri chips and potato salad

Besides eating, we enjoyed looking at some of the artwork in the restaurant.

The blouse of the girl in the above photo is made up of stickers.

I asked a very stupid question and got a funny answer from my niece, wonder why there are so many chickens decoration in the restaurants hahaha. The main courses are chicken....duh.... hahaha.

Malaysia - Johor - City Square

2011-07-10T11:49:00.000+08:00

Hahaha finally arrived City Square Shopping Mall in Johor Bahru after an easy entry from Singapore through the Malaysia Custom. No queues and no fuss, everything go smoothly. :)

The shopping mall is just like any mall in Singapore but the best thing is the prices are in malaysian ringgit.

Prices in restaurants are really worth going there because of the exchange rate, will talk in my next post.

The fashion in Johor is about the same as Singapore and the prices are about the same unless they are on promotion it is worth buying but certain stuff are really cheap.

My niece bought some very nice backpack in the above photo.

Reject shop? Shop selling reject goods?

Malaysia - Johor - JB Sentral and City Square

2011-07-07T21:54:00.001+08:00

Buses make one stop each at Singapore immigration checkpoint and at Malaysian immigration checkpoint. At both immigration points, you must disembark with all your luggage and pass through passport control and customs, then board the next bus by showing your ticket. So do not throw or lost your tickets when you board any buses in any bus terminals or bus stops in Singapore or Malaysia otherwise you have to pay a new fare to board the bus.

For those who wanted to go JB Sentral or City Square, do not board the bus again at the Malaysian Custom. After clearing the Malaysian custom where you have your passport stamped and fingers scan (yes, this is the new regulation where they scan your index fingers on both hands), just follow the sign that read JB Sentral (see picture below). Once you had your fingers scan, they would paste a kind of sticker in your passport, do not tear any of the sticker, they will collect the sticker when you exit Malaysia.

We were so lucky as there was no long queue and everything went smoothly on that day.

You wont get lost here, just follow the signboard and you can get to your destination to shop at City Square Mall.

After exiting from the custom, we walked through JB Sentral with lots of shops and money exchange counters too.

View of City Square Mall from the pedestrian bridge that connects JB Sentral to Johor Bahru City Square.

Finally we saw the signboard that read City Square Mall, it takes about 10 minutes from the Malaysian Custom to City Square Mall. It was that easy.
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Johor Bahru Shopping Trip - Taking the bus from Singapore to Johor Bahru

2011-07-06T21:40:00.005+08:00

Yesterday, I made a trip to Johor Bahru, Malaysia with my eldest sister and her daughter. There are many ways to go up to Johor Bahru. We can either drive up there, take the express bus, coach or public bus. There are two links from Singapore to Malaysia and vice versa. The first link is at Woodlands while the second link is at Tuas. I normally go up to Malaysia via the second link. Been a long time since I use the first link to enter Malaysia.

Yesterday, we decided to take the Causeway Link Express Bus at Queens Street Bus Terminal and enter Johor Bahru via the first link at Woodlands. As my sister stay on the east side of Singapore, it is nearer for her to go to Queens Street rather than to Kranji MRT Station to take the express bus to Johor Bahru. I stay nearer to the central so either way it is convenient for me.

The bus terminal at Queens Street is about 5 to 10 mins walk from Bugis MRT Station. It cost us only S$2.40 from Queens Street to Johor Custom. You can use your EZ Link Card or cash to pay for the fare.

The express bus did not stop anywhere in Singapore, it is a direct bus all the way from Queens Street to the custom at Singapore and Malaysia. It takes only 30 minutes from Queens Street to Johor Bahru with no traffic jam. Expect some jams during peak hours, weekends or public holidays.

Sometimes traffic jams can be so bad that it lasted two to three hours.

Yesterday, being a weekday and non peak hours, we enter Johor smoothly with no traffic jams at all. Peak hours are morning jam from Johor to Singapore (cause a lot of malayisans work in Singapore) and in the evening from Singapore to Johor when the malaysian go back after finishing work.

If you take the bus from Kranji MRT Station, it is about 15 minutes bus ride to Malaysia.

Causeway Link Bus Terminal at Queens Street.

The express bus that we took.

Beside taking the express bus from Queens Street, one can take the non express or public bus or taxi. Depending on the location you are in, you can take the buses from other bus terminals too.

You can get more information from wikitravel on how to go to Johor Bahru from Singapore on the different bus services and also how to get back to Singapore from Johor Bahru.

Please note the bus fares is correct at time of printing, but best to check with the people in charge at the bus terminal or the bus driver himself for the latest bus fare.

Penang Malaysia - Bye Bye Penang

2011-05-08T12:27:00.004+08:00

The last day in Penang, we are ready to depart Penang. We took Bus no. 101 to komtar and change to Bus no. 401E to the airport about 45 minutes ride to airport. Everything runs smoothly during our trip to Penang.

We only spend about S$500 on air ticket (Jetstar) and hotel accomodation (Cititel Hotel) for the two of us (i.e. each of us spend around S$250). Food is rather cheap if you dine in their coffee shop/eating houses or hawker centres. Am sure if you google for more information, you can get either 5 star hotels or cheaper hotels or backpack travellers hotels to suit your personal taste. I always opt for four star hotel if possible.

At Penang domestic airport.

View of Penang from the plane.

So it is bye bye Penang and time to google and do some homework to prepare my next trip. Still not sure where I want to go next...lol But would prefer those free and easy type, no need to wait for fellow passengers or follow instructions in package type of tour.

Penang Malaysia - Agar Agar Mould

2011-05-07T14:46:00.000+08:00

Saw a shop along the street just behind the wet market (Chowrasta), it was selling mostly baking products and moulds. Ask the shopowner for permission to take photo of her shop and she agreed readily.

I was so happy that I found the moon cake agar agar mould in the shop in Penang. I cant find them in Singapore, have been finding for this mould for a long time.

They were sold at RM10.00 for three. There were other types of moulds too but I did not get them cause I got so many moulds at home already...lol. Now I am regretting it.

Not advertising for her but just in case readers happen to be in Penang and wanted to know where the shop is, the street and shop is just behind (not inside) the wet market (i.e. Chowrasta).

Penang Malaysia - Market Scene Part 3

2011-05-06T09:50:00.004+08:00

Final part on my posting on the market scene. Saw a very interesting scene. The chicken stall owner wearing a cowboy hat. He sure attracted a lot of customers to his stall.

A lone man selling some shell fishes, I guess he just caught from the sea.

My favourite dough fritters but wondered if the oil is recycled many times. At home I recycled my cooking oil once only and tried not to cook too much deep frying dishes that uses a lot of oil.

Wow the sandals and shoes are really very cheap.

Stall selling all sort of titbits, hahaha my favourite titbits.

Wow saw these jackfruits (correct if I am wrong in the name), they are really huge.

Penang Malaysia- Market Scenes Part 2

2011-05-05T08:46:00.003+08:00

Very interesting to see the market scene. It looked just like what Singapore markets used to be when I was younger. Love seeing people bargaining the prices. Seems like I am the only one there that morning taking photos of the scene...lol

In Singapore, scene like these are hard to come by, our pork had to be sold in chillers for hygiene purposes since the pig flu that happened many many years ago.

A shop selling wantan noodle. It seems like they like to cook outside the shop, a familar scene that I saw in many coffee shops in Penang. I guess they want to attract customers to their stall.