Something meaningful

Got this in the mail today from my BFF.

錢多錢少，够吃就好。
人醜人美，顺眼就好。
人老人少，健康就好。
家窮家富，和氣就好。
老公晚歸，回來就好。
老婆唠叨，顧家就好。
孩子從小，就要教好。
博士也好，賣菜也好。
長大以后，乖乖就好。
房屋大小，能住就好。
名不名牌，能穿就好。
兩輪四輪，能駕就好。
老板不好，能忍就好。
一切烦惱，能解就好。
堅持執着，放下最好。
人的一生，平安就好。
不是有錢，一定會好。
心好行好，命能改好。
誰是誰非，天知就好。
修福修慧，來世更好。
天地萬物，隨缘就好。
很多事情，看開就好。
人人都好，日日都好。
你好我好，世界更好。
總而言之，知足最好。
説這麼多，明白就好。
這條短信，真的很好。
不發给你，是我不好。

Spring Cleaning my ROOM..again..

A couple of months back, just before my maiden trip to Europe, I donated almost 3 garbage bags of clothes to make way for my Zara, H&M amongst others.

After another 3 weeks in Taipei, I came home and realized that my room is still cluttered with books, my collection of Berts from Sesame Street, little stuff I've bought from all my holiday/business trips, facial products, spa essentials etc etc. It's scary looking at the amount of stuff.

I seriously need to make some time this weekend for decluttering my stuff. Was reading Betty and Veronica where they had this chapter where Betty helps Veronica declutter and vice versa. end of the day, they end up taking each other's stuff because they realized they may actually had a need for those stuff.

I've got my first step all planned out nicely. The books shall go to charity/ second hand book shops and we'll take it from there!

Who knows, if the 'guy in the striped shirt' arrives at my doorstep one day, I don't want to be showing him a typical man's room!

Bert is back

My 22 year old Bert is finally back from Melbourne. On New Year's Eve, my brother took him back to Robyn Bears in Melbourne to get his nose fixed and get some hair implants. She did an excellent job and I would strongly recommend her to anyone who would like to get their dolls fixed. And the best part is, because it was my second time bringing bert for repairs and my very very kind brother (who works there) went all the way to drop him off and collect him. She lives about an hour's drive from Melbourne.

He's finally back. Aunt brought him back today (hand carry) as I was too afraid to let them courier my favourite 'friend' back.

Fifi Taipei

Since last week I have wanted to try out Fifi after it was recommended by a friend I just got to know in Taipei. Finally dragged Kennut along after he'd arrived from KL last night. We got a taxi to Fifi on:

Address: 2F, 15 Renai Rd, Sec 4, Taipei (臺北市仁愛路四段15號2樓)

Telephone: (02) 2721 1970; for reservations in English call (0939) 834 845



The restaurant is situated on the 2nd floor. It wasnt very full when we got there but maybe because it was a Sunday. The reviews stated that it can sometimes be packed.

My first impression - amazing deco. Modern yet comfy, classy and definitely fine dining style.

We started off with the sliced chicken and cucumber topped with something that tasted like peanut sauce. Very interesting but u can't have too much of it or risk not being able to finish you main course before getting overly stuffed.

A very guai lo dish - the Shanghai ribs. Sweet and sour flavours but very juicy and tender boneless ribs. Yums!

Every complete meal has to have vegetables in it. We opted for the long beans. What can I say - totally delicious with strong black pepper flavouring to it. I could not stop ...

When I googled Fifi for it's address, I saw that their Hunan Eggs come strongly recommended. I concur that! Very different than what I've ever tasted and yummy, no doubt.

After dinner, which should cost approximately NTD 500-600 pp (RM50-60 pp), we adjourned to their bar on the 3rd floor. Only upon settling the bill did I realize that there was a minimum surchage of NTD550. Not sure if it was for 2 person or something like that but yet, we had a total of 3 beers.

It's one of those chillout places and good for a quiet Saturday night with a reasonably good selection of alcohol.

I had this funny tasting passion fruit beer 3.6% alcohol called Floris from Belgium. It's a very fruity and girly drink that costs about NTD250 in the bar.

Overall, I loved the Fifi experience and apart from the typical Taiwanese street food and hotpot that I have been having for the past 2 weeks, this has got to be my favourite joint in Taipei so far. Second time? Definitely!

Taipei -2nd weekend

I can't understand why I am still in such a lazy mood to do anything. I think age is seriously catching up with me.

Saturday night. Just chilling in my hotel room and trying to upload pictures from my weekend so far.

My activities in Taipei this weekend before my new audit assignment commences next week.
1) Freeloading the hot spring facilities in the hotel where my colleague checked into. Broadway Hot Spring Hotel in Beitou after work on a Friday.
2) Luxy (one of Taipei's hottest nightspot) at night when another colleague comes into town to celebrate his birthday. Before that, doing a little shopping and on the lookout for the perfect gift for my colleague, Kenneth who graciously reminded me that he'll be spending his birthday with me in Taipei when he gets in tomorrow.
3) Hot spring and massage on a Saturday morning. The best feeling ever when you need to get alcohol out of your system and in dire need of a good back massage
4)Taipei Zoo for a relaxing stroll and looking for the famous pandas.
5) Skinkeng for dinner with the client before proceeding to some very secluded area to watch fireflies.
6) Bumming around in my hotel room on a Saturday night as I need to rejuvenate before my new audit commences this Monday.

The public hot spring across colleague's room. Entry fee only NTD20 (RM2). I won't ever try it cause the place is literally swarmed with people at all times of the day.

Our very hopsitable client will also be taking us to YangMingShan for some 'wild vege' meal and a little sightsee tomorrow.

Right now, I'm gonna lie back on my chair after blogging and watch some TVB series.

More pics will be posted soon enough when the lazy hands and brain is ready to get back into action

XoXo. Goodnight

Yuse Spa

I gotta tell you - going into the hot and cold spring, enjoying the steam bath and having a great massage on a Sunday evening, letting your mind wander and linger to those awesome, beautiful memories of the past has got to be the best feeling in the world! Really, nothing beats that! Plus point, what more if the spa is overlooking lush greeneries!

For the first time in my life, I experienced the hot spring in Yuse Spa. Well, if you ask me how great it is, I am not exactly the best person to judge cause after all, my virgin trip ma..but I guess it's kinda cool for a first timer for about Taiwan Dollah 200.

And you get to enjoy a scrumptious (well not exactly) Japanese meal after.

In total I spent about 1 hr plus in the hot/cold spring + steam room and about 50 minutes of massage ( of course you have to seperately pay for the massage but the masseuse was fantastic although a bit pricey for 50 mins NTD1000 for extra strenght on ur pressure points). Sheer bliss I tell u!

Just something I found from trip advisor on how to get there by public transport. Being the road and direction dummy me, I purely relied on my colleague to get me there.

From MRT Shihpai Station, take Bus 508, 535 or 536; alight at "Shing Yi Rd. 3"; from Shing Yi Rd., turn into Lane 300; Yuse Spa is a 3-min. walk from there. It's located in Beitou.

Will I try it again? Definitely. But maybe try a different place. I'm not too sure, but cleanliness wise, I wasn't too impressed loh, but experience wise - thumbs up all the way!

Hua Lien and Taroko Gorge, Taiwan

Yesterday, the colleague and I went on a day trip to Hua Lien, which is situated on the East of Taiwan and approximately 2 1/2 hours from Taipei Train Station.

We arrived in Hua Lien at around 11 and was immediately whisked away by the bus driver/ cum tour guide to start our day tour.

Our first stop was to the chi sing tan beach. Somehow, in the past couple of weeks, I've seen so many lovely beaches (Costa Del Sol in Spain and Casablanca in Morocco), but never had the chance to stay long enough to enjoy the sea breeze and clear waters! This one is no exception.

This one had no sandy beaches but all rocks. But yesterday's weather, after all that rain in Taipei was just awesome for a day trip!

After spending about 1/2 hour at the beach, cam whoring, taking pictures of the surroundings, we made our way to lunch as a small little restaurant nearby the Taroko National Park (太魯閣國家公園), which will be the highlight of this trip. It was originally established, (the gorge i mean) in 1937 by the Governor General of Taiwan and till this day remains one of the most famous tourist spots.

After a very healthy lunch of 'wild' vegetables and meat/fish/ eggs, we left for the gorge at 1pm.

We were told that this place, the entrance into the gorge, is the perfect spot for pics, yeah, so u go, picture taking again.

Haha, it gets kinda scary when you see signs like this all over!

Amongst famous sights we visited were tunnel of 9 turns and swallow's mouth.

After a while, all that walk actually becomes a bit tiring and the sights get a bit boring. Nevertheless, it's a good experience and worth all that travel to get some fresh air, away from the busy city and be close to nature.

EZ Tour had some promotion going about and we paid about NTD2500 (RM250) for two people, which is kind of like a buy 1 free 1 for weekends! Great deal eh!

Oh well, it's 10 am on a Sunday morning and here I am in the mood for a little blogging. Thinking of today's plan for now..adios!

Taipei - 3 whole weeks!

In case ur wondering, no, I'm not dead yet. The lack of posts is simply because I have been so tired after Europe I virtually did nothing except unpacking and then packing for my 3 weeks job stint in Taipei. Tried out Daikanyama twice in the past week and absolutely loved it. Yeah, no photos this time around as I was , well just too lazy! Also tried out No Black Tie over the weekend and it was a great jazzy experience.

Anyway, I'm pretty stressed out in Taipei atm and bogged down with work, therefore won't be blogging until sometime later in the week. Down with the flu bug due to the sudden change in temperature AGAIN. I'm trying my best not to overstuff myself with the ever-s0-famous Taiwanese snacks. So guess what my biggest motivation will be!

Will be making a day trip to the beautiful Taroko Gorge over the weekend. Found a really cheap package. Hopefully it's all worth it!

Adios!

My Europe Tour in a nutshell

Here is my Europe tour in a nutshell.

Flew with MAS to Amsterdam for 2 nights on our own. - March 5, 2010

Hotel: NH Schiller via booking.com which comes strongly recommended by a friend. It's on Rembrandtplein next to all the bars/ restaurants and a 5 mins walk from Kalverstraat, the shopping street.

I do think they offer some of the most competitive rates around.

Day 1: Tour to Volendam, a fishing village famous for their smoked eels and went to some cheese factory with Lindbergh Tours, costing about E32 for a 1/2 day tour.

Day 2: Walked in Kalverstraat for a full day till the shops closed as it was too cold and mom was reluctant to do anything else.


Day 3: Start of our Spain, Portugal and Morocco 15 days tour with Tralfagar tours. Took the noon flight from Schipol Airport to Madrid and met with the rest of the tour in the hotel.

Day 4: Madrid Sightseeing & At Leisure. After the city tour, we opted for the E43 optional tour to El Escorial, a monastery palace. Very beautiful and definitely a must for everyone going to Madrid. Because of bad weather, we were not able to visit the Valley of the Fallen, which was originally part of the tour as well. An optional dinner was also available that night where we had a lovely 3 course dinner with wine and was entertained by an opera singer in the new city.

Day 5: Travelled south by coach from Madrid to Toledo, the ancient capital of Castille, encircled by the River Tagus, and if not mistaken a UN Heritage.

Day 6: Went southwards again to Granada to visit the Alhambra Palace. That night we went for the optional Gypsy dance night out which was relatively entertaining but I would not exactly call it value for money at Euro 28 with only 1 drink available.

Day 7: Again southbound for Costa Del Sol, the famous Mediterranean resort. I specially loved their very popular grilled sardines.

Again, we did the optional tour to Mijas , a small hill top village in the Andulasia region. I reckon it was more of a shopping stop for my mom.

Day 8: After almost 3 hr drive to the border, Tarifa and a 1 hour ferry ride, we're finally in Morocco. And then yet another, if I remeber clearly, 5 hr ride to Fes, where we spent 2 nights.

Day 9: Visit to the Fes Medina, the biggest in Morocco and you would definitely need some guidance or very well get lost. Truly an eye opener looking at the lives of the people in the Medinas!

That very afternoon, we did the optional tour to Meknes, once a Moroccan imperial city where we had a look at the royal stables, famous mosques and some local handicrafts. Well, I was not really impressed with the sights and sceneries in Meknes but if you have no other plans, why not? Otherwise, just spend your time exploring Fes.

At night we opted for the Belly Dancing as well. Food was great but the belly dancing..heheh, when they say belly dancers, u'd expect dancers with some great abs and flat bellies but....yeah, we're in for a shocker. (By this time, you would have noticed that apart from the city tour, everything else was an option and you had to pay for it! - however, I must add that the hotels we had we're pretty good and comfortable!)

Day 10: Spent 12 hrs on the bus due to some collapsed bridge from Fes to Marrakesh and we had a delay of 3 hrs, I reckon, taking the smaller roads. By the time we got into Marrakesh at 8 at night, I think my ass would have expanded 3 inches! Although on the good sight, the scenery along the way was pretty good.

Day 11: Morning optional tour to Ourika Valley. One of my personal favourites, visiting a Berber village and family where they made exceptionally good bread and mint tea for us. Just something pleasant to see after a tremendously long bus ride the night before.

At about 10 ish, everyone else in the tour headed to the Bahia Palace for more sightseeing and shopping at the Djemma el Fna Square. Hahha, this is where I realized that I actually 'found' my drinking buddy, Cathy.

Day 12: To Casablanca! No the pic below is not where Rick's Cafe from the movie was filmed. I reckon, we could have spent more time here exploring the beautiful beaches.

Day 13: Headed back to the capital, Rabat then to Tangier at the border of Morocco to board the ferry back to Sevilla in Spain. The pic below is where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic.

Day 14: The ferry arrived in Tarifa and again we took a couple of hours to get to Sevilla, where we spent 2 nights. This has got to be by far my favourite place during the tour so far simply because it is so beautiful. We were treated to a splendid Tapas dinner in a typical bodega restaurant with Spanish wines. Yummmm!!!

That night, we again opted for the Flamenco - a must to see when you're in Sevilla. Priced at Euro 36 with one free drink, I would say this one is definitely worth the watch.

Day 15: A walk in the Maria Luisa Park on a chilly morning is the best way to start our tour of Sevilla. We then went to Christopher Columbus' tomb and very proudly, our guide announced that this is the REAL tomb! Since the afternoon was free ( or yet again some other optional), we went SHOOPPINNG. Cathy commented later in the trip, somewhere in Portugal, that she has at least gone into 5 different Zara with me. Oopppps! But with the Euro dropping everyday, it's kinda hard to resist right. From 4.74 to 4.46 when I left Amsterdam on the 27th.

That very night, we had a superb Andulasian dinner in some restaurant after a 1 hr cruise along the Guadalquivir River. The cruise had probably got to be the best way for us to see the city considering the time constraint.

That very night, we checked out the bars in Sevilla. There had to be at least like 100 bars along the river in some street which I forgot the name. But in case you're there and wanna check out the bars, tell the people the row of bars by the river. Should not be hard. It took us about a Euro 6 cab ride from our hotel to the street.

Day 16: 2 more nights in Lisbon before the tour ends. Time does fly when you're having fun. From Sevilla to Lison, the journey is about 5 1/2 hours with some toilet and a lunch stop in between ( 400++ km). We did the city tour thing again of course to Vasco Da Gama's tomb, Belem Tower, amongst others.

That night, we had an optional dinner and Fado (portugese entertainment), which I assure you probably had to be the most boring thing I've come across during the tour. Right after dinner, Cathy and myself went out of the restaurant and continued our nonsensical talks.

Day 17: Last day! Sad sad sad. Did the optional tour to Sintra, Cascais and Estoril Coast. Did the usual sightseeing of the summer palace, beautiful beaches, shopping ya da da!

That night, we had a farewell dinner in some Portugese restaurant, which was obviously way much better than the Fado dinner. Time to bid farewell to our fellow tourmates.

Of coz, the night was not over for some of us who continued round 2 at the Mariott, our best and last hotel.

Day 18/19/20: Parie......here I come! Staying at the Astore Saint Honore hotel recommended by Angeline. I never got a chance to try their breakfast although she was raving abt their croissants! Did the usual sightseeing for 2 days on the hop on hop off bus costing Euro 32. Had some French food and lots and lots and lots of shopping! I'm definitely paying through my nose when my bills arrive.

Day 21/22: Because we still did some last minute shopping, mom and myself, I nearly missed the damn train from the Nord to Amsterdam on the 25th. Thank god the train was delayed. A 3hr 20 minutes ride, lots to look see - passing by Antwerp, Brussels etc.

Met up with Cal and Yugin for the next 2 nights and had lots of fun walking past the red light districts (yeah, photo snapping was not allowed and u had to do it discreetly or get bashed!), almost falling asleep on the canal tour, touring the Heineken Brewery, boring ourselves at Van Gogh musuem and having a few drinks at the ice bar.

Day 23: Back to KL. I must say this has truly been the trip of a lifetime for me and I vow to shop less this year, save more money and hahahahaha go back visit Europe again in 2011. Let's just see!