Recently Louis has been extremely attached to me. He plops himself on my thighs or by my pillow side whenever he can. We had fun taking them out for a cycling trip at ECP recently with the dogs in the baskets as we ride. Clara and Celeste were blading and it was a beautiful day out.  I think he misses getting to go out to meet some of his doggie pals as well. I really should organize  a play date for both Louis and Emmie soon.

As the title of this post suggests, some have asked me what foodstuff I bought in Taiwan. Well, quite a lot but I didn’t take photos of most of them and many I’ve already given away to friends and relatives. Those that I did take, I’ll share with you here.

Mochi… this one is black sugar version. I prefer those with the fillings though.

I love love love their Man Han Da Xi instant noodles. The egg I added in but the noodles does come with meats! Incredible and damn shiok! Quite  a huge portion too!

The chips are so-so but the Lay’s Mala one is not bad.

Boxes of macaroons I bought to give away to friends. The fillings are flavored marshmallows instead of cream so it can last longer.

Boxes of pineapple tarts also to give away. Though many people have raved about Taiwan’s pineapple tarts, for personal consumption, I much prefer the ones I make.

The famous Tai Yang Bing or Honey Malt Sunny Pie. Pretty good and great for people with a sweet tooth!

For Hello Kitty fans, you might be glad to note that the Taipei Airport is the only airport in the world that has a hello kitty themed nursing room. I’m not a mother but still I could help but to go in for a look see.

It’s so cute inside! And there was no one there when I popped by so I took a couple of pictures to share. They have complimentary hot water, cleaning wipes, cotton wool, diapers and more for mothers to use.

Other than the main area, there was another separate baby room for mothers who would like more privacy when they breastfeed.

I had my dinner at the airport before hopping onto the flight home. Figured that I much rather sleep my way home in the plane then have to wake up for meal service.

I wanted a light meal of chicken soup noodles and congee but the portions turned out so huge! Just look at the size of the bowl!

True to my word, once I was on the flight, I slept like a baby through the meal service. I did make an exception to wake up for some ice-cream though. I can always make an exception for ice-cream… lol

Finally back to Singapore’s Changi Airport! I love the familiar sights of the orchids!

I went down to the nearby departmental stores and drug stores to scout out their beauty care products and also dropped by the supermarket to grab some local Taiwan specialty products to bring back to Singapore. One of the interesting items I saw at the supermarket was this Sentosa brand milk powder!

I headed back to shop a little more in the Ximending area before meeting my family for a late lunch.

We decided to try the Japanese Teppanyaki- Steamboat buffet at the 2nd level next to rainbow hotel. We’ve passed by countless and it was a good time to give it a go.

I can’t remember what the restaurant was called but here’s their Japanese name in the photo below. You’ll have to take the stairs on the left side of rainbow hotel ( if you are facing the hotel) to the 2nd level to get to the restaurant.

After we settled in cozily in a booth where we could look out to the streets, we were asked what sort of soup base we would like and we chose the spicy kimchi. They then handed us a list and asked us to tick what sort of meats, seafood or vegetables we would like for them to serve to us. Since it was a buffet it is entirely up to you what or how much you would like to order.

Let the feasting begin!!! I have to say the food selection here is huge!

I love the fact that once our grill got too charred by all the BBQ we were doing, they came over to replace our grill with a brand new clean one and brought all our food over. It’s such a nice touch.

There was also a huge selection of sauces and a self-service salad bar. Free flow of soft drinks, coffee and tea too!

Desserts includes a chocolate fountain, selection of fresh fruits, mango pudding, aloe vera jelly, tarts and ice-cream. They had about 12 flavors of Meji ice-cream on one side and about 6 flavors of Hagan Daz ice-cream on the other.

For those who want more, there is rice and braised meats available as well. All in all, I’d have to say that this was a rather satisfying buffet.

All the mascots were out that day to draw the crowds and we had a little more time after lunch to do more shopping before we had to pack our luggages.

Some of you emailed me regarding the bag I was carrying in Taiwan. It’s a Hermes Garden tote with a twilly. It’s not new and if you look back in my older posts you would have seen me carrying it before. You probably didn’t notice it cause I don’t always post up or remember to take photos of my bags, accessories and shoes when I post my outfit of the day pictures. But as it so happens I did take a close up picture of this bag that day so here you go.

As for my pretty pink coach wristlet, it was a gift from my dearest friend, Sushi so I’m not too sure how much it is. You can see the close up picture in My Little Sister’s Makeover In Taiwan post.

One of the best and most exciting night markets I found in Taiwan was Miaokou Night Market at Keelung. It’s a good place to explore Taiwan’s variety of food! And it’s really very hard not to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices.

One side of the market was for shopping and there were clothes, dog clothes, household merchandise, shoes and even adult videos among others. While we bought a couple of stuff here and there, it was the food that we were most interested in!

My sister really liked these cute cakes and they were really cheap too. About NT20 to NT30 for the whole set!

We came to Miaokuo Night market after a full day of touring so the sights and smells of the street foods got our full attention! Almost immediately we set to buying and trying as much as we could! Mum got herself some peanut pancake and candied fruits.

We tried the fresh water eel soup.

Since this night market is in Keelung which is near the port, there are tons of fresh and cheap seafood on sale here. My family ordered baked crabs and steamed prawns and crayfish while I sadly looked on cause I couldn’t have any! But I did have my share of fried ribs and chicken! Sadly we didn’t take much photos of the foods we ate cause everyone’s hands were too oily from the food.

In the middle of the bustling night market street is a chinese temple. I supposed that’s how Miaokuo Night Market got its name.

Surrounding the temple on the left and right are even more food stalls! You could find Japanese foods, fishball soups, dumpling soups, oyster omelet, smelly toufu, bubble tea, Taiwanese tempura, all sorts of noodles, fried sandwiches,  ice-cream and much much more!

I could go on and on about the food or show you page after page of photos but I think a video does a better job or surmising everything. In this video, you can view our little trip to Yeh Liu, Jiu Fen, the goldmine and all the way to our trip at the night market.

We were leaving the mountainous part of Jiu Fen with their many abandoned buildings in the non-touristy areas. I really like those old buildings as they remind me how materialistic men are. While there is gold, everything prospered and when there is none, everything was left in shambles. Had the director Hou Hsiao Hsien not made his award winning movie ” City of Sadness” or 悲情城市 starring Tony Leung, no one would have given the place a second glance and it wouldn’t be the tourist town it is today.

I want to travel the world and see all the famous sights and I also want to explore the world for the buildings and people that the world forgot. If only time, money and commitments would allow me the pleasure. On the way to the city of Keelung, we stopped by at a random area near the sea.

The view was breathtaking! The lovely red cliff over looking the blue and yellow sea with powerful waves crashing at the rocks.

I didn’t take a picture of the color difference in the waters but basically, one side was blue and the water at the bottom of the cliffs are yellow. The yellow is from the sediments of the gold mining mountains of the area and due to the density of the waters, they do not mix thus producing the distinct blue and yellow sea in one particular area.

My silly sister was too tired so she chose to stay in the car instead of coming out to catch this gorgeous view! Mum on the other hand was just as ecstatic as I was!