All posts tagged: taiwan

Taiwan Food Diary: Watami Japanese Restaurant

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Watami Taiwan After visiting Longshan Temple and failing to visit the rest of the places we wanted to go due to the rain, we decided to walk around the night market and then eat dinner. “Our last meal has to be nice and classy!” So, after walking past several restaurants, we decided to try Watami. On the outside, the restaurant looked very spacious and nice, and I’m happy to say the inside was even better. There were private rooms and the staff was friendly.   The prices weren’t too bad, I’m sure if we were in HK they would be more expensive. Sushi was about 240 NT = 7.74 USD. My favorite part was their service button! This was the first restaurant outside of KBBQ in SOCAL that had one. Everytime we needed to order something, we would just press it and a waitress would arrive. I got the salmon sushi and it was decent. I would recommend getting something else though. I was full after three pieces…   Because the sushi wasn’t enough, I decided …

Longshan Temple , Taipei

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Longshan Temple No. 211, Guangzhou St, Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan 10853 On our last full day in Taipei, Rachel and I decided to visit Longshan Temple. Unfortunately for us, it was raining heavily in Taipei that day so after visiting the temple we were unable to visit the National park or anything else. I believe this was the first temple that I visited in Asia, so I was very excited.  The pictures didn’t turn out that great due to the weather… The waterfall!

Taipei 101 + Din Tai Fung

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  Taipei 101 + Din Tai Fung   Price: 500 NT per person / $16 USD Rachel and I decided to see Taipei 101, not really knowing what to expect. I have to admit that I do think it is pretty cool compared to Victoria Peak (in HK) as it has the fastest elevator in the world. Imagine going from the fifth floor to the 89th-floor observatory in only 37 seconds! Our ears popped, but it was very well worth it.  It was raining that day, so we couldn’t go up on the highest level – so we had to view Taipei from inside but it wasn’t too bad. The pictures I captured on my phone turned out better than my camera; but overall I’m not really one for sight-seeing in the first place so although it was nice to visit once – I will not go again.     Din Tai Fung   After seeing Taipei 101, we decided to stop by Din Tai Fung to grab dinner. We didn’t know much about it… we just …

Taipei Zoo

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Welcome to the Taipei Zoo We decided to go to the Zoo because it was seriously so cheap, only 60 NT = $2 USD. We got to ride the Cable Car on the way down, so that was fun. Actually, I’ve rarely gone on a cable car so I was very excited but a bit disappointed because we were only on there for about less than 15 minutes, but you can choose to prolong the journey by paying a bit more and taking it all the way down to the MTR station. I forgot the prices of the Cable Car, but I think it was around 50 NT ?  I was very sick throughout the day – I had a runny nose and a headache… so I didn’t enjoy it as much as I would have liked.  Hooray for the halloween tree? 

Travel Diary – Taiwan Day 1

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  { First Day in Taiwan } I love Taiwan! It reminds me of Vietnam, only more modern. I love the motorcycles mixed in with the cars – the cheap food and all the night markets. I actually prefer it over Hong Kong, but I do think the weather is a bit too humid for my taste. Tomai took me to one of her favorite breakfast places near school. Our meal was only 2 dollars combined! I had the green onion pancakes, and she had the ham and cheese pancake. She had tea while I had orange juice. I loved my green onion pancake, it was so crispy and wasn’t dry at all! I was surprised to have it with egg, because I’ve had it at some korean restaurants but haven’t had the Taiwanese version before so that was a good touch. Getting Our Hair Shampooed. Usually in Vietnam, I always get my hair shampooed. It usually only costs about 2-3 USD dollars, and it lasts about 30 minutes or more because it comes with …

Happy Family Hostel – Taipei

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Stay at the Happy Family Hostel  After browsing around online, I found that most hostels in Taipei were booked such as Rainbow Hostel (recommended to me by Tomai). I went online and Happy Family Hostel was the first place that popped up. Upon looking through the prices, I found it was very affordable compared to other hostels. Other hostels are about 13-15 USD and it’s a shared dorm. Dorm – NT$400 Single – NT$700 Double Room – NT$1000 (total price$ for 2 people) – $33 USD Stay 1 week get 1 day free Air Conditioning is available for most all rooms for a small extra charge Air Conditioning is free in dorms I have to admit, I am a horrible planner… don’t trust me for any trips. I just chose this place without looking at the location; I was just so happy to find a hostel that lists the price and have it show up on google search. I was a bit worried to find that they don’t have an online booking system… you just email …

Dinner : Street Food in Taipei

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  Taiwanese Street Food In Hong Kong, I really haven’t had the chance to try street food but of course in Taipei, I had to at least have some octopus balls! Tomai took me to the night market and we were able to eat dinner there – while walking around and looking at clothes, among other things. Our first stop were the squid balls!  Only 40 NT for about 8 pieces – that translates to about $1.30 cents!!  It was quite good, but as you can see theres wasabi on it… it was hard not to eat one without wasabi. Hong Kong Style Pancakes I love love love brick toast with coconut butter spread on it , so when I saw it as one of the options for the filling I had to buy it. I forgot the price, but I’m sure it was less than 2 USD. Banh Mi Thit For 2 USD, it wasn’t bad but it was quite plain and needed more sauce. Also, we thought it would come with a little bit …

I’m in Taiwan!!

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    Taiwan Travel Diary – First Night I made it to Taiwan! This was def a spur of the moment decision and I couldn’t be happier. Rachel and I decided to go to Taiwan – I left on Wednesday and arrived at the Taipei Airport at 8ish, got on a bus and finally made it back to the Taipei Main Station! And of course who else picked me up other than Tomai? She visited me in Hong Kong, so I thought I’d return the favor!  Because I actually got to the station pretty late, we decided to look for food but everything was pretty much closed since it was almost midnight. We settled on this Italian place… which I had four hours ago in HK; but oh well.  The trip to Taipei was only 233 USD from HK and the flight was only a hour and 30 minutes. For both of our meals we got a set meal for 380 NT = $12.50 !!!! Taiwan is so cheap compared to Hong Kong. Our meals came with: Soup …

Tomai’s first day in Hong Kong {Causeway Bay}

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So, Tomai came all the way from Taiwan to visit me in Hong Kong! She arrived yesterday (Friday) and is staying here until Monday morning. Of course, I’ll return the love by visiting her in Taiwan on the 10th of October… so be sure to check back for more pictures! I decided to take her to Causeway bay in the morning to go shopping….  Here she is, taking photos from the rooftop “Sky Track.” Causeway Bay – Jardine’s Crescent (Street Market) If you go to Causeway bay and exit F, then you can visit tons of shops. I love the Forever 21 there because it has big sizes (Sorry, I’m not an XS). Tomai wanted to go shopping and since she can fit into the sizes here, I took her to the street market – although it’s not as large as the Ladies Market she was able to buy a shirt. To get there, just walk Right when you see Forever 21 and go to the left hand side and you should see the Market. Smile Yogurt & Dessert …