Taiwan Day 6 (4 Dec 2024)

Went to 永和豆浆 for breakfast. 

This was located at a hidden alley in Ximending. Seating capacity is small in this shop, and we are the 2nd set of customers. Food is decent. 

After breakfast, we walked around Ximending, the kids tried their luck again at claw machines, we tried xing fu tang for the hype because we see a long queue ALL THE TIME, darling and I bought some souvenirs for our colleagues, and I even had a time for a haircut. 

We checked out of the airbnb at 11 am, where our driver, 皮先生, will pick us up at Ximending and bring us to Yilan. 

We first met 皮先生 in Dec 2016, when darling and I had our holiday in taiwan, and he sent us to the airport from Ximending. Is funny how we met him, because he was not the original driver, the original driver cannot make it and sent him to pick us. When he came in his toyota alphard, I was stunned, because wow what a big car, and it was so comfortable. And throughout the car ride, we chatted alot and we clicked. 

From then on, we engaged him again in June 2017, when we went to Taiwan with darling's family. My family also engaged him when the 4 of them went Taiwan. So he is considered our 老朋友 already, and he has fetched all our family members. 缘分真的是太奇妙了。

Our first destination for the day is lunch at a teppanyaki restaurant, that I found on google. But when we reach the restaurant, it was not open, and the staff said that it will only be open when there is reservation. Wow so atas sia. I actually asked 皮先生 to call and book the day before (because I learnt from the teppanyaki restaurant experience at Taichung), but the restaurant said need to pay a deposit, so I said heck it and we will try our luck the next day, if dont have we can always eat at other teppanyaki restaurants. 皮先生 found another teppanyaki restaurant for us, and he said this restaurant is highly recommended by many influencers. 

东方红 strikes a chord with me, because of the Yellow River dance that I did with NUSCD many years back. Anyway, I was very impressed with the restaurant interior. I was also impressed with the toilet, because the toilet provides toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss and mouthwash. OMG. 

And of course I was impressed with the food and the service. I was blown away at every single dish. There are 2 price range for the menu, 2000 twd and 2500 twd. The difference between the 2 price range is 2000 twd is prawn and 2500 twd is lobster. If you cant take beef, they will replace it with 松阪猪肉. 

1st dish: fruits

2nd dish: appetiser (salad with calamari)

3rd dish: cabbage with abalone

4th dish: the chef said this is their signature dish. rissoto. 

5th dish: oyster. i am not a fan of oyster but this oyster dish i can accept. 

6th dish: chestnut soup. that is served like a cup of cappucino. (darling thought it was some coffee that I ordered hahahahaha)

7th dish: fish

8th dish: prawn. on top is a cracker made of squid ink. 

9th dish: wagyu beef

After the 9th dish, the chef ask if we are still hungry. If we are, he will cook fried rice for us. Both of us immediately say no need. Hahahahahaha. 

And then we get to choose our dessert:

My dessert: Apple Crumble Tart. Normal. 

Yuan Ze's dessert: Macaron on top of brownie

Darling's dessert: Taro crepe. This is the nicest. 

Is the price worth it? Definitely. For the food, service and the experience. I will visit again next time. 

After lunch, we went to 心花鹿 fun 农场. Is a farm where animals roam freely and you can interact with these animals, such as deer, alpaca and cabybara. 

After the farm, we went to our accomodation for tonight, 芯园 - 我的梦中城堡。I chanced upon this homestay on google map, and the reviews were super good, and the pics look good also. Breakfast included, room is very big, got bathtub, cost 237,45 sgd. Very worth it really. 

The homestay got princess gowns and prince blazers for you to choose and wear and take photo.

The lobby is so pretty. 

Complimentary red wine for the dinner set. Dinner is not included, you need to purchase the dinner separately, and must inform the homestay one day in advance. 

Pizza for the kids. 

Pasta dish. Portion very big. We cannot finish. 

Darling's salmon dish. Looks very good. 

That's it for Day 6! 

Taiwan Day 5 (3 Dec 2024)

Ming Yue Hu hotel is really value for money. I booked a Quadruple Room with Lake View on the upper floor (we stayed at the 9th floor). Breakfast included, got bathtub, and a balcony. From our room can really see a superb view of Sun Moon Lake. Cost 263.53 sgd. 

(View of Sun Moon Lake from our hotel room. This was taken at 6 am.)

This is Ming Yue Hu hotel. 

Went for a jog in the morning. There was a walking trail starting from Ita Shao and I used it for the jog. Weather was very good for jogging, although it was a bit too cold for my liking especially when the wind blows. After jogging, I coincidentally saw Huanyang. Hahahaha. 

Another highlight of this trip is Huanyang arranged for a family photoshoot. Initially we are supposed to take the photos at Taipei this afternoon. But the photographer knew from Huanyang that we are at Sun Moon Lake, so he proposed Sun Moon Lake as a better option because is very scenic. And so Sun Moon Lake it is, and we are blessed with very good weather. 

The photos really turned out very well! Waiting for Huanyang to give us the green light (ie pay the photographer) so that we can download the photos happily. 

And because the rental car has been towed away yesterday, I need to find other options to go back to Taichung HSR station. At first I approached the hotel to ask if the hotel can arrange for taxi to send us to Taichung HSR. The lady said it will be very expensive (around 100 sgd) and she suggested the four of us to split among Huanyang's vehicle and Xiaoyu's vehicle. Omg that was a really good suggestion, helped me to save money. And we had a long discussion on how we should split and finally it is me and yuanyi go to Xiaoyu's car, darling and yuanze go to Huanyang's car. 

We reached Taichung HSR station and I went to settle the rental car. 

In conclusion, I need to pay for: 

1) 1 day of loss of income for the rental car (the staff claimed that originally should be 3 days but the manager is very kind and said 1 day can liao)

2) Half a tank of petrol 

3) The repair fees for replacing the right side mirror

The charges by the tow truck no need to pay, because is covered by insurance. So altogether the damages I need to pay is 381.15 sgd. Ok lah, still acceptable for me. I was expecting to pay 500 sgd, so paying 381.15 lifted my mood. I also bought a business class travel insurance package before the trip, so hopefully the insurance can wipe off the 381.15. 

And we take the high speed train from Taichung to Taipei. This is also the time we say bye bye to my parents and my sisters. 

Upon reaching Taipei, I decided to take taxi to Ximending instead of taking MTR, because got 2 kids and the heavy luggages. Best decision ever, because the taxi ride cost us 5 sgd. 

When we reached Ximending, our airbnb host greeted us and brought us to the airbnb to put our luggage, as the room is still not ready. So we went to walk walk at Ximending. 

The airbnb, location is very good, right in the middle of Ximending. Very affordable also, at the price of 145.88 sgd. However, it is located in an old building with an old lift. This may scare some people. (But I have seen worst when I brought darling and her parents to Hong Kong, when we stayed at this airbnb in Mongkok. I remembered the lift door, we need to ownself open the lift door and ownself close the lift door in order to activate the lift. I think her parents were very traumatised by it. But the airbnb house itself is ok. Hahahahaha.) In addition, the airbnb also has a funny smell. But nvm, because we are only staying here for 1 night. So the main reason I chose this airbnb is because is cheaper than most hotels at Ximending area, and it is also bigger in space. 

This ktv restaurant is located in the same building as the airbnb hahahahaha. 

This is our airbnb. Ok lah the TV got youtube and netflix which the kids are very happy. And they totally got no interest to shop at Ximending, so me and darling take turns to go shop. 

This concludes Day 5.

Taiwan Day 4 (2 Dec 2024)

A special guest came to visit 山中静静 in the morning. 

Yuanze woke up early, and had his own ME time. 

(So much feels hahahahahaha)

After breakfast, we head to Cona's Chococastle. There was a DIY chocolate activity, where all the 4 kids partcipated. 

After the chococastle, we had lunch at this restaurant nearby famous for chicken. 

 

After lunch is a drive to Sun Moon Lake, where our accomodation is. Sun Moon Lake has changed alot, since the last time I went there. The last time I was there was in 2008, with KC and Zhenhong. The place we are staying at is Ming Yue Hu hotel, situated at Sun Moon Lake Ita Shao shopping district. Unfortunately, on the way to Sun Moon Lake, I got into a small accident. The car coming from the opposite direction was driving quite near me so I tried to siam, and then the right side mirror got damaged, and when I said damaged is an understatement. The whole side mirror went off. Luckily when that happened, we were about 3 minutes away from the hotel, so I drove very very slowly and carefully. Naturally my mood was very low after that and I had no mood to walk around in the Ita Shao shopping district. The remaining time was used to call the car rental company and settle the insurance matters, and I am glad that Huanyang's driver got help me in this. 

The car rental company gave me 3 options: 

option 1: drive the car back to Taichung since I am returning the car the next day

option 2: get a tow truck to send the car back to the car rental company

option 3: drive the car to a nearby workshop and get the side mirror repaired, the charges will settle with the car company upon returning the car

I went for option 2. And I realised, I didnt purchase the zero excess option. That was my mistake. And mistake number 2 is, I didnt call police. In Taiwan, need to call police to trigger the insurance option. I thought that since is my mistake of damaging the car, and I did not knock any car and the other car did not knock me, it did not occour to me that I still must call police. Next time I will be more mindful of all these procedures. 

But is ok, most importantly is I am safe and my family is safe. 

Here's the rest of the pics to sum up Day 4.