7 nights in Taipei and Danshui: 7-14 Jan 2012

In march last year we  decided that Taiwan would be one of those places that we had to visit. Mostly because he convinced me the food there would be so amazing it would blow my mind to the moon and back, and beyond.

I’d been there previously with my mom and aunts for a distant cousin’s wedding, and since they (mom and aunts) weren’t the night market types, we didn’t have much, if any street food.

Boo on the other hand, had had loads of street food from his last trip as an army boy (xin guang bu dui – he wore it like a proud badge and told anyone who would listen. Usually the sales people who would ask if you’ve ever been to Taiwan as a conversation starter) and held many fond memories of them. Everytime we walked past a stall in the foodcourt (in Singapore) selling zha ji pa (deep fried chicken cutlet), he’d tell me how it was so amazingly awesome in Taipei. He also introduced me to rou song dan bing (egg rolled pancake with pork floss) from that stall in the basement of Far East Plaza – truly yums, and was one of the things I was looking forward to trying in Taipei. Sadly we didn’t see it anywhere, which boggled me. Was this one of those things that had been localised for Singaporeans? Like how you’d never find Singapore fried noodles in Singapore?

By April 2011, I had got our tickets booked. Way early but I love planning holidays, and it’s doubly exciting when I know I’ve scored a good deal on flights and/or hotels, or found some uber amazing place with the most incredible food to try.

The trip started out great because: (i) it’s the first holiday in a long time for the both of us where we didn’t have to bring work along; (ii) it was a decent length; (iii) we didn’t have to return home past midnight and drag our asses in to work immediately the next day. It felt like a right and proper holiday.

The only thing that had us worried was the weather. It was the middle of the winter, so we knew it would be cold which was great – coming from Singapore where the only weather we get is hot and humid or very hot and humid, with the occasional ponding affair along Orchard Road, anything different is enough to get us excited – but the forecast also predicted rain, everyday. This was a concern because we were planning to spend our nights visiting the various night markets, and they were all open air. After our first encounter with what they call ‘rain’ however, we realised we needn’t have worried. The rain in Taipei is really fine (tiny little droplets you barely notice), and clears up in a matter of minutes.

Highlights of our trip in pictures and captions.

Our first night in Taipei. Dinner at a tiny cafe located in one of Ximending’s back alleys.

One quick snap every morning before we head out. 

Food adventure in Taipei: Exploring Ximending

We spent the night roaming the streets of Ximending, a short 5minute walk away from our hotel.

I had expected a night market atmosphere, similar to the Raohe night market we went to yesterday but it wasn’t quite so.

Ximending has a vibe, similar to the back alley shopping areas of Shibuya and Shinjuku of Tokyo, except a little less quirky, and dotted with sporadic stalls of street food that seemed intent on migrating every hour or so to a different location. I suppose to go where the crowd was.

Supper in Taipei

Our first meal in Taipei, pasta and tea at a cosy little cafe at a back alley in ximending.

The Taiwanese love their tea. With our pasta, we were given a choice of teas, I picked Osmanthus and it was served with a tiny jar of honey.

My seafood gratin pasta. The seafood was remarkably fresh, especially the clams. They were tiny, but juicy and full of flavour even though they’d been in the oven. Unexpectedly yums!

Phuket with the family: 25-28 November 2011

My brother makes an annual trip back from the states with his family every year to visit, and this year, because it was also the school holidays, we decided to take a short trip up to Phuket for some intense family-bonding time.

My sister found the most amazing villa on this website, oddly named Digital Villas. Each of the villas go by an assigned number, ours was DVR56. I assure you it’s much better than it sounds.

DVR56 is located away from the ever-bustling and chaotic Patong beach, nearer to Chalong Bay. Although unlike what its location suggests, there were no beach views or access from our villa.

But who needs a beach when you have your very own private pool and jacuzzi. My only complaint is that the jacuzzi water wasn’t warm, and the pool wasn’t very big – but it was big enough for three screaming kids, a couple of encouraging parents (the kids are just learning to swim) and doting grandparents to splash around in.

The villa was huge, about 20,000sq feet. 5 bedrooms and all with en-suite bathrooms. There was free wifi located throughout the house, and even a laptop for you to use if you didn’t have one. There was a yoga room right next to the pool, that also doubled as a massage room. And a dedicated staff of 5 to cook, clean and even drive you around.

The first two pictures are from the Digital Villas website, and the rest are from my iPhone.

View of the pool with the house in the background, taken from the garden pavilion. On the right side of the picture you see part of the yoga room, that also doubles as the massage room. All we had to do was let them know how many people wanted to get massages, and they would arrange for masseurs to come in.
Taken from the Digital Villas website. 

Tokyo 26-30 October 2011

Japan is undoubtedly our favourite place in the world for so many reasons, but the main ones would have to be food, culture and food. The Japanese take such pride in everything they do, even buying a tiny slice of cake from a food hall is an experience because they put it prettily into a box, along with an ice-pack, a wet wipe and a fork before finishing it off with a gorgeous bow, handing it to you with both hands and bowing as you depart.

Our last trip in pictures.

We start every trip with freshly made sake onigiri on the Narita Express into the city

Uni and tuna roll at Daiwa Sushi in Tsukiji market. We had originally hoped to eat at Sushi Dai, but the 3-hour queue was ridiculous so 2-hours in (and a very rumbly belly), we decided to decamp to Daiwa Sushi next door. We ordered the Omakase set, which is essentially Chef’s choice. You get 8 pieces of sushi, a roll and a bowl of miso soup. Coming from Singapore where Salmon is one of the most popular fishes in Japanese food, we found it odd that it was missing in almost all the menu’s of respectable Japanese restaurants that we visited. But we didn’t miss it one bit because everything else was so yummy.