Succulent ribeye steak by Chef Bernard..

Pancakes with strawberries and honey for breakfast. Got this from Sydney's Pancake on the Rocks. Yummy! =)

One of Bernard's favourite dish, Cuttlefish with pineapple. Tried to keep it balanced by adding lots of spring onion. Will work to perfect this dish. =P

Bernard came back from Shanghai with a little surprise. He managed to get two baby polars to add to our Mascot collection!

We had wanted to get the baby ones during our trip to Shanghai last year but was told that it was no longer in production. Extremely surprised when he spotted the baby ones as he was combing the wholesale area during his recent trip.

Thanks Dar! =)

Photo courtesy of Joycelyn Ng. =)

By Hui Zhi

Arise and shine early in the morning! Had our breakfast of cornflakes before starting off on our drive to KL. We had Polar, our friendly mascot, to join us on our trip. We were in a convoy of 4 cars and it is a great time of fellowship along the way. =)

Had a awesome room at BTS on the 42nd storey (the last 2nd storey). View from the top was Wow!

Managed to spend some time with my parents on Thu afternoon. Had lunch and watched Karate Kid. Still squeezed in some time for a dip in the pool after that, before dinner.

Great times always seem to pass so quickly. Pray God will seal the work done in our hearts over the week through the sessions received. =)

... cut cake...
@ Yum Cha restaurant. Their service was good. Was so surprised by how they presented the cake. Thumbs up!

... and cut cake again. =)
Hui Zhi's birthday - 14 April 2010 @ Fullerton Hotel. Really enjoyed the food there. I'm usually not someone who goes for the cooked food section during buffet but the selection was just too good to miss.

Flowers from my darling.

Little gifts and notes from pupils. =)

Bernard's birthday - 16 April 2010 @ Garden Slug. Grew to love this place and the food after a friend's recommendation. Had Rib-eye steak and Seafood broth and both are equally delicious.
Previously tried the Zesty Beef salad (that comes with huge beef strips) and Mixed Grill. Superlicious!


Pictures below: Seafood broth, Zesty Beef Salad

Bernard and Hui Zhi would like to invite our family and friends to the following event... =)

By Hui Zhi


Love it when Bernard springs little surprises. He usually presents them when I least expected it. Notice the roses are arranged in the shape of a heart. Sweet! =)

Last day in Taiwan.

Woke up at 9am and had our breakfast at Mac. Walked around the area while we waited for the shopping mall Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (新光三越) to open at 11am. As it was the anniversary sale, they had the promotion of a NT$500 voucher for every $5000 spent.

We got the items we had eyed on last night; a bag for myself and a jacket for Bernard. Went around for a while deciding what else we wanted to get to make up the $5000. Finally accumulated the amount. As we were running a little late, mummy and papa went to get lunch first while we went to exchange our receipts for vouchers. We got some goodies with the vouchers and went to the information counter to queue for the tax rebate form.

Met parents at the food court, gobbled down my lunch and went back to the hotel to pack up our last minute shopping. Had made arrangements yesterday with Meeky's help. He had arranged for his friend, Mr Huang to fetch us to the airport for NT$900. (The usual rate which we asked through the hotel and also according to Meeky was NT$1000.)
 
Mr Huang was early and fetched us to the airport on time. Claimed back NT$267 as tax rebate and checked in. Similar to our flight to Taipei, the flight back to Singapore was full as well.

As it was pretty early, we went to Mr Brown Coffee to have some drinks and food. Initally wanted drinks only, but while ordering, we saw that they have some tea promotion and couldn't help but ordered the cheesecake and waffle as well. Was good! =)

As we got into the duty free area, we went to one of the shops to exchange for some Taiwanese products for free with some vouchers given by the Visitors Association here. We can choose from the selection from 2 sides of a rack. Nothing fascinating though. With our 4 vouchers, we exchanged for 2 notebooks, one pack of tea bags and one pack of preserved prunes.

Last photo shows our meal on board. Did not sleep at all as i was kept busy with the in-flight programme. No Sudoku this time round as the remote at my seat was faulty. =P

Holiday time always passes so quickly and we are back in Singapore before we know it. Till next time...

For today, we've engaged the services of another taxi guide, Mr Meeky Yang. Met him at 8.30am in front of Cityinn. It is nice to be in his roomy 7-seater. Not as cramp as the day we went to Hualien.

Places covered:
Yehliu Geopark (野柳地质公园)
Jiufen (九份)- old streets
Jinguashi (金瓜石)- Gold Ecological Park (黄金博物园区)
Yinyanghai (阴阳海), Nanya (南雅) and Bitou Cape Park (鼻头角),
Miaokou Night Market (廟口夜市) in Keelung (基隆).

First stop will be Yehliu Geopark. The admission tickets were at NT$50 per pax. The area is near the shore and we see various rock formations caused by waves and wind erosion. The attraction here was the "Queen's head". The erosion is causing the Head to be smaller and smaller. Definitely must get a shot before it gets out of shape. There was already a line of Chinese tourists queuing up when we got there (just as Meeky had told us). There had to be security guards stationed here to ensure tourists do not go too near the structure and damage it and also to ensure that some unruly tourists do not 'cut queue' while taking photos.

Caught this cuttlefish smell once we reached the area but couldn't really figure out where it came from. Once we got out of the geopark and entered the Gift area to only realise that this was where the smell was coming from. As the Yehliu is along the coastal areas where seafood is abundant, there was a great variety of seafood products here. In fact, there were people fishing and collecting seaweeds in the geopark.

Next on, Meeky drove us to the Jiufen area to walk the old streets. Many traditional goodies can be found here, but can't really tell which are the more authentic ones. Decided to walk round once before eating... Many Singaproean tourists here. Our speech is so distinctive...

Saw a stall selling Taiwanese sausages and couldn't resist getting one. Got 3 for NT$100 which we shared. Then we came across a stall selling mini glutinous rice balls in different flavours. We saw many people eating here; must be something popular. We got 2 bowls- one hot, one cold in mixed flavours and shared as well.

Meeky had earlier told us to give him a missed call when we are ready to leave, but oh no, could not receive any reception on my mobile in this part of Taiwan (although I had auto-roam). Seeked help from one of the shopowners nearby and she pointed us to a public phone which we could use... Meeky came in no time...

Proceeded on to the Jinguashi (金瓜石) area where we visited the Gold Ecological Park (黄金博物园区). Do take note that it is closed on Mondays if you are planning a trip there. The admission is  NT$100 but it can be waived with receipts. The government's way to promote tourist spending. We did not have any receipts with us but Meeky was kind enough to get us all the receipts for entrance; $400 saved. =) Temperature-taking for all visitors before entering the park.

We reached the geopark slightly before 2pm and saw on the brochure that the last gold panning session was at 2.30pm. We hurried to get to the correct place to get the tickets. Asked for directions at one of the viewing gallery and was assured that we are still early. Saw a video presentation on the life of a miner in the area. after that, The ladies there pointed us in the correct direction. We managed to make it for the 2.30 pm session, tickets at NT$100 each. 

While waiting for the session to start, we visited the Museum Of Gold (黄金博物馆).
Haha, my Mr. 黄 wanted to take a photo with the '黄' on the sign and here it is below... Also took photos with the humongous block of gold.

At 2.30pm, we met our guide at the ticketing counter and were led to the gold-panning area. There was just another couple from Macau was with us. Ha, thank God, there were no tour groups and we get specialised attention. It was interesting to see the water troughs and little stools by the two sides of them. Looks like some kindergarten play area.

Our guide went through the entire process with us, step by step. My hands quickly became numb with the icy cold water. Was the slowest in the group and got some help from the guide. Ha, ended up with the most gold dust in my souvenir bottle, but still it is less than one gram, I think.

Next, we visited the Benshan Fifth Tunnel (本山五坑) after getting the admission tickets at NT$50 each. The blusish caps you see if just some hygiene covers before we put on the helmet...The section that we'll be going through is part of the original tunnel, so safety cannot be compromised. Watched a short video while waiting for our turn to enter.

You may be thinking that names of some places like Benshan and even Taroko in Hualien sounds a little Japanese. You are right; Taiwan was under the Japanese colonial rule from 1895 to 1945. There is also the residence of the then Japanese Crown Prince within the park. That's also the reason why many of the ah-gong and ah-ma understand and speak fluent Japanese; they had studied the language when they went to school under the Japanese rule.

That's our guide who gave us a brief introduction of the work and activities in the gold mining tunnel. He even led us in a safety pledge. We understood his Mandarin but his sentences were too long for us to follow and we fumbled over many of the sentences...
 
He did not lead us into the tunnel. We went in on our own and there were audio recordings in the tunnel itself, operated by motion sensors... Hmm.. it was just a short walk, nothing great but still it was an experience.

Next, we stopped by Nanya (南雅) to snap more photos with the great rock formations of the area. Meeky also drove us to the Bitou Cape Park (鼻头角), the start point of a trekking trail. As we saw that the sky was turning dark soon, we did not alight at all.

Knowing that we've not tried betel nut at all, Meeky drove us to one of the shops to get some from the 槟榔妹. Everyone of us got one betel nut and some preserved star fruit to hide its raw taste. Meeky encouraged us to chew and swallow the juice. Hmm.. Its  taste is actually quite like fresh olives, still acceptable.

In a recent documentary I've watched, I was surprised to find out that according to 《本草纲目》, the betel nut has some medicinal properties, but of course too much of it causes cancer as well.

Finally, we travelled to Miaokou Night Market (廟口夜市) in Keelung (基隆). Bernard was asked to be the model for a salesman, but we did not buy anything from him at all. Hearing that Keelung is famous for its seafood, we tried crab and tempura fish, but was disappointed. The crab especially was too dry. Singapore's chilli crab and black pepper crab is still the winner.

The 八宝冬粉 which we tried last was surprisingly delicious. Like the tasty mushroom meatballs. Got another piece of chicken cutlet here, this time it is cut into bite-size pieces, more convenient to eat and not too oily, better than the one in Shilin. Walked around the area after all the eating and then contacted Meeky who fetched us back to Cityinn.

Our day did not end there. We went to the shopping mall to identify some items which we want to get early next morning. It was too crowded at night and we were not prepared to queue after a long day. Last day tomorrow! Got to pack up tonight!