Taiwan: Weekend getaway!
The week after I turned 24... I decided it was time to have a 'YOLO' moment.
No la, bluff one hahaha!
The bf had to go back and change his passport in Taiwan due to visa issues so we booked a one way flight on Scoot 2 days before we departed.
Yup, it was that YOLO that everyone was asking me why I ninja-ed to Taipei without them knowing, even better still, asking why I hadn't bought a return air ticket.
But it was fun I guess to be spontaneous :)
This is not gonna morph into one of my travelogue entries because nothing I did was even damn near touristy (we spent the entire time spending time with his family).
I have been to Taipei so many times I have lost count of the places I've visited and the amount of people asking me for advice on what to do in Taipei.
Perhaps the next time I do visit Taiwan again for leisure, a real vacation, I'll do a travelogue series.
But till then.... just make do with this heh xD
Took the midnight flight from Singapore to Taipei on Scoot.
First time aboard Scoot and it's really nice!
Ok, maybe it wasn't that fair to say the seats are spacious because the bf paid extra for their 'S-t-r-e-tc-h' option.
But at the front of the aircraft, the entire area was barely occupied and we kinda had the entire area all to ourselves.
Nice :D
Yellow Scoot seats! Comfy.
Rise and shine when we landed in Taipei at 5.30am
Sleepyhead (and I) were mad exhausted T.T
I hadn't taken the day off before we flew because I didn't have any more leave so I ventured to work, worked for a good 9 hours, came home to pack, ate dinner with my dad, fetched my bro and off we went to the airport.
YOLO ANOT YOU TELL ME?!
Touched down super early but it was all bright already at Taoyuan's Terminal 1.
The first thought that came to me when I stepped on Taiwan soil: Wow, it has really changed.
When I last came to Taipei, Terminal 1 looked really bad and now it looks all done up and glorified. /jaw drops/
Gosh, I miss the times spent in Taiwan!
We exited and went to buy our Kuo Kuang bus tickets to Nangang Exhibition Hall which is near the bf's place.
Reached there in approximately 40 mins and cabbed back to his house.
From their convenience store - Monsters University craze! Minions too actually hahah!
Took a quick shower and went out of the house at 8.30am looking like this X_X Super sleep deprived.
Taiwan is sorta like my second home, after all this was my 5th trip and most definitely not my last. And I eased back into Chinese fairly easily there. Maybe it's the air hahahaha! Or the necessity to communicate with his family in Chinese.
Headed to their version of ICA to do up his passport near Taipei Main Station.
Had a good laugh about this with the bf lololol
Everysing in Taipei too
Walked around Taipei Main Station there after submitting his things for the passport before heading to Ximending via the metro which is only 1 stop away. Pretty freaked out by the concept for the IGAB lifesized posters because they all looked alike X.X. Coincidentally it was SNSD's concert in Taipei that weekend too but I didn't go :(
Whuuuut there's a Hao Da Da Ji Pai store in Ximending?! Ok, everyone you don't need to go to Shihlin anymore!
Mad hungry then and decided to have ramen.
Dear eyebags, please go away T.T
Ramen was blah or maybe we were extremely exhausted!
Imagine not being able to have a good night's rest due to the flight and having to work the entire day the previous day.
Gosh I think if I had a battery indicator I'd prob be at 20% or so LOL!
The bf went for a haircut in Ximending because his hair was getting out of hand.
Paid NT600 which is fairly reasonable given that his stylist is more senior.
I stoned while trying not to fall asleep at the sofas there zzzzz.
We really couldn't take it then and went to Core Pacific City Living Mall or 'Jing Hua Chen' in Chinese to attempt to buy a talking minion toy for his nephew.
Discovered the talking Agnes toy instead and.... now I want one >_<
On a side note, that mall is crap! It was like a dead town so please don't go there if you're ever in Taipei unless you're there for the night clubs la or you kena conned by the travel agency to go there and buy things.
No pics for the rest of the day because we went back to sleep after that till his bro and mom came home from work.
Headed to a buffet place at ATT4FUN for dinner before buying tickets to watch Pacific Rim afterwards (bloody hell third row from the front was so not fun. my poor ears!) and finally going back to sleep at close to 1am.
The next morning the whole family (incl me la) went to pick up his 2nd brother from the airport and we went to have seafood at this harbour place and then spent time as a family together.
I know how much he misses his family at times so I was glad that he was able to spend time with them (I didn't even bug him to go shop like I normally do).
Fast forward to our 3rd day in Taipei: Trip to Hsinchu!
I hadn't been to Hsinchu before and we were going there to meet his 2nd bro's fiancee's family for lunch.
So scary, I felt abit out of place but I did put up my best face with full makeup and heels!
Huge prawn with mango sauce yum! No other pics from the lunch because I didn't want to be rude taking pics of my food nonstop lol. I mean taking pics of food is.. so Singaporean lol!
Left Hsinchu at around 3pm and drove back to Taipei!
Headed to Taipei 101 for shopping and....
....someone bought me a diamond ring! :D
No la bluff one also HAHAHAHAAH!
His brother wanted to buy an engagement ring so we went ring shopping (bf & I eyepower while his mom & bro did all the deciding plus they served us Valrhona chocolates. SOOOO GOOOOOD!)
I trolled all my friends with that picture and their reactions were quite funny cos they really thought the bf proposed.
Nope, he didn't plus I feel now is really not the right time for us to get married and all.
But I did hint what sort of ring I wanted to him ^^ I hope he remembers if not FML.
Dinner after spending close to 4 hours at the store at 'Kan Pai'.
BBQ fooooood noms!
The brothers' favourite game of the moment. My stupid bf is playing this non-stop 24/7! UGHHHH!
We popped by Raohe Night Market because it is super near my bf's house to... find handphone covers LOL!
Ok I wanted to shop but nothing enticed me :(
I did go home with tons of phone covers and cord wraps la.
No clothes, I cannot believe it, not a single piece of clothing bought on this trip!
HAIX, WO ZHEN DE LAO LE.
Went home, showered and packed our luggage.
Off we went back to collect his passport bright and early in the morning because we had to meet his brother in the afternoon for something special (ok la, for his brother's proposal) then I wanted to squeeze in some last minute skin care shopping at the departmental store.
But first up, had to find my lu rou fan or braised meat rice!
Went into this store that served it along with stinky tofu but alas the taste was not as good booo.
Tastes bad :/
One for him, one for me! This one not that bad, quite yummy hehe.
What I bought at Albion hehehe I'm trying out the Skin Conditioner because Jace raved about it and I desperately wanted to clear up my skin problems :( We'll see how it goes!
From Mister Donut who comes up with the weirdest kinds of donuts!
Beef noodles at a restaurant in Terminal 1
And that's all folks! This just concludes my YOLO trip to Taipei in a matter of... 4 days HAHAHA!
We flew back via Jetstar on Monday evening and touched down after midnight.
Became a zombie the next day when I went to work but persevered till the weekend where I finally finished up all my tuitions and will finally be tuition-free before I fly off for work in Sept.
I'm thinking I'll be uberly free to blog more when I fly off for work in Sept and... hopefully do some travelling in between.
We'll see :)
Till the next travel adventure~