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Our shoe cabinet that sit just next to the main door. This is a corner in our home that was forgotten. Only to be once again noticed when we were dusting it for CNY (although we pass by and glance it everyday). This is how we can take things as routine till it no longer has impact until we stopped to rethink. 
It has been a long time since I did one of this. Well, it might be good to keep me focus for a while. 1) Get my JLPT1 (and JLPT2 if possible) 2) Get my Advance Scuba licence 3) Get a pet dog. Most probably a King Charles. I started my Jap lesson last Saturday. My first encounter with Jap language was in year 2000, when I took it as an extra curriculum during my polytechnic days. It was only a Basic course and I didn’t even attempt JLPT at all. Looking back, it has been more than 10 years! Time do flies really. In 2000 era, Jap swept Singapore like a storm. Movies & dramas, fashion wears, hair styles, was a fever for teenagers all the way to the aunties who chase after TV programs, and with music being one of the least influential. Many in those era would remember famous Japanese celebrities like Diva Ayumi Hamasaki, to hunkly Beach Boy Takashi Sorimachi, and not forgotten Sweetie Kyoko Fukada. Today, if you mention these names you probably get a confused look from the now teenagers, and a “oh you are so outdated” look from those in my age band. However I am sure many who were in that Jap craze would smile while recollecting those days where we went crazy over them. While the wind has blown towards the Korean craze in Singapore, I was and am never really impressed by Koreans. Well, to be fare, it was not that I never gave them a chance. Back in 2000 while I was listening to Japanese pop songs and R&B, I did give Korean songs a try. I remember there was a cute 3 or 4 girl band but I forgotten what their names anyway. Hah! Today, Korean has more dominant in Singapore, but I still feel that they never reached the Japanese standards (disclaimer to prevent getting into any trouble - this remarks is purely based on my personal preferences and opinions). Not their food, not their fashion style, not their songs, not their TV dramas, and definitely not their celebrities (to me, they are just awful……aweeeee!). Probably the only thing better is their horror movies. Their TV dramas still sucks. From cry-baby romantic sad storylines to par-standard idols drama love stories. I guess I better stop undermining the Koreans here. Anyway, this thread focus is never them. Rather it is about the Japanese that I am still passionate in. I decided to retake my Jap language, starting from Basic once again. However this time round, I am determined to go all the way to JLPT1, with the goal of being able to speak like a native when I visit Japan. So for now, ジミさん、がんばてね！ Italy has so much things to do and see that we spent almost 1 week reading up blogs and travel guides, so as to pin down our itinerary. Switzerland was planned in just 1 day 9 days in Italy – Rome, Florence, Pisa, Venice We are pretty excited to be going to the REAL Colmar in France, because our visit to Malaysia’s Colmar Tropical was a great disappointment. We were legally married through ROM in 2008, although we only held our customary marriage banquet in 2011. Therefore, officially it has been 3 years of marriage life, and thus our honeymoon is rather overdue. It started with wanting Europe, then it skipped to Japan, and eventually went back to Europe. Amber and I are in the midst of planning for this trip to happen in April 2012. For 22 days we shall tour Italy, Switzerland, France. The 1st cut itinerary would be The last stop in France seems overkill to be saddle in a single spot for 5 days. I believe it will probably change when we firm up the itinerary further. For now, I am pretty happy to spread out the days in this manner. Rather than feeling “rush” like our 2009 Taiwan very rigid planned trip, I prefer a slow and flexible one for Honeymoon. This is our 3rd consecutive year to Taipei. Only difference is this a family trip, with my parents, mother-in-law and sis-in-law. Amber and I love the many things of Taiwan but would love to be having a holiday at another country other than this. It just happened that our parents desire to visit Taiwan, and we ended up there again. In 2010, we went to Taipei with 2 huge luggages (I hate travelling heavy), so this time round I decided to go light with my equipments. Bought along 35mm and 50mm, that’s all. Not even my external flash unit. As 5D II does not have in-built flash, I was prepared to forgo any photo that requires that. As usual, we had the itinerary planned out and arrived at 桃園國際機場 at around 3pm. We chartered a 9-seater for NT1200 to ferry the 6 of us with 4 luggages (If this is your first time heading to Taiwan, do reserve a pickup in advance. Those stations at the airport charges much more, such as NT1500 for just a normal 5-seater cab). We check into Puri Hotel in 西門丁, 台北市萬華區成都路27巷6號. It is around NT2260 per room per night for the normal bedroom. This hotel is newly furnished but the rooms are very small and squeezy. We were searching online and saw their photos, which looks nice and cozy, thus we booked it. So we were shocked to realise that there wasn’t even space to lay out our luggage properly. Nevertheless the hotel is very clean, and with such a good location, we can’t really complain. After chunking down our luggages, we hit the 西門丁 prime area. This place is flooded with young people, mainly in their teens to 20s. My dad was a bit uneasy with the crowd as he is someone who hardly be seen in our Orchard road. We had lunch, some snacks from the road stalls, and went back to the 三兄妹 for 雪花冰. They do celebrate Halloween in Taipei, and we came across this shop that does makeover. When the street lights got up, we headed to 士林夜市, one of our favourite night markets. As the ladies look out for clothing, I was once again only interested in food. The one item that I will never miss out when in Taipei, is none other than the 豪大大鸡排. 
西門丁 is a ghost town before 10am. We woke up at 9am and hardly could find food for breakfast (or rather first time here at such early hours, thus we do not know where the stalls are). We ended up at this place that sells porridge. My dad was grinning and saying he likes having porridge in the morning, and his expression changed when the item was served. It was the soupy kind, which does not fit his tongue butt. One bowl of that cost NT900, which is consider slightly expensive in a normal stall. The taste was blend and most of us didn’t finish our order. We planned to have steamboat buffet in the afternoon, so we stayed in the hotel room after breakfast. Come noon, we beat our stomachs in 飛天麻辣 (We tried the 滿堂紅 in our 2010 trip, which we felt is much better than this one), the 二奶店 at 台北市萬華區西寧南路32號1樓. I kept eating beef and almost nothing else, so much that my mum had to stopped me. At NT439 per person for weekdays price (They capped you for 2 hours, probably to prevent over eating), we walked away bloated and in need for a walk. 
Since our parents weren’t interested in shopping for clothes, we changed the itinerary and headed towards 猫空. My dad was joking the reason for that name is because there aren’t any cats in this mountain, which surprisingly without our knowledge, turned out to be the real reason. The cable car journey to the tip of 猫空 cost NT100 each, and takes around 30mins to glide through 4km towards the height of 275m. 猫空 is known for its tea plantation. We sat down at one of the outlets for a round of hot tea, which was perfect in that cooling weather. From the menu it states a small 75g packet of tea cost NT300, which I find reasonable. After enjoying the comfort for an hour, we called for bill and were shocked that they are charging additional NT100 per head for “water money” (it was written in fine prints, which we missed). I paid NT800 (I could buy a 500g with that) in total. Well, it was a nice experience for us, so no complains. I love cooling mountains with fresh air and could have stayed there for half a day. On the way back, my mum bought some 馒头 that hard as rock. I aren’t kidding. Those bread are so hard that you can smash a glass panel. 
This is our R&R day. We arranged for a 7-seater cab (林伟杰, NT4000, Cell Phone: +8869-8110-3148/ +8869-3955-5871) for whole day tour – 野柳, 十份, 九份, 基隆廟口夜市. This cab driver is very friendly and was not bothered even if the trip overshoots the usual 10 hours. He does not bring passengers to unplanned places to “shop”. In fact along the journey he kept treating us to local delights. Do give him a call if you are looking to book a cab for long distance travel. Before setting off we went down to the famous 永和豆浆. This is one of my famous supper joint in Singapore, and to taste the authentic Taiwan stall is superb. Our first stop was 野柳, a place with rocks formations created through hundreds years of weathering. This place is popular with couples for wedding photography. As a tourist attraction, it was rather challenging for me to capture my desired shots without having people in it. The main highlight of this place is the 女皇头. From the side profile it looks like any other rock, but from the front profile it does resemble the Queen. 
Next we went to 十份, a town located in the mountain region. We were going round and round in spiral for at least 20mins. There is history behind 孔明灯 and it is still a yearly festival for the Taiwanese. At the same time it has became an attraction for tourists to cast wishes. Several colors represent various meanings. Wishes are written on the lantern, which is lighted and lifted into the air. We bought 2 lanterns, one for each family. Amber was part of both lanterns, since she is considered to have married from her 陈家 into our 郑家. Just a short distant and we were climbing stairs to 十份大瀑布. Lovely place except our aging parents find it challenging to be climbing lots of stairs at their age. 
To get to 九份 we had to spiral down the mountain and spiral up another one. Half way there we stopped by the 阴阳海 and 南雅奇石. It is best to visit 九份 around 4 ~ 5pm. After sunset the lanterns brings out the aroma of this place. It would be nice to stay until past 10pm, to capture the empty streets, but I did not have such opportunity. 
Our last stop for the day was 基隆廟口夜市, a place famous for seafood. There are so many food stalls but we were rather full from all the snacks by our driver. The rain came and it made walking around difficult. At least we tried some interesting food such as the humungous octopus or squid legs. 
Breakfast as usual and we dropped by this shop that sells candies. Come noon we checked out from Puri Hotel towards 淡水. With the luggages we needed 2 cabs. The total cost came up to almost NT1000, and it would have been cheaper if we pre-arrange for the 9-seater. For 2 nights we will be staying in a private apartment (淡水小木屋 – 淡水英專路172號) at an average of NT1050 per room per night weekday price. Their rooms are very well done up. Amber and I stayed in the 薔薇房, and we love it. 
The streets of 淡水 are not as city like. There are plenty of food stalls around. This is our 2nd time here and I still love 淡水 as I can literally eat non-stop as I walk. We went down to the 淡水老街, and I tried Ah Ke for the 2nd time. This time round I confirm that the taste is really not to our liking. After an hour, I filled my stomach and was getting bored while the ladies shopped. The street is a simple straight path and it allowed me to take my focus off them without fearing they wander off lost. I started looking for interesting subjects to shoot. Then the mist came with drizzle. It was really cooling. The droplets so fine that it seems to evaporate before more can fall onto you. There were people fishing by the side, and the mist bought out the mood for my photos. How I wish we have mist in Singapore as well.
We walked all the way till sunset and had 热炒 for dinner. I have been waiting to try this since 2010 when my wedding photographer told me about it. It is their Taiwan version of our Singapore 煮炒. Their cooking style differs slightly from ours. I drank 3 bottles of beer and my mother-in-law was taken back by that, concern and afraid that I might get drunk. Well, she didn’t know that I drink on frequent basis and would need much more to get tipsy. With the cool weather and a stomach full of food, I slept like a pig. The same stretch of street last night looks very different in the morning. “Market” stalls appears in the morning, from a proper stall, to a push cart, to even a layout sheet on the floor. It was really nice to see such a scene as it has totally disappeared in Singapore. Probably we have gotten so used to our Singapore environment and the 淡水 morning streets bought back fond memories for our parents. We had our rather inexpensive breakfast at stall a call 喜相逢. Typical Taiwan noodles, nothing fanciful. 
Past 4 days were cooling with bits of drizzling. The weather took a change for today, with the sun up, a clear blue sky, and temperature high enough for one to stay in an air-condition area. After breakfast we decided to find a place for coffee. Came across this 猫雨 cafe. I love cats and suggested we can enjoy some refreshment there. They walked in while I took some shots of the shop. Next moment they walked out with a disgusted look. The cafe had many cats jumping around (no issue with me) and the air-con caused a terrible stench of kitty smell. I figured that we can’t enjoy anything under such condition. So we walked a few shops down to this cafe, Eudora. It wasn’t here when we came in 2010. A check with the staff confirmed that they started operation earlier in 2011. Nice ambience. We sat down and everyone was happy having our drinks. 
Beside the 淡水老街, people would typically visit 漁人碼頭 (this is a waste of time. we went in 2010 and left in 15mins) or Fort San Domigo or 八里. We chose the last option and hopped on for a 10min ferry ride. 八里 is a relaxing place, a stroll in the park by the sea kind of. I love this kind of place but it would bore Amber. Good thing there is a stretch of place with food and shops. I told them to get easy and enjoy the breeze while I rented a bicycle and went for a longer stretch. It was the only time I get to be alone during this trip. A good chance to focus on just getting shots I wanted. 
We went back by the ferry and slowly walk back to our apartment. There is this shop that sells natural soap, and they have this crafted soap pig for display. Interesting. Dinner was at the same 热炒 place. This time I bought along my camera. We had 8 dishes in total, and it cost NT1250. Cheap I must say. Bloated once again, we went for the last round of walk, to pick up any last item while trying to digest our dinner before sleeping. 
Before we knew it - on the plane back to Singapore. |
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while France is still on the way. We even considered extending to longer trip and going into Belgium or Germany, but eventually tweaked the itinerary abit and now the next cut looks like this.