In Taiwan - Day 1
After weeks of mounting demands/pressure from my friends (including colleagues) about my shocking trip to Taiwan, I finally gave in and decided to post process my heaps of photos and post them up. It’s going to be a brief one but I will try to fill them up with lots of photos. You might want to drop by at my flickr for more Taiwan photos.
During my sudden disappearance 4 weeks ago, I was actually on holiday. Some knew about my holiday in Taiwan. Some knew that I am going for a holiday but not sure where is my destination. Some didn’t know at all cause they don’t care about me. Anyway, my friend, Jason, asked me to join him for this trip. I gave a short thought (more like 2 weeks actually) and agreed with the plan of “backpacking” in Taiwan for 2 weeks. You might wonder why did I put the ” “ sign in between the backpacking but I shall explain it later in other posts.
There weren’t any plans at all. I was told that the draft plan (of what we are going to do in Taiwan and etc.) was crafted 10 mins before my arrival in KLIA. Shocking as it may sounds to be, I found it rather interesting and looked forward to it. My friends had a brief idea of where to go throughout the 16 days but do bear in mind that a draft plan can always be changed without any notice, which we really did change them. Hehe.
It took us approximately 5 hours to travel to Taiwan via EVA Air. The journey was smooth but the food was a lil below average. I reckoned that MAS serves the best food in the air. Seriously.
Once we landed, we went straight to the information counter to register and get this…
Well, it is said to give discount for train tickets. I wasn’t prepared for this as I thought we will be given a card instead of this rubber thingy. It looks more like a keychain rather than a discount card. I lost mine at the end of the trip. :P
The distance to Taoyuan city from the airport was rather far. It took us more than 30 minutes to travel to the city by bus. With our bags in the hotel, we went for food hunting and found and ate these…
Stuffed and tired, we went to buy mineral water before we headed back to our hotel and called it a day.
Canon EOS 40D Camwhore Session
With almost 95% of photos in this blog taken by my Canon EOS 40D, it (my camera) rarely gets its chance of being featured or being photographed by other cameras. So, after a long thought and since I’m dead bored, I shall dedicate this post to my current camera.
Photos above were taken using my trusty 4 year old Sony Cybershot DSC-W1(below).
It still rocks…. to certain extend la. Hehe.
Short Expedition To Malacca
Right after the breakfast in Seremban, we were hesitating whether to head down to Malacca or just head back Kuala Lumpur. It took us quite long to decide as the weather wasn’t looking that good in Seremban.
However, after much thought about it, we decided to head further down to the historical state. Since the journey only took us about less than 1 hour, we had to take this opportunity to go all out as this such ‘impromptu expedition’ is quite rare.
Upon reaching to Malacca, with all the hype and yada yada, our first itinerary of the day was to have the famous cendol at Jonker Street. The shop was packed with visitor from all walks of life and it was indeed hard to find a place to sit. Hence, we had to share a table with a couple other than waiting for god-knows how long for an empty table.
I’m not too sure about the pricing as they were paid by my friend. All I got to do was to order what I want while waiting to be served (by my friend) at the table. Hehe. This was probably the second time since my last visit.
Right after that, we walked around at the fort since it is quite near to the shop. Equipped with our cameras, we snapped away whatever we saw. It wasn’t that pleasant as the scorching sun was beaming away like there was no tomorrow. Having said that, it was good weather I would say since it was raining cats and dogs in Kuala Lumpur every single day.
It wasn’t long after we decided to call it a day. But before we left Malacca, we opted for Pork Satay as our lunch. After having the usual chicken and beef satay like every single time in Kuala Lumpur, it was indeed a good choice to have something different.
The only downside about the satay that was served during that day was the size of it. It was rather small. Smaller than my pinky finger and it cost RM0.55 per stick. It was smaller than those served in Kajang, approximately half of the size.
Oh wait, there’s another complaint about the shop. They cook the satay at the entrance. Be prepared to smell like charcoal when you are done with your food.
Bruise, battered, tired, sweaty and sleepy, we decided to head of back to Kuala Lumpur at about 3pm. Ok ok.. I was exaggerating the ‘bruise and battered’ part. But yeah, I’ve got to send them back safe and sound and in one piece… Besides, it was end of the festive period and I predicted that there will be massive traffic on the highway.
Breakfast At Pasar Besar Seremban, Seremban
At times, it is good to have some whacky friends around. Friends that are willing to drive to as far as Seremban just to have a bowl of noodles that worth RM3 only. Friends that are whacky enough to eat at super dirty place like Pasar Besar Seremban whereby you could literally smell chicken sh*t everywhere you go. That is the type of friend you should have within your circle so that you could explore more variety of food in Malaysia.
And so happened I do have such friends. And so, one fine day, we went to Seremban for a Beef Noodles and Hakka Mee at Pasar Besar Seremban. And so we ate like there’s no tomorrow even the stench from the wet market existed throughout our food ordeal.
Our first meal of the day was, of course, Hakka Mee. I’ve to admit that was the first time I’ve ever tasted Hakka Mee even though I’m a Hakka. And yes, I don’t converse in Hakka dialect either. How proud I am?!
Anyway, that’s not the main topic. So, my very first impression of Hakka Mee was dry. Very dry. It was even dry-er than wantan mee. But then again, if you look closer, there was a layer of oil coating the noodles which made the noodles silky smooth when you glide it thru your lips. To top it all of, there was vast amount of minced pork on it. I’m not sure why they didn’t have black soy sauce in the minced meat nor the noodles, but I guess this is the way how Hakka Mee looked and taste like. One major turn off was; they only served one pathetic small bowl of soup which to be shared among 3 person. WTF?!!
Right after that oily bowl of noodles, off we went to another side of the market for a bowl of Beef Noodles. I found it odd in the first place because of the location between both the stalls. I mean, why can’t they open at the same place at the center of the market? Wouldn’t it be better since people don’t have to walk from one side to another side just to have their favourite bowl of noodles?
Anyhow, this bowl of Beef Noodles is a total different from what I had in Singapore. This one was dry type.
I’m not sure how to describe the taste. The sauce was like Char Siew paste/sauce. It was thick yet a lil sweet. In it, there were a few slices of beef meat as well as beef stomach (IIANM). The noodles was not like what you normally eat in other hawker stalls. The noodles was like a crossover between ‘lai fun’ and big yellow noodles (which is used to cook ‘loh mee’). Bouncy it was.
Overall, it was rather a great experience to try them out. Not because of the time that we went in the morning. Not because of the distance we travelled to have them. It was because of the place where they were located. Intriguing it was to have chickens making noise as your background music….
