Taiwan2014之梅雨的季节-The One 南园

Following Hukou Old street stop, our hosts told us that we will be having lunch @ The One 南园 which they claimed is just ahead. The just ahead by Taiwanese standard means driving a good 30min up and down a mountain before we reached the destination.

Turns out, our hosts had booked a package which includes a tour around Nanyuan and a lunch within the premises. Nanyuan was built by a Taiwanese newspaper magnate (Mr Wang Tiwu) whom which me and Mr Love dunno. Its was supposed to be his retirement villa up in the mountain but somehow along the way, he passed on and never got to enjoy it seems. So The One, which is a Taiwanese lifestyle brand took over the operations of Nan Yuan and begin giving tours and retreats.

The peacock welcoming us

 I was a bit dizzy by the time we reached Nanyuan since it is in the middle of a mountain. We were greeted by a gust of fresh air as we got down the car. The buildings were inspired by the Hokkiens, Hakkas and of course traditional chinese style.

Entrance

 We were given light refreshment (fruits and grass jelly drink) as we settled in the study room of Mr Wang which has a big painting of himself on the wall. Hot towels were also provided for us to freshen up.

Fresh jambu

Grass jelly drink-Super bitter

 After the light refreshment and rest, we began our tour around the villa. It started by giving us a brief history of th owner Mr Wang and how luxurious his study room is given that real 999gold were painted on the cravings. I was still joking to Mr Love that we should scraped some off for ourselves and the tour guide was talking about the various CCTV in the room. Haha

Gold were painted on to the cravings of the building

The study room is named 南楼 (South Tower) and is the main building of the whole villa. This is also the central point where from here the tour guide would take us around the whole villa.

Following Chinese feng shui style, the mountains to the left forms the 左青龙，and the mountians to the right forms 右白虎. And there is a big man made pond/lake in the middle of the villa and viola it fulfills the 坐山望水 theory.

As the right mountains 白虎side is much taller than the left 青龙 side, the owner also planted a row of tall pine tress to counter that. Reason being chinese believe that 青龙 represents male while 白虎 represents female and thus it is not allowed for the 白虎 side to be taller so as to imply that woman in the household commands a higher authority.

 Oh well, beauty of olden chinese days, sexist thinkings.

View from 南楼 (South Tower)

Every roof side has a special craving& meaning

Long cover walkway

 I must admit, much of the things that the tour guide mentioned makes me lost, Mr Love is much worse. Haha 姗姗姐tried her best to explain to me in simplified chinese terms while I tried my best to explained to Mr Love in simplied Singlish terms. Haha

Group shot in a pavillon

 I think we are the most clueless pair in the whole tour group. To us, its like visiting a old chinese style house only. But you can really see others appreciating the architectures of the villa. I told 姗姗姐 that this is what the 80s Singaporean children are like, kantang. Haha

Some resting corner

Old door that leads to a garden

Big sponge paint brush

 There are some interesting things about the villa too. Like how some door are shaped like a bottle which in chinese is called 瓶 and has a similar pronunciation as 平(safe). Therefore the name of these doors care called 平安门.

In the days where telecommunications are not that advance, the servants will have to watch these doors for a code. Should the owner bring his guests walking through all 9 of the doors, it would meant that they would be staying for dinner and the servants would prepared the food. Else, it would meant that the guests would be sent off before meal time. Cool huh.

平安门

Man made pond/lake

Bamboo in the garden

 There is a show stealer here in the ponds- Mandarin ducks. Previously most are a pair (i.e hubs & wife) and should 1 party passed away, they would stay alone till death and refuse to have another partner. Faithful ducks I would say.

However the pair now in the pond are a pair of brothers. I dunno how to determine their gender but this is what the guide told us. The are both called O-Mua-zi （黑嘛记）which literally means black mochi. Muhahah. You can stand there and shout their name and if they are happy they will respond and glide near to you hoping that you will have food for them. Lol.

Black mandarin ducks

View of South tower from the pond

 We moved on to lunch at the restaurant overlooking the pond. They only have 2 types of main course to choose from- A duck meat kway teow soup or pan fried cod fish with rice.

While 姗姗姐 ordered the kway teow soup, the rest of us chose Cod fish.

Cutleries nicely placed

 Once I saw how the cutleries are placed, I immediatetly asked 姗姗姐 whether this is fine dining. She didn't get what I was saying so I ended up telling her "Big plates, miserable portion of food" She had a great time laughing at my explanation.

But when the starters is served, I got my confirmation and she got my meaning. Haha It was a super big plate alright which a piece of broccoli and half a stalk of corn, 1 berry, 1 small piece of cabbage, 3 stalks of baby spout, 1 cube of dunno what jelly, 5 peas and a chessy paste in between. See how I can count the veggies? Haha

I didn't touch most of the things on this starters since I am a self proclaimed carnivore. I past most of the veggies to Mr Love.

Starters

 Next up is bitter gourd pork soup. I must admit I had my reseverations before tasting the soup since it is cooked with bitter gourd. But to my surprise the soup is freshening sweet, I can only taste the pork broth but not the bitter gourd taste. Polished off everything in this bowl.

Bitter gourd soup

 The a big plate came again. This time with a bunch of veggies and a tofu in between. Faints, at this rate I am not going to be full since they keep serving veggies.

Veggies is called 水银菜 and it is pretty crunchy. The plus point of this dish is the sauce. Its salty and has a strong sesame oil smell. I like. While 1 might mistook the middle portion of the tofu to be meat, it is actually some yam or similar thing.

Tofu on a bunch of veggies

When the duck meat kway teow arrived, I was commenting how lucky I didn't ordered since I can see 2 big cabbage and alot of carrots inside.

I did took a sip of the soup but found it a bit bland which is just what 姗姗姐 wants.

Duck kway teow

 Our cod fish came soon after and it is wrapped with some pandan leaves look alike. It is not pandan leave as I was told that there is no pandan leaves in Taiwan. Its a South East Asian plant it seems?

My cod fish lunch set

 The main course is served with a cup of olive oil or some other oil thing. I didn't catch what they were saying. The oil was supposed to be poured over our rice to make it more fragrant. Alrightly, I attacked the cod fish greedily. As small as it seems, it is actually a thick slice grilled to perfection.

We have nothing but praises for the cod fish and am glad I made the right choice.

The cod fish looks good

 Desserts were served lastly and we were told to eat in the order from left to right. The left hand corner is a mango flavoured yogurt or rather to me is a milk pudding.

Not too sour and has a heavy milky taste, love it..

The middle 1 is a passion fruit cake. Top layer is a thick passion fruit jelly paste which a mango flavour sponge cake. Passion fruits are sour by nature and I was a bit scared off by the taste since I hate sour stuff. Lastly is hazlenut chocolate mochi which has a slight bitter taste during the 1st bite.

I wasn't so sure of why we should in the the order from left to right but nevertheless did as we are told and is pretty happy with the dessets.

Desserts

 Following lunch, we were being brought a round to cover what we have missed out earlier and also to an art exhibition by a Chinese painter who is suppose to be famous but the sua ku 2 Singaporeans didnt know.

I cannot even appreciate his drawings and end up finding a stop where aircon is the strongest and park myself there to rest. The guide by then sensed that we 2 are not locals and chatted a bit with us. Haha I am a bit sorry towards her since we cannot really appreciate her tour.

View from the restaurant

 Then we ended the tour at the guest meeting area of the villa where a Hong Kong master would have his  古筝 performance. The room was intially filled with guests but soon all was gone except the 4 of us as their transport were leaving.

Again, we cannot really appreciate the music. It is nice alright but Mr Love was soon dozing off. No offence to the performer but we took a overnight flight to Taiwan and were worn out by now.

Performance by a Hong Kong muiscian

 After the 古筝performance, 姗姗姐 suggest walking around the premises since we have sometime to kill before our next stop-Night market in Hsinchu.

围棋的棋子

Cravings on the wall

Wrote using the sponge paint brush

Fed this to the black mochi-Shhhh

We came back to the stage area where operas can perform here. Its a rectangular stage and if you stand in the middle and speak out, you can hear your own echo. The four of us took turns to try and immersed in the miracle of the particular spot.

Since there are no opera performances anymore, the stage area has been converted into some sort of play area. There are 3 cupboard made rocking horse and we took turns to play on it all the while hoping it would not give way.

光宇哥trying to take aim

There is also an ancient games where you need to aim and throw into the holes with the makeshift "arrows". It is actually made using tree branches with some weight tied to the end. I tried a similar game in Korea when visiting Daechangguem filming site.

Anyways we all took turns to try our luck but to no avail, only 姗姗姐 managed to throw in once after countless tries. We moved on after that since 1 person already succeed.

姗姗姐is the only one who managed to shoot in

Butterfly?

We then stumbled across what seems to be a bowling alley. The pins are all made of wood and is pretty heavy. It's a bit like chinese chess I think. You need knock down the pins according to the rank on the pins.

Mr Love arranging the fallen pins

We did not give a damn on the rules and played according to our liking which is bascially just anyhow hit.

The bowling ball itself is damn heavy, think it is made of solid wood.

Nearly hit,but the ball just stopped there

Again we spent quite sometime here as someone namely Mr Love refuse to go until he hit all the pins. It was tiring to see him running up and down to take the heavy bowling ball back to the starting point.

And he throws

And throws

By the time we left here, it's already 4pm plus. We decided to make our way to the night market where 姗姗姐 wants to introduce us to the specialities of Hsinchu.

Taiwan2014之梅雨的季节-湖口老街（Hukou Old street)

 1st stop of the trip is Hukou old street ( 湖口老街) which is a small town located in Hsinchu. Apparently, Hsinchu have a large community of Hakkas and thus this is an Hakka village it seems. 姗姗姐 did explain briefly how to Hakkas and Taiwanese (Hokkiens) communities are spread out in Taiwan but I wasn't paying much attention. Hehe

Map of Hukou old street

 There are quite alot of old street in Taiwan but those that are known to us are more commercialised, thus they decided to bring us here.

We 1st came infront of a Cathedral which was the old train station previously. Can still see part of the tracks. The train station had since been moved where else but not nearby.

Part of the old tracks

Hukou Cathedral

 Things were pretty quiet on a Saturday morning at 10:30 and we went the around the premises of the cathedral before moving off to the old street.

So happy to find see-saw here

Hukou old street is pretty short as compared to other similar old streets we been to. There is nothing much here too, with some small shops selling kuehs, handicrafts and a handful of tea house/restaurants.

Hukou Old street

Address plates

 The only different thing that sets here apart from other is, the old buildings are still well preserved. Other old streets we been to have modern buildings but I was told that the buildings on the 2 sides are the orginal ones maybe with some renovations done only.

Old houses along the street

 We came across a provision shop selling old school stuff and went into it and shop around. Didn't buy anything but I took some photos of the old school stuff that reminds me of the good old times.

Glass bottled soft drinks that my grandparents used to sell

I love these candies when I was young

Fruit flavoured bubble gums

Old school cinema

 We came across a stall selling Hakka kuehs and 姗姗姐 encourage us to try them. So we brought 1 草仔糕 & 芋糕巧 to share.

草仔糕 looks similar to our ang ku kueh, with the skin layer being green. I was told that the skin was made with some edible grass and has a sweet taste to it. The fillings inside is made of radish and is fried salty. Thus this kueh has a unique sweet and salty taste when you 1st bite into it. Suits my taste though and I finished the whole of it, giving a bite to Mr Love only.

Hakka kuehs

Fillings inside-Radish

 芋糕巧 on the other hand is yam kueh which is 1 of my least favourite food and 1 of Mr Love's favourite. I took a bite of it and went back to mine. Haha According to Mr Love, it is really nice. We decided against buying some more as am going for lunch soon.

Yam kueh

 With this, we ended our little tour in Hukou. There is nothing much to see here but I am glad we had this stop over and tried the kuehs.

Taiwan2014之梅雨的季节- Jetting off,Arriving in Taipei & Enroute to 新竹(Hsinchu)

Managed to grab the promotional tickets from Scoot with the advice from my colleagues (i.e to book at 7am on a tuesday morning) and we decided to make a trip to Taiwan again despite me wanting to go to Korea.

Taiwan was choosen again partly because we missed the food and partly due to the fact the time to departure was too near and I didn't have enough time to plan a Korea trip.

So with much excitment, we took the 00:45 flight to Taipei which will touch down at 5.45am.

I must say I have reservations about flying with Scoot since the bad experience my bro had with them when travelling to Taipei too. I make sure I check my gmail everyday in case they rescheduled our flight at the very last minute.

The lady at Scoot check in counter was not welcoming at all. She just dismissed us by placing our passports on the counter without telling me check in has been completed. It was me who need to ask her. Jetstar's check in counter staff on the other hand would even wish you a safe & pleasant flight. Mr Love told me that you pay budget prices, you get budget service. Nice.

Anyways the flight was smooth and the seats were surprisingly comfortable, just like an economy seat in a normal plane. Jetstar's seat  by contrast had shrink significantly in the recent years and Mr Love got upset with it. But I cannot say the same for Scoot's cabin crew. Especially the one that I deal with. Saying she is rude was an understatement. Totally not professional was more apt to describe her. I got better service from the auntie in Red Star Restaurant than from her. That pretty much sums up their service.

Upon touching down, we went to Terminal 2 of Taoyuan airport and had breakfast while waiting for the telco to open shop. Previously, the 1 that I went to opens(台湾大哥大） at 8am sharp but the other day while walking around looking for the shop, we came across Chunghwa telecom （中华电信) opens at 7am. We happily brought a 3G SIM card from them @NT500 for NT150 worth of talk time and 7days unlimited 3G data. Cheaper than the other telco I usually buy from but I realised the coverage is not that good in some areas.

Touched down in TPE Taoyuan airport

We will be staying with 姗姗姐 for 3 days and will need to make our way to their home in Hsinchu. Lucky for us they will pick us out from Hsinchu HSR station. So we took a bus from the airport to Taoyuan HSR station where it is 1 stop away from Hsinchu. Tickets is at NT315 for reserved seats. Non reserve seats will cost NT5 cheaper but you will need find your own seat at the designated cabins.

Taoyuan HSR south bound platform

 I didn't bother to check the train timings as there will be a train every 30min or so. We brought the next train timing and will be expected to reach Hsinchu in 10min. Beauty of fast speed trains. Normal train would take an hr at least excluding waiting time.

Stations on South bound

Selfie on the platform

HSR train

姗姗姐 was there to pick us up when we reached. Their house is around 15min walk from the HSR station. I did have the map with me but since we are armed with luggage, this was no easy feat.

Liujia（六家车站） is just beside the HSR station

 Changed out of our jeans and begin our adventures that our host and hostess planned for us. Travelling with the locals, seeing Taiwan the way local do. How exciting!

Back from Taiwan

We came back safely from Taiwan. It was a bit of an eventful trip this round, having felt an earthequake and being in the city when the senseless MRT killing occurred makes me felt thankful that we are kept safe and sound.

For the 1st time in our trips, I felt scared in Taipei city. Most of the time we toured that like what we will usually did in Singapore. But after the senseless killing incident, I cannot help but keep looking over my shoulder when we take the metro.

There is also another incident of some guy stabbing random people when a needle. Makes me more panaroid than ever. I used to either sleep or play with my phone on the trains but when I saw the news, I became more alert whenever we travel in Taipei metro.

Another disappointing thing about this trip is the amount of rainfall. It rain as much as a month in a day! I am like always washing my feet in Taipei as streets will have big puddles of water that you cannot avoid. I gave up and just walk in it.

I cannot say I didn't enjoy the trip, there are some highlights too. And of course to travel with Mr Love, getting away from the hectic Singapore life is a big plus. I felt happy when though we are holed up in the hotel 1 night due to heavy rain. Just sat there eating cup noodles and chit chat.

Now, I wished I am still there. Haha

7 days Taiwan trip

Grandpa over flowers in Spain

Just finished watching the latest season of Grandpa Over Flowers and the country they visited this time round is Spain.

With 2 other trips under their belt, the production team went out a little to make the trip more difficult for the halbaes with reduced travelling allowance. The halbaes were no pushover too, threatening to walk out on the show. The most epic scene would be Na PD scamming the oldest halbae to accept the reduced allowance without telling him about the reduced amount. Seriously funny when they found out.

As usual the halbaes went all out during the trip, trying their best to enjoy as much as they can. It's a bit disturbing to see them trying to find their way to the hotel in Spain and the production team just looked on without any help. You can see how stress and tired out they are when they realised they are lost in the maze alike streets. The funny side is when halbae Gu threw his temper when the production are looking on without any help.

The halbae who stood out in this show should be Teddy bear halbae. Though it was said there are complaints about him sitting out of some of the sights but you gotta love him for his cuteness. Like how he enjoyed himself while touring in a horse carriage while other halbaes went for a walking tour in some castle. Haha He even asked them whether they walked a lot after they came back. And oh, I enjoyed seeing him savouring all the good food in Spain and how he ate the popcorn while watching a soccer match. Haha Stuff a handful into his mouth each time.

I guess most of the older men will tour like him. Sitting by a cafe, enjoying a cuppa, taking in the sights and deem that they visited the place already. To them this the way to do on a tour, it's enjoying life. And most of the time, they don't even remember names of the places they are brought to. Just asked my Mr Love, he had no idea of most of the places we went to in Taiwan. Haha He is happy as long as he finds the place interesting enough.

There are more emphasis on the interaction between Na PD and Lee Seo Jin this time round. Seeing them trying to outsmart and make life difficult for each other is funny. Especially both have a achilles heels of their own- Maths for Na PD and cooking for Lee Seo Jin. And of course how the porter is doing such a great job handling the halbaes now is amazing. Can still recall the 1st season when he found out about the trick played on him. Haha

This show is especially closed to my heart. Having my own mum who love travelling and vow to travel and see the world as much as she can before she cannot do so. The halbaes were grateful for the chance though it took a toll on their health as seen in the footage. To hear them talk about this maybe being their last trip brings some sadness and the way they take all into their stride.

Hopefully the halbaes will be healthy enough to embark on another trip soon :)

Listening ear

When I was younger, I used to come home everyday and parked myself at the kitchen table telling mummy all the happening for the day while she do the dishes/ cooked / do laundry. On average, mummy will have to endure my rantings for at least half an hour before I would decide to stop and run off to do my things. But if I do remember anything that was missed out, I would go back to the same place again and continue my stories.

This goes on throughout my school years. From primary to secondary to poly and even part time uni. It also explains why she know all my close friends even though they never meet her before. Heck, she even know the guy who had a crush on me in Secondary school and can memorized his house phone number since he used to call me daily at 1 point.

Mummy was a housewife during my younger days and since she don't have much interaction with the outside world, she listen to my stories day in day out.

The roles however got reversed when she took up the job of being a part time domestic helper where she now also have stories to share after a day's work.

When I was in polytechnic it was the peak of her career since she need the most money she could get her hands on during that time to see us through school. She would take on 2 jobs everyday with venues ranging from East to West to Central Singapore.

Back then, she didn't have time to cook dinner and on days I do not have to teach tuition after school, I would travel to where ever she is working to wait for her to knock off and buy dinner before travelling home together.

I must admit, I don't helped out much when I go up to her workplace. She finds my action too slow or sometimes I would be dead beat from school and start to sleep whenever I reach her workplace. I especially love going to her Caucasian employers' work place since they mostly stayed at apartments/ condominiums where I don't have a chance to visit normally. And I remember fondly how much I love the Kungfu master rat toy that 1 of them have in his toilet. Never failed to play with it when I go up.

From then on, mummy would update me on her day's work while on the way home. Believe me when I say update, it's literally on every small detail that she picked up. Sometimes it seems to be she might be snooping around a little while working. Like how she know the pay of some of the employers, brand of clothes they wear, where they are going for holiday, how 1 of the employer cheated on his wife while she went back to their home country for holiday. Seriously, I know more about their dark secrets than they ever know.

Unlike most of us who worked in the office with stories of colleagues to share, mummy only have what she observed while cleaning since she usually don't see the employer. But it is enough for her to call me everyday to report.

Once my colleague told me that she finds me very patient with my mummy although she calls and tells me about some random stuff that she suddenly recall and I would listening patiently and chat with her for a while on my way to or back from lunch.

You know what? I realised this is the only thing I can do for her to repay her patience with me when I was telling her about my day at school when younger. Like the patience she showed me back then, I think it should be only right that I showed her the equal level of patience no matter how insignificant the information she shared is to me.

Many a times it's the comfort knowing that there is someone who you can talk to when in need rather than any thing else, especially for the elderly.

Happy Mother's day Mummy. Hope you have a great time in US and I will be ready to hear your travelling stories when you are back home :)

Happenings

Didn't know where the time went to, just realised we are nearly half way thru May in a blink of eyes. Been busy recently with house matters be it our Taiwan trip, mummy's& piggy bro's US trip or Mr Love's side things.

Mum & piggy bro are embarking on their US trip tomorrow and man they are super excited. So am I. Cause mummy promised to buy bag for my 30th birthday and I gave her a list of other things I want. Hehe.

In preparation of the trip, she wanted to download videos to the Note 2 to bring along. And so I must give her tutorials on adhoc notice. She really went all out and nearly burst the phone's memory capacity.

Been helping my dad in law with some administrative stuff too. Not too difficult as I just need to coordinate but still need a bit of effort to get things done. Mr Love is amused that his dad calls me more than him nowadays but am glad that I am doing the admin stuff since he thinks its my forte given my training at home.

The most exciting part will be our pending Taiwan trip. Since its my 4th trip there, getting around is not an issue. The thing is I would need research for new places of interest to go. It's not easy since Taipei is only this big and not every place appeals to the husband. Then again we will still visit our favourite haunts.

Packing are still in progress and I reckon it wouldn't move much till the last night before departure.  Hehe.

Looking forward to May where all the travelling takes place and of course my gifts from USA though I am not making the trip.