Taiwan

2nd last day in Taipei.

I hope time flew past slowly though. Taiwan reminds me of Korea. The shopping..the food…the street…but Taiwanese are much friendlier to be honest.

On wed , we went shopping at Sogo and Zhongxiao street. The best place for shopping so far.

I got Ryunjae oppa a bag from PORTER as birthday present from Sogo. Porter bags are cheaper in Taiwan , HK and Japan. It is quite expensive in SG. I did quite abit of shopping here at Zhongxia0. Got mostly sunglasses, earrings and couple of pull overs. It was winter so there are alot of knits and thick winter wears which are not suitable for SG weather. I was thinking of getting some for my Korea trip but it is much cheaper in Korea. Quality also better in Korea.

Long queue at this shop selling the red bean pancakes. I asked one of the locals what was nice here while i was in the queue and she said she came because she heard that the servers were cute. Hmmm..i tried the red bean cake..it was not bad and alot of red bean filling but nothing special. lol.so i now know why long queue lah.

After doing some solo shopping for 4 hours along the whole of Zhong Xiao , we went for dinner at one of our Agency Leader’s friend’s bar and restaurant for dinner. Nice ambience. Owner is Singaporean who married a Taiwanese lady.

After which , we went to Myst and Omni for drinks. First time kanna police raid . Suddenly the lights went on and police checking our passports etc. Nothing much..suddenly the lights were on at 1am++ and police came taking down the passport/id details of those with tables first. Ours was the first. We took pictures of our passports and saved in our hp so that we do not need to bring the original out. The police just took our phones with our passport pics and took down details before moving on to the next table and those at the bars or standing around. The whole raid took about 30 minutes. Thought i only saw this in HK dramas but didn’t expect to encounter first hand. Don’t know if their purpose was to catch those underage , mafias or drug dealers ??

Took this snap shot secretly while he was taking down our info at our table.

Reached back the hotel at 4am and woke up at 8am for breakfast and packed our luggage. Went to Ah Zhong Mian Xian for lunch/breakfast.

After checking out , we had 5 hours before the driver came to drive us to airport.
So i spent the last 5 hours shopping and eating again in Ximending.

There is a 24 hours 2 storey watsons just opposite our hotel. So it is pretty convenient.
This is one thing i want to blog about. You should shop at Watsons ! I don’t know why almost every country i go to , i will go and shop at their Watsons. Even when i got to JB , i will sweep alot of stuff at Watsons. They are much cheaper than SG. When i am in Korea, i will shop at Olive and Young which is their local version of Watsons.

In Taiwan’s Watsons, you can find alot of make up brands or toiletries at really cheap price. You can’t find some brands in SG as well. So the Watsons operates 24hours and sometimes i will go down at 2am to buy some stuff because i can’t sleep. I stocked up on my Biore make up removers and tried some Taiwanese and Japanese make up. I will review on my make up and skin care buys later.

You can shop at Cosmeds or Watsons but i prefer Watsons which has more variety.

Fortunately , our hotel is right smacked in the middle of Ximending.

Chanced upon this cafe with a cute and chubby goldie.

I find that he is quite poor thing leh..he looks bored..because i walked past this cafe alot of times and all he did was sit there.

Walked in this those lanes and you can find nail salons and other fashion shops. The ones along the main streets are too touristy and sell almost the same stuff like souvenirs etc but the small lanes has alot of gems.You can find nice clothing shops selling clothes at cheaper price and are very nice too.

Ready to leave Taipei.

So sad…i miss travelling and i will miss Taipei. I will be back here again. So many places i want to bring oppa here next time.

I really enjoyed my trip to Taiwan. My 3rd trip with friends/colleagues so far. It was a great team bonding trip with my teammates. Everyone was having so much fun. Everyday , we see the professional side of our colleagues at work. But the first time we had so much fun and let out the fun side of us. Looking forward to next team bonding trip in 2017 !

Bought quite a number of make up and beauty products from Watsons in Taipei.

Shall blog about it next ! Stay tune !

Feb7

Just before our driver drove us to Taipei , we stopped by Green Green Grassland ( Qing Qing Cao Yuan ).

It was really cold and windy. And we get to see alot of sheeps ( cute little meh mehs) .

On the way to Taipei , we stopped by rest stations for some hot food. Weather was cold and it was raining. We need to warm up with some hot soup.

After 4 hours drive from Cing Jing , we arrived at Taipei. Our hotel was situated right smack in the middle of Ximending. So shopping was really easy.

First meal of the day in Taipei was steamboat buffet. 500NT per pax and alot of selections ! It was 3 minutes walk from our hotel.

This was what attracted us to come here for the steamboat buffet..the ice cream selections.
Steamboat ingredient selection was alot but hmmm soup base so so ..so none of us really drink the soup.

Sunset quite early at 6pm during winter.

Here’s Ximending.

We took a train to Wufen-pu for shopping. It is a wholesale centre and i bought quite abit of clothes for work. Quite hard to find nice clothings there though mostly are cheap.

After which , we walked to nearby Raohe night market for more street food.

You can shop and eat at the same time. Things here are pretty cheap.

We drink milk tea almost EVERYDAY. You can order hot or cold milk tea.

I cant remember whether i drink more than 2 bottles of plain water during my trip.

Really just eat and eat and eat and eat as we walked down the street and night market.

Reached hotel back at about 1.30am and we woke up early at 8am to have breakfast at a rather famous you tiao shop. The queue was damn long. Queued from the 1st floor to the shop at the upper floor. The egg prata like thing was very nice !

阜杭豆漿: Fu Hang Dou Jiang which is on the 2nd floor of Hua Shan Market. We took the MRT to Shan Dao Station from Taipei Main Station.

Look at the queue. Cant even see the ordering counter nor end of the queue which was few floors down.

Then we took a train and bus to Jiufen and Shifen.

Here is Jiufen.

The quite famous and popular Ah Ma Rice Balls at Jiufen.

We realized alot of nice food are always named Ah Ma XXX .

Just like the Ah Ma Tea Leaves Egg we ate at the moutains on one of the islands.

Actually the train station at Jiufen reminds me of Jinhae in Gyeongsan-Do Korea which is a famous place for cherry blossoms. So if you are going to Korea in Spring , remember to go to Jinhae to view the beautiful cherry blossoms. I blogged about it before and you can check my March/Apr/May post on that. I can’t remember when i blogged it because i went in late March 2015.

That’s the place we “fang tian deng” . Me and a colleagues shared one and i wrote all my wishes in a mixture of Korean , Chinese and English. Lol..Korean for my new Korean family , Chinese and English for my family and work in SG etc.

After which , we took the train back to Shilin night market and it was time for dinner.

Ah Zhong Mian Xian at Shilin. The chilli is da bomb ! But the vinegar so so only. I must put like 6 spoonful of vinegar. The chilli is really “powerful” so just put abit first and taste before you add more.

Long queue at Cheese Prince. It is located at the street food near the entrance of Shilin. Damn nice.

Very cheap too about SGD 3 bucks for this. No wonder long queue lah. Really long queue.

Alot of shopping and eating here.Hmm..don’t expect to find alot of fashionable shops here because most of the stuff sold here are pretty cheap. If you are looking for cheap gadgets like hp covers , phone external camera lens, stockings , cheap or replicas , night markets seems to be a good place to go to. I got quite afew cheap stuff here and of cos i stuffed myself with alot of good and cheap street food.

** To be continued.

Feb2

I miss the cold weather in Taiwan ! My skin , hair and everything looks better because of the weather lol. Except that my eyes looked more tired as the day goes by because i slept for 3-4 hours everyday in Taiwan. Slept at 3am and woke up at 7 or 8am to go to Ah Zhong Mian Xian to have breakfast.

Just 2 days before my trip , i had Triple Glow treatment done at Aeon Aesthetics and Medical Clinic. I do rave about treatments or products that i reviewed here ( not sponsored ones ) but this one is soooo good. I personally like it alot. Sometimes , i can feel slight bumps on my nose when i cleanse my face. They are either white or black heads. But this time , my nose and face is very smooth even 2 weeks after the treatment. I really like it ! The thing about Korean aesthetics is that they are always coming up with new treatments. Sometimes i have to stock up on the products i used before they were discontinued since they always upgrade their products or come up with better ones.

The Triple Glow treatment consist of 1) Clarity Laser Toning (pigment laser) 2) Diamond Lifting (collagen RF) and 3) Omega Glow (LED Rejuvenation). There is a CNY Special going on for trial at $100 (T&Cs apply). Go try this if you are interested or need to rejuvenate your skin.

You can quote my name to enjoy special rates when booking your appointment (Tel 6733 2002). Clinic is closed on CNY Day 1 and Day 2. They resume on Day 3. Clinic is located at Pacific Plaza @ Scotts Road ( Level 6 ) which is just opposite Grand Hyatt Hotel.

Feb2

Ok , im back to blogging !

I came back from Taiwan last friday and now im down with sore throat and a cold.

I realized i haven’t been active on my blog since November which was after my Korea trip because i was abit busy with wedding planning and also i fell sick once a month so i need more rest. I haven even watch Running Man and Superman Returns since December !!!! AHHHH !

Hehe..so im now back to regular blogging …because i just got a couple of new make up products from Korea and Taiwan and the wed planning are I am still in the midst of replying all my emails at peonykissblog@gmail.com . Quite a number were asking about the online shop which i got the jackets from. I received several requests to blog often esp on beauty reviews. So yup ! You can look for more of such posts !

So i went on a 6D 5N trip with my colleagues and my first time to Taiwan.

Ready for lotsa photos here ! The page took so loong to load.

Taiwanese really look good. Every street and every corner , you will see good looking girls or guys.

Food was good and alot of shopping to do.

So when we arrived at Taoyuan Airport , our driver drove us to our farm stay. We stayed 2 nights at Cingjing which is near the southern side of Taiwan. It was snowing and we are so lucky to catch the first snow. We read on the news that it hasn’t snowed like that for decades. So we are so lucky !

On our way to Cingjing , we stopped by 2 rest stations for food and toilet break. One thing we must do when we arrive in Taiwan is to eat the street food. DAMN NICE AND CHEAP.

I had milk tea and cripsy chickens everyday when i was in Taipei. I am still craving for them even though im back in SG now.

After our first rest station and toilet break , our driver drove us to this restaurant near our farm stay. It has a spectacular view of the mountains. So nice and the food was soo good. Plus the weather was very cold so we all felt shiok having hot soups.

Here’s the view from our seat at the restaurant. Because it is open air , so it is VERY cold.

Only 6pm and sun sets.

Popby the nearest 7-11 to grab some drinks and snacks before we check into our farmstay.

Our farm stay.

We had a good night sleep. The weather was so cold and showering is such a torture lol. It was sub-zero degrees at night.

Guess what , we were woken up by some sounds and when we looked out the window , it was snowing !

Our hands were freezing ~~~

Coat , beanie , scarf , knit top , leggings etc were all from Korea. Bought them online lol. Entire set cost me less than $100. I love my jacket. It has a layer of furry stuff that keeps me warm in this sub-zero temperature.

We were near the top of the mountain so it was really cold and windy. I couldn’t feel my hands and i have to keep them warm in my pockets.

It was snowing very heavily and the road up to the top of the mountain was blocked by traffic police so we couldn’t go up to see sunrise. So we went to the night market for lunch and took a boat ride to island hop and had the famous Ah Po Cha Ye Dan ( Ah Ma Tea Leaves Egg ). Heard that she sold 25,000 eggs per day and now own 6 Ferraris. GASP!

So this is the Ah Ma Tea Leaves Egg which is earning big bucks. To be honest , i don’t think there is any thing special about that egg nor does it taste extremely good. I think the ones sold at our Pasar Malam is better. But don’t know why she can sell 25,000 eggs per day and ended up soooo rich to own 5 Ferraris and big houses.

So cold and we decided to go for spring bath at night. Feel so shiok because the water was sooo hot and warm.

After the spring bath we went back to our farm stay, we had some drinks and games before packing and sleeping . Because we were leaving for Taipei on Monday ! Ahhh just one week ago , i was at Taipei’s Wufen-pu and Raohe night marketing eating and shopping to my heart content !

Woke up in the morning to sight of beautiful white snow again ! And this time , we checked out and ready to go to Taipei !

Looks like in Switzerland right ?

Ha…im gonna just load up to here and continue tomorrow. Im going to sleep soon and at the rate that the photos are loading , i think it will take another 2 hours ! So many photos take in the grassland at Cingjing , shopping and food in Taipei , Korean / Japanese / Taiwanese make up buys and reviews and the new treatment i just did at Aeon Aesthetics and Medical Centre which leaves my skin soooooo smooth. I can’t even feel any bumps or pores on my nose now ! There is the latest treatment and it really leaves my skin very smooth. I like it ! Alot of beauty and make up reviews. I just started using anti-aging products !

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shall go to sleep while the photos are still loading ..Good night !

To be continued….

Nov6

Last 2 weeks were busy weeks meeting many people and i fell sick for a few days. Down with sore throat because i talked too much over a weekend and the hot and hazy weather is not helping.

Im not sure if you have watched this movie but if you have not , you should. It is so nice and touching. I watched it twice. One reason was because i watched it from the male lead’s point of view on the 2nd time and also the male lead is so hot please. Lol. My type which looks abit bad boy and tanned skin.

I actually cried in the movie. Watched it first time with my sec school classmate and the 2nd time with my BF. I guess he must be thinking im crazy when i gushes whenever the male lead Wang Ta Lu appeared in the scene.

Go watch it if you have not.

K-Beauty

Weather is abit hot now adays and my eye shadows and eyeliners “melted” off quite fast. So i decided to start using the Etude House Proof 10 Eye Stick Primer. I love this primer because it is very convenient and very cheap. Only KRW 6,900. My eyeshadows stays on longer and also it is very easy to apply on the eyelids. This is something you should get if you go to Korea. I only bought 1 stick and im going to stock up during my next trip. This is definitely worth buying and stocking up.

Just twist and turn and there is no need to sharpen.

The haze is making my skin dry and dull these days. And i just started to use this anti-aging and whitening mask from Cel-Derma which my bf’s mum bought for me. I love this because i can feel and see that my skin looks clearer after use. This mask is a little different. It looks exactly like the one in the packaging.

This is something you can try to buy from gmarket.

Smart Lady

One thing i love about my job is that i get to meet people from all walks of life , occupations and people in different situations and life stages. It taught me to cherish what i have and also how to plan my future , finances and life better from other people’s experiences.

A mentor once told me :
” Do you want to live as a dignified and elegant lady or a grumpy old woman ? “

A dignified and elegant lady knows what she wants , what she needs to do to reach her goals and she make sure she act on it. Whereas a grumpy old woman procrastinates and even after a few years , she will still be complaining , procrastinates and nothing changes.

Have you ever wonder how come some of your friends get to enjoy going for yearly holidays , good food etc even though their income is not as high as yours ? Or have you ever wonder why some of your friends or people around you have alot of cash more than yours and managed to save alot even though you all are at the same age ?

That is because they know what they want and they save their money in vehicles which helped their money to work on their own. They commit to it. They can use the extra cash which their money had generated for them to enjoy , have good food , travel and buy whatever they want without “touching” their capital. While you are still there procrastinating, their money are already rolling and growing.

Set aside how much you want to save before you decide how much should you spend.

It is never too early to start early.

More on Smart Lady and K-beauty in a few days time !
Went for a Korean hair treatment done by my hair stylist at Raffles Place and also my hydrafacial with Aeon ! Can’t wait for public holiday this tuesday. Time for beauty grooming.