Day 1 of HONG KONG

5 January, 2016

And I have decided to revive my blog again... HAHA. I guess, I just wanna keep such memories somewhere, and other than just having pictures, its words that I can read again in the future.. 

I wanted to continue from where I left off, for my TW trip last year, but then... that happened in May 2015... So long ago, i dont know if i can still remember exactly. And after that, I actually went to BKK in July with my sis and SIL, then over the Jubilee holiday, went into JB for container stay with my family + Joelynn and Em. And then batam trip with Jlynn, Gary, Ash & Zy. And a "holiday" in SG as Cherry came back to find meeee! Then end of year countdown trip to KL with some of the youth leaders- Em, Joe, Jas, Gw, Xy & Paul. So actually, 2015 was really quite fruitful for me, and I am thankful for the chance to flyyy ~ 

Its 2016 now, and I started the year by flying to Hong Kong to be reunited with Cherry!!! It was pretty impromptu and spontaneous, but I was super excited! Maybe a little bit more as I've never been to HK before, and it was going to be my first time taking a plane by myself! 

Once I touched down at HK's airport, I had to put on this furry jacket (that i like sooo much from Uniqlo, and it was a Christmas present!), as I could feel the drop in temperature! 

And since I had to wait awhile for C, I went to walk around their '7-11' and was amusing myself with the items sold.. And, I had to learn how to speak a bit of canto, and to constantly remind myself that "I cannot speak Chinese to them, but only English". :p 

And soooooo, I was finally reunited with C!!! Though I just saw her in SG in Dec 2015, when she came back to visit us and stayed at my place... haha. so this time, it was her turn to host me around :P It was like 6am+ so pardon us for our sleepy faces. :P Thank God her house was pretty near to the airport and it was fast because of the direct airport train line that goes to her house station. And her home was sooooo nice! It was so cozy and the view from her living room was just W-O-W (see the pic above) 

Because I didn't get to sleep much in the plane, we went back and took a 2 hours nap. HK was experiencing semi-winter, and I was so amazed by how, she did not need to turn on her airconditioner, and all she needed was to leave the windows slightly open, and then... it felt like there was airconditioner already. The floors were all so cold too, that we had to wear bedroom slippers! I loovveeee such weather!!!!! (and you can bet that I had such good sleep throughout my stay)

After we woke up, we went down to the shopping mall and she brought me to this restaurant for our breakfast. HK food, so yummmyyyy!!!! 

And ofcos, I had to try the real Hui Lau Shan in HK right? :P 

I only first tried it in JB as there is an outlet at City Square, and yeap, it was so niceeee. Love the mangoes!!!!

The best host and tour guide has to be the local, and I am so happy that C was the one that brought me all over HK, to eat all that is nice etc! 

And after our breakfast, we headed over to Australian Dairy Co. 

My goooodnesss, I died there. The hot milk pudding, was the BOMB. I enjoyed and loved it so much, C kept laughing. (blogging about this, I so wish i can teleport right there and have it :(((()

But anyway, the macaroni, the sandwich, the eggs... it was all too yummy, too good to be true.

I need to go back to HK to eat them again. :(

So I asked C, "where's that place in HK where there's alot of signboards, alot of light and light pollution place?" (unknown to me that I was right there)

And she said "its here!!!!!" So, hello Mong Kok- a place to eat a looooot and to shop! :p 

Always trust a local's taste. Trust their opinions. And I am glad I did (either i had no choice or whatever... HAHAHA kidding C, i love you).

So, she recommended me to drink this coconut milkshake, from this store - 椰汁大王 King of Coconut. She said its good and that I should give it a try. And so i did..... and I died a second time. (i died many times in this trip)

It was so fresh? It was so yummy, so tasty... (I wish i can drink it now too)

Oh yeah, and we went shopping and hurhur, #onlyashopaholicoverseas revealed herself and came forth, and took over my life.:p 

It was at this mall, that reminded me of Far East Plaza in SG. haha! It was pretty cheap tooo!!! 

And we ended off our night by stopping by the harbour, and just enjoying the beautiful skyline. But after this "romantic" walk by the waters, we went to this hotel to meet her parents for a buffet dinner. I am so blessed and so loved, because her parents were celebrating their wedding anniversary, and they so kindly and generously invited me to join them! And what else to say, but day one of my HK trip was sooooo good! 

TW Day One @ Yilan.

22nd May 2015

So the day that i've waited for finally arrived, and it was my turn to board the plane and fly to TW! 
Managed to visit the sunflower garden that was set up in Changi Airport T3.. and man, it was beautiful! 
I have never seen so many sunflowers in my life before!! 

And after 5 hours, we have finally arrived at our destination!!! 
I was so thrilled, happy and excited to be back in TW after 3 years! 
The last time i came, it was so amazing and fun with the people i love.. This time, I am back at TW with a different group, but, that doesn't mean it would not be fun.. ;p 
Once we exited the airport, our driver came to pick us and started driving us to Yilan, which would take us almost 2-3 hours to reach there.  

But our driver was kind enough to stop us at Shiding Service area for a quick lunch, since we were complaining about how hungry we were. 
Lo and behold, this place does NOT have any fantastic food at all... 
The number of food stalls in there were quite pathetic, but i was glad to see Lotteria around. 
To me, i guessed fast food chains would be more reliable, and true enough, i was right! 
I ordered the shrimps burger, and zomg, it was so yummy!! I was so satisfied. 
And whats more, I FOUND MY YAKULT!!!!!! 
It was such a big bottle and it had aloe vera inside.... say what!!! :D 

And finally, we reached Yilan and checked in to our beautiful minsu - Ming Shui Lu. 
I was awed by the place. 
The air was so clean too... and it was so cooling!!
Loved the whole concept of the minsu, and seriously, I wouldn't mind staying there for a long period!! 
We were surrounded by paddy fields and really green grasses.. as well as mountains (not in pictures). 
The ladyboss and boss were both so nice too! 
I highly recommend this minsu, if you are thinking of going to TW and to the country side!!! 

After we checked in and rested a little while, we went to Luo Dong Night Market to get our dinner. 
Besides, in Yilan, Luo Dong ye shi is the most popular one. 
Since our parents had to settle down at a place to eat proper meal, Bee and I left them on their own and went around to buy our 小吃  since this is the way we should eat when we are at the night markets. :p 

What's TW without bubble tea right? 
So i randomly picked a store and tried their milk tea and it was... interesting.
They poured the milk out of those milk bottles (as seen in pic above) and then mix it with ice and water. 
Didn't really like it as it was a little too diluted.. but oh well. 

Being a typical Singaporean, I just anyhow join a queue whenever I see that there are many locals queuing up. :p 
And since their chinese words are a little too chim for me... I couldn't exactly tell what am i gonna buy, but.. i still tried my best. 
Ended up, i bought taro balls. 
*cries*
Because, I don't even like taro in the first place!!! but it was still okay! 

Bee queued up to close to 30 mins for this! 
I forgot what isit called, but it was yummy. 
It's like onions and vegetables being wrapped by the meat. But it was too chewy.. :p 

And these oysters..... YUMMY. 
it was so fresh and so good!!!!!!! and.... SO CHEAP!!!!

And yess, I bought my second cup of BT in less than an hour as I wasn't satisfied by the first milk tea that i drank :p

While the rest were eating the deserts, I walked off by myself and went to shop on my own :D 

But all the while when I was doing that, in my head i just kept thinking... 

"If Js were to know about this, they confirm scold me."

This was because the last time i was in TW, i walked off by myself as i was too into shopping, that the whole group started searching high and low for me (and at that time, I did not have any phone connections except to use WIFI whenever it's available)... and when they found me, I got a huge scolding by them. ;p

But hey, shopping on your own when you're overseas can be so therapeutic!

and I enjoyed my night at Luodong!
Even though it wasn't like those taipei yeshis, there were still so many nice shops and ofcos, I managed to buy some clothes! :p 

That's all for day one! 

11 days to summer!

Hello! 

4 more days to the start of finals, and 11 days to summer holidays! 

I can't wait!! 

I apologise for the disappearance as the past few weeks of school have been pretty hectic! 

So thankful and blessed by the study packs prepared by my sister (first photo) and the cell group (second photo)! 

Gambatte everyone, be it studying or working! 

xoxo.