Canberra, Australia Trip (Day 8)

23rd Feb 2019, Saturday

Last day of holidays....my dad gave us a morning call today and got us up for breakfast. By the time my sis and mi went down for breakfast (included in hotel stay), my dad and step mum were already downstairs eating. So we took our time to have our breakfast there. After breakfast, we went back to the room to watch TV first as it was still early to leave. We checked out the hotel around 9.30 am and my dad decided to head down to the airport (but the flight was around 1 plus) in case there was heavy traffic. Luckily, the car's GPS was able to route us correctly to the airport this time, so we did arrived at the airport earlier than expected. So we parked the car in the allocated lot and went to the rental car office to return the car (Finally off-work as navigator).

Hot Chocolate & Mee

After that, we went ahead to check-in our flight and luggage. Then there was nothing for us to do except to wait in the airport. We waited for around half an hour before we went in to the boarding gates. There was only one shop and three restaurants around, my dad said he was hungry and wanted to eat Thai food there. So we ordered some dishes to share while waiting for boarding. It was quite boring wait there, so i went ahead playing my pokemon go game (need to park pokemons in gyms). We boarded the plane to fly to Melbourne and it was about a hour plus journey.

Once we touched down at Melbourne airport, we had to run to the international airport and we had to pass the customs and security checks. My dad kept on chasing us to walk quickly, if not, the plane would fly off. We did managed to reach the gate without having the leisure time to shop around. But we did managed to grab two big bags of Nougats as the shop was just beside our boarding gate. There was a slight delay in boarding the plane and there were quite a lot of empty seats around. So mi and my sister went ahead to sit at those empty seats after the plane took off. We landed back Singapore safe and sound....and our family adventures ended with some good memories...^_^

Places visited:
Canberra Airport

Hotel Stayed:
The Canberra Rex Hotel
(Car park free)

Yilan 宜蘭, Taiwan Trip (Day 1)

13th May 2018, Sunday

Our Plane to Taiwan

Yeah!! Finally final exams over!! And am going with my colleagues to Taiwan for holidays today. We had to get a flight on Sunday as there were no promo tickets for Friday or Saturday. We met each other at the airport around 9 plus in the morning and i went to the arrival hall to collect the wi-fi router. It really took a while to get the rental router as there is only one staff working to  handle the queue. After that, we proceeded to check in our luggage..wanted to use the self check-in luggage but can't as one of my colleague needs to show her visa to the airport staff in order to fly. After we checked in our luggage, we went ahead into the boarding area and we went ahead to have breakfast at Heavenly Wang. After breakfast, we went to buy some additional stuffs before heading to the boarding gate.

View from the sky

Top of Mountains near Taiwan

The plane took off at 12 pm and we were off to Taiwan. It was a 4 hours flight ride and i just watched movies throughout the journey. We landed in Taoyuan Airport at around 4.30 pm, there were alot of people arriving in Taiwan too. It took a short wait for us to get clearance from the customs. Then we went down to the luggage belt to collect our luggage. After that, we headed to take the airport express train to Taipei Main Station. It was about 6 plus when we reached Taipei and it was getting dark. After which, we bought the train tickets for an express train to Yilan which took about 1 hour plus. Was feeling hungry and sleepy on the train....

View from the train

Yilan Main Station

Jimmy Park Entrance

 It was around 8 plus when we finally reached Yilan train station and i saw a McD sign from the station. There was a castle building beside the McD, so i told my colleagues that should be our hotel as the hotel name is N.Castle....hohoho...So we all walked towards the direction, however, it turned out to be an amusement centre. So we checked the map and realised we had overshot  a shot distance and had to turn right into an alley, where the hotel was located. The hotel was quite small, with two levels. We got assigned to our room, where there were two double beds and we will be staying in the same room tonight.

Dongmen Night Market Entrance

Sweet Potato Balls

Food Stalls

Choices of BBQ sticks

Crispy Spring Onion Pancakes

After leaving our luggage, we headed down to Dongmen night market for dinner. We just bought some street food while walking through the market. There were multiple shops in the market, there were also sellers putting out clothes to sell in the centre of the road. Had bbq food and crispy spring onion pancakes (nice!! :)) After that, we walked around the market....the oyster omelette we bought was not nice...After that, we headed back to the hotel and rested for the day...Going to have a long day of activities await us tomorrow....

Places Visited:
Dongmen Night Market

Hotel Stayed:
N.Castle Hotel

Last Day in Melbourne, Melbourne Trip (Day 15)

29th March 2016, Tuesday


Woke up @ 7 plus today and prepared to check out of the hotel. I pulled my luggage down to the lobby and left my luggage in the hotel storage room. Then i walked towards the nearby post office but it was not open yet. So i walked to Queen Victoria Market. This time round, the stall owners are getting ready to sell their stuffs. There were a lot of things that you can buy to give as souvenirs and they were selling quite cheap, as compared to the shops outside. There was a section selling fresh veggies and a section selling all kinds of meat and seafood. All the meats looks soo red and fresh and the seafood also big in size and fresh too. They even sell kangaroo and rabbit meats there.

Fresh fruits

Meats for Sale

Red Meat

I spent my morning walking around the market and saw a van selling US doughnuts (small small ones). It was nice and very sweet...hohoho....the inside was added with jam too. There was a small corner where kids can sit there and play and there was even a story telling session. Bought a few more items to bring home, then i walked back to the post office and finally posted my 2 leftover postcards. After which, i walked slowly to find a nice place for my last lunch there. I came upon a restaurant named Errols, which i ordered a seafood risotto and a hot chocolate. I still prefer the hot chocolate drinks that i had in Tasmania and Hot Poppy.

Seafood Risotto

Anyway i just sat there until it is time to go back to the hotel to pick up my luggage. I packed the items in the luggage and waited there for the skybus transfer bus to come pick me up. I was thinking what am i going to do with my can of coke. In the end, i put inside the hotel's fridge and leave it there..hohoho....Then the bus arrived and it was time to go to the airport. I arrived in Southern Cross Station first before transferring to the bigger bus to the airport. I reached the airport @ around 2 plus, which was still early for my check-in. There were only a few shops (maybe 3) to walk around while passing the time.  The check-in counters were opened at around 4 plus, so i finally did my check-in and proceeded to the gate.

Fried Calamari

Luckily there were more shops inside and places to sit to watch tv. So i just sat at one of the sitting areas and watched TV to pass time. Bought a plate of calamari to eat too, to kill time and had my last snack in Melbourne...hohohooo....Then i walked to the gate to get ready for boarding which flew off back to Singapore...I got the whole row to myself on the plane, chiong to watch 4 movies again before touched down. I reached Singapore Changi Airport @ 11.50 pm, where my dad and sister came to pick me up. Can feel the heat once i touched down..... :(

And this ended my Australia trip.

Last Day in Tasmania, Tasmania Trip (Day 12)

26th March 2016, Saturday

Raining again when we woke up. My friend helped to prepare breakfast for us, then we all packed our luggage and loaded them up to the car. Then we drove out to buy some breads as it was a long long way back to Hobart Airport (about 4 hours plus ride). Quite sad, it was the last day in Tasmania. We passed by a few smaller towns and many mountains and fields along the way. We also passed by many creeks and each of them has a name to it. We also saw a wild wormbat along the roadside when we passed by burney lake. After 2 hours plus, we stopped by a power station at nive river for toilet break. My friend's husband was "chasing" her to get off the car quickly as he wanted to go to the toilet urgently...kekkekee....After 5 mins break, we continued on the road again until we reached  Bascilla Bay Oysters for lunch.

Fish & Chips

Seafood Platter

This time, we ordered a big seafood platter and a fish & chips to share (our last Tasmania lunch)..hohoho....After the nice lunch, we drove to the petrol station near the airport to fill up the oil tank and headed to the rental car park near the airport. We reached the airport at around 1 plus, which was still early for our check-in. So we just find some seats to sit around the airport, the airport was very small too. I noticed that the luggage trolley requires to pay for it too. We were thinking whether to check-in through Qantas counters or Jetstar counters for our flights as we booked through Qantas website, however, the flight stated was Jetstar plane. By 2.30 pm, there was no flight number displayed for check-in whereas Jetstar counters were opened for check-in. However, there were a couple of passengers who went to Qantas counters and were successfully checked in. So we walked towards Qantas counter and checked with the staff where we should do the check-in. She told us to go over to check-in with Jetstar counters as it was a Jetstar plane.

So we went over to Jetstar counters and we decided to check-in separately as i will be stopping for another 3 days in Melbourne whereas my friends will be flying back to Singapore. My friends went ahead to check in first and my friends were asking them if Jetstar can help them to transfer their luggage to the flight to Singapore when they land in Melbourne for stopover as they only have a 50 minutes stopover grace period. (It's a bit troublesome to do a transfer in Melbourne as it requires passengers to check out, including passing the customs from the domestic terminal and cross over to the international terminal and check in again, including passing the customs). The staff took a look at their fight route and told them the 2nd flight was Qantas flight, therefore will require to check with Qantas staff whether it is possible. He came back and told my friend that he will need to direct them to his colleague on this. So while waiting, he did my check-in. I was able to get mine done quickly as mine was just flying to Melbourne.

Later, the other Jetstar staff told my friends that they cannot help them as the 2nd flight was under Qantas. Then we went over to Qantas counter to see whether the staff can help them. The staff also told them she cannot do anything and asked them to call their customer hotline instead. (Quite frustrating when they tell you to call their hotline instead of helping passengers to resolve the problem on ground). Oh well, so we tried to call Qantas hotline (Australia) but it was on hold for long long time. Meanwhile, my friend tried to call the customer hotline (Singapore) using her own phone. Luckily, someone picked up her call in Singapore and tried to help her out. However, the call was also put on hold for more than 15 minutes while she did the check. And the check-in counters for Jetstar were closing in another 20 minutes and I had to go in to the gate soon too. We gave up waiting for the Australia side to pick up our call.

Flight to Melbourne

In the end, I went ahead to proceed to the gate and they had to wait outside still as the customer service staff (SG) told them not to check in first. I managed to meet them again at the gate when it was boarding time. Then I was told that the customer service staff (SG) had helped them to book an accommodation in Melbourne for the night as the first flight out to Singapore will be the next day. And so we boarded the plane but were seated separately. I was seated with another young lady who was alone. There was a couple with a baby seated on the next row beside us and the baby screamed from volume level 1 to 8 to show his displease. The dad had to use his ipad to keep the baby entertained. Wondered why the flight back to Melbourne was not Qantas Link, at least we will have free snacks on plane... -_-?

I moved to the back seat after the plane was on the air and i got the whole row to myself. But there was nothing to do except to sleep or watch the clouds. We landed in Melbourne airport @ 6.30 pm and we went through the customs and waited for our luggage. And I also missed the 6.30 city bus out to the city too. After everything settled, I bid bye bye to my friends and went to take the city bus to Southern Cross station. It took 20 to 25 minutest to the station and I bought dinner to eat in the hotel too. It was rainy heavily too, so i took a cab to the hotel. But the driver didn't know the hotel's location, so i gave him the address which he keyed into his GPS.

Double bed

Single Bed

When we passed the hotel on the opposite side, i told him that that's the hotel i was going to. However, he just said ya and he turned to the left side which he stopped to let me off. I told him it was not the hotel is located. He said this is where his GPS's end point is. I still told him we just passed the hotel on the other street. He still insisted it is the correct place... -_-"... Pek chey!
Anyway he still drove out to the street that we passed earlier and finally, he saw the hotel and said "ooo..it's here.." I paid him the fare ($10) and took my luggage to check-in the hotel. I was thrilled when the staff told me i got a free room upgrade. After settling all the check-in stuffs, i carried my luggage up to my room, which was on the 2nd level. So happy....my day finally ended!!! Seems like a long day today. My friends also checked in to their hotel safely and had a very nice dinner from the hotel room service. I only had Hungry Jack meal as my dinner...hohohoo....

Hotel Stayed:
Miami Hotel Melbourne

Last Day in Taipei, Taiwan Trip (Day 16)

2nd December 2014, Tuesday

Rock Coco

Today was the last day of our trip and so we didn't plan to do anything much today. My friend still needed to buy sun cakes for her friend, so we got up at around 11 pm and got ready. When my friend was showering, i ate my doughnuts from Krispy Kreme...so nice...Then when  my friend was going to eat hers, she asked me what happened to my doughnuts...hohoho....Then we checked out and left our luggage at the hotel lobby. It was cold and cooling today...We walked to the end at one of the streets in ximending and checked out a shop selling sun cakes and pineapple cakes. It wasn't so nice when we tasted it. At first, my friend was saying that her friend wanted to meet us to have a dinner with the friend's boss family at Taoyuan area. But the arrangement like so troublesome for us to run here and there. While she was messaging her friend, i went to buy my pancake for the last time...hahaha...In the end, the dinner was cancelled. So there were more time for us now, and we went to Taipei Main Station to walk the underground shopping malls (maybe can find sun cakes to buy too). We just walked walked and see see when we were at the underground malls, nothing much to buy too...hahahaa....We walked until about 2 plus before we decided to go back to the hotel. Saw a shop selling sun cakes and pineapple cakes when we were walking back to ximending from the station, and bought a few boxes back.

Rice

Then we left our cakes in the hotel lobby with our luggage, there was when i received an SMS from Jetstar notifying that my flight was delayed for an hour. So we went to a nearby eating place beside the hotel to have some food (last meal in taipei...hohohoho).....We asked the hotel staff to help us to call for a cab when we finished eating...it was around 4 plus....The cab driver was very old, like around 60 plus already...he helped us drag our luggage to his taxi which was parked outside ximending streets. Then it was off to the airport....This time we still went for the check-in of luggage despite the flight delayed...but it was still early.. the counters were opening at 6.15 pm and there was already a queue for it. There was another queue for web check-in and there was no one queuing there. My friend went there to queue as i had already checked in last night. Then we were wondering why nobody is queuing here, does that mean no one using web check-in? hahahaa....So we just waiting until the counters were open....We were able to get my luggage checked in fast as we were first....After that, we went down to the food court as there wasn't any shops to walk and it was very cold. Had a soup with rice and a milk tea...not so nice...We just stayed there to wait for the time to pass before i can go in my flight's gate.....

Flight Delayed

I said bye bye to my friend when it was time for mi to go in (her flight to Philippines was past midnight)...so i went in alone...my first time to take flight alone....There wasn't much people after the customs....my boarding gate changed too....the shops were also very quiet...so i slowly walked to my gate as it was still early. And when i reached the boarding waiting area...it was sooo empty and cold...And i noticed the flight time had displayed to 10 pm on the board but there wasn't any announcement made on the changed of time...So i went to ask the airline staff, she said the plane was delayed on the other side and was already on the way now but estimated time to land in Taoyuan was 9.15 or 9.30 pm. So i just sat there and waited for the plane to arrive...it was very very cold...luckily there was wi-fi around, at least i still can watsapp my friend who was also waiting outside for her check-in counters to be opened. Finally the plane landed at around 9.15 pm, i only boarded the plane at around 9.35 pm....and when i was on the plane, there was a family group, so ma fan...trying to change the seats here and there....so that the whole family can be seated near to each other...The mother was waiting for the other party to board so to make arrangements....so noisy....and i got a teenager sitting with the mother beside me...and 2 boys sitting in front of me and another 1 small toddler sitting behind me.... -_-"...Luckily they didn't ask me to change my seat (which was a window seat)...hahaha....

The plane also took a long time to get off the ground, after settling all the passengers, the plane had to wait for 4 planes to land first before it could move across the path for take off....Finally, it took off...and from above i was able to see Taiwan with all its orange lights...very nice layout....and it was beautiful...I just kept looking on it....until we were up up into the clouds...And just when i thought i wanted to try to sleep, the food was being served out to sell...haiz....stomach so hungry....how to sleep?? And the mother kept chatting with her daughter beside...aiyo...no peace....So i just put on my earphones and tried to sleep...until by midnight, i woke up and the 2 of them were finally sleeping...But i couldn't get back to sleep...haiya...and i couldn't lower my seat  further as i think the lady behind who was carrying the toddler was blocking my seat from going down. Anyway, the plane finally landed in SG at around 3rd Dec 2.45 am..So i just took my time to alight the plane (let everyone else to alight first)...and slowly walked out of the customs and gate...hehee...going home alone anyway....so no hurry....bought a bottle of vodka and tiger beers with lemon too...hahahaa...Then went Burger King to grab some snacks...very hungry...also overheard a group of ladies talking about SG flats, one of them was questioning how come a foreigner/PR got approved on the application of a HDB flat when the foreigner/PR was already holding another house asset...something like that...and why the government can approved it....

Then i went to take a cab, there wasn't any cab around....so i waited, and so when this cab driver came by, he like very not happy to pick up customers...don't even want to help me put my luggage in the car's boot...He even signed very loudly when i told him my destination...Don't know why need to sign so loudly.....when reached my block, i just waited for him to take out my luggage from the car's boot lor..... :P
Being naughty.....and so my trip ended after 16 full days of fun....i will definitely miss all the yummy food i had there....and the cooling weather on my last 2 days too....hahahaa

During my trip in Taiwan, we collected a lot of the stamps in all the places we went too. Some are very cartoon too.  You can take it as part of your collection when you are traveling in Taiwan next time.

Kaohsiung 高雄, Taiwan Trip (Day 1)

17th November 2014, Monday

Christmas Season in Changi Airport

Yeah..going Taiwan for the 2nd time and this time going to be a long 16 days journey. And this time round, had booked the air tickets after quitting my new job at a super crappy company (don't even know why they can survive for so long). Had decided to go along with Jetstar airline as they were having sales on the air tickets, $361 for a round trip to Taiwan. The departure time was 1.15 am but had received a SMS from the airline company, saying the flight had been delayed until 4.15 am due to operational requirements (i think this is pretty common for Jetstar airline). But i still went to the airport at around 9 plus as it will be too late for my dad to drive me there anyway.

Once i reached the airport, i went up to KFC on the 2nd level in T1 and waited for my friend. She came around 10 plus and we just sat there and waited for the check-in time. I even got a call from Jetstar staff, telling me there is a delay on the flight and asked me whether wants to change my flight to a later flight which is at around 7 plus in the morning. We waited from KFC until another restaurant called Ruyi downstairs, in the end, my friend just lied on the chairs and tried to take a nap....hahhaa...i was just loitering around to pass time. Waited until 2.30am, which was 2 hours before the fight, there is still no check-in counter number displayed on the board. Told my friend to wake up and go see the counters row just in case as there should be display on the counter number by now. Noticed there were already people queuing when we reached the counter and i also overheard the counters were already opened earlier and a lot of people had already checked in. There were a group of gals in front of us, saying that they tried checking in using the self check-in machines, the system had prompted them that the flight had already left....gave them a fright...LOL.....

HSR Train Tickets to Zuoying

And so, we checked in our luggage and went ahead to the gate. It was a long walk to the gate, as usual, so we just took our time to walk to the gate...heheehe...Finally, we were able to fly off to Taiwan!! The flight journey took us around 4 hours plus and we just tried to sleep on the plane (behind us were 2 younger kids, 1 of them keep crying once she was awake and the other 1 was just making whining sounds), we reached Taoyuan International Airport at around 8 am plus or later. Once landed, we found our way to take the bus to the high speed rail station. It was at the lower level and there were different counters to buy bus tickets to different location. Need to see the schedule and buy the tickets from the correct counter, we went to the wrong counter at first..hehehe....So we bought our bus tickets to the HSR station, which costs NT$30 each and the ride was around 15 mins or so. It was raining too in Taoyuan and feeling cold. We went in to buy our train tickets to Kaohsiung (Zuoying) first, NT$1335 each as it was the last station. After getting the tickets, we went to get mcd for breakfast as there is still some time (hungry from the flight too).

Zuoying Metro Station

We waited for around 15 mins and had our hashbrowns while waiting, the train came and we boarded. The seats space was spacious, we even can squeeze our luggage in with no problem. We had our breakfast once the train moved out, the pancakes i bought was cold cold and hard...not nice to eat...sadz...My friend slept on the train when i just looked at the window...It was about noon time when we reach Zuoying and once we came out from the gate, there were many cab drivers asking whether we are going to Kending. I told them no, we are going to Kaohsiung city. Funny, 1 cab driver even told us to go Kending and stay there and not to go Kaohsiung city as there is nothing to do there and was trying to get us to change to go Kending instead. Anyway i just brushed them away and went to the visitors information counter to ask on how we can get to our hotel. So we made our way down to the metro station and bought our single journey coins (still the same as the first time i went taipei)...

Glass Art on the ceiling of Dome

We took the metro until Formosa Boulevard Station and alighted, the Dome of Light is in this station. This station is the interchange station between the 2 metro lines (red and orange lines) and in the center of the station, there are colorful glasses built with art designs. It was pretty but the station is very hot and we are already sweating..hehee...so we just went up to the streets after asking the security guard on the hotel direction. And then, we just pulled our luggage and tried to find our hotel on the street, luckily is just a straight road before i saw the hotel signboard ahead. The hotel is quite small, and our room wasn't ready when we arrived. The lady was telling us maybe need another 15 or 20 mins to get it ready. So we rested in the lobby for awhile and when we had decided to leave our luggage and go out first, the staff told us our room is ready. So we went up to our room instead. The room was not very big but somehow the toilet looked bigger than the room itself., even have a bathroom. i even found a condom pack provided on the table...kekeke....Then we just rested in the room, until we feel like going out again..We went down and had turned into a small road near the hotel, noticed there were 2 stalls, 1 selling rice and 1 selling red tea milk.

Red Tea Milk Shop

We bought food at the rice stall, had braised pork rice, mee suan and kang kong dish. It was nice but i think the stall is famous for their herbal soups. Later the stall owner came and saw us, she chatted with us, asking where we are from and was talking to me in Mandarian initially, then later she tried to speak with us in English. She told us Singapore is a nice country and she had actually stayed 2 years there. And she also recommended us places to go in Kaohsiung, weird, she also recommended us to go Kending...kekekee....We also saw people keep coming to the other stall to buy red tea milk and is in big bottles. So we decided to buy a cup and tried it, we thanked the lady boss for the food and went to buy the tea. So funny, my friend tried to buy the drink, the stall staff don't understand her, so she called me for help....heheee...The staff was asking me what language was my friend talking, i told her English lor...hahaa. So i got her a cup of red tea milk (red tea with fresh milk) and a piah. I don't normally drink tea, but this tea was nice to drink (not bitter too). We both like it. The staff tried to ask my friend whether was the tea nice when we were about to leave but she asked in Mandarin...hahaha...

Love River

After the lunch, i wanted to go to Lotus Pond but ended up in Love River, which is the main river of Kaohsiung. We had to walk a distance from the metro before we can see the river. There was a group of students doing sailing in the river too, we didn't take the cruise there. We just walked along the river and enjoyed the breeze, looking at people around. It was very peaceful and calm...but still can hear the little vans going around broadcasting for voting supports for their politics candidates as it was Taiwan's election period now (Voting day was on 29/11/2014). There were big groups of supporters for each individual candidate and they are recognized by the area and their number. Anyway, this was what we been seeing for the rest of the days until 29/11. Passed by District Court, Kaohsiung Film Archive (which was closed on Monday), a church and a kindergarten. Walked over to Kaohsiung bridge too. Bought a bamboo rice to try too. So this is how we spent our afternoon, as the day ended quite early, the sun knocked off at around 4 plus and by 5 plus,  the sky was already dark (like our 7 pm). We went Carrerfour to shop for awhile too, can even try on the food before buying. Bought a packet of quail eggs for my friend to try, she doesn't like it....kekeke...Then later we made our way to the hotel (where we got lost on the streets on the way back to the metro station too....kekeke), where i checked with the staff on whether Liu He Night Market was opened today. Then we went up to use the toilet first and rested our feet (sore already from walking), then we walked to Lu He Night Market, which was just at the street behind the hotel.

Famous Papaya Milk Stall

First stall we saw was the fried giant sotong, which was a recommended food and as we walked, there was stalls for smelly tofu and i asked my friend whether she smelled it, as she was not aware of this snack when she was in HK previously. But she said she got nose block, so cannot smell anything (she did managed to smell it on the 3rd day when we went back to the market)....hahaha....Then as we walked further in, there were multiple stalls selling seafood...oysters, lobsters, crabs, clams, etc...and you get to pick the seafood and they will be cooked by using stirred-fried or bbq....they all smell nice and the seafood are big too!! The oysters were really big, even the octopus legs, i don't see that big in SG.We had a whole lobster and a skewer of scallops (6) for NT$1300. Really fresh...nice to eat...Then we walked further down the street, my friend bought a white corn from a stall (only 1 stall selling corns, both yellow and white and alot of people buying too). The cost of the corn was by the weight of the corn, so if you choose a heavy corn, it will cost a bit more. The minimum price was around NT$30. My friend got hers for NT$40, but at least she said it wasn't bad (she still preferred her own PH corn)...hohooho....Then we bought fried chicken (which i don't find it really nice) and fried mushroom (which is really nice). We came across a stall selling papaya milk and there were alot of people queuing for it. And i noticed there were also alot of autographs on the stall signboard. I remembered reading papaya milk was one of the must try food online, so i told my friend to buy it too. I wanted to get mango milk but it wasn't available, so i got 2 papaya milk instead. It was very milky at first, but later it was nice to drink. 1 cup is only NT$50, still cheaper than our fruit juice here. The market was like only 2 streets long as this is one of the small night markets around Kaohsiung.

Doggie doing Yoga

After all the food, we made our way back to the hotel. Saw a pet shop with some funny on the display, so stayed to look at them for a while. The puppies were very cute, one of the doggies even did yoga for us to see..had a good laugh on it. It was bending its head upwards and trying to bite his tail....super funny..it did touched his tail in the end. After the good laugh, we went back to the hotel to rest (had a super long and tired day). And noticed why the toilet looked bigger cos there wasn't a curtain or glass door for the shower/bathtub. So the toilet ended up flooded after our showers...hahhaa...


Hotel Stayed: Holiday Hotel

Places Visited:
Dome of Light
Love River
Lu He Night Market

Europe 2nd Trip - Zurich, Switzerland (Day 15)

8th Nov 2013, Friday, Sunny

Swiss Army Knives

Today is our last day in Zurich and we are going back to Singapore tonight...sadz sadz....So we got up a bit late and then we got ourselves prepared. I had to go down to a Swatch shop and get my new watch to change cos the winder was spolit and it would come off if apply with some strength. So after breakfast, we went down the shops near the train station to check out but the shop was not the official shop. So we had to walk to the branch in the main station, luckily i was able to change a new one in the branch in the train station. We went to a souvenir shop called EdelWeiss Shop and had some shopping. After that, we went and took a bus down to the place for our cruise along Zurich Lake. Once we found the boarding place for the cruise, it was crowded with people. Then the boat (for a shorter route) came and we boarded. There was no seats outside, we managed to get a place to sit in the boat inside. OMG, it was so hot with my jacket on (it's 4 layers of clothes) and the boat was super slow.....I really sat until i was going to fall asleep on the boat ride, even the dog sitting under the table opposite us also hid and was making itself comfortable to sleep.

Fish & Chips (Nordsee)

Finally, there was some free seats at the outside, so we went out to have some wind blow. After the cruise, we saw swans and black birds around and went and take some photos on them. There were people sitting around having sandwiches too. After that, it was time for us to go back to our hotel and head out to the airport. We went to the bus stop and hopped on our bus to go back to the main train station.  We had our lunch at a restaurant, named Nordsee. It mainly sells seafood and i ordered a Fish & Chips. It costs $7.90 swiss franc and it tasted nice...i like it...kekeke...Once we were back in the hotel room, we took our stuffs that needed to go through tax refund. Then we got the hotel staff to help us weigh our luggage, so that we can roughly know how heavy. Amazingly, mine was the heaviest, which i was shocked...But anyway, we went down to Zurich main train station to catch the train to Zurich Airport, which was like 10 mins or so journey. We just stood near the train door until we reached our stop. Then we dragged ourselves to the airline counter and printed our boarding pass. After that, we went and find a place to lighted our luggage and keep our jackets too. After all this, we went down to check whether we can check in our luggage. Fortunately, the counters were open and we checked in our luggage and then we went walking around the airport, at the same time, trying to find the tax refund office to do our refund.

Passport Stamps

When we reached the tax refund office, there was a Singaporean couple who also came and wanted to do their tax refund. But they had checked in all the stuffs they bought with their luggage, and the husband was making a fuss that the shops staffs didn't inform them that they were required to show the stuffs to the officer when doing tax refund. The officer still insisted that they show the stuffs and the wife (think she doesn't want any trouble) tried to calm her husband and then they left the office. Then we went and showed our stuffs to the officer and done with the tax refund. After everything was done, we went and look for the airport lounge. It was so weird, we actually need to get our passport stamp to get to the lounge we wanted to go (it means we had exited Swiss...kekeke..). Me and another friend went to take food to eat while another one went to take a shower. It wasn't much choice but at least the food wasn't that bad to eat. We stayed in the lounge until it was time for it to close. Then we took our time to walk to our boarding gate, which we had to pass through the customs (which we got another stamp again). And then, i thought the custom officer had stamped the date as 9/11/2013 on my passport..hohoho...scared me when it turned out it was stamped with the correct date correctly. Then we had our passports stamped again, indication that we left Swiss, so in total we had 4 stamps for the whole trip. We had to take a tram to our gate and we also had some last-minute shopping before we reached our gate.

It was finally time to board the plane, i think i just fell asleep when the plane had started to fly. Super tired....this was the first time i actually slept the most on the plane. Luckily, this time, the guy who sat beside me was an Indian-looking guy and wasn't so big and i had my backpack placed on top. So i was having much space for my legs.....didn't get cramped this time...hahaha....We landed in Singapore on 9th Nov 2013. And so it marked the end of my Europe Trip (my only trip this year)......