Day 3 - Day 5

• Wulai for Hotspring! did i mention we woke up 3 hours late?!
• on our journey there, we met a samaritan! she looks like a hk veteran actress that always acts in ghost show rite?! she basically just approach us and took us 'under her wings'! well her kind soul led us to her hotspring that she frequents, giving us 2 coupon for a private bathhouse (U.P Nt900+) but we only paid NT180 each! The scenery up there was awesome.. lovely place. we felt like we met an angel! taiwanese are really really kind at heart. unlike singaporeals.. ouch.
• places visited: wulai old street, wulai waterfall via a rustic tram ride (fun fun part), we then rushed to explore the aboriginal museum
• the whole feel up there is just breath taking.

• next up shilin NM
• food wise: variety not really fantastic, almost repetive, not many much raved about food here
• shopping: good, many many lanes of shops and the crowd leaves pretty late which i like

• Start of our out of taipei, county trips.
• yeliu was first. we went on the wrong day!
• maybe partly it was at a higher altitude.. but we were freezing cold! and it was just drizzling in a very irritating way! like its there but its not there
• and so.. we didnt take alot of photos and all so at least i was pretty bumped bout it
• but definitely a place worth visiting! ferocious waves! we almost got all drenched for standing too close.
• an old korean visitor was passing by and requested to take a picture with us.. aww!

• took a 40mins bus ride to Keelung
• main thing was to see the miaokou street (all the good food supposedly there)
• but our itineary took for a turn when elena went to a super ulu toilet.. as they have toilet for old ladies and one was waiting outside as the cubicle was apparently taken up by some young aunty talking on the phone! so i felt it was unfair for her and mainly the old lady outside looks like she's fainting! so i hurried the young aunty.. then when she finally came out, the old lady no more strength to go toiley already! so i decided to help her through.. engaging the help of another taiwanese aunty that passed by.. together we helped her.. not complaining in any way but hey i literally touched her faeces and snot! at the moment i wonder why am i here in taiwan doing this.. but i know i couldnt leave her all alone.
• miaokou- nothing much, weather spoilt our appetite but pretty bumped that i didnt try their you fan (oily rice)
• lunched at some lu wei thingy.. not bad nice nice. here again they served free dong gua cha!

• jiufen next!
• by the time we got here.. it was dark, filled with tourist and even more freezing cold! totally ruin our scenic view and atmos! its an old town rustic feel.. too bad :(
• first thing we did was to have their warm yam red bean kinda dessert, famous in jiufen.
• tried bittergourd juice..superfood and a detox drink! 2% bitterness
• leaving her also another drama mama situation, hailed a cab, wanted to negotiate pricing but he just drove off and quoted us a super high price so i told him to stop but he started raising his voice saying that he queued for a long time but i DEMANDED he drop us now. and when he did it was FAR away from the bus stop. mind you it was pouring! and THANK GOD the bus drove by and stopped for us (i think we looked too pathetic la) by now my mood is downright black. haha

• by the time we reached taipei, we were literally shivering coz our clothes were soaking damp. went back hotel to changed and headed out to eat ah zhong meesua (nice man.. its not just a hype thing) before going shida NM
• shida is goood.. young people place.. its near a uni thus. clothes are more bangkok-ish also..
• the baked potato with cheese is heaven
• zhua bing w extra egg is WOW.. simple thing impresses me heh

• woke up early and we took a 2 hours bus ride to taichung!
• ate their bian dang.. cheap(NT50) and good spread!
• walked to jing ming yi jie, nothing much there just that the atmos is different. got approached by a reporter from ping guo re bao!
• went on a hunt for taiyang bing and pineapple tart but failed ( we were mad)
• in the took a cab and asked the driver to send us to the most famous one.. is called jun mei (divine cakes;buttery and moist fillings) driver also go the extra mile, wanted to pick us up when we're leaving fengjia (we even arranged a place to meet), gave us name card and in the end we painstakingly called him to tell him we're leaving late lol accountable rite?!

• fengjia nm! in my opinion is really good.. probably the best NM i went.
• unique food and many variety. mexican, shanghainese, taiwanese, western, japanese.. international fare!
• met the cutest dog here! her tag says, "don't feed me as im dieting"
• ate our choudoufu here, its delish!
• shopping is also good.. cheaper than shilin!

elena and nixi went on a trip... T-A-I-W-A-N
18th to 24th November of 2009

Day 1 & 2

• flight delayed for 5 hours
• CKS airport really nothing fantastic.
• took free-go bus direct to airport..clean and comfy. (NT260 2 ways)

• stayed Neijiang hotel, 5 mins walk away from Ximen Jieyun; besides the red house only
• to book: Call in advance and they will give you reservation #, by trust basis
• payment done daily, NT1380 Mon-Thurs, NT 1580 Fri-Sun
• 7-11, eateries, Cosmed (their watson) all within 2 mins walk
• Hotel's service A++
• Cleanliness A+
• Breakfast - Sandwich and Juice B
• TV with 100 over channels A+++
• Boiler, Hair dryer, toothpaste etc A+
• Recommended!

• 24hr eatery below our hotel
• popular among locals
• cheap and good
• love their xiao cai
• bought back our finds from 7-11, i could shop there for hours!

• Breakfast: Hotel's sandwich, shui jian bao, dou hua shui, cheese dan bing

• Sogo
• take train to Zhong Xiao Fu Xing and exit accordingly
• went to get elena's jill stuart fix
• both of us got their MUA to doll us up (they are really willing and polite to the max)

• Ate at the famous yongkang beef noodle stall.
• not really a fan of beef noodle so i cant judge much but the beef's good thou
• most eateries serve free and xiaocai you can choose yourself

• walked 15mins to breeze centre
• not really worth it but oh well for the sake of it
• supposedly the mecca of nu ren wo zui da products, apparently we cant find it!
• some old town walkabout

• headed to wufenpu
• shopping wise it was good, bought quite a few things there.. just gotta slash prices thou
• tried their famous formosa chang (hu zhi zhang)
• their famed lu rou fan is heavenly! fatty meat mixed with the rice.. drools. super unhealthy thou.
• a meal so superb cost only 4SGD each! What?! How to find in SG!!!
• ps: i love their portioning of rice! just nice for you to eat more other side dishes. SG please learn from them!

• raohe NM
• actually can miss it if you've no time but its just behind wufenpu so..
• pepper pastry thingy is nice and filling! moist and peppery.
• yummy papaya milk
• dorayaki
• wild boar sauage.. sweet and juicy
• weren't that adventurous the 1st day to eat more food.. wasted
• ran after the last train at houshanpi (12am+)
• asked for directions and met a freaky guy that asked us to follow his direction when obviously we knew it was wrong.. quickly left him after that
  
• after wu fen pu we were dead beat but it was thursday, their ladies night so we decided to go their famous but not that on par club Luxy
• reached there at 2am, crowd was still there, but mostly street dancers parring with each other kinda scene.. interesting.
• highlight of it all, freaky situation #2: we met a drunkard but we didnt know until the end of it all, he asked to take a photo with us when we asked him for directions then after he even offered to send us back to the hotel, thats when we immediately stick our hand out for a cab. freaky. wonder why i agreed to take a picture with him?! NIXI?!

Your close friends know you as a good listener.

Although you may not vocalize it often, you have an awareness of how society affects individuals, and you understand complex causes of people's behavior.

You enjoy exploring the world through observation, quietly watching others.

You value your close relationships very much, and are more likely to spend time in small, tightly-knit groups of friends than in large crowds.

You have a basic faith in yourself in many areas of your life, allowing you to be self-assured when facing challenges

Self-reliance is something in which you take great pride—you are confident and down to earth.

Your eye for aesthetic beauty and style indicates that you know a lot about design.

You are quite sure of yourself, so that you tend to know the best ways of doing things.

Your preference for concrete, visually pleasing things, combined with your confidence and your respect for order make you an ARCHITECT.

Relating to others so well, and understanding their emotions, leads you to trust people in general, even though you're somewhat shy and reserved at times.

your turn!
http://www.personaldna.com/

• tan family was punk'd by some loser loansharks
• excited for the newlygrouped cg
• found out someone in church has the same name as i have.. nixi with an 'E'. well almost.. but can i say i don't like that? :(
• stuffed myself with sushi sashami and more japanese galore
• going to ivory's wedding dinner food tasting; more food
• cant wait for awesome OPM on tue
• finally spend some quality time with mommy
• was shot by some online magazine some time ago. heh

a week past, another's coming.
God, lets go again! :)

collecting dust, cobb webs and creepycrawlies already! just in time for halloween. heh

the past 3 weeks was awesome!

my favorite meal of the day: brunch
spruce, eM

The Bazaar was so much fun.

thank God October (month of birthdays) is coming to an end

Pastor Tan was on fire the past saturday

im actually pretty happy bout how my 21st went

many more photos coming up.

caution: word diarrhea below

i have been thinking
but i don't really know how to put it across well politically
and not in any way offending anyone and in no particular reference to anyone whatsoever
its just that i feel no one is as they seem they are
one minute they may be showing one side
the next moment the other side
i don't know if you ever felt the same way as me
but as i realise this about human being
initially it freaked me out
not wanting to know so much about so and so
that much about this and that
because the truth of the matter is hearing all these causes you to form a certain stereotype towards a certain group of people
fact of the matter is human being are so complex and yet simple altogether

hmm at the end of the day as i decided to 'pen' this thought down
my main point i want to drive at is that human being are not so easily read out as we thought it is
we shouldn't be so believing and unbelieving
we should always give the benefit of doubt to others
we should always judge not to not be judge
we should be careful who we let into our life (deep, inner being)

balance is the key of life
growing up is painful
yet it is much needed
seek wisdom is all that we do
above all, i willingly let God govern me.

people may change
one day they look up to you and speak well of you
another day they bite the hand that feeds and belittle you
at the end of the day
i can only say
i build my life on this Rock, my Jesus!

Girls like to make list out of anything
the "what i look for in a guy" list, "before i am 30" list
i wanna make a "things i wanna try out once in my life" list

• have a true american bagel with cream cheese paired with a latte 
• watching a NBA match in Staple Centre (LA Lakers please)
• going to China to help the under priviledged
• experience scuba diving in a shark-free sea
• have a hair cut by ken paves
• take a yacht trip by St Tropez sea
• milk a cow
• take a bath in a huge martini glass
• attend an Oprah Winfrey show
• watch a Wimbledon match
• climb a famous mountain (preferably a easy one)
• walk down Via Dolorosa
• drop a penny for a black jazz playing busker in New Orleans
• live in New York for a month
• visit Graceland and eat peanut butter banana sandwich
• play dress up as a pixie and experience treat or treating
• watch a yankee game and have ballpark snack (Garlic Parmesan fries, juicy hotdogs)
• travel alone to Paris in solitude soaking it all in
• experience Mardi Gras in Louisiana collecting as many pearl necklaces
• throw tomato in La Tomatina despite the fact that i feel it is a wastage
• rock on at Glastonbury thou i have no idea whose singing what
  
  This isn't a comprehensive list, i shall keep dreaming and add on to it :)
  What's your list?