Air tickets: on cathay pacific SIN-HKG 0115-0505 HKG-KSS 0800-0920 KSS-HKG 2120-2050 HKG-SIN 0150-0540
Accommodation: Hotel Dua at Formosa boulevard NTD14,520
Day 1
I knocked out on the flight to Hong Kong cos it was so late! After touching down at HK, we went to the Plaza Premium lounge and slept more there as well. Still, nothing can beat a good night's rest so we were still slightly off when we reached KS. Tobs decided that we will cab and we did. It was cheap and town was near the airport so that's nice. Otherwise, it's connected by MRT so it's really convenient.
He booked lunch at Saint Antonio's beforehand and we headed there for lunch. It was a French restaurant next to Love River and we had window seats but the view was just okay. Had the Ribeye and Tobs got the Fillet. We had many courses and my favorite was the truffle egg, followed by the beef and the cheese bun. We actually asked for 2 more rounds of the cheese bun cos I liked it so much. Hehe! The restaurant was also. Sweet in providing a surprise abalone dish and an additional deconstructed tiramisu for my birthday. :)) Total damage: NT3080.
Realize from the signages that there would be fireworks in line with yuan xiao at night so we decided to drop by again after hitting the night market. This was not before we napped for an hour after checking in at 3 and then going for a massage at Deng Lao Shi near Rui Feng.
New finds at Rui Feng: Demon chicken chop, Mexican wrap
Rushed back to Love River just in time for the fireworks at 9pm. It was cheoreographed to match the music and was indeed quite spectacular. I loved it. It's the closet I've been to fireworks and the scale is really quite big. It was really crowded cos it tied in with the KS lantern festival as well, although the lanterns on display were quite meh.
Day 2
Cijin island. Super convenient that the harbour is a short walk from Sizihwan station and we didn't have to rely on the Hamasen Tour Bus. It was a 10 min ferry ride to the island and we began exploring. First we walked along the seafood street and reached the beach area. Saw a monument about an incident where a few boys drowned because they were trying to save their 2 friends caught in the swirls.
There was a Cijin Tunnel of Stars you had to go through with lots of graffiti and we spent quite a long time reading (and laughing) at them. Then we hit the lighthouse (it was quite a massive climb and super sunny) then there's a connector to the fort (which was just an empty space really).
Ended up at Ya Jiao on 22 Miaoqian Road for lunch. Ordered their signature calamari, 2 steamed fish and scallops (i think!). Quite reasonably priced and the seafood was really fresh. Enroute back we chanced upon Wu Bakery which has been in existence since ancient days and bought a few items. Loved their green bean pastry. Should have bought more!
Got back to the Kaohsiung side around 2-3pm and hurray Ah Ma Ji Dan Bing was opened! The last two times when we took Hamasen we were always too early. Queued up and bought 2 and it was fantastic. It was like a fried mantou but eggy. I finished both (cos Tobs did not want to eat the second one even though it was his idea to buy it) and we also had Hai Zhi Bing.
This was the day we set aside to visit Kai Xuan and Jin Zuan but alas, because of the explosion incident, business has been bad and a lot of stalls have closed. Gu Qie Yi Shi is still there (and imo still the best) and the smelly tou fu place has relocated. I was quite disappointed that Ah Q is no longer there. We also could not find the place with the spicy sheng jian xiao long. Boo. The visit proved to be quite meh. I had another famous papaya milk (Cheng's Old Brand) which was endorsed by Ma but that's about it.
Day 3
Fongshan New City Tour Bus. NT30 only with a NT20 discount! Like super cheap! We hopped off at Feng Yi Shu Yuan and paid admission (gasp) to tour this school built in 1814. Was in time for the guided tour as well so it was good. Next stop was for food. Had Liang Bo Yang Rou , Yang Ji Xian Bing Zhou, Nan Tai Chun Juan, and Feng Shan Lao Dian Shui Jian Bao. I was not particularly impressed by the street food here. Given that the chun juan was my favourite, it says a lot huh. Haha. But I generally have a slight preference for healthy food like chun juan:)
Walked to Long Shan Si to wait for the tour bus to take us back to the station but had time to kill so we went into the temple to look see. The architecture and all was pretty intricate and fascinating,considering it has a 200 year history. But since we were generally not interested in temples and the like, we did not spend much time there.
We also swept up super lot of Ma Yu Shan and other random products from a local supermarket. Plastic bags were chargeable so we just grabbed a unused cardboard box and stored all our purchases in there, taped it up and carried that around. Quite a good idea to reuse resources, really.
Ended up heading to Rui Feng again. Went back to Deng Lao Shi first for a body + food massage and by the time we were at the night market, the crowds were massive. There were queues everywhere but we still persisted in getting the demon chicken chop and mexican wrap. Decided to try new stuff as well like the Cong Zhua Bing (which turned out to be quite good). And the wonderful Tobs discovered Ah Q has a store near Rui Feng so we hit the actual shop and had a good and cheap dessert.
Day 4
We spent as much time in the hotel room until we had to vacate it. It was such a pity that we did not maximise the luxury. The Tobs took me in search of egg rolls, hoping to find the hole in the wall shop where I last got several packs of decent egg rolls. Unfortunately it was an uphill task and we did not manage to find it but we did pop by to get famous Hong Cha Dou Ru enroute to Xin Jue Jiang Shang Quan.
Chanced upon a shop with Korean designs at very reasonable prices (like Mayuki price) and bought 4-5 items there. Then Tobs found someplace where he took 4 pieces of tops as well. So we all had great buys. We did not eat lunch because of the sumptuous breakfast Dua provided and had lots of junk food to clear up in the fridge. So when it came to 3ish 4, we were feeling slightly hungry and just as well cos the street food stalls around the shopping area started opening up.
Tobs queued for the Angle chicken chop (same company as Demon) and I was initially happy to see Gu Qie Yi Shi but the mushroom from this stall was not as great - too fried and not as juicy as the uncle's stall in Jin Zuan.
When it came to dinner, we ended up at Rui Feng (I know right, I said that the stall owners probably recognise us alr). It was good that Tobs had the angle chicken chop cos even at 6.30pm the demon chicken chop store did not open, resulting in multiple buys at the mexcian wrap place. The cong zhua bing stall also did not open and went we finally gave up, we rounded off the feast with another Ah Q before heading back to grab our luggages and headed for the airport.
Day 2
Cijin island. Super convenient that the harbour is a short walk from Sizihwan station and we didn't have to rely on the Hamasen Tour Bus. It was a 10 min ferry ride to the island and we began exploring. First we walked along the seafood street and reached the beach area. Saw a monument about an incident where a few boys drowned because they were trying to save their 2 friends caught in the swirls.
There was a Cijin Tunnel of Stars you had to go through with lots of graffiti and we spent quite a long time reading (and laughing) at them. Then we hit the lighthouse (it was quite a massive climb and super sunny) then there's a connector to the fort (which was just an empty space really).
Ended up at Ya Jiao on 22 Miaoqian Road for lunch. Ordered their signature calamari, 2 steamed fish and scallops (i think!). Quite reasonably priced and the seafood was really fresh. Enroute back we chanced upon Wu Bakery which has been in existence since ancient days and bought a few items. Loved their green bean pastry. Should have bought more!
Got back to the Kaohsiung side around 2-3pm and hurray Ah Ma Ji Dan Bing was opened! The last two times when we took Hamasen we were always too early. Queued up and bought 2 and it was fantastic. It was like a fried mantou but eggy. I finished both (cos Tobs did not want to eat the second one even though it was his idea to buy it) and we also had Hai Zhi Bing.
This was the day we set aside to visit Kai Xuan and Jin Zuan but alas, because of the explosion incident, business has been bad and a lot of stalls have closed. Gu Qie Yi Shi is still there (and imo still the best) and the smelly tou fu place has relocated. I was quite disappointed that Ah Q is no longer there. We also could not find the place with the spicy sheng jian xiao long. Boo. The visit proved to be quite meh. I had another famous papaya milk (Cheng's Old Brand) which was endorsed by Ma but that's about it.
Day 3
Fongshan New City Tour Bus. NT30 only with a NT20 discount! Like super cheap! We hopped off at Feng Yi Shu Yuan and paid admission (gasp) to tour this school built in 1814. Was in time for the guided tour as well so it was good. Next stop was for food. Had Liang Bo Yang Rou , Yang Ji Xian Bing Zhou, Nan Tai Chun Juan, and Feng Shan Lao Dian Shui Jian Bao. I was not particularly impressed by the street food here. Given that the chun juan was my favourite, it says a lot huh. Haha. But I generally have a slight preference for healthy food like chun juan:)
Walked to Long Shan Si to wait for the tour bus to take us back to the station but had time to kill so we went into the temple to look see. The architecture and all was pretty intricate and fascinating,considering it has a 200 year history. But since we were generally not interested in temples and the like, we did not spend much time there.
We also swept up super lot of Ma Yu Shan and other random products from a local supermarket. Plastic bags were chargeable so we just grabbed a unused cardboard box and stored all our purchases in there, taped it up and carried that around. Quite a good idea to reuse resources, really.
Ended up heading to Rui Feng again. Went back to Deng Lao Shi first for a body + food massage and by the time we were at the night market, the crowds were massive. There were queues everywhere but we still persisted in getting the demon chicken chop and mexican wrap. Decided to try new stuff as well like the Cong Zhua Bing (which turned out to be quite good). And the wonderful Tobs discovered Ah Q has a store near Rui Feng so we hit the actual shop and had a good and cheap dessert.
Day 4
We spent as much time in the hotel room until we had to vacate it. It was such a pity that we did not maximise the luxury. The Tobs took me in search of egg rolls, hoping to find the hole in the wall shop where I last got several packs of decent egg rolls. Unfortunately it was an uphill task and we did not manage to find it but we did pop by to get famous Hong Cha Dou Ru enroute to Xin Jue Jiang Shang Quan.
Chanced upon a shop with Korean designs at very reasonable prices (like Mayuki price) and bought 4-5 items there. Then Tobs found someplace where he took 4 pieces of tops as well. So we all had great buys. We did not eat lunch because of the sumptuous breakfast Dua provided and had lots of junk food to clear up in the fridge. So when it came to 3ish 4, we were feeling slightly hungry and just as well cos the street food stalls around the shopping area started opening up.
Tobs queued for the Angle chicken chop (same company as Demon) and I was initially happy to see Gu Qie Yi Shi but the mushroom from this stall was not as great - too fried and not as juicy as the uncle's stall in Jin Zuan.
When it came to dinner, we ended up at Rui Feng (I know right, I said that the stall owners probably recognise us alr). It was good that Tobs had the angle chicken chop cos even at 6.30pm the demon chicken chop store did not open, resulting in multiple buys at the mexcian wrap place. The cong zhua bing stall also did not open and went we finally gave up, we rounded off the feast with another Ah Q before heading back to grab our luggages and headed for the airport.
