Amberjacks - Cottesloe

I may be biased, but I totally believe Perth has some of the best beaches and sunsets in the world. I'm not much of a sunbathing and swimming beach-goer, being a fair skinned Asian, I've always been taught to avoid the sun like the plague. So when we do go to the beach it's to catch the sunset and have a nice stroll in the breezy wind. 

My family and I visited Cottesloe beach not to long ago. I was so glad we arrived in just the nick of time to watch the sunset.

The Cutting Board Eat House - Perth

Before today I've never heard of The Cutting Board Eat House, it just so happens I wanted to get some free rice paper rolls from the newly opened Roll'd but the queue was a tad ridiculous. So we walked passed Roll'd and decided on The Cutting Board.

Roll'd Vietnamese - Perth (Pun of the Day)

After our lunch at the Cutting Board (blog post coming up soon), we had time to kill and the queue at Roll'd has considerably shortened, so we jumped in the queue and got our FREE rice paper rolls! I requested two soft shell crab rice paper rolls. It was superb. It was fresh, tasty and generous amount of filling. The hoisin sauce was also great on top of the rolls. Roll'd is located just across the hall from The Cutting Board Eat House.

Lucky Chan's Laundry + Noodlebar - Northbridge

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding Lucky Chan's Laundry + Noodle bar, from its interior decoration to its food. My friend and I finally had the chance to try Lucky Chan's, we purposely chose a weeknight thinking that it will be quieter, avoiding queues and waiting time. 

Well we did avoid a queue. As we arrived, we were immediately greeted by a maitr d'/waiter and were asked how many people in our party. He then proceeded to tell us he will look for a table, left and never came back. We waited another five minutes before another waitress came and took us seriously and seated us.

Bad first impression.

So we sat and ordered quickly, because lets face it, we already trawled through Lucky Chan's website and knew what we wanted. Then began the 50 minute wait for our bowls of ramen. There was a lovely bartender who kept checking up on us and made genuine attempts to see when our dish will be ready, really appreciated his effort, unfortunately he could not make that 50 minutes go faster. Well at least it gave my friend a I plenty of time to catch up.

Anyway, I ordered the shoyu ramen, simply because it came with one 62 degree egg, it also comes with Hanoi chicken, fishcake and nori. My friend ordered the tonkotsu ramen, which was topped with chashu pork, wood ear mushroom, menma and spring onion.

Shoyu ramen ($14.90)

Taiwan Day Four and Five Part 2

For the rest of our China Trip:
1. China Part One - Meizhou
2. China Part Two - Guangzhou (Destinations)
3. China Part Three - Guangzhou (Eats)
4. Macau - Destinations
5.Taiwan Day One
6.Taiwan Day Two
7. Din Tai Fung - Taipei 101, Taipei
8. Taiwan Day Three
9. Taiwan Day Four and Five Part 1


Welcome to the final part of our China Trip series which is also of our last day in Taiwan.

On our fourth night in Taipei, we made our way to Shilin Night Market. Another famous and highly recommended night market.

Fried Milk (NT$3 per stick)

Taiwan Day Four and Five Part 1

For the rest of our China Trip:
1. China Part One - Meizhou
2. China Part Two - Guangzhou (Destinations)
3. China Part Three - Guangzhou (Eats)
4. Macau - Destinations
5.Taiwan Day One
6.Taiwan Day Two
7. Din Tai Fung - Taipei 101, Taipei
8. Taiwan Day Three
9. Taiwan Day Four and Five Part 2


Our trip was coming to an end. We've highly enjoyed our first two and a half days in Taipei, but there were still so much we wanted to see, do and eat.

DAY FOUR:

After breakfast on the fourth day in Taipei, we headed out to the Q Square, a shopping centre right next to Taipei Main Station. We didn't plan ahead to explore Q Square, we sort of just stumbled into it after hopping off at Main Station. The shopping centre was filled with international brands such as Kiehl's and Zara and there was a department store as well with local brands. We shopped for a little while, then found ourselves in the food court.

There was such a large range of food in the food court, but we unanimously agreed on a hot pot restaurant. Unfortunately, I've forgotten what the place was called, however, it was the only place that served hot pot. The food court is located on the last floor of the mall.

Complimentary platter with every dish ordered

Taiwan Day Three

For the rest of our China Trip:
1. China Part One - Meizhou
2. China Part Two - Guangzhou (Destinations)
3. China Part Three - Guangzhou (Eats)
4. Macau - Destinations
5.Taiwan Day One
6.Taiwan Day Two
7. Din Tai Fung - Taipei 101, Taipei
8. Taiwan Day Four and Five Part 1
9. Taiwan Day Four and Five Part 2


The Taiwan adventures continues, and we have another long day planned. The following are the highlights of our third day in Taipei.

Our third day in Taipei fell on a Sunday and just so happens to be Palm Sunday. My Mum has actually researched which Church we would go to, so straight after breakfast we piled into a taxi and off we went to Holy Family Church.

Din Tai Fung - Taipei 101, Taipei

For the rest of our Taiwan Trip:
1. Taiwan Day One
2. Taiwan Day Two
3. Taiwan Day Three
4. Taiwan Day Four and Five Part 1
5. Taiwan Day Four and Five Part 2

I feel the experience of eating at Din Tai Fung in the city where it all began deserves its own blog post!

My family and I ate at Din Tai Fung in Taipei 101. We arrived there at 11am, trying to avoid the lunch rush. It totally paid off. We were seated immediately and given the menus. Their menu is HUGE. There was so much different dishes on offer, the dim sum, rice, noodles, soups, meats and desserts. Everything looked so good.

At the table we were given menus an order pad which has all the menu items listed, and a pencil. We then had to put a quantity next to the menu item that we wanted. A waitress will then take the order pad from us, put it into one of their computers, bring back a receipt to the table and as dishes come to the table they will cross of that item from the receipt to signal that that item has been received.

Of course the first dish we ordered were their famous xiao long baos (Shanghai dumplings or soup dumplings).

Taiwan Day Two

For the rest of our China Trip:
1. China Part One - Meizhou
2. China Part Two - Guangzhou (Destinations)
3. China Part Three - Guangzhou (Eats)
4. Macau - Destinations
5.Taiwan Day One
6. Din Tai Fung - Taipei 101, Taipei
7. Taiwan Day Three
8. Taiwan Day Four and Five Part 1
9. Taiwan Day Four and Five Part 2


After a restful night sleep, my family and I were ready to head out and explore Taipei. We quickly ate breakfast at the hotel and headed out to the nearest MRT station, conveniently only a two minute walk from the hotel. With itinerary in one hand and 3-day MRT pass in another we were going to pain Taipei red! FYI, the 3-day MRT pass cost NT$440 and allows you to ride the MRT and metro buses as many times as you like for three days.

The first tourist destination we went to was the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. It was only two stations away from Ximen station, where we departed from. This place was absolutely majestic. Two performing arts buildings surround the memorial hall itself, and on that Saturday morning it was absolutely alive with activities. So many teenagers were practicing dancing, singing and even fitness outside the performing arts buildings. There were also many elderly people enjoying their daily dose of Tai Chi. 

Performing Arts Centre

Taiwan Day One

For the rest of our China Trip:
1. China Part One - Meizhou
2. China Part Two - Guangzhou (Destinations)
3. China Part Three - Guangzhou (Eats)
4. Macau - Destinations
5. Taiwan Day Two
6. Din Tai Fung - Taipei 101, Taipei
7. Taiwan Day Three
8. Taiwan Day Four and Five Part 1
9. Taiwan Day Four and Five Part 2


TAIWAN! Out of the whole China trip, this was the part I was most excited about. I'm not sure why, I haven't particularly heard amazing things about Taiwan, perhaps it was because I was more involved in the planning for Taiwan, or because my sister will be joining for the Taiwan trip, either way I was excited!

DAY ONE:

We arrived in Taipei at around 4:30pm, a whole two hours later than planned due to plane delays. I was anxious because we had planned to see three different sites on our first day, but the day was slipping away. Turns out I had nothing to worry about as Taipei is a city that sleeps late, not never, but very late. 

We took a taxi from the Taoyuan international airport to our hotel in Ximending, Taipei. We stayed at Westgate Hotel, which was a very cute hotel. The rooms were clean, well decorated and the best part, filled with lots of freebies. The freebies included, water, pineapple cakes, lollies and for their 2nd birthday, a scarf. The highlight for me, the fancy schmancy fully automatic toilet.

Bambamboo - Perth

I wanted to try Bambamboo when I heard of its opening while I was away. Then I forgot all about it, until last Saturday when Mr. T and I were shopping in the city and wanted to grab lunch. Located at 140 William Street, the place was much larger than I expected and I loved the modern Asian theme.

Pun of the day

Macau - Destinations

For the rest of our China Trip:
1. China Part One - Meizhou
2. China Part Two - Guangzhou (Destinations)
3. China Part Three - Guangzhou (Eats)
4. Taiwan Day One
5. Taiwan Day Two
6. Din Tai Fung - Taipei 101, Taipei
7. Taiwan Day Three
8. Taiwan Day Four and Five Part 1
9. Taiwan Day Four and Five Part 2


After all the fun we had in Meizhou and Guangzhou, we made our way to Macau. We took a bus from Guangzhou to the Gongbei Port in Zhuhai, which is the Guangzhou and Macau border line. Once we were through immigrations on both sides, we took a free shuttle bus straight to The Venetian. The ride to the hotel took around 20 minutes and on the way we passed an endless line of massive hotels and casinos.

I've been to Macau once before for a day trip and was blown away when we visited The Venetian It was the biggest hotel I've ever been in and everything was so luxurious. This time, I was again overwhelmed by the size and sights of The Venetian and was very excited to be staying overnight.