March 2020 Taiwan Trip - Day 3 (Taichung - Zhongshe Flower Market; Gaomei Wetlands; Fengjia Night Market)

And time to head to Taichung! After grabbing some food for breakfast, we are ready to travel to Taichung.

Arrival at Taichung.
From Taichung HSR station, you may take bus 160 to FengJia University. The journey will take around 30 - 45 minutes.

So the place we are staying at is at Mini Hotel @ FengJia. First time staying there, and even though it was okay, we didn't really like the place. For me, it's becasue the bed was located upstairs with a flight of steps whereas the TV was downstairs. So that part I didn't exactly like it. For JS, he didn't like it cuz the place is dark with not much lightings. 

Anyway, after leaving our stuff at the hotel, we then asked the receptionist for advices getting to the 2 places we wanted to go - Zhongshe Flower Market and Gaomei Wetlands. As expected, the places would be more accessible if we go by taxi. You can go by bus but you will have to change buses etc and it will be a waste of time on travelling.

So we chose to go by taxi and got the receptionist to help us get a taxi to our first destination ie. Zhongshe Flower Market. We then tried to check with the taxi driver and let him know the 2 places we are planning to visit and see if he can bring us instead of us rebooking taxis to and fro. We managed to negotiate and he agreed to bring us to the 2 places and then back to hotel :) 

First stop: Zhongshe Flower Market.
Not the first time I came here. But its the first time for JS.

Some of the exhibits below. Of course there were also some others. But I guess the place and exhibits were somewhat the same from the last time I went. Maybe a few new exhibits added.

When I force JS to take picture playing the piano but he don't know how to play hahahaah

And the next stop: Gaomei Wetlands. 
This place was requested by JS as he saw this place had good scenery view while researching on the places to go. 

I would have to admit that this place is worth coming! I like this place and we had so much fun here and took many many photos ~ And plus, the weather was cooling and great at that time we went. It's shiokness to the max!

And at the end, you may choose to walk in the wetland - which is filled with mud and also water level that's around your ankle only if you venture further out. The water was super cold when we went in - cuz of the cold weather. But it was an experience! I was also careful looking at where I was walking, since there's mini crabs around. But I guess they are so tiny that they might be more scared of us? hahaha! 

One of the photos we took! We took many many other photos and I am loving all the photos we took here <3 Not going to post them here, but I may share on instagram hehe.

And as it's getting late, it's time for us to leave. I will miss this place lots lots! 

Thereafter back at Fengjia, it's time for Night Market food at Fengjia Night Market! We ate some and brought some back to Hotel. 

And of course this papaya milkshake is not to be missed while at Taichung.

Oh, and this was also the time I received an email from Scoot that our flight back has been rescheduled to one day later -.-" No reasons given at all. I emailed them to check on the reasons due to the last minute change, but then till date (around 2 months already), I had not even receive any reply from them. 

Even though this means that we will have one more additional day to spend at Taiwan, I was not exactly happy of the sudden change cuz we will have to re-shift some plans (back in Singapore). We also had to request for additional day of leave. If we had known of the change earlier, we would have allocated perhaps one more day at Kaohsiung or what. But wells, since we only know of the change so last minute, we got no choice but to book for one more day accommodation at Taipei (since that's where we will be heading for the next day).  

Other than that, that's about it for Day 3 :) 

March 2020 Taiwan Trip - Day 2 (Kaoshiung - Pier-2 Art Center; Cijin Island; Ruifeng Night Market)

Started Day 2 with breakfast of course! Simple yet yummy~ Loving their milk tea the most. Why their normal milk tea taste so much nicer? 

Pier-2 Art Center
Getting there: Take the train to Yanchengpu Station. Exit the station via Exit 1, and it will just take you a 5 minutes walk. 

There's also other exhibits around the place. You just have to walk around and explore. 

And we ended up here: 

Based on the google map, we realised that we are pretty much near to the next place we wanted to go, since it's just one train station away. So instead of walking back to Yanchengpu Station, we decided to cross this field and walk towards the next station: Shihwan Station. 

Once we reached the Shihwan Station, we continue using google map to navigate to the Gushan Ferry Terminal, where we will take a ferry to Cijin Island. The ferry terminal is just a 5 to 10 minutes walk from Shihwan Station.  

Waiting to board the ferry

They actually had 2 separate lines - one for pedestrians and the other for bikes/ scooters. When we went, there was not much people, and we were the first in the queue to board the ferry. 

Just a short ferry journey to the other side.
This is where we are heading towards :) 

Small street selling various stuff

Crane machines are pretty much a common sight here. Here's one with "money".
Wanna have a try? HAHAH!

And walking further in, you can then see the beach! 

At first I thought we can just explore the place on foot. But JS convince me otherwise to try renting a motorise bicycle instead. Glad we did so, cuz this island is long and rectangle-shaped. So we actually ride to the end, and then still have to u-turn back. Cannot imagine if we had done so by foot... haha. 

And JS is super happy with his motor-bicycle :P

Some photos that we took: 

And we ended off at the Tunnel of Stars. I was actually very excited - thinking that it will be a tunnel with sparkling lights (like stars). So I was disappointed when I arrive at the place. It's just a tunnel that leads you to sea view and you can continue to walk on to see the lighthouse if you want. 

A picture taken - tunnel of light

And when we came out of the light, sexy guy? HAHAH. 
I don't know who is the guy. It just so happen~ 
I didn't even realise he was in my photo until I have a clearer look after that.

And once we returned the bike, we then went on search for food. 

Craving for some Lu Rou Fan

Second round after we took the ferry back. 

A random store we passed by, and it looks good so we decided to try it.

It was really good the mee sua! Thumbs up! I am already salivating as I am drafting this post. Miss the taste of their mee sua. The texture was just nice!

I ordered the Mee Sue with Intestine while JS ordered the Mee Sua with Oyster and Intestine

And time for dessert

Shaved Ice

The walls all filled with doodles. Reminds of the time where couples/ friends will write doodle that they are here with who and who on which date. 

And then we travelled to Ruifeng Night Market. 

The night market is just a short walk from Kaoshiung Arena Station.

And after walking around, we then buy food back to hotel to chill and eat. Night market street food is just yummy!  

And this shall end day 2 of our trip, and also the last night at Kaoshiung.

Circuit Breaker in Singapore

Decided to write a post on the Circuit Breaker so that I can read back and remember the day the Circuit Breaker was implemented in Singapore in an effort to fight the covid-19 virus. 

Following the implementation of Circuit Breaker measures in Singapore from 07 Apr 2020 and supposed to end on 04 May 2020, it was thereafter announced the day before (21 Apr 2020) at 5pm on the extension till 01 Jun 2020.

Initial circuit breaker measures was mainly to limit non-essential services in order to avoid socialising with anyone outside of our household and getting people to stay home as much as possible, with the aim to cut down on the transmission of covid-19 in the community. And while F&B outlets were generally still open, there was restrictions to only allow take-aways instead of dining in. And of course there's also other measures in place but I'm not going to list out all in this post. 

However with the announcement of the extension, there were also measures to further cut down on number of essential services. That being said, there goes our desserts and bubble tea especially :(

Bubble tea outlets will be closed with effect from 21 Apr 2020 till further notice... There goes my happy food.. Noooooooo! 

2 weeks into working from home, and I am getting the toll of staying at home without going out. And I was still thinking of ordering bubble tea delivery sometime Thursday or Friday this week to reward myself. Now I can no longer do so :(

Can't wait for all these to end and things can be back to normal. Where we can finally go out with our loved ones/ friends and go out to take a walk to de-stress and unwind from work or etc.

Here's a picture of a rainbow flower I had taken some time back to end this post! Jiayou Singapore! Stay home and stay safe. 

March 2020 Taiwan Trip - Day 1 (Kaohsiung - Fo Guang Shan)

Finally a trip that we had planned last year.. But what's different about this trip, is the unforeseen covid-19 situation. Given the circumstances, our plans had somewhat been affected and we had to make some amendments to our itinerary or rather a few were impromptu changes. We were lucky that our trip was in early March when the situation wasn't that bad. But nevertheless we had also taken some precautions such as wearing masks and bringing along hand sanitisers. 

JS and my luggage

Our flight was at 1am and by the time we arrived at Taoyuan Airport, it was around 6 plus in the morning. We then made our way to travel to Kaoshiung via HSR. We didn't book the flight to Kaoshiung airport directly since we had only decided going to Kaoshiung after we had booked our tickets, while we were doing research on places to go in Taiwan. 

From Taoyuan Airport, we took the Taoyuan Metro to Taoyuan HSR Station. That's the place where we will take the HSR to Kaoshiung. The journey from Taoyuan Airport to Taoyuan HSR station took around 15 - 20 mins and payment can be made using the Easycard (works like our ezlink card), which can be purchased from the Metro Station. 

The card itself cost NT100 which is non-refundable. Then it depends on how much you want to top up. If you want those with cute designs, you may also purchase the card from 7-11. You can choose the designs you want, and it also cost NT100.  

This is our cards! Cute much?
There's other designs available too!

When we arrived at Taoyuan HSR station, we proceeded to purchase the tickets to Kaoshiung (Zuoying station). The ticket cost NT1330 (around SGD $62) and it took about 1 hour and 50 mins. It's much faster than travelling by bus, and you sure have a seat assigned to you.

Even though it's not the first time I have travelled to Taiwan, it is definitely my first time going to Kaoshiung. We did not know where to stay, so we decided to stay near Kaoshiung Station since it seems to the central area to the places we wanted to visit. Furthermore, it is only one stop away from Zuoying HSR Station. 

We stayed at Papo'a Hotel which is just a short walk from Kaoshiung train station. Initially, we had problems finding the hotel, as Kaoshiung Station is currently undergoing some renovations.. So we had to walk one round (longer route). 

It's not those big big hotels, but then it's small and cosy looking! We were greeted by the cafe style ambience when we entered the hotel. Not bad! 

Picture taken from Agoda - Room pictures from Papo'a Hotel
Our room just looks exactly like this picture! I realised I had not taken a picture of the room or the exterior hotel just as I am posting this. OOPS. 

We then went on the search for some food. 

YUMMYYYYY

After putting down our stuff at the hotel and filling our stomach, we are ready for our next stop! 

Next stop: Fo Guang Shan

From Kaoshiung Main Station, we will need to take the train back to Zuoying Station (1 stop away). Exit the station via Exit 1, and you can take a public bus (E02) to Fo Guang Shan. The journey will take around 30 - 45 mins, and cost NT70 which you can pay using your EasyCard. 

As there's timings for bus arrival, we had around 30 mins before the next bus. Hence we decided to take a walk around the mall which was just beside. 

Some photos taken while at Fo Guang Shan: 

A scenic and peaceful place. You can spend some time walking around exploring and enjoying the peacefulness. 

And a photo of us to end our first day at Taiwan. We ended day 1 early (tabao some food back to hotel to eat) since we pretty much didn't have enough sleep on the plane. KO-ing much!

Pray everything is well soon!

A quarter into 2020, and the Covid-19 situation still remains. It's scary how the sudden surge of cases globally. Locally there's also more and more clusters and cases, even those unlinked ones. But there had been additional restrictions and measures in place to help to control the situation. 

We have also started our split team work arrangements and for this month, I will be working from home. A lot of inconveniences arising but we just have to work around those, with emails and whatsapp communications and even with the use of zoom conference. 

My friends and I have also recently met up over zoom conference instead of an actual meet up. We had initially planned for a lunch meetup to catch up with one another. But with the increasing number of cases, and one of our friends pregnant, we decide to meet up over video conference instead! 

I hope that the situation will become better and everything will be fine soon. And most importantly everyone will be healthy and well!! 

I will also be updating on my Taiwan trip in early March this year (before the sudden surge of cases globally). Lucky I am already back before the situation worsen.