All posts filed under: Fly

Taiwan: Taipei – Shi Lin Night Market 士林夜市 (Taiwan Travel Review Series)

Published by Beatrice

Shi Lin Night Market (士林夜市) is the ultimate Taiwan night market experience with overload of our senses: smells, noises, huge selection yummylicious food – oyster egg, steak, innards, teppanyaki. Shi Lin was very enjoyable for us in December as we could enjoy the walk and food without the rain or humidity. For this post, we must apologize for some poor res photos as we focused only on eating so all shots are shot on camera! On Level 1, we tried: Chicken Chop – loads of MSG, Pepper and Oil. Much better than any I have tried in Singapore though it is the same “Hao Da Da” brand. Big Intestine Wrap Small Intestine (大腸包小腸) with garlic – very strong meaty flavor. This is Taiwanese version of hot dog, which is a pork sausage wrapped in a glutinous rice sausage. Must have for all who love sausages but be prepared to queue! Right outside the Ci Qian temple in the heart of Shilin Night Market. Ah Liang Mian Xian (阿亮麵線),  also near Ci Qian Temple. Strong seafood …

Taiwan: Taipei – Xi Men Ding 西門町 (Taiwan Travel Review Series)

Published by Beatrice

Xi Men Ding (西門町) is hailed as Taiwan’s version of Harajuku/Shibuya and it does not disappoint in delivering the same city energy, glitzy lights and ads, and crowds in the shops and restaurants. I believe the shopping will be great in summer, but most of the shops were selling winter wear, which I will hardly wear in Singapore. Even the name Xi Men Ding (西門町) has Japanese roots – the character 町 means cho in Japanese, which means a part of a municipal ward, a term commonly used in Japanese addresses. We tried a random stop for breakfast, Tian Tian Li, which turned out really good! We tried a few famous food places in Xi Men Ding. First up, famous Ya Rou Bian (鸭肉扁) coffee shop, which has been opened for 63 years now. The shop name is called duck, but they actually sell goose meat! We shared a quarter of a goose and liver. Goose are usually tough but this meat was soft and tender. N enjoyed the flavourful liver very much and managed to finish it despite …

Taiwan: Taipei – L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon Restaurant 侯布雄法式餐廳 (Taiwan Travel Review Series)

Published by Beatrice

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon (侯布雄法式餐廳) is one of the best meal experiences I ever had, joining the ranks of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay @ Hospital Road in London, and Saito Sushi in Tokyo. Taiwan does not have Michelin Star ratings, but Robuchon is acclaimed by many local Taiwan reviews as one of the best French food in Taiwan and it is not hard to see why after this experience! Joël Robuchon is a French chef who operates a dozen restaurants in Hong Kong, Las Vegas, London, Monaco, Paris, Singapore and Tokyo, with a total of 28 Michelin Guide stars among them – the most of any chef in the world, so L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon is one of his restaurants in Taipei. L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon’s décor is dark, red, modern with dim lighting. As we made a reservation pretty early on, they put us at the counter seats right in front of the open kitchen so we could see all the action. Highly recommend to ask for these counter seats if you reserve early! We tried …

Taiwan: Taipei – Wu Fen Pu 五分埔 Shopping and Rao He Night Market 饒河街觀光夜市 (Taiwan Travel Review Series)

Published by Beatrice

Taiwan has joined Japan in our most loved Asian countries. We love Taiwan for the incredibly friendly local folks. We love that the Taiwanese respect queues, that our random masseur recommends the best location to view the 2014 countdown fireworks while avoiding the crowds, that our public bus driver helps us with our luggages without being asked, that random Taipei folks we meet in wintry He Huan Mountain takes a polaroid of us with their camera to give us as a souvenir without asking anything in return, that food vendors offer to throw the rubbish in our hands for us from previous stores because we look like we are carrying so many items, that their service is warm and sincere. The kind acts of many Taiwanese we met really warm our hearts and make us want to return to Taiwan more often! We spent ~7 days in Taiwan including travel time: Day 1-2: Taipei Day 3-4: Alishan Day 5: Sun Moon Lake, Cing Jing, He Huan Mountain, Taroko National Park Day 6: Taroko National Park …

Spa VI @ Aleenta, Hua Hin

Published by Beatrice

As part of our room package, Aleenta @ Hua Hin gave us a free 30 min massage voucher to enjoy massage in their inhouse spa – Spa VI. We of course went to redeem it with a Thai massage. The spa is relatively small, and is on the 3rd floor, right above the breakfast area. There is a indoor aircon or outdoor al fresco option. The view from the outdoor massage room is simply spectacular – opening up to the view of sea and crashing waves. However, it was a warm and humid day, so we opted for the indoor aircon option. But the view was still good through the glass, and the waves are so strong, this spa didn’t need “background music” – the sound of real waves was the background music as we enjoyed the free massage. After Maya Ubud Spa, this would be the next most relaxing spa I have been to. Highly recommend for spa junkies in for the experience, especially if you have been trekking in the National Park, like …

Let’s Sea Beach Restaurant @ Hua Hin

Published by Beatrice

We were searching for good food in Hua Hin town, and after reading Asia-city recommendation,  we decided to try out Let’ Sea Restaurant, which is part of Let’s Sea Resort. An al-fresco restaurant, Let’s Sea is a fusion cuisine restaurant including nostalgic Thai favorites, and its cuisine is inspired by memories from family dining moments and childhood memories. The first thing that struck me about Let’s Sea is the immediate view of the sea from our cushiony couch seats indoor. There are also a few seats outdoor with similar amazing views. The servers were friendly, and were helpful in recommending dishes. The overall ambience met its objective of being a very relaxing restaurant on the beach. From the snacks and nibble section, we tried the Grilled Sirloin with a Spicy “Jaew” Sauce (350 baht). Juicy, tender with a hint of Thai from the sauce, this was my very favourite dish! For the mains, we shared the Pad Thai with Tiger Prawn (320 baht). This was the best presentation of Pad Thai I have ever seen in any …

Pranberry Restaurant @ Hua Hin

Published by Beatrice

Pranberry Restaurant, which is just opposite Aleenta Resort and Spa @ Hua Hin, caught my eye because of its interesting logo and interior. From the outside, I could see that the whole restaurant is set in sand though the restaurant is relatively inland. I checked out their Facebook to learn that Pranberry is only open on weekends and I am so glad we got to try because I would say Pranberry is the most delicious meal I had in Hua Hin! Pum, one of the owners of Pranberry, was very friendly and informative. She explained that Pranberry is only open on weekends because all the partners are actually working full time in Bangkok. They opened Pranberry (which sounds like Pranburi, the district Hua Hin is in) as a passion to serve fresh and good food. So they drive up every Friday or Saturday and take turns to open the restaurant. Sometimes they start driving from Bangkok at 10am, but only reach Hua Hin at 5pm (the drive should only take 3 hours) because they stop …

bvilla @ Seminyak, Bali

Published by Beatrice

bvilla was a surprise find when I went to Bali in 2009 with Miss L. We were originally staying in another resort, and went to the spa at bvilla+spa, and we loved it so much, we ended up cancelling our resort and moving to bvilla! The manager of bvilla was very friendly and decided to show us around the estate and opened up a 2-room villa to show us. bvilla is really built for the modern. They have villas ranging from one to five-bedrooms, with decor that is very modern with a slight Balinese touch.  It is also very conveniently located at Seminyak, near to many restaurants, cafes, shops and art galleries. Like I mentioned, we were so convinced we went back to our resort to cancel the last night stay to move our last night in Bali to experience bvilla stay for ourselves in the 1 bedroom villa at bvilla+seaside. bvilla has 3 different properties –  bvilla+spa, bvilla+pool, and bvilla+seaside, and since we already seen bvilla+spa, we decided to try the seaside one! The most amazing experience …

Maya Ubud Resort and Spa @ Ubud, Bali

Published by Beatrice

I visited Maya Ubud Resort and Spa in Bali back in 2010, and it remains one of my favourite tropical resorts in Asia. This was recommended by my ex-boss who is Indonesian, and since he is local, I booked Maya Ubud without researching much, and it was a very good recommendation indeed! I had an enjoyable relaxing stay with Miss A, and fond memories of the resort still lingering after almost 4 years. It was also the first time I went to Bali not for the beach, but for mountains and scenery. The Spa (Spa at Maya) is possibly the MOST relaxing spa I have ever gone to in my life. Maya Ubud is ~1 hour from Bali’s  international airport. It only has 108 luxury guestrooms and private pool villas on many hectares of land, with a river running through the resort, so it is extremely private, quiet and picturesque. We stayed in the lowest tier room  in Maya Ubud  (Superior Room) and it was already very comfortable. The room was ~40 square meters, with 2 single beds, …

Phraya Nakhon Caves @ Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park

Published by Beatrice

The Phraya Nakhon Caves were an unexpected find on this trip. We had initially planned to do absolutely nothing in Hua Hin; just rest and sleep. I was just surfing on the national park nearby and came across a very familiar picture of a temple glowing in a cave, then I remember seeing this picture in “Places to See before You Die” (on Facebook) before. It turned out where we were at Aleenta Resort and Spa is only 40 minutes drive to Laem Sala Beach, which is how to get to see this unique Kuha Karuhas Pavillon built in 1890 for the King in the Phraya Nakhon Caves. The National Park website said it was a 30 minutes walk so we decided to check it out after breakfast. Firstly, DO NOT be fooled. The entire journey back and forth took 3 hours in the end! We are not the fittest people but I am pretty sure no one can reach the caves and back in 30 minutes because it would be dangerous to be running on …