Hey guys!

Dear Friends,

How have you guys been? I must apologize for this long hiatus which I have taken.

So well, I guess just let me give u guys a 'welcome back' smile before I start blabbing again! This is a picture I took when I was waiting to board the plane.




As you guys might have already known, my work at NTUC link has ended and I have just came back from Taiwan. Well, I shall just do a little update then to fill you guys up with the more details.

I realize that I have been a bit longwinded in my previous entries. Hence I shall let the pictures do the talking.

At NTUC Link

My colleagues

Beautiful shot captured from my office's pantry. It is as if we are a big ship floating on the sea when you look out of our pantry.

This is a photo which we took on our last day of work at Coffee Club whereby our dear boss has given us a delicious lunch treat.

So well, that s all for my stint at NTUC link. I shall share with you guys on my life as a Customer Service Officer another time.

A few days after I have ended my work, I flew to Taipei. Taipei is a great city. Bustling city. I kind of like the environment there and especially the area which we stayed in- Xi Men Ding. It is unlike any of the shopping places we have in Singapore. Let me just show you.

No daunting tall buildings, just little short buildings and big plasma screens all around.

People bring their dogs around and especially in Xi Men Ding. The dogs there are just so cuteeeee....

And interestingly, there are not many stray dogs or cats around unlike in Bangkok.

The TV programmes there were great too. 100 over channels. Some are dedicated especially for korean dramas and some are dedicated just for news. I must say their news there are dramatic. It is simply just like watching a drama serial.

We met with the Matsa Typhoon, right in between our stint in Taiwan. First time in my whole life..I have come so close to a natural disaster. Well, apart from the news of the dire situations of mudslides and broken bridges in other parts of Taiwan, heavy rain and strong winds are all we have encountered. The wind was rather strong I must say. My umbrella was almost being blown away haha.

During the days of rain and wind, we visited shopping areas like Taipei 101 (currently tallest building in the world), Wu Fen Pu ( wholesale shopping district), Xi Men Ding ( higher class shopping) , KTV (Holiday KTV...there was no school and work that day. The KTV was definitely one of the favourite pastime of Taiwanese and there was tons of people queueing up. Luckily for us, we met with a group of friendly Taiwanese girls who kindly let us have the additional room that they have booked, else the day will be spent wasted in the hotel).

The cafes and pubs there were great too! There was this special cafe beside the hotel which I am staying that left the deepest impression on me. The cafe was in the theme of sea and the decorations were all of seashells. The lighting was dim and with a shade of blue. And the seats were swings chairs that were hung from the ceiling. Another cafe which I saw was the Teahouse at Jiu Fen. Jiu Fen is an old mining ground whereby it is situated on a hill. It has a sense of nostaglic ambience around it which I kind of like it. The Teahouse look out upon the sea whereby you can savour your tea while admiring the scenery. There is only one word to describe the scenery there. Breathtaking.

Pity, I did not visit either of the cafes due to the lack of time but it definitely gave me some ideas how I wanted my cafe to be in the future. Nostaglic and Seaside Flavour. How about that?

Food for me was still not too bad. However, I still feel the variety of food is still the best in Singapore. My favourite food in Taiwan are as follows ( in no special order):

1)Hao Da Da Ji Pie (chicken cutlet). It is definitely much better than Singapore one's.

2) Heinkien Green Tea. You can taste the beer but yet not so strong. It is quite hard to describe the taste but it is definitely bagus!

3) Red Tea. Their red tea is especially fragant. It will make you crave for more after one cup. Definitely a thirst-quencher.

4) Cream Puff ( Forgot the brand). But according to my friend, it is a famous cream puff shop over at Taiwan. Rich creamy puff....yummy!

5) Ah Zong Mian Xian.. Hot Hot Hot!

6) Oyster Omelette. Definitely worth a try. Different taste from ours with a different pinkish gravy to go with it.

7) Beef Noodles....Glorious Glorious Beef Noodles. They have this preserved vegetables to go with the noodles that will absorb the oil in the beef noodles. Wonderful complement to the noodles. The cup noodles are great too! but only for the brand called Man Han Da Chan.

8) Dou Jiang You Tiao.. Their You Tiao is simply......fabulous@@.. Thin and crips..They just melts in your mouth!

9) Lastly not to mention their Kong Ba Bao. Mei Cai Kong Ba Bao. A terrific snack on a wet and rainy day.

Talking about all these food makes me hungry. Looking at the time, it is lunch time! Time for me to eat now! I shall write more on my experience in the next entry, perhaps more on the emotions I felt during the trip.

Miss Taiwan,

Agnes