Trip to Melbourne & Sydney 2017

Went to Melbourne and Sydney (Nov - Dec period) with my 2 elder sons and their families (this time with a grandson).  Attended my niece graduation celebration in Melbourne and then went to Sydney.

In both cities, the weather was wet and chilly about 50% of the time.  Personally, I don't mind it.

Though we spent most of the time in the cities, we also managed to drive out to the Maze Garden and Colac when we were in Melbourne.  We stopped by to have meals along the way.

When in Sydney, I managed to drive to the Blue Mountains with my wife and visited some towns along the way.

If you are Sydney, go to Newtown and visit this place: https://lentilasanything.com/sydney/.  Payment is by donation.  I must say that the food is nice.

This time, instead of photographing and videoing, I did some sketches (only in Sydney).

Also did my Taiji exercise in Blue Mountain.

Trip to Taipei (13th Jun to 19th Jun 2017)

May wife and I went for a short trip to Taipei from 13th Jun to 19th Jun.  It was raining throughout but it was still fun.  The people were friendly and the first thing we did when we landed was to buy ourselves a SIM card with unlimited data - so that we can use Google Map to navigate.

We also bought a Easy Card to travel on buses and the MRT train.  It is highly recommended.

Though Mandarin is commonly spoken, younger youths may know some English.  If not, most signs have English on them - except for smaller eateries.  If you need help, just ask.  The people are really friendly.

We have captures some shots and short videos and hope to share our experience with you.

We stayed at Cho Hotel in Ximen.  I highly recommend this hotel.  The ambience is fantastic despite our room not having a window.  It is within walking distance from Ximending (where the actions are) and also the Red House - if you like pubs.

Venturing around the hotel - Ximending area.......

And this guy is from Singapore....

Food around Ximending:-

Eating stinky bean curd.

It is actually quite nice though it smell may drive many off.

Ay-Chung Flour Rice Noodle

At Jieufen.  How we got here?  We asked Google.  Do that.  It is really very easy and worth the effort.  Many food at the Old Street.

Raohe Night markets.  We went to 2 night markets - something everyone must do when in Taiwan.  However it was raining and I guess that affected the crowd and atmosphere.

This is the bun with meat and vegetable inside.

Taipei Fish Market is a place where you can eat sushi, shasimi and other Japanese (???) style stuff.

Raohe Night Market

Tonghua Night Market

Taipei 101 is situated at a more modern and upmarket area.  We did not go to the top.  Figured that we will not be able to see much due to the weather.  Frankly, I also prefer the older part of Taipei - more life, more real.

Visited Tamsui where there is another old street.  If the weather is nice, you can actually cycle here - and to the Fisherman's Wharf.  If you want to visit the Fisherman's Wharf, I suggest you cycle or take the public bus.  It is too far to walk from the MRT station - at least for both of us.

Back in Taipei and this is the famous Fu Hang Soy Milk.  We queued for 30 mins behind 100+ people on a Saturday morning.  If you are trying to locate it by Google Map, please look for "Fu Hang Soy Milk" and not whatever that is similar.

More pictures of the queue.

Us, enjoying the fruits of our queue....

This is how the pancake is made.

All-in-all, Taipei is a nice place.  It is highly likely that we would be back and venture out to other parts of Taiwan.  Hope the next time we come, the weather will be nicer to us.  The people definitely are nice.