台中 （阿里山- 清境）- Day 3

We woke up super super early, 4.30 am, it's like mid night to me during normal day.. But that day was different because we were going to take a train to the peak of Alishan to watch sun rise :) 

super cold, super early ! Waiting to board for our train at 5am

森林小火车（translated to Little Forest Train) :)

Hiking up to the observatory point

Waited for quite a while there but too cloudy :(

My breakfast~ Yummy! such a breathtaking view makes my food more appetizing :)

Nice !

The train ( The Little Forest Train 森林小火车）was originally built during Japanese ruling time, before WW II for them to transport logs from the mountain but now it was only used to transport tourist from foot of the  hill to the peak. However, the train was well maintain and it really showed how good of Japanese technology even then...

interior of. the train, narrower compared to MRT, lol

Looked like toy train here right? But It was moving downhill at considerable fast speed

Hiked from mid hill down to the foot of hill, It was mystical yet refreshing in the forest

This tree cute right? Love Forever Tree!

Aww~~ very lovey dovey couple !

I wish my school is this pretty as well ~

The Super Tree at Alishan because it's the oldest, at about 3000 years old

 

But too bad, it got stuck by lighting some years back and now lying on the ground besides the train station

Before depart to Qing Jing

The sun rise hiking trail took us abour 3 hours but it was totally worth it because the scenery and the flowers were so breathtakingly beautiful and the fresh air sort of made us felt refreshed instead of tiring.. From there on, we departed to Qing Jing (清境）and en route we went to SunMoon Lake (日月潭)，tried on the famous President Fish (总统鱼),  纸教堂 (The Paper Dome) and etc

Our driver,  Mr Zhang, feeding monkey 

The rope bridge was erected to enable the monkey to cross to the other side of jungle safely

The company that we engaged to ferry us around Tai Zhong

Land slides is one of the common natural disaster in this country

The President Fish - one of the favourite dish of President (but I forgot to ask : which president?) lol..

The interior & chair was made of paper (originally built by Japanese)

I really could stayed here all day to read and enjoy the view <3

Well, it was another long day for us and we only managed to reach our hotel at Qing Jing in the evening... Poor Mr Zhang for driving  almost 10 hours and the road condition was nothing like Singapore or even Malaysia, it was all bending curvy snaky mountain road... I really respect them !

Thanks for reading ! Stay tuned for Day 4 !

Bangkok Trip (Day 2)

After some meager 6 hours of sleep, I woke up to a bright sunny morning :) The lack of sleep was because the room was far too bright in the night due to the stupid spot light outside of our room :(

Anyway, our plan of the day was Chaktuchak Weekend Market. It is a Must-Go at Bangkok and it only opens in Sat and Sun so no way that we were going to miss it right?!
Initially we planned to go by BTS because I heard that the traffic was crazy at that area, however he spotted some tuk tuk outside of our hotel so we decided to hop on one of it.

This is our conversation with the tuk tuk driver :

He: how much to go Chaktuchak market?
Driver : 20 Baht
He :  you confirmed 20 Baht?
Driver : Yes ! Chaktuchak market, no problem !

So we hopped on the tuk tuk and we were on the ride for about 10 min, then suddenly, he turned to us and said:

Driver :  Sir, Chaktuchak Market very far ! outside the city! 200 Baht!
He :  What?!! No! you said 20 Baht just now! that's why we sit your tuk tuk
Driver : No! NO 20 Baht, 200 Baht! Chaktuchak very far! outside city!
Me : What the hell?? you think we first time come ChaktuChak? Very near only!
Driver :  No! Very Far!

then the driver just stopped the tuk tuk in the middle of the road divider and tried to convince us to pay him 200 Baht, we down right refused and we got down from the tuk tuk. The driver refused to cut his fare price and refused to barged from the middle of the road so end up we gave him 20Baht although he asked for 50 Baht. I was so angry and disappointed by these tuk tuk drivers so for my whole trip, I just used public transport and walked ! :(

BTS

traffic outside the famour JJ Market

My favourite section of JJ Market

Chaktuchak Market or JJ Market is super super huge but nicely organized and sectioned unlike my previous visits 4 years back. The snacks there really good, my favorites are : milk tea, grill pork skewer, coconut ice cream etc..

pork skewer

my fav of all, coconut ice cream with coconut water, love!

he is tarik-ing tea, super nice tea too :D

Padthai, cheap and good!

Some of the loots of the day :)

We bought shoes, bags, cloths, dresses and walked for more than 6 hours so we decided to head back to hotel at around 5pm. On our way back to the BTS station, we passed by many new stalls just set up right beside the main road and I can't help myself to go browse at those items again, and They Are Much Cheaper than those in the market! >.<    Too Bad :( I should have come out earlier and walked along the main road instead and more stalls were coming up at the evening too! So next time, please come in the afternoon instead !

Well, that's all for Day 2 shopping! Next up - Chinatown Sea Food dinner :)

Bangkok trip (Day 1)

It's been 4 years since my last visit to Bangkok so decided to go again... Very sorry for unable to attend my friends wedding because of this trip too ~

This is suppose to be His birthday trip so I do all the planning, booking and etc, Im quite proud of myself :D
Arrived at BKK in the evening around 5pm local time and check in to hotel at Pratunam area, Hotel Budacco.
It was raining and quite jam in the journey to city area and our hotel was quite difficult to find so end up the cab driver actually called the hotel to get direction, quite a nice cabbie uncle :)

We got checked in to Oriental room, located at the top floor, 8th floor, very spacious and quieter than lower floors. The only downside is the lift only service up to 7th floor so we have to climb up and down everyday.

Oriental theme room

 

 

big space to put my shopping loots :)

study room

toilet but kinda small

Breakfast buffet spread but nothing much to shout about

After checked in and freshened up, we headed out again to go to the restaurant that I've wanted to visit for ages - Cabbage and Condom restaurant. It is located at Sukhumvit area , near BTS Asok station and we walked over there followed the instructions I copied from one of the taiwan blogger.

Cabbage and Condom restaurant is operated under a organization called PDA (Population and Community Development Association) to promote better understanding and acceptance of family planning. This restaurant also helps to generate income to support various development activities of the PDA. You can find out more at HERE .

Safety First! Lol..

 

Food was so so only

We ordered 1 vege, 1 chicken, 1 tom yum gong and 1 mango stick rice, all small portion. The bill was total up to 860 Baht ! It was really not cheap and the food taste really so so only and lower standard than what I'd imagined, definitely a disappointment for me :(

After our stomach were being taken care of, we went to look around the restaurant. As the name suggest, the decoration material for the restaurant is CONDOMS in different colour and sizes !

C family

 That's all for Day 1~

Cheers,

Pei Chin