淡水老街 DanShui Old Street, Taiwan

As a continue from my previous post about Tian Yuan Temple (天元宮), we went to 淡水老街 DanShui Old Street after coming down from 天元宮.

At first, i thought 淡水老街 DanShui Old Street is just a street and i was wondering what can i see over there. In fact, there are many shops along not only one but two streets and things are selling in a reasonable price.

On the way to 淡水老街 DanShui Old Street

Looking for lunch

Iron Eggs 鐵蛋
According to Wikipedia, Iron Eggs are eggs that have been repeatedly stewed in a mix of spices and air-dried. The resulting eggs are dark brown, chewy and full of flavor compared to normal boiled eggs.

A century old shop selling healthy drink

NTD10, sorry to say, it is tasteless... 

Everywhere is food stalls in Taiwan

Full of people at 淡水老街 DanShui Old Street

Shopping at 淡水老街 DanShui Old Street

淡水老街 DanShui Old Street

Bikini each for NTD190 - 390

Cute socks...

For our new home

Stinky Taofu 臭豆腐 is behind me... The smell is not as strong as the Hong Kong one...

Apple iOS 5 on your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch (Video)

Citibank Malaysia - 200 iPad 2s to be won.

Citibank Malaysia - 200 iPad 2s to be won (Click Here For More Information)

Tian Yuan Temple (天元宮) - Taiwan

A good thing in Taiwan is almost everywhere is tourist friendly. Below is one of the examples. We wanted to go to Tian Yuan Temple (天元宮) to see Sakura.Thus, going there by MRT is one of the options. At first, we thought we should stop at Hongshulin MRT Station. Before leaving the station, a man standing at the entrance, holding a board to remind the tourists that we should stop at Danshui MRT Station if we want to go to Tian Yuan Temple (天元宮).  

On the way...

Another good thing in Taiwan is free transport to Tian Yuan Temple (天元宮) from Danshui MRT Station. Actually there is another station located opposite this stop with less people lining up but of course, it is not free. That's why so many people lining up here for the free bus.

Take a photo first while waiting for the bus...

On the bus and on the way to the temple. No place for us to sit because it is full and we have to stand just next to the door... that's why i'm able to take this photo... haha

Here it is!!!

Walking up the hill to look for Sakura...

Many food stalls at the road side while o the way up... cheap and tasty

The Temple

Sakura

Haha, i like this one...

Baby or puppy???

The Trio

After back to Danshui MRT Station, we went to Danshui Old Street 淡水老街 for sigh seeing and lunch which will be posted later. 

I like Nippon Paint because it is Nippon Paint!!!

I like Nippon Paint because it is Nippon Paint. Yes, the brand is well known and the quality is superb. I used Nippon Paint to paint my living room and master bedroom. 

When choosing color for my living room theme wall, sharp tone was my main priority. After comparing several brands, my wife and i have decided to choose Nippon Paint and the color is Nippon 1044T Spiny Green with the satin glow finishing. Another factor of choosing Nippon Paint is because of the TV advertisement which the four Nippon Paint Avatars keep on singing 'Nippon Paint'!!!

In my memory, paint will create a kind of smell or odor after applied it on the wall but it doesn't happen on Nippon Paint. Even the paint is not belong to the category of 'Odorless'. It really impressed me as there is no smell at all and the Satin Glow finishing is really shinny. Keep in mind that to have that kind of effect, minimum of two layers have to be applied on the wall.      

 

iPhone 4 (White Colour) Celcom is available in Malaysia by 14th May 2011

Celcom iPhone 4 will be available in Sarawak by 7th may 2011 and the White iPhone 4 will be available in the whole Malaysia by 14th May 2011. 

The package for Celcom Business Exec iPhone 4 is as follow:

	Celcom Exec i98	Celcom Exec i148	Celcom Exec i248
Monthly Commitment	RM 98	RM 148	RM 248
Package Comprises
FREE Calls to other networks	100 mins	250 mins	500 mins
FREE Calls within network	6000 mins
FREE Data	2 GB	4 GB	6 GB
FREE SMS	200 SMS	400 SMS	600 SMS
FREE MMS	20 MMS	40 MMS	80 MMS
Rates
Voice	RM 0.15	RM 0.12	RM 0.10
SMS	RM 0.10 to all networks
MMS	RM 0.20 to all networks

	iPhone 4 16GB (RRP RM2,190)		iPhone 4 32GB (RRP RM2,590)
	12 Months	24 Months	12 Months	24 Months
Device Price
Celcom Exec i98	RM 1,438	RM 1,148	RM 1,738	RM 1,448
Celcom Exec i148	RM 1,288	RM 848	RM 1,588	RM 1,148
Celcom Exec i248	RM 988	RM 248	RM 1,288	RM 538
Upfront Payment
Celcom Exec i98	RM 300	RM 420	RM 300	RM 420
Celcom Exec i148	RM 300	RM 600	RM 300	RM 600
Celcom Exec i248	RM 720	RM 1,200	RM 720	RM 1,200
Total Device Price + Plan Upfront Payment
Celcom Exec i98	RM 1,738	RM 1,568	RM 2,038	RM 1,868
Celcom Exec i148	RM 1,588	RM 1,448	RM 1,888	RM 1,748
Celcom Exec i248	RM 1,708	RM 1,448	RM 2,008	RM 1,738

If you are a Xpax user, you might wondering whether are you eligible for the prepaid plan. The answer is Yes!!! You can buy the iPhone 4 with the price of RM2190 (16GB) or RM2590 (32GB). Then every month you have to reload at least RM50 to get a 1GB data free as follow:

Get an iPhone 16GB at RM2,190	Reload at least RM 50 every month (accumulative)	Enjoy FREE calls within the same network every month up to 12 months + Enjoy 1GB FREE Data every month for up to 12 months
Get an iPhone 32GB at RM2,590

So, are you going to get an iPhone 4 or waiting for iPhone 5??? 

All information obtained from Celcom website. For further information, please visit Celcom iPhone. 

Sakura at Yangming Shan National Park Taiwan (陽明山國家公園)

To go to Yangming Shan National Park, first you need to stop at the Jiantan MRT Station (劍潭). There are two buses going to Yangming Shan National Park (Bus 126 and 127) as shown in the photo below. Actually it is not on the 'Holiday' only, but on weekends only. The 'bus stop' is just outside the MRT Jiantan MRT Station (劍潭), Exit 1. 
   

This is the 'bus stop' to Yangming Shan National Park Taiwan (陽明山國家公園). Don't worry about the stops, as Yangming Shan is at the last stop of the route. So, just sit back and relax...

Remember to buy easy card at any of the MRT Station, so that it is easier for you to commute by using public transport around Taipei. There are many packages offered by the Easycard Corporation and there are 2 packages which could be bought by the tourist. The first one is TaipeiPass (台北觀光護照). You can buy the one, two, three or five-day package for unlimited ride of all public transports within the duration of the package. The price is as follow:
1. 1 day pass: NTD 180
2. 2 day pass: NTD 310
3. 3 day pass: NTD 440
4. 5 day pass: NTD 700

However, there is no refund of the card, so after the duration of the card, you can bring it back as a souvenir. The package that i use is the second one which called Normal card. You have to pay NTD500 to buy the card, NTD100 is the deposit which can be refunded when you returned the card to any of the MRT counter. NTD400 is the credit for you to use and it can be recharged upon your need.   

At the entrance of the Park. Oh, i have to mention here, there is no entrance fee!!!

On the half way to see Sakura, there are many stalls at the road side for you to enjoy the snacks and foods of Taiwan. Quite cheap and the most important thing is... tasty!!! We tried the fresh tomato, very small in size but very juicy!!!

Three juicy sausages for NTW100 (around RM10) 

Finally

The 'must take photo' place!!!

Try to pose with the flowers without looking like a gay... hahaha

Ladies: 'scream'!!!!!

Para-para Sakura!!!

In action...

After this stop, we were taking an internal shutter bus to go another interesting point for lunch and sightseeing which will be posted on the next post.  

Taipei City 臺北

First day in Taipei!!! I was very tired in the first day because i have to overnight at Kota Kinabalu Airport in order catch the flight to Taipei at 6.20am. 

View of Taoyuan, Taiwan 

View of Taoyuan, Taiwan 

Welcome by Fahrenheit 飞轮海 at the Taoyuan Airport, haha

To ease our hunger while waiting for my sister in law to arrive from Singapore, we bought this sushi from the airport 7-11. Cost us around RM4 and it was huge and delicious. Another purpose of buying the sushi was because of changing notes. The notes that we got from Malaysia money changer are all NTD 1000. So we need to buy something in order to get small notes. Gentle reminder to tourists, please change your money at the airport money changer as there is no place for you to change your notes in the city except the HQ of certain banks such as Taiwan Bank. During my trip, I thought I can find money changer in the city just like other countries. However, that is not the case in Taiwan.  

Mostly Chinese words on the packaging. If you can't read, then you better ask. Don't worry about asking people because they are very friendly and polite. In order to commute from the Taoyuan International Airport to the Taipei city, we have taken bus no. 5201 which cost us NTD150 (around RM15). It takes around 35 minutes to reach Shuanglian MRT Station which is only a stop away from Zhongshan MRT Station, the place where we stayed. If you wanna go to Taipei 101, just take the MRT to Taipei City Hall stop, from there you can either walk, will take you about 15 minutes, or Taxi, which will cost you about NTD70, to reach Taipei 101.

The Taipei City 

The Taipei City and the shopping mall, Xing Guang San Yue (新光三越) All branded stuffs available in the mall but very costly...

Taipei City

Tapei 101 Tower and I...

More photos and posts are coming soon...