Frannywanny

I now officially close my Taipei series. I can't believe it has been a month since we got back and still the memories of the delicious things that we had during our short 3 day visit still remains fresh in my mind. To guide you all, here's a summary of what you should do and must try when in Taipei: 1) Get Tourist-y! Book a hotel and make sure to get a good one: I highly recommend Ceasar Park Hotel Visit the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall and learn a thing or two about Taiwan's colorful history. Climb up the Taipei 101 to win bragging rights that you've been to the 2nd tallest tower in the WORLD! 2) EAT your hearts out!! Visit these food markets: Danshui Food Street and the beautiful Fisherman's Wharf XiMenDing Night Market and the Red House Shilin Night Market These are some great food finds in Taipei: Mala HotPot (and make sure to indulge in their eat-all-you-can Haagen Dazs and Movenpick ice cream!!) Agnes B. Cafe Din Tai Fung -- ...

When in Taiwan, we were told to check out their night markets and of all the night markets there is in Taipei, we were advised not to miss the biggest night market of all -- the Shilin Night Market . This place has been mentioned repeatedly in travel guide books, blogs and even the Taipei handy road map. Thus, we scheduled our visit to Shilin Night Market on our second night in Taipei. It was quite unfortunately that it began raining late in the afternoon and didn't stopped till dinner time. Still, my friends were determined to check Shilin out even if this means walking under the rain and getting our feet wet. In contrast to XiMenDing which had a very cosmopolitan Tokyo vibe, Shilin was more oriental and laid back. We entered the main Shilin Market and came face to face with rows after rows of food stalls. There were lines forming everywhere! From milk teas to fruit stalls to a kiosk selling the biggest chicken chops I've ever seen and a lot more! It was like a big ...

Everyone has their own collections and fascinations, take my husband Paul for example -- he loves wearing caps thus he has a growing collection of caps bought from all over the world and even funny looking ones that he came across at some point in his life. His collection is quite huge that it took him a while to finally decide that he needs to leave some behind when we got married and moved into our humble cozy...room. I, on the other hand, love collecting tickets and souvenirs from my travels. Thanks to my best friend T who gave me a pretty travel journal, I enjoy filling each page with photos and tickets taken from our trips. I also love my name thus my growing collection of keychains, stickers, magnets with my name on it. Call me vain but I love keeping my items personalized. It all began during our honeymoon trip to Kuala Lumpur where we came face to face with the 5th tallest tower in the world : the Petronas Twin Towers . For one whole day, we stared and took lots of photos s...

As with every trip, we try to inject a bit of history in order for us to learn a bit more about the country that we're visiting. For example, we watched the amazing Siam Niramit show in Thailand which I felt was worth every penny because I have learned to appreciate the colorful Thai culture. In Malaysia , Paul and I visited the Petronas Twin Towers which stands as the icon of Kuala Lumpur. Thus, in Taiwan , our trip began with a short visit to the Chiang-Kai Shek Memorial Hall which was just a few MRT stops away from Caesar Park Hotel . I love how accessible going around Taipei is. Almost all tourist spots are adjacent to an MRT terminal making it easy for one to go around without getting lost in the process. Note that it may be difficult to get lost in Taiwan as majority of its population can't speak English that well. Thus, make sure to have a trusty map (make sure it's in English! My sister grabbed a map but it was in Mandarin..not very helpful at all :P) and or...