Taiwan: Shifen Old Street 十分老街

Starting the week with another TW entry :) The 2nd last day of our trip and as mentioned previously, we had a driver to take us around Taiwan for this day. We started off with a visit to Yehliu Geo Park, then headed off to our next destination. Along the way, Meeky told us a lot about Taiwan, entertained us and even treated us to the famous, or rather, infamous
槟榔 (betel nut)

槟榔 stall along the road-side, extremely convenient for motorists. The 槟榔西施 looked decently dressed too, much to my disappointment, lol!

 

This type is known by its Taiwanese name (in Mandarin it would be called qing zai) and consists of a small, tender areca nut that is cut lengthwise and stuffed with the flower inflorescence of the Piper betle plant. It has a red limestone paste that gets its color from the Chinese medicinal Er Cha (Catechu)

How it looked like after chewing. Try it once, but don't get addicted to it for regular chewers have a higher risk of damaging their gums and getting cancer of the mouth & stomach. 

 

We arrived @ 十分 Shifen.

 

Brisk business at this make-shift fruit stall.  

 

Snacks that Meeky bought for us - thumbs up for his service!  

Places that you can visit @ Shifen.
 

十分老街 is the only old street which has trains passing through everyday. The street is right next to the tracks but there are no fences in b/w.

 

 

The train passing by the street. All activities will stopped while tourists kept snapping away.

  

After the hype of the trains, we got back to our main agenda ~ to release sky lantern :) The meaning behind the colour code.

Leecher penning his wishes on the red portion, which symbolise health.

 

Wasted one big portion just for 4 words, lol!

Daddy-in-law writing down his wishes too. 

 

Pink symbolised 幸福 & 快乐

@ least I aimed to maximise my wishes, lol!

Since there are 4 sides to the lantern, must aim to maximise as much as possible :) 

 Leecher gave up following the colour code and started writing down his personal wishes, lol!

 

I also wished for more bags, lol! On hindsight, I should have wished for more clothes, shoes and whats-not :p

 Roger's wishes
 

With our wishes before we released them into the sky. 

 

You can add 炮竹 for a nominal fee.

Up, up & away, carrying the wishes into the sky.

 

Roger, the official photographer of the day. 

 

Mandatory pose with the sky lantern, on the railway track.

  
Getting ready to release it into the sky :) 

 

Hope our wishes will come true :) 

 

You can purchase mini sky lanterns back as souvenirs.

 Hold-hands pose while balancing on the railway tracks, haha!

十分老街

Ping River (Pingsi) Township

New Taipei City 226

Taiwan, ROC

CNY Gathering with Friends

TGIF! Can't wait for the day to end, for I was nursing a slight hangover from Yen's wedding last night, haha. That always happens when you attend close friends wedding, be seated with people who live to drink, lol! Still on CNY - think this should be the last post on the festive period. Met up with a couple of friends for CNY lunch & dinner on 初六.

 

Lunch @ Cedele. 

Hello Kitty meets Winnie the Pooh.

We insisted on letting Winnie take a pic with the guys, lol!

 

Ok, a proper "marcho" picture.

The place was very crowded and it took almost 30 min for the 1st dish to arrive, and boy, we were extremely hungry by then! Nevertheless, the delicious food made up for it. I'll be back to try out more dishes from them :) 

Cedele @ Marina Bay Link Mall
8A Marina Boulevard
#B2-07 Singapore 018984
Tel: 6634 8942

Dinner @ Jumbo Seafood, located at East Coast Park, the location of the 1st restaurant of the chain.

 

We were the first to arrive and had to queue up to retrieve our reservation details. They have a booking code that is attached to the reservation email & they will only "entertain" you if you provide them with the booking code. 

 

Alfresco dining available.

The huge crowd turnout at the place. Almost every table in sight was filled with people.

 

We got a "lucky" table, lol!  

Simple plastic tableware.

 

Brought along 2 bottles of wine for dinner. 

 

Was dressed in orange, and coincidentally, I wore the same colour as Andrew! We looked like 2 giant oranges in the office that day. 

 

The others arrived shortly and it was time for the first toast.

Yu-sheng to start the meal :) And, all the girls wished that their hubbies would dote on them more, lol!

 

We ordered the CNY set menu - felt like having a wedding dinner with a table of 8. We got surprised when they served the noodles during the 5th course, thinking that we had reached the end of the meal *wedding banquet mentality, since the rice/noodles always get served before dessert* haha. 

 

A pic with all the couples present :) 

 

Main highlight of the night, chilli crab! In order not to get our clothes dirty, we asked for the "bibs" & of cuz, taking pic in our "new" clothes is a must, lol! 

 

This sure came in handy for Leecher, for the moment he picked up his crab, he had a splash on the white bib >.< 

 

 Gavin, aka Mr Google, haha! The only thing that we know more than him is .... GOSSIPS, lol!

Getting ready to attack the crabs! And, the man tou are goes extremely well with the sauce, we even had 2nd helpings of it.

Great night out! Till the next outing :)

Jumbo Seafood @ East Coast Park

Blk 1206, East Coast Parkway #01-07/08

East Coast Seafood Centre

Singapore 449883

Tel: 6442 3435