Author: Rochelle Sy Chua

Lunch at 旭成港式料理

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On December 30, 2009

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旭成港式料理
Basement, 臺北國際金融中心 Taipei 101
8 Sung-Chih Road,, Taipei Taiwan, Taiwan

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After visiting the awesome observatory of Taipei 101, we went down to the basement to try out their foodcourt.  There were lots of choices: japanese, chinese & western food.  They were all very tempting but we only have one stomach to fill right?

Can you guess what I ate?  I opted for chinese ofcourse!  What’s the point of visiting a foreign country if we don’t eat their own specialty food?

I was choosing between  æ—­æˆæ¸¯å¼æ–™ç† & the famous noodle brand who has their own stall in Taipei 101.  I opted for æ—­æˆ as they are a bit cheaper and I’m already on a budget since I spent so much already during the course of my 10-day Taiwan trip.

Here are what we ordered:

  • Grilled Squid Meal Set (150NT)
grilled squid

Grilled squid with some meat and tofu on the side served with sunny side up egg, soup and rice.  hayyyyy YUMMY!  Would you believe I can still taste it while I’m writing this? hahaha.  Kidding aside, if you guys are in Taipei 101, order this.  It was really good! 🙂  I had to share this meal with my colleague as the serving is also good for 2.

  • Pork Noodles (100NT)
pork soup

My 3 other colleagues ordered the same kind of noodles.  I guess it was the most appealing among all the noodle choices (seafood, pork, beef). The bowl was huge!!! I don’t think I could finish that alone.

The food serving was generous.  I even shared the meal set with my colleague.  It was super worth it and super yummy too!  The pictures can already prove how delicious they were.

This was our last lunch during our Taiwan trip.  I felt really sad that time coz the scenery was good and the food was great.  I just can’t find something like what they were offering in the Philippines.  And oh, that’s not to say, Filipino food is not to die for!

More pictures from our lunch here.

Taipei 101 is such a great place to hang out with shops, food, offices & scenery.  It’s an all-in-one place.  There’s really nothing else you could hope for.

Official Website of Rochelle Sy Chua on media, events, travel, food and restaurant experiences in Taipei, Taiwan, Manila, Philippines and Asia.

Get to Know Nicanor Perlas

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On December 29, 2009

nick perlas

Last December 22, I was lucky enough to meet Nick Perlas. Mr. Perlas filed his candidacy for president of the Philippines. He was disqualified by the Commission on Election because they judged that Nick Perlas doesn’t have capacity to wage a national campaign.

Nick Perlas is very much determined to fight for his rights and to lead the protest to reinstate him as presidential candidate.

As of this writing, there are more than 1,800 individuals who have responded to the call to support Nick Perlas. These people are individuals from the Philippines and all over the world. They are mostly people who have known Nick Perlas from his seminars, keynotes & workshops that he had given in several countries.

When we met Mr. Perlas, the bulk of our discussion was about his protest & several opinions shared about the difference between traditional & new politics. Personally, I went into that meeting with the intent to get to know more about Nick Perlas & what his credentials are.

Who is Nick Perlas?

Nick Perlas is not a celebrity nor is he a politician. He isn’t even rich as the other candidates nor a businessman. He is an ordinary citizen like us. Before running for office, Nick Perlas was a global consultant of integral, sustainable development. And before that, Nick Perlas has been adviser to past presidents & politicians. Among other things, he has done a lot to prove that he is fit to be our next president.

Read the rest of the article in Blogwatch.PH.

References:

Official Website of Rochelle Sy Chua on media, events, travel, food and restaurant experiences in Taipei, Taiwan, Manila, Philippines and Asia.

Taipei 101

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On December 22, 2009

taipei 101

臺北國際金融中心 Taipei 101
8 Sung-Chih Road,, Taipei Taiwan, Taiwan
886 (02) 8101-8899‎

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I couldn’t leave Taipei without first visiting the famous tallest building in the world, Taipei 101.  You can easily see that it is tall and of course, beautiful!  We haven’t even entered the building when we started taking pictures.  It isn’t every day that you can go to the world’s tallest building unless you live in Taipei.

When you enter Taipei 101, you’ll be in for a treat.  We were awed at how breathtakingly beautiful Taipei 101 is.  In the basement, you will find a food court.  The lower floors is mostly a mall made up of well-known fashion brand stores.  Floors 89 to 91 are the observation decks where we were able to see the whole of Taiwan (more on that later).  The floors between the observation decks and mall are the most expensive office spaces in Taipei.  I wonder what offices are housed there.

taipei 101 mall

Our reason why we visited Taipei 101 was to go up to the observatory and experience for ourselves the view that you can see from there.  People do go to Taipei just to visit it.  We wouldn’t miss it for the world!  The ticket was priced at 400NT and will allow you entrance.  You’d be able to ride the zooming elevator and also access the observation deck.

taipei 101 tickets

Aside from being the world’s tallest building, Taipei 101 also holds the record for having the fastest elevator.  Believe me, I was able to try it and golly, it was really FAST.  We were able to reach the 89th floor from the ground for only 37 seconds!  that’s 381 meters high!  I was just in awe & I’m glad I didn’t miss the opportunity of taking a video of it so you could experience it as well even just virtually 🙂

As expected, we could really the see the whole Taiwan up there.  The sections are pretty much divided into North, South, East & West Taiwan.  Here are some pictures that I took:

taipei 101 observation deck

taipei 101 pics

taipei 101 view

I also took the chance to have my picture taken for a Taipei 101 memorial photo w/ visitor certificate.  It’s hilarious really!!  We were posing like crazy on a blank wall.  Our poses were like holding on to one another while hugging an imaginary big building, faking a fall or jumping in the air without a background.  The end results were astounding, seeing yourself posing with the photoshopped Taipei 101 😛  I remember spending 300NT for it but to my carelessness, I left the picture & digital copy of the picture at the hotel!! :'(

taipei 101 photo

Lastly, before we headed out to our next destination, we also bought some things to bring home to the Philippines.  We call it “pasalubong”.  They are things that we buy for our friends as souvenirs/gifts from our trip.  I bought like a ton of popular yummy take-home food from 新東陽, mostly at 100NT each.

xin tong yang

More pictures of Taipei 101 can be found here.

Official Website of Rochelle Sy Chua where she talks about her travel experiences in Taipei, Taiwan, Philippines and Asia, as well as her adventures in food and restaurants

Manny Villar & his Vision for OFWs

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On December 21, 2009

mannyvillar

Last December 17, BlogWatch started its presidential roundtable discussion and it so happened that Billionaire and the Nacionalista Party candidate Manny Villar was the first to meet with us.

To be honest, I had my reservations about Mr. Villar. I formed my opinion based on what I saw on Traditional Media and how they portrayed him. Things like he’s just another politician who wants power and his choice of Vice President, well, let’s just say, that didn’t help improve the impression I had of him. Then there was his appearance at Wowowee that somehow re-enforced the idea in my mind that Manny Villar was another showbiz politician positioning himself as poor so he could get votes from the masses.

Each BlogWatch writer was given a chance to ask Senator Villar one question. So what was the question that I decided to ask Manny Villar about?

Remember this infomercial?

Since Manny Villar is known for helping Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), I had to ask if he became President, what will he do if a country goes into default (or something like what happened with Dubai) and OFWs will be sent back to the Philippines, what are his contingency measures?

Read the rest of the article in Blogwatch.PH.

References:

Official Website of Rochelle Sy Chua where she talks about her travel experiences in Taipei, Taiwan, Philippines and Asia, as well as her adventures in food and restaurants

How to Deal with MMDA Traffic Enforcers

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On December 20, 2009

450px-Modern_British_LED_Traffic_Light
image by unisouth

As I was cleaning up my email inbox, I found an almost 3-year old mail regarding MMDA.  I realized that why should I keep those tips to myself?  So here I am, sharing with you the details plus some more important information about the topic.  So how do you deal with Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) traffic enforcers?

Don’t you find it sad that in our country (Philippines) the police, the MMDA, government officials in uniform often abuse their powers?  This is noticeable especially in the streets when they enforce traffic rules and regulations.

The good news is there are guidelines that can help us with it.  We need to be informed so that we won’t be victimized by some abusive traffic enforcers.  This is applicable to MMDA but I guess we can use the information for Makati City police officers or any other city who doesn’t recognize MMDA as their traffic authority (they might have a different guideline altogether, so be warned!  There’s a reason why they don’t recognize MMDA).

Here the guidelines shared by Audee (through the Entrepreneurs yahoo mailing list) based on her conversation with MMDA personnel Antonio Pagulayan last 2007:

  • MMDA officers are not allowed to group together in order to apprehend.  They are not even allowed to stand together in groups of 2 or more.  The only time they are allowed to work together is for special operations (probably when they apprehend groups of buses for smoke belching).
  • Swerving IS NOT a traffic violation.  Moving one lane to the left or right is not swerving, no matter where on the road you do it. And it is even less of a violation when you do it with a signal. Swerving is defined as shifting 2 or more lanes very quickly. So you can argue your way out of this, and call the Metro Base for help.
  • Using the yellow lane is a traffic violation and will get you a ticket.  However, buses are really not allowed to go out of the yellow lane, so if you see selective apprehension of private cars only, you may complain.
  • MMDA has confirmed that your license MAY NOT BE CONFISCATED at a traffic apprehension.  The only time they can do so is if you are part of an accident, or it is your third violation and you have not settled your fines yet.  They are only allowed to give you a ticket, which you can contest.  He recommends actually receiving the ticket in some instances, so that you can report the officer who did it.
  • Also, you are free to ask any of these officers for their “mission order”, which is written by their supervisor.  If they apprehend you for a violation that is not in their mission order for the day, you can report them and they will receive disciplinary action.

So guys & gals, if you experience such abuses, I suggest you call MMDA hotline: 136 and ask for assistance.  What will happen is that the MMDA will send inspectors to where you are arguing out of your apprehension with an MMDA enforcer.  Hopefully, they can prevent extortion.

Do click this link for the list of Traffic Violations and Fines/Penalties for your information.  Hope this helps.  Be informed and fight for your rights!

Official Website of Rochelle Sy Chua where she talks about her travel experiences in Taipei, Taiwan, Philippines and Asia, as well as her adventures in food and restaurants

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