Ikari Coffee
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On December 31, 2009
The travel from Leofoo Village was long since it was located far away from Taipei City. We were like sooooooo hungry already because it was 9PM and we haven’t eaten dinner yet. So while we were on our way to Shilin Night Market, we dropped by 怡客咖啡 Ikari Coffee to have dinner.
One thing that I noticed while in Taiwan is that their coffee shops serve good food. In the Philippines, it’s just bread, cakes & coffee. In Taiwan, the coffee shop is a restaurant of its own. Ikari Coffee is one of the most popular coffee shops in Taiwan and I guess I know why. Their food is yummy! I loved my order.
The whole process of ordering was also quite admirable! We ordered at the counter, we paid, we were then given this red thingy that will light up when our order was ready. We’ll then need to go back to the counter, get our order and give the red thingy back. Since it was all new to me, I found the red thingy when it lit up like christmas lights to be too cute and entertaining!! hahaha! I also felt that what they made improved the efficiency for everyone.
Here are what we ordered:
- Yakiniku Sub-Sandwich (90NT)
- Yakiniku Rice (118NT)
- Fish Fillet with Salsa Sauce (138NT)
- Milano Roasted Chicken Drumstick (138NT)
They had a promo where you could add 45 for a drink, 60 for a drink & soup (which was yummy!) and 75 for drink, soup & dessert. I didn’t like the dessert of the day so I ordered pumpkin soup with drink and both were just delicious!
If you want to see more pictures about the last dinner we had during our Taiwan vacation, you can find it here.
Leofoo Village Theme Park
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On December 30, 2009
å…ç¦æ‘ Leofoo Village Theme Park
Guanshi Jen, Hsinchu County, Taiwan
886 (03) 5475665
Admission: 890NT
——————–
10 day trip without visiting a theme park? crazy!! Well, we were not crazy coz we visited the only theme park in Taiwan, å…ç¦æ‘ Leofoo Village. It was an adventure! We were pressed for time so we only had 2 hours to enjoy the very big amusement park.
I first heard about Leofoo Village through my Facebook. I posted that I was in Taiwan and was enjoying my holiday when a friend mentioned that I should go to Leofoo Village. To my surprise, the place is not in my Lonely Planet Travel Guide! So we googled it and found Leofoo Village’s website.
This is what we found out. There was a promo every April, May, June, September & October wherein you only need to pay half of the regular admission when you go during their happy hours which is between 3-7PM. The thing was, when we visited the site it was written as 4-8PM.
We arrived at Leofoo Village at around 4:30 PM. We were shocked that happy hours were actually 3-7PM and not 4-8PM as it was written on their site. I even almost went into argument with the staff as she was insisting that whatever written in the website was right. Well, she was partly right. The thing is… chinese version has the right time indicated but with the english site which we visited, had the wrong hours written down. The manager ended up giving us a discount. We only needed to pay 4 instead of 5 tickets! wohoo!!! Great deal!!
å…ç¦æ‘ Leofoo Village Theme Park is divided into 4 sections:
- African Safari
Sahara Twister
We were pleasantly surprised! We were fooled into thinking that it was just an ordinary roller coaster ride, but eventually, it was not! We had to go through a 360 degree spin thoughout the ride. It was awesome!
- South Pacific
Scary 3-second ride that lets you drop 17 stories straight down to the ground like a free fall. I saw my colleagues as they were riding this. I am too scared for this! hahaha!
Mighty Mountain Flume Adventure
If you like to get wet and scream your heart out while a canoe bring you down to a volcano-like-area then this is the place to be. You’ll absolutely love it. Oh and yeah, I chickened out! hahaha. Don’t know what was with me that day.
Captain Cook’s Swinging Ship
This is similar to Anchor’s away (in Enchanted Kingdom, Philippines). It swings back and forth 7-stories above the ground. Well, you guessed it right, I chickened out of this too :P:P
- Wild West
Three words: scary, scary and scary. 360 degree spiral whirl while flying and dropping fifty-six meters and running at 122 km/hr. Yaiks!
Old Oil Well
Just watching my colleagues, I could definitely say that this is one hell of a ride! The thing just swings left to right, right to left then all over 360 degrees. Definitely not for those weak at heart.
- Arabian Kingdom
If you wanna go around for a 360 degree spin over and over, getting faster as time passes by? Then Ring of fire is for you! 😛
Sultan’s Adventure
This is the safest ride of all! hahaha.. no surprises just plain sight-seeing 🙂
The ones I mentioned were just the highlights. There were other rides too. You can see them all in my Flickr album here. We really made good use of our 2 hours there. Before we got home, we were able to see the dancing lights in the fountain and in the trees. Astounding!
Lunch at æ—æˆæ¸¯å¼æ–™ç†
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On December 30, 2009
æ—æˆæ¸¯å¼æ–™ç†
Basement, 臺北國際金èžä¸å¿ƒ Taipei 101
8 Sung-Chih Road,, Taipei Taiwan, Taiwan
——————–
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—æˆæ¸¯å¼æ–™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 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)
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.
Get to Know Nicanor Perlas
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On December 29, 2009
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:
- Videos – http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=954BD62C5812EBD5
- Pictures – http://www.flickr.com/photos/rochellesychua/sets/72157622925248467/
Taipei 101
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On December 22, 2009
臺北國際金èžä¸å¿ƒ Taipei 101
8 Sung-Chih Road,, Taipei Taiwan, Taiwan
886 (02) 8101-8899‎
——————–
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.
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.
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:
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!! :'(
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 æ–°æ±é™½, mostly at 100NT each.
More pictures of Taipei 101 can be found here.