Tag: taiwan

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

Modern Toilet Taipei

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On December 16, 2009

moderntoilet

Modern Toilet
台北市萬華區西寧南路50卷7號2樓
886 (02) 23118822

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Would you eat food that was served in a mini toilet bowl?  Would you drink from a urinal?  The dinner that we ate at Modern Toilet Restaurant in Taipei was our most memorable one from our Taipei trip!  I guess that’s because the concept of Modern Toilet is very unique, cute and something we cannot forget!

To be honest, I totally forgot that we were hungry because I was too busy appreciating the design of Modern Toilet Restaurant.  The chairs were specifically designed toilet bowl.  The table was a shower with bathtub that was covered in glass.

moderntoiletdesign

Then it hit me, if their restaurant is designed to look like a toilet, what would their washroom look like?  I later found out that their faucet was actually a toilet bowl that had a water faucet attached to it!

moderntoiletwashroom

All that was a signal that Modern Toilet Restaurant is an interesting & innovative place! 🙂  Considering that this restaurant is a totally unique concept, I was thinking that it might cost us a lot.  Looking at their menu, the price are very reasonable.  It was affordable for all of us!

Here are what we ordered:

  • Modern Toilet Chicken Curry (190NT)
toiletcurry

Do you see that thingy that looks like “shit”?  Guess what?  It’s the appetizer which was some vegetable.

  • German Smoked Chicken with Cream Sauce (200NT)
toiletwhitespag

  • Modern Toilet Combination Hotpot (260NT)
toilethotpot

We ordered beef hotpot though we could have ordered pork (w/c was cheaper by 10NT) or seafood (290NT).  I remember that the taste was nice, I was really so distracted with how they presented the food hahaha!  Such a delight to eat food in toilet bowls 😛

  • Italian Chicken with Tomato Sauce (200NT)
toiletredspag

  • Marton Number 2 (100NT)
martonumber2

The is the Ultimate Modern Toilet dessert.  It was strawberry flavored ice with lots, lots, and loooots of ingredients put into it.  I guess this is their own version of “halo-halo”.

I loved it!  Notice that the ice cream is almost always better shaped like “shit” hehehehe.  Marton Number 2 is best for sharing. Unforgettable!

Those spaghetti & hotpot meals had dessert & drink included.  We also had the option to take home this urinal container for our drinks for only 30NT! hahaha  Guess what?  All of us bought one! 🙂

dessertmoderntoilet

moderntoiletdrink

More pictures from our super memorable dinner here.


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Believe It or Not Museum Taipei

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On December 15, 2009

believeitornot

Believe It or Not Museum Taipei
No. 67, Gongming St., Tamsui Town, Taipei 251, Taiwan
886 (02) 2623-3140

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I don’t know if we were just lucky or what.  Earlier that day, my friends & I were given free entrance for the 2 places we visited in Tamsui (Fort San Domingo & Huwei Fort).  Then, when we arrived at Believe It or Not Museum in the evening, it was a pleasant surprise that they had a promo (for that day only).  Their entrance fee was 59NT!  The regular entrance fee is about 180NT.  Wow, we were just so happy!  We ended up saving almost 300NT.

I’m not sure if this is affiliated with Ripley’s but the concept is the same.  The museum is filled with interesting & unusual stuff.  Their material has everything for everyone.  Live animals, good places to take photographs and some not-so-kiddy stuff were displayed in the Tamsui Believe It or Not Museum.

I just can’t help but take a lot photographs & videos!  In fact, I took so much that all my remaining free camera memory was used up.  It was a good thing that my friend brought an extra SD card so I was able to continue taking pictures.  Here are some photos like me posing with a snake & as a prisoner 😛

snake

prisoner

There were many live animals on display.  I took several videos of them.  You can check them all out in my YouTube account.  Reptiles, Parrots, lizards, you name it.  They can be found in the museum!

turtle

Lastly, these items are not something you’d want your children to see.  Well, not yet anyway.  So this is parental guidance. hehehehe 😛  I’ll let you believe what you want to believe based on the pictures that I’ll share with you.

chastitybelt

elephant

horse

More pictures from our crazy observations here.

Food Tripping at Bali Ferry Port

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On December 14, 2009

bali

Bali Ferry Port
No.36, Guanhai Blvd., Bali Township, Taipei County, Taiwan

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On our way back to Tamsui, we decided to hang out for awhile at the Bali Ferry Port.  This was because when we got down the bus from Shihsanhang Museum of Archaeology, we saw numerous stalls selling street food.  They just look yummy that we decided to try out some before riding the ferry.

Honestly, it was overwhelming!  We wanted to try out each and every street food.  There were so many choices!  You know what?  We can only eat so much 😛  So I was only able to try like 5 different types of street food at Bali Ferry Port area.

This one, they called it, car wheel treats.  They sell it for 10NT each.  You can however buy 3 and get 1 for free.

balifood

Remember my ever-favorite Taiwan Street Food?  You guessed it!  Would you believe they have it here too?  But honestly, nothing beats the one I’ve eaten at 中和市興南觀光夜市 (Zhong He night market).  It is sold at Bali Ferry Port for 25NT.  The price includes 2 tofu in 1 stick.

tofubali

Now, this food item was something we wanted to bring home.  Dried meat & we call it “Ma Pa” here in the Philippines.  Yummy, yummy yummy!  This was sold at 100NT per pack.  Anyway, I wasn’t able to bring it home coz I was able to finish it when we got back to the hotel hahaha!

driedpork

Lastly, our favorite from all the ones we tried:  Potato Chips.  Pretty innovative, they were able to put all those potato chips in one stick.  Such great presentation and yummy too btw.  I wasn’t able to buy one coz I was really full.  My friends let me try theirs so I can say that it tasted good.  It was just 35NT per stick.  Affordable!

potatochips

Hayyy, I really miss Taiwan!  I wish our country had a place like this where we could enjoy street foods like there’s no tomorrow.  Such a great experience 🙂

More of Bali Ferry Port here.

Shihsanhang Museum of Archaeology

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On December 13, 2009

shisan

十三行博物館 Shihsanhang Museum of Archaeology
249臺北縣八里鄉博物館路200號
886 (02) 2619-1313
admission: 100NT

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Shihsanhang Museum is located in Bali but can be reached from Tamsui.  We just need to ride a boat from Tamsui fisherman’s wharf to Bali then ride a bus going to the museum.

The museum is such an awesome site!  It has astounding architectural design that is very hippy & modern.  We even stayed a bit outside the museum appreciating all the sights there.  As you can see in the pictures, the inclined roof is actually a staircase where we can climb up and have a look into the youngest volcano in Taiwan, Taipei Harbor & even the Tamsui River.

shisan

museum

Anyway, Shihsanhang Museum of Archaeology offers exhibits on artifacts from Taiwan’s earliest residents.  The museum had a lot of interactive areas in each of the exhibits.  It was very kid & child-friendly!  Those areas would really make your kids and also young at heart like us to be very entertained.  They will also make our brains work coz some of the games were presented in trivia form.

museumgame

Here are some of the exhibits during our visit:

  • Taiwan Landbridge Fauna – during the 1970s, fishermen caught a number of human & animal fossils in Penghu archipelago.  The exhibit showcased the story of those discoveries as well as excavation & restoration.
  • Back to Shihsanhang – the story begins with a Major in the Taiwanese Air Force who discovered the Shihsanhang Site. While flying over the site, the major recorded strange readings. The Major’s recording and other reports on the “rescue excavation” from the site is used to introduce visitors to the Shihsanhang people who lived here.

vase

people

artifacts

You can find more pictures of Shihsanhang Museum of Archaeology here.


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