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Thứ Ba, 30 tháng 8, 2011

Diamond Tony's Restaurant at 85th Floor of Taipei 101, Taiwan

We been invited by a friend from Taiwan to the Diamond Tony's Restaurant at 85th Floor of Taipei 101 (N25.03313 E121.56510) for dinner on our 4th day of Taiwan trip. I believe reservation is needed if you intend to dine in.






Diamond Tony's Restaurant at Taipei 101



The environment was perfect with soft music and especially the night view of Taipei City. But we were not in the luck that night because of the whole city was covered by mist...

I was amazed by the washroom design! You can even enjoy the city night view while you doing your business! :)





After about 30 minutes after our ordered, the first dish served on our table...it was the mushroom soup with bread.






Mushroom Soup with Bread





I was surprised with the portion of the bread! Anyway, the soup was rich and good with the bread.



After we finished chatting for about 15 minutes, the second course served...Bacon with vegetables.





Third course...(apologies! I forgot the name of the dish...some kind of abalone...)





Fourth course...The Sausage.





And here was the main course...The Beef.






Main course - Beef.  


(Apologies for the blur photo)



The last was the dessert...Chocolate cake.






The Chocolate cake



We were satisfied with the meals over here. Some of the dishes were just average, but the environment is the main attraction of the restaurant! (Too bad we saw nothing that night...)

Anyway, we were thankful for the dinner which provided by a friend, appreciated. We visited the Shilin night market again after the overloaded dinner! :)



Apologies for the blur and yellowish photos above.






Taipei 101 of Taiwan



Related post :-
*  My Taiwan Trip on May, 2011




Location map of Taipei 101, Taiwan





Thứ Hai, 22 tháng 8, 2011

Dessert Shop at Jiufen Old Street, Taiwan

We had a rest at this Dessert Shop after we back to Jiufen Old Street. The shop was just located on the right of the Old Street entrance.






The choices of Taiwan Authentic Dessert



There were many choices and we just took the signature dessert of the shop. That was the yam ball, bean curd and syrup flavored with ginger. (TWD40 each)

I ordered the cold type to ease the thirst from the climbing up and down...:)






The lady boss preparing our desserts





The lady boss was nice and friendly and the shop was simple and clean. The dessert served on our table less than 10 minutes...






The Taiwan dessert



The dessert was nice and satisfied, the tasty yam balls was soft same as others...

There were many stalls selling the same dessert along the street and we cannot judge which is the best...

I cannot comment more on it because this was the Only shop we tasted.





Overall, all of us satisfied! After the dessert we will going to Taipei and leave this beautiful and peaceful small town. Well, I like this small town and I will be back!






The cute little girl running around when we had our dessert...she was really Cute!



Related post :-
*  My Taiwan Trip on May, 2011


Thứ Sáu, 19 tháng 8, 2011

Jiufen (九份) Small Town at Taiwan

Jiufen (N25.10986 E121.84515) - "During the first years of the Qing Dynasty, the village here housed nine families, thus the village would request "nine portions" every time shipments arrived from town. Later Jiufen ("Nine portions" in Chinese) would become the name of the village.

Jiufen was only an isolated village until 1893, when gold was discovered in the area. The resulting gold rush hastened the village's development into a town, and reached its peak during the Japanese rule. Many present features of Jiufen reflect the era under Japanese colonization, with many Japanese inns surviving to this day. During World War II, a POW camp named Kinkaseki was set up in the village, holding Allied soldiers captured in Singapore (including many British) who worked in the nearby gold mines. Gold mining activities declined after World War II, and the mine was shut off in 1971. Jiufen quickly went into decline, and for a while the town was mostly forgotten.
" Source from Wiki.



It took about 30-45 minutes drive from Yehliu to this small town - Jiufen. Drove through the winding roads and at last we reached the busy and sharp corner where the Jiufen Old Street (九份老街) located.






The 180 degree sharp bend at Jiufen






The above photo was taken by Tokina 11-16mm lens



This was the tourist hotspot of Jiufen. Everyone will definitely visit the old street for the first time, and so do we...

It is a long narrow alley which paved by stones and the alley was continue ascending...felt like hiking a small hill...:)






The entrance of the Jiufen Old Street (九份老街)





The street was crowded with tourist and it full of shops on the both side...luckily the weather was quite cooling, because it situated at the elevation of 300 meter and above...



There were many food stalls around and if you have a big belly, that will be paradise for you! Too bad I don't have it, haha!






Food stalls along Jiufen Old Street, have you ever try the Yam ball? (Top right)






Top left : I like the peanut ice-cream


Top right : Admire the innovative food process machine very much!


Bottom left : Grilled sea snail


Bottom right : Shark ball?! (Second basket from right)



You can chose to take the food while strolling along the street or even find a Unique cafe or restaurant to dine in...






Like the deco of this small restaurant






The restaurant which is lower than the street...unique.






Western Restaurant and the corner...like the design too!



Suddenly, I been attracted by a musical instrument came out from no-where! After searching and followed the music, we found this shop...the boss was playing with the instrument...





And it's called the Taiwan Ocarina. The ocarina (陶笛) may be known as a "pottery flute" in Chinese. However, it doesn't look anything like a classical flute.






The colourful Taiwan Ocarina.





The area was so packed during our visit...






Tourists from everywhere in the world.



After hanging around the food stalls and souvenirs shops area, we continued to walk to the top...





5-10 minutes walk, we reached the Famous Jiufen Tea House. In the tea house, they have the Ceramic Gallery and the tea drinking area.






Jiufen Tea House






The Ceramic Gallery of Jiufen Tea House



I like the decoration. They created the cozy and relax ambience in the whole Jiufen Tea House!





We won't be able to step into the drinking area, because the tea house Only allow customer who buy the tea and to ensure their customer privacy...sound great?! But because of our limited time, we gave a missed this time...



Jiufen Tea House was not the only one around, there are many other tea house, cafes and restaurants around! And they are all in different and unique decoration.









Another 15 minutes walk, we reached the top of the Jiufen Old Street. The breathtaking view was just Fantastic! I can imagine viewing it from the top in the bright sunny day! But too bad...that day was cloudy when we were there...






The scenic view from the top of Jiufen Old Street






The Jiufen small town



There were many tea house at the both side of the viewing area, many tourists or travelers enjoy their tea and mesmerizing the beautiful view of Jiufen.






Customers enjoyed the scenic view with the tea...






Another Tea House...





And all the tea houses and buildings were constructed on the edge of the small hill...






Amazing isn't it?!



After enjoyed the fresh air and the view from the area, we chose to walked down the hill via another street named - QingBian road.

Well, it was also full of restaurants again! If I had enough time, I will definitely visit every restaurant or cafe I can to enjoy the environments and their decorations. They were so Special!






I was admired the cafe (left) for a moment while descending...



Do you notice the 'Cave' below? It was a restaurant's entrance, very creative!






The Cave



It's difficult to find a public toilet around here, I only saw once while we walking down, so be prepare...






The public toilet at Jiufen






Another Unique restaurant along the way...



We chose another way to get back to the Jiufen Old Street where we can walked through their village's alley...and feel the different of Jiufen.






The alley at Jiufen village










I wish the above house it's the homestay...so antique and nice!






And I found this Unique post box at the corner...



We went into a Yam Ball dessert shop after we back to the old street...will blog about it in my next post.



We took about 2 hours to finished walking at the old street area, I felt Not enough at all for a day trip here! I will definitely come back again and put a night or two at this peaceful small town, especially at the Homestay. Well, I like it Very Much!



Finally, I visited Jiufen. 



Related post :-
*  My Taiwan Trip on May, 2011




Location map of Jiufen Small Town of Taiwan





Thứ Tư, 10 tháng 8, 2011

Yehliu Geopark (野柳地質公園) at Yehliu, Taiwan

This is one of the Must visit Geopark in Taiwan - Yehliu Geopark (N25.20740 E121.69102)

It's located at the cape on the north coast of Taiwan in the town of Wanli between Taipei and Keelung and the entrance fee is NT50.00, the operation hour is from 8am-5pm everyday.






Yehliu Geopark of Taiwan



"The stratum of Yehliu is mainly composed of sedimentary rocks; the formation of sea bays is due to the impact of sea erosion on softer rock layers, while those hard and solid ones may therefore turn into sea capes eventually."
 


"The prospect as presented from a long distance view of Yehliu Cape is like a turtle crouching down by the sea; therefore, the cape is also called “Yehliu Turtle”. In the olden days, Yehliu was a key channel of the trade route between mainland China and Keelung harbor. Yet, the waters around the area were torrential and dangerous, and often caused serious shipwrecks. A legend was told that once a turtle elf was making trouble in the sea. A fairly was dispatched by Jade Emperor to tame the turtle elf..." Source from here.



You can read the Wikipedia site here.






The ticket and detail rocks location behind the ticket.





Once we got the tickets, we started the 3.5km (in and out) walked...it was a cloudy day...





The area is full tourist everyday, everyone are eager to witness the rock formation and the beauty of Yehliu Geopark.

There are 2 session of the time-eroded rocks in the Geopark, both are surrounded with many rocks in different type of shapes & sizes...





The first session...many Mushroom rock around....

"Please don't cross the Red line!" I was curiously put one of my leg out of the line and the I heard the Security Whistle in less than 2 second! That's Fast!





The Breathtaking view from the higher platform...GREAT!





I managed to spot some rocks which name by the Taiwan Tourism...but I missed some too...






Mushroom Rocks





And I found the 'Ice-Cream'!






The Ice Scream Rocks






This shape look like a whale? There are 2 candle rocks in front of it...






The Candle Rocks






The Honeycomb Rocks






The Pearl...does it look like one?



"Yehliu is unique because the different rock formations near the seashore. It contain substantial quantities of limestone, which are subject to sea erosion, weathering and earth movements, thus making the 1,700 meter-long peninsula almost lunar-like in many ways. The wild-looking landscape leaves little to the imagination. It's easy to imagine what life could be like on another planet.net. 

The area is studded with seawater-eroded holes teeming with sea-life, as well as unusual rock formations, which make the surrounding environment rich in ecological resources. Sun, wind, rain, waves and strong northeastern typhoons all make a major impact on this narrow strip of land." Source from here.






The nice and beautiful pathway of Yehliu Geopark



After hanging around at the 1st session of the Geopark, we proceeded to the 2nd session where the Famous 'Queen's Head' located. But the queue was terrible!






 Scenic view of the Cape


 


Tourists were queuing to take photo with the Queen's Head



Because the rock is only look like a Queen Head from One direction...so we searching here and there trying to find a nice spot to take the photo of the Queen's Head.






From the opposite direction. Where you can see the tourists queuing behind...






The Queen's Head at Yehliu Geopark (the correct direction)



We also found some fossil and interesting rocks around the second session...






The Fossil spotted at the second session.






The Fairy's shoe, it's look like a sandal to me...



The formation rocks at Yehliu :-

*  Honeycomb Rock, Honeycomb weathering

*  Mushroom Rock

*  Ginger Rock

*  Candle shaped Rock

*  Bean Curd Rock

*  Mini Taiwan Rock

*  Queen's Head

*  Fairy's shoe (sandal)

*  Marine Bird Rock

*  Ice Cream Rock

*  Elephant Rock

*  Peanut Rock

*  Pearl Rock

*  Little Turtle Rock

*  Japanese Geisha Rock

*  Fried Drumstick

*  24-filial piety hill

*  Lover Cave

*  Dragon Head Rock

and many many more.....





We had not enough time to search for all the rocks stated behind our ticket, and we also didn't hike the small hill at the cape...

We left the Geopark after more than an hour walked, and we spotted this actual size Replica Queen's Head and the garden area. I believe the purpose is to let the tourist see the Queen's Head without walked on the 1.7KM long pathway., and also in case raining during visiting the Geopark.






The actual size Replica Queen's Head



I took many photos at the Yehliu Geopark, too bad I can't post all into this blog post. I will definitely visit the Yehliu Geopark again in my next visit to Taiwan, hopefully it will be a sunshine day!



After this Beautiful Geopark, we continue our journey to Jiufen...







Related post :-
*  My Taiwan Trip on May, 2011




Location map of Yehliu Geopark at Yehliu, Taiwan