Sun Moon Lake 日月潭 (Taiwan)

Before setting off to Taiwan, I was keeping an eye on the weather at Sun Moon Lake. I was hoping for good weather as we had planned to cycle there - CNN has crowned it one of ten of the world's best bike routes for cyclists. I am no cyclist but am always up for some good views while burning off the fats stored from eating at the night markets.  1) Brief background  Sun Moon Lake is the largest body of water in Taiwan. The area...

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Double Scoops

Every time a waffle craving strikes, we head over to Salted Caramel or Double Scoops. It's always nice to see ice cream shops in the heartlands so you don't have to specially make a trip to town just to satisfy your ice cream craving. The prices at Double Scoops are also reasonable compared to other good gelato shops. There is a chill vibe in the cafe, with plenty of natural light. We always order the Waffle ($4) with a scoop of ice...

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Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐 (Taiwan)

Although there are many branches of Din Tai Fung in Singapore, I seldom visit the restaurant because there was always a long queue.  However, given that Din Tai Fung's roots were in Taiwan, we decided to head there for some xiao long bao. The founder of Din Tai Fung first worked as a delivery man in a store called Heng Tai Fung, which sold cooking oil. The owner later put the founder in charge of the oil store's accounts. However, the oil...

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Lavender Cottage 薰衣草森林 (Taiwan)

We wanted to do a day trip out of the main area in Taichung and went to Zhongshe Flower Market in the morning by public transport. We hadn't included Lavender Cottage in our itinerary because it would take too long by public transport and we simply didn't have sufficient time. We flagged down a taxi at the train station, directing him to drive us to Carton King. However, instead of driving us to Carton King, he managed to convince us to go to Lavender...

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Blue Sky Bay B&B 蓝天水湾 (Taiwan)

Many tourists choose to do a day trip to Sun Moon Lake. However, as we wanted to throw in some cycling, we decided to spend a night at Blue Sky Bay B&B 蓝天水湾. Only one word can be used to describe this place- Exceptional.  1) Location  We took the Nantou Bus from Taichung to Sun Moon Lake. The bus dropped us off at a bus stop around a 7-10 minutes walk away from the B&B. We initially walked past the B&B without knowing...

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Hotel Nafore (Seoul)

Hotel Nafore was one of the cheaper hotels that we saw with a pretty good location and did not look too cramped.  1) Location  Finding this hotel was a slight nightmare for me. The taxi driver dropped us off at some random building and while after walking around for some time, we could see the hotel but could not figure which alleys to take to reach the hotel. Do yourself a favour and download the directions from their webpage and/or...

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Indochilli (Zion Road)

Indochilli is my favourite place to go when I crave Indonesian food, so much that I have been there at least 4-5 times in 2017.  I suggest that you make a reservation if you want to dine there because it is often full by 7 p.m.  We always order the Tahu Telor ($8.80). Who can resist the crispy eggy beancurd with abundant sweet peanut sauce drizzled over it? The Kacang Panjang Balado ($9.80) is a simple dish of long bean fried...

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