One of the Highest Starbucks in The World

Who doesnt know Starbucks? One of the most popular coffee-shop chain in the world. When Seattle is the home base of Starbucks shop, Taipei has one of the highest Starbucks outlet amongst the other 23,768 outlets in the world.

Located at the 35th floor of Taipei 101, this Starbucks really grabs the foreigners and even the local’s attention. I’ve been wanting to go to this outlet since the first month of my student life in Taipei, but only gotten the chance to visit this on the very last month before i left.

Since this Starbucks really catches so many people’s attention.. So you need to book it 1 week prior your visit. When you do your booking, it is best to speak with them in Chinese since they dont really understand English. If you cant speak Chinese, maybe you can ask your hotel concierge or your AirBnb host to help you with the booking.

How to enter Starbucks 101?

It’s quite tricky since it’s not inside the mall. You need to Enter via Xin Yi Road, Sec.5, door 7. which located not far from 101 mall entrance.

There will be security guards in front and asking you where are you going? Just say you are going to starbucks, and they will direct you to the foyer. After you reached the Foyer, just wait there for a while.

As for me and my friends, it is very easy to spot the foyer, since there are already a long Q when we reached there. Starbucks already allocate the time for their customers, so all of us can enter the lift together, since they need cards to enter the office buildings.

After 5-10 minutes of waiting time, their staffs will come down and fetch you up (dont forget to give them the booking code that they have given to you to be exchanged with the table number)

And here you go, one of the highest starbucks in the world. haha.. It’s just a normal starbucks shop. Just happened that they have a good locations whereby you can see Taipei’s skyline and sceneries from above.

Some people advised that it is better to go here, rather than going to the Taipei 101’s observatory, cause you need to spend about NTD 400-500 (SGD  16-20) to enter the observatory, and get quite the same sceneries that this starbucks offered you. On the other hand, you need to order 1 drink + 1 cakes/sandwich per person, which will cost you about NTD 150-200 (SGD 6-8).

Actually it goes back to each individual, cause some people love to listen to history and want to understand Taipei more. Then, if you are that kind of person, i will still advise you to go up to the observatory and listen to all the ipod tracks that they provide you with.

My piece of advise if you are going to this Starbucks is.. When you gather downstair, Walk slowly to the lift, and let you and your friends be the last person to enter the lift. So, when you go out of the lift, you can quickly grab the best seat! hahaha.. *Kiasu mode on*

Too bad we did not get the best spot.. so, i was quite lazy to take the sceneries as well.. Sorry for no pretty pictures of the sceneries. =(

If you asked me if it’s worth it or not to go to this place.. I’ll say.. Just go if you have time. If you dont.. Hmmpp.. I think it’s still okay to give it a miss.. Unless you are a Starbucks fans or Mug’s collector. haha.

Starbucks 101.
110, Taiwan, Taipei City
Xinyi District, Section 5, Xinyi Road, 7號之1
Tel: +886 2 8101 0701

Taipei Must Visit : JiuFen and Golden Waterfall

It has been a month since i left Taipei. gosh.. how time flies.. i felt like it was only yesterday that my friends picked me up at my Taipei’s apartment and sent me to the airport. And here i am now, in Singapore, looking for inspiration on what to do next with this game called life. haha. Ohh, btw, ill be going back to Jakarta by mid July. Guess ill try to make a living over there. haha.. Do contact me Jakarta peeps! Would love to talk to you and expand my horizons about life in Jakarta.. =)

and talking about Taipei.. was scrolling my phone earlier today, and just realized that i have not posted about my trip to JiuFen! ~~

JiuFen is a beautiful old town just 1-1.5 hrs away from Taipei City. Previously it was a gold mine that was founded and built by the Japanese back in 1893 during Japanese colonial. Until today, they still preserved some of the architecture from that era.

and if you watched Spirited Away, a Japan anime movie by Hayao Miyazaki, the town and the bath house inside that movie is inspired by the tea-house in this beautiful old town.

When me and my friends drove there, we passed by a quite pretty waterfall named..

Golden Waterfall (黃金瀑布）

They called it Golden Waterfall because of the contrast colour between the gold coloured soil (that makes the waterfall) and the greeneries beside it. Research said that the soil turned gold because of the regular rainfall in this area and the large amount of heavy metal elements that has been deposited in the riverbed. Fascinating, isnt it? and luckily my friend was driving that day. If not, i think we would not know that there’s such a waterfall around that area. haha.

Yes, it was so cloudy and misty that day. And it was raining quite heavily when we reached JiuFen itself. Actually i was quite confused on when to go out in Taipei, because sometimes the weather there is worse than a woman who’s having a PMS. haha. seriously.. it would just rain and turns hot unpredictably.

So, when we reached the Old Street, all that we did was just eating and eating.. and most of the snacks there are so good! I am so sorry there are no decent pictures for the snacks, since it was raining and packed with hundreds of people. =(

After snacking, we directly headed our way to the tea-house named A Mei Tea House. We were seated at the balcony outside and so blessed by the view when the rain started to stop. It was just so breathtakingly beautiful!

Other than mesmerising view,  actually the tea-house just offered an over-priced tea set. haha.. sorry to say that.. Well, i cant remember how much we had to pay for the below set. But what i remember is, we only ordered some normal tea (around NTD 300/person for either Oolong or Pu-Er), because the other special tea can cost us more than NTD 600 /person. Quite a ripped off for me who dont really understand good teas. haha.

And above is the night view of the Tea House from the outside. Love the pretty lanterns there.. ❤

Still would love to come back to JiuFen old street, since the last one wasnt so spectacular. Hopefully there’ll be next trip when i can buy JiuFen’s Ocarina (an ancient wind musical instrument) haha.. #sokberjiwamusikal. hahaha.

From MRT Zhongxiao Fuxing, go to Exit 1 and take bus 1062 (Keelung Bus) to Jin gua shi, alight at Jiufen. The ride is about 1 hour and the fare is NT$90.

 

Taipei Must Visit : Shifen Waterfall and Pingxi Lantern

Its only been few days in Jakarta, and i miss Taiwan like crazy. What do i do these few days is only swiping through my photos on my phone, reminiscing and smiles on many of it. Never thought that Taiwan will leave a big mark in my heart.

5 days before i flew back to Jakarta, two very good Taipei friend of mine brought me to see Shifen Waterfall and to fly lantern at Pingxi district. This two places has been inside my bucket list when i reached Taiwan. Thank God i can make it before i came back, eventhough there are still many places that i could not manage to visit. Hopefully fate will bring me back again to see the other part of Taiwan again someday.

Shifen Waterfall 

Located at Pingxi District, New Taipei City, is one of the most famous waterfall in Taiwan. This place is only 45 minutes away from the bustling Taipei (if you are driving), and around 1.5 hrs if you take public transport (Take 1076 towards PingXi from MuZha Station *brown line*).

It is really nice to enjoy the natural sceneries that Taiwan offers. Well, i guess Taiwan has a lot of natural sceneries to begin with. haha. So, Shifen is one of the place whereby you can hang out with your friends and families, breath fresher air, do some trekking maybe and take pretty pictures!

ShiFen Waterfall is not very tall, since it’s only 20 meters tall, but i guess it’s pretty wide, with 40 meters width. Well, i dont really understand about how this waterfall formed geologically.. what i know is it’s pretty beautiful for me to see. *grin*

*Introducing my tour guide of the day. Lili Jie Jie and Ahan Ge ge. Thanks for driving me and showed me around*

After walking around at ShiFen Waterfall area, we quickly made our way to PingXi district to fly the lantern. ShiFen Waterfall and Pingxi District are located next to each other. So you can safe your time by going to one area and get both attractions.

You can easily walk from ShiFen Waterfall to PingXi Old Street District. It’s pretty far for the Indonesian people who dont normally walk, but i got used to it, since i always walk back in Singapore and walk a lot in Taipei too. haha.

*The Bridge to walk out from ShiFen*

After we walked about 20 minutes, finally we reach PingXi Old Street. The Old Street is very unique in their own way, looks very historical and authentic to me. It feels like you’ve been dragged to the old Chinese Movie like IP-Man. haha. Too bad it was raining when we reached there, so i was too lazy to take some pictures in that small street with many umbrellas in it. =(

Decided to have some lunch first in that small alley and head our way to the Lantern shop! There are many lantern shop in that area, especially the area in front of the train tracks. We randomly chose a lantern shop that was quite crowded. Asked them how we to buy the lantern. And it is very fascinating that they has a lot of colours to choose from. Each represents your wishes. Like what colours is for friendship, love life, career, health, etc. They have colour combination as well for you who has many wishes, or you can just go for one colour if you think you only ‘need’ that particular luck, like life partner for example. hahaha. You can take your time to choose your lantern colour, they have a long list for you to choose from.

After much consideration, we finally chose Yellow + Orange + Green + Pink lantern (NTD 200 = SGD 8.5) that symbolises our wishes for Wealth + Marriage + Success + Happiness. hahaha.  Well, since 5 of us who went there are still single, so i guess it’s quite appropriate to ask for this four. hahaha.

Rain was still pouring that day, not heavy though. We already buying so much time, waiting for the rain to eventually stop. But too bad, it was still drizzling. So we decided to just go out from the shop after we finished writing our wishes to fly the lantern.

But before that, picture times! Haha, so the guys at the lantern shop helped us in taking all the below pictures. He escorted us to the railway and directed us on how to hold and arrange our standing position. Honestly all of us are quite satisfied with all ghe photos. Guess he’s already used to it and master all the cameras (since we use sony nex c3 and iphone camera) haha. And what amazes me more is, he can took a video of us while capturing our photos as well. Too damn professional already! Haha.

Sadly when we about to fly the lantern, the train is about to pass as well. So they guy asked us to move away from the trail. Nice picture, still. But i guess it will be much nicer when you fly it on the railway. hahaha #banyakmaunya.

Nevertheless, i was so happy that time. It’s like releasing your prayer up to the heaven. haha. I told one of my guy friend that i was so happy about it, and he was like ‘i was just okay when i released it’ haha.. I guess it’s just more of a girl thing? or Maybe it’s just me.. I always think that releasing lantern will be such a romantic thing to do. Again, maybe it’s just me who watch to many of ‘Na Xie Nian’ – Taiwanese Movie. haha. But i would love to go back and fly that lantern with my future partner. hahaha. #cewekpolll

*Oh btw, Taiwan has yearly Sky lantern festival or known as Kong Ming Lantern which is believed as a day whereby we can write our wishes and pass it to the gods above. Normally they fly thousands of lanterns at night, in mid February. I missed this moment, since i went back to Jakarta that time =( But i heard that it will be so troublesome to get your way back home after this event.

Super Romantic, isnt it?? Feels like we are inside Rapunzel / Tangled the movie. hahaha.

pic source : event-carnival.com

But the setback is, this lantern may cause harm to our environment. =( Heard that even though they are using paper and ‘biodegradable’ materials, the wire inside the lantern may take 9 months to break down, and the paper itself – the biodegradable ones still need 4-8 weeks to break down. Hopefully the manufacturer will think of some other way to make this more environmental friendly.

Anyway, as for the lantern wishes, We pray that we have all the happiness in the world, success over our career, overflowing blessings from the Above, and special anointed prince / princess charming for each of us! #BigFatAmen.. hahaha.

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” – 1 Corinthians 2:9

Taipei Must Visit : Wulai Aboriginal Village and Hot Spring

Me and my classmates went to Wulai two weeks ago, a nice mountain village located just outside Taipei. Wulai was an impromptu trip, we planned to go to Tainan city at first, but since we planned it too late, all the bus and train tickets were sold out. Eventhough we know that we can buy the standing train ticket to Tainan, we finally decided to drop this plan and decided to explore somewhere near Taipei instead.

Like many countries, Taiwan has many aboriginal tribes too. and Wulai is a home for for one aboriginal tribes name Atayal. Wulai is the closest aboriginal tribes village from Taipei, and if you are wondering what Wulai means, it means Hot Spring in Atayal’s term.

So basically what you can do at Wulai is to soak yourself in a natural Hot Spring. But other than that, you can eat a lot of Wulai’s aboriginal snacks at the Wulai Old Street, dip your feet in the cold river, see a nice waterfall, hiking around Wulai’s mountain, and take a lot of pretty ‘classic’ pictures. haha.. Let’s go through it one by one, shall we? *grin*

– Wulai’s Entrance 

If you go by bus 849 (TWD 15) from Xin Dian MRT station (end of green line), you will stop at this small bus station after about 45-50 minutes. This bus stop is located at the very end of the bus station, so do not worry of getting lost.

– Wulai’s Old Street

After walking about 5-7 mins, you will find this bridge to enter the Old Street of Wulai. The Old street of Wulai is pretty long and narrow, with many mouthwatering snack stalls on their left and right. So basically what you can do is, buy the snacks one at a time and share it among your friends, so that you can eat more snacks. haha. Wulai is famous for their boar sausage, which is not bad.. but I personally like their suckling roast pork roll, somehow the pork is so nice, love how they do the egg roll as well (eventhough they have quite disturbing whole pig in front of their stall) haha.. And ohh.. I like their grilled mochi topped with condensed milk.. ❤

-Wulai’s Hot Spring 

After non-stop binge eating on the old street, we went straight ahead to the Wulai’s Hot Spring. But since the weather was pretty hot that day, we went to dip our feet in the cold river water instead. and it feels so refreshinggg.. wish indonesia or singapore have this kind of river.. The current was pretty fast though, so i dont think you can swim in this river.

as for the Hot Spring, you can go there for free, eventho mostly are elderly. If you want more private place for soaking yourself, they have a few bathing house as well. Just stroll the street and asked around to get the best deal.

-Wulai’s Waterfall

From the Hot-Spring place, you can walk through Lover’s Path (the walking trail) about 2 km to see this pretty waterfall, eventho not as spectacular as i expected, but it’s quite nice to see. and the walk trail to waterfall is quite pretty too.. =)

-Wulai’s Gondola

Wulai has some hiking trails and large nature park. But because of last year Typhoon, Wulai’s nature park is quite severely damaged. So after we went up by the Gondola (NTD 150), we just hiked to the aboriginal ‘village’ and just explore what they have over there. we ended up playing archery up there, and i suck a lot. haha.

Heard that the gondola fee will help the villagers to re-build their town. Hopefully they can restore the place soon. Never thought that Typhoon can really bring such a great impact to a pretty place.

Wulai is a pretty place, would love to comeback sometime for the street food and dipping my feet in the cold river, enjoying the blue sky, the warm sun rays and brezzy wind, and pondering about life. haha.

TAICHUNG : CINGJING FARM

What i like about Taiwan is you can hop from one city to another easily with bus or train with many hours to choose from (or drive if you like to). Taichung is only 2-3 hrs away from Taipei (by bus), and there’s a lot of things to see around Taichung city. Went to Xin She Castle and Carton King last time, and for this time around, me and my classmates went to CingJing Farm. A place where you can breathe the mountain’s fresh air and see a herds of cute sheep.

Since it needs another 1.30 hr-ish to go to Cinjing Farm from Taichung city, we decided to stay over 1 night at Taichung, so then we can go early in the morning the next day and go back to Taipei in the evening.

– Lodging 

See you International Hostel

No. 12, Lane 83, Sec. 1 Meicun Road West District Taichung

Even though i heard a lot of good hostel and considered it so many times when im travelling, this is actually my first time to stay in a hostel. And to be honest, i like it a lot.

The Hostel that im staying is really clean, comfortable and so high-tech. Im not sure how the other hostels do it. But there’s no receptionist here. so when we reached their main door, we just need to key in the password that they have given to us and just proceed to the room that we already booked which can be opened with another password. and Voila, Here’s our room! The room size is okay for 6 people and the aircon was working well, and the bed is just okay. What is lacking is only the power point, they only have three plugs in an awkward place. Dont forget to bring your toiletries cause they only provide a sachet of bathgel and shampoo.

*The Hostel entrance is located between the 2 cafes. Looks small on the outside, but pretty big inside*

– The Journey

We went to Cingjing farm 8.30ish on the next day. The road up there is long and winding and made me quite dizzy to sit at the back of our rented car. But when i saw this amazing view at the side of the road, i suddenly felt so refreshed!  Too pretty to miss out! ❤

– WuLing

Never intend to go to this one of He hua shan mountain peak at the fist place. But because we missed out the first sheep show, our Taiwanese friend brought us here first instead of waiting at the CingJing Farm itself.

The temperature at WuLing suddenly went down when we got down from our car, suddenly it turned very very cold, and unexpectedly snow starting to pour down right after we took this two pictures. Intended to stay longer there to take a walk, but since we never prepared for the snow, we couldnt stand it any longer and rushed back to the car. haha

I guess we were very lucky to experience snow in Taiwan, since it is a very rare occasion, even in winter time.

– CingJing Farm  

Finally, after the crazy yet exciting temperature drop. We got to CingJing Farm. Such a pretty natural – manmade farm. With NTD 200 (SGD 8.5) or NTD 120 (SGD 5)  if you are a student, you can really immerse yourself in the fresh air and pamper your eyes to see the seemingly unending grassland.

I dont have to much to say in this entree. Just enjoy the pictures folks! And oh, i was so very happy to feed the sheep! haha. The have the ‘vending machine’ to purchase the sheep snacks over there for NTD 10 ( SGD 0.5) per pack.

 

10 Must Visit Cafe/Restaurant in Taipei

Besides all the local delights, Taipei has a lot of cafes as well. From small to big, cheap to expensive, chain-cafe to hipster. Name it, they have it. I have stayed for 4 months now in Taipei and tried many cafes/restaurants. And i am gonna share with you my top 10 Must Visit in Taipei.

1.The Good Design Institute

1F No. 22 Lane 48 Wenzhou St.

The interior of this cafe is so gorgeous. It makes you wants to take pictures in all its corners. Somehow it has a little bit of the rustic feeling yet modern.  Aside from the interior, they also acts as a pop-up store for some local designers. My friend said that their coffee is good (i dont drink coffee), and i love their chocolate drink which they put in a glass beaker. They do sell simple food like quiche and desserts too.

2. A Mini Bistro

No. 2, Lane 101, Section 4, Xinhai Rd, Wenshan District, Taipei City, 116

A small pizza restaurant located in one secluded corner of Xinhai Road. This is truly hidden gem for me. Love the warmth feeling that they offer, and I love their buffalo wings and their pizzas. Normally we need to call and book the place first due to the small place.

3.Coffee Alley

http://www.coffee-alley.com/

This chain cafe/restaurant is so famous amongst taiwanese and foreigners. This cafe is always full be it on weekdays or on weekend. Love the chicken toasted pizza and the Strawberry Mile-Feuille. They are famous with their waffles too. Did a longer review on this place before. Do check it out here. 

4. Dazzling Cafe

No. 11, Alley 7, Lane 205, Section 4, Zhongxiao E Rd, Da’an District, Taipei City, 106

This is one of my favorite dessert place. Their dessert reminds me a lot of the honey toast back in En Dining, Jakarta, Indonesia. and guest what, i love their honey toast too! They have top 1-10 desserts that the people normally order, it should make you easier on what to choose from, but apparently it doesnt help me, cause all of their desserts looks so tempting. This place is good for afternoon tea, and they do have good spaghetti and truffle fries too. Heard that they gonna open in Singapore as well. Lets see..

5.Drip Cafe

No. 10, Alley 6, Lane 170, Section 4, Zhongxiao E Rd, Da’an District, Taipei City, 106

Another popular chain-cafe in Taiwan. Rain or shine, this cafe will always be full. Booking is encouraged, but you can always come and try to Q up. Best if you come around 11.30am just when they open. Cronut is their best selling dessert here. Normally its already finished by 3/4pm. =(. So you can try to ask them first if they still have their cronut, rather being disappointed. Their Kimchi spaghetti and the cheese steak sandwich is not bad too.

6. Melange Cafe

104, Taipei City, Zhongshan District, Lane 16, Section 2, Zhongshan N Rd, 23號號

This place is nice for their waffles too. Actually it looks like Coffee Alley’s sister cafe, they have similar menu and ambiance. But nevertheless, it is still a good place to just chill and chat with your loved ones.

7. The Sandrich House

No. 366, Section 2, Fuxing S Rd, Da’an District, Taipei City, 106

Actually this is a sandwich place, not really a cafe nor restaurant. But the offer a very good crunch pork belly sandwich served with ciabatta. They have coffee and tea to go along with too. But if you just want to have a coffee/tea, guess it should not be a problem.

8. Second Floor Cafe

http://www.secondfloorcafe.com/store_a.jsp

Tried this chain-cafe in Gongguan area. Another American style cafe/restaurant. They served a lot of things here, from all day brunch, burger, and pasta. Tried their spicy thai chicken rice, it’s not that bad. But what my friend was having is quite good, and i guess you can try their pasta, cause a lot of people were ordering it when i was there. Ohh, you can bring your pets in too! Recommending this cause they have all range of food that you can choose from.

9. Picnic Cafe

No. 75, Wenzhou St, Da’an District, Taipei City, 106.

Nice quite place nearby Gongguan area as well. They served nice scones for afternoon tea. They have nice ambiance for you to study/work. Many foreigners go here too for their coffee. This place is rather small too, so i guess it’s best not to have the whole group to visit this place.

10. Mia Cucina 

No. 11, Lane 107, Section 1, Fuxing S Rd, Da’an District, Taipei City, 106

This is a food haven if you are vegetarian. Why? Even me who is not a vegetarian loves all the food that they serve. The portion here is rather big, so make sure you bring along your friend/partner to share with. Love their thin mushroom pizzas and mushroom carbonara pasta.

This is the best 10 that i have gone so far, the list may changed later in the future. haha. Do prepare NTD200-400/person for each cafe above, because some of the cafe requires you to order at least one drink for each.

Taipei Must Visit : Hiking Xiang Shan

Who’s up for Hiking? Say Meeee! *Meeee..!*

Well.. Actually hiking is not my thing, really. haha. I prefer zumba or yoga for my workout regime, hunt for some food, catch movies, or just sit for hours and chit-chatting with friends for leisure. But in order to get greater things, sometimes you need to things that you dont really like. Hiking for examples.

Many people said that i need to hike Xiang Shan (Elephant Mountain) when im in Taipei. A place whereby you can do some exercise to burn those night-market snacks’s calories, breath some fresh air that the nature offers and see the beauty of Taipei’s from above.  Since the sun was shining so brightly and the weather was not that cold anymore now. I quickly asked some friends to accompany me to go up there.

Xiang Shan has one of the easiest hiking trail in Taipei compared to other mountains.  They built stairs for us to climb up. Which makes it more tiring in my opinion. haha. But rest assured, cause they have some pit stop for us to rest.

Me and my friends went up by 11am, and stopped 4-5 times to catch our breath. Well, my breath to be exact. My two friends apparently are so fit, they did not seem they need some rest. haha..

After about 45 minutes of hiking (including rest time),  finally we got to the top!

In order to take pictures in this spot, you have to Q up. and apparently it’s not that easy to take this pictures. Cause firstly, we need to climb up one huge stone, and one of my friend need to climb up the other stone to take this pictures. haha.

All in all, it was a great experience, and i lovee the sceneries up there, especially when i was standing on the stone (eventho it’s a bit scary up there, and was so afraid that i might fall down. haha). It is indeed a must visit place if you have more time in Taipei. I would love to come back here during night time, the city lights surely will it picturesque.

Actually This Elephant Mountain trail doesnt stop here, you can continue all the way to Nangang, the eastern part of Taipei for 3 more hours.

How to reach Xiang Shan Hiking Trail :

Take MRT to Xiang Shan Station (Red Line), take EXIT 2, follow the road – walk alongside till the end of the park, take left, and follow the road until you saw the entrance of the Xiang Shang Hiking Trail.

Taipei Must Visit : Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall

In memorial of one of the greatest leader in Taiwan,  one vast memorial hall has been built in the heart of Taipei. Chiang Kai Shek played a significant role which makes Taiwan as it is now, even though he is not the founding father.

Chiang Kai Shek is the successor of Sun Yat Sen from the Kuo Min Tang Party. He was the president of Republic of China in 1928. History said that he was one of the best to replace Sun Yat Sen. But few years later, Japan entered China in 1931 and took over the capital city, Nanjing/Nanking. Chiang could not do much that time. After Japan knocked out by US, civil war occurred in China, and it drove Chiang Kai Shek away to Taiwan because he could not battle the communism, and let Mao Ze Dong lead ROC right after that in 1946.

Chiang then lived in Taiwan since then, and died in 1975 because of kidney failure.

 

To visit Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, you can take the MRT directly to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall station.

This memorial hall was open in 1980. All the colours in this memorial hall is using red and blue and white accents, represent the Taiwan flag itself.

The middle octagon building represents the 8 sides of chinese culture that associate with fortune and health, whereby they had two sets of 89 steps which represents Chiang’s age when he died.

When you entered the main hall, you can see the bronze statue of Chiang Kai Shek, and they embossed three characteristics on the wall that represent Ethics, Democracy and Science. You can also see the changing of the guards every hour from 9-5pm, and of course you can take a look at their museum too that exhibits a lot of things from Chiang’s history until painting and other exhibitions from 9-6.30pm. Enjoy the rest of the pictures. ❤

*All pictures taken by SONY NEX C-3

#Random : Biaya Hidup Sekolah Bahasa di Taipei

Halo semua, udah lama ga nge-blog gara2 libur chinese new year. hehe. Minggu depan gw bakalan mulai semester baru nih di NTU (National Taiwan University) atau orang biasanya sebut ‘Tai Da’.

Pengen share aja soal uang sekolah bahasa di Taipei,Taiwan, since beberapa orang juga sempet nanyain tentang ini.

Well, sebenernya sih kalo lu buka website NTU sendiri, bakal terpapar nyata *ala syahrini* soal uang sekolah mereka. Nah, mungkin yang gw share disini lebih ke soal biaya hidup di Taipei.nya sendiri kali yah sebagai student. Hehe.

Gw udah compare2 beberapa sekolah untuk gw belajar bahasa mandarin.

Yang pertama adalah Singapore sendiri, kota yang nyaman tapi mahal dimana gw menghabiskan 8 tahun gw disana. Gw cek beberapa skolah bahasa yg lumayan ternama seperti Inlingua, NUS (chinese language division), dan Spring College International.

Singapore biasanya ga memaparkan biaya secara concrete di website elo harus email/telpon mereka atau datang sendiri ke sekolahnya. Dan ketika elo bertanya, elo harus pastiin lagi apakah biaya itu sudah termasuk GST (pajaknya singapore) dan student pass (kalo elo ga punya Permanent Resident) disana.

Di bawah ini adalah rincian harga salah satu sekolah bahasa Singapore yg gw sebut di atas selama 6 bulan :

Items	3 months Course	6 months Course	Remark
Application Fee	$513.60 (For those who need student’s pass)	$513.60 (For those who need student’s pass)	Non-refundable
	$107 (For those who do not need student’s pass)	$107 (For those who do not need student’s pass)
Course Fee	$3531.00	$6099.00
Material Fee	$278.20	$535.00
Examination Fee	$107	$214.00
FPS Admin Fee	$160.50	$160.50
Medical Insurance Fee	$107.00	$107.00
Certificate Producing Fee	$21.40	$21.40
Total	$4718.70 (inclusive of GST)	$7650.50 (inclusive of GST)

Well, karena kebetulan gw ga perlu bayar rent di Singapore. Jadi gw bisa irit di bagian itu, tapi kalo ada yg minat buat sekolah di singapore, harga Rent 1 kamar + listrik dan air itu kurang lebih ranging dari harga SGD 700-1400 (tergantung type rumah dan daerah). Untuk Uang Jajan, kalo gw sendiri biaya Makan + Transport + Nonton Movie + Ngafe cantik + Belanja bisa ranging dari SGD 1000-1200 (tergantung lifestyle of course).

Jadi kalo di hitung2, biaya gw hidup di Singapore selama 6 bulan sekolah bahasa adalah

• 6 months school Fee = SGD 7650
• Uang Makan dll – SGD 1000 x 6 = SGD 6000

Total SGD 13,650 (kurang lebih Rp 130 juta)

Oke, sekarang kita liat table uang sekolah di Taipei.

Dan ini adalah biaya kurang lebih hidup gw di Taipei selama 6 bulan:

Visa Student	1,300,000	*seharusnya hanya Rp 650,000. Tapi karena aku pulang liburan ke Jakarta, jadi aku harus bikin lagi visa yang baru (agak complicated memang soal visa Taiwan)
Tiket Pesawat PP Jakarta-Taipei	8,400,000	*first trip
Tiket Pesawat PP Jakarta-Taipei	8,300,000	*second trip (open ticket)
Winter course	11,800,000	*NTD 29,100
Spring course	14,200,000	*NTD 35,000
Material Course	810,000	4 books for winter and spring course *NTD 2000
AirBnb (Nov2015-Feb2016)	11,000,000	*NTD 27,000 (wrong decision – this is too expensive for 3 months winter course stay because its AirBnb)
Apartment (March-May2016)	7,800,000	*NTD 19,500 (my new house for the next 3 months)
Living Cost (6 bulan)	29,000,000	*NTD 72,000 (kurang lebih aku hidup disana menghabiskan NTD 10-12,000 / bulan untuk makan, transport, ngafe, movie dan jalan2)
Total	92,610,000	*Rupiah – dan semua harga di table ini adalah pembulatan ke atas setelah di convert

Kalo kalian pengen bngt belajar bahasa dngn cara lebih irit di Taipei, kalian bisa apply scholarship ke NTU ini. Dan karena gw bolak balik jakarta pas 6 bulan ini, jadinya gw harus spent more on air ticket dan visa. kalo nggak bisa lebih murah lagi.. =( NTU ini adalah salah satu sekolah termahal untuk sekolah bahasanya, tapi menurut gw lumayan worth it karena satu kelas cuman 5-7 orng aja. Dan kalau elo mau belajar di kota yg lebih kecil seperti Taichung atau Tainan dan Kao Hsiung, di jamin living cost elo lebih murah lagi di Taiwan, di tambah lagi mereka ada system bus yg ga perlu bayar kalo elo travel les than 5km.

Gw juga udah check sekolah di Guangzhou, China lewat agent sekolah bahasa gitu, Kurang lebih Rp 30,000,000 selama 4 bulan (1 semester) belum termasuk harga tiket pesawat, pembuatan visa, dan medical check up. Of course kalo ke Shanghai dan Beijing lebih mahal dr Guangzhou. Dan untuk biaya hidup di China, maaf saya kurang tau soal ini.. hoho.. Dan untuk kelas regular, biasanya di China itu akan nampung 10-20 orang per kelasnya.

Salah satu dari banyak alasan kenapa gw ke Taipei adalah biaya hidupnya si, jauh lebih murah di banding Singapore, and you get to experience new environment that can help you in speaking chinese juga. hehe.

Semoga rincian yang seadanya ini membantu ya buat temen2 yang lagi consider buat belajar bahasa.. tapi tentunya semua balik ke masing2 orang ya soal lifestyle.. dan harga yg gw paparkan ini hanyalah sekolah bahasa yg regular saja, kalau intensif atau private tentunya akan beda lagi harganya.. hehe..

 

 

Famous Taiwanese Breakfast : Fu Hang Dou Jiang (VLOG)

If you google on what to eat for breakfast in Taipei city, Fu Hang Dou Jiang will definitely be one of the top list. Located quite at the heart of the city, each day this place draws hundreds of customers who craves for local authentic breakfast. They diligently open their stalls that is located at second floor of Hua Shan Market. Everyday (except Monday), they will open their business at 5.30am, and you can find that people are already lining up by then. Since this breakfast place is so famous and people said it’s a must try breakfast when you come to Taipei, so me and my brother went to try how good it tastes like.

Reached the place about 10.45am, and saw a long line up. Luckily the line went quite fast that day and we only took 15 minutes to Queue.. *Rumour said that sometimes you need to line up for 45 minutes* When it is about your turn, i suggest you to make up your mind first, cause there’s no much time for you to read the menu one by one, since they are very fast in taking and serving your order, and they want the Q to keep moving.

So, this was what we ordered:

Cold SoyMilk

My favourite all time drink! They have both the sweetened/salty and hot/cold soymilk. Since i dont have much time to think and afraid that i may not like the salty ones. so i just go ahead with the normal cold soymilk. When they asked me to eat here or to take away. i said to eat here, and suddenly they served me a bowl of soyamilk, i thought i ordered wrongly, but they said it’s the soyamilk that i was ordering.. Well.. after that we decided to order one more soyamilk cause my brother wanted to have one as well, and you know what did i received.. It was a cup of soymilk. Really not sure on how it works.

Anyway, the soyamilk is gooodd.. And i think there’s no awful soyamilk in Taipei. All soyamilk taste good for me. haha.

You Tiao (Cakwe / Fried Cruller)

My Favorite snack of all time! I can just eat this everyday for my breakfast. Too bad it’s not good for your health since it’s deep fried and tend to be oily/ greasy sometimes. This is very well paired with Soyamik!

You Tiao here is very different. I guess this is my very first time to eat super crunchy cakwe that cant be teared into two. It’s so crunchy that it feels like eating some crackers. Nevertheless this popular Taiwanese dish still taste good for me.

There’s another way to eat your You Tiao, which i just discovered as well. Just crack it into two and dip it to the cold / hot soymilk that you order. it will give you a whole different taste! I cant really describe on how it taste like, but as for me i felt that somehow it enhances the soymilk taste. Give it a try. =)

Hou Shao Bing (Thick Shao Bing) 

It’s a thick fluffy yet dry bread filled with omelette egg (egg is optional). The bread itself is already good and crunchy with a little bit of sweetness in it, but it may overpower the egg a little bit. This bread is savoury and one of their best selling item.

Bao Shao Bing (Thin Shao Bing)

It’s exactly the same with the hou shou bing with a thinner bread that taste less sweet. I personally like the thin one better, cause you can simply taste their savoury egg better. *And i dont know why outside omelette is just better than homemade ones*haha. Well, but i guess the thick bread will be more filling if you are looking for something to satisfy your tummy.

Fu Hang Dou Jiang
Hua Shan Market, 2F. No. 108, Zhongxiao East Rd., Sec. 1
Zhongzheng District, Taipei, Taiwan

(Exit 5 Shandao Temple, and Hua Shan Market is already on your right side)

Tried to make another VLOG (in Bahasa Indonesia) about this, and i discovered that my food vocabulary need to be expanded. Cant really describe the taste well when i record myself, i realized that i need to ponder first on how it taste to write it down. =( Bravo to the food blogger who can get the word on point when they made their VLOGs. =) Anyway, Enjoy my VLOG! ❤