I'm a Finalist in Singapore Blog Awards 2012 - Best Travel Blog category!

And this is what I have to say about the E-interview!

SBA2012> How do you feel about being one of finalists in Singapore Blog Awards 2012?
Cloudywind> Wow, really? Got so many travel blogs lying around and I still can squeeze into the final 10? I can only feel very lucky!

SBA2012> When did you start blogging and what drew you to it? Where do you get inspiration for your blog content?
Cloudywind> Wah... don't remember when I started liao lah, so last century ago! But I started blogging about my trips for these few reasons. First, I want to be haolian and showcase my nice (at least I think they are nice lah~) photos! Second, because my memory not good, so need to record my trips somewhere. Third and lastly, I read a lot of other people's blogs before I go travel, so after my trip it's my turn to contribute back right?

SBA2012> How do you feel about the other Finalists in your category this year? How do you think you will fare compared to them?
Cloudywind> Eeee! Sneaky question! But seriously I saw some with better photos and stories than me lah, so frankly, I don't think I will win lah!

SBA2012> Give a reason why readers should visit your blog and vote for you?

Cloudywind> Because if you want to know a particular place is worth visiting from the view of a Singaporean instead of some ATAS or high society ang mor editors on popular travel books, and even more importantly, because you want to know where to find the best food in these places!

White-chan in Taiwan - Jioufen 九份 is overcrowded with tourists!

九份 is supposed to be romantic. That is why Tony Leung went all the way up the mountain to shoot the movie 悲情城市. But now, 九份 is flooded with too many tourists to be romantic. My Taiwanese friend was suggesting that we should stay a night in 九份 and wake up to see the sunrise. That is the time when 九份 is most romantic and beautiful, and no tourist to try to pose for picture in your view. That can be a plan, cause 九份 shouldn't be remembered as a noisy touristy place.



And we had to be there during a weekend... But still, there are some quiet places in 九份 hidden away from the tourists. You just have to keep walking into the 老街, all the way to where you see the mountains, then walk down the stairs. That is where you see how 九份 is supposed to be like.














Of course 九份 is more than just a romantic town in the mountain. It is also famous for popular local food like 鱼圆, 芋圆, 草仔粿, 红糟肉圆 etc... There are so many stores selling these food but you can definitely tell which is the store to go to by looking at the queue!



White-chan is not a fish ball person, but these fish balls are really good! They are Q but not too hard at the same time, and you can taste the freshness of the fish! The 福州鱼圆 was White-chan's favourite, with generous filling of fresh meat in the chewy fish ball!



The other must-eat here is the 芋圆. They are Q (yes, everything in 九份 is Q...) and tasty! You can taste the green tea in the green tea flavour one, sesame in the sesame flavour one, sweet potato in the sweet potato flavour one... you get what I mean!



When we were at 九份 previously, it was Winter time, so we had the hot 姜母茶芋圆. This time it's summer, so we had the ice syrup version. But we still prefer the hot 姜母茶芋圆!







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White-chan in Taiwan - Digging for gold at Jinguashih 金瓜石

To go to 金瓜石 and 九份, you have to take a train to 瑞芳 station, then take a bus. But please note that the bus stop just outside the 瑞芳 train station is for buses coming down from 金瓜石, the actual bus stop to go up is at the police station which is a couple of blocks left of the station, across the road!



金瓜石 used to be a gold mining town, so you can imagine how prosperous it used to be! Now there is no more gold to be mined and the town has been developed into a tourist area. Which means... expect lots of tourists!



The major attraction at 金瓜石 is the 本山五坑 tunnel. This is a short tunnel that used to be part of the series of tunnels built in the gold mines. It is rebuilt and wax figures are placed inside to explain how gold mining used to be like. With audio explanation at each station, illustrating each process in gold mining, this is quite an educational tour!

Besides 本山五坑 and its museum that contains the world's biggest piece of gold, there are a couple of other attractions at 金瓜石, most of them are old buildings left by the Japanese, like the living quarters of the Japanese officers, and even the house for the Crown Prince when he visited!



And then there is this 黄金神社 which is way up on a hill. After climbing hmm... some... staircases, you will see a few 鸟居 and a few pillars... yes, that is what's left of the once majestic 黄金神社... but hey, at least the view from up there looks good!

White-chan in Taiwan - You have to love these street foods from Wanhua Night Market 華西街 and 廣州街

You know, the best time to go to 龍山寺 is in the evening. Haha... not because the crowd is lesser during that time, because 龍山寺 is always super crowded with local and tourists. It is because if you go in the evening, you can go to the nearby night market for your dinner! And you can find lots of good food there simply because most of these shops are older than you or me!

豐原排骨酥麵

I heard that this famous 排骨酥麵 is from Tainan and when it first started out in Taipei, the crowd was overwhelming! And I can understand why, because it was really that good lor! Apparently they fried the pork ribs till it is crispy, then steam it in 高汤, then when you order they cook the noodles separately and pour the pork ribs in 高汤 into the noodles! That's why the pork ribs are so fragrant, the radish so sweet and the soup so thick and tasty lah! If you ask me, NT70(SGD3.20) is not expensive at all!



北港甜湯

We were so lucky. Really. If the 魯肉飯 store that we wanted to eat at was not closed for the day, we would have lost the last piece of 麻糬 in Ah Mah's pot. The NT35(SGD1.60) 燒麻糬 is supposed to consist of 2 big 麻糬, but when we reached the shop, Ah Mah found only one piece left in the pot, and she had to replace the missing one with lots of little 麻糬. So when the customer immediately after us ordered 燒麻糬, she had to tell him it was sold out for the day! Heng ah! Ah Mah's 麻糬 is so Q you can pull it like 30cm away from your mouth, and together with the crushed peanut, double confirm you'll never go back to those Singapore pasar malam 麻糬! White-chan will literally bite if anyone try to snatch away that last piece of 麻糬 lor!

Besides 麻糬, the other must-have dessert has to be the 芋頭湯. The yam cubes just melt in your mouth and the soup was so super thick and fragrant! Urghhhh... why are there no 芋頭湯 in Singapore?!?





蚵仔煎

We saw this 蚵仔煎 at the end of 廣州街 that was super crowded and looking at the generous number of oysters the towkay put into the omelet, we knew we had to have it. It was actually the best 蚵仔煎 we had so far! Even more impressive than the one we had at 鹿港 previously! The omelet was crispy, the oysters big and fat, and the sauce was just nice, not too sweet or overwhelming! Can forget about those fried oyster omelet in Singapore liao lah!





寶字號香菇豬腳

Yes we know we're not doing the 豬腳 justice by tapao'ing back instead of having it hot on the spot. But we were already very full liao leh... But guess what, even when it is cold, this 豬腳 is still nice! The mushroom taste is still strong and fragrant, and the 豬腳 skin and meat is chewy but not too hard. Yes at NT50(SGD2.30) for this small box it doesn't seem cheap, but I'm sure if we had it on the spot with a bowl of rice we would have gone to heaven!

White-chan in Taiwan - Beautiful Calla Lilies on 陽明山

My Taiwanese friends were so concerned when they learned that we were planning to go up to 陽明山. "But you don't have a car, how do you go up the mountain?" they asked. But hey, it's actually not that difficult using the public transport lah! This is all you need to do: Take MRT to 北投 station, then take minibus 小九. That's it! Easy right? The only thing is that the bus is running on a 40mins interval (you think got so many people going up the mountain meh?), so if suay suay miss one, then have to walk around the station lor!

The journey up the mountain is not very long, and the best part is that the minibus stops right at the main attraction - 竹子湖! Cool!

NOTE: My dear old Canon 400D died on me after I was caught in the heavy rain back from Kaohsiung, so all these Calla lilies photos are taken using my new Panasonic G3 instead. And boy am I impressed with what this micro four-thirds can do!

Even thought it is already the end of the Calla lilies season, the scenery at 陽明山 is really beautiful. There are also private plantations on the mountain that you could visit if you dine at a minimum amount at their restaurants. But let me tell you this, their minimum amount is redundant if you are having lunch there lor! The meal ended up about SGD20 per person leh! It is really not cheap, but what to do? This is a tourist attraction after all! But ok lah, at least the wild vegetables are fresh, the 3-cups chicken is tasty and the sweet potato soup is to die for!