Where the river meets the ocean,Danshui,
outskirts of Taipei City
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Being big kids again... Formosa Water Park, Bali
This week saw Sim and I figure that we've worked extremely hard over the past few months. In fact, we've found ourselves pretty drained lately, of the ardous, adult (ha!) seriousness that we've had to undertake in order to work in the industry that we do.
To buck the trend, we decided that it was time to reclaim our kid-like selves and have some serious, long overdue, reckless, child-like, unadulterated... fun. And that we did, taking the day off work - reclaiming our long-lost weekends! - as we headed out to Bali, a small fishing county, north of Taipei City.
There we found the 'Formosa Water Fun Park', Taiwan's equivalent of Wet 'n' Wild.Ohh, so much fun... Riding our bums down some seriously awesome water slides, squealing all the while! 12 hectares of water action! (We took a good 5 mins of movie footage...)
With the weather overcast and rainy, we found ourselves among only a small group of a few solitary other slide-lovers; which was an absolute blessing, no queues, no kids... Just us. Ingenious.
Today we'd planned to do some hiking out on the outskirts of Taipei City (up in Yang Min Mountain), however, we found ourselves a little too tired and way too sore to consider any hugely exerting activities. Instead we're saving that for tomorrow, this being the long weekend of Mid-Autumn Festival in Taiwan.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Din Tai Fong and Ice Monster, lazy September Sundays
Last night we were so fortunate to be introduced to one of Taiwan's most famous restaurants - Din Tai Fong - by some of our lovely Taiwanese friends. As you can see, there was an intimidating line-up, most of whom were Japanese tourists and locals. After a short wait, we were ushered inside..
... past the throng of chefs, all handmaking the dumplings for which Din Tai Fong is famous.
What can I say? The food was utterly delicious, and the vegetarian selection was fantastic. We tried a range of dumplings, from fish, shrimp and mushroom (for me!). We also tried an amazing soy-bean curd dish, with leafy vegetables and a fantastic special fried rice (the best I've ever had.) Finally, we finished off with some red bean dumplings, also hand-made and delectable. In fact, we dipped the dumplings (which were quite sweet) into soy sauce, as the saltiness is said to enhance the sweetness. Delicious!
From there, with full bellies and big smiles, we went around the corner from the restaurant to a local tourist market, which was filled with people - all strolling about during the cool evening. We then went to one of the most famous bing guan (ice stores) in Taiwan, called "Ice Monster". Though we had to line up, soon we were able to enjoy huuuuge, utterly amazing plates of shaved ice covered in fresh chunks of kiwi fruit, strawberries, mango and mango sorbet. Amazing! I don't know how it hasn't taken off in Australia, honestly... :)
All in all, a great night had by all. There's nothing quite like being shown around by our local friends! We'll be having them over for a big Australian Sunday lunch this weekend... What a lovely way to start the working week.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
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