#easycard

[fathianasrartscrap]

#simple carte en papier origami #videosshorts #Origami #easycard #pliage...

[teook]

[kraftyenchantments]

Lovely BetterPress Florals

Hi everyone! Hope you’re having a wonderful day!  I am back with another card today as I am on a bit of a creative roll this week it seems. Today, I am sharing my first card using the new Spellbinders BetterPress System. Below is a picture of what comes in the box from the Spellbinders website. I will be completely honest here, I actually expected to have a bit of a learning curve with this new…

[ninen21]

[ellsieee]

Sheng Wang really did carry around the personalized EasyCard Jiang Tian gave him for good luck. 🥹

*screams* The kiss! 🫠

Everything is fine as long as "Jiang Tian" is with him. 🥹

Jiang Tian asked Sheng Wang if he was being dramatic back then. He was not.

[thistransient]

Hello! I love your photos ^^ Any tips for someone visiting Taiwan (first time travelling in East Asia) in late October/early November? I was inspired by your hiking photos the other day, I love hiking but I'm a newbie... Thank you, have a lovely weekend!

Thank you, hello to you as well! Re: hiking, the popular trails around Taipei at least are pretty clear, well-maintained, and accessible by public transport, there are a lot of beautiful views that don't require too much exertion (in November if you're lucky it might even be cool enough not to sweat half to death!). Definitely try to go to Yangmingshan, as it should be silver grass season around then, very scenic.

I'm not sure if where you're coming from is more or less a) developed and b) tropical than Taiwan, and whether you plan on renting a vehicle or not, but some general advice:

If these are not the kind of tips you were thinking of and you want to divulge more specific interests, I can give more fine-tuned recs! Hmm maybe I should just make a list of underrated places around Taipei...

- the Easycard (悠游卡) is really useful, you can get it at any convenience store (last I know it was 100元) and use it in all cities for the bus/metro/non-reserved trains/bike rental/payment at convenience stores + some other shops. A lot of establishments are still cash-only though, so it's good to have enough of that (Cathay United ATMs don't seem to charge fees)

- I always bring an umbrella, if it's not raining then it's too sunny, and even if it's perfect weather you can shake it angrily at scooters that almost run you over (kidding...kinda...)

- Be very careful crossing the road, especially in the crosswalk when you have right of way, people love to run red lights, and bus drivers hitting people keeps making the news

- Personally I love the Youbike system (I think you need to register your Easycard to a phone number but the app makes it pretty easy), Taipei has a great bike trail system along the riversides (or you can just walk if you're not a bike person), I've also used them in Kaohsiung and Tainan

- It's a subject of debate as to whether you should drink the tap water, in theory it should be fine but most people boil or filter it just in case (or for flavour I guess?). Sometimes if I'm lazy and thirsty I just drink it, tastes tolerable and nothing averse has happened yet! Most metro stations have a free water bottle refill station though, I see them in parks sometimes too.

- Whether or not you can flush toilet paper is also up for debate. Often there will be a sign (with varying degrees of humour and/or threats) somewhere indicating where it should or should not go, as the pipes in some old buildings cannot handle it, but newer ones can.

- You can get into the metro stations and use the bathroom for free if you ask the station agent for a token (which is good for 10 minutes or so), this also works if you come out the wrong exit and want to go back through. Most bigger parks also have bathroom facilities, which are generally clean.

- My go-to 24-hour restaurants are Sukiya (���き家) and Yon Ho (永和豆漿), 7-11 is also a place of many wonders (print/scan/copy/pick up train tickets/receive mail/hang out and have a drink, the onigiri are a great snack and the pre-made meals are actually not bad)

[austin-in-taiwan]

June 28 - Tai Tung -> Kaohsiung - Travel + Mikan Cat

Today, we all met downstairs at 9 AM to travel to our next city, Kaohsiung (高雄). Kaohsiung is one of Taiwan's biggest cities and Professor Yeh Laoshi's hometown. Yeh Laoshi and Peter explained that the people here are more hospitable than the locals in Taipei, so I am excited to explore and meet the locals! When we arrived, we had one main stop today before the hotel. This was to see Mikan, the famous ginger cat, who is an honorary' station master' for the metro in Kaohsiung. The cat was adorable, and the employee even took the cat out to take a picture with our group and the UF flag! After visiting the cat, we walked around the area for food. I got some spicy pork bao buns, which were absolutely delicious, especially because I was hungry after missing breakfast. Afterward, we went to another station to charge our EasyCards with money to use for the metro for our stay here in Kaohsiung and then checked into the hotel!

[seirclys]

VADD Traditional Chinese Novels!

GUESS WHO GOT THE VADD NOVELS TODAY

(yes ik it looks weird the volumes are standing up but I flipped the image SHHH)

I bought all of them when I got off my summer job today and wandered for 4 hours in the biggest bookstore in my country <3 my feet hurt but WORTH IT.

I saw a lot of danmei, Webtoons, and manhwa on the shelves! For example, TGCF, MDZS, ORV, Lore Olympus, etc.

Sadly Penelope is on NONE OF THE COVERS, I'M SO SAD. The set I bought was the Traditional Chinese version licensed by ChilinBooks in Taiwan. Each book drop had a raffle with two winners each. In addition, each book comes with a photocard and a transparent card. I'll also mention the unique quotes at the bottom of the paper sleeve!

The prizes are linked; scroll all the way down on their pages!

Book 1: Derrick Eckhart

The prizes were copies of the first book!

"I transmigrated as the villainess of this video game, no matter what I have to have an ending where I don't die!"

"But then... why is the affection rising?"

Book 2: Reynold Eckhart

The prizes were public transport cards/Easycards with Reynold on them! They're actually pretty common merch here and companies do a lot of collaborations. For example, you could pick up anime Easycards at places like 7-Eleven. It acts like a debit card as well, and you'd top it up by giving cashiers cash or at machines.

Fun fact: The prize name is called "Tsundere Young Master Leisure Card."

"Let's become the queen of the hunting competition!"

"It's a new episode, but to live, I need to accept the challenges...?"

Book 3: Winter Verdandi

The prizes were clear mugs with Winter's face on them! On the other side was his Rabbit Mask(no new art, just the mask cut from the cover).

"The long-planned suspicion and test have put her in danger again."

"The deadline for clearing the level is becoming near, but there's a sudden big obstacle?!"

Book 4: Eckles

The prizes were small portable square mirrors that you could flip closed!

They were called "Lonely Knight Portable Square Mirrors."

"The real daughter who returned early, and the hearts bewitched by magic."

"This important coming-of-age ceremony... could it be held smoothly?"

Book 5: Callisto Regulus

The prizes are signed acrylics of his art! As of writing this post, the raffle has technically ended but the winners have not been chosen yet! I missed it... BY A DAY. AND I RETWEETED THE WRONG TWEET IM SO SAD. You can see me wailing on Twitter as well(don't stalk pls, my Twitter is technically separate from my Tumblr.)

"Just let me be by your side."

"This is the only heartbeat she feels, how will she choose in the end?"

[jacksulkes]

July 28 - Going to Kaohsiung

This morning, we got up and left Taitung on our bus for Kaohsiung. The drive was around mountains, and we saw the Philippine Sea on the east coast and then the South China Sea on the west coast. We took a couple stops to use the restroom and buy stuff from convenience stores on the way to Kaohsiung. Our first stop in Kaohsiung was at the Ciaotou Sugar Refinery train station to see the cat mascot. There was a cat behind the counter of the train ticketing booth. He holds the title of the station master and has lots of merchandising. I got lunch at a steamed bun place nearby the station. I got a pork, brown sugar pork, and scallion bun. The buns were pretty good. There was a parade of people carrying around the statues of the temple deities. They were playing drums too. I walked around the area more because they had sort of a farmer’s market and small shops. They also had an outdoor karaoke setup. We drove to the high-speed rail station in Kaohsiung after that to see the cat’s merchandise shop and to add funds to our EasyCards for the Kaohsiung subway. Then, we hopped back on the bus and went to check into our hotel in Kaohsiung. This hotel is the nicest of all the hotels we have stayed at. We walked to dinner from our hotel. We had to cross a bridge to get there, and I liked the view of the river. We ended up at a sushi restaurant, and I got a nigiri platter with tuna, salmon, shrimp, scallop, squid, and some other fish. I had never had raw shrimp, raw scallop, or raw squid before. It was delicious. I also got uni (sea urchin roe) and miso soup. I had never had uni before, and it was very good. After dinner, we went back to the hotel to freshen up, and then we went out. We first went to a small bar that had music videos playing on a TV. They had Taiwan Beer among other things. Then, we walked over to another bridge that was pretty at night. It had an interesting white design. Right near the bridge was another bar that we went to. This one was nicer, and they sat us down at a table with no seats. It had floor cushions and low tables, so we had to sit on the floor. They had good cocktails, but this bar was much more expensive than the first one.

[theo-decker]

My ultramacho tech bro friend had the bright idea to ditch carrying a wallet and now just has his phone and a cardholder. I reminded him we are in a cash based economy and he did not heed me. I've had to pay for everything everywhere we go .. he's like I'm so sorry.... I was sure they would accept easycard... I'm like don't you worry about it babygirl.

[siodium]

welcome to the second part of my taiwan haul ✨ i bought most of the stuff here from jiufen.

acrylic food magnets - super cute aaa!! already using them to pin up prints on my magnetic whiteboard.

hamburger design bbt/drink holder - actually super nice and functional?? i regret not getting more... i feel like it'd be a nice gift for ppl.

taiwanese pastries clip-on earrings - looks like a 豆沙饼 and a hot cross bun?? there were more elegant designs for sale and i was tempted but in the end i settled for a food motif. yum yum.

kanahei usagi pouch - used it immediately as a wallet/coin purse!!

kanahei piske plush pouch - uwaaa i got it so i could hang it as a keychain but the keychain part started rusting and it was too tight to remove so i cut it off... not sure what i can use it for now but it's cute.

gudetama easycard charm - sg pls step up your ezlink charm game

kanahei's small animals decorative paper - they were planted on my breads so i kept them~

alcohol bottle cap - we tried taiwanese beer one night and i decided to keep one for memories.

kanahei's small animals cooler bag - i spent 160 twd on breads to buy the bag at 99 twd instead of the usual 199 twd. no regrets. gonna use it to store my yoghurt lunch when i'm feeling a lil poor on work days.

jioufen teahouse freebies - got a cool postcard!! the owner of the teahouse painted the art on it.

not pictured but i checked out the pokecen before i left for home and i bought a...... $40..... mareep duster......... do not ask questions

[visamaytravel]

Bỏ túi kinh nghiệm du lịch Đài Loan cho người mới chi tiết

Đôi nét về du lịch Đài Loan Đài Loan là điểm đến du lịch dễ khám phá, với giao thông công cộng hiện đại, ẩm thực đường phố phong phú, và người dân thân thiện.

Thời điểm lý tưởng để du lịch Đài Loan Mỗi mùa ở Đài Loan có nét đẹp riêng, nhưng mùa thu (tháng 9-11) với thời tiết dễ chịu và cảnh sắc lá phong đỏ là thời điểm lý tưởng để du lịch.

Vé máy bay Tổng hợp giá vé ước lượng từ các hãng hàng không Việt Nam đến Đài Loan, với thời gian bay khoảng 3 giờ 30 phút.

Cách di chuyển tại trung tâm Đài Loan Các phương tiện di chuyển phổ biến gồm tàu cao tốc MRT, xe buýt, tàu hỏa, và tàu điện ngầm, với thẻ EasyCard hỗ trợ thanh toán tiện lợi.

Tiện ích du lịch cần thiết Kết nối internet thông qua sim 4G hoặc thiết bị wifi di động là cần thiết, cùng với việc sử dụng thẻ EasyCard để thanh toán khi di chuyển.

Chuẩn bị visa Đài Loan Hồ sơ xin visa tùy thuộc vào từng đối tượng, như người lao động, chủ doanh nghiệp, và người đã nghỉ hưu, với dịch vụ visa trọn gói giúp tiết kiệm thời gian.

Các địa điểm lưu trú nổi tiếng tại Đài Loan Đài Loan có đa dạng lựa chọn lưu trú từ khách sạn sang trọng đến nhà nghỉ bình dân, phù hợp với ngân sách và sở thích của du khách.

Ẩm thực đặc sắc Đài Loan Đài Loan nổi tiếng với các món ăn đặc trưng như tiểu long bao, mì bò, trứng gà luộc trà, bánh dứa, đậu phụ thối, và trà sữa trân châu.

Một số địa điểm nhất định phải đến khi du lịch Đài Loan Các điểm tham quan nổi tiếng gồm Taipei 101, núi A Lý Sơn, đền thờ Khổng Tử Đài Nam, và các khu chợ đêm sầm uất.

Các lưu ý khi đến du lịch Đài Loan Một số lưu ý quan trọng bao gồm văn hóa ứng xử, tiền tệ và thanh toán, hệ thống giao thông, thời tiết, và ngôn ngữ.

Tham khảo thêm: Bỏ túi kinh nghiệm du lịch Đài Loan cho người mới chi tiết

[mauriceodyssee]

12.04.2024

So viel Lauferei.

Ich war zu Beginn des Tages erstmal betrübt, denn eigentlich wollte ich schon längst auf dem Fahrrad sitzen. Stattdessen fuhr ich mit der Bahn los und entschied während der Fahrt, von einer Station über einen Berg zur anderen zu laufen. Der Weg, der auf den Karten eingezeichnet war, war jedoch kein wirklicher Weg mehr. Also lief ich wieder zurück zur Station und setzte meine Fahrt mit der Bahn fort.

Unterwegs entdeckte ich einen, wie ich sagen würde, nicht so bekannten Tempel und hielt dort an. Der Tempel entpuppte sich als wahre Schönheit mit einem sehr verwinkelten Garten und Steinwegen durch den Wald. An diesem Punkt war ich wieder glücklich.

Nach dem Tempelbesuch wollte ich nur noch über einen Steg durch einen Mangrovenwald oder -busch – wie auch immer man das nennt – und dann mit der Bahn wieder ins Hostel. Als ich den Pfad entlanglief, stellte ich am Ende des Weges fest, dass ich den ganzen Weg zurücklaufen müsste oder noch 5 Kilometer weiter bis zur nächsten Station. Ich nahm dann einfach einen Bus, bei dem man auch mit der „EasyCard“ oder auch „TPASS“ (ich denke, das T steht für Taiwan) bezahlen kann. Man hält dazu einfach die Karte beim Ein- und Aussteigen an ein Lesegerät. Die Karte kann man theoretisch wie eine Debitkarte nutzen; man kann an vielen Orten damit zahlen.

Als ich an der Endstation ankam, von der aus ich zurückkehren wollte, erblickte ich eine „Old Street“. Diese Bezeichnung für einen Straßenzug habe ich in jeder taiwanesischen Stadt bisher gelesen; ich weiß nicht, ob das wie bei uns „Altstadt“ bedeutet, aber diese Straßen waren einfach aufgebaut wie Märkte mit Musik, Essen und Trinken.

Eine dieser Straßen ging an der „Hafenpromenade“ entlang – kein richtiger Hafen, aber ich weiß nicht, wie ich es sonst nennen sollte. Nach dem Markt ging ich dann noch zu einem Nachtmarkt in der Nähe meines Hostels, meine Füße waren allerdings schon wieder müde; ich lief seit 8 Stunden fast ununterbrochen.

Morgen sollte ich vielleicht mal einen halben Tag Pause machen; das würde sich gut treffen, da ich meine Unterkunft wechseln muss. Ich renne abends immer nur noch über die Märkte, weil ich völlig erschöpft bin. Wenn ich morgen später losgehe, dann kann ich es am Abend vielleicht besser genießen.

Ich habe hier und da auch mal jemanden Deutsch sprechen hören, aber ich habe ehrlich gesagt kein Interesse an Gesprächspartnern. Als ich im Hostel ankam, sprang ich unter die Dusche, machte noch ein paar Sachen am Laptop und dann, gute Nacht.

[thistransient]

I got a little carried away trying to bike out my stress today and ended up halfway to Keelung before I decided to call it quits when my knee hurt and I was near a train station- the actual intercity commuter train, not the MRT, which I had to buy a paper ticket for because something is wrong with my Easycard again. By coincidence I had stellar timing and the train was about to arrive, so I made a run for it instead of trying to resolve the issue- although I did confirm with the conductor as to where it was going before jumping on, a lesson learned from experience.

I discovered that while it was unpleasantly easy to just ruminate in mental circles while following the familiar route to the end of the Brown + Blue Lines, once I entered parts unknown (I thought I was almost done with the riverside cycling tracks but thankfully I was wrong) my thoughts shifted entirely to "Where am I going?", "Where the heck am I now?" and "How do I get home?" This was surprisingly refreshing, now I have some hope that a break from routine when I stop taking class may be more envirgorating than not.

[gerdfeed]

The EasyCard is a smart citizen ID card that provides access to trash sorting incentives, medical care, voting, public transport and e-learning and can manage the card through smartphones

Top 10 Most Futuristic Smart Cities in the World (2023)

[siodium]

asdklasjdlsks maximum late trip update post bc i completely forgot about it in my drafts. 💀 i was too occupied with grinding mapes events for cosmetic items aha.

better late than never i guess??

anyway, here's my long-awaited post about my short 5D4N trip in taiwan with luwi and shoron!! i decided to condense all five days into one post this time bc i didn't take a lot of good pics. :/

DAY 1: TAIPEI

nanjichang night market (南機場夜市) - highly recommended!!!

sumikko gurashi themed 7-ELEVEN (角落小夥伴主題商店)

first thing we did when we landed was to run to a 7-ELEVEN to grab a small bite. i got a strawberry cream sandwich with a mixed fruit/vegetable juice and the sandwich was so tasty... nothing special but so homely. we also picked up an easycard so that we could ride the mrt and omg the designs were all so cute?? why can't we have cute transport passes in sg too!!

after checking into our hostel, we went to nanjichang night market for dinner. i was told that this was the night market that locals would go to, and to avoid shilin night market bc it was more of a tourist attraction/trap?? no regrets tho. the food was great and so affordable. i got deep fried squid (coated with some kind of peppery and salty seasoning powder and spoilers: pretty sure all the fried stuff i ate in taiwan had the same seasoning LOL), shrimp dumplings, and a fermented vegetable baked pepper bun. waaa,, even though i ordered a shrimp dumpling, there was meat in it!! and i cannot handle the taste of meat in taiwan. it's too strong...

i also got an osmanthus tea from one of the bbt stalls there and it was the best bbt i had in taiwan?? unfortunately i didn't catch the name of the stall but there was a catto sitting on the counter!!

ended our day with a trip to the sumikko gurashi 7-ELEVEN. the decor was so cute!! i was hoping there'd be some exclusive merch being sold but there weren't any. idk why but i was determined to find some merch and i kept going into every 7-ELEVEN that was in my sights LMAO spoilers i didn't find any exclusive merch in the end. disappoint :-(

thoughts about the accommodation:

we stayed at the beimen wow poshtel for most of the days. it was reasonably close to the taipei main station and super affordable (~$20 per night) but idk it was giving me major School Camp flashbacks. we got the top bunks so every time we forgot something on the bed, we had to climb up the ladder to get it. it was inconvenient and i found out that i'm terrible at going down ladders bc i just jump off from the highest rung of the ladder and i gave myself quite a few bruises from that.

the rooms were also very tiny. we couldn't all have our luggages open at the same time so we'd go down to the communal area in the basement every day just to move things around. i wouldn't say that this was a massive con bc we got used to this arrangement rly fast. the real bAD THING is that we can't leave our things lying around in the room without locking them up in the lockers (also very smol). i have to clean and dry all my toiletries every day before i go to bed and before i leave. one time i accidentally left my clean clothes bag out and i woke up to find a single dirty sock inside. >:/

but other than that it felt pretty safe?? and i did enjoy our nightly hangouts at the communal area for supper or to plan our next-day activities.

would like to try out a capsule hotel next time tho. like one of those space pod thingies.

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DAY 2: SHIFEN AND JIUFEN

shifen old streets

shifen waterfall

jiufen old streets

zhang ji traditional fishballs

a gan yi taro ball - it's nice but nothing special?? if the queue is too long then don't bother with it

jioufen teahouse - the queue for the famous a-mei teahouse was insane so we decided to try another teahouse

we spent the second day at shifen and jiufen!! took a train to shifen in the morning. walked along the streets and got some street food for lunch. i got brown sugar mochi paw-shaped pancake pops from a stall and i personally wouldn't recommend that flavour bc it was so dry. we also ate some taiwanese-style takoyaki. i watched luwi and shoron make their sky lantern (i couldn't do it bc it's ghost month and my mum said no :/) and release it into the sky. luwi added some good wishes for chi. stay 白 uwu

after walking around for a bit, we ran out of things to do and still had plenty of time to spare so we decided to rent electric scooters to see the shifen waterfall. i was shooketh that they didn't require any license?? and the shop didn't provide any helmets or safety gear?? so sus... i didn't dare to ride one of my own so i pillion'ed behind luwi.

the waterfall was a distance away from the parking lot and so the rest of our journey had to be on foot. i was sweating so much and thought i was gonna hallucinate from the heat and strong sun rays. somehow we made it to the viewing deck. i was expecting to be a lot closer to the waterfall but eh the view was pretty nonetheless. got chi and cha out so they could take in the sights too!!

we went through another round of suffering to get back to the parking lot and i, after seeing shoron ride the scooter so breezily on the way there from the old streets, decided to try riding one for the funsies. despite having barely any bicycle experience. as you would expect, that was Not A Good Idea bc i didn't even move 3 metres when i lost control, panicked, revved the accelerator thinking it was the brake (both were on the handles so idk i'm not a driver), went up the curb and fell over. ok but i fell off on purpose bc i thought the scooter was moving on its own (and not bc i mixed up the brake and accelerator) and my only way of survival was to just get off the bike before i crash into something or something crashed into me. surprisingly the only injuries i sustained were some bruises on my upper thigh that i landed on, and pinpoint scratches on my hand that i got from breaking my fall. i was very lucky that nothing was broken or bleeding. well, that was An Experience...... that i wouldn't want to go through again. anyway i'm banned from driving after this~~~

↓ btw this photo was taken moments before the disaster. apparently a lot of foreigners who rented scooters there also crashed their bikes. now that i look at it, our scooter had a chunk of it broken off at the front. ummm,,, what is safety

our next stop was jiufen!! jiufen was sooo scenic and beautiful with all the lanterns and slopes but climbing up and down all those narrow and steep stairs just to get to the main street was just deaTH. 💀 i have no idea how the elderly can do it.

had an early dinner at the zhang ji traditional fishballs. got a mixed fishballs noodle soup and it was so tasty!! i actually like the handmade fishballs with meat inside. they were sweet.

when it got dark, we visited one of the teahouses there to have a tea experience. the staff taught us how to brew the tea and we did the rest ourselves after that. it was fun!! we also ordered an oolong tea cheesecake to share and it was definitely more cheesecake than oolong but i'm not complaining.

we stayed at the jiufen kite museum for a night and i was so glad to finally have a room to ourselves. it was a good thing we didn't bring our luggages with us bc there were no elevators there!! it was all just stairs.

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DAY 3: JIUFEN AND BACK TO TAIPEI

jioufen breakfast restaurant

D+AF女鞋 南西旗艦店 - super nice and trendy shoes!!

kura sushi

ximending

the nighttime view in jiufen was amazing with all the lanterns lit up but bc it was so crowded and you absolutely could not get a shot without someone blocking the view, we decided to come back the next day at 6 am just to take pics. and also to eat a traditional taiwanese breakfast!! i love the soy milk and youtiao combination. 💕

when we were back at the taipei main station, i chanced upon this bakery (semeur 聖娜) that was holding a kanahei's small animals collab?? if you spend a certain amount, you can buy merch at a cheaper price. so ofc i picked out four breads just so i could get a cute cooler bag with usagi and piske on it~ kinda regretted not getting the handheld fan too. it would've been so useful bc it was sO HOT. btw i ended up bringing one bread back to singapore (take note of this info for later) bc i couldn't finish all of them LMAO. the breads were all tasty but i particularly liked the melon bun.

day 3 was our Buy The Things We Have To Buy day. luwi went to check out a motorcycle gear shop by herself while shoron and i explored the zhongshan area. i got the $370 wall clock that my colleague rly wanted from a department store there. we also went to this shoe shop that shoron wanted to check out and like,, i wasn't planning on buying any shoes but man,,, they were all so nice. you can call them clown shoes for all you like but i just rly like the wide, squarish toe box designs. i only bought a pair in the end but aaa i would've liked to get more if i didn't have space/weight concerns.

bought osmanthus oolong tea from yi pin tea (一品茶苑) and it was mid. very strong tea flavour tho.

we had kura sushi for lunch and it was amazing. the gacha system was fun and the food was great and i got to eat my beloved taiyaki for dessert. it was cheaper than any sushi place in sg too.

my stomach was acting up when we went to ximending in the evening so i didn't get anything to eat or drink there but i did try a bit of the vermicelli noodles from ay-chung flour-rice noodle and it was pretty good. peppery and kinda tastes like shark fin soup. aside from food, we didn't rly check out any of the shops there. i did go to a stationary store on my own and it was a feast for the eyes!!

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DAY 4:

wei chuan pushin ranch - there were capybaras and alpacas!! first time seeing them in person

mazesoba restaurant (東京油組總本店 台北華山組)

1789 café pâtisserie

zhongxiao dunhua shopping district (Air Space, Le Gusta, The Ladywore)

kanahei's small animals themed 7-ELEVEN (卡娜赫拉主題商店)

li yuan dumpling restaurant

braved the scorching heat for the alpacas and sheep and capybaras!! i touched an alpaca and a capybara for the first time and i can confirm that the former was floofy like a cloud while the latter felt like bristles of a broom.

the pig race and sheep race were being held when we were there so we got to watch. the ones that i bet on didn't win.

bc the ranch was located in a more rural part of taipei and buses were infrequent, we only had two?? hours to look around. so we rented some kind of a buggy. shoron was the designated driver for this bUT i felt like i could drive it too cuz it was kinda slow yknow.

for lunch we had mazesoba!! super good but could do with less salt.

afterwards we went on a hunt for a cafe to chill at bc it was raining so hard. had to give matcha one a miss bc we didn't have a reservation and there were no tables for us (except the VIP rooms which were $$$). eventually we found this cafe called 1789 café pâtisserie that was relatively empty and hid there until the rain subsided. we shared two eclairs (salted caramel and mango passionfruit) and a raspberry rose st. honore (crispy mille feuille pastry topped with whipped cream and raspberry jam??). they gave us two macarons on the house, and one of them was wasabi-flavoured. the taste was... interesting.

when the rain stopped, we went to shop for clothes around the zhongxiao dunhua shopping district. there were a lot of blogshop-like clothing stores in that area. i got clothes from le gusta and the ladywore~

our last dinner was at a xiaolongbao restaurant. i was glad that they had prawn xiaolongbaos!! that didn't have surprise meat in them. they were not bad. also got a custard panda bun for dessert~

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DAY 5:

luwi and shoron went out to dabao breakfast at yong he soy milk (永和豆漿) in ximending while i continued to laze around in bed~~~ they brought soy milk and youtiao back for me!! i miss the combination. the youtiao from yong he was so light and airy on the inside and so crisp on the outside aaaa the doughy and oily ones in sg can't compare.

after breakfast we packed up and left for the airport. i wanted to try the oden at 7-ELEVEN before i leave but we couldn't find one at the departure hall. maximum sadge. in the end, we settled for a fast-food chicken place after we checked in and i got a yoghurt green tea (which tasted like yakult btw) and sweet potato fries.

i wanted to be productive on the flight back home (and i wasn't rly that sleepy anyway) so i played 999 on my 3ds and watched a 2-hour movie. finally watched maquia and it made me cry lmao. tearjerkers are the best kinds of movies for a flight imo!!

oh oh i sat next to an elderly couple on the plane and they were so nice and friendly. the lady kept checking to see if i needed to use the toilet bc i got the window seat. 🥺 we also chatted a bit while waiting to get off the plane.

we were planning to have dinner at mos burg after we landed in sg but there was a luggage delay and by the time we all got our luggages, it was almost time for mos burg to close. aha but fortunately i still had one bread left. so that was my dinner, along with the milo and oreos that the staffs were handing out to apologise for the delay.