Hello everyone!

Happy Monday to you :D

Just a couple of days more to the loooong weekend and its especially nice coz its Good Friday and Easter Sunday! Chocolate time I guess LOL.

Back to my Taiwan trip (alot of photos so hang on!)

Taiwan Day 2

Woke up really early coz we booked a local tour guide and SUV to drive us to the outskirts of Taipei!

But first, a local breakfast before we start on our hour long journey.

This shop sells little dim sum and steamed buns, along with their famous tao huay!

You can also find a similar shop in Geylang but the taste is pretty different!

Xiao long bao - But Din Tai Fung's version is much nicer!

Trying out the food.

My favourite tao huey!

I really like it alot leh!!!

On the way to Jiu fen

But we stopped by Pingxi first.. 

This is a small local shop selling all kinds of household barang.

Traditional steamer!

I dun think u can find it easily in Singapore already - maybe Malaysia though.

Bakery in Pingxi.

The oldest mailbox here!

Pingxi is famous for 3 things - Mainly the filming of a local Taiwanese drama and the true story of a little girl who ran all the way home to eat a bowl of noodles her grandmother cooked (they turned it into a instant noodle commercial!) and for releasing sky lanterns!

You can write wishes on the sky lantern and release it into the skies!

My FIL drawing!

Different colour sky lanterns have different meanings.. and this happen to be a hot pink!

For family ties :)

Jungle Daddy drew a BABY!

I dunno want to laugh or cry la thanks.....

Writing my chinese name for the fun of it!

The rows of mini sky lanterns with wishes!

I bought 2 - one for my parents (wishing them longevity and health) and for my little godson 

(wishing him 365 days of health and happiness all year round)

Our tour guide Xiao Chen holding the sky lantern and off we go!

Ideally you must release the lantern near the lake or mountain.

And not too near houses in case you burn it down!

Here we go!

Wow! Its so HIGH!

And our lantern went over to the mountain! Yay!

Now let's go to Jiu fen!

You might have seen this before coz we came here on our previous Taipei trip but the food is sooo amazing we cant help but to come again!

Jiu Fen Old Street.

Crazily crowded already.

Many local delicacies.

Try to go on a weekday coz its sooooo crowded with tourists and local dating couples on weekends!

This uncle is using a traditional wooden shaver for the peanut powder!

It was like Popiah but with peanut shavings!

Can put ice cream inside too!

Oooops!

Here I am .. eating and eating and eating :p

Bought our favourite prawn cracker!

Really fresh and nice!

A short makan break.

All the hand made meatballs!

This stall is very famous!

Nice leh!

Meatball abit pink colour somemore! 

I likeeeeeeee~!

Carry on walkinggggg

This is the first cinema in Jiu fen city!

Built by the mining company (Jiu fen was a gold mining town) for their workers as a form of entertainment.

The Shenping cinema is now converted to a mini museum but they still screen free movies!

This is a small conserved provisional store .. I think you can still find such shops in Malaysia!

Look at the retro telephone and Coke bottles!

This loud hailer was used back in the days to promote a new movie.

Memorabilia from the past!

Real movie posters and pamphlets!

Fish-eye lens for this effect of the cinema.

Let's carry on walking shall we!

Up a flight of stairs.

Im actually posing with the lazy dog sitting at the side of the walkway .. without a care in the world!

Totally unperturbed by the sheer amount of tourists walking up and down.. amazing! 

This is a famous food stall too!

There was a loooong Q.

Their secret sauce!

They sell a variety of duck leg. duck tongue, chicken wings, chicken backside, vegetables like beans, beancurd etc.

More food stalls.

This is an interesting shop!

The owner has many many weird dreams of ghosts from the other world, so one day he decided to sit down and crave masks of the ghosts that appear in his dreams.

After many years of dreaming about ghouls & ghosts, he wanted to showcase all the masks and collect an entrance fee from visitors who are interested to take a look at his creations.

But Im too spooked to go in leh!

Our tour guide brought us to the most popular Yuyuan (taro balls) dessert store in Jiu fen!

Its really nice leh! Must try in Jiufen!

I finished the whole bowl thanks.

And the most memorable and delicious wild pork sausage!

OMGOMGOMG nice til death can ~ i still think about it now damn!

Super yums!

(I ish hungry now la kns)

Xiao Chen, our tour guide can eat 2 or 3 sausages I think!

Can you guess where is our next stop?

Abit Japanese style hor!

Its the Jiu Fen Gold Mine Town!

Until the 1950's, Jiufen was a prosperous gold mining town. The town went into sharp decline when mining was discontinued. 

The quaint streets, tea houses and stunning views of the Pacific Ocean saved it from becoming yet another anonymous mining ghost town. 

Jiufen is now a popular tourist destination for Taipeites eager to relive scenes from the past. 

The view from the top! 

A miner!

The original railway to transport materials in and out of the mines.

A miniature wax model of the gold mining process.

This is the famous Guinness World Record gold bar in the museum!

Weighing 220kg, if you can lift it with one hand then its yours!

The huge word GOLD!

We went to take some photos of the Golden Waterfall too!

(Have to drive there)

The Gold Waterfall is fed by rainwater filtered through the abandoned mines at Janguashih and exiting from the mine openings.



The waterfalls get their namesake golden hue from the copper and iron deposits picked up during their passage through the mines. 

Its special color and waterfall have made the Gold Waterfall a popular spot for young couples to take wedding photos.

It was getting late so we headed to Kee Lung Night Market!

Their bubble tea there is so much nicer!

Have to die die order.

We also stopped by a small roadside stall for some crabs!

Although we were going for a proper dinner... LOL.

Tell me la, can you resist Butter Crab???

Nice leh!

Erm .. we ordered more food.

Kee Lung is super famous for their fresh seafood!

It started drizzling so we better go to dinner soon!

Street shots.

Reached our dinner destination!

Yes! By the jetty!

The Kee Lung Bisha Fishing Port ~

It has about 12-15 fresh seafood vendors who are selling LIVE seafood and all you need to do is to choose what you want and the restaurant will cook it for you!

It was so amazing!

And all so FRESH!

Wow .. take your pick!

I can pose at anytime , anywhere hahahahha!

My favouriteeee Sea Urchin!

Must bargain like mad.

But the vendors are all very friendly de! They make it sound so cute and humorous!

While my in laws were choosing and bargaining - I was camwhoring with the HUGE ASS LOBSTER!

Actually it was the vendor who took all these for me to take picture with!

She soooo nicee and kind! #IloveTaiwan

Getting ready to pack and go to the restaurant.

They even provide umbrellas coz it started raining!

Restaurant preparing our food.

Steamed prawns and wasabi!

We are #foreverhungry!

Very very fresh leh!

Our food for the night.

But this is MINE and mine only!

#greedy

Look at the crab!

Goodbye Keelung.. it was great coming here again!

Tags replied below and thanks everyone for dropping by!

Love

elaine73

p.s 

Wanted to share some pictures that I just got from YJ from our Bubble Photoshoot recently!

It was all in great fun :D

Photos by YJ

Makeup by Joie - TheMakeupBar

Studio courtesy of Creme Photography

Denim Overall from ClubCouture

Love the bubbles here!

There is a special Makeover promo by Creme Photography & Joie TheMakeupBar going at $299 by quoting Elaine73 (Usual price $399) so do email 

joie@joiemakeupbar.com or call 93857769 for more info... thank you!

All pictures returned.

Have a lovely day pixies!

Elise: Hi dear! Yes HK is relatively cheaper coz they dun have tax but the La Mer counter from our airport in Singapore also no tax :)

Sam: Im wearing Geo lens! Very very nice but abit drying for me :(

Joan: You can check out the blogshops that I have mentioned above, or u can check out the ones that i have advertised before :D 

is it: Thank u dear! I really love the vintage look too! Kekeke!

ping: Thanks sweets! Wendy did it for me. :D

mocha: Ya lor! Im nv going back there. (sadly!)

hi: I dun really use mascara coz I use falsies but when I do - I totally recommend the ones from YSL and Chanel! They r truly the best! (But so expensive! But u do get more bang for yr buck!)

serene: Some of my pics have been colour edited slightly but no photoshop or anything :)

Most of the pics here are taken by my hubs who uses Nikon D3S or a Leica M9 - I am using a Lumix GF3 myself. And no.. sorry dear! I dun ever rec slimming products coz I believe in a healthy lifestyle and good pure, exercise to lose weight and keep it off! No eating after 9pm, no fried food, no fizzy drinks, alcohol only 2x a week (moderately) You should exercise ideally 3x a week to lose weight, and it can range from anything like running to sports to pilates or aerobics. But keep yr workouts 30 mins - 1 hour at least becoz the body burns calories only about after 20 mins of exercise. And drink plenty of water! It helps in fat burning. :)

nice: Thnk u dearie! But haha its taken by my hubs! I pose (and post) only! :p

miss sheryl: Thank u dear! For supporting the blog and in cozycot! :D xoxoxo

irene: No la dun envy pls! Aiyo everyone can go holiday also leh! I go coz my in-laws finally could spare some time to go together :)

Jo: Aiyo yoooo! Why u never go!!! *cry* Really alot fun! Neh mind hope to see u next time again ok!!! Must go ah!

angie: yes! my bday present from my frends haha. From swaroszki :)

spec: Omg my best fren said the exact same thing n she even posted my pic in FB thankyouverymuch *facepalm*

mocha: No la!All take for fun one!!!! 

ashlyne: Next time I ask my fren to invite u go ok!!! :D

yes: yes!!! can u imagine ollie was a rescued dog? :( So bad hor his prev owners.. literally threw him away.

purpurish: Should I??? Hmmm I scare ppl ask me questions later I dunno how to reply paiseh how! :p

HY: Hahahahah yr niece is cute leh!!!!!!!!

jane: Hi dear! My advise would be only to do yr makeup at night!

Firstly, you can keep yr look simple in the day and it will be really a waste of money to do it 2x in a day! And frankly for our horrible weather here, makeup usually fade off so dun try to think of it lasting til night. Lastly, you wanna 'WOW' everyone at night so keeping yr Day look simple and easy will create a even more wow-factor when u do ur hair and makeup for the night! Usually church weddings are early so u have plenty of time to do yr hair & makeup and go for a fabulous dinner at night! You can check out my friend Joie at 93857769 if you are interested to get her to do hair & makeup :)

phoebe: Hmmm I think the camera and lens plays a huge part too! May I know wat camera are u using? A DSLR or point & shoot?

lurvepink: Thank u so much dear! Hope u enjoyed it! :D

Lin: ya la! so nice leh!!!!! but the makeup not worth the money lor. :(

heehee: hahahha er...........! I got say before wor! We met thru mutual frends then he keep asking me out! The end ~ kekeke.

miffygal: I dun think its cheaper leh! think HK cheaper coz no tax. But very nice so cant resist wor!!!!

coco: ............... 

ahhahahahah ya he tells me he has ALOT of fans lor!!!! *buey tahan*

Okthxbye!

Dinner time for me!

Love.