Cutting short

Shortest hair this year.

1. Because cutting my troubles away.
2. Because Thor has short hair now.
3. Because reservist in a week's time.

Got rid of big ski suit

I'm so glad that I finally got rid of the stupid skiing suit I bought online. It was too big for me and have been occupying too much space in my box and I finally sold to a cheapo Indonesian lady who wanted a further discount after I had given her a lower price. I'm glad I marked up beforehand and sold it at cost price LOL.

Time to book my annual snowboarding trip.

Taipei 2017

This was such a random trip. I had some leave days to clear and wanted to go somewhere but I can't decide between Japan and Taiwan so I just randomly searched Taipei and the tickets were so cheap. $380 on Cathay to Taipei via a 50min transfer at Hong Kong!

I haven't been back in 8 years, things are still the same except the MRT got a lot better connected but the buildings are still old. A lot of drinks were gone from the 50岚 menu and there was no more 仙草奶冻, which was depressing. Anyway it rained for 2 whole days and then sunny on my last full day there so I didn't go trekking and carried an big umbrella from the hotel. I nom nom-ed a lot.

This award wining chocolate shop called Yu's Chocolatier was pretty awesome but expensive for local standards. I bought a few chocolates back as well. 

 Fried chicken I missed you. 

 Famous Gua Bao and meesua near NTU. 

 I was walking randomly at the little Japan and wanted to eat my jiaozi but it was closed. I settled for this 卤味 which was too much for me but still yums. 

 I wish I could drink this everyday but.....

 I had 卤肉饭 everyday. Yes, everyday.

 Looks like Hong Kong at a glance.

 My second last day it turned sunny and I visited the museum

 This was probably the most interesting thing in the museum. I wanted to sleep at the museum but china tourists were too noisy. This cabbage was made from Jadeite, also called feicui. I learnt about Jade and how to appreciate Jade properly. 

 If you miss this in Taipei, you should go back again. Yong Kang Beef Noodles was a tad expensive $12 for a bowl, but super delicious and the beef chunks were MMPH. I'm glad Jarren told me to eat this if not I wouldn't have gone there. 

 I went to the Rauhe night market on my last night and also had a lot of Noms.

Handmade rice balls with sesame fillings in a cloud of osmanthus ice. 

 Bye Bye Taipei. It was fun and boring at the same time. 

There's just so much you can eat a day. The highlight of the trip was probably the bars that I visited at night, pretty interesting concept and the second night there was a theme and it was quite an experience lol. The drinks were pretty cheap but strong. By the second day I was quite bored and I had not planned anything much so I went back to the hotel after eating almost a full meal at 4pm, and just watched Harry Potter on HBO. Third day was museum and night market day. Oh I missed night markets. I might just go back for them.

Overall, Taiwanese are super super friendly and nice.

Friendly encounters:
1. I was at queuing for the flight to Hong Kong and this girl in a Gucci denim jacket was queuing in front of me. The staff called for those sitting at row 70-90 to board first and I saw that she was at row 66. I wanted to tell her off but she started a conversation with me in Chinese.
"Hi may I know what passport is this?"
I said "Singapore passport"
"Oh are you a Singapore PR? How long have you been staying here?"
"Er no I'm Singaporean"
"Oh sorry I mistaken you as a Hongkong or Taiwanese citizen."
"It's ok"

2. I was entering the National Museum, the staff stopped me and said "Check kaban, check kaban". I understood kaban means bag in Japanese so I looked at her and asked "bag check?" she continued "Check Kaban" and directed me to the bag check area. Then another staff checked me bag and asked me to check in my water bottle "check in water bottle, arigato gozaimasu" I just said thank you and I have totally no idea why they talked to me in Japanese when I am speaking English to them

3. Went to the bars for 2 nights and was approached by 1 local on the first night and 2 locals on the second night. LOL. On the MRT I exchanged line with two students coz they were asking me where I was from LOL.

4. On the final morning in Taipei one stranger texted me on Instagram to see if I'm interested in exploring Taipei food scene together. His/Her ig account was about food, so he/she probably found me through my ig stories with locations. Dude, I've love to join you but I was departing already.

I bought lotsa pineapple tarts and mochi, nothing much. I don't know how to make out of this trip? I guess it's just a quick and random trip like Bangkok. I really enjoyed taking Cathay Pacific, their standards are still there, food and entertainment are still good. The hotel I stayed was pretty decent too. The best thing about Taipei are the food and people and bubble tea.

I didn't manage to clear my head this trip, in fact it got worse and I was very very tempted to get For Beloved One stuff. I'm not sure if it's the lack of travelling partner or local friends to bring me around, at least I got to eat all the things I was craving for.  Time to hit the gym hard.

Taipei tomorrow

I'm glad the event went well today.

I'm so exhausted, I'm going Taipei tomorrow morning and I have not packed or checked in or see my itinerary yet. It's supposed to be a relaxing trip :(

I really need to clear my head and settle a lot of things when I'm there. Wells. Ciao.

8/10

2nd

This is how I felt that this moment in time and I just want to write it down.
Maybe I'll forget this feeling or maybe I will find it back again someday.

Reika's Wedding

We met on March after my Japan trip and we were still saying Reika's wedding in October is still so far away and then a blink of an eye, today's the day 7102017!

The last time we had a wedding was probably pear's wedding 3 few years ago and it's so difficult to get everyone together except a grand occasion like this. Next formal event is probably LJ's.

A simple affair, very reika-ish and the food was not bad. We did our signature loudest yam seng again and too bad Reika can't drink LOL.

Congrats Reika!