Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Singapore > Penang

Nine circular rainbow on the shadow of my flight. Pretty. I took a few landscape view while taking off from Taipei, but it reminded me of my friend who has passed on so much I didn't feel like posting it here. We used to share travel photos with each other. He lost his fight to cancer December 2023....

At Changi Airport lounge, the usual Singapore Laksa is my go-to dish, along with Tomato Juice. No I don't drink Tomato Juice for help reason or for beautiful skin (although it does help!). I just happens to love tomato juice weird as it may sound :P

Getting my free breakfast worth. Swee Kueh, something I don't even spend money buying at home, lol. I would eat it here. Not living in Singapore makes you appreciate these food more.

Flight from Singapore to Penang, they gave me a muffin and yogurt. I prefer this than the usual evening curry puff from Old Chang Kee which can be rather oily. 

Flying into my beloved hometown of Penang <3

End of my solo trip.

Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Taipei Taoyuan Airport Lounge Lunch

 

Checking in, I made my way to the lounge. Gonna squeezed all the benefits of my Krisflyer Gold as much as possible before it expires. Luckily the Premium Lounge is not open. Cause other lounge are always so much better!

I think its the same place? The place was call the garden.

Sweet potato porridge station inside the lounge. So cute!

I was pretty hungry, and I took some Japanese curry for my first plate. I love the soup too. I was craving some spices, but I guess Japanese curry will have to do for now.

2nd plate, I filled up on the meatball which was surprising juicy and delicious. I also had a second bowl of soup cause I'm a soup person :)

After eating enough, I walked around, and saw the alcohol counter. I decided to pour myself a white Chardonnay, iced cold. I used to only drink red melot. But something happened in life, and I found myself like ice cold Chardonnay more now...

They also have an ice cream corner! OMG, so much better than Premium Lounge! 

White Chardonnay, matcha and coffee ice cream. Life is great at this point :)

Had another bowl of ice cream: chocolate, mango and coffee again. All Haagen Daaz. I love this lounge! Thank you SIA for the free meal!

Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Taipei > Taoyuan Airport

Last morning in Taiwan, I was missing toast bread/pancake breakfast I had in Taichung. I google where I can find something similar, and made my way to a little cafe nearby the hotel. Above was what I ordered, and it was 3 times more expensive than my regular breakfast in Taichung -______-

But it was delicious. Gone too soon.

The name of the shop, Comida. 

 

My flight was in the evening, but there was going to be some military exercise being held at noon which would cause all public transportation to stop operating for half an hour..... So I head to the airport earlier. After all, I do have access to the lounge there. Free food! might as well have a lunch buffet there!

The alert message I got on my phone on the exercise! Exciting. Interestingly, I also get regular messages while I was in Korea recently. But it's usually about missing person at the area. They spam it if you are in the same area so that people can help looking for the lost person. Usually it's a senior citizen....

Arriving at Taoyuan Airport nice and early.

I was flying SQ, but EVA Air has a special check in area filled with Hello Kitty!

Yup, you can come here and print your boarding pass if you are flying EVA. So cute! I have actually flown on the EVA Hello Kitty Plane before! Hahaha, During one of my business trip too! What a flight!

Cute Hello Kitty on the plane.

Bad Maru themed plane model

Sanrio themed plane and other merchandise you can get.

Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Taipei Eslite Bookstore and Dinner with Friends

 

Around afternoon 2pm, I head out and took the train to Eslite Bookstore. I was meeting my friend around there for dinner, but I thought I'll go early to browse the bookstore first ;)

Surprise! A stationery fair was beng held there! Happy!

Yes I do want them all! But I'm on a budget!

Why are all the posters so beautiful?

Lots of stationery for sale.

I love personal art pieces of local places. Don't you? I like unique things. Just one and only type.

Even plain paper has it's day here! 

Below at the shop itself, more cute stuff can be found. Weirdly I could find any staff to attend to me. So I didn't buy anything although I was rather interested in the cat chopstick stand....

Walking pass CD corner, this was still pretty much alive here, and also in Japan! Saw my fellow Malaysian singer Namewee and decided to take a photo of it. These days, I prefer to buy second hand CD and just ripped out the music :P Maybe I'm old fashion, but I haven't quite caught on to iTune or Spotify. I still prefer owning a physical CD, with lyrics and everything :)

Junji Ito collection. I got my first Ito comics from Eslite Bookstore during my business trip here. I've been a fan ever since :)

Up close, Taipei 101. 

Lastly, my last dinner in Taiwan, with my excolleague/vendor Tracy and her friend. She treated me to a local Taiwanese Restaurant serving all local favourites like Sweet Potato Porridge, Pan Fried Liver, Kidney Soup etc. Thank you for the lovely dinner and company!

Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Taipei Wandering Around Dihua Street and Market Area

 

After my breakfast, I just wandered around the area. It was a super old area. Some of the shops are so retro too! Like the above laundry shop that also sells ice cream. There is always a hint of Japanese culture in Taiwan, there , but not quite there. I appreciate the effort. 

I also found a local market, and spend almost an hour wandering around it. I think it was near a place called Taiping, or Taiping Bridge. It was Sunday, so the market was crowded. Lots of aunties with trolleys like everywhere else....

Giant bamboo shoots? I am not really a fan. If it's fresh, I would eat it. But I hate those fermented ones cause I can't stand the smell of it. The like to put it in their bento lunch boxes a lot. I would still eat it if it comes with it, but I really hate the smell of it!

Locals selling pickles. 

Small dishes and meat balls.

A park nearby with an old lady having a conversation with a giant statue, lol. Looks kinda comical, right?

On the way back, it was starting to get hot again. I walked up and down Dihua Street doing some shopping, and finally stopped by this dessert shop. What caught my eye was they serve yam in their soya bean curd, and boy do I love yam! This was also the shop where the lady rolled her eyes at me when I asked if the soya bean curd is served cold. It was freaking hot outside, of course it was served cold! Again, I splurged on unnecessary luxury food, ordering a soya bean curd with yam and black sugar. OMG, so good!!!! It was quite filling, so I actually had it as lunch and didn't eat anything else till evening since I was meeting my friend for dinner.

To walk from my hotel to Dihua Street or Dadaocheng Area, I try to walk underground as much as possible since it's hot in the open. These are some sights from the underground walkway. Sometimes I walk here at 6am :P  Not really advisable since it's quite deserted with some homeless people around. 

But they have cute anime like decorations all over the place. Mainly cause there were a lot of toy shops there, as well as video game shops. So leaving you with this cute cat poster I found there. Ngah!