Memoirs of a Travelling Foodie: 2012

August 15, 2012

& on to Bangkok we go!

Now I don't want to come off as a negative nancy here, but... there's no easy way to say this is there? I didn't quite like Bangkok. At times I may or may not have uttered the words "I hate this place" or "urg I can't wait to leave" but I digress. A few things affected these negatory feelings from within - the weather for one. It was dreadful. Rain, clouds, more rain & even thunder. Terrific. Second was the SCAMS. If you ever head over to Thailand's capital city, just be prepared for scammy scam scams when it involved anything&everything tuk tuk related.
Putting this sadness/sourness aside, I actually loved seeing the gorgeous temples (touristy of me I know, but whateva) + eating some delicious noms + walking through some craycray markets. The Grand Palace, Wat Pho & Wat Arun are the 3 main temples that are MUST SEE in Thailand. I can go on&on about the descriptions+things to see, but photographs will take care of that. One warning (again) though - don't listen to ANYONE outside the palace or the other temples. People approached us (one in a fake police uniform for goodness sake) telling us the temples were closed for prayer/thai only/the day and to come w them to another temple then some jewlery/textile warehouse outlet. Trust you-me, THEY ARE ALL OPEN. Anywhoo, one other special tip... for the BEST thai ice tea I've ever had EVER - its right outside Wat Arun in this little park-like area where there is a small food+beverage booth. The woman made us the mouth watering concoction that I am still salivating over.

entrance to the ferry

cruising the Chao Phraya River

what have we stumbled upon here?

cooking up some fresh pad thai

Grand Palace

Wat Pho - reclining Buddha

behind the reclining (slash relaxing) Buddha, there are about 100 (I think, may be totally wrong) bowls as shown above where people drop coins of some sort in each and everyone...so while you're there you just hear constant "tings, pings" *this is coin noises*... thought you'd might like to knooooowww

one of my favorite pics of the trip

Wat Arun

July 1, 2012

Foodie Food Food in Taipei

Title should be self explanatory. I'll just say this - if you want to gain about 139875395 pounds, Taiwan is the place to go. Overindulge. Overeat. And be happy. Noms.

Din Tai Fung - warming ourselves up

Shilin Market nomms

TFC - Taiwanese Fried Chicken babyyyy

oyster omelette + taiwan beer

just some dogs on the barbie

taiwanese dessert...surprisingly delish+refreshing

sticky rice balls + sesame + peanuts & stuff

lavender tea

some dim sum in taiwan mountains

meal time at Shin Yeh - fish in yummy yum sauce

omelette pie

faveeeeeee

the nomnoms

dessert timingsss

rice burger

June 23, 2012

Hiking in Taipei

This post focuses on one of the maja day trips I did with my bro during our 4 day stay in Taipei. We decided to do a morning hike up&around Elephant Mountain + spend a quiet afternoon wandering Maokong Mountain. Let me just put it out there, if you ever find yourself in the magical-ness of Taiwan, you absolutely must go on a hike of some sort & I suggest this one (naturally). It is a bit of a stair-master of a challenge (no Big Buddha hike though) BUT well worth the sweat. You get an absolutely breath taking (whether you like it or not) view of the city, Taipei 101 & as far as the eyes can see. We decided to venture a little more & with a little luck+help from a nice local couple, we found ourselves atop one of the mountains with the most beautiful view of Taipei. After getting lost, finding ourselves on the wrong side of the mountain & hitch hiking back to a metro station, we then set off for Maokong Mountain. They have an abundance of tea plantations, shops & restaurants with gorgeous views that are an irresistible escape from the chaos of the city. The must-try is the tieguanyin tea (what makes this place famous) & the views of course. Anyways, enough blabby blab & more ogling over the pictures.