Hualien 2D1N

I have always wanted to visit Hualien since my first trip to Taiwan in 2011, but due to the inconvenient of ground transportation I’ve always read about, I eventually gave up visiting this city in my first trip. So then I came back to Malaysia and when I’m planning for my second visit to Taiwan, I did some research on how to get to Hualien from Taipei and also about the ground tour available.

The most convenient transport from Taipei to Hualien is by train, it takes approx. 2-3 hours and it’s about TWD$440 (RM45) for one way. You can always ask for help in Taipei Main Station, best is to buy the train ticket one day in advance.

TIP: Go for the express train, ask the ticket counter for express train to Hualien.

So I bought an early train ticket which departs from Taipei Main Station at 6.10am and arrive in Hualien at 8.16am. I booked a 2 nights stay at No.6 Homestay. Double room for 1 night will be TWD$1,800 (weekdays) and TWD$2,200 (weekends or public holiday). Email them for reservation, you don’t have to pay an upfront payment but do remember to confirm your reservation again 7 days before your stay. They’ll have pick-up service from Hualien train station, so let them know your train arrival time.

Once arrived, we checked in to the guesthouse and the owner of the guesthouse will ask if you like to make any ground tour, there’ll be a full day trip or half day trip around Hualien and also full day tour to Taroko that they can arrange for you. We took the half day tour around Hualien with TWD$2,000 (RM200) for one car (can fit 5 people) and also one day tour to Taroko for TWD$1,000 (RM100) per person.

The half day tour:

花蓮出發→吉安慶修院→鯉魚潭→理想大地→立川漁場→返回花蓮車站、機場或飯店、民宿.

Hualien city –> Jian Shrine –> Liyu Lake –> Promised Land Resort & Lagoon –> Lichuan Aquafarm –> Hualien city

吉安慶修院/Jian Shrine

鯉魚潭/Liyu Lake

理想大地/Promised Land Resort & Lagoon

立川漁場/Lichuan Aquafarm

Will update on the full day tour to Taroko on my next blog post! Do comment if you have any questions regarding the ground tour in Hualien. :)

If you want to do a One Day Trip from Taipei to Taroko only, you’ll find a useful transportation information here.

Universal Studio Singapore

Welcome to the Lion City, Singapore, this wasn’t my first time in Singapore, but this is my first time in Universal Studio Singapore (USS)!

I’ve always wanted to visit USS since the opening, but what got me delayed is that, frankly, I don’t really enjoy my time in Singapore! xD Spending in Singapore has been a headache for me, even a short trip like 3D2N is gonna cost me about RM1,000, with that amount of money, I can enjoy shopping + food + massage in Thailand already, but in Singapore, with that amount of money, what I can get is cheap & affordable food also transportation, that’s ALL! Not even enough to cover for accommodation, but I’m lucky enough to have relatives and friends staying in Singapore, therefore I always managed to find a free night! =D

So, I managed to get a cheap roundtrip air ticket from PEN – SIN – PEN at the price of RM200, this is the cheapest, don’t complain because looking at the price you’re paying for, it’s ONLY RM2o for flight seats and the rest is the taxes, service etc. paying to Singapore Airport! So if you saw free seat from Air Asia, you usually will get the air ticket around RM180-200, just grab it because you won’t find any cheaper one unless you wanna take bus which cost you around RM120 for roundtrip and with LONG journey!

Good news for Malaysian, you can always find cheap USS ticket on Groupon or Mydeal or Livingsocial, and also you can search for discount promotion from Mastercard or Maybank. With the discounted price, you can get the ticket at the price around RM170 (Usual price SGD74 = RM195).

How to get to USS from Bugis:

From Bugis MRT Station, take the train to Outram Park MRT Station, alight and transfer train to Harbour Front MRT Station.

From Harbour Front you can choose to take bus at the bus interchange or monorail at vivo city level 3 into USS.

Speaking of theme parks, the QUEUE is always a headache, so avoid weekends or public holidays if you can! Anyway, USS wasn’t a very big theme park, so if you really can’t make it on normal day, I guess you’re still able to cover the whole theme park, but if there’re no crowd, you get to make a ‘second round’ for all the rides!!

TIP: Don’t missed the amazing Transformer ride, it’s a MUST!! If you don’t mind taking the ride alone, you can go for the SINGLE RIDER lane, skip the long queue and save your time for other ride! Anyhow, you gonna enjoy the ride even if you’re alone because you’re on 3D glasses!

I went on Monday which is a normal day, and the crowd was little when i reached at 10.30 am in the morning, but I managed to finished the theme park within 5 hours, taken 2 rides for Transformer, and watched a few shows as well!! So, you know what to do, skip the weekend or public holidays, I MEAN IT! :D

Myeong Dong Dog's Cafe

I’m a dog person, personally I have 3 dogs in my house, so Dog Cafe? Definitely a super yes place for me!! Initially I was supposed to go to Bau Haus which is the one 2NE1’s Minzy went and located in Hongdae, but by chance I saw a person holding a Dog Cafe banner so I just walked into it, therefore, for direction, I’ll have to do a research and get a good information from other blogger.

Direction from http://bihaenggi.wordpress.com/:

You come out of exit 6, walk the usual way into the shopping area, take a left at Nature Republic, and then your first right, and you’ll see a giant red sign that says “강아지카페” up on your left – it’s on the 4th floor (unless they moved it by the time you read this).

So upon entering the cafe, you’ll come to a gate where you’ll have to pay 8,000 krw (approx. RM25) per person and you get to choose a drink. From then on, you are free to hang out and play with any dogs in the house! There’ll be a card on the table telling you the dog’s name and also which one to touch and which one not to touch.

The Afghan is the one which you’re not supposed to touch, so the dog happens to sleep beside our table and what we can do is just take adorable picture of these 2 big and small kids. All of the dogs are well behaved and the cafe’s people will clean the cafe once in a while for hygiene purpose.

Other than that, you’re free to play and take photos with which ever dogs that you love! There’s no time limit so you can pay 8,000 krw and be at the cafe for the whole day!

The Body Shop - Shea Show Cream

This post is specifically written for people who have suffer sensitive or allergic skin like me. All these while I’ve been looking for products that best suitable for me and I’ve experienced the products from Cetaphil, Sebamed, Eubo’s, DermaVeen and all the soap free sensitive skin products available in Malaysia you can named of.

Here, I’m introducing the Shea Shower Cream from The body Shop, this is by far the only Body Shop product I’ve used and fall in love with, whether it’s the shower cream or body butter, all the Shea’s series are absolutely awesome!! Whether you’re suffering sensitive skin or travelling during winter, this is one of the best option for dry skin.

One 250ml shower cream cost about RM26++, I believe for those who understand and knows that sensitive skin products are always double or triple the price of normal products. Therefore, I’ve always aimed for the sale, and usually popular products like this get only 10% discount (is still better than nothing right).

If you have other better brands to introduce for sensitive skin, please do let me know! :)