Summer Taiwan Trip with Baby 1 year old- Taichung

Our 1st Taiwan trip with little one. Both of us never actually went to Taiwan together but I decided to have a try this summer. It wasn't a pleasant trip especially to travel on summer time, the weather in Taiwan was super hot. We also experienced earthquake and typhoon during our trip but luckily we were not at the affected area. It was overall a good experience but I would recommend to bring children along at least 4-5 years old where they could walk and sit on adult chair during meal time. Taiwan wasn't as child friendly as I think it is, at least not during meal time, most of the dinning place do not have baby chair!

For this 7 days 6 nights trip, I only planned to visit two places- Taipei and Taichung as we don't want to be too rush on our trip by going too many places plus we don't know whether our baby can take it as well. 

Here is the itinerary:

Day 1: KUL-->Taipei-->Taichung
We took Ubus from Taoyuan International Airport to Taichung.
Hotel: Park City Hotel, Taichung

Day 2: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art--> Park Lane by CMP--> National Taichung Theater--> Rainbow Village--> Luce Memorial Chapel-->Gaomei Wetlands Sunset --> Feng Jia Night Market

Day 3: Taiwan Museum of Suncake--> Miyahara-->Taichung Old Train Station--> Taichung Bus Station-->Taipei
Hotel: Ambience Hotel, Taipei

Day 4: Taipei Zoo--> Syntrend Mall

Day 5: Ximending Youth Shopping District--> Taipei Tianhou Temple--> Clothing Shopping Outlet in Wufenpu-->Raohe Night Market

Day 6: Houtong-->Shifen-->Jiufen

Day 7: Taipei--> KUL

I managed to get flight ticket from Eva Air at a very reasonable for around RM 850 per adult round trip. Child another RM 400 without a seat. 

For the first day, we reach Taoyuan Airport around 5.30pm and we took Ubus to Taichung directly. We decided to take bus to Taichung rather than taking the train (don't need to change train with bulky luggage), straight to Taichung with a journey of 2 and half hours. It is a smooth journey. Bus to Taichung cost around NT 300 per person.

There are few stops that Ubus can drop you off, along the road to the last station-Taichung Bus Station. We dropped off at Taichung Bus Station and took a taxi to our hotel.

We stayed at Park City Hotel Central Taichung. I booked the Combined Twin room which came with a super large King size bed. A night is approximately RM 250 with breakfast which is quite reasonable.

Bathroom came with bathtub as well, easy to bath for our baby.

On our Day 2, we first visit the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art. We took a public bus just 1 min walk away from our hotel. Remember to get the Easycard, or 悠遊卡 at MRT station or 7-eleven /Family Mart at NT 100 (without top up) to hop on the bus. Travelling on public bus in Taichung city within 10km is free so don't miss this benefit. You can get the Hotel staff to assist you to check the bus # to get to your destination.There is an bus app that the Hotel staff use to check on the bus# and time of arrival. In Taichung, basically there is no train available to travel around the city, you need to get the public bus or taxi.

In National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art, there is a play area and library for children on the ground floor. The kids can make crafts, drawing, reading and play there, no entrance fee required.

We had our lunch at Bafang Dumpling 八方雲集 on the way to Park Lane by CMP. We didn't have time to visit Park Lane as we spend half of the day at the Museum.

We really love their dumpling and it is quite cheap too. Total we paid NT 235 only for our lunch.

We booked the Half day Tour: Gaomei Wetlands and Rainbow Village with KKDAY for RM97 per adult & RM 26 per child. It is a good deal since travelling to both places required hired car/taxi. We went to few places other than Gaomei Wetlands & Rainbow Village during the tour, but it was quite rush for us especially we are carrying a baby with us. 

National Taichung Theater

Inside National Taichung Theater

Rainbow Village

Rainbow Village

Luce Memorial Chapel

Gaomei Wetlands Sunset
Unfortunately it was typhoon in Taipei during our visit which also indirectly affect Taichung. The wind was strong and we aren't allow to go down directly to the windmill area. So the tour bus stop somewhere further that we could take photo from far. 

Feng Jia Night Market

We chose our last stop of the tour at Feng Jia Night Market since we can have dinner there and take a taxi back to our hotel. A good experience for baby to explore the colourful night market!

We found this Beef Samurai restaurant in one of the alley of Feng Jia Night Market. It turns out to be very good. The plus point is they provide baby chair in the restaurant. I would definitely drop by this shop again if visit Taichung in future.  

We were so hungry that we ordered 3 don to share among.

PS: Don't bring along stroller for this tour. There is a lot of hop in and hop out of the bus you need to do which it is NOT convenient to carry a baby stroller. 

Our last day in Taichung, it pretty much a short trip but if I have chance again I would extend a longer stay. It is the day we have to depart back to Taipei. Due to the typhoon strike on our trip Day 2, all train to Taipei has stopped, so we have no choice to take Ubus back to Taipei.

We dropped by the Taiwan Museum of Suncake to buy their famous Suncake before we head to Miyahara for some Ice-Cream.I didn't get the chance to take photo of the Suncake that I bought, all have been distributed out to family. You can try out their Suncake before purchase to ensure you like the taste. I'm personally do not fancy that kind of biscuit but it is definitely a nice souvenir for family.

Miyahara

Inside Miyahara

All biscuits are packed in really nice packaging like CD cover. So impressive!

Ice cream time, basically anytime you come there is a queue outside the ice-cream section. The staff will hang you the paper to choose your ice cream flavour and the size. More than 50 types of ice cream flavours serve in the shop.

We got 2 scoop of ice-cream each with the basket wafer and 2 sides to add on. Total around NT360. The downside of the place is you have to stand outside the shop to eat the ice-cream. There isn't any chairs prepare outside or inside the shop for dine in. If you have baby with you, better get a stroller or carrier.

Before we left to the Bus station, we dropby the old train station which is just walking distance for photo taking.

Last but not least, our lunch at the Taichung Bus Station before we board our bus. We picked this shop-Thefreen Burger, very small corner shop at the end of bus station. Surprisingly,  the burgers turn out to be quite good with reasonable price too. We really enjoy the meal with our baby playing around with her fries. Again, the place do not provide any baby chair, I will have to carry my daughter on my lap.

That's all my post for Taichung trip for now. I will update on the trip back to Taiwan soon.

Stay tuned!

Love,

sufen

Elevate Your ONG With Jack 'N Jill Calbee Golden Chips This Chinese New Year 2020

It is really excited when receiving good snacks for Chinese New Year. Calbee was one of my favourite snacks and it was a surprise when receiving this big red box filled with my favourite snacks! Jack 'n Jill is now giving away some cash, scroll down and read more.

Do you want to try something new this year? Take on a new custom to be ONG with Jack ‘n Jill Calbee, the newly popular potato chips brand. Jack ‘n Jill Calbee will Elevate Your ONG with its golden potato chips and auspicious Chinese New Year Fortune Ang Pow Giveaway where you stand a chance to win the Grand Prize of RM3,333 cash ang pow and a Lion Dance Package Performance to usher in even more ONG!

“To celebrate the new cycle of the Chinese Zodiac of 2020, Jack ‘n Jill Calbee is giving a big offer in-store for our consumers. With the year of the ‘Rat’ 鼠and ‘Chips’ 薯 both pronounced similarly (as “Shu”) in Mandarin, we want to take the opportunity to encourage more consumption of our Jack ‘n Jill Calbee Golden Chips as a symbolic act of welcoming ONG for Chinese New Year,” says Emmanuel B. Puno, Senior Vice President (SVP) of URC Snack Foods Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

 “We hope consumers can share Jack ‘n Jill Calbee Golden Chips with their friends and family during Chinese New Year visits, as though they are gifting prosperity and ONG to their loved ones. Additionally, for every purchase of RM10, consumers can redeem a set of limited-edition Jack ‘n Jill Calbee Fortune Ang Pow packets. We call it Fortune Ang Pow because each one is designed with an auspicious Golden Money Tree, symbolizing giving or receiving ONG for the new year ahead,” he continues.

THREE EASY STEPS TO ELEVATE YOUR ONG!

Step 1

Purchase RM10 worth of Jack ‘n Jill Calbee at any participating outlets.

Step 2

With every purchase, you’ll get a set of limited-edition Jack ‘n Jill Calbee Fortune Ang Pow packets.
*While stocks last.

Step 3

Scan the QR code on the Fortune Ang Pow. Submit your details and proof of purchase.

ARE YOU ONG ENOUGH TO WIN THESE PRIZES?

Grand Prize x 1

RM3,333 cash & Lion Dance Package Performance (at your home)

Second Prize X 3

RM333 cash each

COMPLIMENTARY Prize X 33

RM33 cash each

Elevate Your ONG now with Jack ‘n Jill Calbee’s delectable flavours – Classic Salted, Smokey BBQ and Flamin’ Chilli – in all participating stores like Giant, Aeon, Aeon Big, Econsave, TF Value, The Store, Sogo and many more and join Instagram celebrities May Ho, Jorise Lee, Wei Keat and many more to snack your way to a lucky year ahead.

For more contest information, go to their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/JacknJillCalbee.MY) or Instagram (@jacknjillcalbeemy).

Love,

Su Fen

I'm Back!

Since the last post in 2017, I basically hibernated for the past 1 and half years. What have I done for the past 1 and half years? I have gone through from having a lovely husband into getting our first baby daughter. Our baby daughter is 9 months now! Time flies so fast, still remember the day that I carried her in my arm in the labour room, and she is now all grown up, able to crawl and stand on her own.

For the next few weeks, I'm going to share my journey of pregnancy, my delivery and baby led weaning process with my baby.

It was a bumpy journey during my pregnancy. I was on bed for around 2 weeks when doctor found bleeding during my second month of pregnancy. I vomited from third month, continue until 6th month of pregnancy, worst time is early morning and late at night. Stomach upset everytime I had spicy food but I had the crave everyday. I was admitted to hospital on 41 weeks due to overdue but baby seem to be very comfortable in my tummy after 3 doses of medicine to induce labour. Luckily doctor manage to make it happen for natural delivery!

Here is a summary of my pregnancy & delivery:

Vomit period: 3rd month until 6th month

Weight gained: 15kg (41 weeks)

Craving Food during Pregnancy: All spicy & sour Food

Delivery: Natural birth, baby came out at 41st week

Delivery place: KPJ Klang, Selangor

Doctor: Dr. Vijaya & Dr. Ooi (baby)

Breastfeeding: Fully Breastfed, still on-going even though baby is 9 months now. 

My 7 months pregnancy

My baby 3 months old 

9 months old Now!

Signing out now! Stay Tuned!

Mummy Su Fen

What to eat in Lombok?

If you have been reading my first post on Lombok trip, I believe you are wondering where is the food review. This tamchiak girl never failed on introducing nice food when travelling. Yes, you are right. Here is the post! I'm going to review on the food I had during the trip and which are good and bad.

If you missed out the Lombok 4 days 3 nights Itinerary post, you can check it out HERE.

LOMBOK LAND:

Rumah Makan Cahaya

Jl. Raya BIL, Bandara Internasional Lombok, Praya, Lombok, Indonesia

Tel: +62 878-6520-4131

This is one of the place that you must visit and it is just opposite the airport right at the round about. You can ask the driver to drop you here when you reach Lombok from airport or before you leave Lombok to airport. You will not miss this place. During our meal, we see lots of locals and air cabin crew will drop by here. Lombok is famous for its Ayam Taliwang, and this is the place where you can find cheap and good original Ayam Taliwang. 

To our surprise the drink name Es Jeruk with Coconut turns out to be one of the best drink we had in Lombok. It is a type of orange juice added with coconut juice. However, be careful of the chilli that comes with the rice, it is super spicy and burning!

  

Coconut- Rp. 25K; Es Jeruk with coconut- Rp.15K; 

Nasi Balap Puyung- Rp. 10K; 

Nasi Ayam Kampung + Balap-Rp. 16K

Rumah Makan Bu Suta
Jl. WR. Supratman No. 22, Pancaka, Gomong, Mataram Bar., Selaparang, Kota Mataram, Nusa Tenggara Bar. 83126, Indonesia
Tel: +62 370 626860

The second place that you should not miss out. Please note that this is a non-halal place. This is one of the famous local stall for its pork dishes. It sells everything from pork skin to pork meat and pork intestines. It is so famous that for the past 1 hour when we were there, the crowd never stopped. It is a small shop that fits not more than 20 pax. Most of the local will take away instead of dine in. It is like a mixed rice shop in Malaysia. But you will need to bear with the heat if you are dining in.

The food are prepared in trays. You pick the dishes you want from the counter and they will take from there using their hands. If you are concerned about hygiene, you may want to re-think of visiting here. So far, none of us got food poisoning from this stall.

Based of our analysis, each item is charged Rp. 5000 except rice which is foc. The most ridiculous calculation by them are the drinks. All of us order the same Mandarin Orange Juice but was charged at different prices, ranging from Rp. 5K -8K. We ordered 3 rounds and it never came to the same price. Overall, the food is great, the peanut sauce is the real highlight. It is cheap and good!

This cost Rp. 25K

consists of fried tofu, fried pork meat, pork sausage, fried pork satay and grilled pork meat. 

This cost Rp. 20K

consists of Kangkung, Tempe, Pork skin, Pork sausage and Fried Pork Meat

GILI TRAWANGAN:

Casa Vintage Beach

We had dinner here on our first night in the Lombok. A romantic place for couples as the dining area is exactly on the beach, looking out to the sea. We came around dinner time and the place is decorated with nice and dim lighting.  This place was one of the recommended places online to dine in in Gili Trawangan, some people said it is the best place to eat. In conclusion, we think the food was not bad but the price was high.

Bintang Beer (Big)- Rp. 40K

Casava Wedges- Rp. 49K

It is basically deep fried sweet potatoes. Don't be fooled by the "wedges" word, thinking it is potato wedges. However, the taste was nice.

Oven Baked Yellow Chicken- Rp. 89K

It taste like Indian curry chicken rice, spicy but full of fragrant spices . Actually, we were expecting roast chicken since it was named "oven baked" but we are still fine with curry rice. The size of the chicken is normal, not the tiny ayam taliwang.

Oven Baked Yellow Chicken Wrap- Rp. 79K

Basically it is similar to the ingredients and taste of the oven baked yellow chicken, except they wrapped it in a Tortilla bread. The portion is big. 

French Town Chicken- Rp. 89K

Oven-baked chicken again but this time with roasted veggies and rice. Taste wise is quite similar to the yellow chicken, the spices is stronger.

Jamaica Pot- Rp.79K

Jamaican spiced vegan stew with beans and dumpling. We do not really know what is this but it is more like vegetarian curry with rice and tortilla chips, nevertheless it does taste quite good.

Le Petit Gili Restaurant
On our second night in Gili Trawangan, we headed for some burgers. We found this place rated to be one of the top rated restaurant in Gili Trawangan. It is just beside the night market.They served western food like burgers, paninis, hot dog, burritos and even local food. The taste was not bad, the portion is just average but service is quite fast. This place is not halal as we asked about the ham, it is pork.

Chicken Satay Burger- Rp. 77K

Chicken Panini- Rp 70K

Double Cheese Burger- Rp 95K

Texture is like the pulled pork burger, overall was nice.

Chicken Burrito- Rp. 80K

The Banyan Tree

It is a Vegetarian restaurant that we found when passing by at night. I actually liked the place, nice and cozy. Their menu are quite unique and food was good. It opens from 7am-8pm daily. We came here for breakfast since I don't quite like the guesthouse's breakfast. No regret of coming here though the price is on the high side.

Scrambled tofu-Rp. 48K

add omelette- Rp. 8K

Scrambled tofu mixed with wild mushroom, onion & tomato, served with toast. Tasty scrambled tofu, I think it will be better if it is served with rice! But it was a little on the salty side.

Blueberry pancake-Rp. 46K

Lovely texture and nice pancake, maple syrup is not too sweet as well.

KUTA, LOMBOK:

SEASALT
Jl. Raya Pantai Kuta, Kuta, Lombok, Indonesia
Tel: +62 813-8198-7104

This is a newly opened restaurant, in coincidence we visited the place during their soft opening. It was opened by a Swiss owner, however the chef was not around that day. There weren't any guests during our visit, I guess it was still new. Since we love trying new food, this quickly became our choice for dinner. There aren't a lot of choices in the menu, around 6 types of main dishes since it is only the soft opening. I guess they will extend their menu after the grand opening. Overall the food were nice. Just take note when ordering the seafood grill, we found that the squids that were served on that day weren't fresh. My husband and one of my friend's husband had bad diarrhoea the next day.

The menu is quite special where it shows the steps for you to order. First, you choose your main either, fish, chicken or seafood. Second, you pick one side. Lastly, you can pick one sauce to go with your main. Besides that, you can still add side dishes like chips, bread and salad with additional of Rp 20K.

Additional sides- Rp. 20K

Grilled Citrus Chicken with roasted pumpkin, aubergine, tomato & garlic- Rp 70K

I recommend to not order chicken when in Lombok as all their chicken dishes always come in super small portions. Looking at the above photo, it is only 5 tiny pieces of chicken breast served. Barely enough for appetizer. Taste wise, I like the side - roasted pumpkin the most.

Seafood Grill with roasted pumpkin, aubergine, tomato & garlic and Mint lime dip- Rp. 130K

The seafood grill came with the catch of the day, squid and bonito tuna fillet. The food was ok except for the squid which was not fresh. The portion was not as big as we imagined too.

Catch of the day with salad bowl- Rp. 75K

This is the biggest portion we ordered. The crispy battered catch of the day, basically is what we call the Fish & Chips. I guess this is the "wont go wrong" dish. 

Pan Seared Catch of the day with chips- Rp. 75K

Coconut Pannacotta- Rp. 35K
Strawberry coulis with coconut ice-cream. Very special combination.

Warung Bobby

Jalan Pariwisata Pantai Kuta, Kuta, Pujut, Kuta, Lombok Tengah, Kabupaten Lombok Tengah, Nusa Tenggara Bar. 83573, Indonesia

We had our brunch here before we depart to airport. It is located at the shopping road of the Kuta beach where you can see many stalls selling souvenirs and clothes. We picked this place because it was the only food outlet full of people compared to other outlets. I guess the more people the place has, the better the food is, so we followed the crowd. It advertised Wood Fire Oven Pizza on their signboards, trust me you do not want to try any dish other than their Pizza. And it is true, their Pizza is the nicest food than other local delights.

Watermelon- Rp. 10K

Avocado- Rp. 12K

Maremonti Pizza- Rp 70K

If you ask what is the difference between the three pizzas, we can only say it is the ingredients. The sauce is the same and they all actually taste the same. The pizza crust is the thin type, it smells really good when it was baking. Overall was good and if you are medium eater, you can actually finish one pizza by yourself.

Love Pizza- Rp 70K

Taste is the same, just the shape of the pizza is love.

Chicken Pasto Pizza- Rp. 60K

Tom Yum Kung-Rp. 25K

I was craving for tom yum and spicy food that day, therefore I order a tom yum soup. Regretted as it doesn't taste like tom yum at all but more like the Malay spice soup with chilli. Don't even think of ordering it when you are here.

Mee Goreng Seafood- Rp. 30K

Indonesia is famous for it Ibumie Goreng, so we were thinking it should be nice if we order their Mee Goreng. But it turned out to be quite disappointing. The mee goreng is wet and sweet, quite similar like using tomato sauce to cook the noodles. 

Not sure what is the name but it taste like fried ice-cream. Quite nice but a bit too sweet.
Price: Rp.25K

Places that are not worth the visit:

RM. Nada Alam Nyaman

I wouldn't recommend to come here as the food is just so so and the price is very high. If any driver try to push you on this restaurant, reject them immediately. I saw the guests are mostly tourists that dine in here. Their famous chicken dish is the size of a lady's palm. It comes with different sauces- normal, spicy and honey. However, the chicken was dry and barely had any flesh.

Ayam Taliwang- Rp. 45k; Pelencing Terong (Brinjal)-Rp. 10k; Pelencing Kankung (raw vegetable with peanut sauce)-Rp. 10k; Cap Kangkung (stir fried vegetable)- Rp. 10k; Telur Dadar (Omelette)- Rp. 14k; Tempe Goreng- Rp. 10k; Coconut-Rp. 15k

Ceria Bar Restaurant & Warung

We did not had the chance to pick which restaurant to have our lunch in Gili Air as our guide parked their boat in front of this restaurant. For every boat that parks in front of the restaurant, the guide will have to ensure their guests dine in there. If you already have in mind the restaurant you want to dine in, tell your boat captain and they will bring you there. All boats will stop at Gili Air for lunch. The food was cold and tasteless, price wise is around Rp 40K and above.

Grilled Gurami Fish- Rp. 65K

Seafood Fried Rice - Rp. 45K 

Mixed Rice- Rp. 35K

Fried Chicken Fillet- Rp. 50K

Fish & Chips- Rp.45K