Xian Ding Wei, Taiwanese Tea Room, Sunway Pyramid.

Yet another quick post - also something on Taiwan - but this time, it is the Taiwanese fooddddd!!!!!!!! =) Yup... Taiwanese food, but it's in Malaysia. =) And so... we were at Xian Ding Wei Taiwanese Tea Room - the one at Sunway Pyramid.

Note: This is an ASHTRAY! Not water for you to drink *wink*

The place looked quite modern, rather different from those shops you see in Taipei.

Xian Ding Wei - Taiwanese Tea Room.

Yummy isnt it?

Xian Ding Wei Taiwanese Tea Room
Sunway Pyramid, Bandar Sunway, Petaling Jaya, Selangor
OB3.LG1.7 & OB3.LG1.8
Oasis Boulevard (New Wing),
Lower Ground Floor, Sunway Pyramid.

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Travel Taipei: Having Tea at Mao Kong

This will be a very simple minimal-effort blogpost LOL.

Do you know what this is???

This is actually used tea leaves. =)

I was in Taipei, and together with the gang decided to head up to the hills of Mao Kong to check out the tea places there.... mmm.... note - it was damn cold, and I totally forgot my sweater etc. LOL. *raining somemore*

A cosy spot on the hill.

Chinese tea, anyone?

hot tea for a cold night. =)

Want the same experience? Head on to Mao Kong in Taipei to check it out!!!

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Xin Beitou Hot Springs, Taipei.

Xin Beitou (New Beitou) is the area around Xin Beitou MRT Station and Qinshui Park that was developed as a hot spring resort during the Japanese era (1895-1945). In addition to the waters, Xin Beitou's other attraction was the girls, and the area had the dubious distinction of being one of Taiwan's largest illegal red light districts. =P

Here's the sign that pretty much shows all the hot spring spas and hotels in the area as you exit the MRT station.

AIR TIME!!! =)

Hot springs in Xinbeitou with super high temperature and many sources are caused by the terrestrial heat of Datun Mountains. Thermal Valley is one of the earliest hot spring sources found in Taiwan. The hot spring in Beitou Hot Spring Road is white sulfur. Its PH between 3-4, as vitriol salt spring, translucent white and yellow, 50'C - 90'C, and light acidity.

Check out the awesome viewwww.... *steams*

The darling couple - the best tour guide to have in Taipei =)

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Travel Taipei: Getting your Tax Refunds. =)

*Note* This blogpost is drafted and posted via my iPad, and my awesome iPad keyboard!

One of the key things that I take note of whenever I go overseas is to do shopping... I mean... *duhhhh* Anyways, being overseas has its perks; especially when it comes to shopping. Duty free shopping that is. Most places let you do your claims at the airport. For Taipei, it is the same as well, you make your claims at the airport.

The Taoyuan Taipei International Airport.

Where's the TAX REFUND counter? For those who are bad with directions... nevermind.

Look out for the China Airlines First Class Lounge. =)

Next to it is the Customs Information + Foreign Passenger VAT Refund. =)

Queue up, and then present your forms and products to the officer-in-charge!!!

And... VOILA!!! They'll pay you back in cash immediately.

However - it is only 5% refund though, as compared to much higher rates elsewhere. LOL.

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The Low Cost Carrier Terminal LCCT, KLIA.

Earlier this month, I flew to Taipei by Air Asia X. As you all know, Air Asia and Air Asia X are both low cost carriers, and these airlines fly out from the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT). This terminal is the first purpose built Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) - and it was specifically built at KL International Airport to cater to the growing passengers of the low cost airlines, especially the passengers of Malaysia's "no-frills" airline, AirAsia. Construction of the LCC Terminal was on a fast-track basis beginning June 2005 at an approximate cost of RM 108 million.

Fly by Air Asia and you'll have to use this terminal.

The 35,290 square-meter terminal is designed and built to suit the low cost carrier business model that requires only basic terminal amenities. In order to offer lower landing fees, handling fees and airport taxes, it cuts back on amenities such as aerobridges, elaborate physical structures and decorations in the passenger terminal building. There is no transfer facility to the main terminal. Passengers who need to make transfers need to clear immigration, collect their luggage, clear customs, make their way to the main terminal and re-checkin with the respective airline.

However, the current Low Cost Carrier Terminal is a temporary solution for the increasing demand of no-frills airline passengers. Therefore, Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad has incorporated the plans to build a new permanent LCC terminal which can accommodate 30 million passengers per annum. In the mean time, the airport operator decided to expand the current terminal to keep up with the increasing demand. The new arrival hall was first open on December 15, 2008. This airport was the first airport to have separation between normal carriers and low cost carrier. The terminal is due to be replaced by the new low cost carriers terminal, KLIA2 when the terminal comes online on April 2012.

Anyways, just in case you didnt know, here are some of the F&B options at the LCCT.

Starbucks Coffee.

Dunkin Donuts.

Old Town White Coffee.

Marrybrown Fried Chicken.

McDonalds.

Boost Juice.

...and then there's also the first F&B outlet - Taste of Asia. =)

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Travel Taipei: Delicious Fish Ball Soup, Danshui.

In another of my many many Travel Taipei posts, I would like to show you what I had at Danshui, Taipei. The Danshui District is a sea-side district in New Taipei City in northern Taiwan. It is named after the Danshui River; the name means "fresh water". The town is popular as a site for viewing the sun setting into the Taiwan Strait.

Danshui is a few stops away from the Xinbeitou area - the one where the hot springs are. And it is easily accessible by the MRT. =)

Anyways, if you've seen my postings on the Taiwanese sausages, you might wonder... what is Danshui famous for?

See this little building? It will reveal the secret to what Danshui is famous for.

This building is home to the Teng Feng Fish Ball Museum!!!

Yess.... Danshui is famous for its FISH BALL!!!!!!! =P

Just opposite of this building, is this simple looking 'nameless' shop.. which sells awesome fish balls!!!

Some nice bouncy and juicy fish balls in hot soup.

The perfect stuffs to eat in super cold weather. LOL.

Now... do you feel like Fish Ball Soup now?

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Looting The Holy Land on Al Jazeera with DETV.

When I get home every night, its already way past midnight. Most of the tv programmes, whether its dramas or worst, news - already over. I always miss all the primetime shows and programmes; but recently, after using the DETV for a month now, I found it very useful!

I wanted to check out this programme on Al Jazeera. It was 'Looting The Holy Land'. The programme was to be aired at 10pm; by the time I got home, it was already 1am unfortunately. But thankfully enough, I have DETV - and I got to click on the programme that was aired at 10pm!!!! How niceee!!! =)

So, what is 'Looting The Holy Land' about?

It is a documentary on the way archaeological materials are being used in Israel. Since 1967 countless artifacts have been unearthed and removed from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Many are displayed in Israeli museums and private collections, while others are sold to tourists. For Israel, archeology has been a key tool in buttressing its territorial claims to historic Palestine. Archeological findings are used to assert ownership and to rename the territories they occupy.

Catching it on DETV's Al Jazeera English when I missed it by a whole 3 hours... thats truly priceless!!! =)

What other channels do I catch on DETV??? I also follow channel 260 a lot!!! =)

See... channel 260!!!

The programme "I Love Watching Movie" is a pretty awesome programme - it showcases some of the latest and newest movies to be watched.

A scene from IP MAN - when they were promoting The Legend of Chen Zhen. =)

There's also another channel that I catch a lot, the Channel 115! Recently I've been having some good laughs at night watching Let's Have A Date - it is basically a dating game show, with plenty of pretty ladies, and of course, plenty of laughter too!!!

Hahahahaha... that'll be what I'm gonna watch in awhile...

On top of that, since I couldnt make it to the SHANGHAI EXPO 2010, I decided that I'm not going to miss it completely. Here I am - I just subscribed to the Window Of The World menu - and VOILA!!! I got SHANGHAI EXPO 2010 on my TV right now!!!

Okay - excuse me while I go enjoy my show... Gniteeezzz!!! =P

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DETV - Malaysia's IPTV service.

My mum celebrated her birthday earlier this month!!! =)

I was one of the bloggers selected to test out the DETV decoder. And the first person whom I thought of when I got it was my mum! She was always complaining that Astro does not have enough interesting programs for her to watch, or rather half the time I’m hogging Astro for my sports channels.

Before I decide to show my mum what the DETV can do, let me try it out first in my room on my awesome LG 32” LCD TV….

The box that contained the DETV decoder and accessories…

Inside the box, it had the network cable, and then the other S-Video cable and then the wireless antenna too. I was wondering what it was for… but I’ll show you in a bit.

Ok… all set up already. I didn’t need the network cable as my whole house is WiFi wired – and guess what, the wireless antenna is for WIFI!!! *woots* No need to pull any cable…

You can see that the DETV is really very compact – this is how small the DETV look like, its about same size as my sister’s doggie Mindy – and definitely lighter than her too!

After that, I plugged it on to the TV. And this is it – Malaysia’s first IPTV service. This is what I call entertainment-on-demand.

But then I had a little problem. Although I love to watch my dramas, movies and programmes in various Chinese dialects, I really had no idea about READING them. The interface on the main menu was very simple – BUT then… the banana me just couldn’t make up the words.

Thankfully I found the LANGUAGE button! Yeyyyy……. =P

One click of the button and the whole menu is in English now!!!

Right now I can choose from the menu easily – and watch my favourite Chinese channels if I want to. Mmmm now I’m thinkin if I am still gonna pass this DETV to my mum… hehe LOL.

One of the channels that I watched when I was in Beijing 2 months back was BEIJING TV. Basically it is a combination of news, financial talks, and the local Beijing culture as well. If you look at the navigation bar, there are a lot of other channels too – including the CCTV channels!

I think the sister will love this! Hunan TV World – presenting the Chinese local sitcoms and travel programmes!

…and then there are some other channels as well – such as TVS channel. It covers a wide array of news and information of Guangdong province.

Back to Beijing again… the Tianjin TV International channel showcases a lot of China culture and heritage too! This would be Dad’s favourite!!!

Amongst the channels also include Al-Jazeera!!!

The next section of the Main Menu that I checked out was the DVD Buffet. This would be a lot more specific – and it features dramas… sitcoms… mostly those shows that is like ‘multiple episodes’ wan ler…

See… there are like 5 main parts – and then the New and Special part as well!

Drama Paradise and Beautiful Life features a lot of Chinese dramas. And then there was one of the channels that caught my eye…

It was the Fun Wonderland section!!! It had some really funny cartoons – Chinese based of course. I loved it!!! =) If you enjoy watching Shin Chan and Doraemon in Chinese – then I believe you’ll be hogging this channel!

I clicked on Panda Paradise…..

Okay that’s all for now so far – I’m going to end the blog post here first, gonna go watch Panda Paradise… until then…

I think mummy would have to wait for the DETV. Wait til I finish watching all 50 episodes of Panda Paradise first ok!

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