Staycation - Sentosa

I was actually planning a little surprise on our anniversary with a staycation at Pan Pacific.  However, there wasn't any vacancies and we had to settle for Sentosa instead.  We started out quite late at Resorts World for our lunch.  We walked around and finally settled on Hard Rock Cafe.

Finally lunch is served.

 

Did a little shopping around the HRC shop.


And some touristy stuff...... like walking along the Universal Studios globe etc.

 
 
As the weather started to get warmer.  We decided to check-in to our chalet.  The place looked exactly the same as when we last visited.  Although it was definitely smaller than what we enjoyed in Taiwan, it just seemed more cosy.  Baby G enjoyed just chilling and watching his cartoons.

After his cartoons ended, we managed to persuade him to go out on a walk along the beach.

 

 
Soon he started to enjoy getting his feet in the sand and standing near the shoreline as the waves came and receded.  However, he was worried about getting his shorts wet and kept holding it up with his hands.  What a funny sight.  Even though we told him we brought extra clothes for him, he just continued to do so.

 

Even when we were washing out feet to get rid of the sand, he continued to hold on to his shorts, even though it was already wet.

 

 
After hanging aound Siloso Beach, we decided to hand down to Palawan Beach.  We took the beach tram to our next destination.  As dusk approached, it offered us a beautiful view of the horizon.

We crossed the rocky bridge to reach the 'Southern most point of Continental Asia'.  Baby G particularly enjoyed walking across the wobbly bridge.

 

 
Finally it became too dark and we decided to have our dinner.  Just before dinner, Baby G requested to play around the water area near Koufu.  He happily got himself wet this time; no worries on his clothes.

 

Finally, it is dinner time.  After having spent all his energy, his appetite increased.  He finished an entire plate of Wan-Tan noodles.  I had to order my own meal.

After a good night's rest, it's time for an early morning breakfast.

 

We decided on taking all the various modes of transport around the isle of Sentosa.  Seemed like the fun idea.

And what seemed like such a wonderful time, it was soon time to check-out.

 

And our last stop for our weekend staycation, VivoCity for lunch.  We opted for White Dog Cafe as they had a lovely & unrestricted view of Sentosa and the Sentosa Express (monorail) which we knew Baby G would enjoy.  Also, the food there was pretty delicious.

 

 

And that ends our staycation-cum-anniversary weekend celebration.

San

Missing the relaxing time at Sentosa....

Taiwan - 9th Nov 2011 - Day Seven

Our final day of our 'Fun Taiwan' holiday has finally reached.  Basically, it was a free and easy day for the tour group as we got a chance to roam around on our own.  Firstly, as we were staying in an international 5-star hotel, the breakfast, nonetheless, was superb.  They had the various kinds of cuisines, like Taiwanese, Japanese, Western, Chinese, etc.  Daddy tried all the possible combinations.

 

 
 
After our filling breakfast, we had about 2hrs to roam about before we needed to check out at 12noon.  We thought we could go to the nearby shopping mall for some leisurely shopping and any other last minute purchases.  In the end, we realised all the shops only opened for business at 11am.  That leaves us with not much time to shop.  In the end, we stopped by a wet market and with no other place to go, just walked around a bit.

Just before we eventually checked out, took some photos with our tour mates.

 

 

Just before we got to the airport, we had a chance to ride the bullet train, or rather, the High Speed Rail (HSR).  Nothing much to say about the ride except that it is really fast once it picked up speed.

 

 
 
 
 

Once we reached the TaoYuan station, we took a short ride to the airport.  Our tour guide helped us to check in, but I think there was some mix up or the flight was super full, all our seating arrangements were separated.  Our poor tour guide had to quickly do some quick arrangements so that everyone got to sit with their family.  She was super stressed while doing the arrangements.  In the end, we thought we could shop around the airport but there wasn't much time left.

 

 

In the end, we really had to grab a quick bite before we proceeded to the gate.  Actually, by that time, I was a bit kan chiong... we only had like 10mins left and we still hadn't cleared immigration.  We totally forgot that after passing the gate, we still had to clear immigration.  I kept chasing Daddy but he was like Mr Cool, not at all worried.  Baby G was influenced by me and he also rushed Daddy when he stopped to take some photos.

Finally everything was settled.  We got our allocated seats and we were ready to go home....

This has been the most fun trip ever.  Totally not what we expected, but it was definitely a trip worth it all.  I will definitely miss my time in Taiwan but I am truly looking forward to more trips with my boy and my hubby.  It has been an experience that I will treasure.

San

That ends my Taiwan trip blog... hope you had fun reading as much as I had fun blogging about it.

Taiwan - 8th Nov 2011 - Day Six

The breakfast at Fullon's was pretty standard, although their arrangement of the food made it look much more appealing.

Our first stop after breakfast was a visit to the Martyy's Shrine (忠烈祠).  There was to be a changing of the guard's ceremony but in the end, due to the rainy weather, it was cancelled.  So we only got to look at the guards who were standing by the main doors.  These guards were to stand still for an hour, totally like a statue.  We also had a chance to roam around the compound and take some nice shots.

 
 
After the visit to the Shrine, off we went to visit the Tienlu Handicraft Centre (天禄艺术中心).  Here, we got a chance to rub on the Tienlu to bring back prosperity for the adults and good results for the children.  After the talk on the lucky numbers of 13 and 4 and the unlucky numbers of anything with zeroes or 16, they showed us the Tienlu that we could purchase to bring good fortune.  Too bad, the price wasn't really in our range.... cost NT8888.  In the end, we declined and decided to go out of the centre to walk around the streets.

As it was still drizzling, we didn't walk very far, but it was a stroke of luck that we found this quaint store that sold tidbits like Chong You Bing and Dou Jiang.  We stepped in and ordered one set.  It turns out that the owners (a couple) just opened this store about 3 months and they specialise in Spring Onion Cookie.  We started chatting with the couple and they were quite taken with Baby G.  He also loved their food and gave it 2 thumbs-up to the uncle who was the cook.  He even got one set for himself, courtesy from the auntie.

 

The next stop is the famous Chui-Fen where the place still retains it's simple charm of an earlier time.  If only it wasn't raining, we could have enjoyed the scenary even more.  As it is, the skies were dark and misty, so can't really see much.  In the end, we walked along the streets and enjoyed their taro balls, fishballs and popiah ice cream.

 

 
 
 
After filling our tummies with the street food of Chui-fen, off we went to visit the Yehliu Geopark (野柳).  These stone structures are all naturally formed and one can even see some really distinctive formations, like the Fairy shoe, an elephant and even a Queen's head.

 
 
 
 

After a long day in the rain and visiting so many places, it's time for some relaxation, in the form of soaking in the hot springs of YangMingShan (阳明山温泉).  The idea is to soak oneself into the hot and then into the cold so as to open up the pores of the skin and be able to absorb the minerals and nutrients.  It was truly relaxing except when it was my turn to look after Baby G who was playing with his 2 friends.  The kids treated it like a indoor swimming pool.  I think it was pretty fun for them.

 

After the relaxing dip, off for our Xiao Long Bao dinner.  The experience is like Ding Tai Fung.  They served quite a few types of Xiao Long Bao and unlimited fried rice, plus their soup and vegetables.

 

Our 6th and last night at a hotel stay was at the international 5-star Grand Formosa Regent.  Even the location of the hotel was nestled within all the high-end shopping belt of LVs, Guccis, etc.  But again, my most favourite part was the spacious rooms they had to offer.  We had like 1.5 rooms space that held 2 queen-sized beds and 1 sofa bed for Baby G.  Truly comfy....

Our holiday is coming to an end, 6 days has just gone by in a twinkling of an eye.  Tomorrow is the last day in Taiwan, it is also the last day for us to do any last minute shopping.

San