Bao Dao 28 June - 12 July : Heading to Hua Lien

Upon reaching the airport in Taipei Tao Yuan, the cheapest way to head to Taipei is via the local bus service which their booths can be found inside the airport. It will take about 2 hours to reach Taipei. We have booked a business class boutique hotel, Minyi, which is situated very near to the MRT line and Taipei Main Station. After checking in, we went to get the train tickets for tomorrow trip to Hua Lien. The main railway train station is linked via the underground mall at Taipei Main Station.

There are a numbers of trains heading to Hua Lien. You have to ask the counter for non-stop straight to Hua Lien train - which cost about 12 SGD and 4 hours to arrive.

Singapore Food Festival in Brunei Darussalam

In conjunction back home, a 'mini' Singapore food festival was launched over here with RBC. A celebrity chef has been flown over from Singapore and this year, Chef Bob from Sedap Corner is here to cook up some famous dishes...do take a peep at www.sedapcorner.com...

Bao Dao 28 June - 12 July

We have been planning this trip since Feb, and because of the fare offered by our SIA, it more or less concreted our decision to fly to BAO DAO - Taiwan...

Reaching Taoyuan after a four hours flight, either take a cab which will cost around 5 times more than taking the local express bus service to Taipei. Waiting for the bus at the hall - the recommended service is Guo Guang - costing about 120NT (22NT - 1SGD). It will take about 1 1/2 hour to reach Taipei Central....will update the trip soon...

The Only One's Birthday

This year's 63rd birthday is short coming in terms of comparing to previous years of lavish celebrations that were held for a month's period. One of the world richest man normally hosted 10,000 over guests including regional leaders to his yearly event every July. The whole country has been quiet and possibly some seems affected by the H1N1 as the MOH reported one death due to the virus. Night markets that are specially held in conjunction to his month-long celebrations are still around though... 

Frattini's Pizza at Kg Ayer

Some of the best pizzas I had back home...is from this Spizza located at Club Street...We were there to celebrate one of our anniversaries..(can't recall which)... but I still remember the pizza and the oven there...

The pizza was thin and tasty. They have this oven at the bar-stool and the pizzas are all baked from this wood-fired oven where u can watch the chef do the dough and spread the ingredients...

Well here...some 2 hours flight away...we have the Frattini's pizza... not bad as I like pizzas to be thin and rich in ingredients...

You have to reach there before 630pm to catch the wonderful sunset. Having a pizza by Kg Ayer watching the sun merging with the horizon...rather peaceful...

Wonder why this billboard is there in the centre of the river...

Fish Balls @ Jin Nan Hong

Jin Nan Hong at Menglait produces one of the most Q fish balls I have tried in Brunei. The fish balls are handmade, not sure whether they do it in house, or purchase elsewhere...but once you start chewing..they are really chewy...There are some nice dishes in the small eatery...such as beef noodles, curry puffs...

Brunei Star - Prawns

In Muara, is a prawn farm owned by a Singaporean and the prawns he breed are only for export. You wouldn't be able to buy the prawns off the local supermarkets' shelves...but you can get it here at Muara ferry terminal...where the company operates the packing and shipping...and btw...even the highest order on the land eat his prawns...

We travelled about 1/2 hour to reach this factory which is very near to the port.

The prawns come in three sizes...we ordered the largest...and it is just BND 15-16 per kilogram...and believe me...the prawns are really nice...eventhough I can't eat prawns due to skin allergy...but the comments are really good...