Time to move on to higher ground after soaking in the sun & sea at Kenting. Next up, Alishan! Looked forward to its sea of clouds, sunrise & Fenchihu bento. At the Chiayi train station, we purchased the Alishan Forest Railway tickets to Fenchihu, which was like 3/4 way up Alishan. The ticket salesperson was helpful by urging us to consider depositing our trolley luggages at the baggage room as it would be very cumbersome for us to bring it on the ride. Basically, the train carriage was small and not much space available for luggages and there was a portion [View Full Entry]

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The southern part of Taiwan seemed like a less travelled part of TW for tourists. The film Cape No. 7 sure had drawn spotlight to it. Ha, but we didn't visit the filming sites. The key mode of transport from Hualien to Kenting was via train which would bring us to Fangliao station where we would catch a bus to Kenting. Did sound a little complicated. It took a little effort in securing suitable train tickets too. Tks to the TW tourism counters in Taipei for suggesting alternative train routes instead of sticking to direct train from Hualien to Fangliao. The [View Full Entry]

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Next stop, Hualien 花莲! The day started pretty early as we had to catch 7.30am train to Hualien. In about 3 hrs' time at Hualien station, we were greeted by the taxi driver-cum-tour guide, Mr Zhuang. With Mr Zhuang around, the trip around Hualien's attraction became more interesting and convenient. After settling our accommodation and getting a coffee fix (needed a perk, man), our Hualien trip commences officially. Mr Zhuang brought us to the Qi Xing Tan 七星潭, which was not the actual Qi Xing Tan 七星潭 many years ago. It used to refer [View Full Entry]

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Though I had been to Taipei twice, Yang Ming Shan (YMS) somehow just didn't get into my past itineraries. Without suggestion fr WL, perhaps I wld have missed this place once again. Prior to going to YMS, I had thought it was something like S'pore Botanic Garden & MacRitchie Reservoir - with lovely landscaped flowers and nature trekking trails. YMS was definitely huge and hilly and wasn't easy to get around, especially so during peak season like flower season, weekends & public holidays. Those without personal vehicle would have to rely on buses to tour the YMS National Park. The buses [View Full Entry]

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Last day of holiday... It was another day of travelling. From Kyoto to Tokyo to Narita. We were really making full use of our JR passes. We went to Isetan Kyoto Station for some last min shopping... din buy anything except food for the skinkansen ride. Surprisingly, neither of us bought any titbits from the food hall with all the nicely packaged pastry / biscuits / mochi & stuff... Why so? Hmm.. it perturbed me now why didn't I buy anything there coz last yr we had a great time tasting and buying food stuff at that very place. Along the [View Full Entry]

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We decided to visit Kyoto again coz it seemed like a pleasant place with many more temples & shrines to explore. We had a tiring start to our Kyoto trip. It took us a really long while to walk to our lodging (Econo Inn). Even though we were pretty proud of how fast we could walk, it took us almost 30 min to reach the Inn (its website indicated 15min walk from Kyoto Station). Nevertheless, we quickly freshened up after checking-in... Time was running out coz we only had 1.5 days there. Hence, we proceeded to Kiyomizu Temple hurriedly on feet. [View Full Entry]

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Unesco World Heritage Site [View Full Entry]

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The main city of Hokkaido. Sapporo was like the gateway to many parts of Hokkaido since it had good train infrastucture and an international / domestic airport. However, we didn't go further than Sapporo. Time was a determinant and I was less enthusiastic abt seeking koyo (autumn foliage) any more. Last bid in finding koyo was a visit to the Hokkaido Uni which was right opposite our lodging. At least, this wasn't a futile trip. There are green, yellow, brown, red all over the campus... this was more like the scene I wished for... My stay in Sapporo was marked by [View Full Entry]

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To me, the attraction here was the array of food & pastry and, of coz, the Music Box Museum. There were lots of places around for main meals and tea breaks. And, not forgetting, delicious pastries to buy home to treat everyone. We had even found a confectionery that was better than Ishiya's Shiroi Koibito. It's "Le Tao". It had a few branches at Otaru targeting different needs, such as a a chocolate boutique, cheesecake speciality store etc. Le Tao was also very generous in providing samples. Tip: Ask and you will be given. Their earl grey chocolate biscuit and petite [View Full Entry]

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It was time to move on once again. We took the train from Hakodate to Toya. As Toya train station was not near the Lake Toya, we had the option of waiting for a public bus or taking a cab to Lake Toya where our next lodging was situated. In view of the luggage we had and to avoid any hassle, it was decided that cab was a better choice. It was also because the distance was not too far and the fare of about 2000Yen was still affordable. Thus, we reached Hotel Grand Toya almost effortlessly. But didn't know why, [View Full Entry]

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