India golden triangle - Delhi, Agra & Jaipur

India has been rated the most dangerous country for women traveller, due to the reveal of the notorious rape cases recently. However, my friend Henni and I had made a 11 days free and easy trip to the India golden triangle - Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, October last year.

We received many advices from friends and family members not to enter India due to a lot of safety and hygiene issues. Therefor, we planned the trip cautiously. We stayed in high rated hostels and hotels, booked upper class seats for train, avoid night out (even if we need to do so, we would ask the hotel to call taxi for us) and had our meal in the restaurants that top rated in trip advisor or lonely planet or recommended by the hostel. Although we met some bureaucratic difficulties, culture shock, problems with scams and et cetera et cetera problems, but we handled it with open minded and keep up our spirit of adventure, the trip turn out great and fun. One big surprise for us was that both of us did not get food poisoning during the period! Thanks God to give us the braveness and experience. It was a trip to let us know more each others and ourself. Namaste!

Delhi

Nice caption by Henni, thanks!

Tuk-tuk is a common transport among local and tourist. Price is cheap but be careful of scam.

Restaurant at Lodhi Garden, food was good with cozy and lush green environment. Luckily this was the first  restaurant we had on the first day we arrived in Delhi. Good start.

Inside Lodhi Garden. I planned to do Yoga practice with local yoga enthusiast during our stay,  but too bad I can't wake up too early. lol!

Walking on the busy and bustling old street of old Delhi town.

Colorful saree and spices!

Try to ride on the trishaw, a different experience it would be!

Life in Delhi.

Masjid Jama at New Delhi. 

Agra

Magnificent and heavenly Taj Mahal. I can't believe my eyes at the first sight, in heaven, I thought I was!

It's prohibited to bring any pencil and pen inside the area in Taj Mahal, lucky me to have time finish a quick sketch before the guard noticed me. 

Entrance to Taj Mahal.

Me and Henni, finally we did it!

Our shadow over white marble of Taj Mahal.

Peeped through the hole of the delicate pierce work, and saw one of the great gate. 

Side view of Taj Mahal.

 Agra fort. It was said that Shah Jahan spent his last few years in this tower with a marble balcony and a view of the Taj Mahal.

Exotic view of Taj Mahal from Masammam Burj.

Once a pool, inside Agra Fort.

Street food, I dare not take the chance, would you?

Our nice spicy meal in Agra - vegetable curry, chicken curry and briyani rice.

Small version of Jama Masjid in Agra.

Caught a young couple dating in Fatepuh Sikhri. 

 Shot Henni's silhouette at Fatepuh Sikhri.

Jaipur

Jantar Mantar - a collection of historical architectural astronomical instruments.  

Nice geometrical layout. Remember to bring your hat if you visit to Jantar Mantar, there is no shade inside! No shade is allowed because these are astronomical instruments.

Two lovely guardians of City Palace. A beautiful and delicate palace in Jaipur.

Jal Mahal - Water Palace.

Our second major destination - Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds in Jaipur.

The royal ladies watched the life of street through the small window,  Hawa Mahal.

Great view of Pink City from Hawa Mahal.

Amber Fort

Love this rustic ancient look of Amber Fort.

Street view - Jaipur

Jaipur city view from a temple on top of hill.

Monkeys and pigs alongside of the street of Jaipur.

Last day - Delhi

In red Punjabi suit at Qutub Minar, about to say good bye to India. 

Qutub Minar, world's tallest free-standing brick minaret. 

Humayun's Tomb, the little Taj Mahal.

End our journey with a good meal at The Olive Bar & Kitchen at New Delhi.

Pizza and spaghetti, so yummy! We were so craving for these, after so many days of indian food.

And of couse some sweet cocktail to chilled out and celebrate for the completed trip we had planned for many many years! Many more to come, Henni! Namaste!

Another Garden Wedding at E&O Hotel

It was a rainy day, we had to move from the garden to the verandah.  Do not get me wrong, it was not havoc, instead the verandah was so perfect for wedding ceremony! There was a glass awning with vintage iron-cast frame that caused the romantic atmosphere. At a glimpse, I thought I was in the 20's of last century. Nonetheless, the most importantly, the ceremony still held next to the garden, participants still can enjoy the greenish and sea breeze.

A vintage arch and flower stands with bird cage decorated with fresh flowers. This was where the wedding couple took their wedding vow.

Chair sash. Color of the day - red, white and gold, just right for the vintage style of E&O hotel.

Walking on the aisle is like walking on the memory lane of  20's  of last century, when Penang was still the colonial of british . 

Small posies with a swing for the wedding ring box decoration.

Wedding reception at the grand ball room, same theme as the garden decoration - bird cage flower stands.

Discover, explore & experience Taiwan - East Coast

Beautiful sunny day and mild pacific ocean Sea breeze, it was a perfect day drive along the stunning east coast. We started the journey early in the morning to avoid crowd, while the beautiful sceneries were encouragement enough to wake up early

My first time -- Pacific Ocean. No body blocking the view, luckily we were early, a big crowd of tourist buses came after 30 minutes.

This reminded me of the Great Ocean Road in Australia.

Dancing in the wind.

Tropic of Cancer - Its Southern Hemisphere counterpart, marking the most southerly position at which the Sun may appear directly overhead -- according to wikipedia. :D 

Young bird nest fern fried with garlic, delicious and crunchy! One of the dishes we had for lunch in one of the seafood restaurants along east coast. Never though of it can be eaten, I use it for flower arranging back home. 

At the end of the day, we rented bicycles and cycled around Li Yu lake, a significant spot in  East Rift Valley.

Discover, explore & experience Taiwan - Hualien, Taroko Gorge

Hubby and I prefer country side vacation than hectic city tour. Hence, we spent 5 nights at Hualien, a place with more natural spots around.

Taroko Gorge is a top rated travel spot in Taiwan and should not be missed. The blue-green Liwu river cuts through marble-walled canyons, lush vegetation and cliffs so outsized they block out the sky at Taroko Gorge. We hired a private tour guide to bring us around, as we only had one day for it. Travel by bus would consume too much time on travelling. We did few hiking trail on the day, and the scenes were so magnificent and awesome!

清水断崖
Qing Shui Cliff - Our first stop from Hualien to Taroko Gorge. Our private tour guide warned us not to too close to the shore,  as the waves could be too big sometimes.

Entrance of Shakadang River Valley trail, lush green shade, fascinating rock folds and magical marble stones are waiting ahead.

Look at the blue-green crystal clear water,  how I wished I could spend another day here just to swim within the marble rocks.

Gosh.... we should spend another day to soak in this natural hot spring.

燕子口道
A popular tourist spot, which can be reached easily by vehicles. 

Discover, explore & experience Taiwan - Night Market and delicacies

Hubby and I made it to Taiwan the Ilha Farmosa, translated as 'Beautiful Island', in April this year. We spent 10 days in Taipei and Hualien, to discover the bold mountain scenery, explore the serious food culture and experience the thriving local culture.

No one would resist the local delicacies at taiwan's night market. We spent 3 nights at different night market  - Keelung Miaokou night market, Shida night market and Raohe street night market. Keelung was my favourite among the 3, the delicacies were more traditional and unique, variety from seafood to special Keelung snacks.

海鲜烧烤
Look at the octopus legs, so big and yet not so expensive!

油饭和蟹肉羹
My favorite street food in Keelung, oily rice with crab meat soup, still drooling while looking at this picture, lol! But watch out the calorie and cholesterol, sinful food indeed.

基隆庙口夜市
Night market in front of a temple, the crowd that obsessed with the street delicacies.

葱油糕
Another favorite snacks - scallion cake, it melt in my mouth with the aroma of scallion.

We experienced another night in night market at Hualien, the crowd was less but food was no less variety and tasty. It was a long day after a day trip along the east coast, we were more starving than usual. Thus, the local tour guide brought us to one of the night market in Hualien. And he told us that, it was pretty much easy to find good food -- just follow the crowd, and you wouldn't get mistake.

烤肉串
Took away some barbecue meats as snacks for beer back in hostel.

春卷
The famous spring roll stall. It was quite similar to spring roll back home, but like most Taiwanese food, more ingredients like peanut, mustard, garlic, pork or beef were added to make the taste richer.

关东煮
Oden, a common and delicious street and night market food that you can find anywhere in Taiwan.

臭豆腐
And here came the notorious Stinky Tofu. This was my first time tasting, and guess what? I love it! Especially the texture. 

We had tried several spicy steamboat restaurant in Taipei, but we were amazed by this shaoxing rice wine chicken steamboat. The restaurant was located at Ximending. The course was extremely delicious, and hubby almost wanted to extend our holiday for it. 真是神仙都站不稳！*fainted*

花雕酒鸡火锅
It was steamboat buffet , we added some mushrooms, vegetables and yuba based on our favorite. We had another round of spicy steamboat, and all it costed was only RM50.00 per person. On top of that, they even provided unlimited beers, it worth more than the price.
Once a while, when we want to release stress and free of self constraint, this is the ideal place to hangout, drink and eat as much as you desire. Hell, you would not want to think of what may happen tomorrow if you come to restaurant like this!

There were plenty more food we had and had not tried, I choose few more that I like and worth to post and record.

豆浆油条
Me, enjoying hot soya bean milk with youtiao(chinese fried bread stick). Typical Taiwanese breakfast.

炒米粉与竹笋汤
Fried rice noodle and bamboo shoot soup. Taiwanese food was just so right to my taste of tongue, bamboo shoot is my all time favorite and we could find it everywhere in Taiwan!  

卤肉饭与金针花排骨汤
Another mouth watering traditional food -- Minced pork rice, and orange daylily with pork rib soup.

As the conclusion of today's journal, Taiwan is a truly food paradise. Most of the hawkers and cooks are serious, passionate and creative with their food. Believe it or not, even their train's bentos were so good! If you are a food lover, your trip to Taiwan could be really awesome and splendid!

p/s : I had gained 1kg after the 10 days trip. :P