mrbrown: L'infantile terrible of Singapore

In Malacca, don't waste Satay sauce

Ban Lee Siang Satay Celup aka Lok Lok! Don't ask how that satay sauce has been there or how many people have dipped their sticks of stuff into it cos we don't wanna know.

It turned out to be pretty tasty and fun to eat. And not as nasty as it looks.

Malacca night life very happening

This karaoke place in Malacca offer "titbits" and has a "head charge" I am not sure if we should go there.

The mrbrown Holiday Giveaway Results!

When I planned this holiday Christmas giveaway with my kind sponsor, Wotif.com, I thought it would be easy to run and fun to do.

I was half right.

It has been tremendous fun doing it. But it was way way hard to judge.

I received more than double the entries compared to the last mrbrown Giveaway, via Twitter, email and even via the Comments section of my blog.

I read every single entry I received. And you guys made me laugh... and sometimes, cry. Your entries were witty, fun and in many cases, personal and touching.

But I only have one prize to give away. I wish I had more.

So the winner of this 3D2N stay at Bintan Lagoon Resort is...Tracy F.

Her entry, via email, reads:

"I want a holiday from mrbrown because I want to celebrate with my hubby for being able to triumph from a sick kidney dialysis patient one year ago to a healthy man who has nursed his kidneys back to health now."

And here is the best part. I don't know if you knew this or not, Tracy, but your husband was also thinking of you when he sent me his entry earlier. Because I received this from him:

"I want a holiday from mrbrown because it's been years since I've gone on a holiday with my wife. It's been a tough year for us as I was fighting off a kidney disease and struggling to get off dialysis, and all I want now is to be able to spend some quiet alone time with my beloved wife."

I was going to give it to him, but then I received your entry, Tracy, and I thought it would create a perfect circle to give it to you instead.

So Tracy and Eric, enjoy your time together and have a blessed Christmas.

Taipei Day 7: Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport hotel

We stayed at the brand new Novotel Taipei near the airport on our trip. It is so new, you can still smell it. Take a little tour of the suite, the pool and the gym with me.

I liked the 24 hour gym and and heated pool a lot. Location was not the bestest but convenient if you want to stay near the airport. It is also handy if you are planning some travel outside of Taipei.

The internet was free too, both LAN and Wifi.

Thanks to sponsor Wotif.com and Novotel Taipei for the stay.

Taipei Day 6: Seen in a 7-Eleven

Why is the brand of this Taiwanese made condom "High Tide Condom"?

Does that mean you can use it for sex when you also have a full bladder? Does it have extra space for you to pee into?

I am intrigued.

Taipei Day 6: On the High Speed Rail to Taichung

We chose to take the Taiwan High Speed Rail to Taichung from our Taoyuan hotel. Just for the experience of traveling in a train that can hit 300kmh. I was most impressed with the comfort and the modernity of the service. It was a little pricey but if you need to get from one end of Taiwan to the other, the THSR can't be beat. My only other gripe was that the HSR stations were located in somewhat out of the way places and a shuttle bus ride (free) was needed.

This is a first time on a HSR for the wife and I.

The seats have lots of legroom!

Ryan really loved the food onboard the train.

Taichung was not as hopping as Taipei but we had a good time at their National Musuem of Science.

We also shopped at their Sogo department store (yes the one that no longer exists in Singapore). Not only was Sogo alive and well in Taichung, the department store was 18 floors of shopping.

EIGHTEEN freakin' floors. I kid you not.

And their lifts were run by polite ad uniform-clad lift pressers. The lady's one job was to press your lift floor for you and at every floor, she would come out and announce to all and sundry that the lift was here and on its way up or down.

Just in case customers cannot read arrows or hear the ding of a lift door opening, I suppose.

Taipei Day 6: 烏魚子

This vagina-looking thing is actually some kind of compressed fish eggs, a Taiwanese delicacy. It's so special that the shop at the airport selling it also sells a red plastic toy version of it.

The mrbrown Holiday Giveaway

I promised another Christmas giveaway and here it is! I am giving away a 3D2N stay at Bintan Lagoon Resort, courtesy of Wotif.com.

You will be staying in a newly renovated Deluxe Room at the Bintan Lagoon Resort, and the prize includes daily buffet breakfast for two persons, welcome drink, two-way land transfer from Bintan Ferry Terminal to Hotel, and one buffet dinner for two persons at Kopi-O Restaurant.

Total value of this prize is $1000, and the prize is usable from January onwards.

Again, I want you to tell me why I should give this holiday to you.

All you have to do is to email (mrbrown [at] mrbrown [dot] com) or tweet @mrbrown, "I want a holiday from mrbrown because..." and then your witty and/or convincing reason.

Keep it short and sharp. I will pick a winner and announce it on Christmas Eve, which is 24th December 2009. You have about two days to enter.

Send me your holiday tweets and emails now!

Taipei Day 5: Hot Springs of Beitou

You can't not try the hot springs of Taiwan so we checked out the ones in 北投. It was also the first time the wife has ever tried a hot spring and she liked it a lot.

You get 40 minutes for two persons for spending NTD400 at the spa's slightly overpriced restaurant. We didn't bring our own towels so it was another NTD250 to buy a towel (they don't rent those for hygiene reasons).

It was the perfect thing to do on a cold winter's day.

Then we drove down to Huaxi Street Night Market for some food, pretty much snacking our way through dinner.

Looking for stuff to eat at Huaxi Night Market.

Snakes are slaughtered and cooked here for your dining pleasure.

That is a glimpse of the humongous white python on display at this restaurant.

The wife wanted to try these Japanese cakes with red bean, cheese or peanut filling. The guy took a long time to make them because he had a lot of orders to fill. But they taste good only if you eat them hot.

The wife also wanted to try this BBQ corn. It is sold from NTD50 onwards, based on weight. There are three kinds of corn to choose from. The regular yellow corn, a white corn and a black and white one.

Taipei Day 5: National Palace Museum

Our hired cab for the day drove us to the National Palace Museum, or 國立故宮博物院, where more than 600,000 Chinese treasures and artifacts are kept. The exhibition running these few months covers the Yongzheng Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, a very misunderstood emperor.

The highlight of the exhibit is this jade cabbage. It certainly looks tasty.

This is the armour belonging to Yongzheng Emperor.

A very cool exhibition indeed.

The wife looks very Empress-like here.

Taipei Day 5: Jiufen, little mountain town

After a crazy drive up the mountain road, we made it to the quaint and somewhat touristy town of 九份 or Jiufen.

This town was the inspiration for the downtown scenes of Hayao Miyazaki's anime Spirited Away. And it was also the backdrop for the 1989 movie, City of Sadness, was filmed. City of Sadness, or 悲情城市, was the first movie to talk about the infamous 228 Incident of 1947, where thousands of people were massacred.

The view is rather nice and the one narrow street is full of Taiwanese goodie shops. If we thought Taipei was cold, the temperatures up high here are lagi colder.

This is a famous 九份 fishball place. I am a fishball fan and to see them this size, wow.

The wife trying a Taiwanese sausage. You should see the gross black 墨鱼 one. I tried the black one and it was surprisingly good.

That sign behind says Pig's Blood Cake. I am not a fan.

This gentleman's shop sells Tang Yuan made on-site, in the area behind him.

Besides the shopping and the food, we of course loved the great mountain views of 九份!

Taipei Day 4: Shihlin Night Market

This is a baked potato that's been deepfried in batter, then stuffed w bacon, turkey, corn, egg, pork floss & drenched in Gouda cheese. Shihlin Sin.

It was part of our healthy dinner for the evening. In fact, we just stood around and shared snacks from various stalls at the night market.

The night was clear from rain this time and we managed to experience more of Shihlin this time.

These are giant takopachi balls.

You have to try this Papaya Milk Shake, 木瓜牛奶.

Hot dog on a stick, deep fried to golden sinfulness.

Spicy fish balls on a stick! Ryan had three sticks of these.

The wife bought some pineapple tarts (also available with green tea and blueberry filling) for our parents, while Ryan and I tried a small air rifle range.

For NTD100 per 12 rounds, we shot at red ping pong balls with an M16, an M16 with scope (not zeroed one, bluff people kind) and a Glock pistol.

The young man who ran the range took pity on us and gave us a small soft toy as a consolation prize. We did spend NTD500 bucks there, firing his non-zeroed weapons.

Taipei Day 4: Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall

We were surrounded by items of great historical significance to the Taiwanese. Ryan shared his deep knowledge of Taiwan and China's history with us as we gazed upon photos and artifacts from Taiwan's past. What a gorgeous museum they have here.

Ryan chatted with a helpful elderly volunteer at the Memorial. She was most impressed by his knowledge of Taiwan history.

I felt a sense of awe here. Sure, it felt like a Singapore Discovery Centre "National Education" experience here, but you really felt the sense of history they were trying to convey.

An art exhibition was going on inside the Hall and out in the courtyard, young people wer practising their flag throwing and drumming.

Taipei Day 3: CAESAR PARK HOTEL TAIPEI

Here's a little tour of where we are staying in Taipei, the CAESAR PARK HOTEL TAIPEI, located in the heart of Taipei, near the Taipei Railway Station. Thanks to sponsors Wotif.com and Caesar Park Taipei hotel.

We love it to bits for the location and comfort.

They have a gym and spa in-house and a roof garden in the floor above our 20th floor rooms. I quite enjoyed the spread of their breakfast buffet too, and I don't normally think highly of hotel breakfasts.

Not only was the hotel near the Taipei Railway Station and the MRT, it is actually connected via a basement passageway. We just had to take a lift to Basement 1, walk through a bunch of shops into the M6 entrance of the MRT station!

They also provide a Luggage Service at the basement, should you need help with your luggage after coming in via the MRT.

Taipei Day 3: Breakfast then it's off to Shimen Ding

We left the wives to have their breakfast at the hotel's complimentary buffet while the two of us slipped out to have some local food.

The breakfast of champions: 铁板面 (hot plate noodles)，葱抓饼 (Taiwanese prata no curry)，猪扒三文治 (pork chop sandwich)，奶茶 (Teh).

This is the 铁板面.

This is 葱抓饼.

We LOVE Taiwan.

Taipei Day 2: Smelly Tofu and 24h Bookstores

Ryan, my wife and I got adventurous and decided to go out for some late supper and bookstore browsing. Ryan spotted the Smelly Tofu stall and could not resist buying some. It's not as good as the Hong Kong one though (not as smelly) but still tasty.

This is the heavenly Eslite's 24-hour bookstore.

The wife can probably appreciate it more than me. She reads Chinese
books. I can't. Haha!

The wife found a Taiwanese singer she liked and bought her CD right away. Her name is 小娟&山谷里的居民 and the album is called 紅布 綠花朵.

Then we ended the evening at a 24-hour Hong Kong Cafe nearby, where the food was pretty close to Hong Kong Cafe standards.

Burp!

Taipei Day 2: 11 degrees C

It's getting a little cold here in Taipei. Our visit to Taipei 101 was a mixed bag. The superfast elevator ride was nice, all 37 seconds of it taking us up to the 89th floor.

The poor view due to the fog was a little disappointing. It cost NTD400 per person.

We were told we could experience both the 89th floor viewing gallery and the 88th floor. We quite liked the giant balancing ball at the 88th floor but not the part where we had to walk through the whole 88th floor of Coral Gemstone shops to leave.

We did get to try the audio video guide gadgets though. It helped to explain what we could see from the Taipei 101 Observatory... especially since we couldn't really see much.

Taipei Day 2: Taipei MRT

The Taipei MRT rocks, man. The token system is also way way easier to use than our blasted ez-link single trip cards.

We're on our way to City Hall station to check out Taipei 101 skyscraper!

One area where their MRT kicks ours: 1-minute intervals between trains during rush hour. And their people QUEUE in an orderly way to board the trains. And they stand on the right of the escalators if they are not moving in the "fast lane".

Taipei Day 1: The food! The food!

Even the 7-Eleven stores in Taiwan are light years more fun than ours! They sell Tea Eggs and hot Yong Tau Hu!

Ryan had to stop for this. His fave snack of Jian Bao. We never seem to stop eating in Taiwan. Haha!

Taipei Day 1: view from our room

We've just checked into the Caesar Park Taipei and this is the view from our room. It overlooks the Taipei Main Station. Time for some food!