UNIQLO COOL!

I’m sure by now you would have heard of Uniqlo, the Japanese casual brand that has landed on our shores for the very first time since early April!

It has been highly anticipated since last year and Singaporeans showed their enthusiasm by appearing in droves at the new store at Tampines 1 on opening day. And guess what? My hubby was one of them! Er… yes! Should I blame myself cos I was telling him all about Uniqlo? But hey it runs in the family! His brother Charles was also one of those who braved the crowds to enter the store during the opening weekend! It runs in the family!

And how can I miss out? Despite the snaking queue to enter the store (I haven mentioned the queue for the changing room and the cashier!), I made it in.

After browsing, I find it a more chic and higher quality version of Giordano. I guess it must be the power of marketing that has created such an aura of cool around the brand. And the stamp of approval given by the fashionable in-crowd. But I dun deny its ads are very creative. And the styling for their clothing really makes the clothes desirable!

So anyway, Joe and me decided to show off our new Uniqlo buys! Wonder if we look as cool as the ads? =)

 

Useful Links for Your Taiwan Trip

Hi everyone, hope you enjoyed yourself reading about my holiday in Taiwan! Prior to my trip, I did a fair bit of research online and I want to share my links with you! Just click on the screen shots to access the links!

General Info

Go2Taiwan

This site gives you lots of useful info about Taiwan. It's good for a general overview of the country.

TripAdvisor



The must-go site for every traveller. Especially like the recommendations for accommodations. The reviews by travellers who have visited the hotels/B&Bs really help you to make an informed choice!

WikiTravel

This is a sub-set of Wikipedia and gives good detailed information about the different regions and attractions of Taiwan.

Fellow Travellers’ Blogs

I got some interesting insights from fellow Taiwan travellers who blogged about their experiences. They give you some idea of fun places to go and good food to try!

My Trip Bloggies

This blogger has a detailed itinerary of his time in Taiwan. Love the photo slide show he did up on the home page, makes you very excited about Taiwan!

Pandalene

Her entire 6 days holiday is packed into 1 web page only but pretty informative and gives you a good idea of what most young Singaporeans do when they go Taiwan.

quachee

His photos are well-taken and he has some keen observations on Taiwan and the Taiwanese people!

Bloggers in Taiwan

What better way to get an insider’s view of Taiwan than from bloggers residing in Taiwan?

a hungry girl’s guide to taipei

A Taiwanese version of ieatishootipost!

The Daily Bubble Tea

Many beautiful photos from a foreigner who got married and is now living in Taiwan. He gives good background info about different places as well – recommended!!

The Daily Lomo

Using a fisheye lomo, this blogger takes really unique shots of Taiwan! Click on the photos for an expanded and awesome view!

Have fun exploring the above links! If you have been to Taiwan, they will bring back lots of wonderful memories! If you haven’t been to Taiwan, I think they will entice you enough to book your next holiday there!

If it is info overload, you can always just read about my holiday in Taiwan here! =)

Taiwan Holiday [Day 9]

Off to visit the National Palace Museum. The exterior is very grand and the interior more modern-looking. But we found the layout of the exhibits very messy and sort of gave up after a while. Guess we also wanted to rush back to Ximending to do some last minute shopping! Ximending is really packed during the weekends! There were so many young people just hanging around, maybe to see and be seen. I must say that Taiwanese are more fashionable than us. I think they really bother to dress up when they go out unlike Singaporeans!

We saw a store that had many satellite vans hanging around it and there was some launch of sorts. Later I realised that Gillian Chung was making an appearance since she's the new model for Tough Jeans. We din catch a glimpse of her cos we were more keen on shopping! Then around 3 plus, it was time for us to board the bus to the airport, marking the end of our Taiwan holiday! We really had a great time and I hope you enjoyed sharing our experiences through my blog postings the past few days! =)))

And of course, the trip couldn’t have been possible without the kind help of my colleague, Jasmine, who gave me lots of tips and also shared her itinerary with me. =)

I will be compiling a list of useful links and some blogs I stumbled upon while doing my research for this trip ... coming soon!

You can read more about the rest of my holiday here~

Taiwan Holiday [Day 8]

Continuation of our adventure in Taiwan.... we are in Taipei, to refresh your memory!

Wanted to go to a quite few places but Dear wanted to take it easy and spend the time shopping! =( Anyways, we went up to Xinbeitou to the Hot Springs area. Around that area, there are lots of hot spring resorts and even a public hot spring pool! We went to Broadway Hot Spring resort which is like a hotel but also have rooms for rent with a hot spring bath for soaking! You could just sit and relax while looking at the beautiful view outside!

The water that comes out from the tap is hot spring water which was very hot! We took some time to get used to the temperature. But after that, it was very relaxing and the water is reportedly good for your skin! Apparently you can lose weight too! We were perspiring after a while! When we came out to take a shower, we felt dizzy! But our skin was very smooth!

The public hot spring pool

After that, we indulged in KFC! They had a yummy burger somewhat like a cordon bleu - patty with cheese within the patty. Yummy! Then off to Ximending to check it out! The place was abuzz with lots of young people! We tried the very popular Ah Zhong Mian Xian which was really value-for-money, less than $2 for a small bowl. The shops at Ximending are more branded and thus also more expensive. We didn't really get much stuff around here.

One of the restaurants we wanted to check out was the Modern Toilet Restaurant which has toilet bowls, and food in various digesting shapes! The food isn't great but the concept was different and fun! Really wonder how they thought of something like that! I was trying to quickly finish my food cos I couldn't really stomach the thought of eating from a toilet bowl!

We ended the day by going to Shilin for the very last time! I must say that the Taiwanese are very frenly especially the salespeople. Somehow they all could tell we were from Singapore! They are quite chatty and after you try out the clothes, they will sprout off fashion commentary! Hee! We also wanted to try some street snacks for the last time but didn't have much space left to eat. Think we have very small appetite. I have read blogs of others who visited Taiwan and they eat lots! We tried the Coffin Bread, there aren't many stores selling this food item anymore, only spotted one store. Not too bad… then it was time to say goodbye to Shilin since it was our last night here at Taiwan!

You can read more about the rest of my holiday here~

Funeral

Remember the video of a cute boy I put up sometime ago who taught us a thing about racial harmony? Well, the director of this video, Yasmin Ahmad, also directed the MCYS "Family" commercial and more recently, "Funeral". I just saw it on TV just now and I actually teared.... super touching...!

Google Reader!

Am interrupting my Taiwan trip update with something more techy...

Do you always have problems keeping track of your favourite blogs and websites? Maybe you keep a list of blogs on your own blog so that you can click through and find out which ones are updated. But sometimes those blogs are not updated and you wasted your time clicking though. Also, maybe you have a whole long list of must-read websites saved under your Favourites and sometimes it's such a hassle to go through the list to find out which ones have been updated. Well, I discovered a really cool solution - Google Reader!

I had read about it here and there but never thought to really try it out until I felt my list of must-reads was becoming totally unmanageable! If you have a Gmail or Blogger account, just login to Google Reader with your username and password and start "adding subscriptions". Most blogspot blogs can be subscribed to. Then everytime u want to check out on who has updated, just login and the sites that have updates will be bolded with a number beside showing the number of updated posts. It's super convenient!! Now I never miss out on anybody's blog entries and I dun have to waste time clicking through numerous sites to get to the blog I was looking for. Try it today, it will make your life so much easier!!

Oops, I hope I am not reducing the number of visitors to anybody's blog since now you can have your own list of blogs & sites all on your own managed page rather than clicking through the links from somebody's blog =P

U can learn more about Google Reader from this video link.

# Edited: I still added links to all the various blogs I read on my blog ---> you can see it on the right cos I reckon pple will be interested to know what I am reading. Btw, do you know I did it in a few minutes cos you can simply import your Google Reader subscriptions as links on your site? Super super convenient! I can't stop raving about Google Reader!!