10 Reasons Why You Gotta Love Taiwan

- by angie -

This was my second trip to Taiwan. I can't read nor speak Chinese, so I left all the planning to HH's sister (Thank you!). I may not know where I went, I may not know where I stayed, I may not know what I ate.

10. Beautiful Scenery
Taiwan has it all. Mountain resorts and hot springs, beaches, lakes, extinct volcanoes, forests, even green meadows. A lot of these places are so well maintained and protected that you just have to enjoy the breath of fresh air you get.

Mountain village of Jiufen

Yehliu Geological Park

Extinct Volcano at Yangming Mountain

Fisherman's Wharf of Danshui

Taiwan Break

- by angie -



This blog will be taking a short holiday from 23-30 Apr. We're off to Taiwan via Jetstar Asia in Singapore. Our airfare for 3 persons came to SGD$609, which is RM469.50 per person only!! This is for return airfare, inclusive of all taxes and surcharges. Cool eh?? Will tell you more about our trip when we return. Ciao!

Restoran Boston Baru

- by angie -


This place is one of my favourite restaurants to go to on the weekend. It is located on Jalan Kapar in Klang, directly opposite Kamdar, also next door to the Tabung Haji Building. They open strictly at 7:00pm, if you were to arrive any earlier, you have to wait outside along with all the other hungry people. At 7:00pm sharp, you gotta run in like their giving free food and find a table. The crowd gets worse on weekends. If you can't get there by 7:00pm, be prepared to wait an hour for your food! Was it all worth it?


This is their signature dish, steamed lala in ginger & wine sauce. Of all the similar steamed lala i've tried all over, this is currently still the best. The wine taste is just right with ginger and garlic. A sip of heaven.


This is another signature dish, Nestum Mantis Prawns. The nestum flakes are slightly sweet with a tinge of curry leaves flavour. Very nice to eat with rice.


This is their hokkien mee, I rate it to be No.1 among all that I have ever tasted. Although i like hokkien mee, I often feel a bit disgusted after 2 small helpings as they are often oily. But with this one, i could finish the whole thing! Yum!


This is claypot pork belly. Only order this if you like fatty pork. Sorry this is not to my liking, i hate oily foods. Had to order this for someone else.

My meal for 4 persons consisting all of the above, plus another claypot tauhu and a small portion of cantonese noodles, rice and tea for 4, came to RM62!!!! Anyone needs more directions, feel free to ask :)

Casualties

- by angie -



For the past 2 weeks now, some black spots have appeared on my feet. A few years ago, one spot did appear and I didn't think very much of it. But all of a sudden, so many are mushrooming on my feet. I'm beginning to wonder what they are. Could they be liver spots? Are my kidneys failing? Are these side-effects from my gall bladder operation?

I was about to visit the doctor this evening to find out, it was very worrying. I had a closer look here:


OH I KNOW WHAT THIS IS!! Phew!


My feet and the rest of my body got badly sunburnt from the recent Discover Smiles Treasure hunt i went to. The blackened toe was when i knocked into something. And I'm nursing a bad sore throat & cough since I returned, on my 2nd course of antibiotics now, too much antibiotics until i'm having diarrhoea. Imagine coughing until you can't sleep, and coughing up a brown raisin every morning.

I'm at least better than hui hui. Originally with a slipped disc, she had a bulge at the base of her spine after the 2-3km bike ride. It was swelling and protruding from her back. Now she has to go for physiotherapy to push it back.

Was it all worth it?? Find out every Friday, 7:00-7:30pm on TV3.

Hunt is over!

- by angie -


I'm happy to be back in KL after 4 long days of fun-filled activities. This is a summary of what I've been up to the past 4 days.

Day 1: 22 March 2008, Kuala Lumpur to Ipoh
- Left Exxon-Mobil near KLCC to Esso Jln Sg. Buloh.
- Perform my team chant (Papaya E-I-E-I-O)
- Do a Pump-It-Close challenge, i.e. pump RM4.31 of petrol
- Walk hunt at Esso Batang Berjuntai
- Pickup a goodie bag from Mobil Sg. Besar
- Find Bethany Home at Simpang Ampat to present the goodie bag
- Help to paint their garden pots and walls, but thunderstorm
- Built a 3-tier shelf as fast as you can
- Walk hunt at Teluk Intan
- Another Pump-It-Close challenge in Mobil Changkat Jong
- Ipoh to take a photo of ourselves in front of 3 heritage buildings whilst holding today's newspaper. Heavy rain came when we tried to take the 3rd pic, nobody to help us take it!
- Finally checked in to Heritage Hotel, Ipoh





On this day, our friendly Ipoh policemen were kind enough to tell me which heritage building I was looking for and escorted me to the place, thank you very much. Hui hui had to beg a shop owner for her personal copy of The Star, cos not a single copy could be found in Ipoh town at 5pm!

Day 2: 23 March 2008, Ipoh to Bukit Merah

- Drive hunt at Greentown, Ipoh
- Entered Lost World of Tambun to do 3 challenges:
a) Walk approx 350m against river currents
b) Rush down a river slide on floats, apply shaving cream all over one partner's face, and another to throw Cheezels onto the shaving cream to make it stick!
c) Assemble PVC pipes and joints underwater to form the word SMILES
- Another Pump-It-Close challenge at Mobil near Tesco Ipoh
- A 16-piece jigsaw puzzle challenge (we came 1st!)
- Walk hunt in the scorching hot sun at Kuala Kangsar
- Headed to Taiping zoo, thunderstorm loomed, and we had to take photos of the snake, sambar deer and chimpanzee with us in the photo, all within 30 mins. Try running like hell in the pouring rain
- Yet another Pump-It-Close challenge at Gunung Semanggol Rest Area Esso
- Check-in to Bukit Merah Laketown Resort


Day 3: 24 March 2008, Bukit Merah to Penang

- Visit Orang Utan Island in Bukit Merah, very cute baby orang utans there
- Bike ride around Bukit Merah to do:
a) Blow up a huge swimming float
b) Roll a dice to eat either chilli padi or crackers loaded with wasabi
c) Duplicate a Lego puzzle
d) Bowl 10 mineral bottles using a coconut
e) Paddle boat relay whilst blowing 5 balloons and filling 10 plastic bags of water
- Walk Hunt at Seberang Perai in the most scorching hot sun of the 3 days
- Took ferry to Penang (RM7.70!!!!)
- Arrived Fort Cornwallis to sit a trishaw ride
- Walk Hunt at Little India
- Trishaw ride back to Fort Cornwallis in a thunderstorm
- Checkin at Cititel Penang
- Re-do jigsaw puzzle from Day 2 with one person blindfolded, and the other yelling like crazy from 4ft away.

Day 4: 25 March 2008, Penang
- Mini walk hunt inside Fort Cornwallis
- Trishaw ride to Chow Rasta market to buy some treasures
- Trishaw to New World Park to eat Ice Kacang 4-in-1 as fast as you can
- Back to Fort Cornwallis to do a Snakes & Ladders game


Overall, I really enjoyed myself these 4 days and was well worth our sacrifices. Eventhough I didn't win anything significant, I have no regrets and can proudly say "Been there, done that!". Now I can't wait for it to appear on TV3!

Preparation for battle!

- by angie -

There's only 3 days left till the hunt! A simple check revealed that one of my competitors is a member of Powerman Malaysia, and participates in marathons and triathlons! So I have been jogging for the past 2 days, with 3 days left, can I turn into a Powerwoman??

To prepare ourselves, this is what I managed to get, thanks to Chong.



These are questions we have sent to the organisers:
1. Do you require both participants to be able to drive?
2. Can you provide 2 single rooms for those can't share a twin room?
3. In cases of car breakdown, will replacement be given?
4. Can we use phone/laptop or call friends for support?
5. Are we needed at night, can we work or check email at night?
6. Are we allowed to use handphones for colleagues to contact us for work?
7. Will T-shirts be provided for the whole journey, 1 pc per day only?
8. Are we allowed to bring our own books & maps?
9. Do we have to pack light or can bring any comfort items like pillows?
10. Can we bring more than 1 pair of shoes along, in case its muddy
11. Can we bring own medicines
12. Is one cameraman going to follow per car
13. Is the cameraman going to sit in the front seat? I'll get dizzy behind
14. Can we prepare sweets and chocolates for the entire 5 days?
15. Are we required to do activities at night in amazing race style?
16. Do we need swimwear like goggles
17. What kind of clothes/shoes to bring
18. Are we allowed to bring Smart TAG for toll?
19. Are we allowed to bring touch and go card?
20. Do we need to bring money for the entire trip, if so, how much?
21. Can we bring a GPS device with map
22. Can we bring umbrella and/or raincoats
23. Will we be given petrol card, or how to pump petrol?
24. Can we pump shell/bhp/petronas if there is no mobil/esso nearby?
25. Is there an option if a team is physically unable to perform the challenge?
26. Will all teams be required to compete till the end, or will teams
be eliminated and can go home early?
27. What physical requirements are required? Example if someone were
to have a dislocated shoulder, he/she cannot hang from a bar

What a pampered lot we are!

Horrors of being filmed

- by angie -

Monday 17/3.
We were the first team to arrive at the studio in Technology Park Malaysia. I didn't know what to expect, and came in office attire. I forgot to brush my hair that day, and had pimples all over my face. We were both sweaty after brisk walking 15 minutes to the studio near my office.

We were brought into the studio and had a look at some of the questions they were about to ask. Before we knew it, the cameras were rolling, no mirrors for me to check how I looked, no comb/brush in sight, no makeup, nothing. After stummering thorough some answers, we had to do very ridiculous poses and come up with a team name on the spot. So who are we?

We're team Papaya!! Why?
Teams who hunt often are known as regulars.
So Papaya keeps you regular.... ya ka ka ka!