Taipei 5D4N Anniversary Trip

Hi guys! The boyfriend and I just came back from our 5D4N second anniversary trip from Taipei.
Generally, July is not exactly a good time to head to Taiwan because the weather is gonna be really cranky, it can be VERY hot and yet be pouring the next second!! but !!! I would say we are very lucky because we experienced the rainfall for only once (the entire trip!!) :-p

Long story short, 9 July 2019 marks the second year we got together. We bought our air tickets + hotel accommodation VIA Expedia 3 months before our trip.

Total damage is SGD 1096.79 for air tickets and hotel accommodation (I will share more about the hotel later). I would say the timing for our flight is really good. We fly on the 9th July 2019 at 730am, touching down at Taoyuan International Airport at 12pm++

Day 1:

 

Upon touching down at Taoyuan International Airport and clearing the customs, we took an express train to Taipei main station > took MRT to Ximen station (1 stop away from the main station) and proceed to check in to our hotel.

For this trip, we stayed 4 nights at Hotel Midtown Richardson, 2mins walk from Ximen station, right next to Ximen Partyworld building. It's super duper convenient!!! :-D The hotel is very clean and nice. We stayed in a city deluxe double room with a bathtub, and it comes with hotel breakfast!!  (we never get to try the breakfast though because the breakfast timing is from 8am to 10am i think, it's kinda early for us oops)

We went to have some Ichiran Ramen because we have been craving for it ever since our Hongkong Trip. It still tastes AS good!!!!

As we stay right next to Ximen party world, we decided to go for some KTV session in a huge ass room haha. We sang for 4hours help. Oh alcohols are always so cheap compared to Singapore *gulp gulp gulp*

DAY 2: 

We booked a day-tour from KLOOK for about SGD100 prior flying over. Around 1pm, the tour guide fetched us from our hotel and drove us to visit some touristic places which are not so accessible to go to. Oh, the tour only have 5people including the boyfriend and me, sooooo it's pretty cosy and nice. It's by Edison tour, recommended!!

We also went to wufenpu + raohe night market! It's one of my favourite night market in Taipei!! :-D You can reach there by walking from houshanpi MRT if you intend to go for some shopping at wufenpu, else you can alight at another station which is nearer to the night market (i forgot which station though), but it's really easy to navigate with Google maps haha.

DAY 3:

Went to Villa 32 for our 90mins hot spring session, it's a super nice and relaxing place to go to!! Do rmb to make a reservation online before heading down ya because they have limited rooms available.

 


After the relaxing hotspring session, we took a cab to Shihlin Night market because we are very lazy to walk back to the MRT station haha 2 lazy old people here :-p If you are going there by train, nearest station will be Jiantan station (red line).

After all the walking, we headed back to the hotel for some rest before making our way to Taipei 101 for HDL!!! Taipei HDL is kinda cheap as compared to Singapore's. After our dinner, it's already close to 1130pm so we decided to go for some drinks nearby.

DAY 4:

Went to the last night market - Shi Da.

 

Also watch a movie together - The White Storm 2 by Andy Lau and Louis Koo!!! The movie is SO nice!! Not to mention, of course it's in Cantonese haha which makes it nicer. Oh! You know what? As we are waiting for the lift up to the cinema with tickets in our hands, there's their movie poster on the lift saying the movie will start showing on 12 July 2019 and we are like ???? what day is it today????? Isn't it 11th????? We panicked for real!! We thought we bought tickets for the next day instead but well, It's 12th July 2019 already but we still in denial hahaha.

-- edit--
This draft have been lying here for 10 holy months!!! I got lazy and stop halfway oops. Guess I shall just upload this post anw haha.

BTO Journey (PART 1)

Hello there!!

A little background story about my Boyfriend and me..
We got to know each other in 2017 and we have been together for 1.5 years, not a long time, I know.

We didn't really thought of applying for a BTO until his mother asked us to get a flat. That's when we started exploring, we gave August 2018 BTO a miss because we don't fancy any of the areas that's being launched and we kinda wanna apply for the November's 2018 one.

Mid November 2018, we threw in $10 and applied for a 4room flat @ EastGlen Canberra. It's one of the slower waiting time project along with SengKang and Yishun, it is stated to be completed in 2020. With new Canberra MRT station near EastGlen, we thought it's really good.

1month later, HDB sent a SMS and email to inform us of our queue number..

Its a pretty small project with only 131 flats available for 4 roomers, the project is so popular with over 700-800 applicants vying for 131 units!!! 

Our queue number is 131. Are we lucky or are we not? 

Got an appointment date on 12 Feb 2019, our appointment is at 315pm with 10 applicants in front of us that day, we still managed to select a mid-floor unit, paid $2000 booking fee. 

Not a very happy day because the units we wanted - all got selected right before us! The boyfriend wanted to give up our chance because he don't really want to stay at mid-level. ANW, he came to his senses few days later and decided that he is okay with the unit. That's quite funny because he already paid $2000. 

OH! not to mention, this project is FULLY SOLD OUT already. Usually there will be leftovers but not for Eastglen @ Canberra :-)

Right now, we are just waiting for our next appointment to sign the agreement of lease and we are all set to collect our keys!!! I am quite excited because it will be ready in the 3rd quarter of 2020 

(say what??)

HONG KONG 5D4N YEAR END TRIP

It was a rather impromptu decision to make a trip to HONGKONG actually.. We or rather ME decided to count down in HK :-p

It's his first time to HK while it's my 3rd time. He has only transit in HK airport before while going to NY last time so I guess its not counted ? 

We quite budget on air tickets but it's year end so we still spent a couple few hundreds more on the ticket, stayed in a 4 star hotel which cost a whooping $360 plus per night ? help!!!!

WE walked a lot!!!! Our hotel is in Jordan so it's walkable to most of the attractions, we walked up and down so many times that we don't need the GPS anymore. 

This was taken in the hotel lift lobby. Oh and it's really cold when we are there!

We went to Disney land, Ocean Park, oh we wanted to do a day trip to Macau and even bought the tickets on KLOOK but we were too drunk the day before and decided to sleep in instead *face palm*

That's my boyfriend drunk with 2 sour plum in each of his cheeks :-p

Got this cute Mickey couple sweater from Taobao before our trip, thinking it will be cute to wear it together to Disneyland.... but it's so cold that we had to throw some outwear on.

Oops I am getting lazy to go through our itinerary day by day :/ 

It's a fun trip and our first countdown trip together. Can't wait to travel to more places together with you my baobao <3

Driving license in Singapore

Hello there !

Just thought I should pen down my journey in getting my driving license in our SUNNY Singapore! 

Before getting your license, there's a few things you gotta decide!

• Auto or Manual

Auto means CLASS 3A - You will be able to drive almost all cars that doesn't involve the clutch. 

I chose Auto (I will explain why later)

• School or Private

Many thinks that Private = cheaper but that's really wrong! I think it all boils down to how fast you can absorb and learn - as well as finding the right instructor.

I will only share about my own experiences as a private student ya :-)

So... back in 2015/16, I enrolled in CDC as a private student. Signed up for my basic theory test which cost a few dollars only.

I bought the BTT book from popular book store, and really read through everything. I guess the trick to passing is to have your friends sending you all the mock papers WITH answers! 

You just have to remember, safety comes first. ha-ha.

Same from FTT, I only browse through the mock papers the day before. I passed both paper on my first try!

Oh, and to mention, BTT results will be valid forever but for FTT, it's only valid for 2 years, SO you gotta pass your driving license in 2 years, else you gotta retake your FTT paper again.

After passing my FTT, I immediately applied for my Provisional Driving Licence because I can't wait to start my practical lessons already, oh, that will cost you another $25. Good news is, back in my days, that licence will only last you for 6 months (I think), and you will have to apply again (which means paying another $25). Now for $25, it will be valid for 2 years!!!!!!

Initially, I wanted to get a CLASS 3 license because I thought it's kinda cool? 

I found a private instructor, went for my lessons, and I am on the verge of giving up. It's not that difficult but it's so tiring help. I can't really coordinate my legs and hands hahahaha. So the instructor told me some people will give up and go for class 3A license instead oops. 

After a few lessons, I gave up and took a break for more than a year. Until I realised, my FTT is gonna expire in 6months. *panic mode on*

Oh and that's in early 2018. My boyfriend stay in Woodlands, so naturally, I decided to enrol in SSDC instead because CDC is just very ulu to go to from my place. 

After 2018 CNY, I started taking my class 3A license on my OFF days. Usually 1hour per lesson. I think it's about $36/hr? If you need to go to the circuit, the lesson will be 1.5hrs instead and will cost around $60+ because as a private candidate, you need to pay the driving school some money for using their circuit.

Fast forward 4months, I finally went for my driving test!!!

I remember being nervous because if I fail my test, it means I have to retake my FTT. I took my test in August 2018 with my FTT expiring in September 2018.

My tester is a young Malay guy, and he is very unfriendly which makes me even more nervous ?

The test is pretty fast, you will start off in the circuit first, just remember to drive slowly and do what you always do during your lessons and you will be fine! :-)

Passed my class 3A driving test with 14 demerit points. Passing grade is - less than 20 demerit points with no immediate failure mistake.

I got 4 demerit points for failing to confirm safety while doing parallel parking, 8 demerit points for not giving enough side clearance to other road users/object (I honestly don't rmb?) and 2 demerit points for being too slow for the traffic condition oops.

After passing, you need to watch a safety video and pay another $50 for your license card to be mailed to your house!!!

That's my experience, good luck!!