Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Meow Zhua Zhua Nails

Continuing my fascination with this cat, I got a manicurist from Milly's to draw Meow Zhua Zhua on my nails! I particularly liked how well the brown cat was done!





Milly's offers a full range of nail services from classic manicure and pedicure to nails extension and nail art design. Single color gelish is only $20!!

In addition to offering eyelash extensions and eyebrow embroidery, Milly's also recently introduced waxing as a new service at their biggest outlet in Suntec. Do call 62386216 to ask about it and make an appointment!

More info about the services: http://millys.com.sg

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Taiwan - Nantou

One fine day I suddenly had this thought: Would I still love travelling to foreign countries as much, if I cannot bring any camera or take any photographs, not even with a lousy phone camera?

And I realized that my answer was 'No'.

Somehow it feels quite meaningless if I cannot capture the moments for remembrance! I don't mind using lousy low resolution cameras, or at least have quota for 5 shots with 1-2 of myself with a touristy background! If really cannot use any form of camera at all, I think I'd rather miss it and go another time when I can bring camera. Haha.

I guess the reason for this is because I have very bad memory. If not for the photographs I've taken and posted on my blog, I'd hardly remember much of what happened in my youth. Is this normal?



Visited Nantou in Taiwan! We had a scenic itinerary and I took plenty photos!

SUN MOON LAKE 日月潭


Sun Moon Lake is a famous tourist attraction in Taiwan and it's the largest lake in Taiwan. At first I thought Sun Moon Lake was going to be just a pretty pond of water but little did I know, it's actually so huge!



Went onto the cruise ship to explore the waters.



We had a humourous aboriginal guide on the ship introducing the history of Sun Moon Lake. He must have done this for many many many years because he sounded like he was reading from a script when actually he memorized everything!


In the middle of the lake was Lalu Island. It's really super small! It used to be bigger and housed residents, but the size significantly decreased during the construction of a dam in the 1930s, raising the water level in the lake and flooding almost the entire island. The island was also affected by the 921 big earthquake in 1999, resulting in what it is now. The guide also mentioned that the Thao tribe considered it as holy ground.







There are also hiking trails for those who are interested!




OOTD photos! Posting these two because I couldn't decide which was the nicer one, though the only difference is probably the positioning of one leg. Haha. Top is from Earthdoll! Brought many casual tops from Earthdoll to pair with denim shorts for the trip since I heard the weather's gonna be hot.



ABORIGINAL LUNCH

We had lunch in an aboriginal restaurant!




Our 10 course meal~ Check out the 2nd pic: clear soup in a glass bowl. It's so clear that it looks almost like a bowl of plain water with flower petals for washing hands if not for the ladle! The ones served in our seafood restaurants when we eat chilli crabs. Haha. Don't you think so too?


And the very green stalks of veggie... looks so dry and raw that I didn't dare to try at all. I think I still prefer our oily "Stirfry Kailan with Garlic" type of typical veggie. But overall it was a simple and satisfying meal. Felt very "authentic" to me, though I don't really know how authentic it is because I haven't had authentic home cooked food at Taiwan before this.






Why are the skies in Taiwan so blue? No wonder even random shots can look so pretty! I feel that the skies in Singapore are more of light blue/grey.




Case in point, just take a random street snap in Singapore, can see such blue skies meh?


WENWU TEMPLE

We also visited Wenwu Temple, which is located very near Sun Moon Lake.



I elaborated about temple entrances in my previous Taiwan entry:
http://www.estherxie.com/2015/09/taiwan-changhua.html

Here's the dragon/tiger cravings at Wenwu Temple. This time, we entered correctly!





There were various halls to pray for different things, such as a Confucius hall for those who wish for good studies.


Family photo at the front of the temple! :)



Oh this Ching Sheng Hotel located opposite Wenwu Temple has a story. Apparently because of some good fengshui, the 921 earthquake line stopped right infront of the entrance, before changing route (like an L shape), and didn't affect the hotel at all except for broken glass. It was said that the "Tianlu" they had, blocked out the disaster. While we were there we did saw the patched up line right outside the hotel. Really quite fortunate for the hotel guest!


Icecream for the super hot day!


View outside the temple.




On our way down a mountain, we passed by this Betel Nut shop (usually located on long stretches of road so that drivers can freshen up with a ciggarette or chew on betel) and inside was a girl with nice figure wearing bikini top and short denim. It's used to be common but nowadays most Betel Nut shops have aunties/uncles manning it while fully clothed, so it was quite an exciting moment when we spotted one like this.

More about the betel nut culture in Taiwan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betel_nut_beauty

That's all for my time in Nantou! Enjoy the remaining photos ^_^






Read my other Taiwan blog entries!