Taipei, Taiwan: Day 1

Hi All,

I’ve been traveling and working a plenty since we last met. It’s just that these days people are vblogging (OR do they just call it vlogging???) and I felt so out dated. With my fancy iPhone (that takes super cool photos and make simple videos), I am now welcomed into the YouTube community. Please don’t forget to follow me there! Still learning how to put in music, voice overs, texts and stuff….but always great learning something new.

With that being said, I’m not abandoning my blogdom. I LOVE to express myself through writing. I’ll continue to update both kingdoms.

For starters, I’ll be showing you around my latest travel: TAIPEI, TAIWAN.

It all started on NYE while sipping my patron and eating spaghetti at home. I had a 4-day weekend and literally had no party plans. So I started looking up videos of potential places to visit for 2017. Mostly, getting ideas from my k-variety shows. Low and behold, I came across soooo many videos telling me Taipei is a food mecca that I had to make a pilgrimage.

Salivating, I tantalized other friends to join my “World walking tour”.

Over the next few blogs will be about the days I spent there.

Day 1: jetting to Taipei

First day started with a mid-day flight to TPE on Eva Air. We picked this particular flight since it was the only non-stop one. Albeit more expensive, it saved us time than to trek our butts on a bus via Saigon to Taipei.

Arrived early evening and found the airport metro to take to the Taipei Main Station. I generally like to take the metro as oppose to a taxi since it’s cheaper. By far, this was the CHEAPEST transportation I’ve ever taken from an airport to main station. SERIOUSLY, probably like ONE DOLLAR. Where can you find a deal like that??? Another +, it came so often (like 15 minutes).

A qualm I had was about arriving at main stations are that they’re so huge. Literally you can get lost (more on that later). That’s why I say you should take a picture of the maps so you can find your way. We were at the airport metro station, which is different from the city metro, or metro to other cities, or bus terminals. So be careful when you’re at Taipei Main Station! I think it’s better that you walk outside to get your bearing.

Our hotel was a bit of a walk from the station but fairly easy to find. The reason we picked our hotel is 1. New 2. Size 3. Free snacks 4. Gorgeous interior decorating. I LOOOOOOVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEE IT! There were free snacks 24/7 (instant noodles, drinks, candies, crackers, coffees, yummy yum yums). I felt so cool being in the lobby.

After dropping our luggage we headed to Shilin Night Market. Why? Because I heard it was the best night market. Somehow, we didn’t find a lot of street vendors. We were told it all went underground, but I wasn’t really excited by anything there. Bummer.

We had the:

• Milk tea with boba pearls: since we didn’t buy at a popular place, it tastes bland. I got fooled by all the Chinese characters, thinking it was somewhere famous
• Beef cubes: it’s just regular steak
• Huge chicken cutlet: juicy on the inside, otherwise, typical
• Fried oyster pancake made from eggs
• Stinky tofu: dude, I heard people saying it’s nasty/it’s delicious/it’s like socks….I took one really small bite in my mouth. Didn’t even swallow it, just hitting the tip of my tongue, and I had to gag it out. That’s not like socks or anything I’ve ever had. It was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever had. I rather eat DURIAN than STINKY TOFU. I don’t know what Andrew Zimmerman is talking about.
• Korean chicken with cheese: don’t ask me why we had Korean chicken in Taiwan. Can’t resist cheese.
• Lime drink: perfect sourness to cut all the fat
• Ramen: this was across the street from Shilin Night Market. We got too hungry and had to grab something to eat.

Interesting game: playing mahjong with the stall owner. If you win, you get a prize. The stall owner must be very talented to play 5-7 games at the same time. Also, lots of trust.

What you need to know: English is in most places but knowing Chinese makes everything sooooooo much easier. Trust me, find a friend.

Line etiquette: I’ve been to many countries and I was super impressed here. They drew lines so that you know where to wait and get on the metros. The kicker is: everyone followed the rule. There was no cutting, no pushing, no sliding through while others getting out.

What am I doing in the last picture: pretending to be a flute player. As we walked in the super quiet metro labyrinth back to the hotel, the closed shops had murals on them. I decided to re-enact them. Falling quite a few things doing this musically yoga pose.

Food: I felt jilted by the whole food mecca thing. Of course there were lots of street foods at the night markets, but I just didn’t feel satisfied like Bangkok, Thailand. More on that in blogs to come.

How to get to Shilin Night Market? Contrary to what you might thing, get off at Jintian station! Trust me, puts you at the end of Shilin so you can work your way in a methodical manner.

PREVIEW for days to come:

Mochi: Walked like 10 kms/miles to find THE fresh mochi. Mainly 1. It was night time 2. Getting lost from poor directions people gave online 3. Rained so hard and had no umbrella 4. Explored underground metro tunnels even in the deep and spooky zones that no one could be found.

Juifen: loved feeling like I was in Spirted Away.

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YouTube channel: Charming V YouTube Channel

YouTube vid link: Taipei, Taiwain - Day 1 vid

Blog: https://vonionlife.blogspot.com/

Thank you for the support! Please follow me 0=)

Let me know your thoughts. Shout it out in the comments below.

Thanks for reading.

XoXo V

* Sunny Up with V *

If you would like me to visit your place, let me know! I’m more than happy to check out and eat your delicious food =)

De’ Bao: steamed bun sandwiches

Hi All,

Welcome to De' Bao!

TGIF. Friday night, always hot and ready for action! I’m referring to eating action [ and side action ;) ]

I pick you!

If you read through my blog, you’ll know a few of my favorite things to eat:

• Desserts – any kind, anywhere, almost any price
• Dim sum
• Italian/European/American
• Korean
• Japanese

The reason I heart dim sum is for the BAO. I love steam buns! Juicy, plump buns….guys, get your mind outa that side action gutter. I shouldn’t have mentioned that.

new Korean style cuteness

I’m all ‘bout the bao, ‘bout the bao, no pan/bread. [to the hit song All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor]

It’s all about the Bao. I can even eat plain ones as a snack. After I spotted De’ Bao on Phnom Penh’s 2016 cheap eats, I knew I had to drag someone to try it out with me.

keep smiling even on a rainy day

It was raining all afternoon, the evening I ventured to BKK1. My GPS pointed me in the right direction but I couldn’t find the De’ Bao’s sign. After doing a U-ee, I spotted a flat that looked like an eatery (and correctly guessed it to be the place). Entrepreneurs, if you want to be accessible, make sure your logo can be seen at night with BIG letters. Seriously, dark + rain + glasses = almost drove away to eat something else. Don’t lose customers this way.

my tsunami angel wings

I forewarn you, the pics on their FB page doesn’t meet my taste expectation. The drool worthy pics left my tongue wishing for more. Another table next to me left early without finish their food. After having a light snack here, I continued to Koh Pich to eat papaya salad and chicken wings.

Let’s just get to the details.

Space: Small. About 5 couple seating, one long table for about 12-14, a sofa for a few friends.

welcome~ what can i get you?

Atmosphere: Another cute shop, good photo op as you can see!

Service: Alright, but more to be desired.

Taste: I love bao. Some were hits and some were misses. See below for details. Would I come here again? Probably not.

comfy couch for relaxing time

Parking: Street parking kiddo. Prepare to bring a motorbike.

Photop: Great place for a photop. As you can see from this post, isn't it just dreamy? That evening I channeled beauty model and totally feel this is magazine spread worthy. AGREE?

too old to be a model, now a food blogger

Disturbed: Their FB page had a cured egg on the pulled pork bao but never to customers.

Enjoyed:

I decided to get the recommended box set that came with a free soda. The box set was $7 + 10% VAT. Counting down to my favorite:

served steamed and ready

• Mambo number 5: Shrimp Bao

I actually didn’t try this because I’m allergic to seafood. But it looked like a deep fried shrimp with mayonnaise in a bao.

pretending to eat the shrimp

• Number four, four, four, four: Pork Belly Bao

I also didn’t eat this because I’m not a fan of pork belly. It was a chunk of pork with sauce on top.

pork belly bao

• Lucky Number 3: Fried Chicken Bao

Fried chicken is fried chicken. It’s like any other fried chicken burger except a) smaller and b) more expensive. Middle of the line; not impressive.

crispy chicken drenched in special sauce

• Close to being the best but fell short, Number 2: Pulled Pork Bao

I really liked the tender, easy to pull apart pulled pork bao. The only qualm I have is that there’s no cured egg like the picture. Where’s my house special cured egg?!?!

pulled pork in my belly

• Best of the night, Number 1: Bao Ger

It's a mini burger. Meat was succulent, delicious sauce, and bao encompassing. Yumo.

Bao Ger with a looootttt of sauce

My take: twist on the classic bao. Try it UNO if you wanna experience it.

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debaocambodia/

Address: #49, St 288, BKK 1, Phnom Penh, Cambodia (near Monivong Blvd’s Por Kei Chinese restaurant, same street as Champs Elysee’s KTV entrance)  

Specs: 11am to 8pm, a flat shop so be prepared to do street parking

 

follow meeeeeeee, V!

Thank you for the support! Please follow me 0=)

Let me know your thoughts. Shout it out in the comments below.

Thanks for reading.

XoXo V

* Sunny Up with V *

If you would like me to visit your place, let me know! I’m more than happy to check out and eat your delicious food =)

menu

Bao bao bao!

Yi-Sang: best dim sum in Cambodia

Hi All,

I’m allergic to seafood. But yet, I still LOVE DIM SUM <3

I love waking up on a Saturday (or Sunday) to eat dim sum with the family. Even when others mockingly joke that all I stuff my face with is char siu pork buns – I still can’t deny my infatuation with dim sum. Char Siu/Shou Ya anything is delicious. Because of my infinite love for dim sum, I had to make sure Cambodia had a place that I can wolf down buns.

I’ve tried many places in Phnom Penh (and Siem Reap, but really Siem Reap is so limited in Chinese food) and felt SO-SO until I’ve encountered Yi-Sang. I was initially drawn to Yi-Sang because the owner, Mr Luu Meng, was featured on Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern and Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. I was really proud that people were watching Andrew and Anthony’s show to discover Cambodia’s unique food culture. Note: Yi-Sang is not bizarre or dangerous.

People always feel sorry for Cambodia. Most perceive Cambodia as this ‘po lil country’. Well, shocker, we get along pretty well here. There’s an abundance of cuisines available – from street food to fancy shmancy I’m still starved after I eat this beautiful creation – to occasionally Michelin star chef food tours.

Today I want to share my favorite dim sum place. It’s not really a surprise and it’s a favorite for many locals.

I have high standards for dim sum coming from Cali. Is this comparable to Monterey Park, San Gabriel, Garden Grove, CA dim sum joints….YES!

Yi-Sang has many locations. My favorite is on Sotheros Street @ Almond Hotel. It’s near Aeon Mall and Koh Pich so it’s easy to get around. It’s also nostalgic for me because Almond Hotel was the first place I stayed at when I decided to settle down in Phnom Penh.

The staff are friendly and very attentive. I can never find fault in their service. It’s one of the main reasons why I continue to come back. There are private rooms available to accommodate large groups.

You can have breakfast, lunch, or dinner here and it’s still superb. Duck, shrimp, fried noodles, noodle soup, stir-fried vegetables, crab, etc…all delicious!

I can’t share you the countless times I’ve been there (because I would eat everything before snapping a photo). I’ll share my most recent visit (but towards the end I forgot to take photos as I put them in my mouth).

TOTALLY RECOMMEND!

 

Buns, buns, buns galore! BBQ pork steamed pork buns and sweet egg custard buns. Highly recommend both for a savoury and sweet delight. Trust me about the BBQ pork buns. I’m a leading expert on this.

Details of BBQ pork bun. See what I mean?!?!?

 

 Chicken feet – standard dim sum item that’s at every table. I personally don’t like the texture of giggling fat/skin in my mouth, so, I don’t eat chicken feet. But, I like to taste the sauce it’s branded in. This was quite good today. Perhaps the second best I’ve had.

Shrimp dumpling/Har Gow – didn’t taste it as I’m allergic to seafood. But it does look appitizing with a huge shrimp inside. Basically, a steamed shrimp ball wrapped delicately.

 

BBQ pork steamed roll – because who doesn’t like more bbq pork in their meal? I like to have mines swimming in the sweet soy sauce.

And finally, a concluding photo of my love <3 <3 <3

My take: completing satisfying meal any time of the day.

Links you can enjoy :)

Almond Hotel - Yi-Sang Restaurant

Almond Hotel FB's page

Let me know your thoughts. Shout it out in the comments below.

Thanks for reading.

 XoXo V

* Sunny Up with V *

P.S. Sorry about formatting. I'm still new to this. I think this post is starting to look a lot better though.

If you would like me to visit your place, let me know! I’m more than happy to check out and eat your delicious food =)