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Almost Scammed in China: The Facial Detox Scam!
I was happily swinging my bag of snacks out of the supermarket when a man waved a coupon in my face. "Free face moisturiser for you", he said. "No need to buy or do anything, it's FREEEE." Free? My cheapskate alarm went off. I'll take it just because it's free!
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Tales of Taxi Biking in Dongguan Humen
What do you call bicycles as private transport? I'm calling it taxi biking because I have no idea. Anyway, is it legal in Dongguan? I'm not sure. There were a few incidents where the drivers have asked me to get down early because they didn't want to ride past the police station and gave a vague reply when I asked why!
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How to Get to Dongguan Humen from Hong Kong Airport & Vice Versa
This is a short guide to taking the ferry to and from Hong Kong Airport to Dongguan Humen. You can take a bus too, but I’ve found the ferry to be more comfortable and not so tedious (especially if you have check-in luggage)! Hong Kong Airport to Dongguan Humen 1. Buy ferry tickets inside Hong Kong Airport Don’t clear immigration! The counters to buy the ferry tickets are right opposite the immigration counters. There are other destinations too, such as Shenzhen and Macau. You can check the timings here. A ticket to Dongguan Humen costs 350HKD (S$63.64). If you have check-in luggage, buy the tickets at least 1 hour before…
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Making Wishes at Shifen Old Street
It was raining again. We made our way to Shifen Old Street (十分老街) for some street snacks and sky lanterns. With the rail tracks built in between the rows of shops, we had to jump out of the way when we heard the train coming. It was quite a sight to see people leaping from the tracks to safety together!
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One Night in Jiufen
Jiufen (九份) is known as a rainy town, and not surprisingly, it rained every time we went there. This time was no exception. We followed the teeming crowds in.
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Stuffing our Faces at Modern Toilet (restaurant)
Taiwan, like Japan, is home to plenty of themed restaurants. We visited one called 'Modern Toilet'. How the toilet theme as a restaurant can be successful eludes me, but there appears to be still plenty of customers even after being around for 11 years! We visited the Ximending outlet since we were staying close by.
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Soaking Ourselves Dry at Villa 32, Beitou
Welcome to Villa 32, a hot spring haven set in a scenic location and highly recommended by a Taiwanese friend. The guys had wanted to bathe in the public pools initially, but most of us girls were shy going naked with each other, so we chose to soak in the private hot spring rooms. At 2,800NTD (S$120.38) each, it was a splurge for 90 minutes of relaxation. But there's a high price to pay for privacy.
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Fun at the Taipei (Muzha) Zoo
60NTD (S$2.59). That's the entrance fee for the Taipei Zoo, also known as the Muzha Zoo. What about the Singapore Zoo? S$32. WHATTT!!
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Chasing the Sunset at Fisherman’s Wharf
The weather was cooling in January, and we decided to take public transport and walk. Bus signs in Taiwan are all written in Mandarin so we took awhile to find the stop we wanted to alight at Danshui Fisherman's Wharf, here we come!
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Going up Yangmingshan to The Top (café)
The Top? At the top of Yangmingshan? A very aptly named café indeed. If you want to hike up the mountain, it's possible if you're good with directions and like to work up a ravenous appetite before reaching The Top (屋頂上). Us? Not so much. We took the easy way with the 8 of us splitting into 2 cabs. The ride up from Shilin station took about 15 minutes.
