Day 1 of Taiwan Travelogue: LungShan Temple, Ximending & Pre-Wedding Preparation

Our 9D8N Taiwan itinerary in summary:

Day 1 - LungShan Temple 龙山寺，Ximending 西门町，Choosing of Wedding Gowns at 瑪格麗特婚紗

Day 2 - Wu Lai 烏來，錢櫃PartyWorld  

Day 3 - Wedding Photography Day

Day 4 - Taipei Underground Shopping Mall 台北地下街，Ma La SteamBoat 天外天精緻麻辣火鍋，Choosing of Wedding Photos, Shilin Night Market 士林夜市

Day 5 - Puli 埔里，Sun Moon Lake 日月潭，Cingjing 清境 

Day 6 - Cingjing 清境農場，Cingjing 小瑞士花園，Taichung 台中逢甲夜市，Ningxia Night Market 宁夏夜市

Day 7 - Yilan 宜兰 傳統藝術中心，Yilan Night Market 宜蘭羅東夜市

Day 8 - Yangmingshan 阳明山，Beitou 北投温泉, Collection of Partial Wedding Materials

Day 9 - Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐, Back to SG :(

We (literally) scoot to Taiwan via an overnight flight, which meant that we have the entire Saturday to spend traveling around Taiwan. The downside to an early morning flight landing, apart from the droopy eyelids, is finding a place to deposit our luggage. We had booked a minsu 民宿, called 台湾猪窝, which is located right above Taipei Main station. Yay to convenience! But this meant, unlike a hotel, we couldn't access the place till the check-in time :( Lucky for us, Taiwan has lockers available at their main station. phew~

Our first destination was the famous Long Shan Temple 龙山寺. My third visit to this place, and yet I'm still in awed by how elaborately decorated and magnificent it was given the space constraint. 

Some facts: 

The statue of Kuan-in in this temple survived the bombing from the allied aircrafts on 8 June, 1945.  The whole main hall and a part of the right annex were burned out during the air raid, but the statue of Kuan-in in the center of the main hall left intact.

Being a masterpiece of traditional Chinese architecture and a well-established Buddhist temple in Taipei, the Lungshan Temple of Manka has become a center of people's religious life and a heritage of local culture. The government assigned Lungshan Temple a historical site of second grade on 19 August, 1985, so that it will be preserved for future generations.

Credit: http://www.lungshan.org.tw/en/index.php

 

We tried Chow’s Porridge 周记肉粥 in our last visit, and it's distinctively traditional taste meant that we had to get our family to try it as well. Apparently, it has been around for ages and is highly recommended by the locals.

 

  

I especially love the porridge, which is of a brownish hue and surprisingly delicious. Their deep fried pork is a must try. We noticed that the food were mostly served cold, or slightly raw, but it could be a signal to dip the foods in your porridge before eating it.

Next was Ximending 西门町 , a popular hang out place for youths. Interesting, this place reminds me of Myeong Dong in Korea.

  

One of our must try in Taiwan! Ice cream, with crushed peanuts and coriander leaves, wrapped in popiah skin. Refreshing as a summer treat.

We then proceed to the bridal studio, 瑪格麗特婚紗, bridal studio at around 5pm to try on the gowns. The hubby-to-be only has a few suit choices to choose from, while I get to try on a number of gowns. But much to my disappointment, I couldn't fit in most of the dresses as the previous few brides-to-be apparently had done a lot more in keeping slim and pretty, while I was still happily eating away. We were glad that we could take photos of all the gowns we tried on though! Very unlike the preconception I have of of bridal studios.

HOW TO GO:

龙山寺

Alight at Longshan Temple Station (Banqiao Line).

周記肉粥

Add: No. 104號, Guǎngzhōu Street, Wanhua District Taipei City, Taiwan 108
Tel: 02-2302-5588
Operating Hours：06:00~16:30

Alight at Longshan Temple Station (Banqiao Line), turn right to Guangzhou Street as you see Longshan Temple right in front of you. Walk for 5 minutes.

Thank you for reading!

♥ Skye Tham & Kim

A rewarding third trip to Taiwan.

Just came back from a 9 day trip to Taiwan. This marks the end of my third trip to Taiwan. It was never on my travel agenda to visit a country three times, but these trips have each proved to be a very different experience.

First trip was purely an experience traveling to a new country. I remembered I didn't really liked it as it felt very similar to Singapore. I would much prefer a country that gave me a different experience. Tried almost all the recommended food in Taiwan, and had more misses than hits.

Second trip was unplanned for. We had initially planned for a trip to Japan, but decided against it when Japan was hit by nuclear disaster (better be safe if we are planning for babies in the future >.<). We were lucky that the flight transited at Taiwan, which meant that we could rearrange the flight itinerary (though we nearly landed up in Japan). The most memorable place was our visit to 澎湖 (Penghu), an archipelago situated off the west coast of Taiwan and we rented a scooter to scoot around the island. The place was so pretty!

The third trip, this trip, was a continuation of our last trip where we signed a Taiwan wedding photoshoot package after chatting up with three wedding companies located just opposite 中正纪念堂.  It was a brave attempt, for we did no background check on the company but for the sight Taiwan could offer, and the price, it was worth the gamble and the experience was definitely unforgettable, and photos turned out to be what we wanted. 

This trip, A and I decided to invite our families along. It was both A and my very first long-distance trip with our family, and all I could say was, it was a bitter sweet experience. It was not easy having to manage expectations, and accommodating to each other lifestyle preference. The lack of freedom to do what you would usually do can sometimes be frustrating. On the good side, we get to try a lot more food and visit places we would otherwise not go as a couple. I'm not sure if I would want to experience this all over again, but let's see. 

This trip also proved to be a self-exploratory trip.

Impatience vs. Accommodating

I do not deny that I am someone with a lack of patience but this trip tested my ability to control myself and be a little more accommodating to differences in a group. It's sometimes better to say what you are feeling at the moment, and other times keep things to yourself. Balance, that's the word.

Independence vs. Reliance

I came to realise that I am somewhat more independent than reliant. While I may give advice, feedback or a sense of comfort to others, I do not like to be relied on.

Internal vs. External Competition

I used to think that I would like it if people see me as a form of competition, but that drains my energy away - having to defend, guard against and be better. Instead of being overly aware of them and by what they say, the main point is to see yourself as your own competitor, and always try to exceed the limit that you were so comfortable in.

Perseverance vs. Instant Gratification

While seated in the plane, on the way back to Singapore, I saw this guy reading a book from the start to the end of the journey. Very focused. Oblivious to what's happening in the surrounding. Charming, I would say. Looking at his personal grooming and the way he dresses, he certainly knows how to take care of himself and his image. Knowledge and charisma is obtained through starting and completing, effort and time, but at the end of the day, it's worth it. So, don't give up something long-term for that short-term reward (a much needed self reminder).

Perfection vs. Acceptance

At the end of the day, no one, no situation, no photo is perfect. Unless it matters a lot, or the return is worth the time invested in correcting that minor wrong/mistake, let's just go back to my very first point - Balance, that's the word. 

 

Thank you for reading!

♥ Skye Tham & Kim

Brunch at Coq & Balls, It's been a while.

I've got tonnes of work, and I am not sure why I am here blogging. Haha. Whatever. So, it's been a while since I had a brunch date, an event which I now regard as a sinful indulgence, both on the tummy and the pocket.  

It was brunch at Coq & Ball. Better known as a bar and a place to chill, I didn't came in with high expectations of the food but I was wrong. We ordered the big breakfast set, The Big Coq (sounds a little vular, I know -_-) and their Eggs Royale, and wow, it was actually quite good. The interior features a raw, industrial, minimalistic feel with exposed walls, wired hanging lights. A cool place to chill. 

 

 

 

A pretty short post, but you get the point. Till the next time! Ta!

Thank you for reading!
♥ Skye Tham & Kim

Let's toast to a new beginning!

So, I have been in a rather pensive mood the past few days. Top most worry is how to transit into a successful career switch now that I've decided to plunge into a fashion online business - an industry that's competitive, cruel and most fails within the first few years. 

Thinking back, I've part-timed/interned/worked in a number of organisations, spanning across industries such as F&B, FMCG, photography events company, government agency, fashion, market research. Plenty of choices and exposure, but somehow none seems to retain my fleeting interest. I question myself, how gritty a person I am. Or that I am living in my own lala land, thinking that, one day, I will eventually find a path that's easy and makes a lot of money. I've thought about it. But no. Walking around observing, I'm afraid, afraid of being that insignificant person living in this world. Afraid of living the whole of my life, working for something that I do not personally feel invested in. So, entrepreneurship is a choice I've made and lucky, I've got fashion at my back.

3 months down the road, it isn't easy. Staring at the lack of traffic, and therefore the lack of sales, I constantly plant my minds with negative thoughts. After speaking to many, it became clear that either I was being too impatient, or that I might soon find myself among the many startups corpses. These thoughts are self-destructive and keeps replaying in my mind that I cannot fully focus on improving myself and the company. Lucky I still have A and my friends to keep myself sane all these while. Google has became my best friend, things like "how to start a successful blogshop", "why blogshop fails", "emotions that an entrepreneur has to go through", "traits of a successful entrepreneur" suddenly become common search phrases. 

Today is another, I-feel-so-lousy-day. These days, instead of forcing myself to work, which result in terribly low level of productivity, I've decided to give myself some breaks. I know that if I can pull myself together, there's a lot more things that I could do that I have not done.

As a way to start afresh and eliminate all these negative feelings, I've decided to give myself an English name - Skye. It started with letter S as I wanted it to intertwine with the letter S in DeStylez. 

Now, let's toast to a new beginning :) 

Thank you for reading!
♥ Skye Tham & Kim

First attempt.

I am still not used to writing a blog. In fact, I've started and ended numerous numbers of blogs in the past decades. This time round, I shall make this work albeit very well spaced apart updates. haha.

I wanted to post some photos on my recent bowling trip, but realised that the careless me didn't check whether the photos were saved in my laptop and later (to my horror!) formatted the SD card :(( Rummaging through my unedited sets of photos, I decided to do a bit of work and have this series processed. This set of photos is especially meaningful because it was our very first attempt at creating a lookbook series using my Kimberly (i.e. nikon D7000). Thinking of which, this set has been taken quite some time back.

Anyways, it's time for this set of photos to see daylight. Presenting to you... our very first attempt. Enjoy!

I'm still finding difficulty in editing the photos so that the photos are consistent (in terms of colours, mood, sharpness) and that they flow together. Not sure if this blog ever gets read by anyone, but any photography and post-processing tips are definitely welcomed :)

Thank you for reading!
♥ ZM & Kim