Off-time

I had some off-time with Juliane since she didn't go to Penang with Marieann and I. 
We went to watch Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (Marieann didn't go with us as she has already seen it with her friends.) We had a late lunch at Muji cafe after the fantastic movie. 

A quick photo before the movie started

Life's Simple Pleasures 2016

After a stressful week, there's nothing more pleasurable than spending some quality time with my daughters! My girls and I started with having Korean desserts, Bingsu at Orchard Central, together with Brenda, Marieann's classmate.

Mango Bingsu and Green Tea Bingsu

After the indulgent Bingsu, we went shopping or rather I followed the girls while they shopped at Somerset 313, and Scape. 

Scape Marketplace

We had an early dinner at Astons. Brenda went home soon after while we ended off the day with another Korean dessert, Teh Gah Dai ice cream from Honey Creme before making our way home too. :)  

Queuing for a table at Astons

Salmon Spaghetti 

Teriyaki Chicken

Pork 

Enjoying Teh Gah Dai ice cream

My feet are really tired from following my girls around but the time spent with my girls and the memories are priceless! :)

Mother-Daughter Time

Had some mother-daughter bonding time today. It's the first in years since we went shopping together. We are extremely practical people and our shopping is always done within an hour. But today it was kind of relaxingly nice to shop semi-aimlessly for 3 hours at Isetan before going home to watch the Presidential election in Taiwan on TV. 
I am referring to my mother and I. I really should spend more quality time with my mother since she is away from Singapore for as long as 4-6 months in a year. 

Day 8 in Taipei 2013 - Ximending (西門町)

My mother decides to visit my uncle-in-law again in hospital so the girls and I are free to do what we want! :) We decided that we want to go shopping, most likely back to Ximending again lol.
After breakfast at 9am, we came back to the room to rest and to plan what we wanted to do for the rest of the day since shops at Ximending opens only after 11am. Just then, we noticed a lot of people on the roof top of the Military Police HQ. Our window (on the 6th floor) looked directly across to the rooftop of MP HQ. It seemed the military police were having a practicing session on how to deal with rioters/ protestors on the rooftop lol. Not sure if the whole bunch of military police saw us but it would have been funny with the four of us squeezing round the window to get a closer look. My mother and I also started to pack our luggage so that we don't have to rush tonight. At the same time, we were watching the Korean drama, Smile Again, Donghai! on TV from 10-12noon haha.

A hearty breakfast (Chinese style)

While packing, found these souvenirs bought during our Tamshui and earlier Ximneding trips

More souvenirs that they girls bought for themselves

Presents for the girls from my mother's friend

Stamps which Marieann bought during our earlier Ximending trip

The military police getting ready for their practice

At 12noon, we went separate ways. My mother took a different MRT line to the hosiptal while the girls and I took the Nangang line to Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT station. The girls wanted to see the Hello Kitty Cafe and to have lunch there. Unfortunately, when we got to the cafe, it was closed from late May 2013 to late June 2013 for renovation! :( There was a staff on site and she apologised to us and suggested we try the Barbie Cafe which is a few minutes' walk away. The girls were not interested in the Barbie Cafe so we left but vowed to return to the Hello Kitty Cafe on our next trip. :)

Hello Kitty Cafe closed for renovation!! We will be back! :)

A long stretch of mural at Zhingxiao Fuxing station depicting major attractions in Taipei. Can you recognise the attractions? There is Yuanshan Hotel in this section.

This section of the mural shows Taipei Fine Arts Museum

This sections shows Museum of Contemporary Art and Longshan Temple

This section shows Ximending's The Red House, Ximending, Taipei Main Station and Presidential Office

Taipei 101

Taipei MRT train

Songshan airport

Taipei Zoo and Maokong Gondola

We took the MRT back to Ximen station. We went to Daiso (all items NT$39 except for food stuff which is NT$49) and we spent an hour just browsing and deciding what to buy! It seems the some of the items being sold here are different from those in Singapore, and also with the price tag of NT$39 (it is about SGD$1.70 only), it is cheaper than in Singapore. I had to limit the number of things we could buy because of the weight limit for our luggage (20kg for 1 check-in luggage and 10kg for cabin luggage). I am worried about our luggage being over-weight! :P

A quick pop into The Red House for the girls to collect the stamps

Guide map of Ximending (it was useless to us as we had no sense of direction lol)

The goodies bought from Daiso :)

By the time we were done at Daiso, it was already 2:30pm. We were famished and headed straight into the first restaurant we saw. It's an Italian pasta restaurant called the Pasta Bar. We ordered set meals which ranged between NT$200 - NT210 which came with your choice of main pasta dish (add NT$40 for premium dishes), soup/ bread + drink. We sat at the full-length window on the second level. It was fun to have your meal while people watching from above. :)

The milk tea and corn+prawn soup from the set meal

Juliane with her set meal of garlic bread and chicken pasta in cream sauce

My pesto smoked duck pasta

Marieann's seafood pasta

After lunch, we shopped from 3:30pm to 5pm in Ximending. It was also drizzling lightly on and off. We bought some clothes, Marieann bought some earrings for herself and Juliane bought another hand-sewn owl souvenir for herself. We started to head back to our accommodation as we were pretty tired. But we were pretty happy that we got some shopping done. :)

Stopped at an arcade full of Claw cranes or grab machines. The girls wanted to try their luck. 

The girls didn't manage to grab anything lol. Only NT$20 spent/ wasted lol.

The girls thought they are "too cool for school" :P

One of the streets in Ximending

One of the popular meeting places in Ximending

Stopped by 7-11 store again to get snacks :)

On the left is the Military Police HQ, in the middle is the Presidential Office, on the right is Taipei Hero House

Front entrance of Taipei Armed Forces Hero House

Military Police HQ (can you see two guards posted at the entrance?)

Collected room key 640 and the breakfast vouchers for tomorrow

We were watching "Smile Again, Donghai" when my mother returned at 6:30pm. We ended up glued to the TV until the Korean drama ended at 8pm lol. :P Only then did we go look for dinner. As we were still not that hungry after our heavy pasta lunch (and the afternoon snacks), we bought food and drinks from the 7-11 store. :)

Sandwiches and pork rib bento

The pork rib bento came with pork rib, vegetable, sour vegetable, ham, and rice

After dinner, I packed our luggage because tomorrow morning, we have to check out at 11am and it would be too rushed to leave the packing till tomorrow. In terms of weight, I think our luggage just about made it within the weight limits. :) 

Retreat at Hard Rock Hotel

Our department had our retreat at Hard Rock Hotel today. It would be work in the first half of the day, followed by lunch and end with a visit to the S.E.A. Aquarium in the afternoon.
The retreat started close to 9.45am and it was a flurry of ice-breaking activities, aimed at giving us the opportunities to bond together as well as providing us with learning opportunities. Kudos to the organising committee that they achieved both of those aims. :)
I particularly loved the activity whereby we, as a group had to put together a puzzle. Apparently there was different conditions for each of the four groups and we were all blind to them. Should have known! What do you expect when a group of researchers get together to come up with activities?! Haha. For our group, we were given the complete set of jigsaw puzzle pieces but with no picture of the jigsaw so that meant we had no overview or big picture to go on. We immediately organised ourselves and started division of labour, picking out different pieces and placing them together by colour and by the edge. Some of us started putting the pieces together as we recognised the characters in the puzzle. There was not much talking but when we did, it was trying to problem-solving. We were so focussed on solving the puzzle that we even forgo our break lol. Through our perseverance, we completed the puzzle! :)

Our completed puzzle! :)

At 11am, the more serious work started. There were some presentations and thought-provoking discussions. All too soon, we had to end our discussions as we ran out of time. We adjourned to Starz Restaurant for our buffet lunch at 1.30pm. We almost had the whole restaurant to ourselves as the lunch crowd had left. :) The food was pretty good. I particularly love the cold dishes and the desserts. :)
By the time we were done with lunch, it was 3pm. We slowly made our way to the S.E.A. Aquarium where we took more group photos. As I was feeling pretty tired after an eventful day and it was close to 4pm, I decided to call it a day. I decided to save my S.E.A. Aquarium ticket for another day as it is valid for 180 days. I can spend more quality time at the aquarium next time. 
I thought the retreat was well-organised and wonderful. I was a little apprehensive that it would be all work and no play. How wrong this Wong is lol. :P It turned out both fun and educational. I also got to know a few more colleagues better too. :)

A colleague took this photo. I can be a watch model if I am out of a job haha.