Travel to Thailand – The Hotel

We had a vacation in Thailand from Sept.9 to Sept.13.

This picture is the hotel we stayed in Bangkok called Grande Centre Point Hotel and Residence Ratchadamri

It’s really awesome.  We loved the services and facilities. The hotel staffs were nice and helpful.

The reception desk of the hotel

The lobby of the hotel

The lobby of the hotel

Elevators

The lobby of the hotel

The lobby of the hotel

Valla Steak House, Jhupei City

There is a food-tasting organization established by a group of gourmets in Taiwan. They constantly hold a FREE food-tasting event every month in Hsinchu city or Jhu-pei city. Everyone who signs up for it is welcome to come and the person is allowed to bring a friend to the event, but not everyone can attend the event. The food-tasting organization, however, chooses attendees by lottery, so the number of attendees in the event varies each month. Last month, I signed up for its FREE-whole-steak-meal-tasting event in Valla Steak House which was located in Jhupei city. The event would be held on April 10, 2010. I was informed I was chosen three days before the event. I was surprised by getting a chance to have a whole steak meal in Valla Steak House free of charge. There were also many lucky chosen people like me. I was ecstatic. The day that I attended the food-tasting event was full of a lot of people as I expected. There was a six-course steak meal for everyone.

Valla Steak House's de'cor

The Food-Tasting Event

The appetizer - Roasted chicken cheese

Ceaser Salad

The corn chowder in the bread bowl

The main course-Valla Beef Steak

The dessert - Red Bean on top of cheese with green-tea paste

The drink - Apple mixes with grapefruit juice

Livingone Restaurant, Hsinchu city, Taiwan

It was a glorious Friday morning that I felt like going to the beach to
have a light breakfast, but back to the reality I still had to go to work.
One thing that was entirely slipped my mind was today is my birthday.
As usual, once I was in the office sitting at the desk, I turned on the
computer ready for the day. The computer suddenly popped up the
word “Happy Birthday”; I just realized today is my big day.
My friend BOOK called me to set up a time to celebrate my birthday
at Livingone restaurant tonight.

Livingone restaurant is a new opening restaurant located in the
Hsin-chu Science Park; however, the place looks quite remote to
me. As we walked in the restaurant, I was attracted by its spacious
and elegant decor. Every time I go to a restaurant, the decor is
frequently crowded and when I reach out my hand, I can touch the
table next to me, but not in Hsinchu Livingone restaurant. So, we felt
so free and comfortable to talk about anything without worrying
being heard.

I liked it.

We chose the entree of Smoked duck leg with fresh fruit salsa
and Pan roasted pork steak with cream sauce .

Both of us didn’t like the smoked duck leg because it tasted like ham and it
was too salt. Honestly, I was pretty disappointed with the duck leg but satisfied
with the pork steak which was succulent and tender. YUM!!

Finally, a special thank to my friend BOOK for the lovely birthday gift.

Livingone restaurant website: http://www.livingone.com.tw/

http://www.livingone.com.tw/hsinchu/index.html

P.S. if you work for a company in the Science Park, you may get a
90% off in Livingone restaurant by giving them your business card.

Movie: The Bucket List

Just finished watching this touching, hilarious movie at home.

The story is two complete strangers met in the hospital. Since

they are dying, they decide to do things that they have never done

before or things they have been afraid to do. One of them makes the

wishes of a list.

They follow the list to achieve and complete all of things before they die….

Tamshui

“Long time no see” was the greeting I said to my friends when we met up at Tamshui MRT station. I can’t recall when was the last time we met, but I’m sure it was quite a long time. We were walking around the streets and didn’t eat many street foods. As our legs got tired, we picked a great-looking café with the river view, having a cup of coffee. This café is facing the Tamshui river so we could enjoy the river view just in case we were running out of conversation subjects. Well..just kidding!

The weather was unstable. It was glorious in the morning but suddenly it turned gloomy in the afternoon. I was kind of worried it would rain. It didn’t. I didn’t recommend this café since it’s quite costly. The service is so-so. I had a cup of rose latte that didn’t taste good.

Rose Latte

Inside of the Water Front Cafe

Great River View

Water Front Cafe

New Year of 2010

The fireworks were awesome!!
I was nearby the Taipei 101 building at downtown Taipei Taiwan with friends; the fireworks were great but too short. I was very disappointed about some people around there watching the fireworks and celebrating the new year because they left  tons of trash all over the places and streets.  I used my cell phone to tape the videos, so the quality is not satisfying.

Thai cuisine

Going back home last weekend, I didn’t want to eat at home, so my mom suggested we should

try Thai cuisine at a new Thai restaurant nearby the community because we all wanted to try

something different. Besides, it was my young brother’s birthday on that day, so it absolutely was

my treat.

Three of us ordered a 5-course lunch along with two glasses of Thai tea. I shared one glass of

the Thai tea with my mom, but she didn’t like the smell of it, so I finished 2/3 of it.

The restaurant looks pretty small on the outside and I wouldn’t notice it as I passed by.

However, when we came in, we found out it is quite spacious. It’s a two-story restaurant!!

The decor is squeaky-clean and nice. Hopefully, its kitchen is as hygienic as its dining area.

My family usually doesn’t like spicy sour foods which are a far cry from Taiwan foods we always

have.

Yet we all loved Thai cuisine this time and the prices of the cuisine were inexpensive. It only

costed me NT$642 dollars with 12% discount. It isn’t going to break the bank if we often dine

in there.

Winter

Lately, I’ve always wanted to take a day off because I barely get out of the bed in the chilly morning. I wish I could sleep in without the need of going to work. It’s really painful to get up early in the cold weather. Going to work in winter should be forbidden. Haha…

Um…. Wintertime is good for bobsledding.

A wonderful Saturday with Mac

It’s pretty chilly today, but I still decide to come back to Taipei with my Mac laptop. The timing is perfect as I arrive at the bus station, for the bus is coming in 5 minutes. After I get my bus ticket, I rush into a Family convenience store inside the bus station, grabbing a piece of bread for breakfast and a The China Post newspaper. It’s a pity that I can’t get a cup of morning coffee because I don’t want to pee on the bus. It takes one hour to arrive. Although I may use the lavatory on the bus, I don’t like to do it while the bus is in motion cuz it could be dangerous and a suicide behavior. You never know what is going to happen to you at the moment the driver brakes abruptly .

The purpose of coming back this time is to get my laptop fixed since its battery gauge has trouble updating correctly.  The guy in the Apple repair center told me that it takes SEVEN workdays to get it fixed. Well, I have no idea how I’m going to survive without it, so I tell the guy that I need to spend some time to say a goodbye to it. The guy is very kind. He lets me take my Mac away and bring it back tomorrow. So, we (Mac and I) are spending the afternoon at the Dante coffee shop nearby the repair center.

Investments

Look around and pay close attention.

Do you see what I see?  I see the wealthy is ubiquitous.

I also notice that someone doesn’t like talking about money.

When a money subject is brought up on the table, someone will get angry.

Someone might be a love partner.

 

The easy way to avoid an awkward situation like this is to not bring up the money subject on the table so that no one will get mad. I did it to all my ex, so we were in peace. The hardest thing to me was to see them suffer financially, but there was nothing I could do to help them cuz did they neither like to talk about money nor listen to my opinion to get rid of their bad credit.

Seriously consider if a couple had always avoided talking about money, how were they able to resolve financial issues and  make it to financial freedom?  Sharing financial values with someone is vital in a relationship or friendship. I love to talk about money or investments with my buddies, exchanging information and thoughts.

Once in a while, I was told by some friends who lost money in the stock market or mutual funds that I was lucky to make profits from my investments or I was lucky to invest in the right time. Indeed, I don’t think I was luckier than any of them. They didn’t realize how important to do researches before investing their hard-earned money in. Investments they made based on what the financial planner said or based on the information they heard from people around them. After losing plenty of money, they said they would never invest again. They are terrified of losing money again. Therefore, they would rather put their money in the bank with a very low interest rate and lose money value with high inflation than give another shot to get their lost money back in the stock market or mutual funds.

I can’t imagine life without investments because the excitement, thrill, and profits that investments have brought is great and makes a sense of accomplishment. Life without investing is ho-hum. When comes to investing, don’t be terrified. If you have done well on your researches and be well-prepared, there is nothing to be afraid and to lose. Fortune will come to you.