Taiwan to me

Jetstar

To celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary, husband decided to bring me to Taiwan :) Like usual, esok nak pergi, hari ini baru la terhegeh-hegeh nak beli tiket T_T

I fly with Jetstar. Oh, yes, I fly alone.

Not bad lah Jetstar. The sole reason I chose Jetstar was because of the departure time. Dahla murah, lepastu departure time memang bagus sangat. Tak cepat sangat, tak lambat sangat. Most importantly, the foods served onboard are all halal :) I did not purchase meal at first because the travel time was just 3 hours. But because the departure time was my lunch time, I was so starving, I feel like merayu-rayu dekat flight attendant, please serve the food already!!I was really really starving! I don't know why, whenever I'm on journey, I always lapar gila :/ The journey back to Japan pun sama. But I was fasting, I really feel nk jatuh or nak makan orang yang jalan depan I >,<

Lagi satu yang bestnya Jetstar ni, nak change flight senang gila kacang. haha..Dia ada icon call them through skype (which is of course free!) So, kerja suami saya asyik nak tukar flight je T_T Asal lepas sahur tunggu azan je nak call Jetstar T_T Tapi dia tak naik Jetstar pun T_T
**disclaimer: Oh, btw, I don't know how the other airlines punya service. 

Leaving Taiwan on Jetstar..

Food

Awesome! I think mostly because I love chinese cuisine. But of course I could not try everything on the menu. We only gotta choose seafood, but still it was all worth it! Sedap macam makan di Malaysia :) Untung sangat kita di Malaysia majmuk and are allowed to preserved everyone's custom. Keindahannya, we are more diverse in variety name it food, thoughts, and tolerance. I really hope so, especially the tolerance to last longer :)

Chinese cuisine yang paling sedap yours truly have ever tasted:)

Public transport

Metro coins. Murah gila..We go from Taipei station to Taiwan City Hall (about 5 stops) cost us 20NT= 60yen >,<

This is from my observation la ye. I'm not sure I got it right on the fact. I think Taiwan is just like M'sia in its public transport system. They have a train system connecting cities like us, KTM komuter, and they have subways which resembles Singapore's MRT. But basically that's it. In addition, they also have bullet trains although shinkansen looks far better to me :P 

We stayed in Taoyuan. Yes, very near to the airport. If you want to come to Taipei, Taoyuan airport would be the main airport for international arrivals. Taoyuan is not really in Taipei. Also like KLIA right? So, to go to Taipei, we have to get onto a train like komuter, which took about 40 minutes. It was a nice ride nonetheless. A good chance to expose you with the locals. When you arrived to the city, there will be MRT and buses to bring you around town. 

Prayer room in Taoyuan Airport. So much better than in Kansai :')

Oh, btw, beza antara komuter and their train was that...they are really on time! really!hehe..

Price wise, in my opinion, it was really made to be affordable for the rakyat. Like us, from Taoyuan to Taipei, 40 minutes ride only cost us RM5.70 or 150yen! You know, 150 yen could not bring you anywhere in Japan >,< Not even to the next station >,< 

So, in conclusion, their public transport is affordable and efficient!

One of the MRT station. Taiper City Hall where Taipei 101 is located. Also, main sites for tourist.

People and safety

I walked around alone most of the time. Especially in the evening, hunting for food for berbuka. Before beli makanan tu of course la kita beli bende lain juga :D At first, husband was so worried to let me jalan sorang-sorang while he's at work (he is here for business). Habis takkan nk makan di hotel hari-hari. Tak Taiwan langsung lah kan. But I found the courage to step outside and interact. So far so good. Plus, I walk around the town, full with people. I think as long as I be around people, I should be okay :) 

Most of the people are very nice and surprisingly, friendly. For some, they have a considerably good command of english. For those who can speak, they speak with no accent! To ease your communication, you have no choice but to go to those high end areas. Especially in choosing restaurant for you to eat. Easier for you to explain your situation as muslim :)

But, do not expect hospitality like those Japanese. haha..

While walking I had so many times get stopped by the locals. They were fascinated by my appearance. Most of them knows about Muslim. That wasn't a surprise considering the many mosques you can find in Taiwan. And they are huge and nicely built. What made me a little uneasy was, how can they don't know the existence of Malaysia T_T Always they thought I came from Indonesia. One of the guy who talked to me even said, my scarf was different from Indonesian around. lol xp

Another thing fascinated me was..how plenty Indonesians in the town! There were even more of them in Taipei..and in the train alone! So, I think they would never feel foreign considering numbers of them have already populated the area. And yes, not a single M'sian I met there T_T

This photo was taken by a family if Chinese Indonesian. 

Surrounding

In Chung-li (Taoyuan), I really felt like staying in Jalan Tar. Seriously. Behind the hotel, there's Sogo complex. Surrounding it, there's a lot of street shops like in...Jalan Tar! xp

Deretan kedai yang tak ubah macam di Jalan Tar. Something you wouldn't see in Japan. When I saw this..waa....macam balik KL je perasaannya :')

A lot of stalls like this. They are mainly selling cut fruits and fruit juice! Murah sangat fruit juice depa :') Terharu sangat tengok kesenangan mendapat bekalan fruit juice di mana-mana. I was skeptical on the clenliness, but one day I pass by them and saw they were wearing gloves while cutting the fruits :') Maybe not all stalls but these stalls did :)

Waa..hisashiburi Watsons :') Kat Jepun takde Watson. Pardon my kejakunan :') Yea..hari-hari pegi sini walaupun takde beli pape :p

Tempat shopping selame 2 minggu >,< 

Many streets like this surrounding the town. Senang je nak tahu orang tu boleh cakap english tak..those who approach you. haha.

Attractions

Well, I'm sorry..I could not review on this area much..sebab kami hanya jalan-jalan tanpa hala tuju je. Because most of the attractions are zoo and temples which are so not our interest. hehe..

Taipei 101..was behind me

Muka hampir terbeli LV T_T

Weather

Feels like Malaysia! Except on the day of the typhoon. Tu macam kat Jepun.

Berbuka di hotel

Suspicious sangat tajuk..

Nevertheless, I mean it! I'm going to show you the juadahs I've been having for iftar in HOTEL so far. 

Mind you..all '5 stars'..

Mari kita lihat..antara-antara juadahnya:

Berbuka 

Amacam? spesel tak? :') bahahaha..

Ape nak buat..berpuasa di perantauan..pastu accomodation tak ada pula dapur. Have no choice but to tapao everyday. Eating out was not an option la coz I gotta berbuka alone most of the days:)

But, see the big fish there? That's when hubby was around:) Special sikit la :') 

I mentioned before, that I am constipation-prone during fasting month. So, a big portion of the hidangan have to be fruits. Tapi tak constipation prone pun memang gini :D Despite of this effort, it still hasn't reduce the risk nonetheless:( Tapi, cuba jela kan..mana tahu it will become worst if I didn't >,<

Bersahur

Back in M'sia I would love to have rice, tembikai (a lot of it) and sedikit kuih. Yep, I'm fussy like that. But in here, bersahur around 3am, and I usually fell asleep at 1.30 T_T so...

Nevertheless, I am all bersemangat to serve my husband. Although it was only tapaoed food. He is so easy to take care of la..have to thank my MIL a lot :')

So far, we only had leftovers from the iftar. I am okay with that. I usually don't have the appetite, so it's okay:) But I must have a sip of orange juice, my milk and recently prunes. Blerghhh

And..I found my favorite cereals! I love trix by the way..but this is froot loops!can do la..nk sama dah rasa dia tu:') Di Jepun, mashaAllah..tak jumpa la trix ke...froot loops ke..koko crunch pun tak ada T_T So, if you want to make your friends in Japan happy, those are some of the things you can consider to bring here, alongside KFC and McDonalds. haha

Moreh

I love my moreh. If in M'sia, moreh means the time I can finally eat my kuih! Yours truly ni memang makan banyak kali. In normal days, teatime is my joy of the day. I love kuih. In Japan, I have no choice but to replace them with cookies, cakes and all sorts of sweets. My favourite teatime menu, pisang goreng! Imma simple girl like that. It is easy to make me happy!

Tapi in puasa day, of course I can't swallow everything during the iftar. So, I have to let the maincourse settle smpai colon, then I can have my stomach for kuih muih:')

But as musafir, this is my moreh. In spite of all the hurdles, I still have my moreh.haha.. oreo pon oreo la..

And..I still have to get my coffee kick. Usually, after I have coffee, my cognitive function would become so active, and I would suddenly became so productive too!tsk..so caffeine dependent T_T

And that people..why I had a hard time to fall asleep every night these past few days >,<

Handling constipation

Constipation..

A struggle I've been having every time fasting month arrives.

Everytime when Ramadhan is announced, the idea of having constipation will immediately came across my mind, and gave me scare.

I would sigh a relief every time the 30 days passed without it. A joy for me.

Who have this problem too?

Well, I did not have it as often as you might think. But, the experience really was terrible, that I categorized to be able to 'berak' easily is one of the joy of life. Lol xp

Anyway, struggle to have an easy bowel movement basically has been my everyday struggle. Some of the days, it was effortless, but most of the time it was a struggle. Not a struggle 'during the process' if you may ask. Struggle to ensure the process is at ease. I have to make sure I get enough natural laxative, enough fluid and everything needed to ensure an 'easy stool'.

Here's what you might need to consider to prevent constipation. Some people would have different requirement. Some are just so gifted with active bowel (like yours truly husband -_-"), in which they pretty much do not need any of the laxatives. Unfortunately for yours truly, my bowel works exactly like those in textbooks! It just that, I need pretty much all the precautions necessary -__-" 

1. Eat a lot of fibres.

My friend and family knows me well that I ate a lot, a lot of fruits everyday. I did not eat them for dessert only, I practically have them as my staple food. I'm not exaggerating, I eat a lot of fruits. Basically, fruits is where most of my money are invested. 

Despite of this, I still prone to constipation. When I was first see doctor for constipation, she told me, I have to eat a lot of fruits and veges. I was like..-__-" 

I think that fact is known by a lot of people. What the doctor forgot to tell me was, fruits and vegetables gave laxative effect differently for each individuals. So, you have to experiment with yourself which fruits or veges with a strong laxative effect on you.

Laxative effect could be stimulated by many ways. It could be either the fibre you take causes you to trap more air, or more fluid. If more air, this will help your bowel movement. If the fibre the kind of absorbs fluid well, it will help make your stool softer so, the elimination would be easier.

So, in conclusion,  natural laxative works differently for every individuals. You have to find yours.

Among the popular choices are papaya, banana, prunes. But all three are my least favourite fruits. In addition, banana and papaya did not work well as laxative for me. Prunes on the other hand has always been the saviour. I mean, when the condition is at its worst. Because I don't like prunes >,<

2. Plenty of liquids

When you drink less, your body will get dehydrated. Subsequently, your kidney will signal less water to be secreted and more water to be absorbed for the body. That's include water that moisten your stool! As a result, your stool will become harder and difficult to be push out of the system.

Ok, this could be one of my problem too. I have always been difficult to gulp a large amount of water. Especially when the time I was so busy. Drink plenty of water has been my struggle so far. But, I'm getting better at it. Still, it wasn't as much as litres as famously recommended.

3. Avoid caffeine

Have you ever experienced, whenever you drink caffeine, you will have toilet calls more frequently? This diuretic effect could cause your body to dry up of fluids, drying up your stool as well. Therefore, it is best to drink plenty of water whenever you have caffeine.

As for me, caffeinated drink is one of my best laxative. It was contraindicative from the textbook. But it works wonder to stimulate my bowel! and at the same time telling me to drink plenty of water. Because I'll feel thirsty after every few sip :) It's like after a few sip, I feel my mouth is getting dry, so I drink water ;) Sedar tak sedar, I drank a lot already! 

This situation is a good example of different laxative for every individual ^_^

4. Physical movement

Living a sedentary life would also leave me constipate >,<

Apparently, physical movement (exercise would be better) would help stimulate your intestine. So, if you think you have done all of the above but still got constipation, please think about exercising ^_^

Because of this, yours truly is one restless creature.

5. To avoid: stimulant laxative (drugs) and sweet treats.

It is very important to avoid drugs if you have constipation. The drugs available may caused your colon to depend on them later. Continual usage will need you to increase dosage. I'm afraid later you would end up fully dependent of them >,< phew!

If you feel like your stool has started to become harder to eliminate, start puasa from sweet treats. Sweet treats are mostly low in fibre content. Until you get fine, then you can have your sweets again.

There's a lot more you can find in a textbook or internet. I write here are based on my personal experience. 

In the next entry, I will share with you on how I deal with this issue in fasting month ^_^

On the day of...soulik typhoon

Typhoon? I heard about it so many times in Japan. Interestingly, I was never in Japan when it happened.

I heard about how my friends fell off bicycle, had their expensive umbrella broke into pieces by the typhoon. Trust me, quality payung here paling murah RM 60. You have to buy these kind of payung to survive the harsh weather, stronger UV rays, and what's not. So, what I'm trying to tell you is, I do not have a clear picture how typhoon feels like.Whenever it hit Japan, I often was out of the country.

Destiny you may call it, I finally experienced it in..Taiwan! Contoh berada di tempat yang salah pada masa yang salah??You might call that too. But it wasn't that bad. I must said the typhoon wasn't that bad (at least at my area, which is quite far from the shorelines. Alhamdulillah..

But these people were very much ready. Potential victims had been evacuated days prior to the scheduled strike. I read from the paper, tourist had also been evacuated from Taiwan. Then I see myself..hey!how about me? >,< 

Ehem!another one left here >,<

Anyway, I thought these typhoon was just like a strong, extraordinarily stronger from ribut in KL, if you may imagine. So, I guess we should be okay as long as we stay indoors. As the hotel I stay in currently is quite err..high end according to my preference, so I guess it should be safe enough. I just have to stay indoors until the typhoon finished crossing the whole continent (the typhoon was a two-eyed typhoon, each one eye sized larger, much larger than the whole Taiwan >,<).

At left shown Taiwan. The typhoon is absolutely much much larger.

Anyway, it was Saturday. After we finished sahur at 3.30am, I lied down for a while while waiting for azan.

Then suddenly I felt so nauseas! So pening gitu. The thought that I might be pregnant immediately cross my mind. But of course, I didn't want to lie at myself. haha..

I told husband that I really feel like vomiting. Like the world is spinning.

After subuh, we felt the building was berputar slowly. I swear I felt my butt was moving in a slow motion touching and untouching the bed. Shortly after that, husband mengadu nk muntah pula. lol xp.

I did not know this typhoon was so serious until I feel it myself. It was so scary I feel like the typhoon could potentially push this building down and..btw, we stayed on the most top floor T_T. Nauzubillah..

Then the next morning, I though it was over. But, it wasn't. The hotel main entrance was well sealed with kayu, bebatu, sticker, etc. Apparently, it wasn't the entrance only, all of our windows were secured like this. 

 As we reached the concierge area, OMG, it was so...teruk bersepah gitu >,< The main glass door was sealed with kayu and batu, maybe to add strength to the glass to endure the force. 

You're right! There was not a single human jalan-jalan kat luar. lol xp And I witnessed with my own eyes how strong the typhoon was. And that was just the ekor-ekor je. I can't imagine how it was at 3am that morning. I was so like jawdropping gitu, I forgot to record it. I managed to record a little bit before we got scared and run for elevator (before the elevator suddenly shut down or something >,<)

  Blerghh..we spent our day..watching TV japanese channel (sebab tu je yg available and the cable wasn't damaged by the typhoon). Husband was ok, coz he like Japan's TV. To make things worst, the available channels were mostly sports channel >,< Arghhh!!!
Me? Of course I did not watch AT ALL. haha.

At 4, the sky magically became clear again. The birds were chirping again and the traffic started to become active. So, did us! lol xp

We head to Sogo located just behind our hotel. Awesome! I know :') 

And..book a table for anniversary dinner/iftar!

Us after 3 years being married..and countless of months/days being committed towards each other. basically, we grew up together! and we are goin to enter 3 series soon. Time flies so fast :'( May Allah grant our marriage with happiness, barakah and..lots of children :D May Allah protect you wherever you go, whenever.

On another note, finally I managed to eat the real chinese cuisine!! We managed to find a chinese restaurant yang banyak menu seafood. Bukan tak ada ayam/beef langsung, tapi most of the options are seafood. I was so excited, so I ate really a lot! Memang sedap! Serious! Perfect! Like what I imagined these would taste whenever I watch cerita cina. haha..especially shrimp dumplings and shrimp veges bean curd rolls ^_^

Tengok mee kungfu ni..sedap melampauan sangat..I want to buy the noodle and make it myself la. Macam senang je. Where to get?

Nyum nyum chinese cuisine. Hailed them for their awesome menus!

Taiwan done! Where is next? ^^,

Selamat berpuasa

Assalamamualaikum..

I also cannot believe what I'm about to type..but..yea..I'm currently in Taiwan, specifically Taoyuan, 'temaning' husband for his work trip.

Blergh..I know. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't that clingy la sampai nk ikot beliau pergi outstation.

The story wasn't that long to share it here, but I don't think like justifying my intention to go this far to be with my husband for this Ramadhan:)

Anyway, Selamat berpuasa to all!more importantly, selamat beribadah!

How Taiwan if you may ask?

Surprisingly, it is a lot like KL!

In my area where I stay at the moment, I feel a lot like Jalan Tar gitu. lol xp

Behind the hotel, there's Sogo. The people speak english with no accent! therefore, so far I do not have problems communicating with them. Alhamdulillah..

The problem remains, halal food.

The food available for muslim are so limited. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed whatever they have to offer in which the taste were more like Malaysia food! Oh, I miss Malaysia :'( Especially with the Ramadhan wave.

Alhamdulillah, so far I did not have heavy cravings yang menyebabkan rasa tak puas makan berbuka puasa.

I could accept almost anything as simple as a plate of dumplings. But..baru sehari je puasa. haha.

Hopefully yours truly can endure this situation for another 2 weeks or so, depending on how long husband wants to hold me in here. waaa T_T I need to go home and buat keje lar..waa...

The truth is, I don't have mood or..more to the kick/the hormones to write in here. The draft has been days. I write little by little whenever the housekeeper came in to clean. So, buat-buat busy lar..

Although the shopping street is just like a walk away, I don't feel like shopping. Alhamdulillah..

I spent a lot of this time to read the Quran and investigate on many of my curiosity.

It kills time, pretty greatly.

A few days before I flown here, I had a few Malaysians came to stay at my house.

One of the girls is a fan of Korean drama. She kept saying this and that about it. So, I guess, I may need some thing like korean drama to kill time, don't I? Coz I heard something like the drama won't allow you to go to sleep and what not. So, I asked her to transfer the best korean drama she has in file.

After 2 minutes playing it, I was convinced, K-drama is so not my thing :( So unfortunate. Because I think they must be fun to watch!How can I not be able to feel the same way?Blergh..

So far what I did was..read, and draw. I stop drawing at the moment coz I forgot to bring pemadam T_T

Anyway, what else should I do? 

Husband pujuking me to stay longer and propose the idea to use this time to establish my online shopping website T_T 

duh -__-"