Iceland; 2015 & 2016

One of my favourite places in the whole world. Legit. I took so many photos but i misplaced the SD card and now i’m left with these. I’m sad. I. WILL. GO. BACK. 

I honestly can’t believe that we fly to Iceland for 2 years in a row; April’15 & March’16. Both were one of the best travel experiences of my life. 

I can never emphasize how much i love Iceland because no words can actually describe how amazing and beautiful Iceland is. 

The first time we was a short 4day road trip but it was enough to make me want to go back for more. 

Maybe it was the company, maybe heading to Iceland with a bunch of crazy monkeys was one of the best decisions i made in my life. Maybe, maybe. 

But yes, we went back the year after and travelled to the other attractions. It felt refreshing. Amazing. 

Made my first ever legit snowman there. I have never felt more accomplished. He stood well. Well, until the storm came. 

It was also the first time that i’ve encountered and got stuck in a snow storm. 5 of us, in the car with our heavy luggages. The storm managed to move the damn car. It was scary yet exhilarating. 

Driving in Iceland. Best. Shit. Ever. I cannot even. Stress-less driving because there is literally no traffic. It’s the literal “jesus take the wheel” because you can speed all you want on the slippery icy roads and hope that jesus doesn’t take you up to heaven just yet. Lol what am i even talking about. But anyways, Iceland is never complete without it being a road trip. 



Best thing of all. The northern lights. 

So whenever anyone asks me for my favourite country, the answer will always be Iceland. :)) 

Will i be able to head back there this year? 

Taipei 2016.

I’ve been to taiwan like wut, 6 years ago and i guess things hadn’t change much. 

Taipei 101 is still magnificent. (Well, lets be honest, one should NEVER pay so much to head up that building because there is honestly nothing much to see. You’re in a city, the only thing you’re gonna see is tonnes of building and houses, and nah, not worth it. Not worth my money at all.) But since it’s the first time for my friends, i head up with them to enjoy the view a lil bit. 

I have never been interested in modern buildings and infrastructure so i’m just “oh-alright-sure” but oh, we had DingTaiFeng. It wasn’t that great. I’d prefer Singapore’s DTF anyways. 

Plus the trip was just gloomy because Tai-Feng is approachingn and it rained like throughout our trip (which sucks). 

We wanted to take the cable car up to the Gondola but it was raining so it was suspended. (Fuck)

There wasn’t much that we could do. And it was already near evening so we decided to head to Shihlin Night Market! 

We got stuck in the heaviest rain we have ever seen in our lives while on the way to the market. But times like this gave us the opportunity to take some #OOTD. 

Shihlin was amazing. (I vlogged most of the trip and yes i am lazy to edit the videos sorry not sorry) 

I headed solo to Jiu-fen and the Northern Coast on the third day. Had beef noodles for breakfast near our apartment before i headed for my day tour. YAAAAAAAAS SUPER GOOD OK. 

I love solo trips, always have loved solo travelling and adventures! I booked a day trip with Klook and i’m honestly very happy with this decision! 

Jiu-fen looks the same, nothing has changed. Made new friends and enjoyed this lovely journey. It didn’t rain much so that’s something to be happy about! 

And ya, there was a long queue for this dessert stall; i think it’s kinda like the blackball dessert, it was alright. 

The day trip was over so quickly, damn i wish it was longer. 

Day four was just another chill day, we didn’t do much in the day but explored a few night markets at nights. 

Tried the street snacks and was damn full i can’t even. (I don’t even know where the photos were. Urgh)

The last day came and it’s time for us to head back to Singapore. It was a chill getaway fo sure. Great food and company indeed. (But no, i wouldn’t head back to taiwan anytime soon. I’m definitely not a Asia-explorer kinda person) 

Shantou, China 2017

So my whole family and i headed over to Shantou, China for the long weekend from 31st Dec- 2nd Jan. Ya, we basically spent New years day in another country haha

It’s my first time in Shantou, i was definitely excited! 

We departed Singapore in the afternoon and only arrived at Shantou at 6PM. But damnnnn, it was already dark there. There wasn’t much i cam phtograph. All i can say is that nobody there obeys traffic rules. God it was scary. 

We had dinner at the hotel and then spend NYE in dreamland. We were famished haha. 

We headed out early the next day. Oops, i guess i forgot to mention why we’re actually in Shantou. We’re here to visit our distant relatives/friends. And apparently, my great grandfather is a legend. 

Before he left for Singapore, he gave his home and land to this random family for free. Lolololololol lao gong, you da best. Idk how or why but wow. So ya, we came over to shantou to visit this family that apparently got the land from my great granddad. 

They are so grateful towards our family. The hospitality that they showed us was beyong imagination ok. 

So we headed over to a temple to pray to the Lee ancestors. 

They also insisted that we should stay for lunch. They cooked soooooo much and even ordered the local delicacies just for us. It’s legit feasting. 

Yups, that’s snails. Boiled snails. It tasted like squid somehow. 

Lololololololololol i still cannot that they actually wanted to take a group photo HAHAHA. 

But legit tho, their new house is huge. And the view from their roof top is pretty dope. 

So then, typical Vanessa… I had to pull my dad out to help me take some ootd pictures. 

We left the village in the late afternoon and went shopping in the mall near our hotel. 

We then left Shantou to Chaozhou the next day! DAY TRIP YAY. 

Our driver took us to Chao Zhou Old street. We spent the whole afternoon there buying goodies back to sg for our other relatives! 

So ya, that’s a pretty short 3 day weekend getaway but definitely a good one! :))

Where would be my next destination? 

A short getaway to Taiwan, Taipei.

So i’ve decided that i have been stuck in Singapore for a little too long. (Well, 3 months. Yes, June + July + August. Yes, 3 months is too damn long.)

Been planning to get out of the country for some time now ever since i came back from The land of leprechauns and gold pots at the end of the rainbows which we never get to chase and see because we’re too lazy. But anyways, Ireland is too damn amazing and that’ll be another blog post. (because ya i’m a lazy pig) 

I got a text from Shermaine and susing asking me if i am interested to fly down to Taipei with them. And hell yeah, YES I AM WILLING TO GO ANYWHERE; ANYWHERE BUT STAY IN SINGAPORE. 

I’m already working tho. Gotta take leaves. Took 2 days off from boss and he approved. Yay. (Thanks to Hari Raya Public holiday, i’ve got 1 more day extra off woohoo) 

Okay so let’s fast forward and get to the point. #taiwanbound yaaaaaaas 

We took SQ; SGD$601 for a round trip to TW is cheap. Considered that we are taking Singapore Airlines and this is during the September Holidays for the kids, the damn 600 bucks was worth it alright. (Though the flight was delayed by an hour which fucked up out itinerary but oh wells, they had Magnum on flight for dessert, i am bought) 

Taipei immigration took us like an hour. 

Buying of SIM cards took us another half an hour. 

Queueing for the cab took us an hour and half. 

Cab from airport to our Airbnb apartment in Xi Men Ding was an hour. 

It was already 8pm by the time we reached our apartment. We were EXHAUSTED A F. 

Thereafter checking in, we headed down to look for dinner because we’re getting hansty. 

Decided on some Tonkatsu and yumz, it’s gud. 

Also, we bought Milk tea for this store called ‘Dream Cool’. Holymothermilkingcow it is heavenly. I have no regrets spending NT80 (approx. SGD$3.50) on that because damn it beautifuuuul. 

So dats day one fer eu.