B4 i start my entry on our taiwan trip, i wan to update on our house renovation. We haf decided to use an ID for our house reno cos e price of getting a contractor, who do not provide reliable design recommendation, is not cheap as we need to reno every inch of e house, n we may not get e look we wan for our 1st new house.
E ID we have engaged is Loyd Pek from D Home. I got to know abt him through his blog which i happened to come across while i was researching for modern retro home design. After going through his works in his blog, i find them very creative, especially how he blends e wall n floor tiles in the kitchen n bathrooms, n e curvature tat he incorporated into his designs (which e usual IDs n contractors will avoid). When i showed mc darling one of his retro work, he loved it. So we contacted him to come view our house n give us a quote.
I actually send him a layout we drew after consulting 2 contractors n an ID which he totally didn't use n gave us a totally new design which impressed us. Of cos, he is more costly than a contractor but we have came to term tat to really get wat we wan, our budget has to increase. If he can keep to our increased budget n we get wat we really wan, i tink it's worth it, hehehe.
We met him on Tues to decide on e floor n wall tiles to use so tat he can give us a more accurate quote. I had experienced house reno twice when my parents did their house so e usual tile shop tat e contractors/ IDs would bring us was Hafary. But Loyd brought us to this ulu tile shop called Eng Bee cos it sells old stock of tiles which are very suitable for our retro theme n indeed we pick almost all our tiles from there, hahaha.
I really can't wait for e reno to start soon, hehehe.
2010-03-28 ~ Taoyuan to Kaohsiung, Taiwan Trip
Thanks to my uncle, we got 2 redeemed SQ tickets to fly to taiwan. It has been ard 2 years since my last long trip n i haf nv been to Taiwan so i was excited. My parents came wif us cos i needed my mom's advice on e gowns to choose for my bridal photoshoot in Kaohsiung. They went to Taiwan b4 for their honeymoon so this trip was like their 2nd honeymoon, hahaha.
When we arrived at e airport, we went to get a portable internet device for my mom n mobile phone cards from Far Eastone. E internet device did not work for e whole trip as our laptops were Vista n Windows 7 so they did a refund for my mom's deposit when she returned it on e last day of our trip.
After purchasing e device n phone cards, we proceeded to e bus station to take a bus to Taoyuan High Speed Railway (HSR).
When buying e HSR tickets, remember to go to e counter to buy to get together seats cos if u get ur tickets from e machines, ur seats given will b randomised n you will b separated.
After 2.5 hrs of ride, we reached Zuoying HSR n we took a cab ride for abt 15 – 20 mins to reach our hotel in Kaohsiung called Kindness Hotel, which was walking distance to our bridal studio, Cang Ai.
E room was huge. there was reverse omosis water dispenser behind e door n wireless internet access in e room. There were other facilities like free usage of washing machine, dryer, iron, computer wif internet access, n free flow of coffee and tea, all of these were in their business centre. Breakfast was tasty but lack of variety cos e restaurant was not very big.
Overall, we like staying there n for couples going there to haf their wedding photoshoot, can consider staying at this hotel.
E hotel is also very near e 六合夜市 but this nite market is not very big n e food there not too bad too.
This hotdog, dun try, not nice.
So tat's it for Day 1.
2010-03-29 ~ Kaohsiung, Taiwan Trip
Day 2 was e day to choose my gowns n suits for mc darling so we planned to go to e shop early to choose so that i can go get my nails done but e shop only opened at 1pm.
E area there were full of bridal studios, n there was this super big bridal studio called Jenny Su, situated opp Cang Ai. Heard tat they only haf outlet in Hong Kong, i guess they will go into S'pore sooner or later.
Since we were there too early, we went to find a nail shop n made an appointment for my nails b4 we return to e bridal shop at 1pm.
We were told not to take pictures inside e bridal shop but we managed to snap a few shots but not going to post up here, jus going to post 2 pics of their gown rack n e changing area.
This was not e only rack of gowns to choose from, it was a whole level of gowns, hahaha. We took like 2 hrs plus to finally decide on e 4 gowns we were entitled for e photoshoot. While i was still deciding on my 4th gown, they altered my 3 other gowns n asked me to try them on, super efficient.
After e selection, we went to haf my nails done n mc darling did a facial, hahaha.
After we finished pampering ourselves, we had dinner at Pizza Hut n went back to hotel to rest for e photoshoot on e next day.
2010-03-30 ~ Kaohsiung, Taiwan Trip
We didn't get to take any photos during our photoshoot cos we were too busy n lazy so going to jus give my comments. i liked e make-up artist who did my hair n make-up tat day. I asked her to tied my hair to make it look short for e studio shoot n she did a really gd job. E make-up she did on me was very natural. I only took a pair of black heels n she managed to blend them wif my short white gown for e studio shoot.
E photographer n her assistance were very nice too, very chatty, keep making us laugh n encouraging us to do alot of expression. We told e photographer tat we would like to take photos wif their taiwan scooter n she managed to get a nice cream vespa for our outdoor shoot n e photos turned out really great.
Our photoshoot ended early as we only took 2 outfits so we were still pretty energetic after e shoot n we went to another nite market tat they recommended us to go, called 港都瑞豐夜市, which was much bigger than 六合夜市 and was usually patronised by their local people.
This stall sold all u can take vege in a single bowl n cook them wif mongolian bbq meat n noodle. Sharing of a plate is charged at a different price. Although they were tasty, we found them not cheap. We should haf jus ordered 1 plate cos we found another food we wanted to eat.
PS: To my surprise, we dun feel thirsty after eating most of e taiwan food, so i tink they dun put MSG in their food.
This was e stall tat we wanted to try, Want Go Steak. It was irresistable so we ordered 1 packet back to eat in e hotel. We were so eager to try it until we forgot to take picture but i tink it would taste much nicer if eaten hot there.
E squid was huge n mc darling bought a packet to try. It tasted like 炸鸡扒 so ok lah, can jus buy a packet to try, hahaha.
Taiwanese really like spongebob, lol.
I saw this mahjong game stall in alot of nite market but dun know wat it was.
After walking through e game stations, we went back, had our Want Go chicken steak pasta n went to bed to rest for e next day photoshoot at Kenting.
2010-03-31 ~ Kaohsiung, Taiwan Trip
My parents came along wif us for our photoshoot at Kenting so they helped us to take some pictures while we were doing e photoshoot.
I shall comment on my photoshoot for this day 1st. I actually prefer e make-up artist who did for me on my 1st photoshoot, i find my 2nd day make-up artist a little listless n i didn't really like e hairdo she did for my blue gown cos i find it too tied up but her reason for doing tat was becos it would b very windy n my hair would get messed up if not tied. Hence, i gave in but we still managed to get some nice photos out of it.
I love my last gown n e hairdo was pretty obvious tat my hair would b totally tied up so it was an easy job for her. Most of e time, she would b inside e van waiting for us to return n she would helped me touch up my make-up for e next scene. Probably becos of tat, my mom felt tat she was a little lazy, hahaha. Anyway, we managed to get pretty nice photos at e end of it so i didn't complain. I like e idea when e photographer asked me to let down my hair at e last few scenes which we found e shots really sexy, hahaha.
This was e 1st scene n it was called 海角九号.
This was my last outfit. Toking abt outfit, mc darling changed clothes more often than me lor, hahaha, cos we brought 2 shirts n some accessories so he had in total like 5 – 6 looks wif e 2 suits provided *jealous*, hahaha.
This, i can't remember was our which scene already, but i find this place really beautiful n e weather was superb.
This was our last 3rd scene n we really had fun here, hahaha.
On e road was e last 2nd scene where e photographer suggested letting my hair down.
This was our final scene but we ended up not picking any photos taken here, hahaha. Overall, e experience was fun n enjoyable. Our photographer n assistance really did a gd job in making us feel happy n produced e photos we wan. At least i find tat e photos still looks like me, hehehe.
When we were back in Kaohsiung, it was ard 8.30pm so we jus grab dinner from this jap curry rice shop opp our hotel.
It was not too bad better than Mr Curry in S'pore, hahaha.
2010-04-01 ~ Kaohsiung, Taiwan Trip
This day was e day we pick our photos and while we were on our way to e bridal shop, we saw these dogs leashed together n e small dog was so cute, keep posing when we were taking pics of them.
Btw, taiwanese really love dogs n i dun know how they train their dogs, they dun leash their dogs n they would follow them where ever they go. I wish kiki is like tat too, hahaha.
We took abt an hour plus to choose our 65 photos n we will get to c e edited version in S'pore in a mth's time. Shall share them when they are given to us.
After we chosen our photos, we headed to e Zuoying HSR to travel to Taipei. This shall b updated in my Taiwan Trip Part 2 after i edit e photos, hehehe.
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