Taiwan Food Edition~!

85 Degrees Bakery

85 Degrees is a bakery of Korean origin with a few branches close to my hometown in California. When I saw the many branches sprinkled throughout Taiwan, I lost my shit. This morning I got a sea-salt caramel latte and a chocolate mousse cake in a flower pot cup! It was delicious and light. Perfect for the slightly overcast and rainy morning we had mid February.

Black Coffee, Whole Milk, Sugar Crystals

A friend of mine and I ventured for breakfast at a very posh diner which was decorated with plants throughout the restaurant and painted a sky blue & black theme. The waiters were all very posh, and the food very good! My friend ordered the above croissant sandwich. I devoured the light waffles below, along with the caramel sauce, vanilla bean ice cream, and homemade whipped cream. A diabetic dairy disaster. It. Was. Amazing. Not to mention the very neat presentation made devouring that much more fun! This place is called: Coffee Alley and is located outside the MRT stop for Taiwan City Hall. Here's the address if you're in the area: ATT 4 FUN, 3 FL, No. 12, Song Shou Rd. It's on the third floor, so you'll have to climb some stairs, it's not in an obvious place but you'll see a sign with a bunch of establishments on it, and Coffee Alley is definitely one of them. Good luck~!

Sea-Salted Caramel Waffles

Spicy Peanut Noodles

One of Asia's best food features is the use of nuts. From Thailand to Taiwan, South East Asia indulges in peanuts especially. A serving saving grace is that most dishes are meant to be shared between two or more people. Like the Dim Sum pictured below. Although the best Dim Sum I've ever had was definitely in Hong Kong, this was a close second. Taipei 101's Din Tai Fung is definitely a treat well worth the visit!

Veggie Shrimp Dumplings!

Soup Dumplings

Spicy Egg and Fish Omelet

Fried Shrimp with Cucumbers

Lime ice cream, crushed peanuts, and celantro. All wrapped up in a very very thin crepe. Sensational? Yes.

Ice Cream Sandwich

HUGE Block of Tofu

Tea Eggs

Dan Bing is a common breakfast food in Taiwan that could be easily seen as a Taiwanese breakfast burrito. The below is filled with egg, cheese, and spices. The outside is a thin Taiwanese "pancake". It is a very easy breakfast to eat on the go and is available any time of day with a variety of fillings. The above pictured are women making dan bing at a night market in Shilin.

Dan Bing

Dim Sum

It is common to see carts in the street like this one selling a plethora of shu mai, dumplings, and bao. Many of these colorful delights contain spiced meat or fish. I got a box filled with one of each for 6 USD. That is the life I want to live every day <3.

Looking back at my food festivities in Taiwan, I must saw it was an amazing amount of delicious food! Don't restrict yourself when you're traveling because you won't remember how much you weighed at the time, but you will remember how the food made you feel!

My experiences there cannot be replicated and I am so grateful I had the chance to trek Taipei extensively!

If you find yourself going to Taipei any time soon a great food blog that will help you a bunch is: Hungry Girls Guide to Taipei ~! She's absolutely amazing, read at your own discretion! <3

Singapore Food Edition~!

SAM, Singapore

Ya Kun Kaya Toast
  18 China St | China Town, Singapore, Singapore 
 

Kaya Toast, Singaporean Coffee, & Runny Eggs
Traditional Singaporean Breakfast!!!

Glutton's Bay

Curry and Mutton Murtabak

Singaporean Coffee and Rice Cake with Sweet Sauce

Singaporean Rainbow Jelly

Fresh Fruit!

Yum Cha
20 Trengganu St, Singapore 058479
 

Dim Sum!

Arab Chinese Food Fusion~

Malay Arab Food Fusion~!

Annalakshmi
104 Amoy Street

The amazing thing about this Indian Buffet 
is you pay as much you want!

Indian Curry & Roti

Indian Dessert

Dosai

Singapore is an amazing place to get down and eat amazing food! There is an incredible mix of culture between Arab, Chinese, Indian, and Malay. Singapore is the only place I've ever seen a fusion between Arab and Chinese food. It was absolutely delicious!
The coffee in Singapore is so unique because it is so thick and very very strong! They also have variations that have condensed sweet milk. In South East Asia they are big fans of Milo and Nescafe. What Americans might know as coffee is completely different to what they're serving here!
留学生ノート： If you decide to travel outside of Japan, Singapore is without a doubt the most expensive country you'll visit in South East Asia. The current exchange rate is one Singaporean dollar for every .80 US cents. I spent the least amount of time in Singapore during my travels because of the cost. However for what you pay, it is one of the safer countries in the region and truly is incredibly clean.
Things I would recommend buying while in Singapore:
1. Electronics. They are without a doubt the cheapest in Singapore and the quality isn't as questionable as in other countries.
2. Charles and Keith. It's a very popular Singaporean brand that sells shoes, bags, shades, and accessories. It is dirt cheap in Singapore--for obvious reasons--and is really stylish! And if you want to really save a few bucks, wait until you're in the airport to buy because then there's no taxes!

桜井の月見~

天理大学の留学生

Washing Station

Wishes~

たこ焼き

The Priests of the Temple

おにぎり～！

A group of Tenri University's international students were invited to participate in a Moon Viewing Festival in Sakurai. Sakurai is a city a few stops away from Tenri within Nara prefecture. We were welcomed to a Temple where we listened to traditional Japanese music such as the Koto, and watched a traditional Japanese dance.
This festival was in honor of the Autumn Equinox which fell on September 23rd of 2013. 
The point of the festival is to think of a wish you hope for your future and to write it on the outside of the candles. Then later on hopefully your wish will come true in the new lunar cycle. 

Universal Studios 日本～！

Spiderman the Ride

Biohazard

The Hard Rock in Osaka~!

Universal Studios Japan is in Konohara Ward, Osaka and can be reached by train from Tenri's international dorms. The train ride is about an hour + 1/2 and I highly recommend you take as many express trains as possible!
Here's a few tips when entering the park:
They don't check bags as long as you don't have an obnoxiously huge one, so feel free to bring in some inconspicuous snacks. I would take a few things to munch on because the lines for food stands tend to be long, 45-one hour... It's pretty ridiculous.
If you want to  enjoy the day without amazingly large crowds, go during the week! Most people are in school or at work, and they actually adhere to their obligations. So if you go on a Tuesday in late September it could very well end up being mostly foreigners in attendance.
We went on a tremendously busy weekend so we purchased express tickets for about ￥5700. They have different packages that range from 3600-6700. The tickets we bought gave us the chance to go through the express lines on pretty much every ride in the park, and we never waited longer than 10 minutes as opposed to the four hour wait for some rides.
 Ignore the city walk until after the park!! You can have a nice meal and then wander the shops full and happy. <3

Now the fun stuff:

If you're a Southern CA native like I am, you've most likely visited US Hollywood. Well I must say that USJ takes themes to a level that isn't observed at the California park. Also, there's a few discrepancies in the rides available. The park in Japan still has Back to the Future the Ride available whereas it was replaced by the Simpsons in America.  Spider man the ride doesn't exist in America either.
The ride that is absolutely the most fun in the entire park is Backdrop. It's amazing. It's maybe even less than a minute and the regular line is a wait of four hours, but with express tickets you get a half hour window to just go straight up to the front.
If you go at all, you absolutely have to ride Backdrop. There's two options to ride it going forwards or backwards... I obviously recommend the latter. And when on the ride you have the opportunity to select one of five songs to listen to as you fly through the sky.

USJ is absolutely amazing during Halloween time! During the day, all is normal. But at night, suddenly a mass amount of zombies enter the park. OKAY, here I am going to depart wisdom so you do not make the same mistake I made. During the haunting festivities you'll notice some people are wearing obnoxiously glowing necklaces--no they aren't out of place ravers--they are smart assholes. Those necklaces are bought from an office in USJ stating that you consent to having the zombies touch you. If you buy one, you will have the chance to be circled and "eaten" by a hoard of zombies--most likely multiple times throughout the night.
**Only 100 are sold throughout each day. They sell out in the first hour of the park opening. Find out if you can pre-order, if you can't, get. there. early. お願いします～！