My Travel Story : Eurotrip (3) ~ Arriving in Madrid

Buenos dias!

I finally arrived in Madrid at 11 AM, local time.

In Madrid Barajas Airport, there is a metro station that goes to the city center or basically anywhere around Madrid. There is also a tourist information center that you can find before you see the gate to the metro. I was kinda thinking of joining a local tour, so I decided to walk in to the tourist center to see what deals I could get. After looking at some of the local tour packages, I eventually just bought a 2-day Madrid pass that covers all transportation costs and various museums and tourist spots entrance inside Madrid for 2 x 24hrs (starting from the first scan). The pass costs me 58 euros and it comes with a guide book. The guidebook comes in handy, it consists of information on all attractions around Madrid that you can enter with your tourist pass, including opening schedule. Just to give you a slight picture to calculate, the metro in Madrid costs 1.4 euro for one trip (all stations). The 2-day pass for transportation alone (without museum entrance pass) costs 14 euros. That means the remaining 44 euros are spent for attractions entrance.

If you think you need a sim card, I can suggest to get the Vodafone one. There's a Vodafone shop at Puerta del Sol. It just costs 10 euros for 800MB of internet usage, 20 minutes phone calls and 20 SMS (if I'm not mistaken) for one month.

Madrid Metro Line

Madrid has a lot of beautiful museums and buildings. Most of them need an entrance fee. Of course buying a tourist pass might save you some euros (and queuing time!). But before deciding to buy the pass, estimate carefully how many places you can possibly visit during your visit. Don't forget to check on the opening schedule of the museums you want to visit as some closes on Monday. One attraction costs around 8 to 15 euros. You will benefit from this pass if you can visit at least 4-5 places during your stay. This pass also gives additional benefits such as discounts for selected restaurants and flamenco shows. 

Madrid Metro

Special tips on Madrid Pass:

1. Prior to your arrival in Madrid, make list of tourist spots you want to visit. You can finalize your route after you arrive, since this has a lot to do with metro and bus routes that you might only find out upon your arrival.

2. Possibly, you can only visit 2-3 places a day: 1 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. Most museums open at 9 or 10 and close at 18 or 19.00. 

3. Leave all the fancy meal time/culinary trip in the evening. The museums close at 18.00, but the cafes and restaurants open until night. 

4. Visit as many paid museums as you can. All the free scenery can wait when you have some spare time.  

Guide Book from Madrid Pass

I stayed at a hostel in the city center: Barbieri Sol Hostel. It was very cheap (28 euros for 2 nights) but clean. The staff were helpful and friendly. The location was great: around 500m to Sol Metro Station (at Puerta del Sol), or just a few minutes walking distance to Gran Via and Plaza de Cibeles.

Here's some places I visited during my 2 night-stay in Madrid:

1. Estadio Santiago Bernabeau:

 The stadium and museum for Real Madrid football club. There are showcase of historical stuff of the club such as: the uniforms, shoes, trophies; as well as tour to the backstage: changing room, bathroom, etc. The Madrid pass gives you a priority pass so you don't need to queue to buy the entrance ticket.

Real Madrid museum inside the stadium

Photo session with your favorite football player

2. Reina Sofia Museum:

An art museum. There are some of Piccaso's pieces also, but I didn't really enjoy this place. I'm just not really into this stuff. I just went there because the Royal Palace of Madrid was closed on Monday :( I intended to see the other palace but apparently the location was far and quite unreachable by public transports :(

Museo Reina Sofia

3. Parque del Retiro:

This park is really huge and beautiful. There is a pond inside the park where you can rent a boat. There are gardens inside the park and benches every where. I can imagine myself relaxing on a bench and read a book. With the nice weather in Madrid's autumn, it must be a perfect way to spend an afternoon :)

Puerta de Alcala

Pond inside the park

One of the gardens inside Parque del Retiro

Puerta del Sol, city centre

Crowd at Puerta del Sol

KM 0 at Puerta del Sol

Gran Via

Plaza de Cibeles

View from the top of Plaza Mayor

Culinary delights in Madrid:

1. Museo del Jamon --> just a few walks from from my hostel at Puerta del Sol. Provides many kinds of jamon (bacon) and sangria too. It is also budget friendly ;)

2. Sangria --> Spanish red wine mixed with fruits. Light and refreshing. 

3. Chocolateria san Gines --> very famous churros place. They have a very thick hot dark chocolate but doesn't taste too sweet nor fatty.   

4. Coffee at most of coffee shops in Madrid --> They're not expensive and most taste very good. The bakeries are also delicious!

Museo del Jamon

Chocolateria san Gines

Hope you find this post helpful!

Ciao! ^^

~Dolliechic~

Trip to Taichung & Nantou ~ 2011

Hey guys,

Since now I am located in Taiwan, I think I have to enjoy my stay here and take a look around the country. Though it is not a big country, but then I already fell in love with this country. I am fascinated in the language, I like the people, love the night markets and of course the street foods, cosmetics, clothing!

It was Qing Ming Jie (清明節) when my friends and I went for a trip to Tai Zhong and Nan Tou. It took us 4 hours to get to Nan Tou from Taipei. We rented a car and the driver. Fortunately Taiwan's traffic is not bad, at all! We enjoyed the traffic by continuing our beauty sleep in the car.

When we arrived there, apparently Nan Tou was on a mountain. The cool weather welcomed us and we walked around a tourist spot called Qing Jing Farm/ 清境農場 (Qing Jing Farm Link). The entrance ticket was NT $120, as far as I remember. We bought milky ice cream and enjoyed the relaxing view of the mountain. There are several kinds of ice cream, there are cow milk and lamb milk. Outside the exit, there is a food court. The price range is quite standard, from NT $80s to NT$ 100s.

The sheep at Qing Jing Farm

The cute baby horse and me

After visiting the dairy farm, we continued our trip to the beautiful Sun Moon Lake. We enjoyed the view of the lake from a cable car. We bought entrance tickets for both the cable car and the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village/ 九族文化村 (link to the web) at NT$550. It was a fair price for such place, because I think the theme park and the Sun Moon Lake view were incredibly beautiful! There were not a huge crowd nor a long que for the rides. The place was very clean and well maintained. Here are the pictures I took there.

With the beautiful Sun Moon Lake as my background 

The cable car we took from the Aboriginal Village theme park

One of the rides in the theme park

The giant roller coaster

Me at the beautiful flower garden

Mediterranean style theme park

Simply speaking, this tourism object is highly recommended for a family or couple trip :)

*this post was written on 2nd June 2011*

Happy Around Taipei ~ Part 4

Hey guys,

This is Saturday nite again, and I'm all alone again in my room. Did I hear someone just whispered "pathetic"? Nah, believe me, I don't feel bad about this anyways. I remember when I just moved in this new house, I cleaned up everything already. Then I wanted to go out on my own, because my friend was still working in her office. So, I texted her, "Where do you think I should go?" Then she suggested me to go to Xi Men Ding. Ximen is located on the blue MRT line, one station right after the Taipei main station. Find Exit number 6, and you'll find the Pedestrian Area right in front of the Exit 6.

As I have mentioned in my previous post, Ximending is a shopping area. Many tourists and local youth come here to shop and socialize. There are KTVs, movie theatres, department store, Carrefour and pedestrian area with lots of restaurants, clothing and make-up stores. You can find almost everything here in Ximending. Since this is the area where young people gather and socialize, you can also find Taiwanese and foreign youth here with various fashion style. They might not look as stylish as the Japanese and Koreans though, but they are quite dandy and good-looking. Most of the Taiwanese young people are good-looking in my opinion, although somehow they are rather skinny.

The department stores and shopping malls in Taiwan are not as crowded as in Jakarta. Simply because shopping mall is our only place to shop, get entertainment and food. Indonesian young people also love brands and they go to malls and department stores to shop. Mango and Zara are hot among Indonesian people but not here in Taiwan. Mango stores are deserted, even in sale season like this. Unlike in Jakarta where people que to pay at the cashier for the good bargain Mango stuff. I haven't even seen any Zara stores here! Where are they? Zara doesn't even exist in Ximending? Unlike in the malls, the pedestrian area looks more lively and enjoyable! The shops have cuter stuff to display and more youthful ambiance.

It's almost always raining in Taipei

Sometimes on weekends, there are events or performances at Ximending. It can be singing performance, album launching or movie stars meet and greet. If you love Taiwan superstars, maybe it's good to drop by. Who knows you are lucky enough to meet your idol? There are also movie or music video shoots on weekdays here. Even greater chance to meet your pop idol when they are acting. 

Many restaurants and food stalls are available around Ximending. You can find snacks stalls: roasted corn or Tang Hu Lu (sugar coated berries on a stick); fast food restaurants: McD, KFC and of course local and international cuisine restaurants. My friends and I once had dinner at a hotpot resto at Ximending. They said this resto is quite popular and unique, because you are allowed to write or draw anything on the walls.

Focus on the gravity at the walls behind me!

The hotpot was quite delicious. The price range is around NT 100 and above. I think all below NT 200, so it is just a decent price for a hotpot set. The set includes veggies, chicken/pork/seafood, rice and tea.

The famous Modern Toilet Restaurant at Ximending

The restaurant's entrance (dining room is upstairs)

*this post was originally written on 5th February 2011*

Happy Around Taipei ~ Chinese New Year

Gong xi fa cai, xin nian kuai le!!
恭喜發財﹐新年快樂

This is my first time celebrating Chinese new year in Taiwan, even the very very first time being away from my family. I feel like something is missing, something is incomplete :"(

Anyway, let's not go into it again. I had dinner with my friend's lovely family last night anyway. They've been treating me so nice since the very first time. Then they invited me to their new year's eve dinner. What a superb set of menu they prepared! Here they are ;)

Don't ask me the name of each menu, I only knew that some of them were made of pork, chicken, fish (tuna, I guess?) and beef. The soup has veggies, of course. There were also three kinds of snacks: sunflower seed, peanut and pistachio.

People told me that so many food stalls and restaurants are closed during the Chinese new year. And apparently, indeed they are! *sigh* I was so desperate to find something to eat instead of the frozen food from 7-11. Even so many resto are already closed one day before new year. But today, I tried my luck and went to Ximen Ding, one of some famous shopping areas in Taipei. Actually before going there, my friend already told me that most shops are probably closed today. But I really needed something decent to fulfill my empty stomach and got my head off the laptop. So, I kept on going and look! There was such a big crowd at Ximen Ding Pedestrian area! Yoohoo!! Most of the restaurants and shops were also open and I found this Korean hotpot restaurant.

That is the name of the restaurant, you can easily find it when you exit the MRT exit number 6. It's on your right side. Only around one or two hundred meters away from the exit.

The price range is around NT 160-180 per-set. They only sell plum juice (a Chinese traditional drink) for NT 20/medium sized cup. 

                            

This is the stairway to the second floor, where the diner actually is. The walls are covered with popstar posters.

I was seated and waiting for my meal. Then I turned my head around, wondering when my meal was going to be delivered and how they'd deliver it. Cos the stairway was terribly narrow! Then I found this peculiar thing on the side of the room. i was bewildered and watched this thing while waiting for my meal.

                            

This thing had panel like an elevator

Aha!

                            

Here comes my meal. The set was served with seaweed soup and rice. It consists of beef teriyaki, half-fried egg, kimchi and slices of cucumber. Unlike my previous experience with Korean cuisine, I like this one! The kimchi was also yummy, not as sour nor cold as usual. This set cost me NT 160, a decent price for a full set like this. I won't get to eat something like this everyday anyway. So, for a resto at Ximen Ding area, this is an OK price, I can recommend you this resto if you come to Taipei.

Yumm!!

*this post was originally written on 3rd February 2011*

Happy Around Taipei ~ Part 2

Hi again!!

I think I'm going to spend this weekend with no friend.. OMG, i'm bored to death!! Not because I have already stepped my foot on every inch of Taipei, but I really am running out of money, so I think it'd be wise of me if I just stay at home tonight. Maybe blogging should be a good idea to kill sometime and later I'll be working on my Chinese lessons. Did I tell you that I'm taking a chinese class here? Well, yeah my main purpose of coming here is actually to learn Chinese language. I have learned Chinese in Jakarta since 10 years ago. But the progress is not very satisfying since I had no one, except my Chinese teacher, to practice with. So I decided to come straight to this place to really focus on improving my Chinese skills in all areas, listening, reading, writing and speaking. Well, I should say that Taipei is an ideal place to realize my plan. People here are very friendly, especially once they know you're a foreigner learning their language, they're really enthusiastic to speak to you.


Anyways, here are more pics around Taipei and of course, yummy local cuisines!! :9

Taipei 101 in cloudy winter

Taipei 101 Office Building & Shopping Mall

This is Taipei 101, the tallest building in taipei and the second tallest in the world, i guess? It's located in a business area, something like Jl. Thamrin in jakarta? This area is surrounded by high class shopping malls and office buildings and banks. Inside Taipei 101 is also a shopping mall, besides the shopping mall, there are also office, restaurants and tourist spot. I went inside the shopping mall and also went around the outer building. Too bad I didn't go to the top of the building, but people say that going to the penthouse should better be done at night, so you can see the beauty of the city lights. I think there is some kinda fancy restaurant up there, so you can have dinner while enjoying the night view. 

Some Companies at Taipei 101 (Where's J&J?)

The famous Taiwan Beer

The beautiful ornaments on the pavement side

These are how the outer area of Taipei 101 look like. The pedestrian walk area is huge! Unlike when I walked around the malls in Jakarta, I don't really bother to buy anything in the malls here. Simply because the stuff in the night markets look more tempting than those in the malls, at least that's what I think at the moment.. Besides, I still think that malls in Jakarta have more exciting entertainment and better interior design. Jakarta's shopping malls are the BEST!