25/3/2011
The alarm went off at 5.45am. Stifling a yawn while killing off the alarm, it was earlier than the usual morning call but woke up with an entirely different mood! With the love of my life still in my arms, gently I planted a kiss on her forehead to wake her up. Is gonna be an exciting day! Today would be the day we would be flying off to Taiwan for our pre-wedding photoshoot. =)
Well, it all began with a trip to MATTA Fair in September 2010. As we were walking down aisle and aisle of promotion booth, a gentleman caught our attention and insisted us to visit their booth. It was booth of IVY Bride, a bridal company based in Taiwan with their 2nd fair in Malaysia. Captivated by their sample album, liking their style and after much convincing by Kelly and Jolin, we signed up for a package.
Soon after the fair, we liaise with Kelly via email to find out the best time to go as well as arranging the logistics. It was also then we were introduced to Lisa who would be our chaperone. Lisa was very helpful throughout. Apart from providing relevant information on the photoshoot, she helped in planning our travel itinerary even as far as paying upfront for our lodgings!
Back to the present, we managed to catch on the 6.30am sky bus to LCCT and by 7.20am we reached the airport terminal. Though it was still early, but the counter was already filled with loads of people.
After we have checked in our luggage and gotten our boarding pass, we went for a quick bite. Instead of McD we opted for a nasi lemak offered by a stall we stumbled upon. Judging by the pictures shown, we thought it was worth a try but it turned out nothing spectacular. The meal costs us RM7.90. After the brief meal, we went to Chocolate for desert! Savoured a vanilla sundae and we were at cloud nine ^^
Soon after we checked in to the lounge and at approximately 8.15am they called for boarding gate. We were greeted by a large steel bird, it was an Airbus A330! Cool!
4 hours and 30 minutes later. The plane touched down and we are now at Taiwan soil.
Welcome to Taiwan!!
After getting our luggage, we went to the arrival hall. It was not hard to spot our driver. He was holding a pop up card with both our names on. With a warm smile he greeted us and told us to wait at the gate while he fetched his car. And boy oh boy! It was cold! The temperature was only 120c and I was in shorts and t-shirt. Brrr… Minutes later, a black S-class merc appeared in-front of us and in it sat our driver with a smile. Our jaw dropped... This is what we called first class service. Now I feel underdressed… =P
45minutes later, we drove up to the door step of IVY Bride.
The door man opened the door for us and we were warmly greeted by all the staffs there. Wanted to help the driver to carry my luggage down but was rejected by them. Kelly (the managing person of IVY Bride) gave us a warm welcome and the other staffs brought us two hot cups of Jasmine Tea while we were introduced to Lisa the liaison officer who has been in contact with us and also our officer in charged. As soon as Kelly got to know that we have yet had our lunch, anxious about the fact, she immediately brought us out for food together with another couple from Singapore. A short walk later, we reached the restaurant – Hang Zhou Xiao Long Pao.
It was a two shop lot restaurant but the set up was cosy. Knowing that we were hungry and freezing cold, Kelly immediately ordered a hot bowl of “suan lak tang”. That warms us up immediately!
The hot and sourish soup!
This was followed by a “spicy tang hun noodle” dish. Either we were hungry or the dish was extremely tasty. Either way, we gulped down the noodle and the soup within minutes.
As we thought that was it, more dishes were pouring in on our table. The amount of dishes that arrived made us speechless! It was meant to feast a king! No joke! There was the “Xiao Long Pao”, clams, vege, “Sui Gao”, “Shui Jian Pao”, “Phoenix claw” etc etc. Look for yourself below.
The dishes were all, er, how shall I put it? “wonfantabulous” if I may (wonderful, fantastic, fabulous)! =) After we are all stuffed, Kelly foot the bill and we all took a stroll back to IVY Bride for our gown hunting! Despite the cold weather, the hospitality was warmth to our hearts!
Back at IVY Bride, Bi Xiang and Lisa were assigned to help us with our gown hunting. We were brought to the second floor where all their gowns were displayed. Flabbergasted by the rows and rows of beautiful elegant gowns, we stood there not knowing where and how to start. Understanding our emotion, Bi Xiang and Lisa started the ball rolling by asking some simple questions on how we would like our gown to be while taking some mental note on the measurements before going off to select a few for my wifey to try on.
Within minutes, they reappeared with few collections that were deemed to fit her. Starting off with evening gowns before finishing it off with the most elegant white wedding gown, all the choices that they picked was a perfect match and we fell in love at first sight especially with the two white gowns chosen!
Itching to try other gowns, Lisa obliged our request without any hesitation. Though all was pretty in its way, but in the end we still stuck back with the original selection made. Seeing that we were satisfied, Lisa smiled and said, “Haha! Do trust our judgement, those that we picked for you is tailored to your style and will definitely look elegant on you. Besides, it is also special on it’s on as they are designed by our in house designer.” Making sure we were contended from choosing the gowns, we were then brought to another place next door to choose my suit this time. The lady that was in-charged really knew her stuff on guys suits. She was able to transform a frog to prince (not saying that i am a prince =P) by just with some flick of a style to another. Adding on a vest, changing the bow tie, the tux to Armani, changing black to white etc gives a different feel with each transformation making you want to get them all. After a few tries later, we made our pick and heads back to IVY Bride for our second round of gown trying!
As soon as we are back in IVY Bride, we were served hot jasmine tea to warm us up and were also offered coffee while waiting for Lisa to bring us another set of wedding gowns to try on for our actual day. Again, it was a professional pick and we needn’t have a second opinion. These guys were really the pros! Kudos to them!
Once we have picked all the gowns and make the necessary arrangement for the photo shooting next day, we head back to the hotel provided by the bridal company. The hotel is situated at “Xi Men”. It is just two MRT stations away from IVY Bride and five minute walk from the station to the Hotel. After checking in, we decided to go walk around “Xi Men Ding” and have a feel of Taiwan night life before calling a night.
At “Xi Men Ding” the food peddlers caught our attention and we bought our first Taiwanese “Xiao Chi” which is “Chung Zua Bing”. It resembles the Malaysia’s “roti canai” but with a different kind of taste. Inside this so called “Bing” you can choose the toppings i.e. bacon, corn, chicken, curry and etc. This would then be top up with a special sauce to make it mouth watering!
Next stop, we went to seven eleven to purchase warm beanie bag “Ruan ruan Bao” as we were told by Lisa and Kelly that the next day would be a cold day and the beanie bag would be a handy thing for us to have. Each of the bag costs us NT15 and we bought two of it. We also bought two Taiwanese cup noodle for supper and breakfast.
Once we have gotten all the stuffs required, we headed back to our hotel. On our way back, we stumbled upon a shop selling “Ru Ro Fan”. Entice by the smell, we take away one! =P
The warm bowl of “Ru Ro Fan” and the cup of hot noodle were very satisfying on a cold day like this. After washing up and preparing for the next day, we hit the light and called it a day...
-End of Day One-
