WHAT?! Eating from a Toilet?

Yes! Just as the title suggests, I have eaten from the toilet. Don't worry, It wasn't in my home toilet or any other person's for that matter. It was a toilet themed restaurant in Xi Men Ding, Taiwan. This restaurant was on the top of my "Must-Go" list. Located in the backstreet alley of Xi Men, a colourful building with a giant toilet stuck on it showed us that we were at the right place. It took us a while to find but I think it was just because we werent looking hard enough. The restaurant's name is Modern Toilet. It's a very cute and bright restaurant which had poo every where!  A pink poo stood there tall and proud next to the entrance via stairs. The waitresses greet you warmly when you come in. I look up and noticed that the lamp shades were in a shape of poo. They guide you into the main dining area where bathtubs and showers were made into tables and toilet seats were the seats.  Don't worry, you sit on the lid of the toilet seats. The pictures provided speak for themselves. I've seen pictures prior to coming here but nothing is better than going there and experiencing it in real life...I mean it's such a novelty, how often can you go and eat on and from a toilet and drink from a urinal or toilet pipe? 
The menu is accurately written in English so it's foreigner friendly and the prices are also cheap...around NT$300-400. They have a lunch special where if you spend over this much you can choose a free drink (that was a good deal). Their cuisine is Japanese as Japan started this idea. The food was surprisingly yummy, I actually wanted more. Their creamy pasta was DELICIOUS!

The food was served on toilet lids, the rice came under a poo lid, dessert came in a squat toilet and the drinks were served in urinals.

Japanese Curry set

 Drinking Ice Red Tea from the toilet~

Creamy Pasta Cabonara

I hesitated to eat that but I plucked up some courage and devoured it.

Vanilla and Coffee Ice Cream in squat toilets

They had little cards we could write notes on...we thought we'd troll people with Kpop Stars

Errm...is that a toilet or a sink?

WARNING: 18+, Parental Guidance for minors

That's all from my AWESOME experience at Modern Toilet!
P.S. If you like these type of themed restaurants, there is also a Hello Kitty themed restaurant, Airline themed restaurant and Hospital themed (Adults Only).

Sylvia.

ANSWER: It's a sink!

Hungary

HUNGARY 

No this isn't a food blog.. ha... ha... 

Ok that was a bad joke but this city isn't we had so much fun walking the streets , cruising down the river Danube and deciding which side of Budapest was better. 

Did you know Buda and Pest were originally two different cities on either side of the Danube River. In 1873, these two cities were combined (along with Óbuda - "Old Buda") into a single city named Budapest.

"Buda" is the Hungarian version of "Bleda" the name of the Hun ruler who was the predecessor of Attila the Hun.

Pest is Slavic and considered to be the more modern side of the city. 

Anyways here are the best things to see and do: 

St. Stephen's Basilica (Szent Istvan Bazilika)

Built between 1851 and 1905,this is a huge parish church it accommodates 8,500 people and features a magnificent 300-foot, neo-Renaissance dome.

Heroes' Square (Hosok tere)

A large square constructed in 1896 for the millennium of the Magyar Conquest of Hungary. The square's Millennial Monument is flanked by the Fine Arts Museum and the Mucsarnok Art Gallery

CRUISE THE RIVER DANUBE 

This is absolutely beautiful , we went on a tour that gave us an audio guide too so we heard the history of the city. 

Well those are my ideas for Hungary. Enjoy your trip! 

New York

Hey the travellers!

Today we go to NEW YORK! One of the most famous cities of the United States where a lot of your favorite television sitcoms have been filmed such as Friends, How I Met Your Mother, How To Make It In America, Spin City, Just Shoot Me!, Suits and much much more!!

This iconic location is home to the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Ellis Island, Central Park and Wall Street, Time Square, etc.

Statue Of Liberty

Empire State Building

Ellis Island

Central Park

Time Square

As well as these fabulous locations New York City is a great location for Art Culture, food and Broadway.

New York is also the home a Mcgees, which is the pub which Mclarens, the main set of How I Met Your Mother was based on.

Ok Travellers this is me signing out

Oleg

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Hi everyone!
Just a design change to the blog and this is what we wanted it to look like.

 

 

From the Traveltastic Team.

Xi Men Ding! (西門町)

 You could say that this place is the hub for young people. Dubbed the "Harajuku" of Taiwan, Xi Men Ding offers good shopping and life time supply of idol and celebrity goods (for all you kpop and jpop lovers out there...this place is the place to be). Kpop and or Jpop blasts out of every store you walk by. Not only do they offer merchandise, their 'Supre','SES', ' Just Jeans' (Baleno, Levis, STAGE)are all there in one place.  In addition to their clothing shops, it is also home to famous Korean cosmetics brands such as, The Face Shop and Tony Moly (Fun Fact: T-ARA themselves have been to the Tony Moly store and have left their signatues on the door). There are also many, MANY fanmade-goods store where they print out pictures of Taiwanese, Japanese and Korean Idols on novelty products like pillows, cups, poker cards, almost everything!

To get there: Many buses stop at Zhonghua Road, Ximending and if you are taking the train, go onto the Ban Qiao Line or Xiao An Men Line and get off at Xi Men Station.

Xi Men Station

STAGE SHOP

STAGE is a celebrity brand created by Show Luo. It took us a while to find but I was determined! I could sense my all time favourite idol's auror beaming from the shop. Then, I saw Carebears overshadowing ( the shop had a Care Bear makeover for Christmas) and I was overjoyed! The familiar STAGE symbol was on the door and I made my way through the automatic door. Inside, the decor is modern and all STAGE clothing was neatly placed on racks. The staff greeted us with a synchronised, "Welcome". The store has 2 levels where the top level was mixed with Manhattan Portage (another brand Show endorses).

Sylvia~

Austria (Salzburg and Vienna)

AUSTRIA 

Austrian strudels , mountains , skiing and beautiful views. 

There is no doubt that this country is a spectacular place to visit in Europe. 

Today I am going to talk about the best sights I visited in Vienna and Salzburg. 

VIENNA 

I only had a day in Vienna but here are some of my picks. 

The State Opera House 

There are two ways to visit this sight. Firstly through a tour or secondly (the way we did) watching a performance. Both highly worth it. Tickets for a show range from 10 to 200 Euros depending on your view. 

Schonbrunn Palace (Schloss Schonbrunn)

For an in-depth experience of Schönbrunn, try to cover palace, gardens, palm house and the zoo on a day. This is busy, but feasible. Another attraction is the nearby Imperial cemetery of Hietzing. 

SALZBURG 

It may be because I had more time to experience Salzburg, the clear fresh air, or the hills are alive with the sound of music, but all I know is that I will never forget this place. The people are so friendly , it's clean , stunning and relaxing. 

Here are the things I recommend for your trip to Salzburg.....

The Sound of Music Tour 

Ok so this isn't for everyone but if you want to see all the major locations of the movie and perhaps make your own :) you have to go! 

You should also check out Mozart's cottage and the Lakes district. 

That's it for now! 

Sarah

Caucasus - Russia

Good Evening Bloggers!!

Today is going to be a time where we visit the highest points in Russia. We are heading to Caucasus region of Russia. Caucasus is a beautiful region where there many great attractions point. Three of the best are Mount Elbrus, Dykh Tau and Pyatigorsk.

As you are able to see from the Map below Caucasus is a region on the boarder of Georgia. Most of the attractions I shall be talking about are very close to the actual boarder.

 Mount Elbrus is 5642m tall and is classified as the tallest mountain in Europe. This destination enable you to check beautiful breathtaking views as you can see below while you dine on their specialty in Caucasus. Shish Kebabs.

 They Have Restaurant that offer up warm alcohol drinks as well as Shish Kebabs which is a specialty in Caucasus.

 Dykh Tau Mountain is the Second tallest mountain at 5205 m. Once again just breathtaking views of the tallest places in Russia.

Thanks For travelling

Oleg

Venice

VENICE 

If you are lucky enough to visit this amazing place then there are a few things you may want to check out. 

One tip I would give is to visit when there aren't cruise ships in town as congestion and foot traffic can get out of hand! 

Also try to eat outside of tourist areas unless you want to be price gouged. There are generally better restaurants and stalls five minutes walk from major tourist attractions like the Bell Tower. 

Top Three (non crowded) Activities 

Glass Blowing demonstration 

You should be able to find a free glass blowing presentation around the main tourist areas. It is amazing to see how vases, glasses and figurines are hand made. But beware that nothing is ever truly free , we were ushered into a closed room with products to buy immediately after. 

Burano and Lido 

Take the ferry to these islands to get away from other tourists and to experience everything Venice has to offer. 

Burano is full of unique colorful houses and Lido is wonderful for the beach and is the setting for the Venice film festival. 

Gondola Ride 

This is cliche and expensive but if you have the money is great for truly experiencing the ambiance. Relax for around $100 Euro and sip your glass of champagne as you view the city from the water. 

Venice has many other attractions , make sure you walk around and explore every area. 

See you next time and don't forget to check out the Twitter Page for updates on our blog!

Sarah 

Night Markets

The making of Taiwan's famous Oyster Pancake

In the Australian society, once the clock strikes 5:30 mostly every shop starts to close and everyone wants to go home to their families after a long hard day at work(except for Thursdays). Not in Taiwan, at 5:30 the nightlife is only just getting started! At 5:30, stalls are being set up on a small but wide street somewhere in the suburb, for what you may ask? For Taiwan's infamous night markets...yes! The only place you can buy cheap things and eat cheap food, oh and...being tightly squashed as you peer over others shoulders to see if your favourite Noodle Stall is busy...of course it is!
The funny thing is...there are soo many people and  they have seats and benches that are attached to the stall so, not only are you already squashed, trying to sit at the benches then eating the food while people are pushing and shoving is definitely something to experience. I must admit, the atmosphere is lovely!

Personally, I love street foods to bits! It is where you truly get a good taste of authentic Taiwanese foods.. and here are some that I extremely love! The night market I went to is 寧夏夜市 (Ning Xia Ye Shi) at Ning Xia St. To get there you exit 雙和站 (Shuang He Station) and it'll be right in front of you.

Oyster Pancake-NT$80

Rice Cake-NT$100

Not your typical rice cake, but it is made of glutinous rice powder which is made into a form of a cake. Inside there are some meat, chinese mushrooms and herbs.

Goose Meat Noodles-NT$100

One highlight of this food feast is the traditional Tofu Pudding, you can buy this at MeetFresh or ZenQ in Australia but it doesn't beat the ones that these night markets sell. I love to have mine with pearls :) The tofu in this dessert isn't the same as the ones you buy in your local Asian supermarket. They have their own way of making it. The sweet soup could vary from your simple sugar soup to ginger flavoured sugar soup. These can be eaten hot or cold. As for the toppings, you can choose from pearls, sweet peanuts, red beans, green beans, just to name a few.

Tofu Pudding-NT$80

And if you are really daring, you may smell a bad stench floating around the place. Well, that is also another famous dish called, "Stinky Tofu" (directly translated). Its main selling point is the odour ;D Basically, it is fermented tofu that is steamed or fried which is eaten with tradtional sauce. Of course, there a variations to the sauce for example, you could have it spicy with pig blood, or with pickled vegetables. 

Stinky Tofu-NT$120

Have I got you drooling yet?

Sylvia. 

P.S. Did you know that Pearl Milk Tea (Bubble Tea) originated from Taiwan?

Russia - Moscow

Hello all!!

On this exciting evening I will be showing you the beautiful sites of Russia!!
First lets start off with some basic knowledge. In Russia they speak Russian which is a beautiful language, very little of the people speak English so if you are heading there be sure to know your basics!

They also have their own currency, the do not use the euro or US dollar but there are many ways of converting those currencies while you are there. Their currency is rubel. and its about 33 rubels for 1 US dollar or 42 rubels for 1 euro.

Attractions
Sites to see in Moscow include Kremlin, which houses the Kremlin wall as seen in the below pictures as well as ancient churches which have gold plated roofs.

 Here are pictures of red square many beautiful places to see and many museums and cafes that surround the area.

The nightlife in Moscow is active on most night the best nights being the weekend. Most bars have a deal where it is you pay a set price for the night and you receive a booth, beverages and food. Which allows for a good night out! 

Traditional Russian food is amazing with great deal of soups one of the more popular ones is the borscht soup. With other examples such as below which are:

 Kvass Soup is a cold soup which is enjoyed as an entree. It is a vegetable soup.

 Pan fried potato with other grilled vegetables and ham is a side dish.

 Pelmeni are meatballs covered in pastry which have been boiled and stewed in a beef stock.

Thank you for looking at our russian trip

signing off

Oleg