Oh My Janey

Taipei Travel: Fangirling at Meteor Garden’s Ying De University

national taiwan university

[UPDATE 04/14/2018: Hello! I’ve been receiving messages telling me that the National Taiwan University wasn’t used as filming location for Meteor Garden. I doubt this post is popular enough to drive hordes of MG fans to the university just to take photos. But if my post, in some way, has contributed to that, then I apologize. Taiwan has recently been visa-free for many countries, and that might have contributed to the influx of tourist? I’m not sure.

In my defense, I did some research before going and some blogs did say that the university was used for filming. I’m still not sure what’s true and what’s not, so if you plan to visit the school, then please note that there’s a likely chance that it really wasn’t used for filming. Thank you and apologies for the confusion. 🙂

UPDATE 07/21/2018: A friend recently visited Taiwan and came back with proofs that the university was indeed used as one of the filming locations of the first Meteor Garden. She visited the exact spot used for this scene, and yes, it was in NTU. :)]

It was May 5, 2003 when a local TV channel first aired Meteor Garden. I was 12 and prepubescent and was deeply attracted to the four Taiwanese boys who ruled Ying De University. So when people asked me why I decided to travel to Taiwan, I wasn’t joking when I said it’s because I’m a Meteor Garden fan.

Surely, San Cai, Hwa Ze Lei and Pineapple Head no longer roamed the grounds of the fictional Ying De, but there’s no stopping us from visiting National Taiwan University, one of the campuses used to film Meteor Garden. It’s in Taipei and easily accessible from the subway, that’s why we opted for this instead of going all the way to Chiayi County for National Chung Cheng University.

It was our last day in the country when we visited National Taiwan University. After spending the morning at Yeh Liu Geopark in New Taipei City, we rode a provincial bus en route to Taipei that passes through NTU. It was a long and bumpy ride, and we almost fell off our seats a couple of times. We almost missed our stop, too, because we all fell asleep!

Since we had a flight to catch that night, we could only spare an hour to roam around the grounds of F4’s Ying De University. [Read more…]

Travel Notes: Conversations Over Coffee at Shilin Night Market

coffee shop at shilin night market in taipei
Shilin Night Market is known as the biggest of its kind in Taipei. With hundreds of stalls and booths to explore, we only saw a portion of it when we visited the market that one winter night in January. We might have seen very little of Shilin Night Market, but it was pretty much my favorite night in Taiwan.

Before ending our day at the Shilin Night Market, we had a long day exploring cultural attractions in the city and spent even longer hours prowling the grounds of the National Museum. Dexter separated from us to meet an old friend, and Cherith, Marianne, and I spent the night shopping and trying various Taiwanese street food. It was my first time to eat xiao long bao and candied strawberries!

Running low in Taiwanese dollars and with no money exchange store in sight, we only bought a couple of souvenirs and spent the remaining time looking for a place to rest. The market was devoid of benches for tired tourists, so we were glad to see a line of small coffee shops providing warmth to passersby. We randomly picked one coffee shop, and we were pleasantly surprised when we realized that it’s not just good coffee the barista was offering. [Read more…]

Where to Eat in Baler, Aurora: Baler Surfer Grill

When searching for where to eat in Baler, this restaurant often cropped on the lists I found online. But it turned out I didn’t do any research at all because just seeing Baler Surfer Grill while we were walking along the baywalk at Sabang Beach convinced us that we should dine there. We saw a lot of other restaurants with pretty interiors, packed with visitors, but it’s this one that caught our attention.

The moment we all took out our phones to take a photos of the Volkswagen, we instantly knew where to have dinner. There were many restaurants near Sabang Beach, and we could have easily enjoyed eating elsewhere. But looking back, I think we made the perfect choice. These photos will not do the place and the food justice, but it’s worth a try.

Baler Surfer Grill started in 2013 and because of its novelty, it has been featured everywhere–from Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho to everyone’s blog.

[Read more…]

Baler Travel Guide: Itinerary and Expenses Summary for 2D1N

It took us five hours to cross miles of flooded and jampacked Manila streets and travel through kilometers of zigzag, uphill roads just to reach the beach town of Baler, Aurora.

Day before the trip, I was starting to think that it wouldn’t push through because of the terrible Manila weather. We had a hard time finding a taxi that we thought we wouldn’t make it to our meetup time in Quezon City. Alas, our Baler roadtrip commenced, and it was a pretty exciting weekend.

You can skip to the end of this post and see my Baler travel guide, complete with itinerary and summary of expenses. But you can also read on to know more about our high jinks in detail. [Read more…]

Indespensable Life Lessons Surfing in Baler Taught Me

baler surfing

Surfing was never in my bucket list. Not once did I imagine myself learning how to surf nor did I ever wish to be good at it. I couldn’t even balance on a bicycle. How could I balance on a surfboard? But surfing in Baler last weekend taught me that we surprise ourselves sometimes.

When my friends started planning a trip to Baler, of course I wanted to go! But did I want to surf? Not so much. I couldn’t even swim—why would I dream of actually surfing?

Upon arriving at our accommodation in Baler, I could easily see from our balcony the dozens of surfers riding the waves. I was surprised to see that the water wasn’t too deep, and waves suitable for surfing were actually near the shore. That’s when I started thinking that maybe I can do it.

The morning that we were supposed to surf, I was still unsure whether I’d give it a shot. But I realized that it was now or never. If I couldn’t conquer my fears then, I’d never learn to do it nor have the courage to actually try. So I dragged my heavy and nonathletic body to the shore where the tall surfboards were waiting for me.

It was the most terrifying and exhilarating activity I have ever tried. Despite falling off my board a million times, I cannot wait to do it again. In the midst of the waves crushing me, I ended up fishing for a lesson or two or ten. [Read more…]

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