Tam Shui, A Must-Visit Market When In Taipei

Eat, Shop, and Ruin Your Diet at Tam Shui Old Street

Located next to Tam Shui Fishermen's Wharf in New Taipei Territory, this Old Street is a parade of shops selling you-name-it from girl's little thing (hair pieces, cute socks, keychains, sunglasses) to chinese tea and other traditional culinary. Actually they sell almost anything you can find at Shihlin Night Market.

In the morning when Tam Shui Old Street is a bit quieter than night time, it's enjoyable to stroll down the street. Relaxing atmosphere will drive you to buy many things without rushing. Compared with other Taiwan's markets, prices are good at Tam Shui (highest is at Ximending)

At one end of the promenade you'll find an ice cream stall, selling  big-sized ice cream, a trade-mark of Tam Shui. Although the guy selling it was a bit rude and impatient, but the ice cream tasted good , it's only NT 15 (small) or NT 25 (large)

Taiwan - A Country of Night Market Tradition

What Place to Visit When You Travel to Taiwan ? 

Night markets !!

In Taiwan, almost every city has its night market(s)

Eternally Packed with Visitors

Traditional night markets sells food and drinks, while more modern ones sell clothes, shoes, accessories, toys, confectioneries, besides food and drinks. Prices are fixed for food (and they put the price on large boards on the food stalls, no scam), while you can bargain a little bit for clothing. In my opinion, most of the goods are fairly priced.

So, whenever you travel to Taiwan, make sure to complete it with a memorable night market experience...

Taipei : Shilin Night Market

 

Among others, this one is my favorite. Off course...it's Taipei’s most famous and most popular night market. Shihlin is made up of two different sections: the food vendors opposite the Jiantan Metro Station and clothing/apparel/other goods market is around the Yang Ming Cinema on Anping Street, Dadong Road and Wenl. 

Although it's crazy crowded, it offers unique atmosphere for comfortable, enjoyable shopping. Shop clerks are patient and friendly , unlike in some other countries.

During my visit, because of limited time, I only walked the clothing section of Shihlin Night Market. Besides clothing and apparel of affordable price, there're also  branded shoes outlets s(NIke, Adidas, Puma, Reebok,etc).

Fort Rotterdam - Makassar

The Best Preserved Dutch Fort in Asia 

(Barbara Crossette, New York Times Reporter)

History of Fort Rotterdam

According  to some literatures, this fort was build in  1545 by the King  of Gowa Kingdom , Imanrigau Daeng Bonto Karaeng Lakiung. Initially the name of this fort is Fort Ujung Pandang, while locals used to call it Fort Panyyua.  This fort used to be a landmark of Gowa Kingdom in its years of properity.

During Sultan Hassanuddin’s administration (1655-1669), the dutch attacked Gowa Kingdom in order to gain control of spice trade and as a milestone to conquer Banda and Maluku, the land of nutmeg. During this one-whole-year aggression,  Fort Ujung Pandang was heavily damaged, and the Sultan was forced to sign the Bongaya Treaty with which the Kingdom of  Gowa  gave its administration under the VOC (dutch east india company), therefore made Gowa  as a de-facto colonial territory of dutch. After rebuilt by dutch governor Cornelis Speelman, the fort was named Fort Rotterdam as a legacy to Speelman’s hometown. 

http://wisata.makassarkota.go.id

Original design of Fort Rotterdam was rectangular-as the majority of Portuguese buildings- with four bastions on each of its corner. The sea-turtle ground plan is in line with the philosophy of the Makassar people as sea explorers.

However, after Speelman’s renovation, Fort Rotterdam adopted dutch style, and the 5^th bastion was added on its western side.

Controlling Smartphone Data Roaming While Abroad (Part 2)

Avoid Heart Attack And Let Your Smartphone Roam Data Until a Certain Bytes

On Part 1 I've explained how to set your smartphone (Android, iphone) or Blackberry to totally disable internet connection/ data service.

Here in Part 2, I'll share about how to limit your data service by setting a quota.

 

And remember, do this before departing abroad

Option-2 : Setting a quota/limit for internet/ data roaming

You need to install an app such as 3G Watchdog or Data Counter Widget.
I use 3G Watchdog where I can  specify my own quota and starting date:

Controlling Smartphone Data Roaming While Abroad (Part 1)

Data Auto-sync That Causes Heart Attack

Yes you would love to take your smartphone everywhere you go, because of its 1001 functions beyond communication. But, beware if you plan to go abroad. The auto-sync of emails, chats, apps and other background data will cost you enormous amount enough to cause a heart attack. A year ago, on a trip to a neighboring country, my search of  a local restaurant made my phone bill jumped to USD 200 (normally only USD 25/month)...means cost of data roaming exceeded cost of the food I had at that restaurant :(

So, the next time I went abroad, I adjusted some settings on my smartphone. Here's what I did , and proved to be effective. As a note, I still can connect to the internet via wifi (most hotels have wifi , and several countries/cities, e.g Hongkong, provide wifi all over its corner ).

You have 2 options to do with your smartphone : totally disable data roaming, or setting a quota/ limit for data roaming.

This settings is according to Android OS, but actually it's almost the same for i-phone / blackberry, only each OS has its own terminology) :

Do This Before departing abroad :

Option-1 : Totally disable internet/ data roaming

Go to SETTINGS, choose WIRELESS AND NETWORK