田季發爺

And last but not least, this is the 田季發爺 燒肉 [yakiniku] place that Mayday patronises. Where they had one of their post DNA concert dinner/celebration (that would be Monster's fav yakiniku haunt and that's maybe cos he lives in the area)

I didn't take many pictures of the place as it was dark (it was late when we arrived for dinner). And well, frankly, the interior of the restaurant wasn't really very picturesque. It was a bit old to begin with and the furniture has seen better days.

The walls were covered with grafitti, including Mayday's signature (I forgot to take a snapshot!)

The food was nothing to shout about. I love BBQ but they use too much spice in the cooking though it was nice having someone at our table to cook for us throughout the night.

The place was quiet when we arrived and we were the last customer by the time we were finished. I guess the place doesn't see big crowds. It was a weekend night, I had expected a bigger crowd.

If it's yakiniku you're looking for, I would highly recommend going to Hutong instead. Hutong serves the yummiest yakiniku I've ever tasted and the sweet potato in cheese is to die for!

Hutong

田季發爺's address is 台北吉林路181號 and if you're lucky you may catch them dining there ;)

Tin Tom's Cafe

Continuing my Mayday food saga in Taipei...

Tin Tom's Cafe was listed in a Taiwan travel book as Mayday's favourite cafe. It's located just a stone's throw from Stay Real in Dunhua (I forgot the address..)

They serve American food and I was there in the mid-afternoon 2 years ago. I only had a chocolate milkshake and shared the french fries with some friends so I can't really say much about the food.

20101128 滚石30

The final 滚石30 saw more artists including Micheal Wong, Victor Wong, Ping Guan. Rene Liu and Masa who were both in Singapore the night before, appeared in the final show. The show ran into overtime again, incurring over NT$1,000,000 in total for both nights.

七月天

20101127 滚石30

Last night's 滚石30 at Taipei Arena featured Mayday (minus Masa who was in Singapore as Rene Liu's guest performer), Wu Bai & China Blue, A-Yue and Free 9, Emil Chow, Richie Ren and Karen Mok, among others, which ran for 4 hour 45 minutes

怪獸生日快樂

A very Happy 34th birthday to Monster!!

birthday boy

Coincidentally, Monster also shares the same birthday as 小鬼/Alien Huang and they both got to celebrate their birthday last night after 滾石30

Alien and Monster

伍佰&China Blue vs 張震嶽&Free9 vs五月天Mayday

Mayday will be part of the 快樂天堂 滾石30 演唱會/Rock Record 30th Anniversary concert happening on 27 and 28/11 at Taipei Arena starting 7:00pm.

Ashin stated that at the concert he will be singing the original 溫柔 from 10 years ago and will be donning the clothing from back then (LOL!)

鹿港小鎮 by 伍佰&China Blue V.S.張震嶽&Free9 V.S.五月天MAYDAY(彩排版)

五月天5花8門T

自由時報/Liberty Times is having a T charity event featuring 5 X 5 Tees designed by numerous artists: Mayday, Elva Hsiao, Alien Huang, amongst others

五月天5花8門T is M size and you can bid for it at Yahoo Auction. Auction ends November 29

what's with the glum faces and where's the band leader?

五月天5花8門T

2010 Taipei International Flora Expo

Tik and I went to the 2010 臺北國際花卉博覽會/Taipei Flora Expo on the opening day, Saturday November 6th. The Flora Expo is spread out across 4 areas - Yuanshan, Fine Arts, Xinsheng and Dajia Riverside. The sheer size of the combined ground area is overwhelming!

ticket booths

ticket prices

my ticket

The Taiwanese government had spent a lot of time money and effort on the Expo and they've managed to keep the ticket price at a very reasonable price of NT$300 for general public.

Flora Expo mascots (3 of 6)

more Flora Expo mascots (2 of 6)

the last Flora Expo mascot .. my favourite one :)

Our first stop was Yuanshan. About 2 years ago I was there at the exact same spot to attend the 十萬人出頭天 concert. Where the Zhongshan Football Stadium used to stand is now a covered structure for the Flora Expo. I wonder if they'll restore that stadium after the Expo ends next April...

part of the Flora Expo

We quickly covered all areas as quick as we can. Unfortunately it was a wet rainy day which was a hassle being outdoor and most of the Expo's ground area are outdoor

We made a visit to the Celebrity House which is a tribute to the late Teresa Teng. Right at the end of the Celebrity House tour we saw the below:

Mayday :)

Mr. J

We then head over to the Fine Arts and Xinsheng, covering as much ground as we could. In between we stopped for a quick snack. There are many designated food areas if one should get hungry. Food are aplenty to choose from.

this was taken at Xinsheng

Finally we made our way to the Dajie Riverside. We took a shuttle bus to get there. There are complimentary shuttle bus to shuttle visitors to different areas of the Expo.

When we got to the Riverside, there was a huge tent and I could hear music blaring from inside.. it took me awhile to figure out that it was 強辯樂團/Champion playing 轉轉轉運歌! LOL. We went closer and saw 丁噹/Ding Dang and Champion on the list for the 2:00PM slot. Went inside grabbed a seat in the fifth row and caught the remaining of Champion’s performance. Ding Dang then appeared onstage after Champion, and sang a Flora Expo version of 私奔到月球 with 黃牛 before singing her own solo songs. After watching Ding Dang’s performance, we went outside to watch the 3:00PM parade.

Ding Dang, Yellow Cow and Monkey XD

Later that night we went to 大稻埕碼頭/Da Dao Cheng Wharf to watch the Flora Expo fireworks performance. There were 2 fireworks display at 2 different place (Da Jie Wharf and Da Dao Cheng Wharf) that night with only half an hour apart. We decided to head to Da Dao Cheng Wharf as there was a free Flora Expo concert. It was still raining that night and the area was so crowded. Taiwanese must really enjoy watching fireworks as many of them had already gathered in full raingear hours before the fireworks display was due to start.

We went to the stage area and caught part of the concert. Among the more well known artists, we saw 李玖哲/Nicky Lee (oh yeah!) and 吳克群/Kenji Wu. In between the concert we saw a full one hour fireworks display!!!! I have never ever in my life watched such a long fireworks display. You can imagine how polluted the airspace in Taipei was that night after the fireworks XD

Nicky Lee

Kenji Wu

中國移動2010 - 動感地帶音樂動力營年度音槳盛典

Mayday will be performing alongside David Tao (who seems to be a permanent resident now in the Middle Kingdom), amongst others, at the 中國移動2010 - 動感地帶音樂動力營年度音槳盛典 on 17 December 2010 at 7:30PM. Venue and ticket prices are as follows:

地點:揚州市體育公園體育館
票價:人民幣$1280, $1080, $880, $680, $380, $280

NY Bagels Cafe in Taipei

Bagel reminds me of my travel in the States where every morning without fail I'd be greeted with bagel for breakfast. Eaten with cream cheese it's actually pretty tasty and filling too.

NY BAGELS CAFE 信義店

NY Bagels Cafe is one of those places that I've been wanting to try out ever since I heard so much about it from Tik. They are a franchise in Taipei and some outlets are open 24 hour. I hear they are quite popular with the folks in Taipei.. even Leehom celebrated his birthday there some years ago.

As its name suggests, they specialise in bagels. They have up to 6 variety of bagels (whiole wheat, plain, sesame, onion, blueberry and cinnamon raisin) in their menu. Apart from bagel they serve all day breakfast set, burgers, salad, pasta, sandwich and steak. On my visit there to the 信義 outlet which is just down the road from Taipei 101, I ordered the steak breakfast set and shared the banana chocolate pudding toast. The food were good - portions were generous but the drinks are bad! My milk tea, and the orange juice that came with the breakfast set tasted really watered down.

They're so popular that Rockcoco made a N.Y. Bagels cafe tee

Rockcoco X N.Y. Bagels Cafe

2010 Golden Indie Music Awards

Mayday performed 3 songs: 離開地球表面, 我心中尚未崩壞的地方 and 倔強 at the 第一屆金音創作獎 2010 Golden Indie Music Awards held at the CKS Memorial Hall

Mayday Xmas 2010

Fancy spending Christmas with Mayday?

Then head on over to Shanghai for the 超犀利聖誕趴 concert that will be happening on 24 and 25 December 2010 at 上海大舞台（上海体育馆）

Ticket price range from between 280 to 980 yuan

For ticket purchase or further information, click here

Photo of the day

Thank you Tik for sharing this photo of Ashin looking *slightly* paunchy

♪ everybody clap clap clap ♪

阿信最愛的綿綿冰

A visit to Ashin's hometown, 北投 [Beitou] wouldn't be complete for any Mayday fan without paying a visit to the 綿綿冰 soft ice shop which he used to frequent when he was younger.

I've been there many a times and more often than not, if you go there during a Mayday concert week, chances are the shop will be closed. Next to the shop is a supermarket and I remember my friend going in to ask the cashier if she know when the shop will be open only to be met with the response.. 'it's open when it's open" o.O

sorry we are closed

Ashin's favourite peanut flavour with vanilla and chocolate. The portion is fairly big even for a small cup. The ice is really fine and it's not as sweet as most other ice desserts. Actually it's a kinda light dessert

Sleeping dogs lie

Spotted so many beautiful (and lazy) dogs in Taipei

This husky was spotted in Ximen

Lazy golden retriever outside the mala hotpot place in Gongguan

Sleepy labrador on the MRT

and last but not least.. sleeping cat in Shida

Mala hotpot

It was wet and chilly last week in Taipei.. the perfect weather for hotpot. I finally got to try the 馬辣 all you can eat ma la hotpot place that serves free flowing Movenpick and Haagen-Dazs ice-cream (how awesome is that??!)

I was told the place is perpetually packed so reservation is required. To avoid the weekend crowd, we went on a Monday afternoon.

I've tried other hotpot in Taipei and this place is by far the best. They have a really impressive spread. I'm not particularly fond of mala but the mala hotpot at this place is yummy - it's so fiery that it numbs your mouth. There's also free flowing beer and ice-cream! They had a spread of over 6-8 flavours for each Movenpick and Haagen-Dazs ice-cream *yummmy* Yours truly had 4 cups of Movenpick ice-cream XDD

premium ice-cream galore! *drooools*

seafood anyone?

fruits and dessert bar. why have them when you can have ice-cream? XD

And the price? Only NT$399 per person