MEMORIES of elementary days on one of my favorite TV series were relived back in November as we visited Taiwan. I remembered me and friends having major crushes on F4’s Dao Ming Si (Jerry Yan), Hua Ze Lei (Vic Zhou), Mei Zuo (Vanness Wu) and Xi Men (Ken Chu); idolizing how Shancai (Barbie Shu) fought back when she got the “red tag”; and just the pure excitement of going home from school just to watch my favorite TV series that time – Meteor Garden.
This series as far as I can remember is the first Asian TV Series that got me hooked since it aired on mainstream channel. A short background: Meteor Garden is a Taiwanese drama back in 2001 starring the characters that I have mentioned earlier. This drama is based on the Japanese manga series “Boys Over Flowers.” Meteor Garden aired in the Philippines back in 2003 and has been re-aired a few times due to popular demand.
Also, recent reports say that they will be airing a re-make of the series this year! #Fangirl feels is real people! I know it’s been a long time since I last watched the series but to be at the place where they filmed, it was so surreal for me.
During our week stay in Taipei, Taiwan we have visited two major places where they filmed the series in the city: National Taiwan University and P.S. Bubu Café and here’s our adventure breakdown.
National Taiwan University
The ever famous Ying De University where the characters in the series go to school is the National Taiwan University (NTU) in real life. NTU is huge and it has the same vibe as my college alma mater. Too bad we didn’t get the chance to explore it properly since it rained when we went there. My mom and I were also quite hesitant at first if they will let us in the vicinity but they are not strict at all and we got to take some photos inside the university.
NTU is located at No. 1, Section 4, Roosevelt Rd, Da’an District, Taipei City and you may reach it via Subway by riding on the Green Line 3 and going down Gongguan Station, Exit 3. For us, we went there via bus through the use of Google maps to guide us on what bus route to ride from our Airbnb fare was at 15NTD. There are also lots of fast food places around the area where you can eat or have a snack after your tour.
PS Bubu Restaurant
This vintage car themed restaurant has really been on my bucket list of places to go because of its interiors and because it is the home of the pink car where Dao Ming Su and Shancai sat during one of their dates. PS Bubu is just really one of the cutest restaurants that I have been to and knowing that it has been established back in 1999 it really has maintained its beauty. Real vintage cars were cut up and made into seats with the pink car being the only whole car at the resto.
The restaurant serves food like salads, pastas and milk shakes we arrived close to their closing time which was 10pm but the owner was kind enough to allow us to take pictures instead. Will definitely come back to try their food next time.
PS Bubu is located at No. 1, Lane 140, Section 7, Zhongshan North Road in Shilin District (????P.S.BuBu??, ?????????140?1?). We took a cab using the Chinese address since the restaurant was quite far and it cost us around 150NTD.
My fangirl heart was so glad during this trip. Thanks to my ever supportive mom for tolerating my craziness and not leaving my side when I squealed with joy (haha!).
More about our trip next week!
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Hi, I’m Kriztja and thanks for reading My Notebook! Check out my blog: rainbow-wishes.blogspot.com for more. Comments? Suggestions? Email me at: kriztja.labrador@gmail.com.