{Tea diaries}

Been a bad blogger for various reasons~ travelling, sickness, and work... But luckily Phoebe has stepped in to help out as our Beijing correspondent and guest contributor... see below for her excellent write-up on Shudi Legend.

---

I’m SO honoured to be asked to guest blog but at the same time, HKFoodie and Shirls, have been doing such a GREAT job, that I really can’t help but get stressed about it how I’m going to meet their standards.  I’m such an amateur compared to my two dear friends, so please bear with me.  Even before my first posting, I’ve managed to forget my camera on a number of occasions, only to run out of batteries the next couple of times. 

This past month had been an extremely busy one for me ~ just realised that i'd been out of town for two out of the four weeks, managing to visit four countries in the process... 
Spent a gorgeous long weekend in Paris living the chic Parisienne life, whittling hours away in cafes while sipping on endless cups of expresso, and enjoying amazing haute cuisine at night. 
A quick whirl round the cosmopolitan city of London to catch up with friends and relatives, gobbling on scones and finger sandwiches in the process.
Touched down in Taipei briefly to take in the breathtaking skyline night view of Taipei city at the observation tower of the 101 Tower, which stands as the tallest building in the world.

Had the urge to book a holiday in Canada when reading my friend's account of his recent road trip to Montreal. Here's an extract of his super amazing weekend... Thanks Y for this!

---

I just got back from a 6 hour car ride from Montreal and I'm completely exhausted right now. But I have to tell you about this hotel I stayed at while I was there. It's called Hotel Godin (pronounced "go-deen"), and it's located at the heart of Downtown Montreal's Plateau Mont-Royal district (equivalent to SOHO in London) where all the trendy clubs and restaurants are. Looking from at it from outside, I could not believe it was our hotel. It looked more like a modern museum than anything. As we walked inside and into our rooms it only got better and better.Honestly and humbly, it was the nicest hotel room I've ever stayed at in my whole life. The interior design was as trendy as it can get. Every piece of material from the toilet paper to the bed sheets and the matresses to the humongous flat screen TV/computer screams elegance. Even the soaps and shampoo and cream (all come in lychee flavor) were specially made in France and shipped over to Canada. They even have their own water brand. The best part is, it is not part of a hotel chain. Just simply a privately run local hotel in the city of Montreal.FYI... http://www.hotelgodin.com/en/godin.htm The room cost us CND$260ish in total including tax and everything, which was a really good deal considering it was Canada's civic long weekend holiday.As for Montreal, it was an amazing city! In all honesty, even though people have told me many great things about the city before, I wasn't too thrilled about going there the whole time. Even when we first got there, I was thinking to myself "so this is Montreal, what's so special about it?). But as we spent more time in the city, I have come to realize the greatness of it that everyone talks about all the time. I totally felt like I was in Paris or some major city in France. It was like a mini Europe within North America. For a while I forgot I was in Canada. Everyone spoke French and it was hard to even find a road sign with English on it. The streets in Plateau Mont-Royal were sooo beautiful, with all kinds of trendy restaurants and lounges crammed in the entire area. And the food was oohhh so amazing!! I had a scallopini marsala (veal) and I was already impressed by the side spaghetti before I got to the veal. And as you would have expected, all the restaurants have outdoor seating like the ones in Europe and although we have those in Vancouver and Toronto as well it didnt feel quite the same in Montreal. I guess it was the ambience and the people around you that made the difference. Everyone is just so laid back and happy. Almost everyone (even the pedestrians) had a glass of wine in their hand.And then finally, the club that we went to at night... I'm not exagerating, but it was also the nicest club I've been to in my life. It was situated on the roof top of a skyscarper (the RBC building) in the financial district. From the patio on the 41st floor, we could see the entire city beneath our feet. Not to mention that there was a lot of good looking people inside. Seriously, everybody (girls and guys) looked like Italian models.All in all, the short lived vacation was quite an amazing experience for me. I would definitely go back again if I have time and I'd stay at the very same hotel for sure. If you ever come to Canada, Montreal is one place you MUST visit. You won't be disappointed I assure you.