12 days in Taiwan - Day Nine (Goodbye Hualien, Hello Taipei)

Wanting to fully minimise the travelling time for our trip, we got ourselves tickets for the 845am train bound for Taipei. Being super cheapos or rather as Mr Low puts it, thrifty kids on a shoe-string budget, we decided to walk to the train station instead of taking a cab. It was a total mistake! Living by the philosophy "there's always time for food", we decided to pack breakfast at one of the many coffeeshops along the way to our destination.

A normal breakfast in Hualien comprise of burger along with a beverage. Armed with the belief 'In Rome, do what the Romans do', we got ourselves burgers and goat milk. The pace of life in Hualien as compared to Taipei is equivalent to the pace of life in Perth as compared to Sydney. People there take their time to do anything. Just preparing 2 burgers took 15 mins. Oh man, time is running out! We might miss our train!

From walking slowly like snails, we began walking briskly. As the clock kept ticking, we began walking like professional walkers competing in the Olympics. Sweat rolled down our tshirts and foreheads. 5 more mins and we will miss our train! But the train station still seemed a short distance away. I was whining within on how we should have just took it easy by flagging a cab.

Just when I thought we were going to make it in time, a crisis struck! We couldn't find the entrance to the train station! Oh man! Within a span of 3 days, the construction workers decided to give the train station an extreme makeover so much so that we can't recognise the train station!

Luckily, like all fairytales, good things always came along after shit happened. We met a guy who was taking the same train as us! HAHAHA. Luck was on our side! We raced to the platform where our train was situated upon hearing the announcement on our train's soon-to-be departure. Thank God our legs were long and strong enough to get us on the train in time. Throughout the entire race, I felt like the boy in Jack Neo's movie, Pao Ba Hai Zi (Run, Kid).




Just take a look at our faces and you will understand our exhaustion! :(

Ha but today is not a day to whine! It is a perfect day, for it is our half year anniversary! Mr Low promised to let me decide our dinner venue. He planned for us to shop individually in Xi Men Ding for 2.5 hours in a bid to get gifts for each other! He was also going to bring me to watch a movie! Ha, not bad huh. Woohoo!

1.5 hours of walking around Xi Men Ding and I still couldn't find anything suitable for Mr Low. I decided to give up and buy myself bubble tea! Hee. Just as I was happily sipping my tea, there was a pat on my shoulder. I thought it was some guy trying to be funny. I was all ready to turn back and give my trademark evil stare, only to realise that it was Mr Low! Haha, turned out he also gave up finding a present for me. Such lousy shoppers we are. Keke, but it's ok, we bought lots of gifts for our friends!

So as we walk to the left, as we walk to the right, as we walk, as we walk, as we walk all noon. WAHAHA, I stumbled upon a pair of Asics shoe that I fancied! Forever the opportunistic slacker, Mr Low offered to buy them for me as my anniversary gift. Being the ever lenient gf, I decided to let him off by accepting the shoes with a smiley face. Ain't I sweet?!?! ;p

Dinner was at Ding Tai Feng. Food was such a disappointment. I thought Ding Tai Feng in Taipei will blow me away. But the food was just so-so. Sob, all the hype for nothing. :'( Luckily, movie awaits us! HEE! :D




Look at our new hats! We bought them at Xi Men Ding and decided to dress like movie stars to watch Da Vinci Code! The price of movie tickets in Taipei is ridiculous! Imagine paying S$14.50 for a movie on a weekday night! But, whatever la. We were in a mood to celebrate ma. Tsk tsk.

Oh well, the movie wasn't fantastic. But Mr Low promised that tomorrow's trip to Wulai will be! Haha, so far he has not failed to deliver. Let's see what adventure awaits us in Wulai! ;p

12 Days in Taiwan - Day Eight (Water rafting!!!)

Woohoo! The day has finally come for us to don life jackets and oars to brave the river! Lady luck was on our side, the skies were blue, the sun was scorching. It's a perfect day for rowing! :D

The long winded landlady was astonished when she saw us clad in board shorts and tshirts. She has previously told us numerous times to wear long sleeve and long pants to prevent ourselves from being sun-baked. Little did she know that her advice has fallen to deaf ears, until she saw us in the morning! Hee, you should've looked at her expression. It was like someone seeing dinosaurs for the first time in their lives! ;p

Haha, so what is the moral of the story? We do as we please! WAHAHAHAHA...

Like a mother sending her kids off, the landlady bidded us farewell when our bus arrived. Yay, off to the don't know what river to embark on our first ever rafting adventure! A journey that normally took 1.5 hours needed only 1 hour. The uncle who drove us there must have imagined himself to be starring in the movie, Initial D, everytime he is behind the steering wheel. You should have seen Mr Low's greatful face when we stepped foot on our destination. Haha, his face was white as a sheet. What a lamester! ;)

We were told that due to the typhoon effects, the water level in the river was at its all time highest! Woohoo, what a ride it's gonna be!




Yeeha! The fun has just began! We will conquer the rapids! ;)




Look at the rapids! Despite rowing furiously, we were still swayed to the rocks. We nearly thought we were going to hit the rocks and bleed to death! So scary! :(




Guess where we are seated on the boat!




It was a fun day but all that rowing made my limbs jellish! I felt like a sea cucumber! Hehe, look at my tanned arms and rosy face! I'm the sunshine kid! ;D This is our room! For S$30/night, it is a very decent place, like Hero House in Taichung. The only flop is that the owner has a weird sense of arrangement. Look at where the TV is situated! The owner must have thought that everybody watches TV like a turtle! You literally have to stretch your neck in order to catch a full glimpse of the TV! -slaps forehead-

Yet another classic. This is the ACTUAL size of the bathroom. The entire room is so big, yet only such a pathetic area is dedicated to the bathroom. You can practically shit, urine and shower while sitting on the toilet bowl! Haha, the owner must have thought all her customers are as lazy as her! ;)

With Taroko gorge and water rafting conquered, we are done with Hualien. It's Taipei time, people. The thought of yummy fruits, hot spring and Ding Tai Feng makes me so excited! Watch out, here we come!!

12 Days in Taiwan - Day Seven (Hualien/Taroko Gorge)

Finally, Typhoon Pearl has finished its course. Good news is the not many ppl in Taiwan and China were injured. Deario and I were also happy for another reason: at last we can go out and soak in the glorious sunlight! Destination: Taroko Gorge.

After dodging our ridiculously long-winded landlady (she had previously made us stand and listen to her speech about the poor service of her competitors for 30 mins) , we went to have breakfast before heading towards Taroko Gorge in a tour bus. One thing good about Taiwan is the price of its food. Check out the lunch box I am holding in the photo below: for a nifty price of S$2.00, you get egg, pork, chicken, plus four vegetables. Pretty neat eh.



Time flies when you're chatting/suanning/poking/fighting each other in the bus; we reached the entrance to Taroko Gorge after what seems like a while. Seeing the rolling hills and gushing river, our excitment mounted and we couldn't wait to see what else the gorge has to offer. We got off the bus at the visitor centre and ran around snapping photos.



After fifteen mins, it was time for our bus to move on to the next check-point in Taroko Gorge. Throughout the journey, sheer marble cliffs, deep gorges and crystalline pools surrounded us and awed us. The lyrics of a hymn came to my mind,

"Hills and vales, and trees and flowers ..over and around us lies the Lord of all.."

Indeed, nature itself proclaims the magnificence of its creator. I couldn't help but raise a song of praise to God.



Soon, the bus arrived somewhere at the top of Taroko Gorge. We got off the bus and wandered around. This part of Taroko Gorge is pretty commercialised, with restaurants, a high class hotel, and souvenir shops selling tribal crafts. There is a small community living here too, they are tribal people who now live in brick houses just like city people. I was amazed to discover that they are now Christians and attend either a Catholic church or a Presbyterian church in their small town. As we walked around, we caught a funny sight: a gang of middle-aged uncles dressed in full-body biker leather trying very hard to be cool.



When we're bored of the small town, Deario and I decided to trek higher up Taroko Gorge. Enduring an arduous climb, we came to a small park near the peak of the hill we were at. The view here was spectacular and we quickly fished out our camera to exercise our photography skills.

(Deario's best shot)

(My best shot)

We took a short nap in the park before returning to our bus. The next check-point was at the Tunnel of Nine Turns. This is truly an amazing place; somehow, man had managed to bore a tunnel five metres wide and a kilometres long through the resistant marble. As we strolled inside the tunnel, we could see waterfalls and cliffs through the "windows" at the side of the tunnel. The waterfalls weren't very big, but they had a mysterious beauty to them as their cascading waters sparkle and dance in the sunlight.





Caught up with admiring the scenary, we lingered in the timeless tunnel for too long and had to run to catch our bus. At last, it was time to go on to our final check-point, which was a small park on the top of one of the mountains. It was really a simple little place, just a grassland with a single willow tree and a stone table. Surrounding this park were taller mountains, giving it a secluded-paradise-kind of feel.



Finally, it was time for us to depart. It was truly a wonderful and complete day, one of the best we had so far in Taiwan. Oh yar, one more thing, there was a very pretty Japanese girl who was sharing the same tour bus with us. As she kept asking us to take a photo with her, we finally obliged:



She asked me for my number too, but I thought that was too much.

12 Days in Taiwan - Day Six (Alishan & Hualien)

Tru Tru. The phone rings. I checked the time. 4am. In my semi-consciousness, I only remembered it was a guy on the other line asking if I wanted to watch the sunrise and if I needed transport up there. In typical Mich fashion, I tried to sound coherent in a desperate bid to make him hang up the phone so I can get back to lala land. I forgot what I said, but I knew it was enough to allow me to get back to dreamland within 1 minute. But blissfulness is not eternal, we had to wake up in a while for our hiking adventure in a bid to catch the sunrise! OHHH NOOOO... :'(

When we were leaving the hotel, we bumped into the humble couple from Malaysia whom we took the same hell bus up. Pitiful couple they were, being cheated by the sly guide who claimed to offer them a good price for the hotel room. We stayed in the same kind of room but they paid a few hundred bucks more. I got to give credit to Mr Low for this. I was about to fall victim to the sly guide's attempt but Mr Low's persistence in not wanting to relent turned out to be a blessing in disguise! In the end, we got the price we wanted! -Mich looks at Mr Low in awe- :D



Not wanting to be lost sheeps, the gullible couple initiated to hike up together. It was only then that we realised the call in the morn was from the couple. Knowing that we are resourceful kids, they wanted to tag along with us to admire the sunrise together. Look at the photo and you will know they made the best decision in their lives to follow us!

Armed with a water bottle, umbrellas and a unstoppable desire to watch the sunrise, we were ready to brave the demanding road to the sunrise top! But we were shell shocked by the comments of the convenience store cashier. Wanting to verify that we were heading in the correct direction, I decided to ask the cashier for verification.

Mich: Hi, can I ask which is the correct way to the sunrise trail?

Cashier: Just walk straight and follow the sign posts. You should reach there in a short while.

Mich: Oh okay. Thanks. How long does it take to walk up there?

Cashier: Oh, I think it takes ONLY about one hour plus.

-Mr Low and Mich look at one another with their mouths wide open-

Goodness! Talk about misrepresentations and you will realise that Taiwan is ALL about misrepresentation! Whoever can comment that walking for one hour or more is a short while can only be a lunatic or a long-legged freak! So evil! :$

We were cold, we were hungry. But 2 dogs brightened our way up! They were the dogs which followed us on our way to the restaurant yesterday night. They led us all the way up to the sunrise trail, urinating on spots as trails should they get lost! They are truly the animal version of Hansel and Gratel!

The trail was trying on our stamina. It was like walking the great wall of Taiwan! It was like the road that NEVER ends! :'( We were panting like dogs. I nearly couldn't feel my legs! Then, we saw the vomiting couple who took the same bus as us descending from the mountain top. They were true hardcore sunrise enthusiasts. They were up there since 530am! But there was no sunrise to be spotted! The fog was too much for the sun to bear! :'(



Wanting to make the best of our hike, we decided to still continue our way up to the mountain top. Even if there ain't gonna be no sunrise, we aint gonna frown. We will take some cool pics just because we are cool! OH YES! Finally, the summit! ;p



Look at this dog! It is a specist tyrannt! It looks like a wolf and appeared only halfway through the trail. Like a unreasonable landlord, it forbidded one of the dogs that were following us to continue with the journey. Just because it was brown and not black and white like it is! What a specist [direct translation of racist]! All the while, I was afraid it would charge on me and rip me into pieces like how wolves rip their prey apart on animal planet! :(

The road back to the hotel was more relaxing as it was down slope. We were in the mood for more modelling with the beauty the forest had to offer!



Look at what great photography skills I portrayed! My JC years with the photography club has paid off! Ha, though I only attended a couple of times, I was able to grasp all that were taught over 2 years. Talk about talent. Heh heh.



What a fine-looking couple! ;P





Look how cold it is!

With Mr Low being a MSG freak, instant noodles were frequent items on our daily menus. We bought 2 cup noodles with hot canned drinks back to the hotel to satisfy our hunger. Apparently, the sun can only be seen at 930am per the driver who drove us to the train station. Talk about being lazy, now who is more lazy, the sun or me? ;p




This was taken when we were descending Alishan. The driver who drove us down was much friendlier than the hell driver who sent us up. He stopped at strategic places and explained the significance of the landscape. He even brought us to 'pao cha' [drink chinese tea] at a tea shop. See the green patches? They are actually tea plantations! :D

Off to Hualien! I was relieved that we reached the station in time! I have always imagined us missing the train or the flight back home and all the trouble we have to go through to make sure we get to where we want again. But luckily, none of all these happened!

Just when I thought everything was going well, shit happened! I thought we can finally have a place to rest when we reached Hualien. Little did I know after half an hour of walking, we realised that the hostel address was non-existent! It was 11pm and we were stranded with no accommodation. Apparently, the hostel we booked did not have a chinese name, the owner was uncontactable and the Taiwanese know nuts about English. Imagine the 7-11 boy greeting you good afternoon when you step into the store at 11pm. You know something must be very wrong! The best part is that nobody has ever heard of the hostel before after several attempts to inquire about the location of the hostel with various people!

Luckily we found a hostel like Hero House somewhere nearby, per the 7-11 boy's recommedation. Luckily we found a phonecard with credit so we can call the hostel and get our asses there. By the time we had dinner, it was near midnight. I never felt more thankful for not being stranded on the streets overnight. We were exhausted, but the thought of Taroko Gorge and water rafting excited me! I knew our adventure is just beginning... :)

12 Days in Taiwan - Day 5.6 (Alishan)

This video clip is about the rainy days we went through in Sun Moon Lake and Alishan. It is dedicated to a special someone for a special reason.

12 Days in Taiwan - Day Five (Alishan)

We woke up to a cold and frosty morning - dreadful weather for visiting Alishan. For certain we cant trek the forest trail in the fog and rain. Nevertheless, we went up the mountain anyway, hoping that the effects of the typhoon would have passed Taiwan by the next morning, and we would still be able to catch Alishan's legendary "sunrise amidst a sea of clouds".

Whether or not we finally got to see the famed Alishan sunrise, our stay up there was still rewarding. Through our experience, we picked up three valuable lessons that will serve to bring us a long way in this journey known as "Life". In a very characteristic act of generosity, I have decided to teach these "Life Lessons" to you.


Life Lesson #1

As the Alishan railway and bus services were cut off, we were forced to take a minibus up to Alishan. Sharing the minibus with us were a young Taiwanese couple and a Malaysian couple. The driver, being an opportunist, took the chance to rip all of us off. We had to pay a 200% premium to get up the mountain compared what it would have costed us had we taken public transport. That caused some unhappiness in us, and this unhappiness only increased when the driver sped through the heavy fog with a blatant disregard for everyone's safety.

Another incident along the way gave us further clue as to the character of the driver. Halfway up the mountain, one of the passengers vomitted as she was giddy from the hell-ride. The driver didn't give as much as a damn and drove on with the same intensity and recklessness as before.

I observed all of these from the back of the minibus where I was sitting, and something just dawned on me...

-------------------------------------------------------
Lesson: Great people can emerge from disaster.
-------------------------------------------------------

I was totally impressed by the way our beloved driver made the best of Typhoon Pearl despite that it was, by default, disruptive to the tourism industry and thus, his livelihood. Not only did he managed to reap an exorbitant profit amidst the disaster, he successfully got away with his utterly bad service. Both accomplishments required shrewdness, bargaining prowess, keen judgement, and guts (not to mention immorality of character).


Life Lesson #2

When we finally settled down in our hotel "Gao Shan Qing" in Alishan, we figured that it was gonna rain the entire day. Since we were gonna be stuck indoors for hours on end, we might as well make ourselves comfortable. Thus, we brewed tea, snugged into our cosy blankets, and began surfing between various Taiwanese dramas and variety shows. Needless to say, Taiwanese variety shows were good. The warmth of the tea and the blankets were greatly appreciated as well.



When we were finally bored of watching TV, we started to explore our hotel. It was really cosy and built with wood, more like a large villa than a hotel really. To add to the country beauty of the place, oil paintings lined the walls, painted by the owner himself. He also furnished the place with Japanese furniture. We took our time to admire the paintings as we strolled through the corridors and then settled down at the dining corner to sip tea.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lesson: Being trapped indoors in fine, as long as you are watching TV or pretending to be Japanese.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Life Lesson #3

When it was time for dinner, we reluctantly dragged our feets out into the freezing night (it was 11 degrees). It was still drizzling a bit and we had our umbrellas with us, but more so to shield the howling winds. The fog had persisted since day-time and now it hindered our progress; it was so thick that we could not see more than 3 metres in front of us. In the haze, the street lights appeared like ghostly flames and they glowed through the trees create dancing silhouettes like witches before a ritual...

As we journeyed through the woods we felt like kids in a fairy tale, maybe "Hansel and Gretel". We were excited and soaked ourselves in the spooky atmosphere entirely, giggling and telling each other ghost stories along the way.

After a long time, we finally arrived at a decent looking restaurant. We took a look at the menu and had a pleasant surprise: wild boar meat on hot plate! What a find in this unearthly weather! Hot, steaming, savory wild boar meat! We quickly settled ourselves inside and order a plate of the long-awaited dish, along with other side dishes like vegetable soup, kang kong and fried rice.

When the food came, we dug in with a ferocity seldom seen outside of the animal kingdom and...

...almost puked.

So bland was the food that they tasted only of cooking oil. The wild boar meat was better, but even so much too oily. Sigh... what a disappointment, after eating we went back to our hotel.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lesson: You're better of walking in the cold than eating at a lousy restaurant.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After dinner, we returned to a night of watching variety shows till the wee hours. The following morning we were supposed to climb to the peak of Alishan to catch the sunrise. Hopefully the weather will turn for the better.

12 Days in Taiwan - Day Four (Sun Moon Lake)

Ah, Sun Moon Lake - the favourite honeymoon spot for Taiwanese newly wedded. It is described as an incredibly serene lake with calm blue-green water and pristine hills. When the sun rises, the water surface will shimmer like a thousand sapphires.

Longing to behold such a wondrous sight, we journeyed to the lake in a cab, full of anticipation. After a long ride, we finally reached our destination. We hopped off the cab and saw this:



...Not. To be really honest, we saw this:



What the-?! Why was there so much difference between the sight in front of us and the pictures in our glossy tourism brochure???

As it is, due to the effects of Typhoon Pearl approaching the nearby China coastline, Taiwan is hit by unseasonally heavy rainfall islandwide. Though disappointed that Sun Moon Lake did not look as beautiful as it would have looked under sunny weather, we learnt to be contented whatever our situation. Enjoying each other's company, we chirpily embarked on a guided tour of the lake by our cab driver!

Along the way, we stopped at two temples. Both of which were rather big and grand. The one called "Wenwu Temple" consisted of many storeys and was furnished with jade decorations. The other temple had Japanese-styled garden and gazebos. We spent some time at both places, admiring the mysteriously misty lake from the tall places of these temples. Captivated by God's wonderful creation, we did not really bother about man-made temple architectuals.



Moving on, we came to this place known as the "Peacock Garden". On fair-weathered days, the administrators of the place will actually let their resident peacocks out for a walk in the garden. Today, however, we could only admire them in their cages. There were quite a few varieties of peacocks, among which the pearl-coloured ones were most exotic. The metaphor "vain as a peacock" is most true; as soon as we popped up at the cages with our camera, the peacocks jumped on to the branches of their cages and turn their tails towards us in anticipation for their photo shoot.



Afterwards, we visited the two small towns of the Sun Lake and the Moon Lake. They were entirely commercialised areas, consisting of hotels, souveneir shops and restaurants. I saw a stall which sells roasted wild boar meat, alas, it was not open this rainy day. That caused quite a heartache in me. Before coming to Taiwan, I had established a few life goals for myself; among which eating wild boar meat was one of the most highly prioritised. For the comprehensive list of my life goals, check out my "Book of Really Interesting Non-negotiable Goals" (BoRING for short). The top seven items are presented below for your viewing convenience:

7. Consume roast duck curry in Thailand
6. Consume fried beetles in Thailand (achieved)
5. Consume Afghanistan mixed meat dish (achieved)
4. Consume fried catfish in New Orleans
3. Consume roasted wild boar in Taiwan
2. Consume Irish lamb stew
1. Achieve goals 2 to 7 without spending more than a total of S$34

But I digress. Back to the topic. Anyway, Deario cheered me up with her usual cheeky self and we went on to take some photos of the towns. I particularly like the harbours there very much; I could imagine myself sitting there the whole day fishing had it been a sunny day. Either that or Deario and me could be paddling one of those cute yellow boats up for rental across the surface of the lake. Perhaps someday we should retire in a place like this.







The cab driver took us to many other spots around Sun Moon Lake as well, explaining the lake's history to us along the way. On the overall, he was an entertaining tour guide; we thought our money were well-spent. By mid-noon, we were done with touring the lake and we went back to Hero House to rest our feet. We rested till evening before going out again for dinner and shopping.

In the night, as we were watching TV and munching tibits furiously, news of tumultuous rain and threatening winds hitting the Alishan area flashed on the screen. To our hearts' dismay, the Alishan railway and bus services were gonna be cut the following day, when Typhoon Pearl impact Taiwan the hardest. Looks like our plan to travel up Alishan is gonna be shattered...