Taiwan Day 5 - Hualien

HUALIEN DAY 1 ~Taroko Gorge, Hualien town~

27 August 2012 Monday

The 10am depart, 12:33 arrival tze-chiang limited express train seems like the most ideal one for us.

okay. for me actually haha..

I don't think i can wake up and get ready in time for any trains earlier than that. If we miss that, we could still ride the one that will reach 20minutes+ later (ingenious moi). Any train later that then we probably won't have time for a decent trip to Taroko Gorge though.

Took a cab to Taipei Main Station because previous experience have taught me this magic formula:

heavy luggages + old people + walking = no-no (exhaustion→frustration→resentment) 

heavy luggages + old people + taxi  = ok

So i arrived at the station only to find out that the online booking i made yesterday was canceled *shrieks*. Something about i was supposed to come and pay at least one day before the departure. But i still managed to purchase 3 tickets for the 10am train *phew*... 

I know that i have to go pay and collect the tickets within 2 days after i make the bookings if i don't pay by credit card online... but i've heard nothing about this kind of case (>________<)

http://twtraffic.tra.gov.tw/twrail/English/  ← the site to book train tickets 

For an official site you would think it would provide more proper intructions hmphh..

 Mum the glutton saw the man pushing food trolley and couldn't resist.

The 3 of us shared this taroko bentou which tasted very nice~ osusume^^

Read online that when riding the train to hualien from taipei, get the seats on the left side for a better view. I forgot to ask for it when purchasing the tickets (>__________<)
But was lucky enough that the officer assigned us to the left ones yayyy. Don't make my mistake! Just sitting on the left side makes the whole journey a lot more fascinating.

 oopss :P mum found out

The train stopped by taroko station before hualien station and we wondered for a second if we were supposed to get down there. Turns out if i had asked for Tiffany Chang(the taxi driver i booked for the day) to come fetch us from taroko station instead of hualien station, we could have saved an hour. ah well..

Cing Shui cliff ..

which i had to pay TWD500 extra just to come here

Not that is wasn't worth it. The view is beautiful. But for one stop only hmm..

Taroko Gorge

Free helmet rental service at the entrance. Only found out later that it wasn't compulsory to wear it. Tiffany "haih you know la. so troublesome if stones fell on you"

Taroko Gorge was a lot more gorgeous than i could have ever imagined. I've seen pictures of it before but they didn't really impressed me. Mum&dad probably aren't that interested in caves and mountains either so i was actually going to drop it out of our itinerary.

the right side - a man's side face

frog prince (hint: shelter = crown)

Tzu Mu Bridge

i googled to check out taroko gorge images again and didn't find a single impressive photo btw. Just to let you know that it's not that i'm bad at photography but the beauty of taroko gorge cannot be captured by mere photos :P 

JUST around the river bendddd~
water is supposed to be a beautiful blue but it was gray from the typhoons and landslides i think

no entrance fee to come in btw

At first, I was a bit worried we might be doing a lot of walking today and mum&dad won't be able to take it. When i heard Taroko Gorge i just somewhat have the impression that we have to do a lot of hiking around because Gua Niah over here is like that. Turns out it's more like touring around in a car and you just hop out at scenic spots to take photos. Views from the car are also breathtaking so no problem for old folks.

Holiu Suspension Bridge

can't tell from the photos but actually there's a lot of tourists from bus tours around. 

Okay i'm not sure which is which but i think we went to 4 out of the 7 spots(Shakadang Trail - Eternal Spring Shrine Trail - Swallow Grotto Trail - Tunnel of Nine Turns - Tzu Mu Bridge - Holiu Suspension Bridge - Tiansiang) Tiffany said she would bring us to. Tunnel of Nine Turns has been closed for a few years already, then some were closed because a typhoon warning was released that afternoon and others Tiffany Chang refused to go.  She just pointed the place to us from afar "That's xxxx btw. We won't go there cause got dangers of small stones falling. You know lah, hit you guys it would be troublesome so we won't go there ya." And although in the email she said this whole trip would take at least 6-8 hours, our tour was finished in less than 4 hours!! I suspect she skipped a lot of spots because she's rushing to go back home to prepare dinner ==

Anyway all i've got to say about this woman is that she is terrible, horrible and vegetable. She was pushy and talked non-stop which i wouldn't have minded as much if her ranting weren't all complains and money-related.

"sighh I don't really like this job. It's so dangerous. I'm scared"

"sighhh After my long day of driving i still have to go back and reply all those emails"

"It's so risky for a woman to drive into the mountains everyday." 

hellooo i didn't hire you to hear out your miserable boring life. 

Honestly, I can't understand why everyone in Tripadvisor raved so much about her. She might be better than those average taxi drivers you hail from the streets but definitely not a very good guide. Or maybe i caught her on a bad day. Other people who arrived early in Hualien seems to have gotten their 8 hours worth.

Anyhow she sensed my dissatisfaction and "offered" to wait for us while we check into the hotel before dropping us off at the town area. "Normally if you fetch taxi from the hotel it will cost TWD25 but i won't claim from you guys (because i'm oh so kind and generous). zzzzz I thought i hired her for the whole day but it seems like i have only hired her to go 1) taroko gorge 2) cing sui. Anywhere else need to add money be it on the way or not. 

All in all it was a very decent trip. As we left Taroko Gorge, we heard that it will be closed tomorrow (day typhoon affecting hualien most apparently), so don't you think i've made a correct decision to come here today (maybe?).  Next time can just rent a car and come here by ourselves since the roads were relatively easy to navigate around even by my driving standards. 

Conclusion: Taroko Gorge super osusume~ not those places you have to go just because everyone else goes too (i'm talking about taipei 101 and boring national museums)


Taiwan Day 0
Taiwan Day 1 : Yeliu, Jiufen, PingShi, Yu Da Ge taxi driver
Taiwan Day 2 : Yongkang Jie, Taipei 101, Wufenpu
Taiwan Day 3 : Yongkang Jie, Ximending, Dan Shui
Taiwan Day 4 : Longshan Temple
Hualien Day 1 : CingShui, Taroko Gorge, Hotel Bayview, express train, Tifanny taxi driver
Hualien Day 2 : rubbish place
Hualien Day 3 : Mt Shike, Eight Fairy Caves, Shi Ti Ping
Taiwan Goodbye

Taiwan Day 4

TAIWAN DAY 4 ~nowhere,Longshan Temple,nowhere~

26 August 2012

Mum with big gooey eyes: 

"Can we do nothing and stay in the room today??"

haha the past few days of travelling, albeit not as much walking by my usual standards, must have taken a toll on my old folks. Nothing else to do in Taipei except maybe check out Longshan Temple (which i don't really have any interest) anyway. Sooooo we decided to take it easy, buy some food souvenirs from the supermarket next door and do some packing for the day. 

And then we met this aunty.

(me on stalker mode again)

We were going down to hunt for lunch nearby when this friendly aunty and her son approached us. She and mum hit it off right away. We asked where can we find yummy lunch and the kind aunty actually drove us to the door of the restaurant she recommended, insisting that it's on the way. 

It's a restaurant somewhere around Minquan West Road area. No idea how far it is from the nearest mrt station. One of the meals mum&dad reminisce most from the whole taiwan trip.

Since we're out, i figured we might as well as pay Longshan Temple a visit.

As boring as i expected. 









No offense god. 


Back in our room, we tuned in channel 50 something which Mr Yu recommended us for weather forecast news. Not exactly sure which channel it was but it broadcasts only and only news for the whole day. Mum and dad have taken a liking to watch the typhoon news. It's like chasing after a fast-paced hongkong drama.

"Tembin typhoon has finally gone out to the sea!! Will Tembin and Bolaven finally meet? Will Tembin loop back and drench taiwan once more?? Stick with us and it shall be revealed on Sunday dawn!"

Everyone else seems to be talking about it too. The taxi drivers, the shopkeepers.. o well... at least mum and dad had fun debating about the typhoons with them. Easy way to strike up a conversation.


Anyway in the end there still wasn't a conclusion as to whether we should proceed with our original plans to go Hualien tomorrow or not. There were news of Hualien in floods, news saying the typhoons might or might not hit Hualien. Mum was skeptical about going Hualien and suggested we just stay in Taipei but there really isn't anywhere else to go here. 
I emailed Hotel Bayview (the hotel i booked for hualien trip) my concerns and they replied efficiently, reassuring me that the weather there is fine now. so i took a chance... and booked seats for the express train tomorrow ^^v



So... we're going to Hualien o((*^▽^*))o


Taiwan Day 0
Taiwan Day 1 : Yeliu, Jiufen, PingShi, Yu Da Ge taxi driver
Taiwan Day 2 : Yongkang Jie, Taipei 101, Wufenpu
Taiwan Day 3 : Yongkang Jie, Ximending, Dan Shui
Taiwan Day 4 : Longshan Temple
Hualien Day 1 : CingShui, Taroko Gorge, Hotel Bayview, express train, Tifanny taxi driver
Hualien Day 2 : rubbish place
Hualien Day 3 : Mt Shike, Eight Fairy Caves, Shi Ti Ping
Taiwan Goodbye

Taiwan Day 3

TAIWAN DAY 3 ~Yongkang Jie, Ximending, Dan Shui~

25 August 2012 Saturday

Saturday..the day typhoon Tembin is supposed to affect Taiwan the most. Again woke up, dark clouds, no rain. Hmm...beginning to get the hang of this forecasting business myself. I dragged my parents to Yongkang Jie again because i didn't get to eat my mango ice yesterday.

Actually Mr Yu said he can bring us to Mt Yangmingshan and Dan Shui today but i felt like it would be a waste to book the taxi for today's itinerary when all the places can be reached easily unlike the first day where you have to transfer buses and subways.

This time we ate our brunch at a shop called 度小月 which i came across in the forums.  

cool chinese antique-feel interior

mum especially liked this gold shrimp roll 

or was it this? lol can't really remember

 this meal also costed TWD800+ but it was a lot tastier compared to Kao Chi yesterday. Many taxi drivers also said that xiaolongbao actually anywhere also taste the same de haha. 

Then.... (｡♥‿♥｡)

ice monster(氷館)! It's located just next to the place i had my yam ice hoho. observe how the ice is shaved into those exquisite snowflake type unlike the common blended ones!

 around TWD150 each

i said to order only one and let's share but do they listen? Nooo....  "let dad have one and i'll share with you" she said. "i'll eat half of it" she said. end up me eating 3/4 of it ==

We then attempted to go Ximending by taking the subway. From the guide book the nearest subway should only take 15 minutes of walk but we asked the wrong person and he pointed us to the wrong direction and made us waste a lot of time and energy. Then a woman who noticed we were kind of lost suggested us to take a bus to Ximending and gave us directions.  I regret my decision to not take the cab from the start. Seeing my mum and dad in the public bus felt so weird and out of place... i somewhat feel like ppl their age should be entitled to enjoy the comforts of a taxi instead of some old public bus. 

That is unless the public transportation system is as immaculate as Japan's. 

No pictures of Ximending because it's just another shopping area. Mum and dad were already bored of them so i just quickly window shopped to my heart's content before leaving. 

Of course not before I got myself this supercutemonsterbagwhichihavebeenwantingforsoooolong. I would actually preferred if its a small backpack but they only super huge backpack or this or some tiny pouches. Price for the huge backpack and this slingback was the same,  TWD520. I had to fight tooth and nail with the aunty-urges residing inside me before i could settle myself for the smaller but equally expensive one.

And finally the main destination of the day........ Dan Shui～! 

It was so hard to decide which day to come here because it has to be a fine day without rain or else it would be a meaningless trip. 

I made sure we reached early around 3pm so that we won't miss watching the sunset from Fisherman's Wharf. 

 Dan Shui was as beautiful as i hoped for and it was such a nice change from the crowded shopping areas. Though there were tons of people, the place was vast so it still felt nice and romantic. 

Dan Shui Old Street has a lot of food stalls.  

This is what happens when there's no one to help me gather ppl to take photos.. i become stalker and keep taking candid photos.

Dad having a foot massage like a boss. 

Look at his face expression haha. He has been wanting to have foot massage ever since we'd landed on taiwan so we went straight in when we saw this shop. 

 I wanted to take a photo of mum excruciating in pain but she used her bag for defense 

 (o⌒．⌒o) . I had a TWD100 10minute shoulder massage. Mum also went for the same thing but extended another 10minutes. This should be me and mum's first time getting a massage at a shop^^v.

Mum so geng. She sits down to get massage nia also can immediately chat so friendly with her masseur. Then my masseuse joined in conversation. Then the masseur (who seemed brusque) from across also joined in. It felt like mum was at the center of the conversation.  This must be what they call having a knack for speaking with strangers. 

This shop is kind of special btw... in that the staffs are handicapped people. Most of the staff can't walk well or see well or are albinos.

 i wanted the longest one but they refused to share ice-cream with me T____________T

but i bought it anway :P

 then eat halfway toss to dad XD

 Sun is setting!!! Must ride boat to Fisherman's Wharf before it sets completely!

Aaaaaand our lost. The sun went down within the 10 minutes of the boat ride. I shall blame this on glutton mum who keep hovering around the food stalls we passed by . But we got to see the sunset from the boat so still satisfied ^^v

 This area was actually crowded. But it rain a bit then everyone scattered. Almost felt like it rained for us to have the whole place to ourselves haha.

 Lover's Bridge.  

We ate dinner at a random shop there which fyi, sucked big time.

Fisherman's Wharf also very pretty and romantic. Mum pitied that i have to come here with "two lao jiao huo" haha. After lingering around a bit more, we took the boat back to Dan Shui and continued exploring.


Mum & dad loved Dan Shui a lot! woohoo～ \(^^)/ 

Taiwan Day 0

Taiwan Day 1 : Yeliu, Jiufen, PingShi, Yu Da Ge taxi driver

Taiwan Day 2 : Yongkang Jie, Taipei 101, Wufenpu

Taiwan Day 3 : Yongkang Jie, Ximending, Dan Shui

Taiwan Day 4 : Longshan Temple

Hualien Day 1 : CingShui, Taroko Gorge, Hotel Bayview, express train, Tifanny taxi driver

Hualien Day 2 : rubbish place

Hualien Day 3 : Mt Shike, Eight Fairy Caves, Shi Ti Ping

Taiwan Goodbye

Taiwan Day 2

TAIWAN DAY 2 ~Yongkang Jie, Taipei 101, Wufenpu~
24 August 2012 Friday

Woke up. Dark skies. No rain. Decided to take a chance on the weather so off we go~!

Hailed a cab to go directly to the famous xiaolongpao restaurant, Din Tai Fung which is located in Yongkang Jie. There was a longgg queue and mum&dad refused to wait T______T so decided on spot to go to Kao Chi which is also another famous xiaolongpao restaurant just around the corner.

We didn't really find the food spectacularly yummy despite the measly three items above costed us TWD800+ (rm80). The service was supreme though. Can match the japanese one *thumbs up*

yummy yam dessert at 芋頭大王 which can be found when you walk straight down the alley along Kao Qi. super osusume (ღ˘⌣˘ღ) ~! The three of us shared one which was more than enough.

We followed the previous taxi driver's advice to take a cab to Taipei 101. As expected nothing much to do here. Can't really see the Taipei 101 properly because too close-up. Definitely prettier to look from afar. 

Next we took another cab to Wufenpu.. shopping heaven!! I finally know where i got my shopaholic genes from. It was such a job to refrain mum from buying too much stuff for my other sisters haha. Poor dad must be so super bored. Wufenpu changed a bit already though. Its a lot more expensive :(. Last time most of the items were under TWD250 but now everything's around TWD390. ish.. plus everything also cannot try which really takes out the fun in shopping. I only bought one green singlet and a brown cute slingbag (TWD500) which i now love to bits ^^. 

After a break at a nearby coffee shop (which was nearly impossible to find but our legs were breaking and we desperately need to sit down somewhere), i came across this! I'm so happy i found this ge pao stall!! Puisan and JJ brought me to eat here last time but i have no idea where it's at. super osusume also~!

As expected of mum&dad. So good at finding yummy food. They saw this shop which was across the coffee shop we were at and decided this is where we would have our dinner. Turns out this is also a shop mentioned in the internet. Hu Xu Zhang Lu Rou Fan 鬍鬚張魯肉飯, a shop with a yellow signboard just across wufenpu (if you can come out from the right opening :P, good luck finding!).