Boarding was rather swift I must say. Got blonde ang mo pilot-ress. Cool sia! Got hungrier and hungrier as time went by. What to do, no dinner, only 1 small cake to tahan. Upon touch down at Changi Airport and collecting the bags, was kinda sad the trip so fast came to an end. Oh well.. there’ll be next times.

Awww, goodbye Taiwan, till next time.

Was a great trip, lovely people, nice culture, awesome food, and a great traveling companion.

Yea! Wulai and hotsprings day! Since not much was planned for the day, we set off mid-morning. Had mee sua for breakfast at a roadside stall near thehotel. Mee sua with some organ thingy. Took MRT all the way southwards to XinDian station to change to the XianDian bus which will bring us into Wulai. Wow.. so many aunties and uncles also were queuing for the bus. No seat all the way (~40mins). Again the bus driver drove like in Initial D, so fast!! Even at the sharp turns! No wonder the Taiwanese all are so slim, can train muscles while holding on for your dear life! Keke.. This one kaypo passenger asked the driver “How come so many ppl going to Wulai today?” and the uncle bus driver replied “Eh, maybe all going to hotsprings bah” orrr!! Yuan lai!!

 


Many shops lined the way along the streets of Old Wulai, all selling muachees and food which seemed delicious, but not exactly hygienic (with all the flies hovering around). Anyhow we made our way to the railcart station. Surprisingly there were quite many other ppl there too. The railcart took a short winding route all the way to Wulai falls. Reached only to realize we had just missed the aboriginal performance by not too long. Boohoohooo….!! =( =( =( the falls wasn’t exactly spectacular (as can be expected since winter = no typhoon season = less water). At least that proved that JL wrong! Who kept insisted “no water one lah!” LOL.

Wanted to go to Doll Valley cos I read there were much better waterfalls deep in the trail. So we started the ‘hike’ there under the blazing sun. An ahpek and ahma couple were not too far back. Walk walk walk, walk walk walk…. And walked somemore, finally the entrance to Doll Valley was in sight! But low and behold! It was closed for renovation! Oh man! After almost more than 1/2 hr of walking, and I was once again disappointed! Double boohoo! Cannot go Doll Valley already very disappointing, so I was quite set on venturing further in to the main nature reserve area. But the walk was very very very far! LOL.. the ahpek and ahma were my inspiration man! They were trekking slowly but steadily towards the same destination, uphill. The blazing sun, the seemingly endless winding route was power sia. After almost 2+ hrs, we only reached somewhere near the school (which is like only halfway to our destination). Gosh! As much as I wanted to go on, we had to turn back, otherwise no time for hotsprings! Triple boohoo-ness!

And as we detoured back, we met the Taiwanese ahpek and ahma, who said “young people, how can you all da tui tang gu!!” aww man! Then he told us there was actually bus which we could have taken from the Wuali falls to the nature place =/ best. LOL. He also mentioned that Doll Valley was very beautiful the last time he went in. What a disappointing day! But I must say the long walk was rather refreshing in a way. Just us, and nature, birds chirping, more small falls, river flowing, fresh fresh air!

Back in the main Wulai area, we went hunting for hotspring places. Very quickly settled for a place with a package TW$1000 for 2hrs. Comes with a bath (supposedly big enough for 2) and a bedroom for rest. Took that, went up to the private room. Was hot and sweaty from the rather long walk. So had a nice quiet moment resting on the big comfy bed (and super cold air con) before going to pao the hotsprings. It’s more like a small bath, with juz bout enough space to sit (but not stretch your legs). On the tap and fill it up, as you would a normal bath. As the bath was filling, JL got in it 1^st. suddenly there was a loud proooooooood!! sound! LOL! I thot “Wah such a loud fart!” LOL nah! Was not.. the tub had a suction thing which prevents water from overflowing the tub. Anyhow the hotsprings water no sulphur smell one. Made me dubious of the water source. Diluted springs water? But when totally relaxed, the hands and butt and float lol.. 2hrs seemed to pass so so quickly.

Oh! As we walked out to catch the bus, I was thirsty, so I wanted to try the drink with the floaty ball thing tt was all ard the streets. 1^st sip, yum.. nice and refreshing.. until SOMEONE told me “eh! That floaty ball thingy is tadpole eggs leh” diao -_- suddenly totally lost all appetite for the drink. Lol… walkwalked, he got a small pink guava from a vendor which was like SO NICE lor! Soft and sweet. Superb! 10/10 Yum! 1^st time I ever had pink guava. We even went back to get more to bring home.

Next destination, the PowerBuffet at ZhongXiao. Chim sia the shopping center. Don’t see any entrance to go into the main area 1. Took quite awhile before we spotted the lift. Anyhow the buffet place was jaw dropping man! So MANY MANY varieties of food! Japanese tepanyaki, sashimi, stir fries and lots lots of deserts and drinks (yes, alcoholic ones too). After 1 round of tasting what I wanted, my tummy space was totally taken up. Nowhere to go for the night, couldn’t find the Guangxi night market, so we called it a day and headed back to the hotel, the earliest we’ve ever got back in Taipei. Last night le wor… last chance to watch chan15 on TV. And gotta do packing as well.

Mei Shiuan Hotel (NT$700/nite) was really a total disappointment lor. The room was so small. Far worse than the pics on the net. What’s worse, the toilet is in a broken down condition. It was so cold, the bed so small, I hardly slept well last night. Can't bear the thought of staying for another 2 nights (plus no chan15 LOL) so we decided to go back to Hotel New Moon, which was definitely in a better state, not counting the yucky toilet walls lah. So off we went to New Moon to put our stuff at the reception. Took a cab there, and upon alighting (too early), I OEI OEI OEI-ed to JL, who had gotten outta the cab 1^st to take the goodies bag. He nv heard. Sian mah, so I literally threw the bag on the ground, forgetting that I had a big bottle of Alishan honey. Boy did it hit the ground hard with a PRONG! Sound! Shucks! My honey...

The plan of the day was to go Yeliu, and if there’s still time, Jiufen, before heading off to MiaoKou night market at Keelung. Walked over to TMS to hunt for the Keelung bus to Yeliu. Cos the terminal was under renovation, we had to make extra detours all over the area to find the place (under the hot sun!). Finally there, the trip on a private bus took almost 2h. Not having any instructions on how to walk upon alighting (and being geh kiang not to ask anyone) we walked in the totally wrong direction. Yes, I admit I was feeling kinda pissed cos it. I know I promised him that I will try not show a sulky black face, but very hard sia. I was already trying my very best, hence the silence, for I know my tone probably wouldn’t sound that nice had I spoken.

We finally found the place (thank god!) after about an hr. The place was kinda huge. Had to walk quite a fair bit from one end to another. Somehow I felt that this time round it was his turn to feel pissed? I prodded for abit, but since he didn’t wanna say why, I decided to shut my mouth before he started to find me even more irritating. Yeliu is basically a naturally formed geographical grounds. There were lots of uniquely shaped rock structures formed by the erosion of the rocks/soil material by the sea over time. Lots of honeycomb structures around, the most famous being the Queen’s Head. Also along the coast were lots of pot-hole like holes LOL. A short walk brought us to the bean curd structures just off the coast. A long winding route then brought us to the end of the park, where there were many ppl fishing off the big big rocks. The walk back was along the coast, in between the many naturally formed structures (see the ‘penis head’ pic keke..). There were also 2 what we thought were models doing some photo shots there. Pei fu them sia, walk around in heels. Was an interesting walk back, looking at the ‘special finds’ (read: small crabs, tadpoles, larvae, (poor) dead puffer fishes, small fishes etc..) in the potholes.

Walked through a mini market just nearby and got some snacks (honey guava, suan meis) back home. Took a super long and InitialD like bus (hang on for your dear life!!) to Keelung since it was already too late to head off to Jiufen. Boy, the streets there were so ALIVE! Filled with so many many people and vehicles of all sorts. Motocycles are everywhere! Before even reaching MiaoKou, a VCD shop caught our eye. That shop earned quite abit off us man! Think I got a couple of Jap DVDs from there, and the uncle even gave us free a few more. Muz be lousy stuff! LOL. Then lugging a huge plastic bag, we headed off to look for the night market, and food! Had a small bowl of fish mee sua along of of the shops, and went off hunting for the NM again. Just as we were about to cross the road at a junction, I saw from the corner of my eyes, JL’s leg hit a small pillar. Stunned! Before I could do or say anything, I saw arms a-flying, and then POM! He landed almost spread eagle on the ground! LOL, thinking back it was really funny, but at that point of time really shocking sia! LOL.. even the ahmas and ahpeks went “boy ah, you mei you shi?” luckily he was still in one properly attached piece man. LOL or else I’ll really stress sia, ren zai yi xiang. Keke..

Finally found MiaoKou. Wow.. breath-taking sia the place. So MANY streets of food food food and more food! Must be more than Shilin even! Cannot remember if we actually ate anything. Think not wor! But JL tried the green bitter gourd juice. That one is really power sia! No sweet taste at all.. Yucks! LOL

And again we took a long long long bus to Danshui (ya, missed the sunset, and famed AhMa Sour Plum Juice). Nothing much there. Dunno iszit cos it was already night, and all the shops were closed. The only thing we saw was the Lover’s Bridge. LOL, like us, a lot of ppl juz crossed the bridge, took some pics, den U-turned back. Really nothing to see leh. Bo bian..

Cos nv had dinner mah, so went to Shilin again to eat. That’s like our what? 3^rd or 4^th time already? Again I had my fav hong you shao shou while that guy power lor.. had the hao dad a ji pa with A LOT of chilli power and 2 cups of fruit milk (advocado and strawberry I think). Already late le, went back to Hotel New Moon to check in and quickly check on my honey. Boohoooo.. my honey bottle broke! And I got honey all over my bag. BOoHOOOOoo!! =(

Due to some very cold air-conditioning, we had no problem waking up early for today. Sensing a good weather, we decided to head for Yang Ming Shan. The friendly hotel receptionist directed us to a small alley at the back of the hotel where we found a local breakfast shop. Being basically hopeless in reading chinese, we were initially stressed-up cause both of us can’t read the pinned up menu! I resorted to pointing at whatever the other customers seemed to be buying. Ended up having quite a good breakfast I thought! 

After breakfast, we took bus service 260 that brought us to the Yang Ming Shan reserve. Upon reaching the main carpark of the natural reserve, we transferred to local shuttle service bus that will encircle the various scenic spots throughout the area. We first stopped at the Chi Xing (Seven Stars) Mountain trail together with a group of aunties and uncles. They also seemed a little lost, just like us. Nevertheless, we all head up together in the same direction that would lead us to the highest mountain peak there. It involved a series of steep upward gradient amongst strong chilling winds. A little while into our ascent, Ashley decided she couldn’t take the physical stress any more. She also complained to pain to her left ear, which was by then had turned into a reddish hue. As much as I am excited to go all the way up, we had no choice at that moment but to abandon our climb and retrace our route downhill. Nevermind, there shall be a next time!  









Next, we proceeded to an easier trail called Qing Tian Gan. While waiting for the bus, Ashley seemed quite disturbed by the chill. Being “Ai-Mei”, her wore nice clothings which doesn’t seemed to provide her with sufficient protection against the cold winds. So I took off my coat and lent her. And being “Ai-Mei”, she didn’t zipped up my coat. So I decided to reached over and helped her zipped the coat ALL the way up.  

Great. Now she reminded me of teletubbies and naturally I didn’t share with her my observation. HeeHee! 

Qing Tian Gan is a wonderful wide plateau and from it, many other trails branches away deeper into the nature reserve. YMS reserve still offers a host of other trails. However, we definitely do not have enough time to cover them all. As it was already past midday, we decided to leave the area to visit other areas in Taipei. For the next stop, we went to the Hot spring area of BeiTou via a direct bus.

We passed by a drain and people actually soak their foot into the water to get free natural hotspring therapy! We ended up at the Hell Valley whereby clouds of hot, sulphurous vapour consistently rise from the shallow acidic pond. The sulphur stench was so strong that if we were stay any longer, we’ll bound to get “high”! Since we did not bring any swimwear, we did not try any of the numerous hot spring houses that littered the streets. On our way back to the MRT station, we went into a local tribal museum where they introduced the numerous tribes of Taiwan (comment added by Ashley: we missed the performance of a local tribe due to time clash! *I so wanted to watch a local tribal performance!!).   

Next, we went to Xi Meng Ding for lunch. Apparantly this place is very happening on weekend afternoons. After some effort, we finally located the famous Ah Zhong Mian Xien. Although the queue is never ending, it moved very fast. It was a special experience eating there because as soon as customers received their piping hot bowl of mee sua, they will just stand around the vicinity and finish it. No chairs or tables whatsoever. Not knowing their chilli sauce to be pretty spicy, I added about 7 spoonful of it into my mee sua. Ended up having difficulty downing the hot and extremely spicy bowl of mee sua!  

Next, we took the MRT to reach Long Shan Si temple. It was quite a compact compound but there was a large gathering of people from all walks of life, in all forms of casual and formal wear. Some were sitting by the side, some were standing, some kneeling and one was even dancing a little. They were simply chanting “Nan Mou Aoh Mi Tuo Fou”. I was spell-bounded by just being amongst such a large gathering of people from all walks of life, chanting the soothing rhythmic chorus (excellent PA system too). The experience of peace and tranquillity didn’t last long as SOMEONE abruptly pulled me out of my ‘zone’ by asking, “Why you so quiet?”. -_-“. OK, with that, I was shaken back to reality and the bustling streets outside Long Shan Si and we next proceed to the Snake alley (Hua Xi Jie). Snake alley was surprisingly isolated when we when there. Too early perhaps? Nevertheless, we managed to catch a snake performance, which was actually blatant advertising that was initially disguised as performance. The performer boasted of feeding the (huge) snakes with rabbit and mouse, which never happened. But it was not too bad since I had my first feel of a live python. (comments added by Ashley: We also saw in one of the shops, a turtle severed in half! The 2 halves placed in separate plates. Immediately a in-and-out movement around the tail caught my eye. -_-" Dead turtle's penis still refused to stop going in-and-out! Sry, no pic taking allowed -_-") We tried some muah chee and peanut dao huey at one of the dessert stall before taking the MRT to our final destinations – Raohe night market and Wufenpu.

Wufenpu is an area full clothing merchandise. There are rows and rows of wholesaler. Due to the season, mostly winter wears are being sold and hence, we didn’t spend much time there.  

The Raohe night market is within walking distance from Wufenpu and along the way, we spotted Taipei 101. With the night sky in the background, it was wonderfully lit. Ashley brought a lot of fanciful earrings while I discovered the wonderful pork ribs soup. At SG$2.50 a bowl, it really warmed me up from the remnants of “coldness” lingering from this morning’s Yang Ming Shan’s chill. I had two bowls. 

Finally ended our day near midnight. It was yet another exhausting yet fulfilling day. Remembered holding a super full bladder on the way to MRT station from Raohe. Hehe. I had a shower back at the hotel and immediately upon stepping out of the bathroom, Ashley squealed “Got porn on TV leh!”. Great, a novel bedtime activity, watching porn! Shiok liao, this time shiok liao! Muahahaha!!! Slept much better tonight as we turned off the air-conditioning before tuning in (not because of porn).

 

signing off, Liang

Hover cursor over pictures to see the captions.
Remember to please keep right in Taiwan! Even in the night markets!
SGD$1 approximately = NT$20

Our 8 days trip to Taiwan started on 6^th Jan 2007. Our Jetstar flight to Taoyuan International Airport was scheduled at 1300hrs. The return journey airfare for this trip cost $348. It was a busy morning for me as I had to write letter, email and call up MOE to postponed an interview scheduled for me this coming Wednesday. They sent me notification letter only yesterday!! I ran to the market and to AMK central to purchase international calling card as well as mail-in my letter.   

After much sweat, I finally hopped onto a cab to the airport. The usual long check-in queue at Changi Airport was gone by the time I arrived. After a speedy check-in, we stroll leisurely to our departure gates. Just prior to entering the gates, Ashley noticed water to be seeping through her carry-on bag! Apparantly her newly brought water bottle decided to relief itself and the leather bag now functioned as a mini wading pool for her new phone and Ixus50! We try to do some damage control whilst in the waiting lounge. While her phone was spared, her camera is basically gone! With only my camera to rely on now, we had to be selective in photo taking for the rest of the journey. What an exciting beginning the trip! 

After 4-5 hrs, we finally landed to a cloudy Taiwanese sky. It was getting dark now and we rushed to raid tourism brochures as well as purchasing a prepaid SIM card with 400NTD in value. We then proceeded to private bus operators stalls. This is the first time I had to make a decision based on chinese wording. We finally decided to board Guo Guang Express bus to Taipei Main Station. The bus was very comfortable and the direct trip to Taipei lasted about 40min and cost 125 per pax. 

At Taipei Main station, we immediately purchased railway tickets we would need for our journey to Alishan and Hualien. These included a 3½ hr ride from Taipei to Chiayi, a 6½ hr ride from Chiayi to Hualien and a 3hr journey from Hualien back to Taipei. We also brought their equivalent of Singapore’s EZ-link card that can be used for travel on MRT (ke yun) and public buses (gong che). The EZ-card cost 500NTD for student, including a refundable 100NTD deposit.  

With our transportation logistics settled, we next asked for directions to our accomodation at Hotel New Moon. Taipei citizens are extremely helpful. A bunch of graceful and classy people quite unlike the typical loud-mouthed PRCs or self-absorbed Singaporeans! After getting our orientation, it was down to a 20min walk to New Moon Hotel. Poor Ashley must have had a fair bit of complaining to do with her 7kg back-pack strapped on. I actually had fun figuring out the place in foreign city at night. 

After throwing down our barang-barang at the 930NTD per nite hotel, we were all ready for dinner! I haven’t eaten since morning manz. We decided to head to the famous Shilin night market. Although we have to walk all the way back to Taipei Main Station to take the MRT there, it was much easier this time without all our baggages. We took the MRT to Jian Tan Station and Shilin night market were located just beside the station. The place was really crowded on Saturday night and there was too much food to try! 

We first try the famous Hong You Shao Shou. Ashley liked it so much, she would return to try it 2 more times! I find it nice too but just a little bit on the saltish side though. Next up is the ubiquitous chou dou fu (smelly beancurd). The dou fu itself is very crispy on the outside and actually not so chou smelly la. The dish involves a helping of refreshing cold salad that reminds me of coleslaw. We next ordered a Hao Jian (oyster omelette) together with freshly made papaya milk and bitter gourd juice. The Taiwanese Hao Jian cost only SG$2 and it includes lettuces and a special sweet sauce. The bitter gourd juice is my favourite juice at that moment. Again, It is not too bitter and contains flowery fragrances (comment added by Ashley: 10/10!!). It is made up of a combination of bittergourd, apple, lime juices and honey. It is also a welcoming beverage with a cooling effect to counter the many “heaty” food we had. Still having some remaining space in the stomach, we proceeded to attack the “coffin”. It is actually a thick, hollow fried bread with various stuffings inside including assortments of meat and fruits. It is rather filling and costs SG$2 each. 

By this time, I’m really quite stuffed with food liao. Despite some fatigue, we went on to jalan the Shilin surroundings. Bring Friday night, the whole area is jammed-packed with people. Lots of small stalls line the streets outside. Ashley tried a packet of fried tapioca ball. Crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, it had a mildly sweet fragrance of tapioca. 
 






We ended our night out with a big bowlful of mango ice at the famous San Xiong Di dessert shop. The ice shaving is very smooth and milky but I find the toppings too sweet for my liking. After downing that, we were very exhausted already and decided it was time to make our way back to get ready for a long day tomorrow. The thought of having to walk all the way from TP MRT station to our hotel makes me felt even more tired! Ashley decided to head for shower first while I basically jumped straight to bed. I occupied the right side of the bed, while Ashley slept on the left. Didn’t sleep very deeply on the first nite. The powerful air-conditioning woke me up at around 4am in the morning! (comments added by Ashley: The place was kinda noisy, maybe cos our room was facing the street, it was a Sat nite, ppl still having fun outside. I was repeatedly woken up by the noise, and SOMEONE pulling the quilt away, leaving me exposed to the cold cold aircon! -_-")



signing off, Liang