May 11 2009
May 11 2009 Plane view at Taiwan towards Tao Yuan Airport.
May 11 2009 trip to Taiwan. Sunset View from Jetstar Asia plane when reaching Tao Yuan Airport.
Reach Chocolate Box Backpackers at Guting station in late evening and went to Shihlin Night Market士林夜市 at Jiantan mrt. Tried the popular long queue at 豪大大鸡排 the one with blue sign board, the Pork Pepper Bun and the Frog signboard drink. Forget to take photos of the food. Was tired from my flight.
May 12 2009
From Martyrs’ Shrine take bus to The National Palace Museum
May 12 2009 Yangmingshan and Xiaoyukeng (小油坑) at Yangmingshan.
May 12 2009 Hsin Beitou Hot Spring. Hot spring visitor centre was closed but luckily met a local lady who told me can go up a flight of stairs and see the view from the roadside area near to the residential area.
After seeing the splendid hot spring went for a short hot spring
soaking of my feet 
. Met a cute little dog call “Ah Di” 
. Vey obedient and photogenic.
The owner tell Ah Di not to lick me and he don’t dare. Ha Ha Ha…
May 12 2009 Danshui’ s Fisherman’s wharf
. A splendid beautiful view of the sea and sunset. Love the Lovers Bridge 
.
Would be good for couples to go and see sunset
. Very romantic place 
. Saw fishermen packing their catch of the day little small shrimps 
.
Night time went to see Danshui’s night market and drink the Ah Mother’s Plum Tea” (阿媽的酸梅湯)
and also visit
Shida Night Market with my Taipei friend Meng Feng. At Shida Night Market which is near Guting MRT, we ate
Xu’s Sheng Shui jian bao![clip_image002[7]](https://janiceonghl.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/clip_image0027_thumb.jpg?w=146&h=120 "clip_image002[7]")
, 大鸡排, tried some sample of the salty water chicken (鹹水雞), fried mushroom with plum taste. Meng Feng also brought me to a nearby dessert store to eat Mango dessert which was huge followed by a Taiwan brand beer which we bought at 7-Eleven.
May 13, 2009
My friend Sera from Korea whom I met at Chocolate Box Backpackers and I went to visit Yeuliu in the early morning. We took a bus from Taipei Kuo Kuang bus to Yeuliu.
Yeuliu Rocks
Met this cute baby dog
the owner just got while travelling to Jinguashi-Gold Ecological Park from Keeulung in a taxi car. We shared the cab with the dog owner couple. The dog was so scared and cold in the cab. She vomited.
Jinguashi-Gold Ecological Park
The restaurant at Jinguashi
, we ate their pork rib bian dan
cost NT$190. Was delicious. We get to keep the bian dan box and the wrapper cloth. Good souvenir.
The restaurant receipt entitle us to visit 5 places of interest in Jinguashi. We went to the museum
,
photo exhibition and some parks.
Jioufen
Jioufen is an old village on top the moutain just before Jinguashi. Small little stores where you can get food like fishball,Tai Yang Bin,souvenir.
Keelung Night Market( Miaokou Food Street) 基隆庙口.基隆夜市
From Jioufen, we went to Keelung Night Market. I ate the crab meat soup (stall5), 魯肉飯.
May 14, 2009
Taichung-Sun Moon Lake日月潭
Travel from Taipei to Taichung via HSR, take bus to Fuh Chun Hotel The drivers at the HSR station, all give different directions to the hotel. I end up taking the wrong bus and walk almost an hour dragging my luggage to the hotel. The hotel is actually near TRA train station.
After checking into Taichung hotel, I took a bus to Sun Moon Lake. Sun Moon lake is a big lake with a few tourist stops via the tour bus. I stop at Ita Thao, a small village where the Thao aboriginal tribes stay. The Thao is another small tribe with only about 3,000 people, who live primarily near Sun Moon Lake in Nantou. According to Thao legends, the tribe used to live in the Alishan area. One day on a hunting expedition, some tribesmen chased a white deer to the beautiful lake. The deer was chased into the water before it was shot down by the Thao hunters. Its blood attracted many fish which were caught by the hunters, who found them delicious. The Thao ancestors decided to move from Alishan to settle by the lake, where they remain to this day.
Dancing, Performance by the Aboriginal and Tourists. I bought some local plum mai yah sweet. Was good. Gave some to my collegues. They like it.
Evening went to Taichung Fengjia Night market逢甲夜市. Very crowded. A lot of stores to see and eat. First thing I saw when reach Fengjia Night market is the 2 rows of long queue at the 大肠包小肠. I tried the longest queue which is at the left side. Was good. There are many other good food stalls as well like the life prawn BBQ, spicy duck wraps, tall ice cream.
May 15, 2009
Alishan Trip
Alishan Forest Railway Train
From Taichung train station, took an early TRA train to Chiayi Train Station. Journey about 2 hrs. From Chiayi train station, was lucky to buy the 10am Alishan Forest Railway for today but couldn’t get any train for tommorow morning. Visit the tourist information centre at Chaiyi train station, found out that by the time I reach Alishan station will be 2.30pm, the bus and train to Jhaoping station will not be available. I have to walk to the station.
As I took the Alishan Forest Railway train, the ride was pleasant seeing nice scenery
. We made a few stops, the 1st stop require all of us to get out of the train and bring all our luggage out and climb for 15minutes uphill to another train station to change train. I was surprised about it and wasn’t prepared. Luckily after about 7 minutes of dragging my luggage uphill and a flight of uphill stairs, 1 nice Singaporean guy approach me and offered to help me carry my luggage. I am so glad.
After changing trains, we make some stops like Fenqihu where we stop to buy Fenqihu biendang(lunch box)
to eat in the train. I bought the pork rib set. The set was large portion and they serve bamboo shoots which is unique.
The train pass by Sacred Tree Station
where I can see the 2000+ years tree.
Once the train stop at Alishan station
, I walk out of the station. The air was very cooling. It was nice about 17°C. I went down a flight of stairs and walk some uphill road path to the Alishan Catholic hostel. The hostel is near the Alishan station and is quiet and clean. After checking in, start my walk to Jhaoping station to see Twin sister ponds as there are no bus or train available. It was quite tiring climb as is uphill.
While I was at the twin sister ponds, I met a China Guangzhou senior citizen tour group. The tour group members are very friendly, I end up following them to visit the rest of the tourist attractions in Alishan. 1 uncle, 1 tour guide, 1 auntie even help me to take photos. I was glad to meet them.
After sisters ponds, we pass by Three Brothers Trees
, Love Sign Tree 
, many old 2000+ years old trees 
, a wishing well, Three Generations Tree, 
.
As we finished tour reaching evening, I managed to find a driver who is willing to bring me downhill to Alishan station for a fee. I was glad I don’t have to climb down after all the climbing. When I reach the Alishan station, it is still early before seeing the sunset so I walk around the shops and restaurants. Was thinking where to eat for dinner. As evening is approaching, I went to the Alishan station shelter area on top to have a good view of the sunset. I was waiting there for an hour watching the changes in the sun and the small village of shops, restaurants.
After the sunset, went for dinner at the food stall. Saw the Singaporean guy at the stall who help me with the luggage and his 3 friends(2 girls and 1 guy), found out that they just finished their final university degree in law and now having their holidays. I ate their recommendation of noodle soup which is good. After dinner, walk around the stalls again and bought from a vendor NT$300 who is selling tomorrow sunrise tour bus ticket to Yushan before heading back to hostel.
May 16, 2009
Wake up at 3am to see the famous Alishan sunrise at Yushan, stars. Took the 3.40am tour bus, the weather was colder than yesterday. First stop, see stars. The sky was filled with all kinds of stars and the tour guide use a laser pointer and point to the stars explaining the name of the stars. Saw 2 stars moving very fast. It was amusing but not as interesting as the stars I saw in Australia Adelaide many years ago. A pity, the camera is not powerful enough to take stars photos. All the photos turn black when shoot at the sky.
As we finished watching the stars, we continue our journey with the winding road bus ride from Alishan to Yushan to see the sunrise.
Sunrise at Yushan view of Alishan
After seeing the sunrise, we continue our bus journey and make a stop at the Husband and Wife Trees.
. It’s a pair of dead trees that had perished together in a forest fire in the 70s. Although they are dead, they are still around and appearing to lean towards each other. Hence they have been named Husband and Wife Trees夫妻树.
As we drive down back to Alishan, we pass by some monkeys. They are so small and some of them are babies. A pity the driver didn’t stop for us to take photos. I couldn’t take any photo as I was at the right side of the bus and the monkeys are at the left side.
Reach the Alishan stop, check out of hostel and make my way to the 7-Eleven to buy bus ticket downhill to Chiayi train station. At the 7-Eleven, was approach by a lady asking me to share a cab with a couple to Chiayi HSR station. The price quoted was NT$400 a bit higher than the normal bus. Was thinking of whether to take. A few minutes lady, 2 ladies came and was offered the ride as well. They want to go to Chiayi TRA station and was offered a lower price at NT$250/each. I decided to take the offer to HSR station. As we are travelling in the cab, we have some small talk about where we come from and where have we visited. I found out the couple who are Taiwanese but work in Hong Kong are here in Taiwan for a lecture presentation and they are offered a short Alishan holiday while here. The 2 ladies are from Malaysia and they just finished their BioScicence degree from a local Singapore university and here in Taiwan for holiday. The 2 ladies are Boon Yee and Yee Yuen. They soon become my friends as we found out that we are all going to Hualien and Taroko so we decided to travel together. We made our way to Chiayi TRA station and buy our train ticket to Hualien TRA station which is 6 hours journey. For lunch, we walk to a nearby Turkey rice stall and buy the turkey rice bian dan where we ate at the train station while waiting for the train to arrive.
As we reach Hualien station, we are planning to go to the hostel which I have made reservations but was approach by a guy who offer us a hotel room stay at a vey attractive price. We decided to take the offer since is near the train station. The room was nice and big. After putting our luggage, we went to make a call to my Hualien friend Godzoau who will be my tour guide for Taroko. Couldn’t reach him so we decided to have dinner first at a nearby food stall selling fish soup. I order the fishball porridge. The fishball are different from Singapore, a bit tougher type. After dinner, we decide to explore the area trying to find the night market. We ask the locals and they say is very far but we just continue walking and we want to see the hostel that I make reservation with to see how it looks.
The hostel is quite far away walk from the train station about 30 minutes walk. I am glad we didn’t proceed to walk all the way here with our luggages.
As we explore the area, we somehow manage to find ourselves at the night market area. We are so happy. There are stalls selling cute puppies, cats. Many food stalls and clothing stalls. Tried one of their toasted tuna bread, was delicious.
As we finished our walk, we made a call to Godzoau again. Finally able to reach him and he offered to come and meet us to explain our plans for tommorow.
May 17, 2009
Taroko National Park 太魯閣國家公園- Taiwan’s 2nd largest national park
The sun rises in Taiwan very early. I wake up at around 5am when I can feel the sun rises. We leave the hotel at 7am to buy our today train ticket back to Taipei. Along the way, we saw a small little wild boar. At the train station, we are lucky that 3 seats are available for us if not we have to stand all the way from chiayi to taipei in the train. Bought the breakfast at one of the Mei er Mei stall, have a pork floss sandwich. The sandwich is not as good as the one I had in taipei near Guting MRT.
Godzoau as promised arrived at 8am at out hotel lobby with his car, he drove us around Taroko that day. We made our way to the 1st stop Taroko Tourist Center. As Godzoau is a nature guide and also a volunteer Taroko guide, he is very familar with Taroko. He show us the exhibits in Taroko and make very good explanation. Found out that Taroko tribe is one of Taiwan’s 12 aboriginal tribes. Taroko men’s tattoos are usually on their forehead and chin to symbolise they are good hunters while the women’s tattoos are on their cheeks to symbolise they are good weavers. Taroko is named after the Taroko aborignal people. We also get to watch a shot clip at the auditorium on Taroko. I find that Taiwan is very good in educating the children on Taroko as well as they have a children’s area for children to explore on Taroko nature. Is very fun and entertaining.
Below are some of Taroko Beautiful marble rocks, stones, rivers, waterfall photos.
Cihmu Bridge
Above photo is the famous 燕子口 Yan Zi Kou(Swallow Grotto) view and some sparrows view in the sky.
九曲洞(Tunnel of Nine Turn). Although the name says nine turns but there are more than nine. The word nine also means jiu which means many turns.
Entrance to Baiyang 白杨Trail.to see the famous water curtain. The trail was very exiting. with a few bending tunnels There are no lights in the tunnel and bats, frogs live in the tunnel. It is totally dark and you can’t see the path ahead. We have to use the left side railing as a guide for us to move forward. I forget to bring my touch light. We never know when a bat or frog may suddenly appear. The tunnel was cooling and fun, some water droplets drop onto me.
As we reach the end of the trail, we came across the waterfall and we can soak our feet into the ice cold water. It was cold. There was a furthur trail where we could go in and get soak at the Water Curtain (Shui-lian-dong). I walk halfway through but decided to turn back as I don’t want to get drench, didn’t bring rain clothes.
As we make our way back to the hotel, we have a quick stop at Seven Stars Beach
at Hualien. A beautiful, long stretch of beach at Hualien. Was lucky to see some fishermen bringing in their catch of the day fishes. 
. That was my last stop at Hualien before heading to Hualien trian station to catch the train to Taipei.
At around 8+pm, reach Taipei, has arranged to meet up a Taipei friend Carol for dinner at Ximenting. Went to eat Ah Zhong Mian Xian (阿宗面线) was delicious, Ya Rou Bian (鸭肉扁), 老天祿滷味 Duck Wings and Carol’s recommendation drink Starfruit drink dessert which is yummy.
May 18, 2009
Has arranged to meet up with another Taipei friend Wes, he is a Caucasion who is working as an English teacher in Taipei. We have breakfast at Swenson near ZhongXiaoDunHua MRT followed by going to ZhongXiaoXinSheng MRT where Wes needs to go and collect a repair camera for his friends. However, the shop was not open. We went to The National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall after that to see the changing of the guards.
After Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall , Wes left as he needs to get ready to go to work. I went to Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall.
From Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, is a short 20 minutes walk to Taipei 101 shopping centre.
. Walk around 101 for a while before heading to Taipei main station to shop around the underground stores and buy lunch followed by heading back to hostel and check out.
Good Bye Taiwan as I head my way to Tao Yuan Airport.
It was an enjoyable fun trip. I would love to visit Taiwan again.
May 11 2009 Plane view at Taiwan towards Tao Yuan Airport.
May 11 2009 trip to Taiwan. Sunset View from Jetstar Asia plane when reaching Tao Yuan Airport.
Reach Chocolate Box Backpackers at Guting station in late evening and went to Shihlin Night Market士林夜市 at Jiantan mrt. Tried the popular long queue at 豪大大鸡排 the one with blue sign board, the Pork Pepper Bun and the Frog signboard drink. Forget to take photos of the food. Was tired from my flight.
May 12 2009
 |  |
May 12 2009 Morning. Take MRT to Yuangshan MRT and take a bus to see the Martyrs’ Shrine guard changing.
From Martyrs’ Shrine take bus to The National Palace Museum
May 12 2009 Yangmingshan and Xiaoyukeng (小油坑) at Yangmingshan.
 |  |
May 12 2009 Hsin Beitou Hot Spring. Hot spring visitor centre was closed but luckily met a local lady who told me can go up a flight of stairs and see the view from the roadside area near to the residential area.
After seeing the splendid hot spring went for a short hot spring
soaking of my feet 
. Met a cute little dog call “Ah Di” 
. Vey obedient and photogenic.The owner tell Ah Di not to lick me and he don’t dare. Ha Ha Ha…
May 12 2009 Danshui’ s Fisherman’s wharf
. A splendid beautiful view of the sea and sunset. Love the Lovers Bridge 
. Would be good for couples to go and see sunset
. Very romantic place 
. Saw fishermen packing their catch of the day little small shrimps 
.Night time went to see Danshui’s night market and drink the Ah Mother’s Plum Tea” (阿媽的酸梅湯)
and also visit Shida Night Market with my Taipei friend Meng Feng. At Shida Night Market which is near Guting MRT, we ate
Xu’s Sheng Shui jian bao
![clip_image002[7]](https://janiceonghl.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/clip_image0027.jpg "clip_image002[7]")
, 大鸡排, tried some sample of the salty water chicken (鹹水雞), fried mushroom with plum taste. Meng Feng also brought me to a nearby dessert store to eat Mango dessert which was huge followed by a Taiwan brand beer which we bought at 7-Eleven.May 13, 2009
My friend Sera from Korea whom I met at Chocolate Box Backpackers and I went to visit Yeuliu in the early morning. We took a bus from Taipei Kuo Kuang bus to Yeuliu.
 Crabs and other seafood on sale at Yeuliu |  Ocean Park At Yeuliu | |  |
  Yeuliu Rocks  |
Met this cute baby dog
the owner just got while travelling to Jinguashi-Gold Ecological Park from Keeulung in a taxi car. We shared the cab with the dog owner couple. The dog was so scared and cold in the cab. She vomited.Jinguashi-Gold Ecological Park
The restaurant at Jinguashi
, we ate their pork rib bian dan
cost NT$190. Was delicious. We get to keep the bian dan box and the wrapper cloth. Good souvenir. The restaurant receipt entitle us to visit 5 places of interest in Jinguashi. We went to the museum
,
photo exhibition and some parks.
Jioufen
 |  |
Keelung Night Market( Miaokou Food Street) 基隆庙口.基隆夜市
From Jioufen, we went to Keelung Night Market. I ate the crab meat soup (stall5), 魯肉飯.
May 14, 2009
Taichung-Sun Moon Lake日月潭
Travel from Taipei to Taichung via HSR, take bus to Fuh Chun Hotel The drivers at the HSR station, all give different directions to the hotel. I end up taking the wrong bus and walk almost an hour dragging my luggage to the hotel. The hotel is actually near TRA train station.
After checking into Taichung hotel, I took a bus to Sun Moon Lake. Sun Moon lake is a big lake with a few tourist stops via the tour bus. I stop at Ita Thao, a small village where the Thao aboriginal tribes stay. The Thao is another small tribe with only about 3,000 people, who live primarily near Sun Moon Lake in Nantou. According to Thao legends, the tribe used to live in the Alishan area. One day on a hunting expedition, some tribesmen chased a white deer to the beautiful lake. The deer was chased into the water before it was shot down by the Thao hunters. Its blood attracted many fish which were caught by the hunters, who found them delicious. The Thao ancestors decided to move from Alishan to settle by the lake, where they remain to this day.
Dancing, Performance by the Aboriginal and Tourists. I bought some local plum mai yah sweet. Was good. Gave some to my collegues. They like it.
Evening went to Taichung Fengjia Night market逢甲夜市. Very crowded. A lot of stores to see and eat. First thing I saw when reach Fengjia Night market is the 2 rows of long queue at the 大肠包小肠. I tried the longest queue which is at the left side. Was good. There are many other good food stalls as well like the life prawn BBQ, spicy duck wraps, tall ice cream.
May 15, 2009
Alishan Trip
Alishan Forest Railway Train
From Taichung train station, took an early TRA train to Chiayi Train Station. Journey about 2 hrs. From Chiayi train station, was lucky to buy the 10am Alishan Forest Railway for today but couldn’t get any train for tommorow morning. Visit the tourist information centre at Chaiyi train station, found out that by the time I reach Alishan station will be 2.30pm, the bus and train to Jhaoping station will not be available. I have to walk to the station.
As I took the Alishan Forest Railway train, the ride was pleasant seeing nice scenery
. We made a few stops, the 1st stop require all of us to get out of the train and bring all our luggage out and climb for 15minutes uphill to another train station to change train. I was surprised about it and wasn’t prepared. Luckily after about 7 minutes of dragging my luggage uphill and a flight of uphill stairs, 1 nice Singaporean guy approach me and offered to help me carry my luggage. I am so glad. After changing trains, we make some stops like Fenqihu where we stop to buy Fenqihu biendang(lunch box)
to eat in the train. I bought the pork rib set. The set was large portion and they serve bamboo shoots which is unique. The train pass by Sacred Tree Station
where I can see the 2000+ years tree.Once the train stop at Alishan station
, I walk out of the station. The air was very cooling. It was nice about 17°C. I went down a flight of stairs and walk some uphill road path to the Alishan Catholic hostel. The hostel is near the Alishan station and is quiet and clean. After checking in, start my walk to Jhaoping station to see Twin sister ponds as there are no bus or train available. It was quite tiring climb as is uphill. 
Younger Sister Pond Elder Sister PondTwin sister ponds name came from many years ago about two Aboriginal sisters who fall in love with the same guy, one of the them decided to drown in the pool rather than compete with each other, and the other sister follow suit after.
While I was at the twin sister ponds, I met a China Guangzhou senior citizen tour group. The tour group members are very friendly, I end up following them to visit the rest of the tourist attractions in Alishan. 1 uncle, 1 tour guide, 1 auntie even help me to take photos. I was glad to meet them.
After sisters ponds, we pass by Three Brothers Trees
, Love Sign Tree 
, many old 2000+ years old trees 
, a wishing well, Three Generations Tree, 
.As we finished tour reaching evening, I managed to find a driver who is willing to bring me downhill to Alishan station for a fee. I was glad I don’t have to climb down after all the climbing. When I reach the Alishan station, it is still early before seeing the sunset so I walk around the shops and restaurants. Was thinking where to eat for dinner. As evening is approaching, I went to the Alishan station shelter area on top to have a good view of the sunset. I was waiting there for an hour watching the changes in the sun and the small village of shops, restaurants.
After the sunset, went for dinner at the food stall. Saw the Singaporean guy at the stall who help me with the luggage and his 3 friends(2 girls and 1 guy), found out that they just finished their final university degree in law and now having their holidays. I ate their recommendation of noodle soup which is good. After dinner, walk around the stalls again and bought from a vendor NT$300 who is selling tomorrow sunrise tour bus ticket to Yushan before heading back to hostel.
May 16, 2009
Wake up at 3am to see the famous Alishan sunrise at Yushan, stars. Took the 3.40am tour bus, the weather was colder than yesterday. First stop, see stars. The sky was filled with all kinds of stars and the tour guide use a laser pointer and point to the stars explaining the name of the stars. Saw 2 stars moving very fast. It was amusing but not as interesting as the stars I saw in Australia Adelaide many years ago. A pity, the camera is not powerful enough to take stars photos. All the photos turn black when shoot at the sky.
As we finished watching the stars, we continue our journey with the winding road bus ride from Alishan to Yushan to see the sunrise.
Sunrise at Yushan view of Alishan
After seeing the sunrise, we continue our bus journey and make a stop at the Husband and Wife Trees.
. It’s a pair of dead trees that had perished together in a forest fire in the 70s. Although they are dead, they are still around and appearing to lean towards each other. Hence they have been named Husband and Wife Trees夫妻树.As we drive down back to Alishan, we pass by some monkeys. They are so small and some of them are babies. A pity the driver didn’t stop for us to take photos. I couldn’t take any photo as I was at the right side of the bus and the monkeys are at the left side.
Reach the Alishan stop, check out of hostel and make my way to the 7-Eleven to buy bus ticket downhill to Chiayi train station. At the 7-Eleven, was approach by a lady asking me to share a cab with a couple to Chiayi HSR station. The price quoted was NT$400 a bit higher than the normal bus. Was thinking of whether to take. A few minutes lady, 2 ladies came and was offered the ride as well. They want to go to Chiayi TRA station and was offered a lower price at NT$250/each. I decided to take the offer to HSR station. As we are travelling in the cab, we have some small talk about where we come from and where have we visited. I found out the couple who are Taiwanese but work in Hong Kong are here in Taiwan for a lecture presentation and they are offered a short Alishan holiday while here. The 2 ladies are from Malaysia and they just finished their BioScicence degree from a local Singapore university and here in Taiwan for holiday. The 2 ladies are Boon Yee and Yee Yuen. They soon become my friends as we found out that we are all going to Hualien and Taroko so we decided to travel together. We made our way to Chiayi TRA station and buy our train ticket to Hualien TRA station which is 6 hours journey. For lunch, we walk to a nearby Turkey rice stall and buy the turkey rice bian dan where we ate at the train station while waiting for the train to arrive.
As we reach Hualien station, we are planning to go to the hostel which I have made reservations but was approach by a guy who offer us a hotel room stay at a vey attractive price. We decided to take the offer since is near the train station. The room was nice and big. After putting our luggage, we went to make a call to my Hualien friend Godzoau who will be my tour guide for Taroko. Couldn’t reach him so we decided to have dinner first at a nearby food stall selling fish soup. I order the fishball porridge. The fishball are different from Singapore, a bit tougher type. After dinner, we decide to explore the area trying to find the night market. We ask the locals and they say is very far but we just continue walking and we want to see the hostel that I make reservation with to see how it looks.
The hostel is quite far away walk from the train station about 30 minutes walk. I am glad we didn’t proceed to walk all the way here with our luggages.
As we explore the area, we somehow manage to find ourselves at the night market area. We are so happy. There are stalls selling cute puppies, cats. Many food stalls and clothing stalls. Tried one of their toasted tuna bread, was delicious.
As we finished our walk, we made a call to Godzoau again. Finally able to reach him and he offered to come and meet us to explain our plans for tommorow.
May 17, 2009
Taroko National Park 太魯閣國家公園- Taiwan’s 2nd largest national park
The sun rises in Taiwan very early. I wake up at around 5am when I can feel the sun rises. We leave the hotel at 7am to buy our today train ticket back to Taipei. Along the way, we saw a small little wild boar. At the train station, we are lucky that 3 seats are available for us if not we have to stand all the way from chiayi to taipei in the train. Bought the breakfast at one of the Mei er Mei stall, have a pork floss sandwich. The sandwich is not as good as the one I had in taipei near Guting MRT.
Godzoau as promised arrived at 8am at out hotel lobby with his car, he drove us around Taroko that day. We made our way to the 1st stop Taroko Tourist Center. As Godzoau is a nature guide and also a volunteer Taroko guide, he is very familar with Taroko. He show us the exhibits in Taroko and make very good explanation. Found out that Taroko tribe is one of Taiwan’s 12 aboriginal tribes. Taroko men’s tattoos are usually on their forehead and chin to symbolise they are good hunters while the women’s tattoos are on their cheeks to symbolise they are good weavers. Taroko is named after the Taroko aborignal people. We also get to watch a shot clip at the auditorium on Taroko. I find that Taiwan is very good in educating the children on Taroko as well as they have a children’s area for children to explore on Taroko nature. Is very fun and entertaining.
Below are some of Taroko Beautiful marble rocks, stones, rivers, waterfall photos.
Cihmu Bridge
Above photo is the famous 燕子口 Yan Zi Kou(Swallow Grotto) view and some sparrows view in the sky.
九曲洞(Tunnel of Nine Turn). Although the name says nine turns but there are more than nine. The word nine also means jiu which means many turns.
Entrance to Baiyang 白杨Trail.to see the famous water curtain. The trail was very exiting. with a few bending tunnels There are no lights in the tunnel and bats, frogs live in the tunnel. It is totally dark and you can’t see the path ahead. We have to use the left side railing as a guide for us to move forward. I forget to bring my touch light. We never know when a bat or frog may suddenly appear. The tunnel was cooling and fun, some water droplets drop onto me.
As we reach the end of the trail, we came across the waterfall and we can soak our feet into the ice cold water. It was cold. There was a furthur trail where we could go in and get soak at the Water Curtain (Shui-lian-dong). I walk halfway through but decided to turn back as I don’t want to get drench, didn’t bring rain clothes.
As we make our way back to the hotel, we have a quick stop at Seven Stars Beach
at Hualien. A beautiful, long stretch of beach at Hualien. Was lucky to see some fishermen bringing in their catch of the day fishes. 
. That was my last stop at Hualien before heading to Hualien trian station to catch the train to Taipei. At around 8+pm, reach Taipei, has arranged to meet up a Taipei friend Carol for dinner at Ximenting. Went to eat Ah Zhong Mian Xian (阿宗面线) was delicious, Ya Rou Bian (鸭肉扁), 老天祿滷味 Duck Wings and Carol’s recommendation drink Starfruit drink dessert which is yummy.
May 18, 2009
Has arranged to meet up with another Taipei friend Wes, he is a Caucasion who is working as an English teacher in Taipei. We have breakfast at Swenson near ZhongXiaoDunHua MRT followed by going to ZhongXiaoXinSheng MRT where Wes needs to go and collect a repair camera for his friends. However, the shop was not open. We went to The National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall after that to see the changing of the guards.
After Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall , Wes left as he needs to get ready to go to work. I went to Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall.
From Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, is a short 20 minutes walk to Taipei 101 shopping centre.
. Walk around 101 for a while before heading to Taipei main station to shop around the underground stores and buy lunch followed by heading back to hostel and check out. Good Bye Taiwan as I head my way to Tao Yuan Airport.
It was an enjoyable fun trip. I would love to visit Taiwan again.
