27th November 2014, Thursday
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| Singapore Ba Kut Teh |
Today, we had planned to go
Taroko National Park but i was not sure whether there was any public transport to go up there. So we woke up early before 8, go ready and went down to the hotel canteen to take a peek on the breakfast. It was very simple, we had a bit of food there. Then we made our way to the Visitors Information Center, which was located at the main train station. There, i asked the lady whether there was still slots for the 1 day Taroko tour, luckily there were slots available. The tour costs NT$788 per pax, lunch not included. Need to add another NT$200 if want to include lunch in. Then we walked around the area first as it was still early and the bus wasn't here yet. Bought a small pack of sour plums for my friend, cos she didn't eat her motion sickness pills in the hotel. When the bus came, it was a mini bus and it was already packed with passengers. There was this fat guy who was sitting in a 2 pax's seats, so me and my friend had to sit separately on the single seats, and the fat guy's friend was sitting in between us. They were still wearing suit and the weather wasn't so cold today.
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| Qingshui Ciffs |
The bus driver was our guide for the day too, so he had to intro us the places whenever we passed by while he was driving...hohoho...As we were sitting apart, i don't have a chance to translate to my friend on what the driver was saying. We passed by Hualien Air Force Base, which there was a fighter plane taking off right in front of us. We also passed by
Qixingtan beach (七星潭), which was one of the beautiful beaches in Hualien and it was also the last place we will be going during the tour. There was a lot of hotels built near the beach now and one could also see fish traps out in the sea too. After that, it was long long way to Taroko National Park. First stop,
Qingshui Cliffs (清水斷崖). This is the only seaside viewing location in Taroko National Park where one can witness the three distinct color tones of the Pacific Ocean. And the bus driver told us that from far, we can also see the old roads which were being used, until the government had built the tunnels to cut through. The bus driver gave us half an hour time to go and take photos....When my friend came down, her face was so pissed like that. She even shooed me away....think she was in motion sickness mode...so i went off on my own. After that, we went further up the mountain. Passed by a walking trail called Sha Ge Dan (Native words), the trail needs 3 hours to complete and it looked fun too but our tour doesn't have this. At one point, the bus had to stop for like 15 mins or more as that area was now doing clearance due to a major landslide in August. Underneath was a river with muddy waters and with strong currents. The bus driver told us that there wasn't any fishes or prawns living in it. They will die immediately if leave in the muddy waters.
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| Buluowan Villagers |
Finally, we can move on and the bus driver collected helmets for us along the way. We went to
Buluowan Terrance. Buluowan means 'echo of canyon' in the native language and used to be a tribal village there. The place was separated by upper and lower terrances. The bus driver let us off from the car park and gave us around 1 hour time to explore the place. Me and my friend went to the upper terrance, where the Leader Village Taroko Hotel was. While we were climbing the stairs up, there was signs indicating to be aware of snakes. The rooms of the hotel were a hut itself, and the people can just come out with mountains around them and breathing the fresh air. There was a park further down which we didn't manage to go and take a look. By the time we were done, it was almost time to board the bus. And almost everyone had already boarded the bus, we were the last few pairs. Passed by a very long suspension bridge, the driver told us that trail to the bridge needed 7 or 8 hours to complete and needed experienced guides to follow. Then it was off to
Swallow Grotto Trail (燕子口). It was a long trail too (around 45 mins walk) but the driver let us off at about half of the trail to let us walk down the road and he would be waiting for us at the end of the trail.
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| Swallow Grotto |
Before we alighted, the driver was telling us that there was a rock formation that looked like Indiana Jones. But the people in front on the bus were blocking me, so i wasn't able to imagine. Then we took the helmets and started walking down the road. The road for the trail was also done by using TNT to create openings and then smoothed the rocks manually. This actually caused about 200 people to lose their lives in this project. We took our time to walk and enjoyed the views. There were swallows flying too, and there were signs indicating to beware of falling rocks and warned people to walk faster. In the earlier days, cars and people had to fight for space in Swallow Grotto. Until in 2007, the Taroko Authorities decided to separate the vehicles and pedestrians by building tunnels and bridges. And the road for Swallow Grotto was only used by tour buses. By the time we walked back to the bus, we were the last pair. We were thinking why these people walked so fast to go back to the bus....Then we were off to have our lunch. Saw a walking trail which was closed as there was an accident before which killed 2 people and injured 4. They were currently doing works to make it more safer. Then we passed by
Cimu Bridge (慈母橋), we could see Tiande Temple at the end of the bridge and the world's highest Buddha statue with seven-story Tianfeng Pagoda.
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| Eternal Spring Shrine |
Then the bus driver dropped 4 of us, included the two of us at the recreation area to have our own lunch whereas the rest of the people would be going further upstairs to have theirs (included in their tour). We bought set lunches at one of the eating places (only got 2 eating places which were trying to pull customers in). The food wasn't so bad, quite nice though. After eating, we walked to Cimu bridge to take some photos, wanted to climb up to Tiande Temple but doesn't have enough time to climb up (and it looked like very high up). By 1 plus, the bus came and picked us up and once again we were the last pair again (but we weren't late).....heheehehe...Now we were off to the
Eternal Spring Shrine (長春祠). This shrine was built in memory of the 212 people who had died during the construction of Central Cross-Island Highway. So the highway was actually built with "blood, sweat and tears". There was waterfall coming out from the shrine too, pouring into Liwu River. It was very nice to see from across. But the bus driver gave us like half an hour time and even told us we can walk to the shrine if we want to. We just took our time to walk over the bridge and to the entrance of the tunnel. Then we made our way back to the bus. Again, we were the last one to reach back the bus. Aiyo, don't these people walk?
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| Qixingtan Beach |
After this, the bus driver brought us to the famous Ah Mei's Mochi Wholesale Place. There we can try the products before deciding to buy them. Tried some, they were nice. We also tried one of the drinks....with don't know what flower. It was very tasty and refreshing. We kept taking and drink...hehehee....We bought some snacks back too and went back to the bus. This time we weren't the last ones...hahaha...There was a guy who haven't got back, but the driver went off after we boarded. Then the passengers were yelling the driver to stop...hahahaa...guess he thought we were the last ones. After the guy came back, we were off to Qixingtan beach. The beach was a pebbled beach, there were pebbles around, so i picked a few pebbles to bring back...hehehe...We even bought yam and sweet potatoes to eat (NT$50 for 3). The beach was really beautiful and felt sooo good......Well, we were the last ones to board the bus, as usual....heheee...Then we were off back to Hualien Train Station. Luckily we didn't walk to the beach last night, it was quite far away. We alighted at the main train station and went and buy our train tickets to Taipei (as it was their election voting day on 29the Nov and we were guessing the trains may be full as the locals would be rushing back to Taipei for voting). After buying the tickets, we went out and just sat there to eat our sweet potatoes..It was sweet..nice...
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| Chicken Wings!!Must Try!! |
As it was still early for dinner, we decided to walk around first. I wanted to go see a restaurant called 太监鸡. It was having 2 branches nearby the train station area, so we made our way to check out the restaurant. It wasn't opened for dinner yet when we reached, so we went to the next door cafe called Green House to rest our feet first. We ordered a cold chocolate drink and it was a super big cup....We just nua there until it was time for dinner. We went back to the restaurant, there was not many people around, only 3 tables which the customers were brought in by tour coaches. We wanted to order the chicken soup but the small size was soooo big, it was for 3 to 4 people. So we ordered 3 dishes instead and we can't even finished them...hehee...After dinner, we walked slowly back to our hotel. Passed by a stall selling 冰火波蘿油, so we bought 1 to try. It wasn't as nice as the one we bought from Fengjia Night Market. Then we also passed by a cafe called Shark Bite Toast, we saw the christmas decorations quite interesting, so we stopped and checked out the food menu. The food did looked interesting. So we went in and i ordered chicken wings....and while we were waiting, my friend was asking me why we didn't came here for dinner...hohoho...this cafe wasn't listed in the food map.....After buying the wings, we went back to the hotel. I ate the chicken wings while my friend slept...Ohhh...the chicken wings were sooo nice, crispy too!!! After eating, it was shower and zzz time.....last night to enjoy the big big room.....
Hotel Stayed: Anhwa Hotel
Places Visited:
Taroko National Park
Qixingtan
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