Hua Lien 花蓮, Taiwan Trip (Day 10)

26th November 2014, Wednesday

Train Tickets to Hualien

Today, we need to catch the train to Hua Lien, which was 6 hours ride from Taichung. We had to wake up at around 5.30 am to get ready and made our way down to the train station. Our train was to leave at 7,28 am (which was a faster train, which needs 5 hour plus), so my friend went alone to Mos Burger to buy hot chocolate drinks. We boarded the train when the train came, we had a bit of problem getting our stuffs into our seats (cos we got breads, the goat's milk egg rolls and fruits). When i was taking the hot chocolate out from the paper bag, the drinks had already toppled and the hot chocolate was dripping. My friend's jeans also hot chocolate too, after wiping her jeans, she turned to pass me the hot chocolate again. This time, the cup slipped out from her hand and split some out onto the egg rolls, on the floor and even the side of the wall. Faintz....in the end, we had to wipe the floor and wall. Then after we settled down, i told her not to move anymore....hahaaa....

Hualien Food Map

As it was a long ride, we just slept on the train. Passed by a lot of small towns, even Taipei, when it was about to reach Hua lien, saw the pacific ocean along the way. After i work up, i was just jumping around the seats to take photos of the views. We reached Hua Lien at around 12.33 pm and went to the Visitors Information Centre to check on the directions to the Hotel while my friend cleaned up the plastic bag holding the egg rolls (having hot chocolate). The staff told us it would take about half an hour to walk there and she gave us a food map where their famous food places can be located, so we went back to the station to get a cab. Once we reached the hotel, we checked in and went to check out our room. It was huge (the biggest among all), it was having a single bed and a queen-sized bed. And the toilet was with glass partition, able to see through, curtain to cover too. We rested for a while and then we went out looking for food. In the food map, we saw a pork cutlet bento picture which looked very nice. So we decided to head there to try, but when we reached there, there was nobody eating there and the staff looked grumpy. We ordered 1 bento set to try, it wasn't very nice as it was cold. But there were still people coming by to tabao back the food.

葱油饼, Must Try!!!

After the meal, we went a cafe next door to relax. There was a 1-for-1 promotion too, so i bought 2 drinks. The cafe had some old antique stuffs too, like an super old TV and sewing machine. There was also a giant teddy bear, sitting on one of the tables too. We just drank our teas slowly and rest rest. My friend told me that it would take half an hour to walk to Qixintan beach, so i thought ok...we still can walk to the beach then. After that, we made our way to the beach, along the way, we detoured to Joe's Sausages, and opposite it, was the famous 炸弹葱油饼. We bought the sausages while gave our orders to the 葱油饼. I had ordered 1 without egg and 1 with egg. I also asked the sausages boss how long does it take to walk to the beach. This time, the uncle told me at least an hour...Then we continued our way to the beach, while eating the 葱油饼, the egg yolk 'exploded' out from my friend's...hehee...almost split out on her clothes.

Old Train

As we kept walking, the sky got dark and it even started to drizzle and it got heavier as we walked further. Then i told my friend let's head back, forget it. So we went back to buy more 葱油饼 as i wanted to eat more (bought another 3 more)...hehehe....There was a young lady, who went back to buy another one as she got the egg yolk split all onto her hands and clothes, she was telling it out but seems like nobody cares....hahaha....After buying, we just went around shopping.
My friend bought a new bag as her old bag was shredding its cloth inside....After that, we made our way back to the hotel to shower and rest....

Hotel Stayed: AnHwa Hotel

Places Visited: Hualien City

Cingjing Farm 清境農場, Taiwan Trip ( Day 9)

25th November 2014, Tuesday

Tickets Package

Today, we would be going to Cingjing Farm to see baa baa sheeps...running around in their green green grassland. I woke up at around 6 plus at first, was still dead tired...slept again until it was almost 8 am...and the first bus out to the farm was 8.20 am. So we rushed out and my friend went to the hotel canteen to grab 2 breads, then we rushed out to the same tour bus office to buy our tickets packages to the farm. It costs NT$600, which included a return bus tickets and the entrance tickets into the green green grassland (青青草原). While the staff was calling for passengers going to the farm to queue, i ran to find my friend who was in a cafe and i told her faster faster, bus coming soon. Then i went out first to queue in the line....she came back 1 or 2 mins before the bus came. Then she was saying the cafe guy was sooooo slow until she wanted to tell him can he speed up abit....hohoho...and she only bought 1 cup of hot choco, just for me...hehehee....

View from Bus

Then the bus went off, but first the bus would need to go to Puli Bus Terminal again to pick up passengers. On the way there, saw a super big Ji Gong Statue along the freeway and the whole freeway was just mountains and mountains....We reached Puli Bus Terminal at around 9.30 am, then from there was another 2 hours up to the farm. It was all mountain roads (round and round), when it reached cingjing area. When it first entered the cingjing area, i was greeted by The Old England (老英格蘭), a traditional English mansion which was standing on the road (my friend was sleeping due to the zigzag roads). And after that, you will see nice nice scenery from the top. Saw a half-dried up Emerald Lake). We got off at the wrong bust stop again, we should be going to green green grassland first, but we alighted at cingjing farm visitors information centre. I only realized it when there was a lady asking the driver after we alighted...hehheee....But anyway, due to the wrong stop, we smelled something very very fragrant. It was egg rolls made with goat's milk, the lady let us try and it was really nice. We were thinking whether to buy first or buy later, as we always end up at weird places, we were also thinking we may not even be coming down here to buy it as the last bus stop was at the top, which was the green green grassland.

Swiss Garden

While i was worrying we were not able to get on the last bus (which was around 4 plus) back to Taichung, my friend was worrying she was not able to get a seat to sit down on the bus (she got motion-sickness on mountain roads)...but anyway, we also cannot do much now. So we walked to Swiss Garden, which was down the mountain. It costs NT$120 each to enter the garden, it was a small garden for flowers. But i think our timing was not correct cos most of the flowers had already withered away. Only a few kinds were left standing, we took our time to walk slowly and enjoy the place as much as we could. There were ducks there too, managed to see water fountain performance too (just water 'dancing'). After the garden, we took a cab up to green green grassland. As much as i wanted to go visit the old England which was at the bottom, i had to skip it cos it was too far to walk. It cost NT$200 from swiss garden to green green grassland, and as we already had our entrance tickets, we went in (there wasn't anyone there to check the tickets too anyway). There, we need to chop a stamp on our hands for re-entry.

View From Green Green Grassland

The place really have a super nice view from the top, blue blue sky and mountains around. And the sheeps were all roaming freely around the big grassland. You can just walk up to any sheep and touch them and feed them with their feeds, which cost NT$10. Their fur feels like carpet....hehee...hard hard one, not soft soft. Then we walked round the place, there was a mini shop and a food stall. So we bought a goat's milk ice cream, a sausage and a bamboo rice. There was kittens and cat around the place too and there was warning board to indicate the cats bite, don't feed them. There was one cat which it just sat beside me and waited for me to feed it. The sausage and the bamboo rice wasn't nice, the ice cream was hard as stone....hahaha.....so we put out under the sun to melt it. Then we walked down to the center stage, where there were more people trying to feed the sheeps, as to get their attention and take photos with them. There were 2 horses and 2 ponies there too, for customers to take a ride around the stage area and take photos. It costs NT$150 per pax and NT$200 (special offer) to get a horse ride. By the way, the stage area was full of sheeps' poos because the sheeps were eating and pooing there too. So there was a stretch of smelly smell there too...And when there was a black color sheep walked in to the stage, everyone rushed to take photos with it...like a star had entered...lol..

Black Baa Baa Sheep

Sleepy Horse

Then we walked walked again while waiting for 2.30 pm which was supposed to be a show. We also just sat around the stage and just looked at the other people, feeding the sheeps, taking photos with the horses and sheeps. I was telling my friend, luckily she brought me to Philippines to ride horses first. It was really not worth to ride the horses here for NT$150, the riding area was small and it was only 1 round. But of course, there were still people paying for it, those with children. Then we saw 1 kid, quite big age, got on the ponies, without the staff's supervision. The dad was also just trying to get a shot of his son on the ponies. And the kid was still shaking on the pony. And later we also saw a family trying to put their children up on the horses so to get photos, while the staff was not around. And they all looked like Singaporeans.....haiz....-_-"....Luckily the staff quickly ran back and asked them to stop and pay for the ride if they really want to take photos with the horses. Pity the horses and ponies, they really looked very sad and sleepy there....But imagine if the horses or ponies run off with the kids on the back and without the staff's supervision, who would be blamed?

Goat's Milk Egg Rolls (Must Try!)

When it was reaching 2.30 pm, i was wondering why there was no announcement on the show. Then i checked the brochure again...alamak, it was 2.30 pm alright, but it was for weekends and holidays. Today wasn't holidays nor weekends....wu long.....hahahaa....Then i told my friend quick quick go already, need to go down buy egg rolls....We exited out from the other entrance, which was at the other side of the grassland. There, were some stalls selling food products, one auntie let us try bamboo shoots soup. And there were the supporters for a political candidate, who had came by and meet the stall owners to get their votes. We walked as we tried to catch a cab down to the visitors information center. Managed to catch one, there was 1 lady passenger on the cab, so the driver told us we pay NT$100 and the other lady pay NT$100. We bought 6 boxes of the egg rolls, it costs NT$130 for 9 pieces per box (quite exp too, although 1 box was free). As there was still 1 hour waiting time for the last bus to reach our bus stop, we went upstairs to check out a restaurant. It looked pricey and there was an additional of 10% service charge too (not many people inside too). So we went down and had our lunch in a French eating place....hmmmm...the food wasn't so bad or wasn't so nice either...slightly better than my last night's dinner. After eating, my friend said she wants to go down the road to buy fruits. We bought 1 snow pear, persimmons and goat's milk candy and asked the auntie to cut the fruits for us.

Sweet, Try Try!!

After that, we went to the bus stop to wait for the bus to come. My friend was really worried she won't be able to get a seat. A cab driver came by and asked us whether want to take his cab back to Taichung. I told him we got return tickets already, and he drove off looking for other passengers. And another van driver came by and also asked us want to take his van back. Same thing, i also told him we got return tickets. Then later, there was a couple came by and waited at the bus stop too. The same cab driver drove up back and asked the couple whether they want to take his cab. He quoted them NT $350 per pax and 1 hour faster back to Taichung. As it was getting near to the bus's arrival time, there were a few more people waiting at the bus stop (1 group was even senior citizens group). Then another cab uncle came by and was asking anyone wants to take his cab. When i told him we got return tickets already, he said he will buy our tickets packages and told me to top up another NT$50 per pax. Then i was thinking, why not? Although i wasn't aware what he will do with the tickets, i was more concerned that my friend will vomit on the bus and plus if we were not able to board the last bus, it will be headache too. So we took the cab back to Taichung (also saved us 1 hour time as we don't have to route to Puli). The cab uncle later told me that they can actually return the bus tickets to the bus company if it wasn't being used. Even we can go return, will get refund back...like around NT$120 plus after minus the used entrance fees for the farm and the trip to the farm and some admin fees too. He had been driving up and down the area for more than 10 years, so he had the experience. He said the previous cab driver don't dare to offer to buy our tickets was because he didn't know this method.

恶魔鸡排

1 box of 冰火波蘿油

Anyway, the ride was quite rough and bumpy. By the time we alighted just opposite our hotel, my friend was already giddy and almost wanted to vomit. The cab uncle charged us NT$100 per pax, i didn't ask him, i just thought maybe it was because i requested him to drive to our hotel instead of the train station. Then we went back to the hotel to rest first, we agreed to go back to Fengjia market again for dinner instead of just buying dinner randomly. When we reached our room, i stepped on a pool of water on the floor. We were wondering why there was water on the floor. It seems like the water came from the fridge. So i had to call the hotel staff to help mop the floor. Luckily, our fruits inside the fridge didn't get bad. After the staff mopped the floor, we rested for a while first before making our way down to the night market. This time, we were able to walk more there and i bought the same baked potato with cheese (nice nice) and we bought 7 of  冰火波蘿油 breads (equal to 1 box) and we tried some other food there...got a stall selling chicken cutlet called Devil Chicken Cutlet (恶魔鸡排), it was having a long queue too. What's special was this chicken cutlet was thicker on the meat, at least that's what it was stated....hahahaa...We bought 1 to try anyway....nice too....After that, we just went back to the hotel with our snacks, and then rest time!!!

Hotel Stayed: VIP Hotel

Places Visited:
Cingjing Farm
Swiss Garden
Fengjia Night Market

Sun Moon Lake 日月潭, Taiwan Trip (Day 8)

24th November 2014, Monday

Tickets Package

Today, we were going to Sun Moon Lake. Had people saying it is nice place to go, so wanted to go see for myself and i also want to show my friend the tribal village of Taiwan. As it will be a long ride to the lake, we forced ourselves to wake up around 6 am to get ready. We went down to the hotel canteen to peek at the breakfast...hmmm...simple dishes, doesn't look so bad...but we skipped it anyway. So i went to confirm with the hotel staff on the direction to take tour bus (from Nantou Bus Company) to Sun Moon Lake. It was super near to our hotel, a few mins walk down the street. Once there, i bought the sun moon lake tickets package, which included the return bus tickets, the cable car (both way), the ferry ticket, the around the lake bus. It costs NT$680 each and the bus was to be leaving at 8.30 am. So we just waited there, as it was only 7 plus, my friend went to walk around by herself.....we didn't even have breakfast yet...

Ah Ma Herbal Tea Egg (Must Try!)

As the buses will just stop along the road, so the buses will come and passengers board and then leave. There wasn't much waiting time there, and you need to listen to the staff to shout for your places and they will tell you to start queuing at which spot. Finally, our bus came and it was full. We left Taichung exactly at 8.30 am and it was a 1 and half hour ride. We reached Sun Moon Lake Visitors Information Center at 10.00 am. Some of the passengers went for the around the lake tour bus, some went for the ferry. We just took our time to walk on the streets....hahahaa...We didn't go for the ferry or the cable car too (which was a mistake)...We went to walk a walking trail called Hanbei Trail. It was pretty much nobody walking that tail, but as we walked, we were about to enjoy the overview of the mountains and water....We passed by Chiang Kai-Shek's leisure fishing boat and his own use jetty, sun moon lake spillway, saw a distant view of LongFeng Temple. The last stop would be  Apricot Platform, where the grand teacher, Confucius had used to give lessons to his students. The whole trail was about 1 km distance, until we came out to the other side of the lake. There, we saw Ah Ma Herbal Tea Egg (only in Sun Moon Lake). It's abit different from our normal herbal tea egg, here they had boiled with mushroom or LingZhi (looked mushroom-like).....and this smelled better....

Main Gate of Longfeng Temple

And it only cost NT$10, so i bought 2 and let my friend try one. Anyway, we were both hungry and after the long walk....think dying already...hahaha..My friend likes it...said want to buy again....hehee...But we continued our way first to Longfeng Temple, which was like very very far away. And still need to walk a very steep road up to the entrance, by the time we reached the entrance, soooo tired already....There was a phoenix statue on the left side and a dragon statue on the right side and this temple was also the matchmarker god (the god who is in charge of pulling red threads for singles....so if you want to find a husband or wife, pray to this god..heheee) temple. A lady just slept in front of the matchmaker shrine, like very nice to sleep...hahahaa....We just walked around the temple and catch our breath...After this, we walked back down the same road and bought ah ma herbal tea eggs again...there were about 2 or 3 stalls selling Ah Ma herbal tea eggs, so we didn't really know which one was the real one, but it tasted nice to whichever stall we bought from....this time my friend ate 2 eggs and we got a red tea milk too....

Shueishe's Wharf

After eating, we walked back to the Shueishe's Wharf (there are actually 3 piers in the whole of sun moon lake) to catch our ferry because walking was not possible to cover the whole lake. So i went to exchange for the ferry tickets and got a stamp on our hands....As there were different ferry companies, so they will see the stamp on your hand to identify their passengers. Queued for the wrong ferry as i wasn't aware of it until the staff of the different ferry company came and checked and told us, we were waiting at the wrong place..... :P....Luckily our ferry came and we boarded. It was the biggest ferry of their company...and still there was a lot of people on board. There was a guide who gave some introduction on Sun Moon Lake as why was it being named as sun moon lake and some attractions that we passed by. It was in Mandarin, so i had to translate to my friend. The guide said one side of the lake looks like a cresent moon and one side of the lake looks like a sun (forget which side), so it was named as Sun Moon Lake...and he asked us whether we are able to see it, the people all answered no. Then he replied, all his years of growing there, he was also not able to see it...hohohooo....

玄光寺

Before reaching the 2nd pier, the guide told us at this pier, we can see 2 long queues, 1 was for Ah Ma Herbal Tea Egg (which i later learned that it costs NT$30 here), and another long queue was for toilet. And the guide told us not to queue on the wrong side if want to buy the herbal tea egg....hohoho...We alighted at the 2nd pier when Xuanguang Temple was located (Shouldn't alight at this pier, as it wasn't for the cable car)...There were more people here than on Shueushe's Wharf, faintz...Anyhow, we went up to Xuanguang Temple, which we need to climb stairs up too....tiring....
This small temple was built to honor a great Buddhist monk called Xuan Zhang, who had traveled from China to India to bring back Buddhist scriptures. Then outside the temple, you will see a queue, people lining up to take a photo with a big stone with "玄光寺" written on it. We didn't bother to line up for it and we walked down to another walking trail, which will lead us up to Xuanzang Temple. There was another stone display with words on the other side of the temple, people were also trying to take a photo with it. As we walked by, there was a figure craved out from the stone behind it....but nobody was even looking at the back of the stone. And when i was standing there, there was this stupid uncle just shooing me very loudly and rudely to go away so they can take photo of the stone....~_~....

Xuanzuan Temple

We ignored him (can't be bothered with him too) and began our Qinglong walking trail. It was a 0.8km trail but the road wasn't straight. It was uphill and downhill and stairs and more stairs....It was really very tiring to complete the trail and i think the difficulty of this trail was medium. Can't image on those hard trails... will faintz....I was so happy to reach to the top to see Xuanzhan Temple...need to catch my breath...There were 2 white giant elephants statues at the foot of the temple, on the center, there was a whole map indicating the places that Xuan Zhang had went during his great journey. Still need to climb a short stairs up to the entrance...haiz...but from there, we could see the whole of sun moon lake and the mountains...it was quite a nice view there....at near the entrance, there was these 2 machines, where you can put in a NT$10 coin and make a wish..and this little monk will go in to the small temple inside to get your divine lot..i think SG also has it before....I tried to get mine but my lot dropped when the monk was moving out...no luck in seeing my lot...haiz...Then we went to explore the temple. It was 3-storey high, on the 2nd floor, was the introduction on the different folds on the robes (5, 7, 15, 25 folds) which was being worn for different occasions and some of the Buddhist equipment. Luckily, all had English description, so i don't really have to do the translation. And on the 3rd floor, lies the tooth relic of Xuan Zhang. There was security alarms to protect it, so can't really walk near to it. Have to see the relic from the 2 TVs on the side of the walls. Photography was not allowed on the 2nd and 3rd floor, so wasn't able to take any photos there.

Divine Lot Machine

Then we went outside of the temple, there were 2 giant bells on each side. One will be sound in the morning which indicated the start of work and another will be sound at around 5.30 pm, which mark the end of work. Then we saw a group trying with the divine lot machine and the lady was able to get hers out. My friend said she will try...so we went and try....Aiyo...hers was still on the holding plate which the little monk was holding...no luck too.....i told her god's will....not meant for us to read.....After this, we walked back the same trail to go back the same pier for the ferry. So it was another 0.8km to xuanguang temple and stairs down the the pier. There were really a lot of people at the pier..all crowded there....Then the ferry came and this time we alighted at Ita Thao Pier, which was where the cable car station is. But it was already 3.30 pm, when we asked the staff in the visitors information center, we were told the tickets counter closed at 3.30 pm and the cable cars will stop at 4.00 pm. As i see there was still a distance away to the cable car station, so i thought just forget it....not point already....So we went walking on the streets to look for food....Managed to buy some souvenirs there and had nice yummy sausages. Had a rice stuffed in chicken wing snack too, came across a veggie bun where the auntie let people to take their own change. A lot of people were buying from her. It was yummy....

Sunset View

We walked until 4 plus, then we went back to the pier to take the ferry back to Shueishe's Wharf. There was a ferry there which we didn't managed to board, so we were just standing there, shooing away tiny flies which kept flying on top of our heads. From there, we still saw cable cars going up and down, we were thinking we should have went to the cable car station earlier on. It only came to a stop like around 5.00 pm. Then the ferry came and we all boarded it, luckily we sat on the outside because we managed to catch the sunset while we were on it.....it was very nice view...The guide was giving us an introduction on Ci En Pagoda which was built in memory of Chiang Kai-Shek's mother. And the guide also told us the cable car station was built using NT$10 millions and the government earned back in within a year time. After alighting, we walked back the Shueishe Visitors Information Center, where we checked on the return bus timing. There was already a queue for it, so my friend queued while i ran up to Mos Burger to buy drink for her. When i came back down, i don't see my friend anywhere. Apparently she just boarded the bus and was waving inside the bus to get my attention. The bus was also full at this time and there was 3 extra people standing. And the whole journey, one of the guy who was standing was leaning over my friend. My friend was soo pissed off...hehehee...The bus had to go to Puli, which was another bus terminal first before going back to Taichung. It was around an hour ride to Puli, when we arrived there, some people alighted and some stayed on and some new passengers boarded. The driver was like super pek chey, when talking to the bus terminal staff, he was like so angry that the 3 people who was standing didn't pay for their tickets. Later he went on the bus to check everyone's tickets. One of our tickets was showing Puli -> Sun Moon Lake, i thought the bus was going back to the lake again but those who had boarded with us from the lake didn't alight..so i thought it should be ok....

Mountain Pork Meat

When we reached our bus terminal, it was already 7 plus and we were both very tired. Saw a stall selling food, so we just bought our dinner from there and went back to our hotel to rest. The drumstick bento i bought wasn't nice...sad dinner...luckily bought a mountain pork earlier in the lake...wasn't too bad...at least still got something nice...My friend was complaining that the nearest we going to reach Taipei, the food wasn't so nice anymore...hahaha...After eating, it was shower and sleeping time...Zzzzz...


Hotel Stayed: VIP Hotel

Places Visited:
Sun Moon Lake

Taichung 臺中, Taiwan Trip (Day 7)

23rd November 2014, Sunday

Peanut Bar

Today, we need to take the train to Taichung but we still ended up waking at around 8 plus. So we got ready and did our last minute packing to check out the hotel. We just took out time to walk to the train station. When we were just outside of State Temple of the Martial God (台南武廟), we saw people queuing up to buy bread toast on a small stall. So we queued to buy it, while i was queuing, there was a couple behind me saying in an alley opposite the street, also had a super long queue buying the same food. So the lady was asking the guy which one to queue, the guy went into the opposite alley and checked it out. When he returned, he was telling the lady that apparently the one inside was the main stall and the outside one was a branch out....hehehee....It took us a long time before we got  our breads. The auntie had to fry the eggs and then toasted the bread, all were done using charcoal which was interesting. Beside the bread stall, was an uncle selling peanut cake. What's interesting was the uncle would take the peanut bar and heat it up over charcoal and then flatten the bar. And then he would roll it up once flatten, either to wrap it up with chinese parsley. The uncle did let us try abit of the peanut, it was nice. So we got a small box.

Yum Yum!!

After eating the breads, we continued to drag our luggage to the train station. We passed by the noodles shop which we missed to eat last night. While we were wondering whether was it opened as it was only 10.30 am, we saw there was a lady seems like be buying the noodles. So we went and checked it out, it was opened for business!! My friend took the menu and looked, it was all in Chinese (as usual)....so she asked the lady customer what was nice in the place, apparently the lady understand English and was able to speak too. Think my friend very happy that got someone she can talk to, so we just sat on the table beside the lady. And the lady recommended us 2 noodles to try, so we said ok. While we were still looking at the menu, the lady's husband came. He was able to speak English very well as he had lived in Singapore for about 8 years. The husband went with me to order our noodles and he even paid for our meal (first time got treated by a local during holidays)....hehehee...They were very friendly, they even treated us a side dish they ordered..boiled cuttlefish (my favorite)...hehehe...It was dipped with chilli mixed with washabi....chilli wasn't very spicy though...So about the couple, they were actually living in Kaohsiung and they were supposed to go to church today. But the wife was having craving for food in Tainan, so they came to Tainan and were having breakfast there in the noodles shop where they met us. The wife said she likes Tainan while my friend told them she likes Kaohsiung...hohohoo...The husband had studied in Singapore during his 8 years of staying and he now has his own business in Taiwan. He said they went back to visit Singapore 2 years ago and said Singapore had changed alot since his last visit...hohohoho...But i think they too like Singapore. Ohhh...did i mentioned...the noodles were way nicer than our last night's dinner?kekekee.....

Special Teas - Nice Nice!!

The husband later went to buy teas for his wife, he treated us each a cup..1 was winter melon milk tea and the other don't know what is it...inside got long long jelly and it was a bit sour...he said Singapore doesn't have it. So we tried them...ohh...soooo damn nice...i like the winter melon milk tea more....We also asked them to recommend us some nice places in Hualien. The lady was saying there was a bus which can cut from Taichung to Hualien without passing Taipei. But the journey was super long and we didn't have time for it. Anyway, it was nice chatting with them, and they had to leave for their next food hunt place. We said goodbye and thanked them, and we too continued our walk to the train station....But it kind of feel good...it's like someone had made your day happy early morning and you will feel like you going to have a good day ahead....hahahaa...It was quite a distance more to the train station, so by the time we reached there, we were a bit tired. Then i went to the counters and bought the tickets to Taichung. And we had to rush in to the platform again cos the train was already here and the whistle was being sounded (Luckily they don't have so many platforms)....

Taichung Station

It was a 2 hours ride to Taichung, so i ended up sleeping on the train while surprisingly my friend was supposed to be a transport pig didn't sleep this time...hahahaa....We reached Taichung at around 1.40 pm, there were a lot of people when we came out from the train station and it looked very crowded. I went and asked a cab driver to bring us to our hotel. All he said was it was very near, can walk to there and pointed to me the direction to walk... -_-"...weird....the visitors information center was also closed for lunch break. So we just walked down the direction the cab uncle had pointed. And we did still managed to find the hotel, it was just 5 or slightly more minutes distance away. So not so bad....when we were looking from the opposite side, there was 1 building beside the hotel and it looked super rundown and horrible...i asked my friend not that building right? hahaha....gave me a scare...Then we checked in and rested in the hotel room...tired already...when i tried to on my ipad, it went dead...nothing was showing on the screen but it was still on...haiz...first time brought it outside of SG also can die like that...and at a time when i am jobless....pek chey....

Monkeys

We left the room again at around 2 plus, i went to the hotel staff and asked for directions for the places we want to go..apparently only
Carton King was the nearest we can go. So we went to the main train station to take the bus she told us. But when we went to the visitors information center and asked again, i was told on a different bus to take...weird....anyway we followed the directions given by the staff in visitors information center and went to Carton King. It was 45 mins bus ride, and as usual, my friend saw a shop where a lot of people were queuing for it. I didn't notice it when the bus passed by. And she said she wants to go try it later. We alighted at Da Ke Roundabout bus stop and went in to Carton King. It is actually a museum which displays arts done by cardboards....The entrance fee was NT$200 per pax and if it was your birthday month, the entrance fee will be free. There was animal kingdom and famous buildings, all made of cardboards.....so we just walked around the area, on the 2nd level, there was a honey museum too, where they were selling honeys...there was even a display of real bees outside the door. There was also a very big mushroom, where there was a house selling stired-fry mushroom and mushroom snacks. We had a black pepper stired-fried mushroom as i was very hungry...it was very nice and smelled good!!! We bought some mushroom snacks too and we walked around some. By the time we left the place, it was already dark. Some of the displays were even lighted up with lights. Had a free gift too, after we had finished stamping on our entrance tickets (there was a mini game to collect all the stamps from different areas). Inside the place, was its own restaurant too, where the food was served on cardboard plates and bowls. And the food looked nice and yummy.

Yam Yam....

When we were outside the place, there was a group of 5 trying to take a group photo and were having fun too. My friend went and said she will help them take the photo and asked the last lady to join in the photo shoot....hahaa...They thanked us and then we walked down the road to find the long queue shop which my friend saw during our bus ride. We saw a restaurant selling barrel chickens too, it was cooked the same way as we had in Guanziling. But we walked past it, until we reached the long queue shop. It was a purple signboard, and it was selling yam desserts. Seems like it was a famous shop there, so we went buying it. We got 2 cold desserts - Yam with mixed (4 different ingredients) and Yam with red bean....Half of the bowls were ice and the yam were 3 big blocks...quite full too after eating. After eating, we went to take bus 68 to Fengjia Night Market (bus stop name: 逢甲大学). We waited for almost half an hour for the bus to come. And when my friend stopped the mini bus, i cannot see the bus number on the side. But we just boarded the bus and i asked the bus driver was the bus going to the place...he said yes and gave us a temporarily bus card to tap first. Heng ah....if not, we had to wait for don't know how long if we missed this bus...

1973 Fried Chicken

Backed Potato with Cheese

冰火波蘿油

It costs us NT$68 to reach Fengjia area, we had to tap the temporarily bus card again when we alighted to see how much was the fare. There were many shops and food stalls in Fengjia Shopping Town, you can see Macdonald's, Stay Real, Nike, Nets, addidas, etc...and there were a lot of people too....But i was urgently in need of toilet, so we went to Macdonald's and faint ah...the toilet queue also very long...but there doesn't seem like other places having free toilets around...so we queued for it. After that, we started our exploring...at the first turn, i saw a Stay Real shop and was very excited. I just pulled my friend to the shop to look around. I got a new tee-shirt with cowboy design and asked my friend to buy one too...hehehe....The design she wanted don't have her size, so i chose a tee-shirt with mummy design... :P....After that, we went outside the streets and walked around the place. Bought the 1973 Fried Chicken and walked till the Fengjia Night Market, and we just bought along the way...see what was nice to eat...i got baked potato with cheese too. There was pig's blood cake too, like a lot of people buying it. Bought a bbq corn for my friend to eat...As it was crowded, we couldn't really eat while we walked.We walked further in the streets and saw a stall selling an unique buns...called 冰火波蘿油. We bought 2, 1 with cheese and 1 with butter and cheese. After buying this, we made our way back to the hotel. Ahh...passed by bear's paw stall too but no one was buying it and it was quite hidden away from the busy street. But we didn't know where was the bus stop for bus 25 or bus 35. So we walked a bit further away from the fengjia shopping town, but at least while we were walking on the road, we were able to keep seeing bus 25 coming by (not in Tainnan, no bus one)....Walked in Birkenstock shop to check out the prices, had to remove shoes to go in the shop too..hohoo...the prices wasn't much difference from Singapore, maybe abit cheaper and i saw a notice saying there is a additional charge of NT$200 for sizes bigger than 40...hohoho...

Baked Potato with Turkey Ham and Cheese

We made it to the bus stop and it was already past 10 pm...luckily we didn't have to wait very long for the bus to come and we were carrying the food we bought from the market to go back eat...It was about 15 mins or so back to the hotel. Finally can rest feet and eat our food!!! The fried chicken and the baked potato were nice...the 冰火波蘿油 nice!!! After food, it was shower and sleeping time...hehehee...



Hotel Stayed: VIP Hotel

Places Visited:
Carton King
Fengjia Shopping Town
Fengjia Night Market