HUALIEN (8)

18 June 2009
台北→花蓮→(花蓮)七星潭→七星柴魚博物館→南濱公園/夜市→自強夜市
Taipei→Hualien→(Hualien)Chihsingtan→Katsuo Museum→Nanbin Park/Night Market→Ziqiang Night Market

HUALIEN, HERE WE COME!

my mum has been wanting to go Hualien since 5 years ago when my uncle went..
in my opinion, not so much a destination for young people cos it's kind of countryside...
Taroko National Park was the main attraction for us..

booking the tickets..

Taipei Railway Platform

train was here! mum insisted on taking a picture with it.

going up the train..

the backpackers...

... and the luggagers..

The prawn mayo onigiri from 7/11 is awesome... wooo!

the train was nothing like what i expected. it felt like a bullet train...
it's supposed to be a railway train leh!!
why am i complaining? cos i took the railway to have a railway experience and i ended up having a luxurious one... i want my locomotive!!

you can pair the onigiri with the stated list of drinks for a special price - NT$39 i think.
very cheap considering the rice ball is NT$27 on its own.
ok... that was extra info... haha

the man in the background looks a bit like Chef Low.. haha
he was posing for our series of pictures.. i think he doesn't want to look that bad in a stranger's camera..

what were they looking at? probably me spilling the precious cranberry tea T.T

the tea almost wet the bag of the lady beside me, who was carrying a baby.. phew.

you know when you board a train, you think, "hey it's a long ride, i could probably catch some sleep". so you get up the train and to your surprise your seat was taken by a mum. well, it's okay.. no worries... not realising the sleeping baby may explode into cries later on in the journey.

the baby was super uber cute when she breaks into a giggle or smile.. and i love happy babies :)
however, the baby cries and screams like a siren when the train goes into a tunnel, or when her mum lies her on her lap.. but amazingly i was able to catch some sleep..

some time into the journey, the mum asked: "do u know how to carry a baby?"
i said.. "erm.. i can try.."
"i need to prepare the milk for the baby so can u carry my baby for a while?"
"..ok..."

so i became the Train Babysitter for around 5-10 mins, amusing the baby... she kept smiling and turning her head around... i think after a while she realised she was in unfamiliar arms so she started crying... i had to hush hush her because the train was very very quiet...

it was a motherly 5-10 mins for me.. haha
the baby was heavy man.. no, wait.. all babies are heavy...
but i love them :)

probably reading my mag...



love the view along the north-east coast of Taiwan.
probably Yilan? dunno...




After a 2-hour ride, we arrived at Hualien!!

something i would want to sit on rather than the squeaky clean bullet train-lookalike.
nvm, next time!

yay we survived tea spills, baby cries, motion sickness and whatever there is to reach HUALIEN!

that bullet train lookalike (no, not my mum)

outside Hualien Railway Station.

Apparently it is quite common to have private tour operators standing in front of the station to look for customers for their taxi services, tour services and whatever..

and we were one of the targets leh.

this tour operator haunted us from the station to the Visitor Center (which we were heading) and tried to convince us that the Visitor Center is evil and money-sucking... [ok she didn't say all these.. but the stuff she said implied that msg]..

but we went on to ask about stuff at the Visitor Center and they were so so so helpful (it just felt more right to ask them) so in the end we just rendered her private taxi services in order to shoo her off. we were not being cruel, but it's our first time there, i think we better trust the government :p

dark clouds... almost felt that it looks photoshopped..

upon reaching the hostel, we realised we could have called for free taxi service to there. moreover the distance would have cost only around NT$100 (we paid NT$200 to the evil operator). see what i mean about trusting the govt. on first trip?

my castle :)

nice hor? i was surfing the net for hostel and when i saw this, i was like, "i'm definitely living in this!!" and here i am :)

come so far, of course must live comfortably!!

ok maybe castles are common in other parts of the world.. but definitely not in Taiwan!

鬱金香花園 夢幻城堡
pretty, hor??

食字路口040118 花莲 容祖儿苗可丽，陆明君B
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTc3Nzk1NDQ=.html
I wish I was here when Jacky Wu came!! the owner told us they had to find the horse and costumes for Jacky Wu.. haha


lunch while waiting to check in -
the castle has a restaurant so you can dine in even if you are not living there...
delicious ume appetiser drink

awesome salad... strawberry sauce i think...


I found Rapunzel!

going to rain soon...


Prince waiting for Rapunzel


home made dishes, very yummy!


first time eating the tulip bulbs (or whatever you call that..)


the rooms! on 3rd floor....

he said i take picture with that face.. so he was trying to imitate.. haha

view from top..


Otherwise known as The Tulip Garden 鬱金香花園

It's Tulip season in October..

Merry-go-round also have..


Lavenders

before it really start raining, 七星潭 Chi-hsing Tan GO!

we thought this was a real human...
真的假人..and 假的真人.. haha

we are here!

lovely beach.. would be better if not for the weather...

the fishermen had a big harvest..

bbq stingray looked so pitiful all of a sudden...

my mum says, "wah, look at their gleaming eyes, very fresh"
me says, "er that's of course. they just caught them leh.."

transport from coast line to the lorry



they actually sent a raft boat with one fishermen who travelled into the sea alone, to get the fishes from another boat with several fishermen.. so dangerous!!
so eat your fishes with love :)

low tide now




walking to the Katsuo museum


what is this pyramid thingy for?

An aboriginal villager getting people to take picture with him, he does it for a living.
but his booming voice and weird speeches scared people off instead.

his voice really rings through the surroundings.

so old liao, still don't wear pants...

a nicer East Coast Park


i dunno why we did those poses haha


天不做美...


we got lost and had to ask for directions..

more like Katsuo retail shop.. selling katsuo products and souvenirs..
i love katsuo (bonito flakes)! remember i ate katsuo bushi with Yusuke in Japan XD




i think yx and joanne can become good friends..


Off to Nanbin Park! I wanted to eat the corn I saw on TV =p
a bit too early, Night Market wasn't open yet... decided to take a walk along Nanbin Park..





ok now, the weirdest jump shots we took in Taiwan..
(i hope you guys don't threaten me with these photos one day)

i was trying to imitate the jump they did on 2 days 1 night (Korean variety show)...
peace sign and sort of buddha seat... i can't quite explain...
then the peace sign became another buddha pose... haiz....
note our expressions....

i'm like floating...



hwah, fly so high for what!

sorry if all that hurt your eyes... haha

jump shots raise tension. see how happy my mum was.

臭臭鍋
never tried, and never want to try..


THE　CORN!
The boss is so friendly, he even switches off the light so that the picture can be taken well..

choose our corn - there's tough/hard, Q and soft...
price is by weight...

queue number.... 1! haha


林記燒番麥
yummy :) :)

the boss recommended us a lot of places to go and food to try..

wanted to put fireworks but it just wasn't dark enough..... no feel leh

more food at Ziqiang Night Market;
官財板
they put ingredients into egg-dipped fried bread, YUMMY!!
we tried the crab cream and chicken, all were so nice...
NT$45 for bread and a drink...

but order system was messy, i was pissed off..
you just kind of shout out your order, hoping they heard you and actually remember yours..
well, they didn't rmb mine..


the porridge was so-so only.. despite being in the foodie book...


heard this was good...
see, got digital queue number... that means it's good.. haha

we went back for second round... hehe

went back to hostel early cos they wasn't much to do at night in Hualien...