Taiwan-go-round: Day 4 Naruwan, Taitung!

After one tiring day driving from Yilan to Hualian county, we started our journey again, this time to Taitung county, with several places to go on the way
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Written in our list, our first destination is 吉安慶修院, a Japanese temple built by Japanese immigrants. Just one step inside, you could feel the stunning thick Japanese atmosphere, just like one when you visit the temples in Japan. Apparently some of the tourists wrecked the atmosphere, as you can see they stepping on the grass, which is prohibited, plus all that noises they made, throwing garbage everywhere. Yuck.

Oh, well, forget those tourists. Enjoy the temple. I love the tiny Japanese garden beside the small gift shop.

It was a hot, sunny afternoon when we zapped from Taiwan to a temple in Japan...

Inside the temple

Beautifully drawn wind chime.

You can buy this wind chime from the gift store, but you have to draw it yourself at home, they don't provide any drawing material. Or you can buy the wishing wood plank and put it up on the wall, exactly what you can do if you visit a temple in Japan. As usual I bought a postcard and sent it home, as an お土産 (Omiyage, souvenir in Japanese).

J's writing his wish

Daruma-san!

Received it today yay! Hand-drawn eyes

Having a delightful time there, but it was time to get to our next destination: 夢幻湖 or dreamy lake, literally translated to English. As usual, we set our phone's GPS and tried to get there, and we got a little lost. J tried to ask the locals about the lake, and seems like nobody know the place. Later we knew that the lake is just this small lake beside a big B&B. The water is green and sparkling, so beautiful yet so hard to find. Took it with my Samsung Galaxy Note, not bad, ah? :D

Magnificent

I wanted to visit here, Rareseed Farm, where one of the popular milk in Taiwan is produced. Funny story here, we got lost because I set the wrong destination, same name, but different farm. Almost gave up when I saw the big ad on the road, leading to the correct farm.

Rareseed Farm

The café

We head straight into the café, we were starving and thirsty. Seemed like I bought too many: milk ice cream, cheese cake, milk pudding, plus two glasses of fresh milk. The waitress must thought we hadn't had meal for three years. Kidding.

Ice cream and pudding

Their cheese cake tasted thick but sweet.

The smooth surface of the ice cream made me draw on it

Fresh milk

Mooo

The waterfall of urine

Taiwan-go-round: Day 3 Hualian

From Yilan county to Hualian, the trip is very dangerous. Mountain roads, many S turns, small road, and many heavy-loaded trucks. We call it the devil road, others may recall with 蘇花公路 Suhua Highway. J drove extra careful that day, and thanks to him, we arrived safely in Hualian, but terribly exhausted.

The view several minutes after the starting point.

Beautiful gradation of the blue sky and the blue sea.

While crossing the highway, you can enjoy a full scenery of sea view, and also you can find some private beach spot if you're lucky. These beaches aren't suitable for playing area because of its 'sand', which is kinda hard and big, different from the sand in Kuta, Bali. Plus, there are huge rocks everywhere, so it is prohibited to play and swim there, especially when the tide is high or typhoon is blowing.

Private beach yo!

Finally, passed the terrifying Suhua highway, we arrived in Hualian, passed Taroko National Park. We have all been there (J had visited there so many times he was gonna throw up) so there's no need to visit there again. Plus, I had to get back to Taoyuan before my flight back to Indonesia (sobbing).

J brought me to see the Amis Cultural Park 阿美文化村 to see the traditional dances and costumes of the aboriginal tribe of Amis. There are many other tourists with big buses also enjoying the show with us, mainly from mainland China and Japan.

In front of the cultural park

Creepy statues

Amis tribe traditional dance

Taiwan-go-round: Day 2 Luodong night market

We were served 水煎包, a common Taiwanese bun, pan-fried and stuffed with meat, with sliced guava, which is pretty nasty I think, but can't complain, better than no breakfast at all. We departed at probably 9 or 10, and made our way to Yilan (宜蘭) county.

In Shifen, the usual scenery while riding our scooter is the green mountain and gentle rivers, but starting on our way to Yilan, we enjoyed some beautiful sea scenery. BTW it was searing hot and guess what, at the end of the day our skins all turned into tomato-red.

Quoting "the claaaaw" from Toy Story: The seaaaaaaaa...

Before starting this Taiwan-go-round, I had researched some interesting places on our way going round Taiwan. Surprisingly, Yilan has some new attractions. For example this 四衛堡車站 or  Shiweibao Station is a new bakery opened on the road, and the bakery was styled like a Harry Potter parody shooting set.

Almost missed it

Shiweibao Station is like a fusion of bakery, cafe, and restaurant, designed Harry Potter look-a-like because of its long bread, which supposed to look like a wand. Then we found this precious souvenir that excite J so much that he bought one. Also sent this hideous postcard: a weird man with a pursued lips wearing crown and Harry Potter's glasses. Got this postcard like two days ago.

Pretty exciting, eh, imagine collecting post cards from all around the world?

Lumos!

From Harry Potter to Hello Peter

Purchased only the one, we set off to look for lunch, and near the Shiweibao Station, there's a 甕窯雞 restaurant, with a line of people queuing. Curious, we parked our scooter there and I told J to find a place to sit while I order. 甕窯雞 is a famous dish in Yilan, where they boil the chicken in a secret spice bath, then plunge it into cold water, then finish it by smoking till the skin turned into crispy golden brown.

The man paused while holding the chicken to give me a chance to capture the image

Mouthwatering 

The chicken was smoking hot and you should wear the gloves they provide (and plastic ones if you aren't sure the gloves are clean) to open up the dish. They serve it with garlic and its oil, plus rice of course. A bit over our budget though, yet it was so tasty. A full chicken for NT$600, CMIIW.

With our stomach fully loaded, we departed again heading for the city, to the 幾米廣場 or Jimmy Square. My sister will kill me for this. If you don't know Jimmy, he is a Taiwanese illustrator famous for its soft yet striking illustration and stories. My mom first introduced Jimmy when I was small, when we used to go to Eslite bookstore just for reading, and bought books that we really wanted to. I love its coloring and his stories are all so dreamy. Starry Starry Night, Turn Left Turn Right, and Pourquoi? are the ones I love the most. That's why I insisted to pass Yilan Railway Station.

Perfect dish for perfect hot afternoon

Those are gelatos from nearby shop. Me and J always question each other's choice of flavor. For example I ordered sweet and sour lemon and plain green tea to match up the sour taste, yet Jeremy wanted banana and vanilla, which are also pretty weird for me. I don't like the taste of banana juiced or turned into other dish, kinda nasty, except the real fruit.

We arrived at the hotel at maybe 4 or 5 pm. After checking in, we decide to rest for a while till the night fall and we went to 羅東夜市 or Luodong Night Market. I went to this market once and I fell in love with its mutton soup and mutton fried noodles. とても美味しい！Worth it though we have to queue for about 10 to 15 minutes to taste them.

So many people, ah~

Taiwan-go-round: Day 1 Shifen

After days of encouragement, finally J agreed to start the journey circling the island of Taiwan, by riding my white 125 cc scooter. Still weary after his job, he tried to hypnotize me and wishing we could go by train. I insisted and told him that was my last chance go around Taiwan before I left, also my last trip to spend with him.

At last, we departed at around 10 a.m with my denim backpack and J's travel bag. The sun was shining bright, yet I saw some dark greyish cloud in the direction we were travelling. Crossing my finger hoping it wouldn't rain, we finally starting our journey toward Taipei.

We set our first stop in Ximending (西門町), a popular district in Taipei among the young adults. The sky was getting real dark, I started to worry and after we parked I covered our helmets with raincoat.

We decided to eat at the Curry House. J had been feeling quite unwell since he didn't get much rest after his previous job, which made me feel a bit guilty. I couldn't see him in this state so I bought him cold medicine and let him rest a bit before hitting the road again.

Doing this trip by riding on scooter, is quite dangerous actually. You never knew the limit of your scooter, even if you take good care of it, and the gas station isn't always there when you need it, especially in the mountain region. Also your back hurts a lot maintaining the position. J didn't let me drive, even in straight city road. I bet his butt hurts too.

Beside your scooter, you have to watch out for the weather. Mostly on the northern part of Taiwan, we experienced the hottest day of our lives, burning our skin to the bones. Yet as we went further south, the rain poured like you spill plenty bucket of water. Watch out for the wind. In the mountain region, in worse state by adding the rain, the strong wind will try to knock you out. Thank goodness J has a pretty good balance while steering, his skill is top notch. Blazing hot sun, drizzling rain, searing wind, make you feel hot 'n cold literally, like in Katy Perry song. Remember to use your sun block lotion and jacket or you're gonna end up like us, sunburnt. After like the 5th day when we were in Taitung, I started to feel dizzy and nearly caught a cold. So keep an eye on your health.

There are these three great places if you want to enjoy flea market, the gloomy feel of old railway stations, and flying a wishing lantern: Shifen (十分), Jiufen (九分), and Pingxi (平溪). All those are the stations in this area, and if you want to go there by train, you have to change in Ruifang Station (瑞芳車站). Me and J went to Jiufen some time ago, so we went to Shifen instead of Pingxi because of its magnificent waterfall.

There are lots of B&B's near these areas, but not every location is near the stations. I called this B&B to ask if there's a room for us, and when we tried to get there by using Google maps, we were lost. It was so far and we couldn't find its location. So we went back to Shifen railway and just find another one there.

We found out later that there are only a few B&B in Shifen, the locals pointed there are more in Pingxi, but I was too exhausted that we finally settled down in Shifen. A small room but clean for NT$1600 a night. Better than no place to sleep, right?

Shifen is a small town with railway run through the town, surrounded by shops selling lanterns and food just like in night market. Sometimes the train runs through the town and people will automatically get to the side.

Then we set out to fly our own lanter. There are many shops which offer lanterns in one color for NT$150, if my memory is right, or more for NT$200, each of them symbolize love, money, etc. Just pick one shop, the price are all the same. Later you will use black ink and brush to write down your wishes on the thin paper which has 4 sides, or just brush it on your partner's face :D. After you're done, the seller will guide you to the middle of the railway, and start a photoshoot session, till he start the fire then you can fly it. If the lantern fly high, your wishes will come true. The guides can speak Korean, Cantonese, and English, 猴曬蕾 (very lihai in Cantonese).

A stack of lanterns

Fly, fly, up in the sky~

Shifen waterfall

Watching our lantern flying higher and higher, we went to Shifen waterfall on foot, which only took us like 15 or 20 minutes. You have to pay to enjoy the waterfall though.

Student fee, yipee.

The night had fallen and we shared the taxi with two other girls, apparently one from Italia. We bought dinner and J was surprised to know that I hadn't played with sparklers before, so he bought one pack and we were gonna play it after we finish our dinner.

I have always wanted to play with sparkles and long exposure. As the tourists slowly disappear, we lit up the sparkles and after a few attempts, we finally captured a beautiful heart-shaped sparkle.

After several attempts..

Loving long-exposure shots

All photos taken with J's Nikon, not my Canon. I was too lazy to bring mine :D

Two wheels diary: 僑大 林口 NTNU Linkou

It's 8 am. I don't know why I woke up at this so unGODly hour, quoting Mrs. Wolowitz from the Big Bang Theory series. I usually wake up at 10 or 11 am (giggles). Today is Valentine's day in Taiwan, and I have a date with my seniors from NCNU in Xinzhu.

So, while waiting, I'm supposed to depart at 9, and still one hour to go, I decided to write my journey to 僑大, or National Taiwan Normal University in Linkou. That was my first time leaving Taoyuan on my bike! Yay, cheer for me!

The route

Well I didn't plan to go there at first. I wanted to go to 虎頭山 Hutoushan near Guishan 龜山, but at that time, the day was still eary, maybe 5 pm? And I remembered, Linkou is not far right, why don't I get to 僑大 to see my fellow overseas student friends' home for one or two years? Yes, Qiaoda is the place to stay and study Chinese before you enter the universities here. Some exceptions like me, I went straight to university in NCNU, Puli, Nantou county. I kinda regret I didn't study there though. Friends of mine who went to NTNU have friends scattered all over Taiwan, and my friends? Only restricted in Puli or Taizhong. Not until I worked as tutor in 印輔班, a summer program for future overseas students in Taiwan happened to be in NCNU, I met many juniors.

Just a little explanation about NTNU and Indonesian overseas student, way out of topic anyway.

I started my journey at 4 pm (maybe) and rode my way to Guishan Junior High School there, and Taoyuan really has many cycling trails, which is fun.

Beautiful trail

Fun fact: cycling in Taoyuan's cycling trail means that you have to share the trails with other people who are taking leisurely walks, and sometimes they don't realize that behind them there is a girl riding with her bike, wanting to rush. I rung my bell several times until I just yell softly (is that even exist, yell softly? Probably politely is more appropriate), 歹勢歹勢, 借我過, excuse me excuse me, let me pass. Well sometimes they heard it, the other time they don't. I hope I didn't scare them while a bike rushed through near them. 

Forgot what park this is

NTNU Linkou is located on a hill, so there's only one way to reach it, hiking. I... almost... died... I tried to shift the gear to the lightest one (I usually ride the third gear, which is the heaviest), and phew, I was out of breath when I reach 長庚 Hospital. After that it's Linkou already. The sun was setting down when I arrived in NTNU. Not many people was around, and I overheard some students there with Malaysian accented Chinese, and also Indonesian students who are currently participating in the 印輔班. I chatted one of my friend with Line, who is working there as tutor if she's free to come out and see me, but seeing the sky was getting darker and darker, I decided to just leave a message to one of the Indonesian boys there.

NTNU Linkou

The ride home was pleasant: downhill everywhere! I rode so fast it was 40 km/hour I think, and it was so exciting! I could feel the wind rushing on my face while I sing out loud, hoping no one can hear me. I saw several bikers going the opposite way, and I wished them good luck :D

Nearly 50 km. Next time...

Linkou is actually not that far. Just 48 km, but I went home exhausted to the max. 

BTW, that was my first time riding with gloves and bike shorts, with a pad in it. And after the ride and showered, I realize, the pad looks exactly like women's.... pad. But thanks to that, my ride was smooth and painless, unlike the Zhuwei port one, after 35 km or so my butt starting to hurt. The gloves helped too!