We are Hitch Hikers?

Day 9 and 10, this is the 2nd last post on taiwan. Come next week, i will embark on a 7 months journey through several countries. I have lots of interesting things planned out and also meeting some new people. I am sure it will be as much as an adventure as taiwan.

Now back to taiwan, we had arrived at hualien the night before and had found and booked a minsu. It looks very good on the website and the price is not expensive. But when we met the lady who was supposed to drive us there, she told us that the place was "full" and that we will be sent to another place. I did not like the idea of this at all but it was very late and there way no way we could find another place at this hour. Reluctantly, we went along with her. We were quoted 1500/night for a room in a small hotel, the price is the same as before but the decor and style of the place was totally different. No more homely minsu but cold hard hotel. Throughout our meetings, they asked what we plan to do in hualien and was pushy in promoting their services and they were not exactly cheap. On to happier stuff, FOOD!!!

Xiao Long Pau? it is more like our normal Pau at home
Food Galore!
This shop has only no menu because they only have 1 dish, Wanton!!

The next day we have our rafting trip!(900NT) The view was great and there was a few nice rapids even though some parts of the water was moving far too slowly. We were told this isn't the season for rafting, the water level is still too low. Some parts of it, we even had to be pulled by the boat. Rafting park
Our packed lunch, taste far better than it looks

At night we went to walk around hualien scouting for food! Wandered to a Nan Bin Night market where all sorts of food and games stores were available. It was drizzling slightly so not all the stores were open. Found a pavilion by the sea side and sat there while we chatted and ate.

Nan Bin Park
View from the pavilion
snail like thing on the left was fabulous, i couldn't stop eating and went to get 2 more servings!
They sell food from other countries as well
After dinner, we saw a stall selling fireworks! Needless to say, we suaku Singaporeans of course went to get some! It was super duper fun! We got so addicted that we kept going back to get even more, even bigger!


Day 10, we head to the all famous Taroko Gorge! Most places offer tours for around 700NT/pax or over 2000NT for whole cab. We did not need any guide and we did not want to pay so much for it. Initial plan was to get a public bus there for 150NT/pax, the hotel lady was very persistent in selling us her service even though we declined her many times. At long last, she said ok she will send us up there 1 way for 150NT/pax, same price as the bus. Same price and in a private car, why not?

Turns out there is another group of 4 already going up for the tour and they have seats left.. no wonder she is willing to go that far. Nonetheless, her loss is our gain.

Taroko National Park
Lots of marble formations
The light at the end of the tunnel
Looking for Sun Wu Kong!!

We came prepared with battle suits!
It really is a 水濂洞, it isn't even like raining inside. Its like a thunder storm!
Drying our ponchos
We were the only ones there
Lesson from kimble, always bring fruits on a hike :D
More majestic formationsRemember i said earlier that we paid 150NT each for a 1 way ride up. Well after that we have a problem. We have no means of getting back down...

My guide book says that there is a bus that comes every half an hour or so and we did verify with the people there, nobody seems to be able to comfirm it. We decided to try our luck and wait... and wait... and wait..... Ok there isn't any bus that is coming.

So what happens if you are ever stuck somewhere and needs to get away?? you thumb your way out!!!

Shortly after the video, it started to rain and we had only 1 umbrella. HAHA it was damm hilarious. The 3 of us were squeezing under 1 small umbrella with our thumbs out. There was lots of people who slowed down and said "hello!" "Good luck" and a few "HAHA". 5 mins into the rain, a car actually pulled up after us! The driver motioned us to get in and we just ran with everything we have got.

Hitch Hike - Checked!! Nothing too difficult for us :D
The soft spoken driver is actually one of the rangers of the national park and is on his way home in hualien, coincidentally in the area near our hotel. We chatted a bit and got to know more bout hualien through him.

At night, me and amelia went back to the night market to TaBao food back for audrey. Her new shoes plus the hiking we did today caused her leg to have a big blister.

Along the way to the night market, a little boy on a small bicycle suddenly appears and said he wants to follow us. Yeah why not?
So we were walking and asking bout the boy, how old is he, what is his name etc.

Suddenly amelia turned around to me and said "Is this boy a ghost?"
HAHAHAHAHA i couldn't stop laughing the whole night. Then we started to discuss methods to identify ghosts. Really interesting evening.

I shall call him Ghost Boy
Just for the record, ghost mum came later to bring ghost boy home
They have cigarettes UFO catcher! WTF?!
Our food back for audrey(Or Audray now)

Next post will be the last on taiwan. Meeting someone special. To whoever it may concern, finally its here!!

How Green can an Island be?

Green island! There is only 3 words to describe this island. Fun! Fun! Fun!. Ok actually that is the same words repeated 3 times. Nonetheless, it is Fun that you will find here. Many popular islands in South East asia had been given a makeover to cater to tourist and rows of hotels, bars, al fresco dining could be seen lining along the beach front. That however is not what you will see here, though i cant say that for the future of this island.

Arranged with our transport to the jetty at our hotel for 250NT. Together in the mini van were 2 elderly ladies who were touring the area and they didn't seem to mind that the driver drop us off at the jetty first. We chatted on the way through the empty streets and they were surprised we came all the way from Singapore and were venturing out on our own.

Prior to this day, we had booked a package for green island and i would recommend everyone to do so. My friends know me as a person who avoid tours and package as much as possible so why this time, i opted otherwise?

Green island is a very small and tight knitted island and the main lucrative business would be those providing for tourist such as accommodation, food, transport rental, water activities, island exploring. The number of competitors vying for the same piece of bread isn't that many, some even providing a few different services at the same time. The price difference as well is almost none existence as the operators usually are the inhabitants of the island.

Package with Jack's Hotel: Cost 2400NT
Lodgings for 1 night
Ferry Return ticket (400NT on its own)
Scooter rental (400NT on its own excluding petrol)
Outdoor spring tickets (250NT on its own)
Snorkeling
Night Tour
Breakfast

Alright, back to our trip!The harbour isn't just used for ferries to green island, there are boats to lanyu and many fishing boats docked as well
Our ride to green island

The 40mins ride to green island is well knowned to be vomit magnet, and you had better believe it. Countless people were seen with white faces and plastic bags just 10 mins after we embark. I named the ride "roller coaster on water" and it had lived up to its (nick)name. I took a video at the deck and even though it may not seem to be rocking hard, you can still see the slight movement on the camera, now multiply it by 50 times.

Audrey decided to come onto the deck after feeling bored in the boat. Something occur ed and i bet she wished she had stayed inside.

While we were enjoying the strong breeze and hanging onto dear life on the deck, a young lady who was standing bout 5meters before us started to feel sick. The next thing that happened was her lunch flying out of her mouth and with the wind blowing to the back of the boat, landing on the numerous people standing along her side, audrey being one of them. The end result? Fresh puke over her clothes! I feel bad but i couldn't stop laughing the whole trip, i guess that's how i survived. Thanks audrey!

The aftermath without the bigger "pieces"

i took a video of someone puking in the sitting area. She seemed to have noticed me. And i met her again as we went on a snorkeling trip together later.


We were greeted at the harbour after the longest 40mins for some people(not me though) and brought to Jack's Hotel by Jack and his wife. I picked this place mainly due the pictures shown on the web and the prompt reply to questions posted. The price is the same as many other places.Stairs leading up
Living Room
Happy Buddha
Our scooters
Jack's Hotel

Another alternative for those who are afraid of riding a scooter is golf cart. Amelia was hesitant about riding and opted to rent one. The price is expensive at the 1000+NT range and requires a licence which she didnt have, resulting in a no go at the end. Fortunately the scooters didn't a licence...Shhh don't tell others i said that.

It was the first time we ever a rode a scooter and after a few minutes of warm up, we were all riding with the wind. Now.. where is the horn?
This is audrey's first 1 minute on a scooter! and 10 mins later she was speeding down the lane. Its that easy! whats more? parking is free! On a side note, i was inspired to get a motorcycle licence after this day and i had went to start!


Feeling hungry after the boat ride, we went to have our lunch and dessert. Sea weed Ice!! Let me tell you, this is the best sea weed i ever had. A must try for all who comes to green island. The whole place is beach theme even with shells used as bowls. Nothing beats eating off a shell with the sea breeze blowing in your face. Table decor Sea Weed Ice
Amelia's red bean almond ice
Audrey's strawberry ice
Immediately after our ice dessert, we had our snorkeling which audrey decided to opt out since she is already a frequent visitor of the underwater and got on the net to search for accommodations in Hua Lien(花莲). For first timers like me, it was a great experience though. The colourful features of the fishes and the water organisms is still a fascinating unknown to me. It sparked off my thought of going for diving trips. My camera is afraid of water, no pictures for it.

We have an island before us and the best transportation ever, the next best thing we can do is some exploring. There is only one main road in the island and whichever way we go, we would end up back at the hotel. With a simple map we were given, we went down the road and chanced onto a beach with a light house. Fishing in the sea
Empty waterfront
Except for these dried fishes
I got this picture of audrey in 1 shot!
And she had to do 10 before she can get this of me
I would move here to stay

For dinner, we had BBQ buffet(250NT/pax) by the sea. The boss was very friendly and keep checking on us to resupply our bbq. BBQ by the sea
In three!

At night, we actually had a night tour with the puking girl group, the ones we went snorkeling with. And the tour guide is actually the snorkeling guy as well! We decided not to opt for it at the very last minute as we were tired from the day's activities. However, our butts couldn't sit still, in the end me and audrey went for our very own night tour. Most of the sights were stated on the map and all we had to do was to follow it, or so we thought....

The streets at night were dimly lit and the only lights were from our scooter. Somehow we had ridden off the main road unknowingly and went onto a rocky trail which was very difficult to navigate. It was deserted and although my instincts told me to turn back, my adventurous side urge me to find out what is at the end of the road.

What seemed to appear before us is a dark field of some sort, void of human life and quiet and the moment we turned our headlights to looked around, we saw rows and rows of tombs lined up on the slope of a hill!! Needless to say, we quickly turned tailed and hurried back the way we came. We head back to the main road and immediately saw a big group of people riding scooter like ours. We figured they must be doing the night tour and followed them. Turns out the guide of this group is actually the BBQ owner we met earlier and he remembered us! We followed him, listened to his interesting stories about the various caves and about frogs having the ability to jump onto the "rich one". Again my camera is afraid of the dark, so no pictures again.

There is a 24 hours sea water hot spring on the island. One of the three on earth and it was said we could see the fabulous sunrise from there. Still feeling disappointed with Alishan's Sunrise, we went to try our luck at 4am. We rode in the empty streets with freezing sea breeze blowing onto us and rode our way to the other side of the island with chattering teeth. The walkway to hot spring in the sea!
Eggs that we bought
Spring "holes"
Another spring "holes" 3 in total with varying degrees
This unfortunate fello picked the wrong spring to mess with

This time again, we did not manage to see the sunrise. But we did have fun with the aunties who were soaking there. We left after the sun rise and instead of riding the way came from, we went the other direction(remember how i said there is only 1 main road and would lead us back to the hotel). The road was easy to navigate with lots of scenic views. We felt like we owned the island!

Empty roads
Doggy and Sleeping beauty rock formations advertised by the locals
HAHA!
Was feeling mischevious and told them that this is another famous rock formation bearing resemblance to a rat and they totally bought it!
It was a great view
When you are standing up there, it feels like you own the world
The vast ocean
Good times will always be remembered

On the way back, we pass by the "off the beaten track" route to the tombs and with the sun on our side, we decided to see what is really there. This time round, the place didnt seem so scary anymore and we even got a brief history lesson by amelia who could tell tons of information just by looking at the tombs. I'm impressed.

Hidden behind the darkness the night before is a totally unexploited beach. Although there are signs of human activities, it still feels like we were the first explorer to this land.
Hidden beach

We went walking around and found this really interesting cave, much like those that were used in ancient times. We even made our own discovery planet clip on it!


Following that, i conclude our Green Island Exploration Adventure. Go there not to look for luxury, comfort or shopping, you would be disappointed. Go there for fun, adventure and the sense of primitive experience. You would not want to leave. Go there quick before it gets a make over and turns into the uniquitous island scattered around.