Tuesday, January 20, 2009 5:35 PM
Day 2 (Sunday, 21.12.2008)Hotel> Martyrs' Shrine(忠烈祠) > Yehliu (野柳) > Nan Tian Temple (南天宫) > TRA train from Suao(蘇澳) to Hualien (花莲) > Dinner at aboriginal restaurant > Night Market
 Messy!  My breakfast. Quite little because I refused to touch Taiwan porridge which is available at every hotel's buffet. I got sick of eating Taiwan porridge in Singapore. Never like it though, but I usually have no choice because my parents love it.
After breakfast, we left Taoyuan and headed towards Taipei where we visited the Martyrs' Shrine. It's kind-of like an ancestral hall except it's more for the people who had contributed alot to Taiwan.
It was pretty hot over there, probably because the cold air haven't blow over Taipei yet. I was only wearing 2 layers, but I was perspiring like crazy. Anyway, didn't find the shrine very interesting because it was my second time there. The only thing had still amaze me was the changing of guards. The guards there change shift every hour, and when they do, they will march towards the Shrine and do a series of cool stunts with their guns.
We headed to Yehliu next which was about a 45-minute drive away. Like Danshui, Yehliu is also on the northern tip of Taiwan. But Danshui is on the northern-west tip while Yehliu is more on the northern-east tip. We entered the Yehliu Geopark. Our second time there too, so it wasn't too exciting. But the scenery is still beautiful.
3.jpg) 4.jpg) Huge potholes 5.jpg)  Does this piece of rock look like a tortoise?  This piece of rock is called the Queen's Head because it looks like a lady with a crown. (Ignore the lady there, I just wanted to take a picture of that rock without having to queue up) 6.jpg) 7.jpg) Went to a 7-eleven beside the geopark to get a cup of coffee. I love going into Taiwan's convenience stores because there's always so much I want to buy even if I'm not hungry. Being hungry at night is unheard of in Taiwan. Their cup noodles, breads, cakes, milk, juices, all kinds of brands and flavours. You name it, they have it.
Had lunch at this seafood restaurant, also beside the geopark. Because Yehliu is near the sea, capturing seafood is another means of livelihood for the people there. That also explains why there were quite a few seafood restaurants there. I personally liked the meal alot but my dad thought otherwise.
8.jpg) See that bowl of rice over there? Super delicious. I love Taiwan's rice alot!!! Omg, it tastes like Japanese rice, big, round and sticky! I eat at least 2 bowls of rice for every meal(when there's rice available) when I was there in Taiwan. Which also explains why I gained so much weight after I got back from my trip. Haha. 9.jpg) After lunch, we went to this place nearby where they sold dried seafood like dried cuttlefish and small souvenirs. But there was nothing much to buy since the cuttlefish would stink up the tour bus if we brought it up.
Then we headed southwards to Nan Tian Temple in Suao which is in Yilan (宜蘭). Nan Tian Temple is home to 2 Ma Zu (妈祖) statues, a gold and a jade one. I'm not sure what a Ma Zu is, but if I'm not wrong, it's some kind of deity that people pray to.
The town is quite pretty. I don't know, it looks very cosy despite the buildings being rather low-rise. And yes, Suao's a port too. 10.jpg)
11.jpg) We bought peanut ice-cream, one of Suao's specialities. Costs about S$1.50. The ice-cream and peanut(which is grated from that block of compressed peanut you see above) is wrapped together in something like a popiah, and they put parsley together with the ice-cream and peanut too. I know most of you must be like, ewww...parsley! I dislike parsley too, but trust me, I couldn't taste the parsley when I ate the ice-cream. Weird, how did they discover that the taste of ice-cream and peanut will cover that of parsley?
Took the tour bus to Suaosin TRA Station (蘇澳新站). We waited about close to 2 hours before boarding the train to Sincheng (新城) because initially we were supposed to take the tour bus to Sincheng, but in order to get to Sincheng, the tour bus would have to travel on this part of the expressway where there is a series of sudden severe bends and turns which wouldn't be suitable for the old and young onboard the bus. According to the tour guide, even a normal person would feel car-sick and there were previous tours where more than half the people onboard had thrown up. So, they let us take the train instead. But as the train only takes an hour plus to reach Sincheng as compared to the 3 hours required by the bus, we had to wait 2 hours before taking the train while the bus sped off so that it can pick us up in time at Sincheng. 12.jpg) Suaosin Station 13.jpg) This cement factory outside the station. I've never seen anything like this before, definitely not in Singapore. But I saw a few more cement factories later when I was on the train. I'm very fascinated by the hugeness of them. But at the same time, they look scary, as if no one can leave after entering them, like as if the workers there have never seen daylight before. Like, if one of the cement pipes broke, workers inside would be drown and suffocate in cement. Okay, that's probably because they didn't have any windows, so pardon my vivid imagination. Lol. 14.jpg) On the train to Sincheng 16.jpg) Places we passed by while on the train We finally reached Sincheng(which is in Hualien) in the early evening, and the tour bus whizzed us away to this aboriginal restaurant for dinner. Food was great. They had this special dish, Bamboo Rice, the aboriginals' speciality. It's rice stuffed into a bamboo, and then tightly secured. In order to split open the bamboo to eat it, you have to hit it against a stone, the same way you would when you're hitting the hammer at the arcade to test your strength. 19.jpg) Bamboo rice. Mine split open the first time I hit it. See how strong I am! Haha. 20.jpg)  I don't know what I did to get this cool effect. I didn't know it was even in my camera until just now.
After dinner, we headed to the hotel. My family put our luggages in the rooms and headed out again, to this night market nearby which sells only food, no clothes or any other things. 21.jpg) 22.jpg) Night market  Bubble tea for only S$1.50. Although it may seem like it's the same size as Singapore's, but it's actually bigger.
Hualien is home to many aboriginals of this particular tribe whose name I forgot. When I say aboriginals, I know you all must be thinking, topless, only an underwear-looking bottom, white-chalk markings all over face and body, nose rings...lol. But no, the aboriginals here look like you and me. The tour guide told us that we can tell aboriginals and Taiwanese apart is by looking at their skin colour and listening to the language spoken. They're supposedly of a slightly darker skin colour than the Taiwanese, but seriously, while I was walking at the night market, I couldn't differentiate because they all look the same colour as the Taiwanese! And their language, they speak a language that may sound alittle like Malay or Tagalog(it is said that their ancestors are from South-East Asia region), but really, they all learnt Chinese in schools and most of them speak Chinese to their friends(especially to their Taiwanese friends) on the streets. So it was quite impossible to tell them apart. Well, I did notice that there were a few people who looked slightly darker than the others, but it was quite difficult to tell if they were aboriginals. Who knows, they might be Taiwanese who think that a tan looks more healthy on them and decided to go ahead with it? Lol.
And here's some of the cultures and traditions of that particular aboriginal tribe. When the sons of each household turn 18, they are sent by tribe chief to the mountains(there was this whole mountain range which belongs to the tribe) undergo a test where they are to try to find their way out of it. There are some wild animals(like wild boars, wild deers...) in the mountains, if they survive to pass the test, they would successful in become an adult. But if they don't survive, well, that's it. Cruel and scary.
Then there was another one: when a couple is about to get married, the guy has to carry the girl on his back and walk like this across the whole mountain range without putting the girl down. Only when they've reached the other side of the mountain, then he can put the girl down, and after that, they live happily ever after. Romantic, but I think the guy will be hunchback-ed before they even cross half the mountain range. Lol. The mountain range isn't like our Bukit Timah Hill where you can walk one round the foot of the hill in less than an hour, it still super huge(the next day, we went to the other side of the mountain by bus, it took us about 2-3 hours). I think a normal girl, after they're are out of the sight of the elders, would tell the guy to put her down and then they will run hand-in-hand to the other side of the mountain. See, more romantic right? And she won't have Hunchback of Notre Dame as her husband(because girls aren't Tinkerbell you know). HAHAHA.
Day 4, to be continued~
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Tuesday, January 20, 2009 5:35 PM
Day 2 (Sunday, 21.12.2008)Hotel> Martyrs' Shrine(忠烈祠) > Yehliu (野柳) > Nan Tian Temple (南天宫) > TRA train from Suao(蘇澳) to Hualien (花莲) > Dinner at aboriginal restaurant > Night Market
Messy! My breakfast. Quite little because I refused to touch Taiwan porridge which is available at every hotel's buffet. I got sick of eating Taiwan porridge in Singapore. Never like it though, but I usually have no choice because my parents love it.
After breakfast, we left Taoyuan and headed towards Taipei where we visited the Martyrs' Shrine. It's kind-of like an ancestral hall except it's more for the people who had contributed alot to Taiwan.
It was pretty hot over there, probably because the cold air haven't blow over Taipei yet. I was only wearing 2 layers, but I was perspiring like crazy. Anyway, didn't find the shrine very interesting because it was my second time there. The only thing had still amaze me was the changing of guards. The guards there change shift every hour, and when they do, they will march towards the Shrine and do a series of cool stunts with their guns.
We headed to Yehliu next which was about a 45-minute drive away. Like Danshui, Yehliu is also on the northern tip of Taiwan. But Danshui is on the northern-west tip while Yehliu is more on the northern-east tip. We entered the Yehliu Geopark. Our second time there too, so it wasn't too exciting. But the scenery is still beautiful.
Huge potholes Does this piece of rock look like a tortoise? This piece of rock is called the Queen's Head because it looks like a lady with a crown. (Ignore the lady there, I just wanted to take a picture of that rock without having to queue up) Went to a 7-eleven beside the geopark to get a cup of coffee. I love going into Taiwan's convenience stores because there's always so much I want to buy even if I'm not hungry. Being hungry at night is unheard of in Taiwan. Their cup noodles, breads, cakes, milk, juices, all kinds of brands and flavours. You name it, they have it.
Had lunch at this seafood restaurant, also beside the geopark. Because Yehliu is near the sea, capturing seafood is another means of livelihood for the people there. That also explains why there were quite a few seafood restaurants there. I personally liked the meal alot but my dad thought otherwise.
See that bowl of rice over there? Super delicious. I love Taiwan's rice alot!!! Omg, it tastes like Japanese rice, big, round and sticky! I eat at least 2 bowls of rice for every meal(when there's rice available) when I was there in Taiwan. Which also explains why I gained so much weight after I got back from my trip. Haha. After lunch, we went to this place nearby where they sold dried seafood like dried cuttlefish and small souvenirs. But there was nothing much to buy since the cuttlefish would stink up the tour bus if we brought it up.
Then we headed southwards to Nan Tian Temple in Suao which is in Yilan (宜蘭). Nan Tian Temple is home to 2 Ma Zu (妈祖) statues, a gold and a jade one. I'm not sure what a Ma Zu is, but if I'm not wrong, it's some kind of deity that people pray to.
The town is quite pretty. I don't know, it looks very cosy despite the buildings being rather low-rise. And yes, Suao's a port too.
We bought peanut ice-cream, one of Suao's specialities. Costs about S$1.50. The ice-cream and peanut(which is grated from that block of compressed peanut you see above) is wrapped together in something like a popiah, and they put parsley together with the ice-cream and peanut too. I know most of you must be like, ewww...parsley! I dislike parsley too, but trust me, I couldn't taste the parsley when I ate the ice-cream. Weird, how did they discover that the taste of ice-cream and peanut will cover that of parsley?
Took the tour bus to Suaosin TRA Station (蘇澳新站). We waited about close to 2 hours before boarding the train to Sincheng (新城) because initially we were supposed to take the tour bus to Sincheng, but in order to get to Sincheng, the tour bus would have to travel on this part of the expressway where there is a series of sudden severe bends and turns which wouldn't be suitable for the old and young onboard the bus. According to the tour guide, even a normal person would feel car-sick and there were previous tours where more than half the people onboard had thrown up. So, they let us take the train instead. But as the train only takes an hour plus to reach Sincheng as compared to the 3 hours required by the bus, we had to wait 2 hours before taking the train while the bus sped off so that it can pick us up in time at Sincheng. Suaosin Station This cement factory outside the station. I've never seen anything like this before, definitely not in Singapore. But I saw a few more cement factories later when I was on the train. I'm very fascinated by the hugeness of them. But at the same time, they look scary, as if no one can leave after entering them, like as if the workers there have never seen daylight before. Like, if one of the cement pipes broke, workers inside would be drown and suffocate in cement. Okay, that's probably because they didn't have any windows, so pardon my vivid imagination. Lol. On the train to Sincheng Places we passed by while on the train We finally reached Sincheng(which is in Hualien) in the early evening, and the tour bus whizzed us away to this aboriginal restaurant for dinner. Food was great. They had this special dish, Bamboo Rice, the aboriginals' speciality. It's rice stuffed into a bamboo, and then tightly secured. In order to split open the bamboo to eat it, you have to hit it against a stone, the same way you would when you're hitting the hammer at the arcade to test your strength. Bamboo rice. Mine split open the first time I hit it. See how strong I am! Haha. I don't know what I did to get this cool effect. I didn't know it was even in my camera until just now.
After dinner, we headed to the hotel. My family put our luggages in the rooms and headed out again, to this night market nearby which sells only food, no clothes or any other things. Night market Bubble tea for only S$1.50. Although it may seem like it's the same size as Singapore's, but it's actually bigger.
Hualien is home to many aboriginals of this particular tribe whose name I forgot. When I say aboriginals, I know you all must be thinking, topless, only an underwear-looking bottom, white-chalk markings all over face and body, nose rings...lol. But no, the aboriginals here look like you and me. The tour guide told us that we can tell aboriginals and Taiwanese apart is by looking at their skin colour and listening to the language spoken. They're supposedly of a slightly darker skin colour than the Taiwanese, but seriously, while I was walking at the night market, I couldn't differentiate because they all look the same colour as the Taiwanese! And their language, they speak a language that may sound alittle like Malay or Tagalog(it is said that their ancestors are from South-East Asia region), but really, they all learnt Chinese in schools and most of them speak Chinese to their friends(especially to their Taiwanese friends) on the streets. So it was quite impossible to tell them apart. Well, I did notice that there were a few people who looked slightly darker than the others, but it was quite difficult to tell if they were aboriginals. Who knows, they might be Taiwanese who think that a tan looks more healthy on them and decided to go ahead with it? Lol.
And here's some of the cultures and traditions of that particular aboriginal tribe. When the sons of each household turn 18, they are sent by tribe chief to the mountains(there was this whole mountain range which belongs to the tribe) undergo a test where they are to try to find their way out of it. There are some wild animals(like wild boars, wild deers...) in the mountains, if they survive to pass the test, they would successful in become an adult. But if they don't survive, well, that's it. Cruel and scary.
Then there was another one: when a couple is about to get married, the guy has to carry the girl on his back and walk like this across the whole mountain range without putting the girl down. Only when they've reached the other side of the mountain, then he can put the girl down, and after that, they live happily ever after. Romantic, but I think the guy will be hunchback-ed before they even cross half the mountain range. Lol. The mountain range isn't like our Bukit Timah Hill where you can walk one round the foot of the hill in less than an hour, it still super huge(the next day, we went to the other side of the mountain by bus, it took us about 2-3 hours). I think a normal girl, after they're are out of the sight of the elders, would tell the guy to put her down and then they will run hand-in-hand to the other side of the mountain. See, more romantic right? And she won't have Hunchback of Notre Dame as her husband(because girls aren't Tinkerbell you know). HAHAHA.
Day 4, to be continued~
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First of all, I'm a Kpop fan, especially of 2PM, MBLAQ, 2NE1 and FT Island. Actually, I like Kpop, Korean entertainment, Korean dramas, Korean language, Korean culture, Korean food, basically anything Korean. So I guess you can call me a fan of Korea.
Second, eating is one of my favourite pastimes. I think my size says it all. =P I'm not picky about food but there's only one thing that I don't like eating, that is, sweet potato.
Third, I love sports. Been playing table tennis for about 6 years now, and floorball, 2 years. But I would have to say that I like floorball more. I don't know, but putting the ball into the goal, making an accurate pass, chasing after the ball, even sweating like a pig, gives me the sense of satisfaction that nothing else can.
Fourth, I can't live without the Internet. You can take away my phone, TV, mp3, bed, but please don't take away my Internet because...I just can't live without the internet.
Lastly, if there's anything I dislike, it would have to be making decisions. Where to go, what to eat, what to do next, which is nicer/better...I just don't like deciding. I always leave it to others because honestly, it doesn't matter where we're going, what we're eating or what we're doing to do. What matters most is the company and whether we're having a great time together.
Email: connii@hotmail.com
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Connie Tan
Nineteen
Singaporean
23 March 1991
National University of Singapore
FASS
Year 1
Floorball
Table Tennis
♥ Eusoff Hall
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Screen resolution: 1280 x 800 pixels
Established since: 16 November 2006
Stats:
visitors since 23 March 2008
Just The Way You Are (Acoustic Cover) - Boyce Avenue
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We bought peanut ice-cream, one of Suao's specialities. Costs about S$1.50. The ice-cream and peanut(which is grated from that block of compressed peanut you see above) is wrapped together in something like a popiah, and they put parsley together with the ice-cream and peanut too. I know most of you must be like, ewww...parsley! I dislike parsley too, but trust me, I couldn't taste the parsley when I ate the ice-cream. Weird, how did they discover that the taste of ice-cream and peanut will cover that of parsley?12.jpg)
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