Taiwan Day 2: Hualien-Taipei Qi Xing Tan (七星潭).

The last stop in Hualien before heading back to Taipei was Qi Xing Tan (七星潭).

Pebble beach and not sand.

The pebbles have some very unique 'prints' on them too.

Time to go catch out 1750 train back to Taipei.

Actually, the 1750 train would give us ample time to grab dinner and do a little mochi shopping in Hualien City.

But on the way out of Taroko, there was a massive jam.

We had initially thought it was a tour/school bus that was causing the hold up but as we passed the stationary vehicle, we found out what really happened.

All roads in Taroko is pretty tight as it's serving 2 way traffic and when vehicles are parked on the road - traffic comes to a stand still.

A falling rock hit the windscreen of the car causing a big hole on the driver side windscreen.

I think it was lucky that it had hit the driver side as there's the steering wheel to block the impact.

So, due to the delay, we could only pick up some quick bites and eat them on the train.

Zha Dan Chong You Bing!

Direct translation - Bomb Onion Oil Pancake.

I asked for the egg inside to be fully cooked as it will be messy if it's not.

D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!!!

Their xiao long bao.

The skin is like char siew bao.

I didn't really fancy this =X

Same fillings as our xiao long bao.

Once we reach the Hualien train station, we were running for the train!

I zzz-ed all the way back to Taipei after eating.

When we reached Taipei, Yong said he was hungry -_-"

So I brought him to the famous Ah Zhong Mian Xian to tabao.

There are pushcarts selling food at XMD once nightfalls and I found the Di Kwa Balls!

Erhm..it's deep fried sweet potato balls.

The small pack was NT20 =)

Yong was hooked on this too.

First attempt at Taiwan beer and it was Taiwan beer for the rest of the nights.

And!

Since this was Aug 27!

How can I not get a cake?

We did the same thing in Bali last year.

Cheesecake from Starbucks.

Tasted really different from SG's one.

Very nice though.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Taiwan Day 2: Taipei-Hualien (Part 4 - Swallow Grotto 燕子口).

We drove further in to Taroko Gorge and arrive at Swallow Grotto 燕子口.

See the suspension bridge in this photo?

This was the old bridge that the aborigines used to travel to get across in the old days.

I don't think it's in use anymore but I'm not too sure.

Looks near in this photo right?

That's cause we zoomed in.

Try finding it in the photo below.

This is the other suspension bridge across Liwu River but it was closed to public.

Sun was really bright and shining into my eyes.

Walked into the shade so it was slightly better.

See the bus behind me, this trail is just next to the traffic.

And, although it was narrow, it was serving 2-way traffic.

What's worse was that people park their cars on the road side to alight and take photos.

This caused a jam and the bus driver had to announce with his speakers that no parking was allowed at this stretch of road.

That's what I call telling them off!

Hahahah...

Swallow Grotto trail which runs about a half kilometer starting from the entrance to Swallow Grotto to the Jinheng Bridge.

Here, you can enjoy the sights of the Liwu River from nearly straight above the water, the potholes on the cliff faces, the springs sprinkled along the lower parts of the walls.

I asked Yong why this place is called Swallow Grotto?

He told me should be the potholes on the cliff faces that resembles Swallow homes.

Maybe it was true that Swallows used to make this place their homes but I didn't see any while we were there.

Swallow grotto is probably the narrowest portion of the Liwu River where the 2 gorge walls are at its closest.

See all the rocks in the Liwu River?

These proves that although serene, there are still loose rocks that will fall off the walls.

This is a walking trail and it was so hot that I had to run to the shaded area.

Another famous rock formation was the chieftain face.

Can you spot it?

The face is a lil white with the chieftian hat.

Nose, mouth and eyes!

Try my luck at kissing him.

Might not have another chance.

Drove a little further to another vantage point to see how close the cliffs were.

I can't really see the separation of the 2 gorge walls here.

This is a little better.

It's that close.

The next post will be slightly lengthy as I try to cover the remaining attractions in Taroko Gorge.

Taiwan Day 2: Taipei-Hualien (Part 3 - Eternal Spring Shrine 長春祠 ).

Remember in the previous post, we took a photo of the entrance of the Central Cross-Island Highway?

Well, this important highway did come at a price.

212 personnel (military veterans) died during the construction of this Highway (1956~1960).

The second stop was to visit the Changchun Shrine 長春祠 also known as the Eternal Spring Shrine that was built to commerate them.

Liwu River that's pretty much dry during our trip there.

This tunnel was really dark so we didn't venture further but I do believe its for vehicles and not humans. =X

This was the entrance to the shrine.

Very serene and peaceful.

The black plague you see contains the names of the 212 deceased.

Just to show you how 'big' the tunnel was.

The reason why this place is called Eternal Spring Shrine is because there's a spring water outlet within the shrine that flows all year round.

Since it's summer, the best way to cool down was to go for a dip!

Mr Lu even changed to his slippers and kept egging us to go down the small pond.

The water was really cold and numbing at first.

This is probably something you can't do during winter.

Some shots in the pond.

After our 10-15 minute dip, we were all cooled down and ready to go.

Mr Lu told us that he had a bunch of ang moh that came, had their dip and refused to come up till about an hour or so later as it was so cooling in the hot summer.

View from the shrine.

Walking back out to the taxi at the connecting bridge.

As you can see, I've changed to slippers too =)

Mr Lu said I was well prepared but I didn't know we would go into the pond!

Some locals even brought their dog to let them cool down by toweling them.

I absolutely love this photo.

Another one.

You can see the spring water flows through the shrine and into Liwu River.

Moving on further into Taroke Gorge in the next post.

Taiwan Day 2: Taipei-Hualien (Part 2 - Taroko Park Visitor Center & Shakadang Trail).

Hualien County is the largest county in Taiwan and is located on the mountainous eastern coast of Taiwan.

Hualien was also known as Kilai(奇萊) by aborigines, "Turumoan"(多羅滿) by the Spanish who came for sand gold, Huilan"(洄瀾) by the Chinese and then finally Hualien by the Japanese.

We came to know from Mr Lu that Taiwan was also once ruled by the Japanese which explains why most websites have a Japanese language version.

The difference was that the Japanese made major contributions to Taiwan instead of squeezing them dry.

The tunnels, dam and hydro power generator which are currently still in use are some examples of Japanese built remnants.

The Liwu River behind me is dry as there was no typhoon recently (woohoo).

The entrance to the Central Cross-Island Highway.

Basically, Taroko Gorge is the central mountain range of Taiwan and one of the 7 national parks of

Taiwan.

It spans the counties of Hualien, Taichung, and Nantou.

Taroko, means the "magnificent and beautiful" in the language of the local Truku aboriginal tribe.

Headed to the Taroko National Park Visitor Center to find out more about the park.

There were many kids there!

Hopefully, their outdoor teaching method to the younger generation would payoff in maintaining the natural beauty in their country.

 

Our packed lunch which ranged from NT60 to NT80.

The basic box of half an egg, toufu and vege.

Yong's deep fried fish is in the seperate paper bag.

My chicken thigh lunch box which I could NOT finish!

Where we had lunch.

Look at the natural landscape that accompanied us during lunch.

Mr Lu's yellow taxi which he complained that although it was light in color, it still captured heat.

His 3rd wife was white simply to avoid capturing heat during summer.

After the lunch stop, we headed to the first pit stop in Taroko National Park.

Shakadang Trail 砂卡砀步道, also known as Mysterious Valley Trail 神秘谷.

The trail is on the right, in between the lush greenery if you can see from the above photo.

The whole trail can take up to 3 hours but we only did the 20 minute walk to one of the benches as you have to walk back the 20 minutes.

Requested by yours truly to show you how low the rocks are.

This was one part of the trail that was a like a pass.

There was a board saying that this pass was used by the aborigine to get to and fro places required.

Also, this pass was really windy.

It's like a wind passage way.

The lush greenery with the rocks and the bluish green water.

Think the heat got to my head..haha...

Still sane..

We rested at the benches and took some photo.

One might think it would be humid and hot in there but it was pretty windy.

The water bottle (多喝水) had a Sanrio character on it!

Very cute!

Heading back to the start of the trail.

The red bridge was the linkway to the entrance of the Shakadang trail.

Looks really impressive here.

What's more impressive is that there are about 100 marble chinese lions on the bridge.

And those lions have different expressions on them.

Really cute!

The chinese lions I mentioned.

So cute right?

Also, these are all made of marble!

Reason being that Taroko Gorge has it's own marble rocks and we saw plenty when we were there.

Since it's a nature reserve, we can't take it out =P

See how long the bridge was?

This ends the Shakadang Trail bit at Taroko.