Taiwan Trip - Day 4

I didn't really plan where to go today, but instead, left it to Meeky as I thought he would have a better idea on how to plan the time and which places were accessible. Meeky arrived on time and we set off on his yellow Toyota Wish (all cabs are yellow, by the way). He suggested starting with Yehliu, followed by Jiufen and ending at Keelung. On!

On the highway, Meeky complimented Singapore for her heatproof in-vehicle units, unlike Taiwan's that will malfunction in the heat ^_^;; And how Taiwanese will protest if they had to pay toll.

Meeky also congratulated us as it wouldn't rain today. Why was he so sure? Because the meteorological service said so. Unlike Singapore's which was often inaccurate, Taiwan had to be very precise or else people would protest and make the boss lose his job. But on a serious note, it's important for farming and fishing.


野柳 Yehliu Geopark
Meeky dropped us off at the entrance and told us to give him 2 missed calls when we were ready to leave. Immediately, a lady came up to us to advertise her seafood restaurant and gave us a namecard. Ok, will consider.

Home to strange rock formations caused by sediment deposit followed by gradual erosion from the Pacific Ocean. Entrance fee was NT50 each, but free for me (again!). Busloads of tourists and school children again! I can't imagine bringing kids to such a dangerous place; They might just fall over the edge! But my worries about being overrun by kids were unfounded. They were just going to the Ocean Park. Wonder got dolphins or not.

The wind ah, SUPER BIG AND COLD! If I were standing, confirm fly away already. Didn't dare to wear my cap in case it flew away like it did in Wufenpu. So wear cape lor. I couldn't get close to most of the rock formations as I had to stick to the pavement. I think I was more interested in the sea than the rocks.

The dark part is very rough. Disastrous to rub hard against it.

Swirling water did this.
Creepy crawlie.

Looking all over for the famous 女皇头 Queen's head formation and gave up. Then we turned around and I spotted it!
Surrounded by tourists! I should have used that as an indicator! Now, I thought it wouldn't be possible to make out the shape from such close proximity. My position must have been better. Her neck is getting slimmer, how much longer would she last?

Went to the toilet at the entrance. Windy and dirty is an irritating combination. The toilet paper lining kept being blown away.

At about noon, we thought we were ready to leave and gave 2 missed calls to Meeky, but then we wanted to go to the tourists' trap 野柳特产区 Gift of Yeliou to take a look. It's an area selling local produce, like cuttlefish, seaweed and ikan bilis. There's even cooked food like soup noodles and fishballs. Almost hungry, but not appetizing to us ley.
I thought I would just see see only, but we came to a stall selling battered and fried seaweed that's really crunchy (sampling welcomed), so we got a packet for NT100. We went past the many cuttlefish stalls and came to the last one. We sampled some, and couldn't help buying :D~~ At the stall opposite, the owner was grumbling at a China tourists bargaining, something about them barganing so hard that there's nothing to earn, so no more discount.

As we walked out of the shops, an old auntie followed us all the way to our cab to pester us to buy ikan bilis. Sorry lah, where got people buy ikan bilis all the way from Taiwan one? She even pestered Meeky, who declined really tactfully. Experienced liao lor! Have to, he can't be buying ikan bilis everytime he comes, right?


九份 Jiufen
We asked Meeky for lunch recommendation. He said there's seafood nearby, or we could wait till we got to Jiufen, where there's lots of food. On!

Just as we left Yeliu, we saw a couple having their wedding outdoor photoshoot. Wind so big wor, their hair how?

We passed by some shops selling betel nuts, manned by the betel nut ladies. Meeky asked if we would like to try betel nuts. He could treat us to some. But we didn't think we would like it. Not to forget the risk of cancer...

Meeky dropped us off outside a shop next to 7-11, opposite 李仪饼店.

We will shop here later! Attack the inside first!

My worries about Jiufen being difficult to navigate was unfounded. Yes, it's built on a hill and famous for its steps, but the tourists' trap are located along a street that's conveniently step-free, all slopes, although some parts can get quite steep and I can totally imagine lone wheelchair pushers rolling backwards/speeding down.

Thirsty. Bought fresh 芭乐 (think it's pink guava) juice. Yummy! Reminded me of how Mos Burger pink guava juice used to taste.

We came across the first item on our to-try list - 黑糖糕. I asked for a sample, but no sampling allowed :( So we bought a piece for NT10. So cheap! If I had known, I wouldn't have bothered asking for a sample.
After taking a bite, it's BLEAH. Tasted like 发糕, something high on my condemn list. All of us hated it. If those raving reviews had mentioned it's like 发糕, you can bet it would be on my avoid list.

Walked down the street, following the crowd. Got shops selling freshly-ground almond powder, cuttlefish, fishballs, pastries, 花生糖 (in huge bricks), tourisy souvenirs... etc, and many repeats of the same wares at other shops. The crowd was swelling fast from tour groups. There were even scooters, like in Wufenpu.

I stopped at a shop selling 牛扎糖 nougats. Sampling allowed. Nice, but I heard of a famous one in Hualien, and Hualien is supposed to be famous for nougats, so I decided to get them in Hualien instead.

Weird slab of green. Got brown version behind.

Bbq giant mushrooms! Look at how they shrank! Should have tried it.

Snails. When you bbq it with the shell on, it simply doesn't look half as appetizing as escargots.

We saw countless shops selling fishballs for cooked food. And they were all full. So we were convinced we could only have fishballs for lunch. It would be the next shop with seats.

Ok, this one. Tried to impress by plastering the walls with photos with celebrities, which we later found to be the lady boss' 自恋 photos, some with celebrities, then repeat the same photos many times over.

Didn't know what to order, so we all chose the 五味综合鱼丸汤 with noodles, and cabbage and tofu. Just fill in the order form and pass it to them. The fishballs were meaty and bouncy, soup was sweet without MSG.

Fresh out of our lunch, we saw:
The famous 草仔果! Faster joined the ever-extending queue! A few neighbouring shops were selling the same thing, but nobody one lor!

Spotted buckets of "paint". It took me a while to realize that it's the cao zai gao shop soaking rice, at a rubbish dump-like place with the words "丢". "垃圾", no less.

Continued walking... then we saw the famous 赖阿婆芋圆. Bought 1 bowl to share. Luckily bought 1 only, because the serving was huge! And my brother didn't like rubbery stuff.
Chewy, but did not stick to my teeth. The ball itself was tasteless, but there's where the sweet soup came in. Mmm~
They have 2 unit, 1 with atmosphere, another so lok kok that you won't believe they are really the same.

Look at the contrast!


Seems like duck body parts is a Taiwanese thing.

Saw many teahouses, where people could admire the scenery over tea. Found them expensive, and I was worried about drinking too much water.

So we continued walking and found several spots where people could bring their own tea and admire the scenery for free.
DIY cotton candy! But out of order I think.

Go crazy over huge bags of tang cong!

I think this is sotongball... forgot already.

Sampled some pastries, but didn't buy, scared excess baggage.

Delicious ice-cream with peanut sugar in popiah skin!

Sampled this muah chee, nice! Bought it for ourselves and giving to my colleagues. Something that everybody can get a piece without breaking my piggy bank. Cheap and nice, NT100 per box only. Lasts 1 week refrigerated, 10 days frozen. I figured I still had time even though there were still a few days more to my holiday.

We retraced our steps to go back. I stopped by a shop selling almond powder and sampled it... and finally bought a tin.

Wanted to go to the toilet outside, but my sister said it's too small and crowded. By now, there were several tour buses along the narrow road and people everywhere, especially middle aged and elderly people. Elderly tour group?

Time for 李仪饼店! Can buy a lot, since we had Meeky to ferry them all back for us! Buy buy buy!

Pretty sales assistants, but no sampling ley...


黄金博物园 Gold Ecological Park
Gave Meeky 2 missed calls and he came. As we still had time, he suggested that we go to Gold Ecological Park just further up the road. Entrance was free if we produced any receipt from Taiwan. Cool! We have collected a stack already!

Meeky mentioned that he's actually spoiling the market by charging less than the standard NT3200. Well... to think I thought NT3000 was expensive :X


First thing was to grab a drink! There was a row of shops and we bought from the first shop, manned by an old woman who couldn't understand Mandarin -_-;;

Our drink. Can drink more water since there's a usable toilet here.

So many people buying umbrella. I thought people would never buy such things in a tourists' attraction.

The rest of the shops looked deserted. So glad we had our fill in Jiufen. I think the rest did the same too, so nobody wanted to eat by the time they got here.

The moment we stepped into the building housing exhibits, we got approached by a over-friendly staff who offered to show us around, despite our repeated hints to leave us alone. She helped us pressed the lift and tailed us in the exhibit hall -_-;; Plenty of rocks there, nothing much. Then she showed us the wheelchair access to the entrance of the Crown Prince Chalet, which was staff-only. O... that explained why she had to stick to us.

The Crown Prince Chalet was a chalet built specially for the Japanese Crown Prince, but he never utilized it. I didn't go up, because no shoes allowed, had to walk. So I waited outside with the staff, while my siblings went in.


It wouldn't be so bad if the real things looked half as cute.

The staff recommended that we go to another part of the park. It's accessible by a flight of stairs, but for us, we would have to drive round the mountain and take a 7min walk. So we miss-called Meeky while walking out. On the way, we saw a long queue forming for the tour of the Japanese houses along the street. So long... don't want lah.

Meeky cabbed us round, pointing out the various mountains along the way. Got 茶壶山 (supposed to look like a teapot, but I cannot tell lah), 鸡笼山 (supposed to look like chicken cage) etc, and people would regular come scale them. We stopped at the end of the road and we were on our own.

It was already after 4pm and the museum closes at 5pm, walk faster! The path was a single-lane road. Nothing much along the way. Got teahouse, view of rooftops and an uncle.

A puppy that didn't react despite my repeated cat mimics. Maybe never see cat before.
Tar roof, very common there

Abandoned shrine

Gim!

The cooling wind made the sun and distance seem like nothing. With our pace, we took less than 7min.

We spent some time trying to take photo with the mini-waterfall, but decided it's wiser to do it later in view of the opening hours.

Gold mine tunnel which we didn't go. Too bumpy and too late.

The exhibitions.

A woman beside us asked her companion if this was a real person -_-;; How to maintain that posture? So amusing lor, this woman.

The biggest gold

A decorative pool outside, full of poisoneddead insects like dragonflies.

The ultimate bumpy path to the accessible toilet that has just been washed and wet all over. Every wheel rotation made me go "dedede".

Beware!

We miss-called Meeky again and walked back to the area where he dropped us.

Graffiti

Dog family barking at the hill.


黄金瀑布 Gold Waterfall
Totally on the way, so we had to go.

When I got there, I was like, that few streams of water trickling down some rocks made it a waterfall?? Didn't see any fish in it either haha. All kena heavy metal poisoning liao.

Only after I got back to Singapore then my sister said she now knew why it's called gold waterfall. Only in the later part of the year when there's more water, when the sun comes at an angle, it looks like golden waterfall.


阴阳海 Yinyang Sea
On our way to Keelung, we passed by Yinyang Sea. Late already, so we didn't stop. Well, it's just yellow and blue sea water due to erosion.


基隆庙口 Keelung Miaokou Night Market
It's dinner-time!

Keelung is famous for seafood. But like not cheap ley... boohoohoo.

The crowd swelled really quickly, with tour groups from Amway China partly responsible. They were eager to spend their stacks of 消费券 (I thought only Taiwanese were entitled). Of course there were takers, many stalls accept them.

Came to a stall selling pouches and wallets. The stall owner kept repeating that all must go and stall will close once sold out, so selling cheap. Weird brand, but quality was good, worth the NT300. I picked a checkered pouch and asked for a new one, but the stall owner so attitude lor, said no more, only one, without even bothering to glance at me, and went back to repeating his sales pitch. Sometimes, the deal is so good that you can forgive the shit you got before handing over your money.

But I don't really fancy cold seafood. Many are cold.

Even got pufferfish! But dunno they know how to cut or not, don't trust.

Sea urchin!

So this is the temple, responsible for the name of the whole stretch of fun. So small nia.

My sister and I wanted Alaskan crab. The stall ushered us inside a shop. Hmm never knew the stall was just the shop front.

Takopachi from another stall. Bought from wrong stall, more ex than Singapore!

Fried noodles. I didn't intend to order any carbo, didn't know my brother did :\ And it wasn't nice...

Beef and fibre of the day.

Horrible! Dry and tasteless! Worse than what Sg Giant has! I wonder if they used it to cook crab soup before serving it to us! And it cost a bloody NT600! Ripoff!

A bunch of guys were blocking our way.
Us: 请让一让!
Guys: (No reaction)
I overheard them speaking Singlish.
Me: 'Scuse me!
And they sprang apart! Fellow countrymen!

Fantastic, real orange juice.

The crab soup we got from another stall was a comforter, very delicious! But my sister had to add pepper into every single soup, so my brother and I drank first before letting her destroy the sweet soup.

Went crazy here! Really pretty designs going from NT100. Best of all, I could change to silver hooks at no additional cost. The sales assistant even told me that steel wouldn't pose a problem to me. I think that explained why not all cheap earrings gave me an allergic reaction. Spent NT380 for 3 pairs, no more earrings for the rest of the year!

Didn't eat a lot, as many are seafood stalls and they weren't exactly cheap. Bought papaya milk, but still not enough papaya.


At about 8pm, we left for Taipei. We asked Meeky when the results for the lottery was and where we could get it. We realized that results was out on the day we bought it! So it's too late to find newspapers lah! We asked him to show us the supermarket nearest to our hotel. It's a 24-hr Carrefour, cool!

Thanks to Meeky for making this day so smooth an enjoyable.


Carrefour
While getting the keys to our room, we asked the hotel guy whether he still had Tuesday's papers.
Guy: 收回去了耶!
Us: Har...
Guy: 要找新闻吗?
Us: 要找大乐透!
Guy: (smiling) 啊,你们有买啊?
Us: 希望旅行变免费嘛!
Guy: 我帮你们找找.

The night was still young, so we went shopping. Wanted to drop by the lottery shop to get the results, but it was closed already. At Carrefour, we bought a cushion to counter the bumps and fruits to prevent constipation. And beer of course! Hi-chew was so cheap there, forgot how much, but regretted not buying more.

Escape chute in the middle of the supermarket. Wonder where the user will land, in the rubbish dump?

On our way back to the hotel, my brother entered Family Mart to buy 青岛啤酒 while my sister and I waited outside. A drunk guy staggered towards us, so dangerous!

After we returned to our room, the hotel guy called us to give us the lottery results. No subsidy for us sigh!


Laundromat
We had accumulated 4 days of clothes, time for recycling! There's a 24hr self-service laundromat right across our hotel. My brother went, while my sister and I stayed in the room.
Vending machine selling washing powder and softener. Check out the clothes-burglars! Colored somemore!

The large washing machine we used.

Dryer. Bra straps came out stretched and seriously coiled like the phone handset! Thought they were destroyed! But will return to normal upon cooling, heng. 1.5hrs spent in all, with drying taking the bulk.

My sister and I tried the cao zai guo. The skin tasted something like ang ku kueh. I like! My sister thought so-so only. Kept the rest in the fridge.

Observed that my pores were all frozen shut. My face was also less oily than before. My sister commented that it probably just meant all the dirt were trapped below and they would be back with a vengeance when our pores reopen back home -_-

While channel-surfing, we found the porn channel :O Then nearby was a channel selling a herbal drug for impotency. The advertisement was hilarious! Uncle eat already become superman kaboom! OMG XD

Late already, passed out.