Our breakfast. Finally, it came on a plate instead of hanging on the door! Beverage was a choice of coffee, tea or milk. I picked the tea. As I drank it, I thought it tasted bad. The reason was revealed when I reached the bottom. Undissolved powder! It's 3-in-1! 3-in-1 always tastes different from freshly-brewed tea!Even got pudding! Initially, I was sian-ed to see 水翁 for I know it as a tasteless fruit. BUT this one was different, so sweet! How come Taiwan's 水翁 is different?? So Singapore and Malaysia's are pirated version?
What's behind the backdoor?
What's upstairs?
The common areaFrom the higher floors. How nice to see the Pacific Ocean everyday if you live here! But typhoon come not nice lah.
Waa... check out those waves! All the more I don't want to be here during a typhoon.We quickly took our stuff (and the bottled water), checked out of the room and got into Mr Looi's yellow cab. Maps are provided. We only set off at 10.30am. Late! Late! The sky was a bit dark for late morning... worried lor...
Mr Looi: 托你们的福，今天不会下雨.
O yeah, I didn't know I have the ability to ward off rain.
Like with Meeky, I intended to leave the route planning to Mr Looi for the same reasons. He asked us if we wanted to visit 清水断崖 （Cing Shui Cliff), which has a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean, for an additional NT500. It wasn't in my plan, but now, NT500 didn't sound too expensive actually, so it's on!
Mr Looi told us how he received another booking for the same day and that he had originally wanted to let his student take us instead, but decided against it considering I needed special help. No! Even if I didn't need special help, he shouldn't! I'm pretty sure I got him first! We asked him how many days in a year he did Taroko tours and he answered 365! So popular can!
While on the road, it started raining, yikes!
First stop, buy bento from the shop My Looi always brings people to.
Self-service for the soupThere, we met another cab also taking tourists to Taroko. That was the couple Mr Looi almost gave us up for! Mr Looi chatted with them, continuing to do so even after the bento was ready. Almost wanted to tell him to come back and focus on US! The bento shop only provided chopsticks, but we prefer spoons, so he helped us get from the shop next door, which was so kind as to give a whole bag for free! Don't think this can ever happen in Sg lor haha. Mr Looi kept the bag in his car, saying other Singaporeans had asked for spoons before too. Weird that the shop serves soup but doesn't give spoons...
Spotted a water vending machine opposite the bento shop. So, Hualien's tap water is not safe?By now, the sky has started raining quite heavily. I said we should cut Cing Shui as it was raining and I doubted that we would be able to see anything, but Mr Looi assured me that not only would the rain stop by the time we got there, we would even get a good view. Skeptical ley... my brother said we should go since we were already here. Ok...
And we continued our journey towards Taroko. We passed by many small, simple houses on the streets. Mr Looi said the aborigines live here. O, and we saw not one, but several 曾记麻薯 shops on a single street! Wonder which tourists' trap it is, colonize the whole Hualien!
Ti or or, clouds low low, worried!We reached the entrance of Taroko and drove along some old roads along the mountains, which used to be the highway to Taipei. Mr Looi used to be a truck driver carrying construction material, making several trips between Hualien and North Taiwan daily. It's his good fortune to be accompanied by excellent scenery along the lonely drive.
By now, the rain had stopped!
清水断崖
小清水! Look at that blue water!
Finally, I see how seawater can be blue, as opposed to green/brown :X Cool temperature, windy, not-too-strong sunlight, fresh air, comfortable to linger there. O, got a lot of dragonflies, so not really. Mr Looi said if we liked small Cing Shui, all the more we must go to big Cing Shui. He offered to help us take a photo, so that the 3 of us could be in the same photo. My sister resisted, but she reluctantly relented after much coaxing from him. I think she was starting to feel quite irritated by him haha!We got back into the cab and traveled further down for 大清水. Upon reaching the prime spot, we found that we were not alone. Almost had no space to park. The cab was half sticking out into the road, but surprisingly, the cars that passed by were very careful and didn't honk or what, as if they expected it. But a while later, some cars left, so Mr Looi took the spot.
Look at this! Fantastic!
If you fall down this, better hope you don't survive!Mr Looi said some people would go to the rocks below to fish. So adventurous lor, I think climb down take half a day already, still got time to fish? Then another half a day to climb back up, the fish still can eat or not?
Oops I digress. Really pretty lor! Can see the horizon, nothing blocking! And no typhoon coming! Worth the extra money!
There's some low rocks perfect for a normal person to climb up and take a further elevated look. Mr Looi suggested that my siblings stand on it and he take a photo of them, like what he did for all his customers. My siblings looked at each other... and said no thanks, but he insisted. And insisted! So they did... reluctantly, haha!
太魯閣 Taroko National Park
Back to the cab for Taroko proper. Ｍｒ Ｌｏｏｉ ｄｒｏｐｐｅｄ ｕｓ ａｔ ｔｈｅ ｅｎｔｒａｎｃｅ ｆｏｒ ａ ｌｏｏｋ ｂｅｆｏｒｅ ｈｅａｄｉｎｇ ｉｎ． Ｎｏｔ ｍｕｃｈ ｗａｔｅｒ ｔｏｄａｙ and whatever water's there, was murky from yesterday's rain.
O, no worries, I didn't come here with shopping in mind.
The arch marking the entrance of Taroko. Mr Looi said it's mandatory to take a photo standing in front of it, and we did.砂卡礑步道 Shakadang Trail
The first trailBut I couldn't go down lah, could only see from afar.
My siblings went down for a look while Mr Looi stayed with me.
The ground wasn't too comfortable for wheeling too.This road boasts marble lions on both sides, each of a different pose.
We were not alone in those mountains. Tourists were everywhere, but still spacious enough for comfort.
長春祠, temple in the mountains! Purposely build a structure over the mini-waterfall, now look like waste water outlet! People could go up for a look, but obviously I couldn't.
Honestly, the writing not very pretty ley. But I understand the difficulty.
Old-looking bridge.
A resting area. Mr Looi's tourists usually eat here, which was nice when there's water. But got stairs, I couldn't.
People loved to get down there to do some jigsaw. Singapore longkang already dangerous enough. Water come then they know.Came to the dam, our lunch spot. See... very dangerous hor!
Sister's.
The self-service soup. MSG-free as usual!
Brother's. He has been craving for chicken ever since we landed, and he finally got his fix.
Mine. I was expecting some fish fillet, not a whole chunk complete with bones :\The lunch was good! Best lunchbox I've ever had! The wooden box helped too, better than the flimsy paper wrapper or fragile styrofoam.
Mr Looi got his lunch from there too. Come to think of it, he must have been eating it like, everyday? He left us alone while he ate, but the moment he was done, he
View of the murky after-rain water.
Marble, marble everywhere! No wonder so many people could have marble floors.
You don't want this to land on your head.
燕子口 Swallow Grotto
Off to 燕子口! This is one of the famed trails, evident from the volume of tour buses stopping here. Wonder if it's a day dedicated to Japanese and Korean tourists, an overwhelming number of them!
The pavement before the tunnel gradually narrowed as we went along. By the time we realized, my wheelchair was stuck with no space for maneuver. Reversing was not an option either, with the tourists streaming towards us. The only way out was an airlift onto the road!
Steep walls of layered rock.
Rocks with holes in them, perfect for swallows. Does anybody harvest their nests here?
Dark and cold in here...九曲洞 Tunnel of Nine Turns
Instead of dropping us off at the start of the trail like Mr Looi's other tourists and those tour groups, he dropped us in the middle of a road tunnel. He would meet us at the end of the trail.
Schools should bring their students out here for Geography field trips.
Red indian's face, 100% marble.
More wall scribbling.It was only about now that we saw the tour groups and realized that we should have been wearing helmets -_-;; Haha, cross fingers lor!
Got a bit sleepy here. The 3-in-1 tea didn't quite work.
Mr Looi told us to look out for a spot called 一线天, the narrowest point where the sky would appear to be reduced to a line. But err... cannot find ley...
More writing on wallsRapid, clean-looking water. Ah, how refreshing! More awake now!
慈母桥 Cihmu Bridge
Out of the Tunnel of Nine Turns, to Cihmu Bridge. This is another bridge with marble lions, but only at the ends.
Another look-alike picture. Guess? Give up? This is a frog. Neh, the green part of the rocks. It wears a pavilion crown.
The pavilion
The red bridgeHad a pee break at a quiet toilet. So in the middle of nowhere that I wonder if it functioned and most importantly, clean or not! Roomy, but slightly dirty lor, but still ok lah. I guessed it's quiet because tour groups usually stop at Tunnel of Nine Turns.
Maple leaves spotted outside! But it's the green season, so had to make do with admiring withering leaves.
祥德寺, temple in the mountains.白楊步道 Baiyang Trail
Mr Looi originally thought we would only make it up til Tunnel of Nine Turns. But seeing that we still had some time, he said we could go further to Baiyang Trail. He never thought we could make it this far! We walked too fast lah!
We were about to walk through a dark tunnel. Mr Looi came prepared with a torch as always. He passed it to us and told us to go ahead first and he would catch up with us after parking the cab. Uh, what, he's coming too?
Mr Looi lifted the barricades for us to pass. Never knew they could be removed like this!
Light at the end of the tunnel. Just follow it!
Ok, less than 1 lap on the track.Damp, cold and dark! Full speed ahead!
But we were still curious about what's on the ceiling. Mr Looi's torch cannot make it! Camera flash more powderful! Ooo... it's the turquoise same water.
Out of the tunnel, back into daylight! I now sure know the difference between still and circulating air. It's about 4.30pm now, sky's starting to turn dark already.Realization shortly after exiting the tunnel - Left my cushion on the cab!! The gravel path was so bloody hellishly rocky that I couldn't stand knocking my shoulders against the handle within minutes. WTF! Couldn't sit back lor!
Mr Looi caught up with us. Must be the fittest cabbie in the world, walk walk in Taroko's fresh air everyday! But he still commented that we walk very fast. Usually he caught up in the tunnel, not like us, so far outside. No lah, I think the others too slow!
We told him that his torch was dying. But my brother also told him that the torch could be wound manually. Seemed like Mr Looi didn't know. The torch was a gift from a tourist. So he was walking and winding the torch...
My brother tried to make the rocky path more bearable by using only the larger back wheels. Mr Looi offerred to help, but my brother declined.
Mr Looi had to point this out to us. An hornets' nest! No worries, it's across the river, on the cliff, not as near as it seems. The wonders of zoom.
We found another nest of an unknown insect attached to a branch nearer to us. Mr Looi never noticed its existence. He could show it to his future tourists!Finally, we came to the famed tunnel of 100% pitch darkness. No light at the end of the tunnel this time. It's so dark... that you can only describe it with dark. The rods in our eyes were helpless. Our only light sources were Mr Looi's 2 torches that were running low on battery. Alamak... never charge one ah? Since the tunnel was dark with nothing to see, we chiong through it again. Mr Looi said there were bats in here and asked if we would like to photograph them. What? No way! Later all fly out of the tunnel in our faces!
Daylight again! Next up was a hanging bridge. No fun ley, so stable!
Seen from the bridge. What does this look like?
Elephant drinking water. I got it at first try!Then it was a short, dark tunnel again. Took a photo of the cold, damp wall.
Eee dunno what lor. Maybe it will effervescent if I poured acid over it.水簾洞 Water Curtain Cave
The last stop of the day.
I could go no further than the entrance of the waterfall cave. Mr Looi offered to accompany me while my siblings went in. Wa scared lor, later he keep talking to me!
The park was very considerate to have some free ponchos for borrowing. If it were Singapore, sure sell 1 for $10! But it's definitely unhygienic. Try your luck.To my relieve, I was left alone. Got some shut-eye. Mr Looi was being the responsible citizen by gathering the ponchos left lying around and spreading them out to dry.
Inside, water dripped from the ceiling constantly. Anybody would be drenched in no time. My siblings emerged soon, but Mr Looi drove them back in, convinced that they hadn't explored the cave properly.
Check out this booby trap stone path! One wrong step and you will sink into the river.
A wrong step and you will slide down the most exciting water slide (complete with stones), ever.The camera kena water! But luckily still working.
It was already 5.30pm. No time to go any further. Time to retrace our steps.
A proper view of the hanging bridge.Took photos on the bridge. Mr Looi insisted that my sister pose by herself on the bridge - he practically snatched the camera from her, repeating "来啦,来啦!" although she kept saying don't want! Then he insisted that my siblings take a photo of themselves doing the jumping jack, saying he made every of his tourists do it. He's really courting death lor -_-;;
My sister found that the camera couldn't be turned off! The only way was to remove the battery. She concluded that Mr Looi must have broken it when he snatched the camera from her, claiming that he knew how to operate it, although he was flicking the switch on and off, trying to get the view-finder (he couldn't because it was in the wrong mode). But I thought it could be due to the water. So we had to make do with the faulty camera for the rest of the trip :(
Back to the cave again. Well, bats were supposed to be blind, so they shouldn't be able to see our super flash. Gingerly, my sister replaced the camera battery (sure goner if it kena water a second time) and took a photo of the bats looking scared.
Then it's the damn long and painful pebble path again. Again, Mr Looi practically wanted to snatch the wheelchair from my brother, but my brother wouldn't let him. He asked my brother if he's tired after a whole day of pushing, but my brother said he's ok.
The toilet break at another quiet place. Handicapped toilet available again! A bit dirty... but not disgusting.A couple were camping there. Even hung their clothes out to dry and cooking.
When we left Taroko, it was already 6.30pm, but looked like 7.30pm in Singapore. Too late for 七星潭 or visit to a random beach. So what's for dinner? Should it be at 南滨夜市 or some eatery recommended by Mr Looi? The food quantity was limited and might be sold out, as it was yesterday. He called up the shop and indeed it was, as it was considered late already. If go night market, also very rush as we had to catch a train to 礁溪 at 8.45pm. So Mr Looi suggested dapaoing food to eat on the train.
He drove us to a shop selling 水饺.
While waiting for my brother to get the dumplings, my sister saw a tau huay shop and her eyes went "DING". She had been talking about eating tau huay at the Taipei Main Station Underground Mall since day 1, but the mall wasn't in our itinerary, so I said it might be now or never lor. With that, she went to buy it.We passed by the 牛扎糖 shop that I heard about on Tripadvisor, along 軒轅路. But no place to stop the cab ley, couldn't buy :(
Then to another shop near the train station to buy 虱目鱼汤. I have seen this fish soup all over Taiwan, now finally going to try it.
曾记麻薯 was nearby. My sister went to buy some fresh muah chee. See whether it's really so good! Long queue!Final stop, the train station. As my brother wouldn't let Mr Looi touch my wheelchair, he helped with the bags. He tried to help us change our tickets to the handicapped seats, but couldn't. We paid him the fare of NT2700, bade him goodbye and went through the gates. Once again, we walked across the tracks. Really tempted to stop to take a photo, but it's more impossible than last night with our arms full of hot food and muah chee. Sad!
My sister thought it's good riddance to Mr Looi, but little did she know, he managed to get himself to the platform to help us! Super best friends with the train station staff!
I liked Mr Looi's service, but my companions thought he was over-enthu. For me, experience is very important, to be able to know where I can or cannot go. Knowing when to leave people alone is also important too, to avoid annoying my companions :P
Dinner time! The takeaway bowls came with peel-off plastic covers, very convenient. It helped that the train was quite stable too.
Check out the fish soup! Sweet, fresh, no fishy smell at all. Slurped it all up! How come only bought 1 bowl?
100% meaty dumplings for NT180 only. Heavenly. 1 bowl only??
NT30. Normal lor. So my sister still wanted to try the Taipei Main Station one.
Now for the muah chee. Chewy, don't stick to your teeth, soft... simply DELICIOUS. It's nothing like those packet muah chee. Once you have tasted these, you will never want to eat the packet ones again, ever!
Just look at the thin skin and thick fillings. Mmmm...
Don't mind even if the skin looked thick. The skin was excellent too! Anyway, the filling was just not in the centre.My sister bought only 6 (NT110) since they only could last 1 day and we couldn't bring them back home.
Sister: Not to worry! I bought the packet version! (Showed us 2 bags)
Wei... sorry, this is sweet potato lor... NT100 each.Had we known it's so nice, we would have bought more right now and stuffed ourselves silly till constipated.
Called up the hotspring minsu owner to confirm our arrival and arrange for pickup. Paiseh ah, arriving so late.
Our routemap:
花莲 -> 羅東 -> 宜兰 -> 礁溪
礁溪乡, of 宜兰县
The journey was a 1hr 7min ride through the mountain. The train station looked really basic compared to Taipei and Hualien. It was also quite deserted... not a staff in sight to show us the wheelchair's way out of the platform... if any! But we managed to find one eventually lah. Somewhere in the middle of the platform, was a lift that took us down to track-level, then walk across 1 track, and up again. Chance for photo again! But paiseh lah, the staff and minsu driver were waiting for us ley.
Hello to the hotspring town in East Taiwan!
Found a cab waiting for us. So the hotspring boss called a cab for us instead of coming personally. Free cab, yay!
The minsu's lady boss came out to welcome us.
Here's the legendary wide staircase. Seemed like the standard staircase in Taiwan is very very narrow... This was only just enough for my brother to piggyback me.The lady boss saw our big yellow muah chee shopping bag and advised us to consume the muah chee by today. Wa so serious? Ok will do! So the remainder shall be supper instead of breakfast!
The second storey was a common area with a kitchenette. Some middle-aged men were entertaining themselves the traditional Japanese way, playing music and singing Japanese songs rowdily. Not sure if they were Japanese or Taiwanese. I couldn't imagine Japanese coming to Taiwan to do this. And they had better not sing through the night
It was a few steps more to our 一家歡樂 room. Siblings-only also allowed to stay here.
Room access was by card. Most high-tech for this trip.
Big wall but small tv.
Sofa for nuahing. Sleeping on the floor tonight.
Checking out the tub... got Japanese style wooden stool and scoop. 3 rubber animals for entertainment. Window for scenery, but couldn't see anything at night lah.
Toilet with facial tissue for toilet paper. The sign above it said to throw the paper and sanitary pads into the dustbin. Well, if they had used toilet paper instead, it might not really cause choking.My sister found packet UCC coffee on the minibar. Kop all!
I love the deco! Everything is true to the pictures. The room was very clean, especially the tub which I'm very concerned about hehe. Very friendly lady boss, who made sure we were comfortable before leaving us alone.
My sister forgot about the card access and locked herself out while my brother was in the bathroom. Fortunately, she found the lady boss who gave us another access card.
After bathing, it's hotspring time! We filled the tub to the brim, forgetting that our body volume would displace some water. Sorry water... But come to think of it, how is it that there's so much hotspring water to support so many hotels? And people like us, wasting water? Unless they indeed recycle the water as rumoured... And, do they have a separate pipe for tap water and hotspring water? Or they are really the same?
The 3 of us could fit into the tub together, if we just sat there, that is. The temperature was like warm bathing water. I had expected it to be warmer. No kick ley like that.
Had fun with the rubber animals. The lady boss offered us fruits. Giant cherry tomatoes with sour plum powder. Hotspring with food on the tub-side, like royalty :D Thought we wouldn't have any fibre today! Something to help move the sticky gooey muah chee along XD
Walau what's with Taiwan? First the 水翁, now even the sour plum powder was the best I have ever tasted! Can dapao some home?The soaking didn't help to alleviate tiredness. But my skin did become smoother hehe.
Finished up the remainder of the muah chee. Brushed teeth with the tap water that had a tinge of saltiness. Eww I won't be drinking it from the tap. Then reluctantly went to sleep. Time flies.
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