12 May 07
Hua Lien
Taroko

Managed to catch about two hours plus of sleep before rushing to check out of the hotel. Last met up with Panny for breakfast before heading off to the train station in a hurry. She wanted to ta bao some Mei Er Mei sandwiches for us, saying that its authentic Taiwanese breakfast and is a must-try over here. Sad to say there isnt any Mei Er Mei stall around Xi Men Ding area, so we settled with some other food instead. Just hastily finished the breakfast, half run half walk to find the train gate before I turned to bid goodbye with Panny and the dudes. Luckily everything is so action packed, else it will be harder to say goodbye.

I kinda felt a bit lonely without the dudes accompanying us for the remaining journey. Although they have been strangers to me seven days ago, I'm glad that we kicked off pretty well in Taipei. Left with five gals on this journey also transform me to be in auto alert mode - have to be more careful and need to recognise directions better heh.

As this was our first time on train, we were kinda puzzled as to why our seats were taken when we boarded it. Figured that the passengers who took our seats were old folks, we decided not to pursue the matter further. Had it been strong youngsters who took our seats, we would confront them coz its not easy to sacrifice our beauty sleep to go to the train station at 4.15am to get the tix ya know?

Luckily half way through the old folks alighted and we were able to claim back our seats... else our poor feet would be complaining heh. Finally reached Hua Lien and called the Hua Lien uncle, who told us to come out from the front gate. There were two gates in the train station, one called the front gate and the other of course, called the back gate. Not knowing which gate was the front and which was the back, we just came out from any gate that looked like a gate. Alas we got it wrong and had to detour back! It was not an easy feat to carry my luggage to walk around ya know, simple reason being that the wheels had fallen off and I cant wheel it! Arrgh...

Hua Lien uncle drove us to homestay to throw our luggages, followed by bringing us to try Bian Shi - a kind of food that looks like dumpling. Initially he ordered one bowl for each of us, where we had politely refused because its too huge a serving! Just two bowls for all five of us to share will do heehee.

A long drive up the Taroko where I thought we would be rewarded with some awesome views. Kinda disappointed... probably coz I have heard so much stories about how beautiful Taroko is, and sub consciously I'm comparing it with the parks in the states. I guess they are beautiful in their own ways, which I havent truly find the way to appreciate Taroko. Nevertheless its the great company that counts hee.


Hua Lien uncle said this is a must take scenery before embarking the journey


Casual


Me and Mei Xuan


Just had to dip my legs in the water and sit on the stone to relax haha! I enjoy such simple pleasures in life hee.


Jun Pei and Yingjie on the rocks


Err... Suhui acting as ????


Mei Xuan likes this 'bridge'


Yeah I cant even recall I took this shot!


Uncle told us that we'll be able to see waterfall further down the drive. Okok patiently we waited... never did we imagine that the waterfall is soooooo puny hahahah!

As the sky turned dark, its about time that we leave Taroko to go to a beach. Nothing much to see coz its too dark already. Next we proceeded for our dinner at a night market. Although its just a touch-and-go kinda feeling in Taroko, it still felt great to be away from the heavily polluted night markets heh. Breathing in the fresh air makes me feel alive and kicking hahaha.

The night market in Hua Lien is super duper small compared to those in Taipei. The size of it can be comparable with the pasamalam that we had back home. Also bought some mua chee to bring back home hehe. Since we were only going to stay over in Hua Lien for a night, we ventured to other shopping areas as well.