That morning I got my 5 days unlimited train pass which was valid on normal & semi-express trains, after some difficulties (hehe, luckily I managed to convince the staff!). But travelling with the pass, I wasn't allowed to reserve seats, so I got chased around and finally had to stand till everyone alighted at Ruifang (for Jiufen). It was 4 hours train ride to Hualien, and I was fortunate to be able to find a seat for over half the journey! I was also starving by noon time and fortunately they sold bento lunch in the train! I got mine after reserving one, apparently they were selling like hotcakes and it was quite impossible to get them if you were at the last few cabins. Delicious, I tell you!
When I arrived at Hualien finally, the weather was incredibly hot! I finally found the hostel, Colorful Taiwan, after walking for like 10 minutes, it seemed forever with that nearly 10kg backpack! The staff was kind enough to pour me a drink, and helped me settle in. It was ridiculous the weather, I didn't even want to head out... I surfed the internet, had a nice shower and did my laundry. Not long after, I saw a Hong Kong girl in the same room, we chatted and she was travelling alone too. She was keen to go out, if I wanted to tag along, so I agreed. She suggested cycling to the coast... "Did I hear cycling??" My mind went blank, because I haven't cycled for the longest time (if you read my post earlier) and I was such an accident-prone cyclist. But instead of being a wet blanket, I decided to give it a go. Then that was 4 hours of hell. LOL. Seriously.
But that certainly has helped me overcome my fear and I think I will try cycling in Singapore again! It was still an exciting night nevertheless, we went to 南滨海岸 where we saw someone litting a sky lantern (oooooh, I so wanna try next time!!) and also had stinky tofu at the local night market. It was served with pickled cabbage and chilli, unlike the ones in Hong Kong. We then cycled on to the city centre to hunt for more food as my companion wasn't keen about the food at the night market. So we shared some 小笼包 (little basket buns)， 香酥鸡 (fried pieces of chicken with mint leaves) and I had my first shaved ice, matcha flavoured! I had to thank Stella, my companion, for remembering the way back because I was terrible without a map. So we finally got back, and I was sweaty, dirty and very exhausted!The next morning, I had booked myself a bus tour to Taroko National Park, I was looking forward to some comfort and shade from the sun. A Malaysian couple in my hostel happened to be on the same tour too, and Stella decided to join in the very last minute. Though she wasn't a good sport really, she didn't really enjoy herself and was complaining a lot about spending too much money on this trip. She's only 19, and this probably was one of her first few trips so I tried to sympathize.
The tour was okay, not impressive but it took us to enough places to have an idea of what Taroko offers... I certainly would like to go on my own and do a trail or something! But it was inconvenient to do so without a car or scooter... I like the short trails at Swallow Grotto and Tunnel of Nine Turns, which were great for photos (but didn't have a great photographer with me, what a shame!). The bus ended its tour at Chi Sing Tan Beach, a quiet simple stretch of very pale colored beach... It was peaceful, kids were blowing bubbles, there were small kiosks selling ice cream. Stella had 2 cones, while I had one!I dropped off at the train station where I wanted to buy some handmade nougats which looked really good, I saw them when I arrived. As I had to catch a super early train the next morning, I decided to make this detour to get them... The uncle was really friendly and patient with me, I got a bag enough to split into three as I wanted to give to friends whom I would meet later on. Then I had a problem, I couldn't go back to my hostel as there was no way I could walk from this exit of the train station. I went up to a train staff and he suggested me to get a "platform ticket", it was the first time I ever heard of such thing! As I didn't bring my train pass with me, I just paid 6NTD so I could get across to the other exit which was 10 minutes from my hostel.
It was 7-11 dinner for me as I couldn't be bothered to get out of the hostel again... Everything was pretty far away. The owner Sunny was kind enough to offer her daughter as my dinner guide but I told her I already bought some food. Gloria was also very approachable and asked about the tour I did.
I had a very early night. Stella and the others had left by now and I was joined by an old Chinese couple and two American-chinese blokes. The next morning I woke up at 515am, to catch the 630am train. I couldn't miss that or I would have to wait 4 more hours! It was then I realised the sun was already out at 5, it was bright and certainly very safe to walk! :)
I got my breakfast from 7-11... and also a magazine to last me for the next 6 hours! I had 6 hours to waste on the train, but I love taking trains!!! I was almost never bored (even without a magazine!). I had to switch train at Taitung as there was no direct train I could use with my pass. Then I would alight at Chaozhou (near Pingtung) where Carrie (my friend's friend who is now a good friend of mine!) would pick me up.
No comments:
Post a Comment