Ex Taipei Walker II --- Day 02 Hualien County

Ex Taipei Walker II -- Day 02 Hualien County

** Disclaimer -- Super duper Long Entry . Please do not proceed unless you are free @ work , "Jiak Bah Bo Sai Pang" nothing to do , or you just wanna kill time while waiting to knock oFF. **

We bloody clocked 400++ photos just for DAY 02 alone !! That doesnt include the many short clips and videos of Hualien & Taroko Gorge we took along the way to Hualien !! Now that explains how long I took to edit all these photos for just DAY 02 alone !! Terrible nightmare !!!




Woke up Super Duper Early , after 3 hours of rest from the previous night ... Rushed like mad to Taipei Railway Station , to catch our 710am train. Super Precise timing I must say ... the train reached @ 0710am on the dot .. and left soOOon after .

We had Yummy Yummy "Ba Zhang" Pork dumplings that "Zu Ren" recommended to us the previous time round .. FINALLY we remembered to try this dumpling on the 2nd trip . Mr Liu , our hotel receptionist was damn kind to warm up our Dumplings the Traditional Way @ 0545am!!! He insisted that we tried traditional warmup instead ( I suggested Microwave to save him trouble in the morning)

** The dumpling must have been really filling , So filling our "fellow passenger" knocked out ( refer to photo above ) **


But we didnt miss out the beautiful and "mouth-open-big-big" scenery along the 3 hour journey ... We travelled along the coasts , along farmlands , through caves , over water , crossed bridges , Can really Say its "you Shan Wan Shui " ... The scenery was juz breathtaking and a refreshing change compared to the concrete jungles of Taipei...

And Oh yes ... the train was very very clean ... Cleaners would come collect trash @ every alternate station !! Even the toilets were clean ... but can be a shaky experience if you wanna pee or "bomb the base" .. Coz the train can get really jerky and your " fountain stream" will start to swish & sway all the way .. and of course .. Squatting on a jerky shaky bowl and bombing accurately will take some skill.

After Somewhat 3 hours ... we reached Hualien County @ 0937am ... " Zu Ren " had helped us liaise with our Hualien Tour guide last night .. and we were to look for him @ the entrance..

Our transport WASNT these normal cabs !! We had a Toyota WISH as our transport for the day !!
The Weather was good ... bright and sunny yet windy ... It was a Good start to a Fantastic day !!

Mr Chen GuangFa ( best Hualien tour Guide ) & his friend Mr Huang ( who drove our cab ) brought us to See the famous Betel Nut Ladies ... WooHOoO .. Really really skimpy clothes ... and I swear i shld kick myself in the balls for being such an idiot .. I was so stunted & paiseh by the Weet U Weet girls , that I forgot to switch on my cam to snap some shots...

Mr Chen then brought us to eat the local purple Tapioca , Sweet Corn @ his expense !! We only paid NT$2000 ( S$100 for 1 car of 4 passengers ) ... and he paid the rest !!! Together with another car of Malaysian tourists driven by Mr Chen , we enjoyed our local delights in the morning sun ...

Our First Stop was @ the Entrance Of Taroko National Park ... Taroko Gorge is a world Famous nature Reserve with alot of scenic & beautiful rock Formations & other Wah Wah Wah scenery ...

Next , we proceeded to ChangChunCi ( Longevity Temple) ... Taroko Gorge was developed by the Japanese during WWII , and the taiwanese continued the dangerous & often Fatal development of roads & tunnels into Taroko National Park .

ChangChunCi Temple holds the names of 200++ engineers , workers who lost their lives while building these roads , blowing up holes in the mountains for tunnels. The temple commemorates these brave workers who gave their lives to this beautiful reserve .

2nd Place we visited was YanZiKou ( swallow Grotto ) ... a favourite roosting place for swallows .. and birds' nests used to be harvested regularly in these many natural caves .. until it was banned .. We could still see swallows , bats flying around ... entertaining themselves ... haha

Every stretch of road presented a different scene .. as the rock formations never failed to amaze us ..

Mr Chen was very professional ... @ every interesting location , he would hold laminated photos and point out interesting facts , funny jokes or Stories abt the locality ... juz like these red indians above ... Totally natural ...

Uber Chio windy roads hugging the terrain tightly. Tour buses are the most scariest transport @ Taroko as the passengers can actually overlook the cliffs ... During Typhoon Weather & heavy Rains ... Taroko National Park is closed to all traffic and tourists ...So WE were So HENG HENG there was no typhoon or rain on such a nice day !!

Met Fellow Singaporeans along the way ... and tsk Tsk ... they both paid the same amount NT$2000 as 4 of us .. .. and the tour guide juz left them to walk around .. without telling them abt the interesting spots , stories !! OMG!!! We were lucky to have Mr Chen with us !!

And Mr Chen was a real joker... he brought us to a spot facing a fast-flowing river ... and handed all of us stones to throw !! And we had to throw the stones to Hit a big and flatbed rock !! ( Refer to photo above ! ) He also made us look up in the sky .. and we were pleasantly surprised to see a map of Taiwan , formed by the MOUNTAIN ridgelines !!!

Lunch was a little boring ... Ate some bamboo rice which was juz SoO--Sooo .. and fried-rice that totally lost to Shih-lin Night market's fried rice HANDS DOWN !

And After lunch it was the tour of all Suspension bridges ... Visited one with a Guanyin Temple ..... Goddess of Mercy Statue in White above us on the mountains ....

We then visited CihmuQiao ( Kind Mother Bridge literally translated ) ... JiuQuDong ( Tunnel of 9 turns ) ... Tunnel of 9 turns took us 30 mins to walk through ... it was really really amazing ... the winds in the tunnel was very very strong compared to the open space ... and it was really freezing .. ( Mother Nature @ work again ) ...

Next was the Suspension Bridge @ YueFei Pavillion ... where we met a big big big dog ... that scared WeeWee so much ... hahah ... but managed to take very nice fotos of us on the bridge still ...

Oh yes ... Mr Chen GuangFa & Mr Huang were not only Great tour guides , but also quite Good photographers ! not surprising .. Our group fotos were mostly taken by them ... Extremely Good tour guides .

We left Taroko Gorge @ 1600H ++ and it was already getting dark , due to their early dusk ... But it wasnt the end of our trip yet !!!

They drove us to a very beautiful beach filled with pebbles !! and big big stones !! The waves were also very very strong ... Instead of fine sand greeting our feet ... we were greeted by loads of pebbles , stones , rocks and even Marble !! The mother of all pebble beaches !!! Just look @ the mountains , the inviting waters and the ..... PEBBLES !!

I really had a good mind to bring the bloody rock back to Taipei ... but didnt think it would be smart to lug a rock around and burst my luggage limits ... so I just took a small and beautiful rock .. that was sanded down to a smooth texture ... ( Yeah Yeah ... I know I am lucky ... 3 girls ... haha my SunShine , My Girlfriend and my Mistress , Ya Ya Ya ) ... hahah

We were also lucky to See 4 F-16 Fighting falcons taking OFF !! and they flew towards the Pacific Ocean right behind us !! Simply an awesome sight !!

Later I realised that We were very very Near FengShan / JiaShan Airbase ... and God Damn it ... Their Airbase was really really quite open !! We drove past their Aircraft Hangars , parking Aprons !! separated only by a low wall and a fence !! Here you can See their two F-16 A/B models relaxing in one Corner ... hahaha ..

We then went to this Small Fishing Port ... for SUPER DUPER CHEAP SEAFOOD !! We opted for the MOTHER OF ALL SEAFOOD DINNERS !!!

Mr Chen Was So Damn nice , asked us out to take photos with our Lobsters .... Super Bouncy Fishballs that could bounce on the tables as PingPong Balls , Maguro Sashimi , Spicy StingRay , Clams and Veggies + 4 Lobsters only cost us S$25 each !!!

Every Man worth his salt knows that You CANNOT even get a proper fresh lobster @ S$25 in Singapore ...And there we had 1 lobster each. And Mr Chen provided the ultimate service ... by helping us to shell certain parts of the "lobbie" for MORE flesh ! Wah .. pure Food Orgasm ...

We ended the Hualien trip @ 6pm to catch the 6pm train back to Taipei .... but not before taking a Group shot with them ... then it was OFF to catch the 6pm train !

BUT IT IS NOT OVER !!! We reached Taipei @ 9pm .... and it was OFF to Shopping @ Taipei New World Shopping Centre

It is really crazy editing all the photos ... and I am damn lazy to carry on posting photoshopped ones ... So bear with it ...

We went to the Underground shopping centre , passed by yummy cake Shop to buy some egg desserts and a yummy Chix Pie ... and Weewee bought a box of very sweet fruits @ very EXPENSIVE S$5 (NT$100 ) ... but the Food was really really up to standard ...

We then went over to RaoHe Night Market @ 10plus ....One of our favourite Night Markets apart from Shih-Lin Night Market ... full of nightlife ... vibrancy ...

So vibrant that we saw some candidates pulling votes for the Taipei Mayor Elections ..hahah ... Funny people ... friendly like anything when they wan your votes !!

RaoHe was Great as usual ... and WeeWee couldnt resist her Basket-ball Game ... and LOOK WHO WE SAW !! We saw the Same Butchgal ( in green scratching her head ) ... who set up the basketball Stall in Shih-lin in July !! We Saw her in July for our 1st trip ... and We saw her again during our 2nd trip !! OMG ...

We ended our long Day @ 12plus 1am in the wee hours of the night

... Total hours clocked = 17 hours straight... and it was only the end of Day 02 Ex Taipei walker II ...

XiaoMaGe Shagged , Signing out