We woke up from our super cosy beds and head down for breakfast. The cafeteria was soo filled with people, mostly Japanese that we had to eat in their private room, supposedly reserved for meetings or conferences.
Then, it's back to our beloved coach for another day of traveling on road.
We went to 九分 Jiu Fen to experience the kind of different living lifestyle from the city area. Most of the houses were pretty old and was built uphill. 芋圆, a kind of dessert was their specialty. Every 5 mins you walk, there will definitely be a stall selling it.
Jiu Fen
Singapore's so small!! We coincidentally bumped into our ex colleague of Kikuzushi who also happened to be in the same tour group as us!!
After that, we went back to the coach and continued our journey to the temple.
while we're on our way there..
There's something special about this temple.
It houses 3 exact statues of the Chinese god(i can't remember what's the name). 1 on each level. Of different materials.
The first one is made of wood. 2nd one made of jade. And the last one is made of gold.
In order to see all of these, we had to climb all the way up. It's not as easy as you think. There were 2 flights of stairs for each level. So it's like climbing up 6 storeys up and down again. Plus with all the squeezing and pushing 'cause it was rather narrow, lots of energy were lost. But it was still worth it.
I love the jade one the most!!
There were stalls outside selling shredded peanut and ice-cream wrapped in popiah skin. Highly recommended by our tour guide. It was heavenly!! Cheap and good!!
When we were about to leave in our coach, there was a parade of gods on the street. I think it was an special day(either one of the god's birthday or some festive thingy going on) and the parade was by another temple who came to visit.
After leaving, we headed to 长春词. It was built to remember those who passed away during the building of some structure. I think tunnel or what.
*shit* I should have listened more attentively.
We made a pitstop for toilet break and the scenery there was awesome!!
Mum and Dad. Look at the mountain and clouds behind. I swear the real thing looks 1000 times more breath-taking.
Before we even reach the pitstop, there's one more place we had to go through first.
It was this tunnel!!
This is the 雪山隧道. Going through it will take at least 20 mins to reach the other end. It's a lil' longer than our KPE, but likewise, there's also speed limit to follow. If you exceed the speed limit, the guards will make an annoucement through their PA system and when sound travels within the tunnel, our tour guide said it sounded like 啊飘 AKA.... ghost. *eerieeee~*
The space is really small and when our coach went in, the space seems like it is only able to allow the coach to travel with no more space for any other cars.
And the good thing about this tunnel?
It brings you directly from Taipei to Hualien. Cutting short the journey by a few hours. Reason being, it cuts right through the heart of the mountains that stood between these 2 provinces.
It was said that the former former president had invited people from many countries to come help him construct the tunnel but many of them said it's quite impossible to cut through the mountains. But he didnt gave up. He used explosives and manpower to gradually open up the 'belly' of the mountain and when he's finally done, he invited the same group of people back again and they were astonished by what he did.
ok!! 'nuff about the tunnel before i sound like a History teacher.
We reach 长春词!!
Our tour guide took us to the photo-taking spot where we took a very far(i had to zoom and take with steady hands) picture of the little house that contains the ashes of those people. She didnt bring us over 'cause it's a long walk over and to go and see and come back is a lil' bit waste of time.
Instead she brought us to the cafe that was located at the bottom of the mountain to try their 'superb' coffee.
I find it so-so and it's not cheap lo!! To pay about 5 bucks for a coffee and a slice of cake is not in my taiwan's 'dictionary' of cheap and good food.
And actually, i dont really fancy our tour guide.
Throughout the whole 7 days' tour, she only knew how to 'down-sell' Singapore. Kept criticising about this and that in Sg. Talked about our Singapore flyer and she said, 'so what?' -_-"
It was entertaining at first. Just like watching a variety show in real life. After like a day or so of hearing bad stuff about your own country, you get sian and start feeling irritated.
IMO, she's a lil' too arrogant, biased and too straightforward.
Anyway, back to the trip..
our tour guide, after seeing all of us behave so well in front of the traffic marshall(we bumped into one before going into 雪山隧道. He came up and started asking us questions about safety in the coach and to which, we must answer him like students in school. Of course, we were already well-trained by her beforehand. LOL! But i learnt something from it!! Now i know that the little hammer in buses can actually break windows during emergency situations but only at the right places of the glasses, which is the4 corners!!), decided to give a lil' treat.
freshly made mua chee!!
Because it's freshly made, its expiry date is the day after tomorrow. So there's no chance for us to bring it back. Hence, she decided to let us have a taste of it. Different from the normal mua chee 'cause of the different rice used.
Next stop, Ah mei aboriginal village! 啊美文化村!!
They put up performances for us and during the last segment, i got dragged to go up for a mass dance.
Difference between the aborigines and city people: they can sing, dance and alot darker with sharp features!!
Amazing discovery though, 徐若宣 has got aborigines background!!
Last stop.. Back to HOTEL!!!
for dinner and checking in of rooms.
dinner was served in buffet style. We were told to drink a glass of apple/grape vinegar before attacking the food in order to stimulate our appetites. Lots of variety to choose from!!
Room was huge with triple beds AGAIN!
Quite boring to stay there as there were no night markets anywhere within 1000 miles radius!! lol.. ok i'm kidding.. But it was a rather rural place so i doubt we can even go out lo.
Watched half an ep of 不良笑花(yes.. it was telecasted in Taiwan in Aug. By now it should have finished. Mediacorp now then started broadcasting it. SLOWWWW!!) before knocking out.
We woke up from our super cosy beds and head down for breakfast. The cafeteria was soo filled with people, mostly Japanese that we had to eat in their private room, supposedly reserved for meetings or conferences.
Then, it's back to our beloved coach for another day of traveling on road.
We went to 九分 Jiu Fen to experience the kind of different living lifestyle from the city area. Most of the houses were pretty old and was built uphill. 芋圆, a kind of dessert was their specialty. Every 5 mins you walk, there will definitely be a stall selling it.
Jiu Fen
Singapore's so small!! We coincidentally bumped into our ex colleague of Kikuzushi who also happened to be in the same tour group as us!!
After that, we went back to the coach and continued our journey to the temple.
while we're on our way there..
There's something special about this temple.
It houses 3 exact statues of the Chinese god(i can't remember what's the name). 1 on each level. Of different materials.
The first one is made of wood. 2nd one made of jade. And the last one is made of gold.
In order to see all of these, we had to climb all the way up. It's not as easy as you think. There were 2 flights of stairs for each level. So it's like climbing up 6 storeys up and down again. Plus with all the squeezing and pushing 'cause it was rather narrow, lots of energy were lost. But it was still worth it.
I love the jade one the most!!
There were stalls outside selling shredded peanut and ice-cream wrapped in popiah skin. Highly recommended by our tour guide. It was heavenly!! Cheap and good!!
When we were about to leave in our coach, there was a parade of gods on the street. I think it was an special day(either one of the god's birthday or some festive thingy going on) and the parade was by another temple who came to visit.
After leaving, we headed to 长春词. It was built to remember those who passed away during the building of some structure. I think tunnel or what.
*shit* I should have listened more attentively.
We made a pitstop for toilet break and the scenery there was awesome!!
Mum and Dad. Look at the mountain and clouds behind. I swear the real thing looks 1000 times more breath-taking.
Before we even reach the pitstop, there's one more place we had to go through first.
It was this tunnel!!
This is the 雪山隧道. Going through it will take at least 20 mins to reach the other end. It's a lil' longer than our KPE, but likewise, there's also speed limit to follow. If you exceed the speed limit, the guards will make an annoucement through their PA system and when sound travels within the tunnel, our tour guide said it sounded like 啊飘 AKA.... ghost. *eerieeee~*
The space is really small and when our coach went in, the space seems like it is only able to allow the coach to travel with no more space for any other cars.
And the good thing about this tunnel?
It brings you directly from Taipei to Hualien. Cutting short the journey by a few hours. Reason being, it cuts right through the heart of the mountains that stood between these 2 provinces.
It was said that the former former president had invited people from many countries to come help him construct the tunnel but many of them said it's quite impossible to cut through the mountains. But he didnt gave up. He used explosives and manpower to gradually open up the 'belly' of the mountain and when he's finally done, he invited the same group of people back again and they were astonished by what he did.
ok!! 'nuff about the tunnel before i sound like a History teacher.
We reach 长春词!!
Our tour guide took us to the photo-taking spot where we took a very far(i had to zoom and take with steady hands) picture of the little house that contains the ashes of those people. She didnt bring us over 'cause it's a long walk over and to go and see and come back is a lil' bit waste of time.
Instead she brought us to the cafe that was located at the bottom of the mountain to try their 'superb' coffee.
I find it so-so and it's not cheap lo!! To pay about 5 bucks for a coffee and a slice of cake is not in my taiwan's 'dictionary' of cheap and good food.
And actually, i dont really fancy our tour guide.
Throughout the whole 7 days' tour, she only knew how to 'down-sell' Singapore. Kept criticising about this and that in Sg. Talked about our Singapore flyer and she said, 'so what?' -_-"
It was entertaining at first. Just like watching a variety show in real life. After like a day or so of hearing bad stuff about your own country, you get sian and start feeling irritated.
IMO, she's a lil' too arrogant, biased and too straightforward.
Anyway, back to the trip..
our tour guide, after seeing all of us behave so well in front of the traffic marshall(we bumped into one before going into 雪山隧道. He came up and started asking us questions about safety in the coach and to which, we must answer him like students in school. Of course, we were already well-trained by her beforehand. LOL! But i learnt something from it!! Now i know that the little hammer in buses can actually break windows during emergency situations but only at the right places of the glasses, which is the4 corners!!), decided to give a lil' treat.
freshly made mua chee!!
Because it's freshly made, its expiry date is the day after tomorrow. So there's no chance for us to bring it back. Hence, she decided to let us have a taste of it. Different from the normal mua chee 'cause of the different rice used.
Next stop, Ah mei aboriginal village! 啊美文化村!!
They put up performances for us and during the last segment, i got dragged to go up for a mass dance.
Difference between the aborigines and city people: they can sing, dance and alot darker with sharp features!!
Amazing discovery though, 徐若宣 has got aborigines background!!
Last stop.. Back to HOTEL!!!
for dinner and checking in of rooms.
dinner was served in buffet style. We were told to drink a glass of apple/grape vinegar before attacking the food in order to stimulate our appetites. Lots of variety to choose from!!
Room was huge with triple beds AGAIN!
Quite boring to stay there as there were no night markets anywhere within 1000 miles radius!! lol.. ok i'm kidding.. But it was a rather rural place so i doubt we can even go out lo.
Watched half an ep of 不良笑花(yes.. it was telecasted in Taiwan in Aug. By now it should have finished. Mediacorp now then started broadcasting it. SLOWWWW!!) before knocking out.
Taiwan Day 2!!
