Taiwan Day 5

Day 5 Taipei to Hualien (8/7/07)

Went woke up really early in the morning as we have to catch a train to Hualien at 6.50 am at Taipei Main Station. After having instant noodles as our breakfast, we brought down all our luggages and many of us left our 'barang barang' at the concierge. We then headed on a 2 and a half day trip to Hualien county via train.


In the station waiting for the early MRT to Taipei Main Station


------------------------------In the train carriage-------------------------------------

We had bought standing tickets as the sitting seats were sold out. However, we were allowed to sit on the seats if no one is sitting there. Thus, we squeezed ourselves at the back of our carriage and hoped that no one will ask us for our seats.

Gs and Edwin were the unlucky ones and their seats were taken up by people who boarded the train before Hualien. They spent almost half the 3 hr journey standing up while the rest of us slept like pigs.

After 3 hours, we finally reached Hualien City and the temperature is hot! A cloudless, bright and sunny day with the noon temperature around 35 degrees celcius i guess. A person from Anhwa hotel was at the train station waiting for us to fetch us to the hotel as we had booked 2 rooms before our trip.


Less crowded Hualien streets

We checked into our hotel and almost all of them except me had a bath and dived into bed for a short nap. I was not too tired and watched tv while the rest of my roommates had an hour of sleep. Woke them up for lunch and we all headed to the nearby shopping area to search for food outlets. Went to KFC for lunch and we headed back to the hotel after that as a minibus was waiting for us at 1 pm to fetch us to the Hualien whale watching ferry terminal. We had arranged for this whale watching activity with the hotel's help and the price of the whale watching activity is NT800.

We made our way to the ferry terminal in time and boarded the rather small ferry.


-------------------------------On the ferry----------------------------------


-------------------------------------------------Hualien Port----------------------------------------------------


---------------------------------Passing Ship-----------------------------------------Lighthouse------------------------


--------------------Difference between deep and shallow water--------------------

The sea was very choppy as we headed into the Pacific Ocean. The ferry was rocking and swinging like nobody's business and the walk around the ferry without grabbing onto something is like we were drunk. However, the initial feeling is quite fun as we get the feeling as if we were on a thrill ride.

But after 5 mins, the thrill is replaced by nausea instead. I immediately regretted not taking motion sickness pills prior to the ride. I sat down after feeling dizzy and tried not to look at the surroundings by closing my eyes. My face grew paler and the nausea was slowly growing and growing.

When the tour guide using the microphone exclaimed that there was a huge whale in sight, many people rushed to see it and i had to open my eyes to see the giant creature as well. I caught sight of a huge tail near the front deck and quickly closed my eyes as my movement to view the whale had escalated my dizziness and i was feeling quite terrible.

Jimmy had got me 2 plastic bags and i puked after several minutes. The tour guide was encouraging us to take plastic bags at the beginning of the trip as he knew the choppy sea conditions would affect quite a number of people. Several people in the ferry followed suit and the dustbin was filled with several bags of vomit.

It was a rather wasted whale watching trip for me as i did not enjoy the ride and didn't really had the chance to view the whales. Actually there were only very few whale sightings during the entire ride and the whale tail was the most obvious one.

After the 1 and a half hour ride, we were back on land and spent some time at the souvenir shop. I was feeling much better after 15 minutes and we then took the minibus back to the hotel.


Back from the ferry ride at the exit

After asking the hotel staff for some good food recommendations, we walked along the streets with a map they provided us and had dinner at a local eatery. We had a very full dinner as we had ordered too many Xiao Long Baos. Their Xiao Long Bao was very different from that of Ding Tai Fung as the ones here were like meat buns whereas DTF's was small, dainty and juicy meat dumplings.

Shopping was next as we explored the Hualien City's main shopping district.


At Hualien City main shopping area


Monument for the old railway that used to pass through the city centre


Puppies on sale at an outdoor hawker

Taiwanese people seem to like dogs quite a lot and we can see more people walking their dogs. As a result, there are dog vendors like the one above.

The shopping here at Hualien is slightly cheaper compared to the upmarket shopping districts in Taipei. A lot of Muah Chee and Guo Dong stores here as well.


Back at the hotel lobby after our shopping!