Taiwan Trip - Horrible Unexpected Evening to Reach Hualien

Precaution - There will be very minimal photo in this post because I don't have time to take anything

Our long awaited bus finally arrived at the bus stop in front of Aboriginal Village Theme Park but there were no seat left. We stood all the way to Puli Bus Station.

No big deal.

So we stood.

At Puli Bus Station, we were asked to transfer to another bus that would bring us back to Taichung. So we took that bus.

There was seat. Good.

The journey was longer because it stopped at every bus stop. No problem.

When it reached the bus stop opposite Taichung TRA Station, I did not recognize the place. Only when Ah Yi read the sign, she told me and it was too late. The bus started to move.

So I got up since I would like to ask him whether the next stop was far.

But, to my surprise, when I got up, the driver hit the brake to avoid some crazy biker.

I lost my balance.

I fell down.

My whole body hit the floor.

Mom shouted.

I climbed back up and walked towards the driver.

I told him I intended to alight at Taichung TRA Station.

He scolded me.

I scolded him back.

He was not happy.

The next stop was Gancheng Station. So I alighted and passed him my tickets. He did not grab it properly and the tickets fell into the coin box. He scolded me even more. I pretended I did not hear him and I walked out.

I felt so angry and I cried.

We walked back to Taichung TRA Station with my legs and hands injured and they were throbbing like hell.

And another surprise was waiting for me at Taichung TRA Station.

The train ticket to Hualien was sold out and standing passengers were not allowed. The officer advised me to take a train to Taipei and get a train to Hualien from there. So I bought the ticket for NTD 245 (~SGD 11) per person, no seat.

We rushed back to hotel to collect our luggage and rushed to the station again to catch the train. We stood for almost the whole journey because we should give up our seats for those having a ticket with seat number.

When we reached Taipei, I quickly ran to the ticket counter to buy another train ticket to Hualien for NTD 330 (~SGD  14) per person. The last train. So I bought the ticket, grabbed 2 mochi and 1 nuts pie along the way and paid NTD 134 (~SGD 5.8), and boarded the train again.

Luckily this time we had seat and the train was super comfortable.

My dinner that night

My poor knees

My poor elbows

We were supposed to take 4-hour journey to reach Hualien from Taichung but due to this unforeseen circumstances, we took 6 hours in total and we reached Hualien around 1:30am in the morning.

I arranged to stay in one of the minsu in Hualien. And another luckily, the owner was so nice she picked us up in the train station to show us the way to her house. Her name is Sharon and you can find her in airbnb.

We settled down, took a bath, and after that, I slept like a cow.

It was funny how a happy time could turn bitter and sour in a few hours. And it was even funnier how I could keep saying 'lucky' in my unluckiness.

And these are the lessons of the day:
1) Do not sit too far from the bus driver when you are unsure where to alight
2) Never ever stand up when the bus is moving especially in Taiwan
3) Buy your train ticket in advance no matter how unsure you are about your timing
4) Pack something in your bag for you to eat during emergency

Love is in the air,
Little Feet

Next Post - Breathtaking Rocks at Taroko Gorge

Taiwan Trip - When the Sun Kiss the Moon at Sun Moon Lake

The second day of the trip! Or should I say, the first full day of the trip?

Our destination was Sun Moon Lake. Sun Moon Lake is the biggest water body in Taiwan and it is located in Nantou County. It was said that Thao hunters were led by a white deer to discover this lake. When the people discovered this lake, the whole tribe was move here. Sun Moon Lake was also a home to 11 aboriginal tribes of Taiwan. This lake is called Sun Moon Lake because when you look it from the top, you can see the shape of the sun and the crescent moon.

We have bought Sun Moon Lake Pass at Taichung HSR Railway Station the day before. The pass cost us NTD 680 per person (~SGD 30) and we were entitled for return trip to Sun Moon Lake by bus, round trip around Sun Moon Lake by boat and bus, return cable car journey from Ita Thao to Aboriginal Village, and some discounts on bicycle rental and stuffs.

If you are to visit Sun Moon Lake Aboriginal Village, you can buy the higher level pass at NTD 990 per person. It will entitle you with whatever I got plus the entry to the theme park.

The schedule shown in the website implies that the bus will start from Taichung Gancheng Station and then Taichung TRA Station and Taichung HSR Station before going to Puli and Sun Moon Lake. However, the guy at the counter told us that the bus usually did not stop at Taichung TRA Station & Taichung HSR Station because it would be full at Taichung Gancheng Station. He advised us to walk to Gancheng Station to avoid disappointment.

So here I was, ready for my journey!

A reason to put on my make up: travel!

 Luckily Taichung Gancheng Station and our hotel is not far. Asking direction from the hotel and occasionally along the road, we found the right bus station after walking about 15 minutes.

A clear sign board

Behind this bus stop there are shophouses of different bus company

We rode Nantou Bus according to the schedule in Sun Moon Lake website and it was pretty on schedule. We queued and managed to secure 3 seats at the back of the bus. The bus was clean and quite comfortable for a 1-hour journey.

I sat exactly at the back of the bus, in the middle!

After a long winding road, the bus stopped in front of Suishe Visitor Centre. We alighted and walked along the shophouses to Suishe Pier

Suishe Visitor Centre 

The quiet street in the morning

This is the pier where we alighted to the boat. There is a small booth selling boat ticket there, just show your ticket stub (from Sun Moon Lake Pass) and the officer will mark you with the stamp.

There was practically nothing here, except the water. So we just queued and waited for our boat to arrive.

Boats from different operators

This is how the boat look like at the inside. There is always a guide to tell us stories about Sun Moon Lake on every journey.

There's something interesting about that tiny land in the middle of the lake, but I don't know what

We arrived at Xuanguang Pier in about 15 minutes time. After queueing for awhile, we alighted from the boat and we were welcomed by a shock.

People.

So many people.

Everywhere I looked, I saw people's head.

People seemed to gather at this side of the lake. Can you catch a glimpse of them?

And to be honest, it was super hot and humid. The sun shone so brightly, people competed for oxygen. The trees could not help.

We moved to one quieter side and took some pictures

There are quite a number of this kind of stones around the lake and there was one in front of Xuanguang Temple which is extremely famous. Just because some people ever quarrelled there to take pictures. But I didn't care, it's the same stone with the same words anyway.

We moved up the stairs full of people to go to Xuanguang Temple. Some said that the remain of Master Xuangzang was kept in Xuanguang Temple. Master Xuangzang was the renowned monk of Tang Dynasty who travelled 17 years from China to India to retrieve the sacred book of Buddha. He was the inspiration of Journey to the West!

The stairs to reach Xuanguang Temple

You can see the pier and Suishe at afar

Finally we reached the temple!

This is the altar where Master Xuanzang reside now

At the back of the temple, there is a stone statue. This statue shows silhouette of a person with the fingers. Some people try to imitate the pose.

I shot random people sometimes.

I was appealed by the road behind the statue. 850m walk and you will find yourself at Wenwu Temple. So, I was so on to walk. I thought it would not be so difficult, but it was indeed!

This is the road at the front. Gentle slope. Easy peasy.

And it changed to be steep stairway at the last 300m or so. I was breathless but I kept going. I could not stop!

No regret when I reached the top. Magnificent

Wenwu Temple was built in 1938. It was built at the higher ground because people were afraid that raising water level would cover the other temples. Wenwu Temple has both mortal and immortal gods.

Magnificent Wenwu Temple

This is my favourite shot!

The view from the top

I spent about 15 minutes to walk up, 10 minutes to catch my breath and get some shots, and another 15 minutes to go down. Mom and Ah Yi were waiting for me at Xuanguang Temple so I couldn't take too long.

When we finally walked back to the pier, we walked pass the famous Ah Ma Tea Leaves Egg and bought 4 pieces for NTD 50 (~SGD 2.2).

This is the humble stall but in one day she could sell more than 1000.

We crossed the lake again to Ita Thao. There are much more things to see in Ita Thao. We also had our simple lunch there.

What I saw when I walked out of the boat. That building is a huge visitor centre.

Ita Thao.

A row of shophouses with merchandises, foods, and stuffs

After walking, shopping, and eating, we walked towards the cable car station. The trail route was okay but I got pretty bored to admire the lake. So we just walked, walked, and walked until we reached the queue for the cable car.

The queue moved very fast and just in a glimpse of an eye, we were sitting inside the cable car having bird eye views of the lake.

Impressive, yes?

I love this shot!

Can you see how steep it is when it descends?

The cable car stopped in front of Aboriginal Village Theme Park. However, our ticket did not cover that so we could only stopped there. Actually we had two-way ticket for the cable car. We didn't feel like going back to Ita Thao and getting the boat back to Suishe to catch our bus back so I asked the lady there whether I could catch the bus from here.

To my surprise, she called her colleague and her colleague picked us up with buggy and brought us the front gate of the theme park!

What a hospitality~~~

We waited at the bus stop for more than 30 minutes and closed the journey of Sun Moon Lake when we boarded the bus back to Puli.

The bus stop in the middle of nowhere

Love is in the air,
Little Feet

Next Post - Horrible Unexpected Evening to Reach Hualien

Taiwan Trip - The Journey's Starting

This was my first experience going to Taiwan. To be honest, due to certain personal circumstances, I did not really enjoy the trip and I felt dissatisfied. Of course it was not because of the place, or the food, or the people. It was simply due to the wrong companion.

I chose to travel via Kuala Lumpur. Why?

It was real cheap for mom. She took direct AirAsia flight to Kuala Lumpur and continued to Taipei from there. As a good daughter, I took the long route and met her at Kuala Lumpur. :)

We bought the air tickets since February 2014 and we got the deal. I could not remember the exact price but each one of us only spent around SGD 250 for all the flying. Cheap huh?

So on 01 October 2014, we met at Kuala Lumpur and stayed at Tune Hotel KLIA2 for transit purpose.

Tune Hotel KLIA2 is located so very near to the new low cost carrier terminal of Kuala Lumpur. When you arrive at KLIA2, you can walk to KLIA2 Gateway (which is a shopping mall) and find the arrowed sign showing where Tune Hotel is. Walking barely 10 minutes, you will step into the lobby of the hotel.

I have stayed in Tune Hotel before and to be honest, I didn't like the system of paying more for towel, toiletries set, air conditioner, etc. However, Tune Hotel KLIA2 is kinda different. The cost of the room is higher but it comes with unlimited usage of air conditioning system, towel, toiletries set, TV, and free wifi. Although the room is small, but it is new, clean, and comfortable! With SGD 60, I guess it was a good night sleep.

The room with a queen size bed, a table, a chair, a table lamp, a TV, a ceiling fan, an air conditioner, and a window! (Photo source: agoda.com)

Another thing I need to commend about Tune Hotel KLIA2 is the environment. The concept has slightly changed from the previous Tune Hotel. Usually Tune Hotel only consists of rooms without any amenities, but this one is different. There is a lounge area, spacious lobby, and an outdoor seating area for the guests to relax!

Lobby with high ceiling

Outdoor seating area

We needed to catch 10:45am flight to Taipei on 02 October 2014. After taking our morning shower (I love the rainwater shower head!), we walked slowly to KLIA2 Gateway, dropped our baggage, and cleared the immigration. Everything was smooth till we sat on the plane!

Taiwan, here we come!

To cut the story short, we sat inside the plane for approximately 4 hours and we touched down Taoyuan International Airport around 3:00pm.

H-E-L-L-O

The plane was huge and it needed some time to let all passengers alight. After that we walked quite a distance to the immigration, queued very long to get the chop, and voile, here we were in Taiwan!

The first thing I did was to register myself, mom, and ah yi for iTaiwan service at the customer service counter. iTaiwan is a service to let everybody connect to wifi networks all over Taiwan. As a foreigner, we need to register upon arrival and get our user id and password.

For me personally, iTaiwan is a good way to save a little bit of money and hassle to buy a new pre-paid card, change the sim card, yadda, yadda, yadda. The coverage of iTaiwan is good and you can even cross-connect to TPE-free networks, etc.

We then went downstairs to buy the Ubus ticket to Taoyuan HSR station. The ticket cost us NTD 30 per pax (~SGD 1.3) and the journey was about 15 minutes. After we bought the ticket, we boarded the bus and waited for about 10 minutes for the bus to be filled.

Mom in the bus

Reaching Taoyuan HSR station, I planned to buy easy card, but 7-eleven there only sold non-refundable easycard and they told me I could not use the card to travel to Taichung. Therefore, I cancelled my plan to buy the card.

I bought the HSR ticket in the counter to Taichung which cost NTD 590 per pax (~SGD 25). Taichung is located around 160km southwest of Taipei. It only took us 40 minutes to reach Taichung by high speed train.

Buying ticket is not difficult at all, just ask the officer and he will gladly assist you!

The speed of train was around 200km/h or more and the train was equipped with wifi! There is no prohibition to eat inside the train too but believe me, it is still cleaner that Singapore MRT.

Fast train till my camera can't catch it!

The interior of the train and the seat is really fluffy!

Upon reaching Taichung HSR Station, we alighted and walked our way to buy Sun Moon Lake Pass that we would use the next day. After that, we walked to Xinwuri Railway Station which was connected to Taichung HSR Station. The hotel that I booked was located besides Taichung Railway Station so we needed to take the normal train there (they call it TRA).

The cost of TRA from Xinwuri to Taichung Railway Station was NTD 15 (~SGD 0.7). The train was pretty packed but kind people there gave up their seats for mom and ah yi. I guess they pitied us to carry so many luggage.

Xinwuri Railway Station, waiting for our train

When we reached Taichung Railway Station it was getting darker although it was only about 6:00pm. The day has been getting shorter in Taiwan since it was approaching autumn-winter season.

We walked our way to Taichung Plaza Hotel which was located so very near to the railway station. It was about 3 minutes walking or so! And the cost of the room? It was about SGD 90 per night per room.

When I asked for direction, the person just pointed her finger towards this gigantic building

The room is pretty modern and minimalist although it is very tiny

Clean bathroom, my favourite!

We checked in and dropped our luggage into our room and continued our journey to our first destination, Fengjia Night Market!

The staff at Plaza Hotel were very fluent in English and they kindly explained the way to go to Fengjia Night Market. So, with a map given by the hotel, we walked to the bus stop in front of the railway station and board the bus.

We paid by cash and the bus did not provide change. It was supposed to be NTD 30 per pax but we only have NTD 100 (~SGD 4.4) to pay, so bo pian!

The food street of Fengjia Night Market

We were hungry! Yes, we were so very hungry. So the first thing we did was to find food. Food. Food. Foooood.

These are what we ate for that night. Grilled chicken roll (too salty), chow toufu a.k.a stinky beancurd (quite nice), grilled black pepper chicken onigiri (quite nice and unique), and red bean & beancurd soup from Yi Ping Dou Hua.

After that we continued walking around to find something to shop, but apparently mom and ah yi were not too interested. I laid my eyes on two necklaces and one earrings but the sellers quoted me quite a high price. So I did not buy anything that night too!

Thanks for the dinner, Fengjia!

We asked for direction to the bus stop and boarded another bus back to Taichung Railway Station. This time it costs us NTD 25 per pax (~SGD 1.1) to head back to the railway station.

Back to the hotel and see you tomorrow, Sun Moon Lake!

Love is in the air,
Little Feet

Next Post - When the Sun Kiss the Moon at Sun Moon Lake