Naruwan

A long-overdue photo essay about my 7 days Taiwan trip. It was a boot camp, having to travel like refugees around the perimeter of Taiwan's coastline. Waking up at 5+am everyday is pure torture in December! Breakfast was always followed by multiple hours on the road, moving from city to city. Such is the bane of tour packages. At least I managed to take some decent photographs, because the Taiwanese peninsula is blessed with interesting geography and I'm glad to see that they value their natural environment and heritage very much.

After a tiring 4+hour flight, we touched down in Taipei's Airport. First stop was the Shilin Night market. I thought the food section was kinda boring actually, we didnt have time to explore the other sections. After 10mins, I was horrified to discover that everything looks the same! (The stalls sell the same things!)

Day 1 (Monday night) -

Taoyuan/ Taipei/ Shilin

They will die without their UBER-KAWAII packaging.
This box was for my brothers' smelly tofu. :S

Day 2 (Tuesday) -

Taipei/ Yehliu/ Chiufen/ Nantien Temple/ Hualien

The next day, we left Taipei city and went to the northern part of Taiwan to look at exotic rock formations. They were photogenic alright.

I like this one. Looks like a path to nowhere huh?

After which, we had lunch at some old town (Jiu Fen) with a loonnnngggg lane of shops peddling different goods, mostly foodstuffs and souvenirs. The below was the small shop we ate at. Decent food at reasonable prices, but the main draw was the decor! The walls was entirely plastered with the narcissistic lady-boss's pictures (with and without celeb-visitors). Haha. It was very amusing.

Check it out! haha.

Some temple with gold/jade idols. (I forgot who.)
As we were still in the coastal town, and it was raining,
the entire town appears to be cloaked in a fine mist.

After a 4-5 hour bus ride up mountainous roads,
we FINALLY reached the Hualian district.
It was still drizzling and the sky was gloomy.
The mountain tops were hiding behind the clouds as well.
Anyway, my brothers & I went in search of entertainment at the Hualian Hotel.
Unfortunately, we found NONE. :(

Day 3 (Wednesday) -
Hualien/ Taroko Gorge/ Taroko Memorial Arch Building/ Lingzi & Tea Center/ Chihpen Hot Spring

The weather was gorgeous! This was the view through the glass from our floor.
Oh FYI, I met an old acquaintance/schoolmate during the breakfast buffet!
Talk about coincidence!

I think I won't mind living here.

Even cheap cars look nice in a picturesque place.

We had to walk through some very slippery, moist and dark caves to see a small shrine in remembrance of the tunnel-builders. Something like that. I think the significance was to commerate how these heroes had contributed their blood, sweat and even sacrificed their lives, to make a tunnel through the mountain (made of marble!) to improve the lives of the next generations.

Day 4 (Thursday) -
Chihpen/ Kaohsiung/ Fo Guang Shan/ Hsuan Tien Shangti Temple/ Love River Cruise/ Sin Jiao Jiang Night Market

Another temple cum Buddhist University (Fo Guang Shan) with uncountable gold statues.

Anyway, Kaohsiung has lovely night markets. And I am officially in love with taiwanese toy poddles. They are so DUMB and helpless, they are adorable. Haha. For your information, during our (cheesy) cruise of the love river, we saw school children learning SAILING as part of their school curriculum! Sigh.

Day 5 (Friday) -
Kaohsiung/ Sun Moon Lake/ Wen Wu/ Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village/ Taichung/ Fong Jia Night Market

RE YUE TAN. Sun-moon lake.
Its so damn beautiful. Nothing less than panoramic!
Anyway, its the largest lake in Taiwan and its located right in the heart of Taiwan.

A lovely temple (Wen Wu) to roam about and take pictures.
Check out the number of tour buses in the foreground.
December is like their extreme peak tourist season.
I can't go anywhere without crossing paths with tourists.

Another spectacular view.
Anyway, after this, we went to the theme-park there.
I managed to survive the rides there!
You should know how faint-hearted I am.
Haha, this is when brothers come in handy.
They want to try everything and let nothing stop them.
Thats how I risked my life and tagged along.

Day 6 (Saturday) -
Taichung/ Taipei/ National Palace Museum/ Yang Ming Shan National Park/ 101 Shopping Mall

Premature blooming of Cherry blossoms.

The above is the place we had lunch at.

It was designed by an artist who collected driftwood/shipwreck materials
and then incorporated these elements into her restaurant.

Taipei101 was Borrring. It houses numerous international luxury brands.
Which obviously are out of my league.
Night time was spent at Xi Men Ding.

Day 7 (Sunday) - HOME

Well in my fuzzy memory, I still remember us watching movies & stupid taiwanese game shows, eating their instant noodles & guzzling cheap alcohol every night.