Day 7 : More Green Island and then Kenting

woke up in the morning to go to Zhaori Hotspring (朝日溫泉)...it is a pity that we missed the sunrise, but we dun wanna waste the tickets since we already bought them...nice ocean view over there and the hotsprings are just by the ocean...you can basically enjoy the cold ocean water or the warm hotspring anytime u want by just hopping over few stones haha...granted, Zhaori Hotspring is just one of the rare few seabed hotsprings in the world...so being able to relax in the hotspring while hearing the sound of the waves is probably one of the best things u can ever do...once in a while, interrupted by fishes (yeah, there are fishes in the hotspring and plenty of them) swimming thru your legs...then terrible thing struck when i was washing up...my precious s600 camera dropped and the lcd broke...cry!!! ~"~ ...althou i could still take pictures...but basically u are just aiming with your sixth sense lol...watever, i not gonna let this spoilt my mood for the whole trip...luckily for me i still got my k750i phone and finally the camera phone can be put into good use haha...phew...went biking around again, rested a while before we took the ferry back to Taitung...oh...did i say that weather over at Green Island is freaking hot...it is almost like 37 to 38 degree and i have been so tanned due the strong sun from Hualian water rafting and Green Island touring lol...and my knees are already sun burnt cos i forgot to apply sun block lotion there lol...we headed down to Kenting (墾丁) and arrive there in the late evening...checked in to Kevin's friend minsu before heading down to the night streets for dinner...night life there is really happening...lots of cool pubs, discos and of cos hot gals haha...there are also children playing fireworks by the sea...took a long walk before finally heading back the minsu to end our tiring day...

one of the 3 hotspring pools that are artificially "enclosed"
me enjoying the warm water although it is already hot enough lol

one of the natural hotspring in its original form...the ocean is just at the back...and there are fishes inside the hotspring as well!

the waves and the ocean


small hermit crab that we found inside the hotspring

overview of the area

be really careful walking on the rocky seabed


view of the small hotspring building

hey...maybe that is opened by my father's brother's cousin's son's uncle's daughter haha

seaweed ice...one of the local delights too ^^

mother deer!


the deer checking me out lol

baby deer hiding in the bush

鹿肉乾 or dried deer meat from Green Island...
my mom likes them alot...
i am a animal lover myself, so i felt kinda really sinful eating them...but well...it is just a once in a lifetime experience...

bye bye Green Island! wat a heaven it is to me i will say

Taiwan flag flying high on the cruise

a type of fruit called 釋迦 (custard apple)...and is grown locally at Taitung...and i forgot to try it...damn...

Next >>> Day 8 : Kenting and Kaohsiung

Day 6 : Green Island!

we drove to Fugang Habour (富冈渔港) early in the morning to catch the ferry to Green Island (綠島), which is a pristine volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean just off Taitung...we took a 2 days 1 night package for NT1500 per person which include a room, a mob for self-travel on the island, ferry to and back Taitung, snorkeling + a guided night tour...and it is really cheap considering a return ferry ticket itself is already like NT800 per person...and we were given a room for 4 for the 2 of us...pretty worth it i will say...we ate breakfast near the habour, enjoying the free F16s airshow since the airforce base was just nearby...the ferry takes about an hour and we finally reach green island...mounted onto our 200cc mob (yeah, you dun need to wear helmet there haha) and off we go touring the island while we look for our minsu which is at the other end of the island, but nearer to the ZhaoRi Hotspring (朝日溫泉)...the scenery there is really magnificent!...clear sky...blue water...i just luv it there!...toured around before going for our lunch...we had deer meat which was the local delight there considering they used to rear alot of deers over in the island...went touring again...really beautiful pictures of the Pacific Ocean + rock formations + cliffs...the island itself is actually very small and probably takes around 45 mins of continuous drive to complete a full circle of the island...we went snorkeling in the evening and was really fun...we were fully equiped from mask to full diving suit and shoes...really impresed with the good condition of the equipment since i got pretty bad ones when i went diving in philippines...saw many colorful fishes...there were puppet fishes, sea snake, sea urchin, hermit crab and even fishes almost that of a human size!...and not forgetting the huge array of corals and this humongous brain coral which is probably thousands of years old...the water was really clear and was really relaxing as u dun even need to do any work...the instructor will drag us along with the floats and we will just hang onto it and enjoy the beautiful underwater world haha...we tried flying fish for dinner, another local delight while we watch the sunset by the sea haha...rested a while before going for the night tour with the guide...we moved off in convoys of bikes...was really interesting...we saw deers in the wild running away from us while we tracked them down...big thick fat stick insect which are green!...we also do some stars gazing in the total darkness...and he will show us where is the north star and the various horoscopes...and u can really feel the sky of stars spinning around you haha...and luckily for us...we actually saw a comet!...it leaves a nice trail of its tail behind...so nice...and i made a wish too hehe...the guide was really humorous and also told us lots of stories and histories of the island...Green Island was only opened to tourism a few years back, hence it is still relatively untouched by tourists in the sense...in the past, it acted mainly as a place for prisoners (it is still now actually), including some famous political prisoners like the current vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮)...in the night the road was pitch black since there aren't any road lights there...so the road is only lited by your mob's head light + those little glass bulb that lines the centre of the road which will reflect light back...went back minsu to rest and were supposed to go the Zhaori hotspring abit later in the night so as to catch the sunrise...but we ended up sleeping till the morning lol...

the Fugang Habour from where u take ferry to Green Island
Kevin at the harbour

me outside 朝日溫泉

under the Mati Bridge (馬蹄橋)

rock formations

me and Kevin

part of the Green Island's small fishing port

GuanYin Cave (觀音洞)

looks like a small puppy right? it is called the 哈巴狗岩

and the sleeping beauty (睡美人岩)...u can clearly see her head, neck and her blossoms @@

beauty and the beast???

green forest, dark blue sea and the light blue sky...u have it all!

more wonderful scenery

the sun-tanned and tired me!

sunset by the ocean

Next >>> Day 7 : More Green Island and then Kenting

Day 5 : Rafting Down Xiuguluan River!

woke up early in the morning and dug into our breakfast prepared by the minsu owner...i really like the red tea...packed up all our stuffs and geared ourselves up for rafting!!!...a van came to pick us up to the starting point which is about an hour ride away...so we manage to catch more sleep during the journey...upon arrival, we were taken to watch a safety video, after which we were each equipped with our equipment...a little more practising here and there and off we go...we are supposed to raft down along the lower part of the Xiuguluan River (秀姑峦溪) for around 22km (refer to the brochure below for the map), and it is classified as a class 1-3 rapids...and the best time for rafting is actually just after a typhoon! =p...the 3 of us teamed up with a family of 5 to make 8 persons per raft...it was really exciting...and a few times i thought our raft almost capsized haha but yet we survived....although both the dad and the mum of the family, as well as huiting unfortunately fell overboard into the river haha =p ...whenever we drift too near to the shore, the lifeguard will try to push us around with their rubber speedboat...thou sometimes it made thing worse and we become even more disorientated...there was like around 50 other rafts rowing at the same time down river...and we often do water fighting between the rafts...just splashing water at everyone u see even thou u dun really know them lol...and once in a while we need to clear the water inside our raft in case it sink lol...about halfway down we stopped for lunch that was provided...touched up on our sunblock (yes! u better!) before embarking onto another stretch of the river...thou the 2nd part isn't as exicting as the 1st part i thought, but it was still fun...too bad i couldn't bring my camera along...else will have taken some fantastic pictures of the scenic surroundings...the rafting ended about 2pm...at the endpoint, there are plenty of washrooms for us to clean up ourselves...after abit of dilly dally here and there, our van drove us back to the Hualian train station...since we still got lots of time before our trains come, we went strolling around for a while and finally rooted ourselves into one of the popular muachi store...the handmade muachi was really nice and we quickly got addicted to them, trying to taste all the different flavours possible!...but too bad they can't be bought back home since the freshly made ones can only last 24 hrs...anyway i will be heading south to Taitung (台東) while the 2 of them will be going back to Taipei...i manage to change to an earlier train and pretty surprised that they actually refunded me the value difference!...so farewell with yongwei and huiting and will embarked on another part of my journey...reached Taitung in the night and finally met up with Kevin whom i have known from online gaming...can u imagine the anticipation haha...a quick introduction and off hunting for our shelter for the night...we decided to stay cheap, so we drove to Zhiben hotspring (知本温泉) and camped overnight there...

Travel Informations
Hualian White Water Rafting Brochure (Inside)
Hualian White Water Rafting Brochure (Outside)

we are ready!!!
row row row your raft...

muachi shop that we ate and shop before the train comes

Next >>> Day 6 : Green Island!

Day 4 : South to Hualian, Taroko National Park

woke up early in the morning to catch our train to Hualian (花蓮) from Ruifang train station...kinda cool to be able to catch a glimpse of the empty Jiufen old alleys in the morning...the town seems to wake up pretty late i will say...anyway the train ride takes around 3 hrs...u be able to see some fantastic sea view of Taiwan's NorthEast Coastal Area along the way...reach Hualian train station around 9 plus and was welcomed by Mr Looi (呂來福), our cabbie driver that i have booked for the day from Singapore for our tour of Taroko National Park (太魯閣)...he is really friendly and said that it was the first time that people actually called him from overseas to book him haha...so i told him i got his contact from the Tripadvisor forum...and he was really thankful and hope that i will help to recommend him more too hehe...went to many different places...couldn't remember the exact names now thou...one of the stops was walking thru the Mystery Valley (神秘谷)...the river water was really clear and blue...along the way u see signboards introducing the places as well as the florals and faunas u can find there...manage to get down to the river via a small path...the water was really cooling and the place very serene, so we took a long break there hehe...probably too relaxing a place that we forgot we still got other places to go haha...we also stop by the incredible Tunnel of Nine Turns (九曲洞) and Swallow Grotto (燕子口), where u get to see those really steep gorges and interesting rock formations...stop by a few other places before breaking off at Tian Xiang (天祥) for lunch...food there isn't really nice i would say haha...but we did tried the bamboo stick rice (竹桶飯)...thou i think those i ate in Vietnam tastes much better hehe...there is a small garden there where u can find lots of butterflies flying around...so we decided to call it 蝴蝶谷 since we didn't knew the exact name of it...was trying hard to catch some of them...but they just wouldn't stay still no matter how careful and slowly i approach them!...after lunch we went to a few other places including Eternal Spring Shrine (長春祠) which was built in memorance of those workmen who lost their lives building the amazing Central Cross-Island Highway...our final stop was at Seven Star Lake (七星潭) which it is actually the Pacific Ocean...and interestingly the beach there is packed with stones rather than sands...waves were really big...almost caught me a few times when i was trying to go near to the water...Yongwei and Huiting were busy hunting those beautiful smooth stones as gifts for friends and i manage to find a very nice one too to keep as souvenir =)...back to our minsu for a rest before heading to the night market at NanBin Garden (南濱公園) for dinner...after that we went to watch the aboriginal dance performance at a culture centre nearby...the costumes of the aboriginal tribe are rather special and i have always wanted to take a photo dressed in one of them hehe...too bad we couldn't make it to the Carp Lake (鯉魚潭) for the light performance that was going on during that period as we didn't manage to find the bus that was supposed to take us there...so walked back to minsu to end our day...minsu owner was really nice...offered us fruits to eat and let us do stone paintings...so i guess that is why the minsu is called Stone House (石頭之家)...thou only Huiting did it since i am not that artistic =)...had to rest early tonight as we have a tough day ahead tomorrow...white-water rafting!!!

Travel Informations
For people planning to do a 1 day trip from Taipei to Hualian, the following train schedules are the best and most recommended. For other timings, check the Taiwan Railway Website.
To Hualian
Train Class: Tze Chiang
Train Code: 1051 (Shulin To Jhihben)
Departure from Taipei: 06.42
Arrival at Hualian: 09.37
Estimated Time of Journey: 2h 55m
Back to Taipei
Train Class: Tze Chiang Train
Code: 1080 (Jhihben To Taipei)
Departure from Hualian: 19.30
Arrival at Taipei: 21.51
Estimated Time of Journey: 2h 21m

empty streets of Jiufen in the early morning

bye bye Jiufen!

at one of the stops at Taroko National Park

road to Tianxiang

i really like the clouds =)

errr....the red Bridge of the Kind Mother (慈母橋)

the blue and crystal clear Shakatang River along the Mystery Valley

woah! i look so miniature

another of Mystery Valley

me posing haha

language of the aboriginal tribe...looks abit like Malay according to Huiting

me and Huiting risking ourselves in the river @@

Yongwei enjoying the cool river water

that is quite alot of people there too hehe

dun cut my tongue!

Yongwei and Huiting posing with the umbrella haha

心如止水 finding peace with nature =p

Swallow Grotto

those little holes must be the grottos, thou i dun think there are swallows in them haha

nice candid shot using the reflection of the mirror =p

look at the deep gorges...notice also the rock that resembles a Red Indian's face on the right

ouch!

groupie photo =)

nice clouds again hehe

our not so tasty lunch =/

hey...i almost got the butterfly!

closeup on a butterfly

Huiting at the "蝴蝶谷"

too lazy to climb to the pagoda haha

smile!

impressive marble formations!

一線天 or something...small river flowing between

interesting...a small pool plunging into yet another small pool

another group photo with Eternal Spring Shrine at the back overlooking the Liwu River

wat...the toilet is 800m away???

battle at 紫境之殿?

i hope the umbrella makes a good parachute lol

aren't we strong? =p

jumping at 七星潭

悲傷太平洋? can u sense the loneliness? =p

cute Doraemon cake

the aboriginal dance performance was really a nice experience

the minsu's owner cute parrots

Mr Looi's namecard (our cabbie for the Taroko tour)

~~~~~ Next ~~~~~
Day 5
Rafting Down Xiuguluan River!