My Photo Gallery: Taiwan Backpack Trip --> 10 Jul 2006 till 22 Jul 2006

Backpacking alone is always my dream and I always did not make it happen (just think, no action). Actually, I would like to go Thailand backpack instead of Taiwan, but...... haha! Anyway, I would like to thanks my friend, Jeslin, she help me to make my dream come true, of course she did not do it by purpose. The incident start.........

On 06 Jul 2006, while I am having fun with my nephews at Singapore ZOO, suddenly there is a messeng coming in. Oh, is Jeslin, and she wrote :"I need to postphone my business trip to taipei as my company have something happen." Opps, I have already booked my air ticket to Taipei on 10 Jul 2006 and it only left 4 days to my departure date. Where am I going to stay in Taipei, if she is not going for her business trip? (To save accommodation cost, I plan to go with her when she is going for her business trip.... Me, cheapstake lor!)

Hum..... cool down, must look at bright side. The world will not collapse because of this. Haha! Fine, so I decided stick with my plan and go ahead with my trip. I start sourcing for cheap accomodation in Taiwan. Finally, I found a cheap and well recommendated HOSTEL in Taipei, TaiwanMex! (www.hostelworld.com) Ok, so I decided to book the accomodation with them. Opps, how many days do I need to book ar? I have yet to book my return air ticket from Taipei to Singapore leh! Hum..... ok set! Stay at Taipei for 7 days......... finally, everythings have finalised and the date was 08 Jul 2006 (everything so last mins).

As plan, on 10 Jul 2006, I went airport alone to take my flight to Taipei...... haha! Very exiciting leh! What will happen in this trip? Is either lucky or unlucky lor. After 4.5 hrs of flight, I reached Taipei airport. As advise by my friend, Jeslin, I collected some brochure from the visitor centre at Taipei Airport. Then I head to the bus terminal to catch the bus to Taipei Main Station which the hostel are located somewhere there.

In the bus, I saw a young Japanese guy.... hehe.... quite a good looking one.... but look abit girlish in certain angle.... :p He is reading a guidebook, so I suspect he is here for holiday as well. Opps, reach liao.... keep looking at handsome guy and almost forget to alight.... hehe :p

As the hostel provide a very clear street direction on how to get to their hostel. Therefore, I did not spend too much time on searching it. When I reach the hostel, and going to climb up the staircase, oh..... someone coming down (a narrow staircase). Is Cruzl, the boss of TaiwanMex. (It call TaiwanMex is because the boss is a Mexican and he married a Taiwaness) And he bring along with 2 young and very tall ladies. When Cruzl saw me, he asked:" Are you Jean?" And I replied :"Yes." Then he said:" So all 3 of you can have a room, as you all come from the same place, Singapore." Hum....... Huh! What? We are all Singaporean! Hurray! :) Haha.... Sound sooo good and warm to stay with Singaporean. :p

On the way to our room (a building across the road => TaiwanMex have 2 units in different buildings) the 3 of us start to introduce ourseleves. One of them called Nilan, and the other called Grace. And I realised that they will be staying in Taiwan for 17 Days. They planned to go Hualien, RuiSui (water rafting), Green Island, Sun Moon Lake and Alishan (a loop from northern, eastern, centre and back to northern of Taiwan)..... wow! so fun! Huh...... Wait!!! Hualien, Water Rafting, Green Island!!!! Oh, oh,....I want to go too!!!! Hehe... (actually, my plan is when I reach Taiwan, see whether is there any kaki to go to these places. Haha! I am so lucky). So lucky Jeslin cancelled her business trip, so lucky I did not stay in a hotel, so lucky I met someone here in Taipei!

Ok, set! Go with them! Anyway, I have paid for my air ticket liao, just pay extra $30 to extend the date, why not! Then I applied my THICK SKIN Skill again..... ask Nilian.... "Do you all mind that I follow you all to Hualien?" And she replied:" Of course don't mind lah, we are happy you can join us." (hehe.... even if she not willing also can't say no lah! Me, so thick skin. :p But I did not forget to backpack alone..... after Green Island, I went back to Taipei alone and stay there for 4 nights.)

Ok, so long winded. Now let's start the trip as shown below:

Just arrived in Taipei and you see the RAINBOW also welcome us. :)
That means it will be a fruitful trip. Hehe......

Wow.... finally, we have the fruits ice Kacang at ShiLin Makan Market.

The stall which we order fruits Ice Kacang.

Near Shi Lin Ye Shi

See the narrow passage way in a cave. Actually, this cave is a buddhist temple.

The kettle is provided by the temple, and the place it at the bus stop just outside the temple. Inside the kettle is tea.

The makan street at Ji Long.

This Bae Bae is working in a temple.... he is trying to explain to us the history of the god in the temple.

Ye Liu.

The below photos are all taken in Taroko Gorge.

What is this insect? Hum.... I also don't know. Hehe.

He is a taxi driver cum tour guide. He is trying to explain to us the history of a bridge in Taroko Gorge.

Oh, my dream car.... Beetle! They use it as a delivery car..... hu...... COOL!

There is another COOL car!

On the typhoon arrival day, the street is so quite. The government annouce the province shut down for work and schooling.

Hualien is a very beautiful place..... I am standing at a position of facing the Mountain (too bad the weather is not good, so very cloudy), and the back is the Pacific Ocean. I believe when the weather is good, Hualien would be a very very beautiful place.

After hearing the weather forcast, we know that the typhoon - Billies will reached Hualien. So we purposely go to the seaside to watch the strong wave.

You see before Typhoon, the sea water is so clear and with layers......

But after Typhoon, the water look so dirty.

TVBS is interviewing my 2 friends...... They are asking do the typhoon affecting our live? Haha....... Typhoon??? Where??? Where??? Their weather forecast anounce that the typhoon will arrive at Hualien, ended up it did not arrive.

Grace and Me.

It is not very crowded in this Ocean Park, maybe is because just a day after typhoon.

The rides here is not very fun, but the shows here is GOOD! They have Dolphin shows, Sealion shows and Mermaid shows. Honest speaking, the shows here is much more better then HK Ocean Park.

The ocean park at Hualien.

This is a famous store at Ruei Suei, they are famous in "ba yi"(肉丸). That is the boss and his wife. They are doing multi business.... such as Tourism, Food store and Green Tea Trading. We also buy a pack of green tea from him. The price of booking his mini van(8 seaters) will be NT$4500/day and he will be the tour guide.

This is the "ba yi"(肉丸) which skin is make of green tea.

All this food taste so good! Yummy..... yummy.

Wow, the pork rice is fantastic.

We purposely go to Ruei Suei for white water rafting. This is the first time I go white water rafting.... Haha... every exciting!!! And just after typhoon, the water level raise alot...... and is really fun!!! I LOVE IT!

The police station just at the junction of the Ruei Suei train station.

What a good pose "Fat Cat".

Ruei Suei Train Station. We are heading to our next destination, Green Island.

The shop house just outside the Ruei Suei Train Station. Mainly are resturants, gifts shop and guesthouse.

The harbour at Taitung and the ferry depart from here to Green Island.

We take this ferry to Green Island. Typhoon has just passby Taiwan 2 days ago when we head to Green Island. Therefore, the sea waves was so strong, athough we are sitting in the ferry but we feel like we are taking roller coaster ride. Haha... very fun.

This is the Island in southern of Taiwan called Green Island (绿岛). It is a place I like most in this trip. I experience a lot of new things here.
A) 1st time drive a Auto car;
B) 1st time drive a left handed car;
C) 1st time drive across a mountain;
D) 1st time drive on the road without any street lights on both side at night.
E) 1st time went to sea water hot spring.

The street in Green Island. Beside is a resturant called 池塘有鱼.

The guesthouse that we stay in Green Island.

Haha, it is exciting trip with this car.... we rent for a day and drive around the island.

This deer is kept as a pet by a shop owner which selling dry snacks like dry cuttle fish, dry deer meat and etc. In Green Island, there are alot of wild deer around. And normaly, deer are not easy to keep as a pet because they are belong to the wild.

Huh? Where is the lighthouse....... sure the correct direction?

Finally, we found the light house.

One of the lagoon near the lighthouse.

The sand in Green Island, but I would rather call it dead coral in small pieces.

Nilian and Me.

It crawl across my foot..... Yeee..... *sweat*

哈吧狗 = bull dog

睡美人 = sleeping beauty

哈吧狗与睡美人:An Island which look like a bull dog and next to it is a sleeping beauty.

牛头山: This mountain look like a cow head.

Green Island is an island to jail prisioners but now is tourist attraction.

"好人上天堂，坏人去绿岛."

You see how clear is the sea water in Green Island.

The night sightseeing excursion. We drive into the "mountian" (should call hill lah as it not very high) to "hunt" for wild deer. You see the 2 sides of the road is all tall grasses.... and all the deer are hiding inside.

This insect only come out at night.

Taiwanese Ice Kacang with sea grass Pudding on top. Hum...... Yummy!

Taiwanese Ice Kacang with Ice Jelly on top with sea grass..... Call "海澡冰".

Hermit crab in its own shelf.

The "must" do thing in Green Island is to go to the sea water hotspring. So we purposely wake up in the early morning (4.30am) to catch the sun rise at the hotspring. But too bad it is too cloudy that day, so the sun is being blocked.

Hehe... you know what, after soaking in the sea hotspring, we still can "cooked" our breakfast there. Heehee.... we have prawns, sweetcorns and eggs...... bagus........ *now, still can remember the taste*

You see me eat until like that, should know how delicious is it right!!! :P

This shop full of creativity...... they sells alot of very artistic products and most of them are handmade. I brought afew items there...... love this shop alot.... full of energy.......

The shop selling 锅贴.

Yummy, Yummy. I like this bread very much. When you bite it, the bread is very crispy and there is juice coming out. The pork is very tasty too. The owner use coarcoal to bake it. 胡椒饼