Taiwan Day 6 - Hualien to Kenting

Today we traveled from Hualien to Kenting via rail and bus.

Brad & I decided to get breakfast out, rather than eat at the hotel, as yesterdays breakfast buffet was quite lame. We found a little shop – I had some stir-fried noodles with bits of meat in it while Brad had what I would call a breakfast burrito. It was a crepe filled with 1 egg and a bit of ham. Soy sauce and hot sauce helped to provide the flavor. Since the portions were so small, I ordered one of what Brad had and he orderd some kind of rice starch cake that was lightly fried and cut into cubes. You can imagine how bad our prior breakfast was by the fact that what we had today was very good. To drink we had beverages from – you guessed it, 7/11! I had a Coffee Latte that came in a small milk type carton that was heated in the microwave and Brad had a Cafe Mocha that he drank cold.

We walked with our luggage – Brad with his back-pack, me pulling my suitcase through the streets to the train station. 

The train ride was 4 hours – I think for me it was the longest I've ever been on a train. Not for Brad as he has done 26 hours in mainland China.

We arrived in Fang Liao, a tiny spit of a town, used the bathroom at the train station to refresh and walked about half a block to find the bus station. We hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was now about 4pm. We were about to look for a 7/11 to grab a cold drink and a snack, but the bus was on the corner and some guy started yelling something to Brad to hurry us up. Brand confirmed that it was the bus to Kenting so we quickly bought our tickets and hopped on the bus.

The ride took about and hour and a half. What was interesting to me was that while we were on the train, we were first heading south down the east coast of Taiwan. About 45 minutes b4 the end of the train ride the train turned west and enter a tunnel to go through the mountains. The tunnel was at least 30 miles long!! Once on the other side we actually had to head north to Fang Liao. While the east cost was a beautiful clear day, the west coast weather pattern coming off the mountains was quite different. It was cloudy, and extremely humid. The body of water off the western coast is the Taiwan Strait.

We arrived in Kenting to find what I would characterize as summer resort honky tonk. Kenting is near the most southern tip of Taiwan. Lots of little shops selling flip flops, t-shirts and bracelets, key-rings, henna tattoos, etc. 

Stands were being set up that sell food – the usual stuff – ice cream, grilled meats and other animal parts – it was the first time I have seen pig intestines stuffed with whole scallions. 

Also saw duck parts, dumplings, stinky tofu (that's what it's called, I'm not making it up). Since this is a beach resort they had lots of seafood available – crabs, lobsters, fish, fish parts – yum.

We found our hotel – turns out it's a surf shop that you walk through and then go up stairs to the rooms. 

Some surfer dude owns the place with his wife. He showed us our room and told us to relax a bit and then get some food.  We took his advice and went in search of real food. We found a Thai restaurant and had a good meal – papaya salad, green curry with chickeb and Thai Noodles (pad thai). Washed it down with some beers and we were ready to go. We need some cash so we went to – you guessed it – 7/11 – to use the ATM. Picked up $15,000 - this is an expensive resort town!! Actually it cost $US 470. We figure that should be enough for a few days – we plan to rent motor scooters tomorrow. We had to pay cash for the room – 2 nights for $3,000 – about $US47 per night.

Our room is quite unique. There are 2 beds – both directly on the floor. 

The bathroom, according to Brad, it typically Asian, as it doesn't have a separate shower – it has a shower nozzel located between the toilet and the sink, with a drain in the floor. I guess everything gets a bit wet when you shower, I'll find that out later.

We walked the strip, checking out the sights and people. Lots of young people. We discussed it and we've decided that the Asian kids are generally more innocent that their American counterparts. These were college aged kids playing carney games and buying cheesy souvenirs. We wanted to find a bar to sit and relax and have a few beers. Most of the bars were clubs that had entertainment with a cover charge – one may even have been a burlesque show. We found a restaurant with seats outside, ordered a pitcher of beer for $300 ($US 9.50) and watched the people walk by.

After a few drinks we had an appetite to try some of the street food. I went right for a bag of dumplings – Beijing Style. Brad, living in Beijing doesn't get much seafood and has been craving it so he ordered up some shrimp. Served with the heads and shells on but seasoned with salt and garlic and I don't know what but they were delicious. One of the stands served what could be translated as wild pig – so we assume it was wild boar. Grilled, sliced and served with raw onions – very tasty. I ended the night with a chocolate soft serve ice cream cone. We're in the room watching tv and quite comfortable. Tomorrow is another day....

Taiwan Day 5 - Hualien and Taroko National Park

As I mentioned yesterday, today we hired a taxi driver to take us on a tour of the Taroko National Park. As planned, he picked us up promptly just before 9:30am. The trip was expected to to last about 6 hours, so our driver suggested we that we pickup some lunch boxes before we head off because the food at the park is expensive. He asked if we would like a traditional Taiwanese Lunch and we agreed. Off we went and he stopped at a shop to purchase 3 meals.

As we drove the 50kms (about 30 miles), we were able to get a real sense of the area. One of the things that struck me as very different from home was that as we approached the airport, we saw large gun embankments. Our driver told us they were to protect the airport from attack. Hmmm.

After a short while we reached the Park. 

Our first stop was a trail. 

Our driver told us we could go swimming there. 

We did not wear bathing suits so we said we would check it out and be back in 90 minutes. The trail was about 4km long, we didn't even do half of it. It is difficult to explain the magnificence and majesty of what we saw. Imagine a river snaking through a gorge with mountains rising up on both sides. Sounds like our Grand Canyon. However, rather than desert bluffs this was lush green vegetation. Each bend along the trail brought another jaw-dropping view. I only hope the photos I took do it 

justice. 

After following the trail for a bit, we were able to go down to the river side and wade into the river. 

When we got there there were only a few other people. By the time we left – maybe 10 minutes later – there were about 30 people there. 

We knew that the day would entail multiple stops along the way, so we made our way back to the car to move on. What struck me was that in many tourist places at home, the trails takes you back to your starting point. Not here. We turned around and went back the exact way we came. Out driver told us that what we had just seen was the most beautiful section of the park.

As we progressed throughout the day, our driver, Tonny, would point out different rock formations that look like different things.

After a few stops along the way, we stopped to have our lunch. Tonny joined us for what turned out to be a delicious meal that cost only $55 (about $US 1.75) each. 

The meal consisted of a bowl of corn soup and a box that contained rice on the bottom, half a hard-boiled egg, some dried fish flakes, some seaweed salad, cabbage, 2 slices of sausage, 2 slices of seasoned port roast and 2 slices of bacon. 

It was quite good and the price was great. A cup of coffee at the park cost $150, so you could just imagine what food would have cost us!  Sorry about the smudge on the lens, I realized it and cleaned it up....

Here are some of the other sights we saw:

We had seen all of the highlights of the park by 3pm so we headed back to our hotel. It was a great trip and well worth the $2,000 ($US66) that it cost. Try hiring a driver/tour guide for a day back home for anywhere near that price....

We relaxed in the room for a bit, taking the time to figure out how to get to Kenting, our next destination, and reserving a hotel room to use while there.

We got out early tonight – around 6pm – went to the train station and bought our tickets for tomorrow's travel and then took a taxi to the Night Market at the seashore where we planned to eat. We arrived there just before darkness, so we immediately made our way to the beach to see it before it got too dark. The beach was not at all like we have back home. Large rocks/boulders, lined the shoreline. Large ships were just off the coast. 

A hundred yards inland was the Night Market, which can best be descried as something like Seaside Heights without the boardwalk. Arcade type games, pachinko machines, games of chances, throwing games, etc. 

They had the typical stands you see at night markets, including stinky tofu. I'm actually getting used to the stinky smell, but it really is quite vile to my western nostrils. We came across an area where people were sitting at tables eating what appeared to be steak dinners.

The way it worked there was that you mark your order on a piece of paper, write down the table number, pay and then go wait for them to bring your meal. Brad ordered a pork steak and I ordered boneless beef ribs. Total cost for our meal was $260 ($US 8) which included soup and cold tea. The meal was served with a mushroom gravy over the meat along with spaghetti that had corn, peas and carrots in it. The spaghetti was served over a fried egg and it all came on a sizzling platter. It was all surprisingly good.

Afterward we walked off our meal, checking out the different stands. The strangest one was where a little boy was sitting in front of a low tank filled with turtles withe paperclips taped to their backs. He held a magnet on a string and was lifting up the turtles and placing them into a bowl. 

Not sure of what the purpose was, but we had fun watching the bizarreness of the whole situation.

We walked a bit more and ordered a few juice drinks from a stand. Made our way to the beach area to sit down and watch the goings on of the people. I should mention that I saw about 5 different vendors selling fireworks. You can buy display quality stuff right there, go to the beach and shoot them off. It was pretty cool to watch, especially 2 young boys who must not have had much money to spend, as just about everything they shot off was a dud!!

There was a Karaoke Bar at the shore that had a sign with a picture of some Asian guy who looked quite familiar to me.  Then it struck me, he was the Chinese guy on Anthony Bourdain's Show that was a segment on NE China - the guy was singing and dressing up as Elvis!

 We left the night market area via taxi and went back to our hotel. Tomorrow we take a 4 hour train ride to Fang Liao and then a bus to Kenting where we will be staying at the Hotel California, near the beach...

Taiwan Day 4 - Taipei to Hualin

Today was a travel day from Taipei to Hualin.

Haulin is the largest city on the east coast of Taiwan. It was about 2 hours on a modern train. Brad had to get on line to purchase tickets at the Taiwan Rail Station, could not get them from the vending machines in terminal. Each ticket cost $441 or about $US14. The trains were self leveling so the ride was very comfortable. As we left Taipei we were in rural country side. Once we arrived on the east coast, we were treated to a magnificent view of the eastern seaboard. Large boulders in the water and a very large mountainous island just off the coast. Small Asian fishing boats and lush green vegetation all created a scene right out of the books.

We arrived in Haulin at 1pm, found our hotel (Na Lu Wan Hotel) and checked in. Nice room, larger than the one in Taipei with 2 double beds, flat screen TV, fridge, shower, free breakfast and cocktails in evening for a total price of only $57 per night.

While Haulin does not have much to offer an American tourist, it makes a perfect jumping off point to visit Taroko National Park. Since we had the afternoon to kill, we decided to have a bite of lunch, check out the downtown central district and then figure out how we were going to get to and navigate the Park itself, which is about 30 miles away.

While walking towards the center of the city, we came upon a Japanese type teppanaki bar. Think Benihana style but instead of tables for 8 people consider a long counter with a cooking surface that goes the entire length. 

They handed us a piece of paper for us to mark down what we wanted to eat. We choose to have a combination for 2 of steak, shrimp and cod fish. The meal was served with stir-fried bean sprouts, cabbage, a small piece of boneless beef ribs cut into pieces and cooked in a spicy garlic sauce, whole shrimp – with the heads and tails still on, a thin piece of white fish with the skin, a bowl of soup, cup of rice and a glass of cold tea for about $10 for the both of us.  After lunch we went exploring further into town.

We found a shaved iced shop and had dessert there. Brad ordered 8 Treasures over his ice. It included 3 different type of beans – red, black and pinto, along with barley, sweet gelatin stuff some weird fruit and other things. I ordered mango with milk. The milk was gelatinous – sounds strange but it was surprisingly quite good. The ice underneath was drenched in a natural sugar liquid.

After our dessert, we headed back to the information center near the train station to learn about our options for our tour of the park. As we were leaving we were approached by a man who spoke fairly good English. He saw us looking at the bus schedule. After explaining how it worked, he offered us to hire him and his taxi for the day. A guided bus tour – which is done in Chinese, would cost us $988 each. He offered us a private tour in English for the full day for $2,000. We told him we would consider it, took his business card and walked away. Upon thinking about it we turned back, found him and arranged to have him meet us at 9:30am. We shook hands and expect him to show up in the morning.

Made our way back to the room to chill out. I decided to put together this blog, so I sat at the desk for about 90 minutes working it all out.

At 7pm we headed out to see what we could find in the night markets. While the guide book implied there were 2 robust markets, what we found was quite the opposite. When we got to the first market I saw a crowd of people at one shop. 

Seeing they served dumplings, Brad got us 2 seats inside. We ordered regular dumplings and others that translated as Small Dragon Buns. 

The were all steamed and were quite good. Cost was $60 or about $US1.90. We then walked to the second market which was supposed to highlight the local fresh seafood. There was just one stand but it had a very long line of people. The stand served oyster omelets. We took a pass.

The guide book mentioned that there was a very famous 70 year old restaurant that all the locals go to. When we arrived there we discovered that they serve just one thing – wonton soup!! 

We ordered 2 bowls and enjoyed it very much. Cost was $120 or $US3.80.

We then walked some more and looked at some shops, hopped into a taxi and made it back to our hotel. Still hungry, we found a stand selling fried things, so we ordered a fried chicken fillet, picked up a beer at 7/11 and took it back to our room.

End of a quite day, looking forward to the park and all it has to offer tomorrow. Also hoping that “Tonny” the taxi driver actually shows up at 9:30am.

Taiwan Day 3 - KeeLung

Plan was to do a day trip outside of Taipei to KeeLung. Took train - sort of like going from NYC to Millburn. About 50 minutes away. Arrived at train station near the harbor.

Found the info center grabbed a map and took off walking towards a giant statue up on a mountantop over looking the town.

Towns here are like small cities. People do not live in houses here. All grimey apt buildings. Different from Beijing as they are not like the communist block bldgs.

Everywhere we go we stop into 7/11 to buy beverages (water) to walk with. It is very hot here and we had arrived in the heat of the day. We found a staircase that takes u up and around the mountain to the top. Once there the first thing I saw was a giant swatstika. 

It really is a shame how such a horrible canotation is associated with it - at least for us westerners - all because of Hitler and the Nazi's. Did a bit of research and it seems it is some type of Buddhist symbol that has existed for over 3,000 years that is a symbol for good life and happiness.


Anyway, once we got to the top we saw a giant bell

And a massive white statue of a female buddah fronted by 2 large gold lions. 

Lots of statues and some shade in which to sit and rest. 

Views of harbor area below and ocean in distance

Leaving there we we looking for an old military fort. We walked and walked, sweat soaked but hydrated. We eventually found the fort. It's someting how in US we treat our historic forts with reverance. Here it seems to be an after thought. Most had never heard of it - we had to ask directions to find it. Once there it was overgrown and empty. 


We walked through it and wound our way down the mountain. Once down we made our way back into town, found a 7/11 and refreshed ourselves and rested in front on 2 chairs and watched the scooters ride by. Motor scooters are an inexpensive form of transportation throughout SE Asia. Brads says what we saw is quite typical throughout this part of the world.


At this point we were starving as it was nearing 3pm and all we had eaten all day was breakfast at 10 before we left Taipei. This culture relies primarily on food stalls/night markets. We were exhausted and wanted to find a restaurant in which to sit, eat and cool off in air conditioning. We walked and walked for an hour until we found a little place to eat. We both had curried chicken rice and Brad also ordered an oyster omelette. 


Oyster omelettes are just what they sound like - eggs, oysters, lettuce and some kind of gelatinous stuff with a sauce. Each place makes the sauce differently.

Rested and revived some we had to decide what to do. The only other activity choice was to wait around for 2 -3 hours to check out the night market there (food stalls). But since we had already eaten, couldn't find a decent place to just hang out, we decided to just get back on train to Taipei. We got back just after 6pm.

Back to room we booked room in Hualien for next 2 days. Showered off the sweat and grime of the day. Decided to stay close by for dinner - was now 8pm. First went to bus station to find where I will take bus back to airport next week. Seems there's 3 different bus terminals all within a very large area. After much ado and a bit of testiness we found it.

Went into a mall, found the food court and had a Korean meal. Afterwards we made our way via subway to an area called Snake Alley. Seems it years past it was the place to bring tourists to watch guys charm cobras, squeeze out their venom and mix into a cocktail that's supposed to make you virile. They then disembowl the critter and use the meat. It's also where the legal brothels once existed. We got there at 10pm so things were winding down. We did see snakes but no active charming going on. Also small sex toy shops were there - the shops, not the toys.

There is a night market on the cross streets of Snake Alley. Food there was really grossing me out to the point of making me feel nauseous. Lots of pig parts and fish stuff. 


We ended up getting watermelon juice drinks, strolled through and got back to room by 11pm.

Betel nuts are some kind of acorn (for lack of a better description) that is wrapped in a leaf that is first covered with a lime paste. Lime as in the mineral, not the fruit. 

People here chew it as some kind of stimulant - like some chew tobbaco. Brad had bought a small bag for $50 (about $US1.60) before I had arrived. He said they relax you, so I figured what the heck, I could use some relaxation. Popped one in my mouth and chewed  on it. Nothing but a bit gross. Spit it out and brushed my teeth. Brad then pulled up a YouTube video that explained how to chew them. Seems you are first supposed to bite off the top and discard it - sort of like clipping a cigar with your teeth. Then you chew for a moment and spit out the green fluid. Oh no - I hadn't done that - I had swallowed it! Hope I don't die!  Then you chew on it sort of like chewing tobbaco. The video implied it is a stimulant used by truck and taxi drivers to stay awake. That doesn't sound like it relaxes you. In either event, I felt nothing. Nothing at all. Guy on video said it made him feel flush - not me. Brad says he felt something very slightly. I think it's BS. Seems there are big political and social issues with the stuff in this country. Big money is involved - they get pretty young girls to sell it so some may think prostitution may be involved. Me?  Tried it, survived it and won't bother again. Afterwards, I  went and brushed my teeth and went to sleep.

End of a long day. Can't believe it has only been 3 days so far! Even Brad said I probably couldn't have done this just 1 year ago. And we're trying to take a relaxed pace. Even though we take subways everywhere we walk an incredible amount. Sitting up here in bed I feel the tightness in my legs. Once we leave here tomorrow I get to rest on the train for a few hours. We'll go explore Hualien later tomorrow after we check into our hotel...

Taiwan Day 2 - Taipei

The hotel has provided us with free breakfast vouchers with a choice of 3 places.  One of the places serves a traditional Taiwanese breakfast that includes congee, a gruel like mush.  Another place is 7/11.  Believe it or not the 7/11's here are very abundant and quite the lifesaver. Great for cold drinks and snacks.  The place we've been going to has decent espresso and coffee.  The cafe americano is espresso with more water added.  Sounds odd, but it works well.  With breakfast comes a hot hard boiled egg and a choice of sandwich.  Sandwiches here are different.  On white bread, they remove the crusts.  I ordered a tuna sandwich - it had about a teaspoon of tuna salad surrounded by a tiny piece of ham and some egg salad also surround by ham.  It has a piece of cucumber and a bittle of iceberg lettuse.  Odd combo but tastey nonetheless.

After breakfast we took the subway to Shillin and then a taxi ride to the National Palace Museum. The museum houses rare antiquities from the mainland primarily that some emperor secreted away to protect it from plunder.  Nice building, 3 levels, lots of old stuff.  Two of the highlights were the nested balls carved from ivory sometime in the late 1800's - we have a cheap copy we bought on our first trip to Beijing.  They other highlight was a beautiful carving of jade that was made to look like a stalk of Bok Choy.  The jade stalks are white while the leaves are darker green.  Amazing how the artist took a weird piece of stone and made something that people are familiar with.  Really cool and beautiful.

After the museum we took a taxi ride to a world famous dumpling house.  They have now over 20 of these shops around SE Asia and even one in California.  While waiting we placed our order.  Once inside we were ushered to the 3rd floor - very clean and upscale.  The dumplings were quite varied - served with shredded ginger a bit of soy and some vinegar.  We ordered a bunch of dishes along with their special appetizer of tofu, and shredded bean sprouts, vermicelli aand other stuff.  Also order sauted Taiwanese lettuce as a side dish.  Ate dumplings along with a cold beer.  Meal came in at around $1,500 or $US46.  Expensive as lunch goes but well worth it.

Afterwards we walked to a subway station to go to Longshan Temple.  

While we've been to many temples in Beijing, this one was quite special.  Built in the mid 1700's it is  still quite active.  When we arrived a "service" was in full swing.  People lighting incense and chanting buddist prayers in unison:

After walking around some (it's very small) we took a seat of observe the ceremony.  I found it fasinating.  The chanting reminded me of the Jews davening as a result of the repetitious chanting.  The chanting seemed to put people into a meditative state.  Sort of like TM does.  It was quite hot and humid so sweat was dripping off me, even while sitting quietly.  Strangely the Taiwanese seem to take it in stride and even look like they weren't sweating.

Video of Buddhist Chanting to be inserted later

After a while we wandered outside the temple and went into a juice lace for a cold drink.  Brad had a watermelon juice which was quite good and I had a lemon juice, which was just like our lemonade.  very refreshing.  what was interesting though is the shop was selling a shaved ice dish that looked really good.  Not crushed ice, it was shaved and had a fluffyness to it similar to snow.  They put a bunch of it into a bowl and then add different fruits, sweetened beans and we think a bit of condensed milk.  It looked very refreshing and lots of people were ordering it.  It's on our list of must try things.   Here's one Brad had in Hualien:

Bet if it was brought to the US and modified some for US tastes, it would be a real hit in the warm weather markets.  Remember, you heard it here first!

It was just before 5pm so we went back to our hotel for a break and to figure out the rest of our trip.  By 7pm we headed out to the Shillin Market.  We were there the night before but never found the stand alone food court I had seen on Zimern's show.  The night before we wandered the streets, enjoying some snacks but this was different.

Here's what we ended up eating:  We started with a few grilled sausages on a stick.  Quite good.  Then Brad tricked me into eating stinky tofu:

While the smell is absolutely vile, it was actually okay to eat.  It was served with a sauce and cabbage.  Then we tried Squid and bamboo shoot soup.  

Soup was good as were the bamboo shoots.  Squid was tough and well squidy and chewy.  Not my favorite.  

We shared a dish of cold sesame spicy noodles - good.

Then had a burrito of something really weird.  

Crunchy that was smashed, added chopped peanuts and then roll into a tortilla.  

It was just fair.   We order a jelled fig juice drink. 

I was expecting it to taste like sweet figs.  We think it was a tea made from the leaves of a fig tree.  Weird and gelatinous.  But it did help the dry crunchy burrito go down.  We walked around the market and came upon snails:

 Gave a plate of them a try.

Left there afterwards and went to a nice section of the city Zhongxiao Dunhua to check out the bar scene.  Much nicer more upscale.  We ended up in a cafe, sat and enjoyed a few beverages.  Subway shuts down at midnight so we made our way back to hotel and set up to watch Brin's opening ceremony in Israel.

Day 2 ended around 2am.