Monday, November 20, 2006
fifth day @ taiwan
we went to HuaLien (花蓮) via 6:45 am train (自强号). reached 花蓮 at 9:37 am. note that train ticket must be bought in advance as they sold out fast, especially travel on Fri, Sat and Sun. buy return ticket together and get additional 20% discount. you may "tabao" food and eat inside the train, but of course you must try their famous 鐵路便當.
those who watch 吳宗憲's 十字路口 will know what is 鐵路便當. a box sold at NT$50, inside got rice with 一塊排骨、一個鹵蛋、一片火腿 and 高麗菜. taste wise average (YYY), 不錯吃喔 (taiwanese like to use 喔 at the end of their sentense, sama our lah and lor)
our tour guide Vivian Zheng fetch us from the train station and drove us around 花蓮. we first stop at Taroko (太魯閣), it's famous for its marble gorge. tour around太魯閣著名東西橫貫公路牌樓, 燕子口、靳珩公園、慈母橋, 地藏菩薩佛寺, 九曲洞步道, 長春祠 and we had our lunch at 天祥. warning: do not have any expectation on the food at 天祥, sucks million times >.< 
next we proceed to 七星潭, the most beautiful beach at 花蓮. windy breeze, salty air and sprinkling brine. it wasn't very crowded as is winter now but could see few people fishing. followed is a 5 mins drive to Katuo Fish Museum (七星柴魚博物館), previously a Katuo Factory. we bought alot of katuo fish biscuits and tibits.
we reached Hualien City at about 5pm and went to eat 姜母鸭, 排骨面, 曾記麻薯 and 烤地瓜. Vivian charged us NT$2500 for 4 pax. the total hours she guided us was about 10 hours which i think very very worth it. Vivian stays in Singapore for more than 10 years thus she's very familiar with Singapore. 
we took 7:30pm train and reached taipei at 10:25pm. mentally very much wanted to go Shilin Market for my favorites 紅油抄手 but physically i'm too tired to go anywhere, sleep like pig ~~~oink ~~~ oink ~~~ oink ~~~:::::: de mouse's footprint @ 11:55 PM Y