Sunday, May 25, 2014
Yilan
A couple of the girls from ISIS had planned a day trip to Yilan for surfing and barbecue, so I got up at about 7:20 in order to join in on the fun. Waking up that early certainly wasn't fun though. I met up with Mami and Eva and we Ubiked to the meeting point for the bus that would take us to Yilan. The bus took us to a train station, and after a short ride, we finally arrived at the beach. We walked over to the surf shop that was renting us the boards, and they shuttled us over to where we would be surfing. After a short lesson, we all got in the water and failed miserably. It was hard work, especially fighting the current which kept wanting to pull us toward sharp rocks, but I eventually was able to stand up on the board and ride a wave once. So I'm basically a pro. Once we were all properly exhausted, we gathered around the barbecuers like hungry dogs waiting for food. We left the beach around 5:00, passed out on the bus that we had waited forever for, and got back around 9:30. We finally Ubiked back to Gongguan and called it a night, being as beat as we were.
Jiufen/Jinguashi/Jilong
I got up early because Eva and I had big plans for the day. We took the MRT to Zhongxiao Fuxing and then took a bus to Jiufen, an old mining town in the hills that overlooks the ocean to the East. It also apparently inspired the look of the movie "Spirited Away," but I couldn't really see the connection. We walked up the old "jinshan jie (gold mountain street)," looking into all of the shops that lined the sides while simultaneously battling the insane crowd. At the top, we took pictures at an overlook of the view below, and then took some less-traveled staircases/tunnels. We briefly checked out a temple up on a side street. Eventually we ate lunch, but it was a bit disappointing since it was overpriced and the waiter was kind of rude.
After lunch, we walked around some more before heading to the bus stop to go Jinguashi, a neighboring mining area. There, we explored the Gold Ecological Park, looking into exhibits, a mining tunnel, the Prince Chalet House, and looking at the world's biggest gold brick. Eventually, we headed back down the mountain, grabbing some fruit popsicles on the way.
We eventually figured out which bus to take to get to Jilong, and endured a long ride with the craziest bus driver I have ever encountered. At one point he jumped out of the bus to scream at a man, drawing attention from everyone around. I wanted to get off the bus but I was afraid he might murder me. We finally arrived in Jilong, and a helpful high school student directed us to the famous Miaokou night market. It was jam-packed with people and seafood. When we had seen our fill, we asked around until we found a bus station, passing the Jilong Harbor in the process. A kind woman heard us speaking English and asked if we needed help, and she took us directly to a bus that went straight to NTU campus for only $45 NTD. It was only about 7:00 pm at this point, and we figured we should eat something substantial, so we went to Bravo Burger and reveled in the Americanness of it.
After lunch, we walked around some more before heading to the bus stop to go Jinguashi, a neighboring mining area. There, we explored the Gold Ecological Park, looking into exhibits, a mining tunnel, the Prince Chalet House, and looking at the world's biggest gold brick. Eventually, we headed back down the mountain, grabbing some fruit popsicles on the way.
We eventually figured out which bus to take to get to Jilong, and endured a long ride with the craziest bus driver I have ever encountered. At one point he jumped out of the bus to scream at a man, drawing attention from everyone around. I wanted to get off the bus but I was afraid he might murder me. We finally arrived in Jilong, and a helpful high school student directed us to the famous Miaokou night market. It was jam-packed with people and seafood. When we had seen our fill, we asked around until we found a bus station, passing the Jilong Harbor in the process. A kind woman heard us speaking English and asked if we needed help, and she took us directly to a bus that went straight to NTU campus for only $45 NTD. It was only about 7:00 pm at this point, and we figured we should eat something substantial, so we went to Bravo Burger and reveled in the Americanness of it.
Spring Break in Hong Kong
While many students explored Taiwan over their Spring breaks, my good friend Mami and I decided to be bold and see what Hong Kong was all about. We left for the Taoyuan airport around 3:00 pm on Tuesday and arrived in Hong Kong at about 9:00pm, not getting to our hostel until 1:00am, since we had trouble finding it. Our hostel, Golden Island Guesthouse, was one of the sketchiest places I have ever encountered, but it was too late to find anything else, and it was cheap, so we endured it.
On our first full day in Hong Kong we visited the Tian Tan Buddha, also known as the Big Buddha. We had planned on taking the gondola to the statue, but it was storming, and they had closed it. The monument was quite impressive, even in the pouring rain. We also walked around and checked out the temple nearby before walking through a small collection of shops on the way to the bus stop. We stopped and got some noodles for lunch, and then headed back to the city. After getting some hot bubble tea, we explored the Ladies' market and the Temple Street night market. Unlike Taiwan, you can bargain the price in Hong Kong markets. The vendors are very aggressive and at one point I had to tell one that if she kept grabbing my arm, I definitely wasn't going to buy her stuff. I got a few things for my friends and family, but most of the time I just got a cruel pleasure out of denying the vendors my business. I'm a horrible person. When we had finished shopping, we grabbed dinner at a nearby shop. My wontons had the most questionable looking meat I'd ever seen, but I survived.
On our second day, we took a day trip to Macau. We woke up early and ate McDonald's breakfast before heading to the Central Piers, where we bought our ferry tickets at about $20 USD each. The ride took about an hour, allowing us to nap. We arrived at about noon, and bought coffee in order to break our bills and pay for our bus fare. The bus drivers weren't very helpful, misunderstanding our questions and just saying "no", gesturing for us to get off their bus, but a local man was kind enough to tell us which buses we could take to get to our first stop, Las Ruinas de St. Paul. The ruins were beautiful, but only consisted of the front facade, since the rest had been burned down, so it didn't take us long to look at. We looked through the Macau Museum and then walked back through Senado Square, stopping to buy some delicious egg tarts on the way. Our next stop was the Guía Fortress. We took a bus there but then got lost, and ended up walking around that part of town for a while until we found the garden we needed to enter. We took a short gondola ride up to the top of the hill, where we then had to walk a bit more to the actual fort. It was small, but offered a very cool view of the city, and some nice pictures. We then headed back down and made our way to the City of Dreams, to spend the evening in the Venetian casino. We changed into dressier clothes and checked our backpacks in before walking around the huge mall within the casino. It was styled after Venice, with a river going through it and gondoliers serenading passersby. We did some shopping and ate a very fancy Brazilian barbecue restaurant. It was one of the most delicious meals I've ever eaten, but then again I was starving, and food always tastes better when you're hungry. After dinner we took some pictures and walked through the casino (I pretended like I was old enough), and then caught the conveniently free shuttle bus back to the ferry terminal, returned to Hong Kong and called it a night.
Day three was more relaxed since Macau had been such a big event. We tried to get lunch at a Dim Sum restaurant, but apparently it had been closed down. We were starving, so we just ate somewhere nearby and I had the most disappointing lunch ever. At least my milkshake was good. Next we went to Victoria Peak, using the extremely steep and popular Peak Tram. The view from the top was incredible, but again didn't take us much time. Back at the base, we took an open top bus to Victoria Bay, where we did a Star Ferry tour, whcih took about an hour. It was a cool change in perspective after being up so high. Afterwards we took the MTR to meet some of Mami's friends from UBC, who were studying abroad in Hong Kong for the semester. We ate dinner and dessert with them, and then checked out the shadiest place on earth, Chungking Mansions, which consists of a lot of hostels, shops and exchange services. We eventually ended up on the Avenue of Stars, enjoying the cityscape and trying to figure out who the Hong Kong celebrities were. Our last stop of the night was Lan Kwai Fong, where most of the nightlife is. The ground was littered with broken glass and the streets filled with drunken foreigners. We had a couple of drinks at a bar before going to a club, which was uncomfortably packed. We got back to our hostel around 4:00 am
On our fourth day, we went to Lamma Island. I had the spiciest curry imaginable for lunch before we took a thirty minute ferry ride over to the island. We hiked around the "Family Trail," checking out the beaches, views (which almost always included the huge factory on the island), and random side trails along the way. We finished exploring just in time for dinner, which we ate at a seafood restaurant near the piers. We feasted on squid, prawns, fried rice and veggies before catching our ferry back to the mainland.
Day five consisted mostly of shopping We tried (again) to eat Dim Sum, and were sort of successful. We were told we had to come back later since we didn't have a reservation, so we ate a Ramen joint before we rode up the 800 meter long "travelator,"which is an elevator that allows you to go up basically an entire mountain, and look into building from a different perspective. Back at the Dim Sum restaurant we were treated extremely rudely, and ate disappointing and ridiculously expensive desserts. We only stayed about thirty minutes. We then shopped for about three hours inside a gigantic Forever 21, where I dropped about $60 USD. We then met Mami's friend again and a couple other exchange students for dinner. After dinner we hit up the nearby H&M and then returned to Nathan Road (where our hostel was) and went through the Temple Street market one last time.
On our final day, we woke up at 5:00 am and took cab to the airport, arriving back in Gongguan around 3:00 pm. A very successful trip.
On our fourth day, we went to Lamma Island. I had the spiciest curry imaginable for lunch before we took a thirty minute ferry ride over to the island. We hiked around the "Family Trail," checking out the beaches, views (which almost always included the huge factory on the island), and random side trails along the way. We finished exploring just in time for dinner, which we ate at a seafood restaurant near the piers. We feasted on squid, prawns, fried rice and veggies before catching our ferry back to the mainland.
Day five consisted mostly of shopping We tried (again) to eat Dim Sum, and were sort of successful. We were told we had to come back later since we didn't have a reservation, so we ate a Ramen joint before we rode up the 800 meter long "travelator,"which is an elevator that allows you to go up basically an entire mountain, and look into building from a different perspective. Back at the Dim Sum restaurant we were treated extremely rudely, and ate disappointing and ridiculously expensive desserts. We only stayed about thirty minutes. We then shopped for about three hours inside a gigantic Forever 21, where I dropped about $60 USD. We then met Mami's friend again and a couple other exchange students for dinner. After dinner we hit up the nearby H&M and then returned to Nathan Road (where our hostel was) and went through the Temple Street market one last time.
On our final day, we woke up at 5:00 am and took cab to the airport, arriving back in Gongguan around 3:00 pm. A very successful trip.
Alishan
I met Eva at 5:30 and we headed to Taipei main station to catch our train to Jiayi. We stood for 3.5 hours, and it was pretty miserable. Once it cleared out a bit I was able to sit down on the ground and sleep a little. We got to Jiayi around 10:00 and met our friends Sarah, Austin, and Nathan. We grabbed some food at the nearby market, since Eva and I hadn't eaten. At the hostel, we prepared to sleep for two hours, as we were getting up at 2:00am to go to Alishan and seen the sunrise. We grabbed breakfast at 7-11 and then met some other NTU exchange students who had just arrived, and our private driver, Ming. He drove us to Alishan, about two hours away, driving like a maniac through the pitch black and fog. He was very helpful though, taking us into the park in such a way that we didn't have to pay the entrance fee, and then taking us to the most popular spots. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy to properly see the sunrise, but the sea of clouds nestled in the mountains was beautiful.
After a lot of stopping, pictures, and some hostile Formosan Macaques, we ended up at the Forest Railway station. We had lunch/breakfast/whatever at a small shop before deciding to take the train to the cherry blossom area. The blossoms were beautiful, but I'm not Asian, so I don't quite grasp the obsession with them. Austin and I ended up falling asleep on a marble wall while the others walked around some more. So naturally we got very sunburned. Back at the forest station, we still had a lot of time to kill, so we took another train to see some old trees. It required hiking up a lot of -you guessed it- stairs, and since we were all so sleep deprived, we didn't make it very far. Some mainlanders took interest in us and we chatted with them for a little bit on the trail. Back at the station we ate again and waited for Ming to come pick us up. He drove us all the way back to Jiayi, again like a maniac. So much so that Sarah had to tell him to take it easy. Back at the hostel, we cleaned up and went to eat dinner at a dumpling restaurant, followed by some dessert and Sarah obsessing over Kano posters. At the hostel we talked for a little bit, but I was unconscious by 10:00, and stayed that way until about 9:30 the next morning. We hurriedly ate a disappointing "western" breakfast at Shark Bites Toast, before sprinting across town with all our belongings to avoid missing our train. We made it with seconds to spare. Luckily we all had seats for the journey back, so I was able to sleep some more. We arrived in Gongguan at about 3:30.
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Fulong Beach
My next excursion was to Fulong Beach with Eva, Mami, Tim, and Caleb. I was fairly sick, so getting up super early to catch the MRT to Taipei Main station was nearly impossible. We met the guys there and bought our tickets to Fulong, which is a popular coastal area in the north of Taiwan. After a 90 minute train ride we rented our bikes for the day and started along our designated route. We biked through a pretty long tunnel before stopping at a rocky beach and to skip rocks for a while. We stopped here and there, and at one point hiked up a staircase (as is the Taiwanese custom) to a lighthouse, where we took pictures, and had pictures taken of us (white people become more fascinating as you leave the Taipei area). At this point, we had already gone more than half way around our route, so we decided to finish the loop. At the end, we hung out on a (very dirty) public beach, having bamboo battles and writing Chinese characters in the sand. After we returned our bikes, we bought tickets for a train that was leaving at that moment, so we sprinted onto the train right into the middle of a huge group of Taiwanese soldiers, who stared at us and made us question whether we had gotten on the right train or not. We stood the entire ride back, and my fever was starting to spike, so I felt pretty crappy. We finally got off the train and wolfed down some food at a Japanese Ramen restaurant, followed by some Coldstone ice cream before heading home.
Nantou 2-day trip
I signed up for a 2 day trip to Nantou, hosted by the ISIS club. We got up at the crack of dawn to meet the rest of the group at NTU's main gate, and were divided into groups according to where we are from. So Eva and I were put into the North American group with other 'Muricans and Canadians. We boarded the tour bus and our first stop was a farm in Taoyuan, about an hour away. At the farm we made lunch by pit-cooking a whole chicken (head intact), eggs encased in clay, and sweet potatoes. As the meal cooked in the pits, we made Taiwanese Aiyu jelly, which required massaging a bag of seeds into a pot of cold water, and mochi, which took a bit more effort. We had to pound sticky rice with a pestle until it became a uniform glob, which we then cut (with chopsticks) into little pieces and rolled around in peanut and green tea powder. Now that our appetizer was finished, we focused again on dinner. We took apart the clay brick pits that we had made, and washed the clay off of the eggs. The food was actually quite good, but some salt would have been nice.
After the farm, we drove about three hours to the "Paper Church," which was apparently constructed by the Japanese for the Taiwanese after one of their churches was destroyed by an earthquake. I guess they didn't feel like the Taiwanese deserved a real church, made out of practical materials...
This activity was pretty lame, so most everyone just hung out in the nearby cafe area.
Our last stop for the day was the hostel. I shared a tiny platform with three other girls on the thinnest mattress I've ever seen. That evening we barbecued and played drinking games until about 1 am, before finally getting some sleep. The next morning we ate those weird multi-layered sandwiches for breakfast and then took the bus to Sun Moon Lake, which was surprisingly close by. We rented bikes and rode around about a fourth of the lake. The biking was relatively easy, until my gear shifter popped off my bike right before the most difficult hill. I have the best luck. We all gathered back at the bus station and then headed over to a gondola station which we took through the mist shrouded mountains to the Aboriginal Culture Village theme park. The park was very spread out, with its own gondola to get from one end to the other, but the amount of fun to be had was quite limited. There was only about two good rides, and no lines, so the allotted five hours was far more than we needed. We spent a good deal of time in a neighboring garden, waiting to leave.
We then began our 4-ish hour journey back to Taipei. Everyone was exhausted and passed out until we reached the craziest "rest stop" I've ever seen. In the US, a rest stop consists of bathrooms, some information and vending machines, but this one was a multilevel complex with restaurants, a theater, a supermarket and more. We ate dinner in the crowded food court, then got back on the bus and arrived in Taipei around 10 pm.
After the farm, we drove about three hours to the "Paper Church," which was apparently constructed by the Japanese for the Taiwanese after one of their churches was destroyed by an earthquake. I guess they didn't feel like the Taiwanese deserved a real church, made out of practical materials...
This activity was pretty lame, so most everyone just hung out in the nearby cafe area.
Our last stop for the day was the hostel. I shared a tiny platform with three other girls on the thinnest mattress I've ever seen. That evening we barbecued and played drinking games until about 1 am, before finally getting some sleep. The next morning we ate those weird multi-layered sandwiches for breakfast and then took the bus to Sun Moon Lake, which was surprisingly close by. We rented bikes and rode around about a fourth of the lake. The biking was relatively easy, until my gear shifter popped off my bike right before the most difficult hill. I have the best luck. We all gathered back at the bus station and then headed over to a gondola station which we took through the mist shrouded mountains to the Aboriginal Culture Village theme park. The park was very spread out, with its own gondola to get from one end to the other, but the amount of fun to be had was quite limited. There was only about two good rides, and no lines, so the allotted five hours was far more than we needed. We spent a good deal of time in a neighboring garden, waiting to leave.
We then began our 4-ish hour journey back to Taipei. Everyone was exhausted and passed out until we reached the craziest "rest stop" I've ever seen. In the US, a rest stop consists of bathrooms, some information and vending machines, but this one was a multilevel complex with restaurants, a theater, a supermarket and more. We ate dinner in the crowded food court, then got back on the bus and arrived in Taipei around 10 pm.
Wulai and Datong Hike
Ok, so I've slacked off big time in the blogging department. Sorry. Since blogging isn't really my thing, and I'm clearly unable to keep up with it, I've decided to spare you all from my mundane day-to-day activities and instead just post about my trips. That still leaves me with like nine posts to write. Oh goody.
The first excursion I went on since my last post was a hiking trip in Wulai, hosted by the NTU culinary club (strange, no?). We met up with the group at the Xindian MRT station and then took a bus from there. The bus ride was brutal as we had to stand and the driver whipped around sharp curves at unreasonable speeds, but luckily my shoulder wasn't pulled out of socket as I feared it might be.
The first leg of our long trek was up a steep road through what was basically a neighborhood. This part allowed for socialization and we were able to meet a lot of cool people, many of which are in Taiwan for the year teaching English. We finally made it to the trail head, and took some group pictures before submitting to the ensuing torture that is Wulai and Datong mountain. Ok so torture might be too dramatic a term, but I'm not lying when I say there were times I thought I was going to die. Apparently Taiwan doesn't believe in switchbacks or trail maintenance, so the 10 mile hike consisted mostly of steep, slick staircases on the way up, and rocky rope courses on the way down. It was one of the most difficult hikes I've ever done, but the beautiful scenery and the promise of hot springs made it well worth it.
When we finally exited the forest, we made our way back to the town of Wulai, where we walked through the small night market and inhaled some much needed food. The Wulai hot springs are great because they are public, which means FREE. We were the laughing stock of the locals as we squealed in pain from the scalding water, wondering how anyone could endure it. Eventually we became acclimated and relaxed, letting the hot water sooth our sore muscles and mosquito ravaged skin.
After jumping between the hot springs and cold river water until we were light-headed, we got dressed and made our way back to the bus stop, preparing ourselves for another painful ride. Back in Gongguan (that's where I live) we ate some amazing cupcakes and cookies with Tim and Caleb from a shop owned by a Californian, before going home and passing out. Taiwan has some incredible hikes that are definitely worth the exertion, if you don't mind having extremely sore muscles for a few days afterwards.
The first excursion I went on since my last post was a hiking trip in Wulai, hosted by the NTU culinary club (strange, no?). We met up with the group at the Xindian MRT station and then took a bus from there. The bus ride was brutal as we had to stand and the driver whipped around sharp curves at unreasonable speeds, but luckily my shoulder wasn't pulled out of socket as I feared it might be.
The first leg of our long trek was up a steep road through what was basically a neighborhood. This part allowed for socialization and we were able to meet a lot of cool people, many of which are in Taiwan for the year teaching English. We finally made it to the trail head, and took some group pictures before submitting to the ensuing torture that is Wulai and Datong mountain. Ok so torture might be too dramatic a term, but I'm not lying when I say there were times I thought I was going to die. Apparently Taiwan doesn't believe in switchbacks or trail maintenance, so the 10 mile hike consisted mostly of steep, slick staircases on the way up, and rocky rope courses on the way down. It was one of the most difficult hikes I've ever done, but the beautiful scenery and the promise of hot springs made it well worth it.
When we finally exited the forest, we made our way back to the town of Wulai, where we walked through the small night market and inhaled some much needed food. The Wulai hot springs are great because they are public, which means FREE. We were the laughing stock of the locals as we squealed in pain from the scalding water, wondering how anyone could endure it. Eventually we became acclimated and relaxed, letting the hot water sooth our sore muscles and mosquito ravaged skin.
After jumping between the hot springs and cold river water until we were light-headed, we got dressed and made our way back to the bus stop, preparing ourselves for another painful ride. Back in Gongguan (that's where I live) we ate some amazing cupcakes and cookies with Tim and Caleb from a shop owned by a Californian, before going home and passing out. Taiwan has some incredible hikes that are definitely worth the exertion, if you don't mind having extremely sore muscles for a few days afterwards.
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