First trip to Taiwan and the purpose of this trip is sole to visit a friend and his wife as well as to do some sight-seeing. Seeing it's our first time, our nice friends kindly allow us to bunk in with them and took us along on a trip to Hualien.
Upon arrival at Taoyuan airport, you can board different types of transport to the city. We took a direct bus which costs TWD150 to the city where our friends live. The residences in Taipei is different from the HDB blocks in Singapore. For one, the 6-level building is not equipped with lift and there is no rubbish chute facility for the residents. The bins are put at the ground floor and residents will segregate their garbage accordingly. To be able to survive in this country, I reckon you would need to be educated in Chinese because every single notice posted on the community notice board at the ground level is written in Chinese!
Milk delivery
In front of my friends mailbox, there is a plastic box insulated with styrofoam which is used to store warm milk that they order for the day. The little glass milk bottles come in various flavour. It feels as though you're waiting for surprise each morning as you get the milk bottles! =)
Free MRT card from the Taiwan Tourist Association
Taiwan has always been a well-known tourist destination for many. This is not without the effort of the various Taiwan Tourist Association around the world, in addition to the many other channel of promotion such as documentaries and media advertisements. If you intend to go to Taiwan, do remember to make a visit to the nearest Taiwan Tourist Association with your passport, proof of stay at any lodging places be it hotel or minsu and your flight ticket itinerary. For that tiny bit of effort, you'll receive freebies which will differ each quarter. For me, I managed to get a free MRT card (with $0 cash value), vouchers to collect freebies from 7-11(which is all over Taiwan) and get free My Diaries series masks, as well as entrance ticket to the National Palace Museum which is famous for the cabbage and 3-layer pork art pieces.
Our first destination the next morning is Hualien. Hualien County is the largest county in Taiwan and is located on the mountainous eastern coast of Taiwan. We board the Taroko Express which costs about TWD450 and the whole journey lasts about 3 hours. The ride was really comfy, almost as good as the bullet trains in Japan. There will be someone pushing a cart along the journey to sell bento boxes and beverages.
This costs around TWD80 and the portion is huge!
Upon arrival at Hualien station, our minsu owner was already waiting for us at the exit. We proceeded to the minsu as she introduced herself and recommend a few activities for the day. We decided to take a half day tour around some parts of the county since there is nothing planned out for the day.
The little things at the minsu that caught my eye. It's really heart-warming!
The taxi driver who took us around the county speaks mostly in Taiyu. Thankfully, I have similar exposure to the accent and some basic understanding since I speak Hokkien at home. It was quite an experience considering the fact that he's a local. I find it almost hilarious when he lamented on the fact that the place has been so commercialised and the tour guides create fictitious stories about the county to feed the visitors.
One of the places that I visited during the day tour is 立川渔场. The fish farm allows visitor to catch clams for TWD100 and the connecting restaurant will be where you send your fortune of the day to be cooked into various types of delicacies! I've not had so much clams in my whole life for one meal.
The scenic view at the farm
The farm is also quite a nice place to get some landscape photos. The operators have done a good job in maintaining the surroundings green and tidy. People actually bring their pets to take a walk around the pond as well! Taiwanese really love dogs, I must say. I've seen so many pet shops with a kaleidoscope of costumes and apparels for dogs. Most eateries are also pet-friendly!
One of the many beautiful little dogs I've seen during the trip
We also visited a hill to see the view of Hualien County. Lucky us, some rich families were setting off fireworks and getting to see the sparks from a higher ground really makes me change my perspective on such expensive things. From the top, Hualien can definitely be seen as an agricultural county. There is so much land, unlike the scarcity of land felt in Singapore. It also feels a bit like a laidback part of Japan. In fact, throughout my stay in Taiwan, I realise that the Japanese culture there is really strong, not just in terms of the dressing of the Gen-Z!
Hualien Sunrise Minsu
No. 192, Sec. 3 Zhongyang Rd.,
Ji-an Township, Hualien 973,
Taiwan Homestay registered in Hualien No. 115
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