Hualien, Day Two

So, Monday was our second and final day in Hualian. We wanted to make the most of it and see the major sites, so we booked a tour guide. For about $27 US each, Well (tour guide's name) took us around the Taroko National Park area for about 6 or 7 hours. Amazing deal!

First we headed to the Shakadang Trail, where we hiked along the gorge for about 1.5 hours. This trail passes through aborigine reserve land. Some areas are still farmed by the people of the Taroko tribe. They make a living by transporting goods along the trail on motorcycles. Along the trail, we actually came upon their souvenir stands. The guy below was making (weaving) bracelets and other similar items to sell to those tourists hiking along the trail.

If I could describe in words the beauty of this place, I would. The pictures below can only give you a small glimpse of what we experienced.

The start of the trail

Lindsey and me posing for a pic

SO BLUE!

There was a path that led us down to the river, so of course we
had to go dip our toes in the crystal blue water

Zen Lindsey

Eventually we had to get back onto the main path
and continue our hike. Well was waiting for us.

So pretty

I was really close to bringing this little one home with me

We did site a view forest residents along the way (see image below). I was a little freaked out after seeing this guy and a number of his friends.

I would never make it in the wild

After the hike, we headed to the next stop on the Taroko Park tour, which was another part of the gorge. Here, they gave us mandatory hard hats to wear, as protection against falling rocks. It was weird how we were the only ones wearing them though.

Hard hats, they're so in this season.

The splintered rail wasn't a dead giveaway

Gorge: a deep narrow passage with steep rocky sides
Yep, I would categorize this as a gorge.

The next stop was a temple, built in the 1950s (I believe). Yes, a quick Google search confirmed that the Buddhist Xiangde Temple was completed in 1968, after the Central Cross-Island Highway was completed. Below are the pics.

Bridge to the temple

The tower and bodhisattva

Entry way up to the temple grounds

Alrighty, I'm about to hop on a plane. I'll edit and update the rest of this post from Chicago.

Weekend Getaway to Hualien

View from the train once I woke up

Rise and shine on Sunday morning at 6:00am to head to the coast. TOTALLY worth it. Katie, Lindsey, Carolyn, and myself were feeling the need for a little getaway, so we decided to book train tickets for the mountainous east coast of Taipei to a city called Hualien (wall-e-en). Our round trip tickets were about $20 US each for the 3.5 hour train trip.

This is how much room $10 US gets you

The hotel was only $50 US per night per person. So we pretty much booked ourself a pretty cheap vacation, and I believe we got way more than our money's worth.

We arrived at our hotel on Sunday at about 10am. Carolyn and myself, being Michigan Wolverine fans were mainly concerned about getting some wifi access so we could follow the end of the Michigan-Notre Dame football game. Luckily we were able to get access out by the pool :-). When Michigan won, we went nuts! Everyone a the pool thought we were crazy...even Katie and Lindsey. GO BLUE!

They made us wear caps the 2nd time in the pool
I was excited b/c they were Maize and Blue!

The beer is called Bar
The fruity beer tastes like champagne

Good to know...

After lounging by the pool for a bit, we were able to check in and get settled in our rooms. It was only 1pm, so we decided to make the most of our limited time and beautiful day. Our hotel had bikes for rent, so we went on a bike ride. This by the way was the first time I've been on a bike since middle school. I was wobbly at first, but as the saying goes, it was just like riding a bike...Anyway, our destination was a beach up the coast. On the way, we stubled upon a petting zoo-like place.

The name of the petting zoo. Very appropriate I think.

Love the beard

After tearing Katie away from the pig, we continued on our journey to find the beach and some food (it was way past lunch time). We eventually made it to the cliff overlooking the beach.

View overlooking the beach

Locking up the bikes and getting ready to walk down to the beach

Surprise, the beach was a rock beach. But still extremely beautiful. We were expecting it to be extremely crowded, but it was extremely deserted. We decided to walk down the beach toward the hotels, noticing a bit more life yonder. Even when we arrived at the civilization, we noticed no one was in the water. We later found out that because there is such a deep drop off (literally, go five feet out into the water and you probably won't be able to touch the bottom) and there is such a strong undertow that people don't typically swim in the ocean.

Rocky Beach

Katie making her way down the beach

The delicious looking caramel drink
Lindsey ordered at the first cafe

We found a cute little cafe, with Grecian decor. Since it was tea time, they didn't have a full menu of food (not sure if they actually ever have a full menu of food) so we ordered some pork dumplings to snack on. After the delicious dumplings, we walked further down the beach, which was slowly starting to get more crowded as people were settling in to celebrate the moon festival. On our way back, we stopped at another cute cafe and ordered milk shakes. We realized that dusk was quickly approaching, and hustled back to our bikes for the ride back to the hotel.

That night we hopped in a cab to go eat dinner at the Farglory Hotel. This hotel sits atop a mountain and has spectacular views of the ocean and mountains. It is truly spectacular. Since it was so dark, I was unable to take pictures, but below is one I got from the site.

Ready to head to dinner: Lindsey, Me, Carolyn, and Katie

The Farglory Hotel in Hualien, Taiwan

It was a great day and a relaxing night. The next day we planned to go see the national park and cliffs. That will be my next post.

Taipei - Saturday Saunter

Saturday was a day of wandering around and exploring Taipei. Misia, Mel, Lauren, and I headed out of the hotel with only one objective: to wander around Taipei.

Misia, Lauren, and Mel

We headed to a ritzier part of town to look for Misia's dream purse. When we didn't find what we were looking for, we just started to wander. I walked into a shoe store with one pair of flip flops on and walked out with a new pair of sandals on (much needed exchange). Eventually we stumbled upon a garden, of which I have forgotten the name (Aroma Gardens??). I was like a little child when I discovered this egg-sculpture. I think it was actually a part of the children's garden.

Correction: This garden is actually an expo venue. It is the fine arts venue and a section is called the Pavilion of Aroma of Flowers (I knew it had something to do with Aroma). The egg was still in the children's section.

Mel, Lauren and Misia poking their
heads out to say hello!

There was also a concert hall in the park, similar to the concert area in Chicago's Millennium Park. There was some loud instrumental music wafting our way, so we decided to explore. We just happened to be in the park at the same time they were rehearsing for some sort of Taipei beauty pageant or model contest.

We were intrigued for all of 5 seconds and then decided it was time to move onto the next thing. Before hopping into a cab to out next destination, a couple of us had to use the ladies room. The issue was where to find on. While walking along the side of the concert hall, I noticed a sign for a bathroom, however there was a fence in our way. A little further down was the gate, and while it was shut, the lock was not latched, so we decided to open it. When you have to go, you have to go. The bathroom was extremely dark, and while in search of a light switch, an alarm went off. Imagine the panic of four girls in a dark bathroom in a foreign country with a burglary-like alarm going off. We sprinted out of there. About 30 feet away, we found another bathroom.

We took a cab to another part of town. After wandering around for a bit, we happened upon a biergarten and decided it was a good place for lunch. We ended up spending the next three hours there eating and drinking. We figured out how to say "that's what she said" and "your mom" in Mandarin. I can't wait to show off my new-found language skills once I get back home :-) Some pics from our fun lunch.

Wellll...I guess I was having such a good time at lunch, this was the only picture I took. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the alumni dinner that night.

That's about it from Saturday. The next post will be about my weekend trip to the east coast of Taiwan!

Taipei - Chimei Visit

So, Friday, our second day (first full day) in Taipei, Taiwan, we went to visit Chimei (Chee-may).

We are staying in Taipei which is at the north end of Taiwan, while Chimei is located at the south end of Taiwan in a town called Tainan. So we were all up and at the train station by 6:30am to catch our high speed train down to the south. Taiwan's high speed rail, or HSR, runs along the west coast for about 214 miles and reaches speeds of up to 186 mph. It was quite the journey.

The best way to describe Chimei is as a chemical and manufacturing plant (Chimei Company Overview). They produce a lot of the plastic that makes up many products we see and use everyday. You may have actually heard of them. They are a major supplier for Apple's iPad 2, manufacturing the display screens. They were also recently involved in a lawsuit for LCD pannel price fixing along with a few other manufacturers/suppliers (Price Fixing). Also, they are a manufacturer and supplier of frozen foods. I know, I made a face too when I thought of a chemical company handling food one might be currently eating. They really just have their hand in a little bit of everything.

Apart from being a manufacturer, they started to move into the product area with a line of TVs. They also have a vast art museum, containing a wide variety of Western (as opposed to Eastern) art. In fact, they are currently building a new museum and park to house the art they've purchased over the years as their current museum can only hold 30% of what they own. The rest is in storage. Below are some pictures of the new museum construction and what it is going to look like.

The main thing I took away from our visit to Chimei is that social corporate responsibility is hugely important to them. The museum and park they are building will be free to the public. Their goal is to provide the local people with an educational experience, and help them to understand and appreciate western art and western culture.

It was definitely an interesting company visit to say the least. After the introduction to the company, tour of their museum, and a visit to the site of their new museum, they treated us to a traditional meal with local favorites. Below are some additional pics I took on this day trip.

Forgot to mention they also make this little pineapple cakes.
They gave us all some as a free gift. It was pretty good.

The box the little pineapple cake came in (so cute)

Street outside of the restaurant we ate at for lunch

This is Robert, explaining the new museum and the purpose it will fill for the community

After the meal, we all hopped on the bus back to the HSR and caught a train back to Taipei. It was about 8pm by the time we got back to the hotel, so a few of us went to a famous dumpling restaurant for dinner and then called it a night. Saturday, Sunday and Monday were free days due to the Taiwan National Holiday, The Moon Festival.

Taipei - night market

Okay, so I've been very neglectful of this blog. It's just really difficult when you are gone all day and don't have a great internet connection. Luckily, the hotel I'm at right now has a better connection.

We arrived in Taipei on Thursday (9/8/11) and got to our hotel around 5pm-ish. Our hotel is not nearly as nice as the one we had in Shanghai, but not quite as bad as the one we had in Seoul. At least Mel's and my room isn't stanky. Since we were leaving at 6:30am the next morning to catch a high speed train, I didn't want to get all crazy but still wanted to get out and see some things. So Katie, Lindsey, Carolyn, and myself headed to one of Taipei's infamous night markets.

Night markets are a must-do in Taiwan. They have great xiaochi foods, or small eats, and you can get some great apparel/souvenirs for a good price. A few such as Huaxi Street Tourist Night Market (or Snake Alley - I believe this is the one we visited) utilize purpose-built marketplaces; however, most occupy either sidewalks or entire streets that are normal thoroughfares by day.

There wasn't the same kind of bargaining power as there was in China, but in all honesty, I was all bargained out. Bargaining is exhausting, and it was nice to not have to put in the effort. Plus, everything is already pretty inexpensive, there is really no need to bargain. The dress I'm wearing in the photo below was $17 US.

We were able to get some recommendations on the night market foods we "had" to try from a former IMC student who grew up in Taiwan. We bought the three main items recommended, a spring roll type dish, a chicken dish, and...something else, plus a drink for like $5 US total and we were all so full. It was a great meal, some great fun, and we were home by 9:30pm. I'll update with some pictures once I get them onto my computer.

The next day we were onto our first Taiwan company visit: Chimei...