Taiwan Trip (Part VII): Taitung & Kaohsiung - Best places to end the trip

Apologies for the hiatus, I've been working for a year now (♫ "My youth, my YOUTH, my YOUUUUTH ♫) and I just got into a different department starting this July. Things are much busier here and there's just so much to learn. 

So yeah, bear with me, I'm gonna bring you through the last leg of my Taiwan trip - Taitung & Kaohsiung, which to me have the perfect mix of civilisation & nature. We really love our times there and it gave us the perfect ending to our first ever overseas trip together. 

First up: Our accomodation in Taitung (turned out to be our FAVOURITE in Taiwan)

It's called 'Travel J' and you can get the booking details from my list over here. It's definitely slightly pricier - around NT2000 per night, but you would definitely get what you've paid for if not more. I mean, just look at this tastefully designed living room!

The host is this very friendly young man who owns the best-tempered cat that I've ever encountered in my twenty four years in this planet. Her (or maybe it's a him..) name is Mumu and her soft fur and good temper turned this die-hard dog-lover (aka me) into an instant crazy cat lady.

Hahah look at how annoyed she was with my non-stop caresses and just closed her eyes to pretend not to see me! :DD 

In case you are wondering, you are now looking at the BEST tangyuan in Taiwan, if not the whole word. For the non-chinese readers, tangyuan are glutinous little balls of heaven cooked in a soup. Yeah it sounds like no biggy, but trust me on this, just do yourself and your tastebuds a huge favor and get to 'Baosang Tangyuan' if you were ever in Taitung. It's not even a shop, it's just a little roadside pop-up stall but omggggawd the amount of heaven that comes from there is off-the-roof! 

Note: Always order your tangyuan with the weird looking little pink colour things along the side too. It's some tapioca jelly-ish stuff (see picture above) and its crunchy core complements the soft yangyuan really well. (I'm now swallowing my saliva)

We visited the Railway Art Village at night, and yes, the whoooole place - from the station to the park -  was lined by these little parachute lights. It set the romantic mood immediately and it sure can make your heart swell with love and happiness just by being there. And I'm a sucker for little lights stuff, so I was practically falling in love with everything around me passionately. Lovers, if you or your other half are like me, be sure to mark this place down on your itinerary. 

 Guess who was waiting for us when we got back (though its expression sure didn't show it). It's sooo nice to come home to a little animal, makes my heart so warm :)

 The next day was spent cycling and exploring Taitung and it's Forest Park. We chanced upon this house that was SOOO patched beyond usual extent that we were de.bating if it's an actual house for someone or an art installation. What do you think? it seems like the latter to me even now. 

 

We were having fun taking photos when I heard this group of teenager boys thinking out (very) loudly cos even I could hear them in a distance. "你觉得他们是什么关系啊?" ("What do these two's relationship?") "不知道，应该是姐弟吧! ("Dunno, should be sister with younger brother or smth!")

That's when I shot them a stare that said "I HEARD YOU YOU LITTLE PEOPLES!"

We then cycled on to the park and it's really serene over there. The trees, the berries, the violet flowers, I LOVE THEM ALL! Should have set off early instead of wasting so much time watching NBA games instead. 

By the way, these pretty bikes were gotten foc from our BnB place. So that's one more reason to stay there!

 The ride ended with a scenic pond, followed by a very calm lotus pond where painters sat quietly painting along the sides. 

Then it's our last night in Taitung. 

Did the same thing as our first night here, Tangyuan after dinner and a slow walk in the Railway Art Village, and it's just equally beautiful.

Then it's time for GOODBYES T.T

Mumu was like, "Noo-, noo, no-, don't you dare to come near me human."

" NOO-, NOOOOO I SAY NOOOOOOO!!!"

 "NO-OOOOADSUIQWUEIOIDSJFHIA!!!!!"

  

 Bye Taitung!

After an epic hitchhiked journey (to be covered in next post). we arrived in Kaohsiung - our last checkpoint of the trip.

Went to the Ruifeng Night Market cos we were told it's the one where the locals go. And our friend STRONGLY recommended the 天使鸡排 (Angel Fried Chicken). If you didn't already knew, Taiwan IS the land of fried chicken and THIS is HANDSDOWN the BEST fried chicken we had out of all the cities.

You. HAVE. To. Go. 

 Stayed in a place called the 'Centre Hotel' (see its booking details here)and it was really a bargain for NT800/night. Despite the dubious-looking lobby, the rooms were pretty decent (for NT800!) and a major station with multiple train lines (including the one going to the airport) was just right on the doorstep.

And oh, do try the chicken rice stall right outside the station, it was quite a treat.

Btw the room comes with not one, not two, but THREE porn channels. 

Western, Japanese, and some mixed stuff 24/7 throughout the day!! 

Talking about being a dubious hotel...

 

 Had a brief tour around Xiziwan, which was this harbour that the Japanese built during their times here (and also happened to be my name exactly in Chinese). It then got replaced by the Kaohsiung Port as the vessels got bigger throughout the years, and slowly found its footing as a indie art place for cinemas, exhibitions galleries, bookstores, flea markets etc..

Wonder if it's a huge sign for me to also exit the maritime industry and try out in the arts scene too hahahaha

Kaohsiung has SOOOOO much food to offer!!

The rows and rows of night markets were just setting up as we hurriedly gorged down our last dinner in Taiwan and headed for the airport. 

It's a baked sweet potato from a Taiwanese convenient store called the Family Mart and it's my ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE breakfast/snack. And yes, that was what we bought with our last few Taiwanese dollars. Priority errbady~  

This was a little Japanese girl who sat behind us and she's indeed what she looks - a little cutesy angel. But she's also what she doesn't look - a screaming monster. 

AND THAT'S THE END OF OUR VERY FIRST TRIP TO TAIWAN!!

WOOOOOHOOOOOOO~~~~

Couldn't be anymore grateful for both the lovely places/people/things that had crossed our paths in those two weeks, as well as for those epic/daFUQ moments that had served as very, very good stories to tell apparently. 

Life ought to always beautiful, and nothing reminds us of that better than a trip.

Taiwan Trip (Part VI): Shihtiping - Highlight of our Hualien Days

After a horrendous ‘camping’ (more like asking-for-murder)experience in Liyu Lake, we were very skeptical about going for camping at Shihtiping. There’s only this much of waddafuq moments our little hearts could take. Still, since we didn’t have much idea where else to go, we carried on with our Shihtiping plan and it turned out to be such a serendipitous experience.

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We had to stop by Guanfu for one night, and it’s this little town (a ghost town by the time we reached at 9pm) with barely anything to do. And here we were, mercilessly destroyed by Hualien mozzies, getting our instant noodle dinner fix in 7-Eleven. 

Our accommodation was a guesthouse that was in fact more resort-like with very nice gardens. When we arrived there, there was no one in but through the door we could see the lights were on, computer was on and so being the shameless beings that we were, we just went in and put our things there. We called their mobile (using their home-line hahah) but no one answered. So I left a note (on my boarding pass) explaining everything and we went out for food. 

Our host were back by the time we returned and we learnt that they actually went to celebrate Mothers’ Day earlier. See how trusting these people were! Gates unlocked, door unlocked, computers, drawers all unlocked when no one’s home! So yup, they were SUPER nice and welcoming and their rooms had a very calming naturally-wood smell to it. 

Morning came around and we were served homecooked brunch with their self-grown veggies. It was so yummmmy we were practically gorging down the food and I didn’t want to risk going back to retrieve my camera in case my boyfriend finished the food while I was away. Ya, he can be trusted with everything but food. Or being on a mountain with shaky tent during an oncoming storm. 

STILL LOVE YOU DARLINGG!

Here’s a one last look at our very lovely guesthouse – Summer Trail B&B! Highly recommend this place if you too are looking for a stopover place on your way to Shihtiping from Hualien. See here for all its booking details and also my other accommodations in Taiwan.

Say hello to the mighty Pacific Ocean! 

I CAN FALL IN LOVE JUST LOOKING AT THIS BODY OF BLUE!

And GOODNEWS ERRBADY! The Shihtiping Campsite turned out to be as legit as it shows on the official Taiwan website – the COMPLETE opposite of Liyu Lake Campsite. This place screams 'HOLIDAYYY VIBESZZZZ'!

I was soooo happy that I let my inner China tourist came out (see first picture for what I meant), but instead of posing with scarves, I upped my game to sleeping bags, while I forced Q to the tent. (Truth: No we had better taste in life. We were just sunning our stuffs)

The sun was BLAZING hot, you could really feel it on your skin, but the sky was amazingly blue and you could hear the waves in the near distance. I just sat there (read: look into the horizon and contemplate about life) while Q read Economist on my mozzie-bites infested legs. 

 A small stretch of padi field was found on our way to hunt for some food. And except this ‘rice-in-a-leaf-cone-sprinkled-with-dried-fish’ thing (the place was called the Flying Fish), there was no eateries around anymore! So please my darlings, if you are going to Shihtiping, remember to pack your own food!

From the depth of my heart, I loved the place. It was so beautiful and the fact that the whole place was formed by mountains eroded by the oncoming Pacific waves was just poetic. 

Spotted some fishies who looked like they should belong to Avatar instead and guess who became obsessed with them for the next 15 min.

This cute old man was getting flustered at his tangled nets, cos the waves were coming in more and more with each passing second and he needed to lay it out before it's full tide. 

See the difference:

Boyfriend's photo taken by me - him basking in the golden hour twilight, contrasting with the emerald ocean background 

My photo taken by him - over-exposed ocean with poor composition of me and the rocks

We settled down, showered (yes they have hot showers starting from 6pm), and went out for a walk when it was completely dark. The stars were everywhere, and a storm was happening in the near distance and so the lightnings lit up the entire sky every 5 minutes. We caught a glimpse of our first shooting star in Taiwan that night and I am sure you'd get to see more if it's a clearer night. 

 

The night was, however, the most horrible night of my entire Taiwan trip.

The bites - some new some old, I dont know, I've lost count- were working up and getting increasingly itchy due to the heat in our tent. You see, our tent was meant for hiking on cold mountains, not for humid beach nights. But it's not like we could zip it down cos we would otherwise become full-course buffet for ALLLLL the mosquitoes buzzing around our tent.

So I was whining in my sleep, waking up to slab palmful of menthol creams, while my dearest boy fanned me with his Economist throughout the night. I woke up seeing him fanning me, smiling at me with his dark-circles, and I felt couldn't feel more sorry :( 

This was Q not willing to leave the place without another playing session. 
They are not men, they are all just boys.

Bye bye Shihtiping!!

I really, really enjoyed my times with you! 

We then headed for Taitung, but decided to stop by Donghe for a night.

It's this surfer town that's increasingly getting more popular in recent years. But nope, it's a wrong decision. We were there during the low-season for surfing and so, it's yet another ghost town for us.

This was RIGHT along the highway.

It should be a tell-tale sign for anyone that there's really nothing much over here.

How to spot a hitchhiker:
Dressed shabbily
Holding huge water bottles
Have bags bigger than their torso 
and stranded on a highway 

We soon found our way to Taitung and just a head's up: IT'S OUR FAAAAVOURITE CITY OF OUR ENTIRE TRIP!!
Here's the cat (Her/His name is Mumu) at our guesthouse and I ABSOLUTELY adored it!! Though it didn't seem to feel the same way for me...
More to come on my next post!

Getting to Shihtiping by public transport:

1) Hualien-Guanfu: Take the train

2) Guanfu-Fengbin: From the train station, walk out straight down the road for around 10 min and you will see a lamppost on your right with bus schedules pasted on it. There's a bus with 2 timings - one around 8am and one around 1pm. Take all the way to the last stop (Fengbin)

3) Fengbin-Shihtiping: At the same bus stop you've alighted, take another bus to Shihtiping. We took the second bus to Fengbin and it happened that the bus from Fengbin to Shihtiping came just 5 minutes after we alighted.

Campsite Charges:

- You probably had to book online during peak seasons or weekend, but we went on a Monday and only a few grounds were booked. The charges varied from NT800 to NT1000 depending on if it's Mon-Tue, Wed-Thur, Fri-Sun. Comfortable platform grounds and hot showers and toilets were provided.