Day 7 started with a gorgeous sunrise on the mountains. That was the first time I saw the big, yellow sun peeking out from behind mountains. It was beautiful.
Sunrise was around 530am that day. We had to speed for around 2 hours to reach the place to watch the sunrise. 2 hours when we were already on the mountains! Me, who has spent 24 years staying in tiny Singapore, has finally comprehended how big the world is.
After breakfast, we went to the 阿里山森林游乐区. It is a nature reserve in Alishan. Along the way, we saw the oldest tree in Alishan.
This tree is 2000 years old! When I think of the year we are in, I began to start thinking backwards, running through the pages of history, trying to visualise what the tree has seen in its time. A human's life on earth is just so short.
We saw plenty of interesting trees and wildlife in the 阿里山森林游乐区 but I'm going to just list a few of the ones I found interesting.
A tree disguised as a pig!
I look like a hobbit next to the trees.
This is a super poisonous plant! According to our guide, we cannot even touch the flowers. The poison will attack our body within hours, causing the heart to stop beating.
Trees, trees and more trees!
I have never seen so many tadpoles in my life before.
I love this picture.Next, we went to the Alishan train station.
As we got to catch the train to Taipei, we had to give the Aboriginal's dance performance a miss. A pity...
When we reached the Minsu, we hurriedly did some last minute packing and then it was off to the train station. This time round, 吴大姐 sent us to the train station. As she is a Hakka, we had a jolly time trading Hakka recipes and comparing our traditions.
For lunch, she treated us Chiayi's famous dish, "Gong Ah Gei" - chicken roasted in a pot.
These are the pots. Wood from Longan trees are used for the fire. According to 吴大姐, the chicken would not taste as good if wood from other trees was used.
Yummy!We had the long and tiring journey to Hualien next. When we reached Taipei station, we had to buy the train tickets to Hualien. But the earliest two slots were sold out! In the end, we had to buy the 5.10pm one. Wasted our time waiting...
自强号 is the newest and fastest train currently. The other trains may take up to 5 hours to reach Hualien. Phew...I used to hear people complain about the cramped seats found in budget aeroplanes. Well, at least they don't have to stuff their luggage in between the seats.
Imagine sitting like this for 3 hours! I looked like I was giving birth..
Camwhoring to pass the time. =PA minor episode happened on the train ride. I was taking pictures of my train ticket when I accidentally dropped it and it went missing! I panicked. I even took the luggage out and scrambled onto the floor to check. But it was gone!
Luckily, with the help of some Taiwanese aunties sitting beside us and a determined train conductor, who pried up the seat to search for my ticket, I managed to get back my ticket. This episode showed me the warmth and friendliness of the Taiwanese. The old grandma beside me even patted my backside to comfort me when we found the ticket. Haha!
Hualien at last! "You were just behind the mountains we saw in Alishan and yet we took a total of 6 hours to reach you!"
We met up with our Minsu owner, 刘阿姨. She is a very friendly and chatty person and we enjoyed her company very much. She is also very generous because she never charged us for the rides she given us throughout the trip.
She brought us to a place for dinner as she knew we were famished by that time. We had 排骨面.
Our Minsu, 石头的家 (Stone House).
This building plus the plot of land it is built on belongs to 刘阿姨! And she turns it into a resort-like place with its private "zoo" where a peacock, two dogs and some chickens and geese live in.
This is 妞妞, the friendlier of the two dogs.
Our gorgeous and spacious bedroom. 刘阿姨 let us use this room -or-4 for the night. In the end, she allowed us to stay there throughout our stay and charged us the room-for-2 rates! She was super generous! So, we had a double bed each for our stay in Hualien. We needed the rest and comfort badly. Shiok!!!
End of day 7. =)
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