Shingalingaling~: Taiwan Trip Day 9

Awoke to a great breakfast. It was the day we went white-water rafting. I was so excited!

A van was there in the morning to bring us to the river. There were 6 guys in the van and we were to form a team. 6 guys waiting for us in the morning.... I could predict that the day would turn out heavenly. Haha!

We got suited up when we reached the river.

The guys in our team. They are Taiwanese who stayed in Vancouver, Canada. Hmm... Since I don't think any of them will read my blog, I shall openly say that the guy behind me, Lawrence, is very cute!

There are no photos of us in the boat. No one was there to take pictures of us. Boo..

The rowing part was rather tiring. We kept spinning around. The water was quite shallow so we had to be drag by the speed boat most of the time. I kept getting bumped by the speed boat! I don't know why the driver kept choosing my side to push the raft. Grrr...

During the drift down river, we spotted two deers along the bank. Suddenly, I heard shouts from the speedboat drivers. "Chase them into the river!" I was puzzled. The deers would drown in the water! The guys in our boat started explaining that the drivers are Aboriginals and they still hunt for meat. I was horrified. I wouldn't want to see deers drowning in front of me! Luckily, the clever deers sped away from the Aboriginals. Phew...

I was rather surprised that we ended the rafting about 3 hours later. I was expecting to be on the river for the whole day. Heh. We were issued packet shampoo and body soap and sent to bathe. It was very well-organised. I like. =)

Lunch was provided too. I love the Taiwanese lunch boxes!

We went back to the Minsu after lunch. On the way back, I believe I was the only one awake (besides the driver). I had an amusing time giggling at the different ugly sleeping postures and at Sean (one of the guys) who kept hitting his head against the window. =P

We took a long nap in the Minsu after the exhaustive physical activity. We were just resting, watching the tv when I zonked out on my comfortable big bed. We were woke up by 刘阿姨 around late afternoon. She was going to the main shopping area in Hualien and asked us whether we wanted to join her. Of course!

We went to pick up a Hong Konger. As she was travelling alone, she stuck with us throughout the evening. She was very sociable and humourous so we had a pretty good time chatting and exchanging information.

After dinner, we went to the nightmarket, 南滨夜市 in Hualien. Compared to Kaohsiung and Kenting, Hualien's nightmarket was pretty quiet and cold. None of the hustle and bustle in the other two cities. We didn't eat nor buy anything from there. It was quite boring.

So we called 刘阿姨 to bring us back. Suddenly, we spotted a stall selling fireworks and had a brainwave! Let's let off some fireworks! We excitedly asked 刘阿姨 about it and she upped the excitement level by saying that we could let them off at the Minsu!

She then drove us to a fireworks wholeseller!

The fireworks we were holding were not the ones we bought. Haha! They were for show only. We couldn't afford the big expensive ones.

And this is 刘阿姨!

We decided to combine our fireworks power with two other groups of Singaporeans.

This is us with the girls group.

Lighting up the skies with the fireworks and our smiles!

We made such a commotion that 黑熊 came to see what the fuss was about. When I first saw him, I really thought that it was a bear!

The other two group of Singaporeans next let off 孔明灯!