This was our last day with Zhang大哥. The highlight of the trip was Meinong, where there it is densely poplulated with the Hakkas. Being a Hakka myself, this was one place that I wanted to visit very much.
First, we went to a Hakka museum in Kaohsiung. Nothing much there except some old artifacts.
I dubbed Taiwan the Scooter Nation. Scooters were seen everywhere ridden by the young and old. And when I say young, they are really young.
This will never happen in Singapore.
Then, we went to 澄清湖.
The famous hotel 圆山大饭店. It looked really grand.
The second stop: 九曲桥
This is why it got its name.
Along the way, we stopped by a lily pond.
Saw some ducks and managed to terrify them.
3rd stop: 富国岛 (Fu Guo Island)
Zhang kept telling us that the place is called 复活岛 (Fu Huo Island). I was thinking, "Easter Island?" When I saw the sign, I burst out laughing. Really, the older generations in Taiwan kept substituting "g" with "h", confusing us sometimes.
Saw a hanging bridge again.
中兴塔.Next stop was lunch. Along the way, we spotted this grandma selling lychees. The Taiwanese called the lychees at the start of the lychees season 玉合包.
Actually, we should not have bought the lychees. Due to all the late night snackings, by the time we reached our lodgings, we were too full to eat them. In the end, we lugged the bag of lychees all the way to Hualien only to discover they had turned mouldy. Bleagh....
We had wantons for lunch. The Taiwanese called such a meal 扁食.
There were about 10 wantons in the bowl of soup. The wantons, unlike the ones in Singapore, were stuffed to the brim with the stuffings. Really worth the money! The soup was a bit oily though.
After lunch, we went to 佛光山.
It is a very touristy place. As a result, it becomes very commercialised.
We visited an exhibition area to escape from the heat. The whole area was so creepy. It was filled with statues, plastic humans, animals and plants. These exhibits were lit with green, yellow and red neon lights, making the place very gaudy and outdated. That place brought back my childhood fears of finding statues that will wink at me.
We got out of that place pretty quickly.
This is a Bodhi tree. It was under this type of tree that Buddha gained enlightment on the order of life, 生老病死.
The Taiwanese are really fortunate to have huge land area to build huge temples. Sometimes, we had to go through several courtyards to reach the main hall.
A word of warning if you want to visit the temples in Taiwan. There are many steep slopes and long flight of stairs. I think that this explains why I lost 1kg in Taiwan despite the heavy food and late night snackings.
This was where we saw the Mynah which knew how to talk in Hokkien.
佛光山 is famous for housing over 1000 Buddhas in the temple.
I think I got a crink in my neck looking at the Buddhas and deities in Taiwan.
Next, we made our way to Meinong, the Hakka village. On the way, we stopped for Ice-creams at a famous Ice-cream wholesaler.
Strawberry Ice-cream for me! Hmm... Actually, I would still prefer Udders or Daily Scoop. =P
Finally, we reached Meinong.
Meinong is famous for its paper umbrellas. They are all handmade and beautifully designed.
Taking a rest. Actually, Meinong was very disappointing. There was nothing much and is very commercialised. I did not gain a better understanding of how the Hakkas live their lives in Taiwan. I didn't even get to taste any Hakka dishes. Disappointed.
We left shortly. We went to 旗山老街 (Qi Shan street) after that.
As I have said before, everything in Taiwan is huge! Even the watermelons!
Along the way, we spotted this weird structure.
According to the sign beside it, this structure was used to burn papers. As the language of man was considered sacred in the past, the words written on paper have to be disposed properly to give them the proper respect. Hmmm... Interesting piece of history. =)
At night, we went to Ping Tung nightmarket where we had our dinner.
And this was our dinner, shared by the two of us. It was very different from the rice dumplings in Singapore. Firstly, it was drenched in dark gravy mixed with lots of garlic. Secondly, crushed peanuts were dumped on it. Although it was very different, it tasted yummy!
Zhang大哥 also drove us to a famous beancurd place.
It was good! But comparable to Selegie's beancurd. =P
Actually, Zhang大哥 wanted to bring us somewhere else. But we were sooooo tired. In the end, we had to reject him. It was so unexpected to see a tour guide being more enthusiastic than the visitors. =P
We changed room for the night because our previous room was taken before we called to book. However, this room was big, comfortable and well-designed too. =)
And then, it was goodnight world! Alishan trip tomorrow!
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