End of Chapter

He is married.


With this post, I am closing that chapter of my life. I will not contact him.

With this post, I will also stop daydreaming that I will bump into him whenever I step into a new environment.

End of chapter. =)

Taiwan Trip Day 9 - Hualien

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!

And so Day 9 ended with us sending our dreams to the heavens....


**************************************

Found Him

I realised that I had mistaken about his sirname all along. It is Chan, not Chang.

Ran a search through Google and I found him on one of the business social pages.

Omg. I do not recognise him.


****************************

History?

I could not believe I saw his name again. If I not received a sms from my cousin saying that my yahoo mail was sending spam mails, I would not have logged into yahoo mail. If I didn't log in, I wouldn't have the chance of seeing his name being "available" in my contact list again.

I thought I have put it down already. But my heart still skipped a beat when I saw his name. Since then, my thoughts have been running wild again. My old friends, the "What-ifs", are back again, flooding my mind.

I didn't have the courage to click on his name just now. I will, next time. I hope that I will get the chance again.


****************************

Taiwan Trip Day 8 - Chiayi Alishan

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. =P


A 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. =)


********************************

Taiwan Day 7 - Chiayi Alishan

We woke up late again. In the end, we had to takeaway our breakfasts and had them on the High Speed train. Zhang大哥, being very nice, drove us to the train station free of charge. (Well, we paid for all his meals during the few days he was with us.)


Finally, we were alone again! It felt like the start of adventures. I felt that we were too well-protected by Zhang大哥. =P


Waited for quite a while at Chiayi High Speed Rail Station for our Minsu driver to pick us up. The first stop was lunch at 喷水, a restaurant.



We had turkey meat with rice. Turkey actually tasted much like chicken and I really could not differentiate between the two.


The car ride from Chiayi will take around 1-2hours to reach Alishan.


Next, we went to 阿里山风景区 where we heard a lot of legends and myths from our driver, 陈先生. He is a Taiwanese aboriginal and thus, has plenty of interesting stories to share.







That's him, showing us how the aboriginal people carried goods in the past. He said that in the past, they could carry up to 100kg per person using the method above! Power!







Next, we went to the famous 天长地久桥 in Chiayi. The 天长桥 was cordoned off because of damages due to the 88水灾 so we didn't get a chance to cross the bridge. It looked so exciting! *Sigh*






The after effects from the 88水灾.


While crossing the 地久桥, we were attracted by loud bangings from gongs and the crackling of fireworks. We were lucky to stumble upon 济公游行. A man was possessed by the deity, 济公, and he was making rounds around a temple situated there. It was a real eye-opener!


The man in the patched black rope was the 济公.










Our guide drove us to 奋起湖 next. If the mountain railway is working, this is the place to take the train to watch the sunrise at the Alishan train station.









We grabbed our chance to take pictures on the railway. =P


Alishan is famous for the production of a fig called 爱玉. The smooth jelly 爱玉冰 was thus borned.


It looks like the ice jelly we have in Singapore but tasted much much better! It had a sweet, natural taste to it unlike our ice jelly which tastes bland. I bought a packet of 爱玉 back and will attempt to make the jelly one day!

These are TOMATOES!

On the left - mutated 耳朵饼.


After some shopping at the 阿里山老街, we went for dinner. We had the famous 阿里山火车便当 (Alishan Railway Boxes) for dinner! I could see why it is a hit with the tourists.



Served in a nostalgic metal lunchbox.



Tada! One chicken thigh and pork cutlet with plenty of rice and vegetables. A very satisfying and hearty dinner.




On the way to the Minsu, we managed to capture this breathtaking sight. It looks like we were on the top of the clouds.



Finally reached our Minsu around nightfall.
Here's our Minsu, 县云居.

Besides being home to us, the mountain is home to a vast ocean of insects. The insects, attracted by the light and warmth of the house, began suicide missions into the house. Their stupidity made me ran up and down this flight of stairs, screaming for a shelter without insects buzzing near my ears.




Our simple homely room which we didn't get to sleep much in. We had to wake up at 3.30am to catch the sunrise.


Our Minsu's homeowners have another sideline - they dry and pack tea leaves for sale. As it turned out, a batch of tea leaves they packed had won the first prize in the tea leaves competition held in Alishan! And we were so lucky to have a taste of the champion tea leaves.



The Minsu's homeowner, 吴大姐, taught us the art of tea-drinking. First, we had to pour the tea from the tall cup into the round cup. Before drinking, we had to sniff the tall cup and let the aroma filled our lungs. Then, we drank from the round cup. But hold on! We got to let it stay in our mouth while we soaked in the taste of the tea. Then, we swallowed. Hmmm.....

I must say, the tea from Alishan really tasted different from the ones in Singapore. It had a flowery scent and was bitter without the astringent taste that some teas have. I bought some back too!


A chat with 吴大姐 during the tea drinking made a startling realisation. We realised that the High Speed Railway does not reach Hualien, our next stop! Although, on the map, Hualien is just next to Chiayi (where Alishan is situated), it is seperated by the mountains and there is no direct route there! We were so shocked then!

We had to replan our itinerary. We then decided to take the High Speed train to Taipei and then take the normal train to Hualien. Total time for taking this route costed us 4 and a half precious hours.

Luckily, 吴大姐 pointed out our mistake and helped us rectify by planning the time with us.


After putting our luggage down, 陈先生 passed us a torch and we went to the backyard to look for fireflies. We were so dumb. We kept mistaking stars for fireflies. Haha! There was another funny episode with a moth. A huge white moth was attracted to the light from the torch and sped towards us. Our screams could match those in horror flicks. Haha!


陈先生 keeps a Laborador named 阿发. And this dog tried to hump Pei Xuan while we were playing with it! It grabbed onto PX's leg and got into its doggy position. PX was trying her best to pull away her leg but that dog was strong and in heat. Meanwhile, I was at the side, yelling my head off, "PX! Pull your leg away! It is trying to hump you!" Haha!!

This is the horny beast.



After some fooling around in the backyard, 陈先生 drove us to another place to watch fireflies. When we reached there, we saw a group of Singaporeans too. I didn't realise it at that time, but they were capturing fireflies and putting them into glass bottles! Disgusting behaviour! They have totally no respect for nature and the creatures' lives! Should have walk up to them to scold them. Grrr...


Putting that aside, I really enjoyed the time spent there. That place is just a little rest area beside the main mountain road. As it was really dark, we could see lights twinkling from other villages in the opposite mountains. 陈先生 started telling us stories about his tribe and other tribes. There were so many interesting myths and legends! As the stories rolled out, I could feel the cold wind and hear the strange melodies made by the crickets. Although 陈先生 was just next to me, I couldn't see his face as it was so dark. All these factors made the stories more real and tangible. I was totally absorbed into the tales of old and magical. I was hooked.


Day 7 ended on the mountains.


***********************************************