Pre-Departure Blues

I know it seems a bit early to be having such symptoms considering I have slightly more than a month to go, but I've been feeling it! Especially so after we sent Yuru off to... KENDING. Shu Hui was almost fooled into thinking that Ah Mo & I wanted to send Yuru back to HK. Haha... The 3 of us were Yuru's bodyguards for the night, escorting her to the 236 bus stop. It was ages before the bus finally arrived. So meanwhile the four of us had a hearty talk. We were laughing & joking at all sorts of stuff, esp Green Island... In the silence of the night now, I'm just wondering how long more do I have to enjoy such great company. :)

我爱台东。绿岛！

Finally back from my 4 day hiatus. And I must say I have a great time!

Travelling for the first time without a person without a good sense of orientation was pretty thrilling. 我和阿猫是路痴！We practically planned our trip hours before we set off!

My very first 火车便当！It's not very good though :(

If you notice we're sitting on the floor!! That's coz we couldn't get tickets with assigned seats. So we seat all the way to 花莲! 4 hours!!

The four days away from the hustle and bustle of Taipei city was a change. As what my wordy Lonely Planet guide suggested, if you're on a tight schedule you could give 台东a miss coz there isn't any fantastic scenary or special sights... cycled my day away. Feels like a ride in East Coast Park. But the rental fee is really cheap NT100 (S$5) not for an hour, for a day as long as you return the bike before 7pm! 台东 is a pretty deserted town, we were joking that there were more motorbikes than pedestrains.

Ah Mao's artistic shot

阿猫阿狗

Old railway tracks

Courtesy of Ah Mao

Elite Bookstores is EVERYWHERE!

I met a fellow Singaporean in 台东. He's a restauant owner now!! He could tell from my accent that I wasn't a local. Once I said I was Singaporean he said "Hello I'm from Singapore too" Ahhh that familiar Singlish accent!He's an owner of a western restaurant which serves delicious 起司猪排！如果有缘到台东可以多多捧场！

We cycled from 海滨公园to 森林公园. I love cycling!

Our bikes! 粉红色淑女车是我的哦

阿猫
不觉得很像相框

Greek architecture in the middle of no where.

好吃的食物是值得等待的

周日夜市

Kitty's big nose cousin
夜市也有卖牛排

Green Island 绿岛

To escape from the rainy weather in Taipei, we decided to head off to Green Island. But was instead greeted by pouring rain! 我们可真的是雨女！The rain follows off wherever we go!!!!! The main mode of transportion on the island are motorbikes... we were left stranded since none of us knew how to ride one! After much discussion, we decided to dig into our pockets and hire a guide to chauffeur us around in a car. *Heart Pain* Cost us a bomb..... but thank goodness we did! The best memories I brought away from the offshore island was not the great scenary nor the hot springs but the warm hospitality of the ppl there.

Visted a prison where political prisoners were kept during the white terror. Yuru and Ah Mao kept saying that I belonged there because of my jailbird styled jacket.

Listening attentively

哈巴狗
睡美人

朝日温泉~

I must say our hot spring experience was a different from what I had in mind. 朝日温泉is an open air hot spring with a great view of the sea. We were thinking of going there in the wee hours of the morning to watch the sunrise. But due to weather and transport limitations we ended up soaking up the rain too.

One of the activties at the hot spring was to cook eggs. The designated egg boiling hot spring was really faraway in some ulu spot. Braving the winds, we trudged our way carefully through the rocky terrain just to boil our eggs in the sacred spring water. Dressed in our swimsuit, we were practically freezing from the strong wind. In order to make our wait less painful, we started to counting in different langauges - cantonese, chinese, english, singlish...

Another highlight of the trip was to see the梅花鹿...but guess we weren't fated. Our night tour was cancelled due to the rain. Haha so we ended up playing 大老二 with the our guide and his friends. It was a knockout match - the loser had to give up his place and drink a glass of beer as punishment. I gladly downed glass after glass of Fruit Beer (Thanks to Machiko's recommendation)!I felt a little guilty losing coz I got to get free drinks!

It was a showdown between Yuru and the guys as she was our only representative left standing in the game. Did I mention it was the first time she was playing 大老二 . Smart gal!!

We packed up and got into the car....we though we were heading back to the hostel....but then we ended up at the karaoke! Haha to think we travelled all the way to Green Island to play cards and sing karaoke!

Snorkling AGAIN!
I never expected that I would get the chance to snorkel again. But I DID!! This time around the apprehension of facing the vast ocean was gone. I didn't even have to hold on to a buoy for my dear life like I did the last time. This time I swam in the ocean on my own away from the group...haha okok of course under the watchful eye of one of the instructors. I find the sea water in Green Island clearer than the sea at Kending. Probably coz Green Island hasn't been trampled
by tourists.

The multi-coloured corals are breath-taking... purple green yellow...the fishes come in all shapes and sizes and colours. There was fish with a long snout, a RECTANGLE fish and eve a rainbow coloured one. I had to coax the fish to come near me, baiting them with bread. Only one mischievous fish was brave enough that it tried to "steal" bread out of my hand.

Time in the sea flew by, before I knew it it was time's up.

教练和我们

Super friendly 台东ppl! Gave us a whole box of delicious hua lien mua chis!

We managed to get seats in the first class cabin！



But in the end we spent most of our time on the deck. Held on to the railings for our dear life.

This trip was really one of a kind. I wasn't just a tourist admiring the surface beauty of the island, I'm gald I had the chance to get to know the locals and experience their hospitality. 绿岛人谢谢！！