Day 16: Hualien

We got up real early b/c the curtains are really thin in the room. I lay in my bed trying to go back to sleep, and I think Amanda was doing the same in hers. Finally I just had to get up and soon after we went down to breakfast. It was 7:30. Rice porridge soup whatever shi1 fan4 is called in English. They put some grated sweet potato in it too (i think it's that anyway) and had all the fixins. Also had man2 tou2 in an oven thing. And some weird looking soup. And also toast and peanut butter. Amanda tried a little shi1 fan4 with rou4 song4. After that we did some soaking in hot pools. Ahh… they did switch the order of hotness in the pools from what it seemed like the night before though, and the coldest pool had no water in it.

Then we planned to take a walk up the main drag to the temple and check out the recreation center. But in checking w/ the front desk lady (Shu Mei), she figured out that the easiest direct (zhi2 da3) train to Hualien left at 10:03a and there wouldn’t be another one until like 6:30p. So, we luckily didn’t have much packing to do and got everything ready and came back downstairs while she called the cab for us. She also told me that she had a friend who opened a hotel in Hualien, so if we wanted to stay there she’d give me her friend’s number and call to ask about availability and price. I said sure. And got on the phone w/ the friend, who said it was 1200NT per night and close to the rear exit of the Hualien station.

We got to the train station in Jhiben w/ plenty of time esp since the train was delayed by 8 mins. Nice train ride over – good views of the mtns. Some teenagers in front of us turned to take a pic of Amanda while we were both sleeping (the sound of the camera phone woke her up). I tried to sleep some, but wasn’t too successful so I read (I started Youth in Revolt on the 19th, a book britt lent me, and it’s pretty funny). The kids next to us were super loud and energetic. I was surprised that Amanda didn’t get woken up.

We arrived at the scheduled time, 12:22pm. Called the hotel (star moon lin-w/-extra-mu4 lin), and she told me to walk straight out of the rear exit of the station, and almost at the end of the street on the right would be it. We got there w/ no problem and checked in. They have internet here but she forgot to give me the cat5 cable before we left to go exchange some $ and get some food. The money exchange turned out to be a bit challenging just b/c the first Chinatrust bank we went was too small to take all our 20s (if any were marked up at all). So we had to get a taxi to the Taiwan Bank or the bigger Chinatrust. They were super nice in the original bank – even called a scooter rental place to ask whether we’d need an international drivers license to rent scooters (they in fact need a Taiwan drivers license, so we wouldn’t be able to do it – not that I have an international license either, but we were hoping they wouldn’t need anything exc passport).

The taxi took us to the bank, and I asked him to wait for us and take us to 7 star lake (which isn’t actually a lake, it’s a neighborhood named b/c they thought the ocean there was a big lake originally) to rent bikes to ride down the oceanfront. It was fun. Super hot. We probably went 5km down the coast, and stopped in some cool spots for photos. There was an area behind a fence that we went into (a little more off road on our mtn bikes but there was a defined path) that had great cliffside views of the ocean. We saw a formation down a little ways that Amanda said Dylan would’ve climbed down to and then up… I was skeptical that he’d be that dangerous, but maybe. We also saw a weirdly located pavilion w/ brightly colored swirly platforms atop spiral-decorated pillars. Behind the pavilion was a big sign reading Hualien City, best viewed from overhead. One of the platforms in the pavilion had collapsed. But the pillars seemed very strong. So, I climbed up one and contemplated going all the way up but decided just to top out and hang from the edge before downclimbing. A few minutes later, I decided that we should ge a pic of me climbing and hanging. But instead of stopping at the hanging, I figured it was dumb not to get on top b/c I could do it.

So up there, I snapped a couple photos, didn’t dare step out from where the pillar stood supporting me from below – esp since Amanda noticed that the broken one was concrete w/ some metal supports and Styrofoam inside) – and esp since I tapped w/ my foot and it sounded hollow. Then downclimbed. The hard part was finding my feet w/o being able to see, but once I got beyond the lip, it was super easy. Plus Amanda was talking to me w/ directions.

We biked on. Saw this big pile of huge concrete jacks serving as a giant retaining wall. It was pretty sweet looking. And looking back at our journey, at the beginning we saw some of these jacks that were buried w/ only one spoke poking out of the ground. Soon after that, we entered an industrial area and looked like we were heading into the city, so we turned around. We did however pass some sort of photo shoot these young people were doing – hipster kids w/ dyed hair and tight jeans. The bike back seemed a lot shorter, probably b/c we had already stopped to take photos of everything. It was super fun, and also very very hot, so I feared that I’d gotten burned. We returned the bikes, then walked back towards more populated areas and grabbed some food. Something like man2 po2/bo2 yu2 (a fish similar to combination of squid and fish – chewier than regular fish – the waitress described it as the most not-fish-like fish) and kong1 xin1 cai4. Waited for a taxi and took a few photos as it started getting more like dusk (it was like 6ish).

The taxi driver upon dropping us at the hotel asked if we’d gone to taroko yet. I said we were planning to go tomorrow. He asked how we were going to get there, and then offered to take us in his taxi to the gorge plus 7 other sights along the way for an all day, do whatever whenever you want tour for 2000NT. I got his card and told him we’d think about it. Ms. Chen at the hotel was also going to look into this 988 tour (988NT) for us to determine whether they gave English descriptions, so I wanted to make sure and check w/ her first.

Showered, which felt awesome. We were planning to go to this little lake for the water dancing festival, but once we got motivated and over to the bus station (near the train station’s front entrance, which is something we figured out later), it was kind of late. The bus ticket attendant wasn’t too helpful but said that we had to take a bus to another station, then get a shuttle from there but he wasn’t even sure if the shuttles were running anymore. So we bagged that idea and just hung out. First we had to orient ourselves. I saw the train station, but didn’t recognize stuff. I had also pointed to a certain place on the Hualien map but couldn’t find any of the streets listed around that spot. I finally deduced that this could be the opposite side of the train station from where we are staying, which ended up being correct.

We visited the Magi store right across the street. Mochis!! Susan who was one of the Team USA helpers from Kaohsiung had recommended that we have some of Hualien’s famous mochi. So we found them, luckily. We got one of each of the flavors made w/ regular rice (6 flavors 10NT each), and tested the red bean, peanut, and black bean ones. Yum. The peanut one wasn’t a paste but like crushed peanuts (I’ve had them like that before but forgot it would be like that). Then looked at the prepackaged ones to potentially bring home some. Those were smaller and made w/ purple rice, and it seemed that the Hualien special kind were w/ sweet potato. I wanted to try one, and then we realized that they had the bigger versions for sale individually for 25NT. I was psyched and got one. We walked outside to the park area between the store and the train station, and there was a group doing a dance routine there, so we hung out and watched, and tried the sweet potato mochi. Yummy but w/ a more squishy center. But I like the subtle different flavor of the purple rice. I wonder if it’s taro mushed in w/ the sticky rice?

We hung out for a bit, and I was def getting tired. I think I’m also getting sick like a little bit of a tickle in my throat and some soreness… fuckin team usa had a group who had gotten sick, and despite me trying to keep sanitized and away from the I have the flu crew, maybe it didn’t work. I hope I’ll be ok… I’ve eaten many airbornes, taken a bunch of vitamins, and have been working the pressure points.

We got back to the hotel around 9:30 probably… turns out it really is easier to just get a cab from over there b/c the walk around the train station and tracks is unwieldy and silly. So partway through after doubling back a couple times, we got a cab to bring us the rest of the way. He also offered to take us tomorrow to taroko but for 2500 which he then also dropped to 2300. I told him we’d think about it. When we got out, Ms. Chen was at the door, and told me that the 988 tour wouldn’t have English speaking guides but would give us a pamphlet. I asked her whether she thought the 2000NT deal seemed good, and she thought it was a good price esp to be able to determine our own schedule and not be pressured to do things according to the tour guides. She also gave me the Ethernet cable – yay!

I rested for a minute upstairs, then called the first taxi dude (Mr. Lai4) and asked him to come get us at 9:30a.

Oh yeah - and Team USA's final point was #8 in sportscenter's top 10 yesterday morning - i forgot to mention it in my blog entry yest, but the team found out about it after Josh heard from John Terry in the am.