#Pink and #Undecided Taiwan Trip : Hualien (Day 3)

Tadaaaaa!!!!

Yes yes, teaser photo as usual. It was taken at the beach in Hualien. Our view from where we were standing, you ask? A MOUNTAIN! Hahahahaha... Hualien would had been perfect if the weather was colder.

But I'm getting ahead of myself... Day 3 started with, say it with me kids, BREAKFAST!! Hahahaha... As usual Joe Taslim Chen brought us our morning meal, and of course he brought my fave: dan bing!

You recognize our spot, don't you?

Me. Happily eating my dan bing next to hubby whom had finished his.

#Pink's hunny eating his burger

Can't be full with just one dan bing. My next meal: sandwich (don't worry, I shared it with hubby! Or did I?! Hmm...)

Ancient scripture that says dan bing

Yum! 

Heyllo! #Pink's here! The next picture below is just one of the many coffees we (hunny and i, #Undecided decided to stick to the coffee she was addicted to in the first try) had. Not that we actually had it that day, we bought it in the first day but never really drink it until next to last! LOL. Kiasu mah, we got so much free coffees lying around in our hotels, why bother drinking one that we had to pay for unless it was necessary? (Yes, for coffee junkies like us, of course it's a necessity!)

Pretty nice too! And the size is super generous haha

After a very quick check out (you just hand the room keys at the receptionist and leave. They won't check your room or anything, that's why Joe told us it would be okay if we stole something LOLOLOL, bad bad Joe!) we lugged our luggage to board the MTR, walked to Boss Re's hotel *which was stupid. We should've let #Undecided's hubby and Joe went and fetch them because... What are they effing King or something??? LOL If you're reading this, I'M JOKING Boss Re! I mean, what's the point of all five of us went all the way there-going up and down the high stairs hauling our luggage-just to go back right away???* and then finally made our way to the train station. 

By the way, a little advise for you if you're thinking of re-tracing our steps on your next visit to Taiwan, pack your belonging for two days (or however long you plan to stay at Hualien/any other city) in one small luggage and leave your big luggage (that's why it's essential to bring two different sizes of them, also for shopping purposes of course, i filled the little suitcase with my shopping within 2 days WTF) at a locker that you can rent, there were plenty around the station! Of course, we didn't because we didn't even know those lockers existed *sulk*.

The MTR and train station were actually in the same place (a few station away from our original place), just had to go down some more stairs and we're there.

Us being silly as usual, dreaming that this is the Plaform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station LOLOLOL (okay, non-Potterheads might scratch their heads in confusion-ahem G and W!)

In case you didn't notice, we wore a matchy2 Sully tee (mine was hooded though), both from Giordano (bought in Singapore)

Candid group photo

Ugh my bang!!! *this is #Undecided, btw, notice how the font is no longer italic ;)*

Doesn't the bottle remind you of powder bottle in the olden days?!

Inside seal - as usual - how very thoughtful! 

Too bad it tasted horrible!!!! Too nutty, not enough coffee... hey i rhymes! *#Pink again, with the italic font*

And finally, we were inside the train!! 

Now you might wonder, who is that uncle with greyish hair sitting next to #Pink's hunny?! Well he was a total stranger! And why was he sitting next to a total stranger, you ask?! Well because trains in Taiwan have weird seat numbers. One would imagine that one row will be in the same number, but each seat will be assigned with a, b, isle, c, d. RIGHT? 

NO!! Not there in Taiwan! Hahahahaha...

Obviously both #Pink and I wanted to sit with each other, or at least with our spouses, so we picked our tickets accordingly before boarding, but then we were so confused looking at the seats numbers, and with our massive luggage, we decided to just sit on whichever number our tickets showed. #Pink then swapped ticket with her hunny (I think! I don't remember) and we ended up sitting next to each other *whew*, and personally that was what really mattered... I could care less wherever hubby sat as long as I didn't sit next to a stranger. LOL. Yea yea, whatever, I know I'm selfish...

Don't worry if you didn't bring food along for the ride because the train sells lunch boxes.

Cute, eh...

Yummy and the portion was (as always) generous!

Now please take a good look at the 3 photos below. Do you see anything strange? 

No? Look again!

Now did you see that there are people standing on the isle? Yes! And when we snapped the photos, there were already very few of them. When we left Taipei, the isle was PACKED with people standing up, leaning on our seats and stuff... My goodness it was awkward!

I know it's normal for people to stand inside MTRs, even buses. But intercity trains, really?! Now that's something new... LOL.

Look at the gigantic (green one's mine and hunny's, blue one's Boss Re's) luggage over powering the space! We were so worried if a big bump will send them flying and kill whoever it hit instantly! Thankfully the steel compartment's really strong and kept them safe up there the whole three hour ride!

I snapped some interesting views along the way..

It's at the peak of summer, super dry-look at the empty river bank

And finally, we're in Hualien! We were told before that Hualien is a mountainous area so i kept a little hope in my heart that it wouldn't be as hot as Taipei... WRONG! Hualien's a mountain slash beach city, so the mountain meets the sea directly so no chance of cool weather like Indonesian mountainous area! But it's pretty amazing, personally that's #Undecided's and my first time seeing a huge mountain that ended with the sea! More of that later!

Waiting for the hotel's pickup transport outside the train station

Ehehehehehe look at #Undecided's hubby, i swear i didn't purposefully snap this picture to get his pose, i just wanted to show you guys the area

Why was the woman behind #Undecided gave her the dirty eyes?

Whenever, wherever, hunny got attracted to a roadside snack stall

It stated "butter cubes" and confused the hell outta us. When we asked #Undecided's hubby, he practiced that one move that he often use throughout the trip "say whatever he want and hope they'll believe", he said they were peanut WTF. I was like "NO, that's dried garlic breads!" and of course i was right. A yummy one as well

Oh let me show you something you'd find in every cubicle (!!!) in every public toilet in Taiwan :

The emergency button. Joe said "In case someone drown in the toilet". LOLOLOL, please slap Joe for me!

Anyway, since the car the hotel provided was too small for all of us, #Undecided, her hubby and Joe took a taxi (paid by the hotel though) while hunny, me and Boss Re's family rode with the hotel's car. Btw, the driver was a slim lady, and she hauled our heavy-assed luggage like it was feather-lite. I mean, light as a feather *evil grin, winking to whoever's got the joke*. Didn't speak a word of English though *glum*, now i feel bad because we kinda made jokes about her and laughed in front of her face all the way to the hotel, we're such mean people. Btw, #Undecided's taxi driver was also a woman. Lots of women driver in Hualien apparently!

In a short time we arrived at Lakeshore Hotel, which is a very nice, super spacious hotel. Even the taxi driver that we booked (for three days) to bring us around Hualien told us that the hotel was the nicest and the priciest one in Hualien, even asked for the room rate. He seemed kinda amazed *glum* WTH, he thinks we didn't look like people that can afford luxurious hotel izzit??? *offended*.

Yeah i know, we're 30 and still do these kind of silly things

The view behind the hotel

Four story high individual home, these are called... duplex?

Let's go to our room!

It's a family room with two huge beds, much cheaper than taking two normal rooms. I forgot that hunny snores like crazy though, poor #Undecided's hubby *LOL*. Joe joined us and slept on the floor like an un-loved step son *LOLOLOL*, he wrapped himself with some extra sheets and it looked like a sleeping bag!

Yeah, #Undecided and her hubby immediately trashed their side of the room, such a bad blogger TSK TSK TSK

Didn't even realize that the photos i took of the bathroom were shaky

Kinda reminds me a lot of Singhasari Resort's bathroom, only less luxurious

After some cooling down and one incident (Boss Re's wife accidentally left her Blackberry on the train - but it was found, don't worry), it was time to explore Hualien. We booked 2 cabs and the owner of the taxi company was nice enough to come and bring us some refreshment! Okay, I have no idea what those drinks were (some tea and juice?!), but our driver told me that the shop which sells those drinks have been opened for (okay shoot me now, but I'm not so sure about the number) 24 hours for 30 years! No holiday. Crazy huh?!

Our cabs.

I asked Joe - before the actual trip - if we could just walk around Hualien, you know, like how we walk in Bali and he scolded me "YOU ARE KIDDING, RIGHT?!" and now I know why he did hahahaha... Hualien is NOTHING like Bali. It's an old town. And there's a good distance in between one spot to another. So no walking in Hualien. 

First stop: BEER FACTORY.  

The parking lot - nice view, no?

Put a coin and get some pellets to feed the fishy 

There's a big pond with Koi fishes - both Boss Re and hubby (you know, avid Koi enthusiasts) joked that none of those in that pool was worthy of their expert eyes LOL.

Koi fishes - I concur, none was pretty.

But the spot was very pretty for cam-whoring.

Remember, it's a BEER FACTORY - see those little chairs made from beer kegs

By the time we turned the corner right after this little bar, we realized that the beer factory was... CLOSED. Hahahahaha... Just our luck!! But we saw a park across the street and walked towards it. 

It's ironic yet intriguing, seeing kiddie rides in front of the beer factory hehe, the whole place was actually family friendly

There were a lot of old outdoor games provided in the huge... well i guess i's a park but it's quite poor-maintained, the grass were growing wildly and the games were rickety and old. But that didn't stop up from having some silly fun.

 

Ride made from beer keg... It's not exactly for little kids because of the size! It was pretty difficult for me to climb on *well, i am not a very sporty person at all* and keep my balance. Maybe i underestimated Taiwanese kids, they seems to be more outdoorsy and love good old fun *like night market games, no Timezone detected in Taiwan LOL* than Indonesian kids

See... it's huge!

Oddly there were a few work out stations there too. Similar with what we encounter in Vietnam, only it was worse in Vietnam because the parks were actually in the middle of the bustling Ho Chi Minh city, at least this park was secluded and far from the busy city

Yet another one haha

Yup, those guys spent a LOT of time trying to knock the numbers down

While Joe got busy re-arranging the ancient looking bowling set

Which I destroyed the next second hahahaha poor Joe! *#Undecided again, no italic font, keep up keep up hahaha*

Me, trying very hard not to slip off the slippery beer keg ride

I was really worried that the beer keg wouldn't be able to support his weight! No, i'm serious! We dun want him hurting his backside, not in the middle of vacation especially hehe

After some good ol' fashioned fun (literally!), off we went to Hualien's beach. The view is simply AH-MA-ZING. However, the beach itself was quite disappointing. We are quite used to Bali (Indonesia's Bali yaa... Not Taiwan's Bali) and was startled by how the sand was not sandy at all (pun intended). #Pink and I were threading the sand carefully (holding hands like two old grandma worrying about falling you get the picture, yes? Hahaha..) because there are LOADS of sharp small pebbles ready to poke on your feet.

Behold - the not so sandy sand.

Posing in pain.

You see, mountain on the left, sea on the right!

And once you get nearer to the water, the sand changes to this!!!

Pebbles and small rocks! FML.

And right after all the pebbles and small rocks... Water... And that's that hahahaha...

Closer look to the small rocks and pebbles

Found one quite funny looking... Wanted to bring home to give to Jerome to play catch and fetch with but I feared hubby's judgmental stare, so no... LOL.

Brave brave man. Do come to Bali and lay on real sand, Sir!

Those two were plotting on how best to haul all the rocks and pebbles back home. We even joked that all the rocks would not last a day in Indonesian beach. Yep, people would steal them, they're (according to Boss Re) quite pricey in Indonesia LOL.

Stupidly we (as in #Pink and #Undecided ya, scroll up and find #Pink's hunny's pic for this view) didn't snap any photos on the beach with the mountain as the background (we forgot, #Pink!!) But this place is definitely a must visit should you ever go to Hualien. We had some much fun threading our ways up and down the beach (okay, that's a lie, it was horrible hahaha). But just one note: go there when the weather is friendlier (read: COLDER). And wear shoes!! Okay, that's two notes hahahaha...

So that's it, people. Day 3 part 1. Stay tuned for part 2 for the fun part: FOOD. 

Toodles,

#Pink and #Undecided

PS : Did you see this coming? Of course you did. DON'T FORGET TO JOIN MY GIVEAWAY LAHHH OKAY!