Travel-related posts before they get moved to travel.lonelocust.com
I awoke with a cold. Visions of my previous Taiwan trip, which had been hampered by a bad cold were haunting me. “No”, I cried, ” this will not happen again!” Perhaps saying this outloud the moment I awoke was an indication that fever had already set in.
The Leofoo was a pretty hotel with small, but clean rooms. Each morning, guests were given a “Western-style” all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast. The meal consisted of sausage, bacon, eggs, rolls, toast, corn flakes and a curious, soggy, gloppy, watery rice dish.
Our trip began with a 14-hour confinement aboard an EVA air 747. Unlike my previous flight, the plane wasn’t crowded and we had our pick of the seats. For practicality’s sake, I choose to sit in the aisle seat of an exit row; A position which afforded me a luxurious amount of legroom for my 6’3″ frame.
Sunday we caught the Taipei Rapid Transit System (TRTS) train north to Tanshui which is at the mouth of the Tanshui river as it spills out into the East China Sea.
Saturday was both Chu-Wan’s mother’s and brother’s birthday. I was surprised when, first thing in the morning, her mother gave me a present. It was rather awkward as I didn’t really understand how to interpret this. The present was a very nice (and expensive) designer belt from Paris. Unfortunately, it was too big and we took it back to the Sogo Department store to exchange it for a smaller one.
Friday morning we were informed that the roads were still impassable because of the earthquake two nights before, so no tour busses were coming up from Chiayi. We had been planning on taking one of the tour busses around town to see the sights. Now we were on foot and on our own.
Apparently sunrises are a big deal in Taiwan, because they organize tour buses just to see the sunrise over Yushan, a neighboring mountain. So, at 3:40 in the morning Chu-wan and I were standing outside the hotel waiting for the bus to show up.
Wednesday we caught a train to Chiayi, which is a bit further south than Hualien, but on the western side of the island instead. I caught a brief look at the Taiwan Straits and the East China Sea, but couldn’t see the mainland. It’s apparently too far away. Chiayi is a large tropical town with lots of insects, and a McDonalds, where I discovered that the McFish Sandwich tastes more “fishy” in Taiwan, and that the Chicken McNuggets are just as awful as they are in the states.
We went around Taipei by bus to various stores and restaurants. I picked up a Mah Jong game set at a Mah Jong store. At the distinctive Eslite Bookseller I purchased a book on Mah Jong, including instructions (in English), some Chinese/English dictionaries and a couple of gifts.
On Monday, Chu-wan and I boarded a train for Hualien, a small town halfway down the eastern coast. We arrived and immediately caught a tour bus running up the East-West coast highway.