Taiwan - Taipei, YiLan, & HuaLien

原本我沒想這麼'早年'旅遊台灣，是因我們要參一組緬甸團，而我找到的機票是在台灣轉機，即使停留台灣幾天，機票價錢還是一樣。就這樣我計劃遊走七天(十月八-十四日)，值回票價又多去了一國景點。我找了資料，並且包一輛休旅車，然後邀馬來西亞K L的朋友夫妻同行。(他們很豪爽隨和，跟他們同行旅途融洽很愉快。)

Taiwan was a bonus trip, as we were already planning to join a group for a Myanmar tour and our flight transited in Taiwan. The ticket price was the same even if we stopped a few days in Taiwan, so why not visit one more country for the same ticket price. I planned a trip for 7 days (Oct 8-14), and I invited my friend, Lim with his wife, who live in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to join in since I was hiring a minivan with a driver/guide. (The trip was wonderful with them together.)

第一天，我們很早就抵達，朋友是傍晚才會抵達。

我們就先自行到故宮博物院(票價250台幣)。

First day, we arrived in Taiwan early morning, but my friends would arrive in the evening. 

So, Steve and I went to the Palace Museum (NT$250, exchange rate was roughly US$1 = NT$32) on our own. 

嗯。。展覽館不允許拍照。

Hmm... it is not allowed to take photo inside. 

朋友Ken之前住美國聖路易，不過已搬回台灣，在基隆工作。他熱情的說要帶我們四人走走。

My friend, Ken stayed in St Louis before, and now he is working in KeeLung. He was kind enough to come meet the four of us and took us to JiuFen Old Street. 

一路下雨，我們到九份時已六點，很多店已關。

It was raining and after 6pm, so many stores were already closed.

據說很久以前，這兒只住九戶人家，當有一戶人去城市購物，就會幫忙代買九份給全部九戶。

就這樣，九份。

之後，更感謝Ken送我們到礁溪的和斯頓精緻溫泉旅館。

我訂這旅館是每個房間都有溫泉浴缸，非常好，不用去溫泉館，可以私自在房內泡溫泉。

快快用它來消除坐了十幾多小時飛機的疲憊吧！

Ken dropped us at the hotel in JiaoXi, YiLan county. 

The hotel room's bathtub is fed from a hot spring.  It was nice to have an individual tub in the room, instead of going to a public bath. Soaking helps to dissolve the tiredness from over ten hours on the plane!

第二天早上，開始我們的包車行程。我們先去五峰旗瀑布。
The hired car came to meet us on the morning of the second day, and we went to WuFengQi waterfalls.

(我們在另一地點時，我發覺一邊小金耳環不見了。看了這照片，我應是穿雨衣時弄脫了。)

(I realized I lost one of my gold earrings after we went to another place.  From this picture I saw my right ear with no earring. I must have dropped it when I put on the raincoat.) 

那兒有三層瀑布，但第三層的路因落石而關閉了。
There are 3 levels of waterfall, but the trail to the third level was closed due to storm damage.

There is a small church at the 2nd level that includes a small grotto dedicated to Mary.

不過，也可從這教堂遠遠的看到那瀑布。

We could only see the highest level of the waterfall from the church. 

遇到陰天，沒有很多藍天白雲的照片。

We didn't have many clear blue sky pictures during the trip, but the scenery and wildlife were still beautiful. 

我計劃接著的行程是去五峰旗附近的林美石磐步道，但走在這條步道似乎與綱上的有所不同。司機先生應是帶我們去錯地點了。

After that I wanted to go a trail nearby, but the driver might have taken us to the wrong one. This one seemed very different from the one I found online. 

午餐時間，司機先生帶我們去著名的正好小籠包。

幾乎要吃著名的，都要排長隊。

看起來不是長龍，訂了還是得等一小時。我們到隔隣走走，幾間食店都沒生意。有人餓了，我們進去一家先填填肚子。
It was lunch time, so the driver took us to a famous steamed buns shop in YiLan. 

At almost every famous food vendor, you need to line up to order and then wait. 

This was a short line, but we still needed to wait for 1 hour. So, we wandered around.  Several nearby food stores had no business. Someone was hungry, so we just went in one of them, and had a little snack before our food was ready at the famous place.  

再回來享用確實好吃的小籠包。

Then we came back and had these famous little pork buns.

接著我們去南方澳漁港的兩間媽祖廟。

這是進安宮，全身是珊瑚，用了三年刻造的媽祖。

We went to two temples close to each other at a fishing port, dedicated to Ma-Tsu.
This statue is made of coral.



The fishermen believe the goddess Ma-Tsu protects them while they are fishing and living.

南天宮的金媽祖。

The other temple has two statues, this one is made of gold.

玉媽祖。

And another carved from jade.

不管是珊瑚媽祖還是金玉媽祖，能保佑大家平安的就是好媽祖！

請別誤會，我是在讚揚。這經典'台詞'。。我不會翻譯英文。:p

向南到花蓮的蘇花公路。
We headed south to HuaLien county, stopping to see the cliffs on the way.

去清水斷崖停一下。

   經過一段。
After we passed by, we could see it from another view.

停一下再看崖的另一面。

This is called QingShui cliff. 

夜間，到花蓮的自強夜市去找吃。

都說咯，好吃的一定要排隊！
We went to the night market in HuaLien for dinner.
Every popular food vendor has very long lines.

你說，我們會排這些長隊嗎？
Do you think we would get in a line?

人擠人走了一圈，我們餓得沒耐性，隨便在這不用排隊的快快解決。
After we went through the crowd, we couldn't wait and had some food in this store which had no line.

不僅給你看等候的時間，還用喇叭粗聲的喊：要等兩個小時哦！

那麼長龍最尾的人，要等幾久？

真是見識台灣人吃的風範。

This sign lets you know your waiting time after you order your food!
How long will the last person in line need to wait for their food?
You can tell how seriously they take their food.

註：有些照片來自Lim攝影。

P/S: Some photos from Lim.

待續。。

To be continued..