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Taiwan V 2nd Half: Seafood, Sunset & Ximending

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Suao Nantian Temple , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. BONUS MATERIAL in this super long-winded post (fifth in the series of many!): Taiwan Celebrity-- Running Ron & Jogging Jacob and Tamsui Tam! For lunch, Lewis brought us to Su-ao in Yilan county. What's a fishing port famous for? Seafood of course! He asked us several times whether we were OK with eateries that didn't look much, but we allayed his fears. Fishing boats aplenty at the place and temples, lots and lots of temples dedicated to Mazu. Made a quick stop at Suao Nantian Temple to take a look at the gold Mazu statue inside. The place we ate at was just beside the wharf where the haul up the daily catch, so you can imagine how fresh it is. And the place looked very clean by my standards. At least it was dry and didn't stink. As SK was choosing the dishes, I looked at the peculiar leafy greens that the fish were resting on. The owner suddeny looked at me and asked me whether I wanted a plate of th

Taiwan V 1st Half: Mountain Trail, Pebble Beach, Broken Cliff

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Precarious , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. BONUS MATERIAL in this super long-winded post (fifth in the series of many!): Taiwan Celebrity-- Shakadang Scott ! Early next morning, the owner of Suto Home cooked breakfast for us. Basically western style breakfast with a side of guava, cherry tomatoes and coffee ( sucky coffee, but it generally like that in Taiwan ). Her specialty is toast with a mash potatoes spread. Quite novel. But the best part was we ate breakfast out at the picnic bench out in the lawn, enjoying the cool fresh air while her cute dog, Chocolate dashed here and there, tearing into her flowerbeds. In the morning light, we noticed the swings and garden that was obscured by the darkness when we arrived the night before. Learning about SK's sore throat, she passed her a whole bunch of lozenges and pipa sweets when we left. Nice of her. First tourist attraction for the day was Qixingtan , a pebble beach. Right beside was an old airforce base that accordi

Taiwan IV 2nd Half: Rock Home

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Tianxiang , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. BONUS MATERIAL in this super long-winded post (fourth in the series of many!): Taiwan Celebrity-- Juice Jack ! Took a long drive in the mountains ( with fantastic views ) and eventually reached Tianxiang , a large river terrace recreational area. Beautiful area where Dasha River and Taci Jili River converge to become Liwu River. The river cut through the mountains revealing smooth, marble boulders. At the end of the Pudu uspension bridge was Xiangde Temple , that's only accessible by climbing the many steps up. SK wasn't thrilled by the idea, so she decided to rest in the car. So, KH and I had the chance to go paktor -ing again. Really quite challenging to rush up to the temple since Lewis only gave us an hour. But luckily it was quiet enough for us to hold hands. Hehe. At the top, there was a tall White Robed Guanyin Statue and the Tian Feng Pagoda. The elevated views were quite breathtaking but the main stemple wasn't qu

Taiwan IV 1st Half: Taroko Rocks!

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Lushan , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. BONUS MATERIAL in this super long-winded post (fourth in the series of many!): Taiwan Celebrity-- Bilu Billy In the middle of the night, KH got out of bed to use the loo and get some hot water. Seeing that his stirring woke me, he brought me some water to drink. Turns out that he had developed a sore throat. The next morning, SK also declared that she had a sore throat. Wonder if it was the millet wine or the fried stuff for dinner, combined with the hot springs. I was OK, but maybe because I had a sore throat from the beginning. Haha. Of all the bed and breakfast places that we stayed it, the place at Lushan actually provided breakfast! Hallelujah. A porridge buffet, but they labeled their porridge as stirabout. It was served in the typical Taiwanese style with peanuts, dried bean curd, fermented bean curd, omelette and some pickles. Satisfying and warming for the belly. Checked out from the place and took some pics at the suspension br