Taiwan Trip Day 8 (1 November 2014) Hualian

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Today we will be heading to Hualian!

Wake up early because I had diarrhoea...

Our plan was to use the Round the lake bus one day pass voucher to get to Shuishe  Visitor Centre

Since the pier was nearer hubby decided we should just take the ferry

The one way ferry ticket cost NT100 per person

On the ferry...

Looking at the 2 vouchers that we did not manage to use...

 Round the lake bus one day pass voucher and Shuishe to Xiangshan bus one way voucher

View of the lake in the morning

We took the 9:15 am bus just outside of the visitor centre back to Taichung.

We reached Taichung train station at 11:15 am...

We bought the train ticket back to Taipei for NT375 but there were no seats!

  Train towards Taipei reached at 11:33 am

The station was extremely crowded because it was Saturday!

While waiting, we were snacking on the chocolates we bought last night!

Looks special but the taste is exactly like the original ones...

We were standing the whole journey...

Stuck in a small corner...

Lunch box lady!

We wanted to buy the lunch box but we were standing...

Once we reached, we went to the locker to take our luggage

Then we went to buy the combo bus ticket to Hualian

NT222 per person

Once we got off the bus, we turn right and saw Luodong Station

The combo ticket is only for a specific train（區間車） which is very cheap but infrequent

We reached at around 4 pm...

We did not want to wait until 6:30 pm

We decided to pay a little extra to get on the earliest train...

We paid NT73 per person to get on the next train at 4:55 pm

We ate our first meal after that...

 Pork rib lunch box NT80

Hubby did not feel like eating so it was all mine!

Not bad la...

Assam Milk Tea NT25

The taste is just okay...

Reached Hualian Station

Our minsu lady arranged for a taxi to pick us up for NT100

Reached our minsu
日之出民宿 (website here)
NT1699 (Friday & Saturday)

Standard Double Room

The comfy bed

The cute dressing table

TV

The electric kettle, cups and teas

The bathroom
Hairdryer and basic toiletries were provided

The room was great.
We love this place!
Very comfy :)
The minsu lady is from Hong Kong and she is super friendly!

We decided to follow the tour to Taroko Gorge
It cost NT700 per person
We made the booking through the minsu lady

Time for dinner and off we go to Zhiqiang Night Market (自强夜市)

It is not a very big night market but we both love this place...
A lot of delicious food here... and the queues were insane!

The first stop was...

First Barbecue Stall!
This is one of the most famous stall... 
The queue was insane!
I saw from a few blogs that this is a must try so we decided to try this...

Some bacon roll, mushrooms and some other stuff... lol
Total cost is NT155

Current order number

and...

Our number is 357!!!

We waited for 1 hour 30 minutes (or longer) to get  our food!
We finished touring the whole night market at least twice!

After paying, we continue our quest to find delicious food!
Since we do not have anything else to do...

Something that hubby must have!

Top: Taro milk tea NT40
Bottom: Pudding milk tea NT35

The taste is just ok... well, most will taste similar anyway :)

 The famous coffin bread!

Just look at the queue!
We were too lazy to queue...

So... Next!

Fruit juice stall!

The queue was insane too!
So... not today!


Ling Ji Corn BBQ

The queue was still ok... so we went in!

I think this is popular...

Choose the type of corns you want and pay

Saw the mahjong tiles?
Those were numbers for your order

Our number is 73!
I think it is quite creative :)

The wait was not too long...

NT214 for 3
I find it quite good... Hubby loves it!
It is very juicy and the sauce compliments the corn.
You can choose the level of spiciness based on your preference...
Hubby loves this more than the ones we tried in Bali which was also delicious!

Stinky tofu!
I saw quite a lot of people in there so I decided to try this...

Fried stinky tofu NT50
I used to love stinky tofu... but I think I don't really know how to appreciate them anymore... lol
I still love the veggies :)

I think hubby was bored... and we were still waiting for our bbq meat on skewers
Hubby spent NT20 here... lol

I think this was the last stall we stopped at because our bbq meat on skewers was still not ready...

Spicy dry noodle NT70
Hubby loves noodle but he did not like this...
It is not like the normal Japanese spicy noodle...
Hubby thinks the taste is weird...

Finally we get our bbq meat skewers after a long wait!
We stopped by 7-eleven before going back to our minsu because I wanted to buy the chicken and mushroom soup (NT25)

Our bbq meat skewers...
I think we had a very high expectation for these...
Actually we did not really like it...
The taste is just normal... for us...
I like the mushroom only...
The rest were just okay...

Time for TV and rest :)

Stay tuned as the next post will be on the beautiful Taroko Gorge!
XOXO

***

Related Posts!
Taiwan Trip 2014 preparations!
Taiwan Trip Day 1 (25 October 2014) Taipei
Taiwan Trip  Day 2 (26 October 2014) Yangmingshan, Beitou and Tamsui
Taiwan Trip  Day 3 (27 October 2014) Tianmu, National Palace Museum, Raohe Night Market and Miramar
Taiwan Trip  Day 4 (28 October 2014) Yehliu Geopark, Jiufen, Shifen and Keelung Miaokou Night Market
Taiwan Trip  Day 5 (29 October 2014) Taipei Zoo, Taichung, and Fengjia Night Market
Taiwan Trip  Day 6 (30 October 2014) National Museum of Natural Science, Minsu Park and Fengjia Night Market
Taiwan Trip  Day 7 (31 October 2014) Sun Moon Lake
Taiwan Trip Day 9 (2 November 2014) Taroko Gorge
Taiwan Trip Day 10 (3 November 2014) Ruisui
Taiwan Trip Day 11 (4 November 2014) Qing Seminary, Liyu Lake and Hualian Sugar Factory
Taiwan Trip Day 12 (5 November 2014) Taipei City Mall and Ximending
Taiwan Trip Day 13 (6 November 2014) Last minute shopping around Taipei!