#jygoessolo - Luodong, Yilan (Day 17) + Day 18
DAY 17
Left for Luodong, Yilan (羅東, 宜蘭) in the morning and wanted to get a dumpling from 涂媽媽肉粽 (Rice/meat dumplings) on the way to the station for breakfast, unfortunately the dumplings weren't ready yet. Grabbed a sandwich from 7-11 instead.
Left for Luodong, Yilan (羅東, 宜蘭) in the morning and wanted to get a dumpling from 涂媽媽肉粽 (Rice/meat dumplings) on the way to the station for breakfast, unfortunately the dumplings weren't ready yet. Grabbed a sandwich from 7-11 instead.
Can't remember the reason for stopping over at Luodong particularly, but it was a nice and quick stop-over. First thing was to check-in to the B&B hostel for the night.
bubu小屋
www.airbnb.com.sg/rooms/2601363
Tel: 0963-509623
Rates for 1 nights: $30 (+$4 Airbnb service fee)
1 Queen-sized bed
- Close proximity to Luodong trains station (10-min walk)
- The little apartment/hostel is owned by Ivy so she does the cleaning her own. I arrived early (check-in time's only at 12nn/1pm) so Ivy passed me the keys (a key to enter the building and another one for the apartment and room) and suggested I go ahead with my plans for the day and will bring my backpack into my room for me.
- Bubu is an apartment housed within a residential building. So location wise is on the quieter side of the roads but it's fine.
- Room is small and cosy and perfect for 2 pax max. Best, it comes with TV in the room, towels and shampoo/bathing soap!
- There were other rooms (probably other 4?) in that apartment too but the rooms are pretty well sound-proofed.
- Water dispenser along the common corridor.
My initial plan was to spend the day around Luodong, heading to the National Center for Traditional Art (國立傳統藝術中心) and cycle around Luodong river (they have quite a few routes to cycle around).
But my mum suggested heading down to Su'Ao (蘇澳) for their cold springs/sauna, which sound good to me.
But my mum suggested heading down to Su'Ao (蘇澳) for their cold springs/sauna, which sound good to me.
Su'Ao is 4 stations away from Luodong station and it's known for its fishing harbour (one of the major ones in Taiwan) at Nanfang Ao port (南方澳). Upon reaching the station, I couldn't find the bus to go over to the harbour hence I walked 20-30 minutes in (and I guess all the car drivers and cyclists that drove/biked past me thought I was mad).
Stopped by the Tourist Centre and got a map which the staff kindly showed me the places to see around Nanfang Ao, and though there were shuttle buses to go around, it was pretty infrequent. So walking was a better choice.
1) Liao Rong Chuan Mi Gao (廖荣川米糕)
Chanced upon this shop around the corner after visiting the Nan Tian Gong (temple, 南天宫) and saw that there were quite a lot of customers (kiasu Singaporean in me), so I thought I should try it. Plus, I miss having home-cooked soups! I was also attracted by the Mi Gao (米糕) which sounds different and nice, but it turned out to be glutinous rice. Nonetheless, it was really well-cooked - fragrant and perfect moisture!
The staff at the tourist visitor centre did recommend to me a nice fishball (Ah Gong fishball) along Yu Gang Road (渔港路), try it if you're there! I couldn't stomach fishballs after the lunch!
Reminds me of Clarke Quay in the old days! All boats parked so close to each other. What's fascinating was the fishermen chilling on their boats, drinking/playing cards and seeing them hanging all their wet clothes along the harbour. Haha..
2) Nan Ning Fish Market (南宁鱼市场)
What's a harbour without a market? Stepped into the wet market to have a look and I was amazed by the types of fishes sold there. One of the stall owners was chopping up salmon-like fish and it was really huge! The eye balls were really hugeeee! Oh and flying fishes!
3) Nei Pi Beach (内埤沙滩)
A nice little beach
4) Nanfang Ao Bridge (南方澳大桥)
The view of the whole harbour from the bridge.
Waited for the bus to go back to Su'Ao station and it was a really long wait. Until a bus came and when I asked the driver if it was going towards the station, he said he wasn't. But thank heavens for good people around, he said he could drop me off there though it was not part of his bus schedule/route! #nicepeopleiseverywhere #ormaybeseemepretty (hahaha)
By the time I reached the Su'Ao station area, it was about 3pm and I started looking around for a place to soak myself in cold springs. Finally settled for the public one after contemplating and then realised they actually had private rooms!
NT200 (S$9) for myself in a private (baby) pool for 40minutes. The downside was it's not exactly an enclosed room because I could hear the guys beside my room talking. I must say it was shiok (awesome) to soak in a cold tub of spring water but, I almost froze after 5 minutes. Unfortunately it rained a while before that hence it made it colder! Still a good experience, having soaked in both hot and cold springs this trip!
My baby pool.
Left Su'Ao and back to Luodong for the night, spending dinner at the Luodong Night Market. Took a bus just outside Luodong train station that drops passengers outside the market.
I can't remember what's this but it was long queue so I queued for it too!
Oyster omelette in deep fried buns! Nice but sinful.
Taiwanese popiah which was really similar to Singapore's except their's was sweeter and more flavours like spicy, wasabi...
I still have no idea what's this, but it tastes very much like small pieces of fried carrot cake (Singaporean market style) and to dip in their special sauce.
DAY 18
Before moving up to Taipei, I actually called to book a tour out to sea for whale-watching (I just had to!) at Yilan. Apparently the so-called whale-watching (as suggested by its activity name in mandarin) is just dolphins and flying fishes. Haha, but oh well, good enough to awe me - the easily-pleased Singaporean.
Anyway, I got myself a ticket out to sea and to embark on the Guishan Island (Turtle Island) with the tourist visitor centre for this activity.
Website: www.ez666.com
Tel: 03-9508199
Email: mail@ez666.com
Price: Depends on how many activities you're interested (Whale-watching or Turtle Mountain or both). But for mine (both activities), it was probably about NT1000?
Time: Depends on how many activities you're interested. For mine, it was about 4 hours. About 20 minutes out to the sea, we stopped to silently wait for dolphins. Most of the time (maybe an hour?) was spent on turtle island.
Meeting point: Wu Tou Harbour (乌头港). [nearest train station: Tou Cheng Train Station 头城火车站]
The time that the ferry will set off is at 9am, so I had to be at the counter to settle payment at 8.30am. Woke up early that morning and managed to get on the train in time (almost missed it because I went to get breakfast - the railway bento which was over-hyped or maybe I was jsut unlucky for a bad menu that day), and rushed down to the harbour in a cab.
Most of the dolphins were baby ones, so they were pretty shy!
This is how the Turtle Island got its name - see its head and shell? Its the biggest island amongst the islands around Yilan, and Yilan's most famous landmark.
"The island is the top of an andesite stratovolcano which rises from the seafloor. The local population, consisting mainly of fishermen, was relocated in 1977 due to the hardships associated with living on the island. Between 1977 and 2000 it became the site of a military base, and currently it is managed as a tourist destination and natural conservation area. There are restrictions for visitors due to environmental protection." (Wikipedia)
The only school on the island at that time.
Literally, this means that the island is lonely, but not the people.
Since the island previously was a military base, we were led to a tunnel and came out to this little cave that housed a tank. This is actually the ceiling, which has these pointy things - turns out to be used for noise reduction.
And this is the tail of the Turtle! Depending on the monsoon seasons, the tail changes direction accordingly.
By the time the tour ended, it was about 2pm. I was really hungry and though there were a few seafood restaurants along the harbour, poor traveler like me couldn't afford. Thankfully I saw the Lanyang Museum (蘭陽博物館) near the visitor centre. Unfortunately, the cafeteria was closed for renovations. Much as I wanted to stay to visit the exhibitions, I took a couple of photos with the awesome architecture and left for Taipei. Get a coach just outside the visitor center which will drop you at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center. Really comfy and comes with a mini tv and USB port to charge your electronic items!
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Yilan and Hualien are known for their coasts - which again, I'll visit them if I have the next Taiwan trip! Too short a stay at Yilan this time round.
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