Friday, April 19, 2013

Assignment 2-- Travel in Taiwan with the professional international tour guide *Pitt Lu*

Since, we always talk about what to do if we have holiday in Taiwan?

Well, you might feel quite bored that travelling to those familiar places!

And now, Sue will introduce a different kind of travelling, it could be very fun too!

Hiking~!!!! It's vigorous outdoor activity but it brings out extraordinary holiday trip!

In this interview, Pitt Lu-- the international tour guide will be sharing his personal experience hiking at Mt. Nanhu. He is a very experienced boy scout who love to travel around the world and also challenging the mountains in Taiwan. There are several questions has been asked to Pitt Lu.


The reason why Pitt Lu has chosen this mountain is because that time he with his teammates were using 8 days and 7 nights to complete it. It's actually a very challenging and full of many unknowns adventure surprising every climber.


Yet, we asked Pitt Lu what's so special about this mountain? And he replied back "it's actually has many unique species of flora and fauna. Besides that, you can experiences many challenging route which include in another mountains. So, it's difficulty might be around 4 to 5 stars".Other than that, Pitt Lu said that, every single Taiwan climber named Mt. Nanhu as the king of mountains because of its shape of imperial crown. It's also has 5 fake peaks that can confuse inexperience mountain climber, so when you thought that you already arrived the peak of the mountain. But, you're wrong.


Pitt Lu also taught us how to go to Mt. Nanhu by taking a bus/train from Taipei to Yilan, and then take a bus to Wuling farm, lastly walk to the trailhead of the Mt. Nanhu.
(Because there is no other way to directly reach the Mt. Nanhu, so you need to walk from the Wuling farm)


We ask that is there any necessary actions or staff before trying to climb the mountain and he claimed that you need to have a very good stamina so it's good that you need to go jogging at least 30 minutes per day, and do it for one month before you start your journey. For the staff, he recommended that it will require sleeping bag, 2 pairs of wears, towel, torchlight, hiking shoes, and etc. The most important is to estimate how many food do you need within these few days.


Besides that we asked Pitt Lu how to take care our hygiene such as pee/poo, bath or brush teeth. He claimed that you can pee anywhere but for poo he recommend us to bring shovel in order to dig a hole and settle it. As for bath and brush teeth, it can be easily done within the mountain. The mountain has clean water, so they just need to bring along their towel as well as their brush.


Pitt Lui also taught us how to organise a hiking trip and said that "You can actually find the official hiking institutions and they have the hiking package of different mountains. You need to pay for the tour guide fees around NTD 1,500-3,000 and also you can pay for the porters who can carry 40-50kg; it's around NTD 4,000 per day."

p/s: You couldn't light a fire to cook your food, it's against the rules. So you need to bring along a small gas cooker and also you need to bring along your rubbish with you.

Hope that you will get to know the hiking details after reading my blog!
Let's try this out next time ;)

Friday, March 29, 2013

Motor ride to Yilan County #Dec29,2012

In the end of 2012, we decide to have different travelling experience in Taiwan.

So, we choose the Motor ride.

Woah, it's a very excited experience for me because I had never have a motor ride in Malaysia before (shaking)


5 motorbikes, 10 people. Here we go!

In the night, 28th of Dec, I went to Banqiao to meet up my friends.


From the Jiantan(red line) to Banqiao (blue line)
so, we went to visit the famous night market in Banqiao *Nanya night market*
the famous chicken soup, too many people line up waiting, so couldn't manage to wait it.
we had a very special fried oysters and oysters egg.



try out the very cute chicken egg cake (ji dan gao) 鸡蛋糕
#Dec 29, 8:00am.
because most of them are from the National Taipei Art University, so we meet up at here.

 

 I went into the university compound and have a look.

this is the artistic library

woah. I found beautiful art sculptures everywhere!
omg!

 

the map! we are going to Yilan by the Bei Hen road. 北横公路


woah, the very road actually is going through many hills, excited feeling ON. 


this is the very EXCITED me.
Teng Aik and the badminton club leader.
the cute couple
another couple
the two malaysians
nice windy weather on the way


nice turning angle.

and we met beautiful motorbike too. (screaming)

weather changed when we reach the top of the hills. slippery roads!

the 10 of us! woah!

finally reach the Yilan county. there are so many paddy fields.

 

woah. finally we reach here! from 8.00am to 1pm.

the artistic Lanyang museum
 

the jetty.

the water is sooooooooo beautiful.



on the way to spa

hold tight, don't fall down!
 
the first day, we went to four places.
  1. Wu Feng Qi waterfalls 五峰旗瀑布
  2. Fo Guang University 佛光大学
  3. Jiao Xi hot spring 礁溪温泉
  4. Luo Dong night market 罗东夜市
ice cream put inside the popiah with peanut and vege (weird combination, but nice try)
making peanuts



they really have this elementary school exist (funny name)


the map of the waterfall
the water is so cold but I like it!

arrive the Fo Guang University, this is a Buddha university, they have monks and also very peaceful environment.


they had a very big compound on the hill.



nice scenery on the mountain, there is actually the turtle island in over the sea.

woah!!!!!!!!! credit to this picture!!!! we're the rockers! haha

 
we went to the Jiao xi hot spring
luckily we knew a friend who can get the free tickets for us, so we had a relaxing spa for free.



my first time ever to try out naked spa. OOPSY, SOOOOO SHY.
after 2 hours spa, we went to the very famous Luo Dong night market. There is a lot of people inside there (SHOUT)

BA BU-- is the childhood memories to every Taiwanese, the ice cream.

 


we try the famous bao xin feng yuan, 包心粉圆, they actually have many branches over Taipei too.
this is the MUST TRY!!!

p/s: We went to the night market on Saturday night, it's actually a long narrow street with tones of stalls, therefore it's soooooo crowded. OMG!!! I just couldn't line up for every single stalls, and it's so many delicious food over there. ( I didn't have the chance to try it! ) Well, luckily we still managed to try the dessert there. Hurray!
 
About the accommodation, our Yilan friend provide us stay in her house. I got to say this is just so awesomeeeee. SWEET FRIEND. She lived in 4-storey house, and her mum (a very friendly auntie) provide all the necessarily stuff for us. I saw many package of toothbrush and also towels inside the toilets. Her mum still ready two big plate of fruits, biscuits and also chicken soup for us! I got to say i'm sooo lucky! The night ended up with a sweet dream. (I share a big king size bed with a girl ) hahaa!
 
#Dec 30, 2012 Sunday
 
The weather suddenly drop 10 degree Celsius, and the early morning was just 9 degree Celsius.
(BODY SHAKKINNGGGG!!!)
 

 

the famous breakfast shop


the train station! it's too cold for us!!! super windy day

the saddest moment is SAYING Goodbye.

It's a very happy moment when everyone keep on shouting SO COLDDDD....

winter sonata?!! haha

look like i'm in Japan now.

WAIT FOR ME.

ohya! the YILAN most famous food is cream rolls.
 The local said this is the delicious one.
DONT FORGET! MUST BUY THE YILAN CREAM ROLLS..


I love the 牛尾巴.
 
 
we were on the way to Taipei, it was just 2 degree Celsius. (JUMPING)
the very cold couples.
 
mercy look, raining and too cold. i'm just freezing.
 
 
I believe we're the craziness. on the way, it's so windy and cold. we forced to stop after awhile of ride,
and we were finding hot water and also hot stove to keep ourselves warm.



the beautiful view in Yilan.

the bad weather caused we ride from 1pm until 8pm, and we just dare to drive 40km/h in the mountain roads.
this was a nice motor ride memory for me.
Yilan county is a beautiful rural area, there is many paddy fields with many independent houses.

If you feel like so pressure living in the city like Taipei, so you must take your beg and have a ride to Yilan. It's a relaxing trip to let yourself breath a fresh air and start from the origin.

Get back your energy and be happy.

Conclusion, you can choose different kind of travelling experiences. For motor ride, you can feel the totally different feeling as it's open air travelling, you feel the wind, you feel the rain, and you feel like you are the bird flying in the sky.
 
MOTOR RIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SYIOOKKKK! COOOLLLLL!!!