29th Oct - Day 3: We signed up for another guided tour by Marshal Hotel - 太魯閣之旅(一日遊).

行程：飯店→太魯閣國家公園管理處→神秘谷、長春祠、燕子口、九曲洞、綠水、慈母橋→天祥→午餐→七星潭(石雕公園)→飯店

Our first stop is touring around the Hualien Airport which primarily serves the domestic flights. If you look around the airport (the floorings, pillars etc), you will see that it has a modern setting build with granite, marble, steel and glass.

Hualien (花莲) is located in eastern Taiwan and it is the largest city in the country.  In addition, it is also one of the biggest producers of marble in the world. We have the opportunity to visit one of the marble factory outlet (near the airport) and being guided on how the marbles are made from raw materials to polish shiny stones.

Taroko National Park 太魯閣國家公園 is famous for it's marble gorge. The mountains, rivers and sheer gorges forms a spectacular view to the entire park. We were also being warned by the tour guide that there are cases of fallen rocks on the road and trails especially after heavy rains. Hence we are instructed to keep within the sheltered trail and not to stand out into the open areas.

Following the guided tour, we experienced the nature walk within the Taroko Gorge and it's beautiful nature scenic surroundings.

Changchun Temple from afar

Swallow Grotto - Steep cliffs tower beside the roaring stream dozen of marble paintings hang there with colourful streaks. The cliffs are filled with small caves which serve as a natural nesting place for the spring swallows. They bring life to this quiet valley in the daytime. Thus, the name Swallow Grotto. Here, the tunnel is winding and dangerous. Cars go through a main tunnel which is joined by a narrower tunnel for visitors.

Tunnel of Nine Turns (九曲洞) - Chiuchutung is one of the most popular attractions due to its outstanding features. The steep cliffs facing each other and the rushing river streams below makes it dangerous to explore. We see signboards to beware of falling stones and we were told of cases where people died due to such accidents. Looking at the natural formation of the cliffs and the entire landscape is truly magnificent and which is why it is a favourite tourist spot.

Qixingtan - 七星潭(石雕公園) : The beach at Qixingtan is made up of stones and pebbles. There is a stone sculpture park and it is surely windy here. It is nice to sit by the beach to enjoy the sea breeze and we also picked 7 stones back home. :)

We walked a lot and had a great time at Hualien. There are many beautiful and scenic spots around and although it drizzled in the night, our moods are not dampened at all. Tomorrow morning, we'll be taking the train up to Yilan.

Date: 27th Oct - 5th Nov 2005

Location: Taiwan

27th Oct - Day 1: For this holiday, we are travelling to Taiwan with Hubby's colleague and his girlfriend. Arriving early at the Changi Airport (before 8am), we took some time to take photos at Terminal 1. :) I still recall Denver was not feeling too well as he was having diarherra and we brought extra diapers for this trip.

We reached Taipei Airport in the afternoon and took 2 cabs back to Paradise Hotel. The exterior and interior of the hotel is rather old and the room's furnishing is not fantastic. The plus points are the pricing which is not too expensive and it is located near Ximending MRT.

After resting for awhile, we went out to roam around the streets of Ximending (西门町) and the famous Shilin Night Market (士林夜市). Ximending is a well-known neighbourhood shopping district with many fashion shops, bookstores, restaurants and streets vendor around. You can see Taiwanese men or women (whether young or old) are all dressed very fashionably. Even the dogs are dressed up! 赞!

Shilin Night Market is another spot not to be missed where many tourist come here to try the local delicacies. There are so many food stalls and small eateries around that you will be spoiled for choices! We tried the oyster omelette (蚵仔煎) and their version has more vegetables and it goes with ketchup. :)

28th Oct - Day 2: We checked out of the hotel and arrived at the station at 630am. We decided to take the Tze-Chiang train - 自强号 (which is faster) from Taipei to Hualien (花莲). It is also Denver's and my first maiden train ride.

We check-in into Marshal Hotel (花蓮統帥大飯店) and I enjoyed my stay there! I happened to come across it's website and decided to book the rooms online with them :) The room and toilet is neat and clean and hotel staff is friendly and helpful. :)

We took up the hotel's 海洋公園之旅(一日遊) which includes entrance tickets and transportation to and back to the hotel.

海洋公園 is Taiwan's first theme park based on marine theme. The amusement park has various children rides and shows. Denver was very scared to see the mascots.. probably figuring why are they so big and walking around?

Denver is very happy to see so many different car rides for him around the park. He hopped on from one to another.

Not to forget the Merry-go-round!

The dolphin show is not to be missed and it is a wonderful performance put up by the trainers and dolphins with many formations and tricks. See how fast the dolphins can swim and how high they can leap up to hit the balls. We definitely enjoyed it.

The Sealion show is another fun and entertaining show for the family.

Evening is walking around the streets and sampling the duck tongue and wings at one of the street eateries. Somehow the sauce (魯味) is tremendously delicious even though I don't really fancy eating duck meat.  I also particularly like to drink the 金桔檸檬水 which is very refreshing.

We are back at Marshal hotel and the night is still young! We liked the facilites available within the hotel. There is a kids playroom with a mini ball pool, some arcade games and a pool table. Not only that, they also have sauna, hot spring and massage pool!

I took Denver along to the ladies pool area while Hubby went to the pool for gents. There is no one around since it is pretty late already. Apart having a sauna room, there is a cold and warm pool area. I took Denver into the colder waters and the most unfortunate thing happened very soon.... Guess what? Denver vomitted in the pool! OMG!!! I quickly took him out of the waters, dressed up and informed the staff at the counter. It was so embrassing and I think the staff also cannot believed what has happened! We apologised and quickly took Denver back to our room. Luckily the hotel didn't charge us for the 'damages'. Thank You!!