Taiwan Day 7 - Liyu Lake, Rareseed Ranch, Shi Ti Ping, San Xian Tai

21 Nov - Weather forecast for today was not favorable for sightseeing as the whole of east coast will be drenched with drizzle due to the weather system. As we have already booked our driver for the next 2 days, guess we will have to make do with what we have. There will be 4 destination for today, which are Liyu Lake, Rareseed Ranch, Shi Ti Ping and San Xian Tai (Chinese translation below the photos).

First stop, the beautiful 鯉魚潭

Liyu Lake (鯉魚潭) is the largest lake in eastern Taiwan. There are various activities you can enjoy in this area, such as a light-boat sailing on the lake or a bicycle tour encircling around the lake. You can also stroll along the lake shore walkway, appreciating the flora and fauna. The Liyu Lake Visitor Center is located at the north shore of the lake, exhibiting many educational materials related to Liyu Lake and East Rift Valley.

鯉魚潭

Second stop - 瑞惠农场

Rareseed Ranch is a working dairy farm with a good place to snap some pictures with the black-and-white cows as main attractions, as well as a pair of ostriches that share the grassland with their bovine sisters. The farm also churns out various milk-based goodies such as ice cream, cheesecake, and bread, all of which are available at the ranch cafe – along with good old-fashioned milk.

The signature black-and-white cows!

Our third stop will be 石梯坪. 石梯坪 is a huge area of coastal terraces. Its landscapes include the developed sea terrain, wave-cut platforms, uplifted coral reefs, sea trenches and cliffs. The unique feature of this attraction is their wave cut platform which looks like steps, hence the name 石梯.

石梯坪 (A pity the photo cannot bring out the 3D effect of the step like structure on the rocks)

For our last stop, we will be visiting 三仙台. 三仙台 is a geological rock that turned out to be a headland. Gradual erosion cut the neck that connected the mainland to the main island, and thus became offshore islands. Tourists who used to visit this place could only reach the island during low tide. In 1987, the government completed the eight cross-sea arch bridge that crosses over to the island. It was designed in the shape of waves, like a prostrate sea dragon and connects 三仙台with Taiwan Island.

三仙台

Taiwan Day 6 - Chishingtan Beach, Farglory Ocean Park

20 Nov - We tried to wake up early to catch the sunrise, but unfortunately, the sun woke up earlier than us! Since it was still too early for breakfast, we headed down to the Chishingtan Beach for some morning walk and catch Pokemon! Lol

晨阳初露

七星潭公园

七星潭海堤

七星潭公园

After breakfast, we waited at the front of our hotel for transport to the Farglory Ocean Park, the only theme park around Hualien area. The park itself is not big, but they have quite a few marine shows spread throughout the whole day to keep your time occupied. The shows are quite educational by themselves, teaching the kids to love and protect the environment. During our time there, the park is not that occupied and at times, it seems that we have the whole park to ourselves!

远雄海洋公园

Taiwan Day 5 - Qingshui Cliff, Taroko Gorge

19 Nov - For this trip, we have planned to go to attractions which are not easily reached by public transport. Hence, we decided on chartering a vehicle with driver to drive us around the country. So for the next 4 days, we will be covering about 75% around the coast of Taiwan. Before having our homemade breakfast by the Mingsu owner, with some time to spare, we ventured out to take some final photos before we move out of Shifen.

静安吊桥

十分老街

Our first destination of the day is the Qingshui Cliff. This location has been designated as one of the Eight Wonders of Taiwan and is the only place in Taroko National Park where you can witness the three distinct color tones that make up the Pacific Ocean.

瞭望无际的太平洋

清水断崖

After staying at the Qingshui Cliff for about 1 hour, we move off next to the Taroko Gorge, another tourist attraction in Hualien. The Taroko Gorge is famous for its natural marble landscape. Be it a bicycle-riding through Tunnel of Nine Turn, an overlook from Lushui Trail, or paddling a canoe on the Pacific Ocean looking up the Qingshui Cliff, you can feel the extraordinary workmanship of nature. Wear a helmet and step on the road built by ancestors with bare hands, you can have a close-up look on Swallow Grotto. We are fortunate that we have a driver with us and we do not need to do all the walking as the distance between the various attraction in the national park can be quite challenging.

太鲁阁国家公园入口

A view of the gorge

Swallow Grotto （燕子口）

The Eternal Spring Shrine (長春祠) was built in 1958 to commemorate the 212 workers who died during the construction of the Central Cross-Island Highway. Its unique location recessed into the side of the mountain and Tang Dynasty architectural style makes this shrine one of the most famous scenic spots in Taroko National Park. Natural spring water empties into the Liwu River below through the front of the shrine, giving it a surreal look, as if it were actually pouring forth from the heavens above. In 1987, the cliff by the river collapsed and destroyed the old pavilion next to the Eternal Spring Shrine. It was reconstructed and opened to the public again in 1997.

燕子口長春祠

View from the Bell Tower after climbing vertically 30m

For the night, we visited the Hualien night market consisting of 福町夜市 and 东大门自强夜市. These night markets offers the typical food you will find in other night market such as BBQ Grill, juice bar, grilled corn, braised snacks, and steaks, but served with unique different taste and flavor.

11th Year Blog Anniversary

Times flies, this blog has been alive for the last 11 years. Have settled into our new neighborhood with lots of coffee-shops (which we are glad). Went on holidays to Hong Kong and Taiwan. Saw our new shopping center cum residential (Junction 9) completed just right next to our house. Been on the current demanding job for about 1.5 years, which requires me to work late almost every single day. Maybe...I should focus on work life balance next year?

Well, whatever it is, I leave it to Him and looking forward to 2017!

Some Statistic: 

Page Count: 55616 +1142 

Year on Year increase: -1092 -48.88%

Taiwan Day 4 - Shifen

18 Nov - We left our hotel early in the morning, took a short 15 mins walk to 基隆火车站 to catch a train to 十分 via 八堵. We reached our destination around 0945 after a 55 mins ride. As the local shops typically open around 11am, there are not much tourists in the vicinity and we took this opportunity to take some photos of the train station and the tracks.  

十分火车站

火车铁道

After we are done taking photos, we decided to check into our 民宿 located just right beside the train station. Unfortunately, the owner is out buying grocery and the place is closed! With nowhere else to go at the moment, we waited for a good half hour before finally managed to deposit our luggage at the counter.

樓仔厝民宿

新北市平溪區十分街74巷3號(十分車站旁)

http://louachu.okgo.tw/

※住宿均附早餐。

After we are rid of our bulky luggage, it is walking and touring time! We took our time to enjoy a good lunch at one of the local stall, trying out their specialty noodle and seeing tourists releasing 天灯. We slowly make our way to the town outskirt to visit the little Niagara of Taipei - Shifen Waterfall.

十分天灯

四广潭桥

十分瀑布

By the time we came back from the waterfall nature park, night has already descended. We spent some time looking at the tourists releasing 天灯, which offers a better view due to the lighted lantern against the dark sky.

Some of the daring tourist managed to release a low level firework on the suspension bridge!

Taiwan Day 3 - Keelung

17 Nov - Spend the day exploring Keelung and its surrounding attractions. We goggled that the Wangyou Valley is a place with good scenery and reviews. After asking the locals for directions, we took a public bus near our hotel and we were on our way. If time allows, we plan to visit the nearby National Museum of Marine Science and Technology, which also offers a good review on Goggle.

Entrance to 望幽谷

On top of a hill overlooking the ocean. Good breeze.

National Museum of Marine Science and Technology, which was constructed like a ship.

Unfortunately, by the time we returned from the valley, it was already 3pm and we do not have enough time to explore the whole National Museum of Marine Science and Technology. We chilled out at a cafe in the museum for a while before we returned to the hotel to visit the night market for our dinner.

Your Name

Synopsis: Taki wakes from what seemed like a very important dream. But in an unfamiliar room and not in his body…but that of a girl! On the other hand, Mitsuha, a teen girl, is tired of living in a mountain village. She pleads to God “Please, let me be a handsome Tokyo boy in my next life!” The next morning, Mitsuha awakens as a high school male. Based on information around her, she learns whose body she inhabits. His name is Taki. The two have switched places! When they wake up again, they’ve returned to their former selves. But sleep brings the body swap again and again. Mysteriously, the pattern continues daily. The two fumble about, unaccustomed to each other’s bodies, but start communicating by memo. As they awkwardly overcome one challenge after another, a bond develops between the two- one that evolves into something more romantic. [Source: Golden Village]

With such a good review for this anime film (As of Oct 23, it has been No. 1 on the Japanese box-office charts for nine weeks.), we just have to give it a go. The story line is being told in a pretty unique way, coupled with beautiful scenery, I can see why the audiences loves it. It has sure been a long while since Japan come out with a good anime film.

Rate: 8/10

Marvel's Doctor Strange

Synopsis: "Doctor Strange" follows the story of neurosurgeon Doctor Stephen Strange who, after a horrific car accident, discovers the hidden world of magic and alternate dimensions. [Source: Golden Village]

Welcome to the world where all things that seems strange are in fact normal. Pretty lots of CGI, venturing into alternate dimension and lots of actions. Typical of what you will expect for a marvel film. There will be a sequel, wait for the ending flick.

Rate: 7.5/10

Seoul Station & Train to Busan

Synopsis (Seoul Station): Prequel to TRAIN TO BUSAN, SEOUL STATION is a dark yet touching award-winning Korean feature animation. The prequel tells the story of a runaway teenager Hye-sun, who broke up with her boyfriend when he forced her into prostitution and witness an old homeless man, among the many others as they gobble up one another. The attacked become the attackers, increasing their numbers exponentially. What will the government do to control the situation? Who will survive this zombie war? [Source: Golden Village]

Synopsis (Train to Busan): A mysterious viral outbreak pushes Korea into a state of emergency! As an unidentified virus sweeps the country, Korean government declares martial law. Those on an express train to Busan, a city that has successfully fended off the viral outbreak, must fight for their own survival. 453 kilometers from Seoul to Busan, the struggle to survive by those who have others to protect, get on board to stay alive! [Source: Golden Village]

Seoul Station Trailer

Train to Busan Trailer

Since we missed both highly recommended movies, we decided to watch it all together in a One night Golden Village Horrorthon. GV did some props and playacting of zombies to spook the movie goers before the start of the movie, which was kind of refreshing and unexpected. Kind of remind me of Fright Night back in the university days. 

Well, we are glad we catch Seoul Station first, which kind of explain how the zombies came to invade Seoul Station, which leads on to the second movie about a train departing for Busan just as the zombies are attacking. Train to Busan is not really a typical horror show (though we will get to see plenty of zombie actions), it focus on humanity of a few individuals as they try to escape their current situation. A pretty good movie worth to catch over the weekend.

Rate: 8/10

Futsal Champions 2016 (2nd Year)

This year, there are more matches to test the depth of the team.

7 matches to clinch it all. Thank God I did not suffer any injury.

First Match: 5-1 W
Second Match: 3-1 W
Third Match: 3-0 W
Fourth Match: 0-3 L
Fifth Match: 0-3 L (4th overall in table, proceed to semi finals)
Semi Finals: 5-1 W
Finals: 3-1 W

A recap of last year: http://kangaroos-corner.blogspot.sg/2015/09/futsal-champions-2015.html

Will there be a third time next year?

Deepwater Horizon

Synopsis: Inspired by a true story of real life heroes that resulted in the largest man-made disaster in history. Experience the devastating explosions and non-stop action, as the crew on board raced against time to escape the raging fire and collapse of the gigantic oil rig in the middle of the ocean. [Source: Golden Village]

Well, it was a company event where the movie ticket is free...so, I might just as well watch it. A real good movie where (I think) showed the events that happened at the Deepwater Horizon as close to the actual facts as possible. It also showed where companies took profit as first priority instead of safety, disaster is just waiting to happened. A good disaster movie in a long while.

Rating: 8/10

Goodbye IPhone 5S

You have served me faithfully for 2 years 8 months, when the battery finally refused to accept charging anymore. PTL that Singtel gave me an exception to renew my contract even though they had just closed for the day. What a night!

Jason Bourne

Synopsis: Matt Damon returns to his most iconic role in Jason Bourne. Paul Greengrass, the director of The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, once again joins Damon for the next chapter of Universal Pictures’ Bourne franchise, which finds the CIA’s most lethal former operative drawn out of the shadows. For Jason Bourne, Damon is joined by Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel and Tommy Lee Jones, while Julia Stiles reprises her role in the series. Frank Marshall again produces alongside Jeffrey Weiner for Captivate Entertainment, and Greengrass, Damon, Gregory Goodman and Ben Smith also produce. Based on characters created by Robert Ludlum, the film is written by Greengrass and Christopher Rouse. [Source: Golden Village]

As expected, lots of actions throughout the movie but audience do get bored after a while. Continued from the previous installment (The Bourne Ultimatum),  Bourne is trying to retrace his past which his enemy is trying to put a stop to. Overall, an average movie to watch, with nothing particular outstanding to praise about.

Rate: 6.5/10