Wednesday - January 22, 2003
Because we toured the gorge
yesterday, our plans for today got shuffled around. Originally, we had planned
to stay until about 3:30PM then take the bus into Hualien and then catch the
6:00PM train back to Taipei.
Since we'd done most everything we could in
the area, we decided to catch an earlier bus, giving us some time in Hualien to
get a good (less expensive) meal before getting on the train. The only
available bus was at 1:30, giving us 2 extra hours in Hualien.
I awoke
before everyone else, before 7:00 and decided it was time to get some shots of
the capsule hotel. The hotel has posted signs restricting areas to the guests.
Although I was a guest, I didn't really feel that my mission would be
considered a legitimate reason to be wandering the halls, so I had decided to
do this as surreptitiously as possible.
Unfortunately, although
the hotel was still mostly asleep, the floors were freshly cleaned and my every
footstep echoed my squeaky presence throughout the floor. I descended into the
second basement, where the indoor pool, rec room, casino and bowling area were.
The arrows to the capsule hotel pointed in exactly the opposite direction, down
a long corridor of locked up conference rooms.
The person looking after
the pro shop was looking the other way and I squeaked as silently as possible
down the foreboding corridor, only to be confronted with a solid metal door,
the kind with the push bar, that are used as emergency, alarmed exits to
building and fire stairwells. A printed sign point to the door with the word
"Capsules" on it. I thought this was as far as I could go, but then I saw a
sign pointing towards a bathroom through the same door. They couldn't begrudge
a guest a trip to the bathroom, so through the doors I went.
I was now
in a long, empty corridor that looked like I was in the kitchen or service
areas of the hotel. There was still no sign of the capsules, but the bathroom
was just a short way down the corridor. I headed that way and someone - a chef,
I think, started to come out a door. I dodged into the alcove leading to the
bathroom and discovered - the bathroom was locked! I was trapped. I could hear
the chef coming ever closer down the corridor, but just as he was about to spot
me, someone called him back, giving me the chance to escape. My plans to see
the capsule hotel dashed.
After that, the morning seemed tame. I went
onto the roof and snapped a few pictures, the Chu-Wan, Michelle and I went down
to breakfast. It was exactly the same food as before, and Michelle's two
boyfriends were there again.
We really didn't want to check out of
the room until the last minute, so we relaxed until the 11:00 and then checked
out. The last place we hadn't yet visited was just across the suspension bridge
and up the mountain to the monastery. The was the one place I'd gotten a good
look at on my last trip, so we saved it for last, in case we ran out of
time.
Things had changed a bit. Taiwan's massive earthquake a couple
years ago resulted in some landscape changes, and some things apparently had
been rebuilt. We learned that the monastery was collecting money to replace the
suspension bridge with a traditional concrete bridge. Personally, I felt that
will lose much of the charm of the walk up the mountain... but you can't fight
"progress."
I made a quick detour to the visitor center in Tienshiang so
I could record video of the very first squat toilet I was forced to use on my
first trip to Taiwan. It hasn't been cleaned since I was there in 1998.
The hotel also sports a store that
sells... these things. I've always referred to them as mochi, but apparently
that's not what they are. They're some form of white, doughy material wrapped
around other stuff. The menu lists such delicious (not!) sounding centers as
red bean, green bean and peanut. Chu-Wan had decided to resist trying them, but
we had time, so she went in to get one. She came out with one for me that was
not listed on the menu - chocolate ice cream. It wasn't bad, but, since you
cannot improve upon chocolate ice cream, the out wrapping simply detracted from
the perfection of the ice cream.
We were the only people on the bus on
the way back, the other couple having not arrived in time and been left behind.
The driver therefore had time to talk to us and he explained all about the
construction going on. If I understood correctly, new tunnels are being built
all the way up the mountain, and the cars and buses will, when completed drive
up inside the mountain. The old road will be converted to a pedestrian walkway.
While that sounds a lot safer to me (except during an earthquake) it once again
seems to take away some of the charm of the park. I'm glad I had the chance to
see things as they are now. The scenery will still be the same, but the
experience won't be. If you're thinking of going - go now.
Down in
Hualien we walked away from the train station until we came across a steak
house that was open. (It wasn't dinner hour yet and many restaurants close
between lunch and dinner.) The standard Taiwanese steakhouse serves a kind of
fixed menu: Corn soup (they apparently think this is standard fare at all
American dinners), salad (thousand island dressing only), steak served over
pasta on a sizzling plate, smothered in black pepper sauce, some vegetable
(often corn), unlimited Dixie cup refills and vanilla ice cream for
dessert.
This restaurant was "different" - they made rather a big deal
about how they serve the steak on a plate rather than a blistering metal plate.
This was considered my "upscale". That also means that we just got corn soup, a
rare steak, some strange vegetables and a glass of tea. It was OK, but not
great. Perhaps that was a good thing because Michelle was being feisty during
dinner and, since there were no other patrons, she wasn't disturbing anyone but
us.
On the ride back to Taipei, I managed to import video footage from
the camera and put pieces together for this web page. (See links on yesterday's
log.)
Back in Taipei it was cold and raining when we returned. |
|
