Mandarin Struggles

Another thing we take for granted in Hong Kong is the ease of communication between ourselves and locals. Although the English may not be great in HK at least people somewhat understand you and can speak back/answer your questions. While we were all warned that no one in Taiwan really speaks English it is not until you arrive that you realize how much of a struggle the language barrier is. The Mandarin challenge was sometimes frustrating, but overall made the trip more entertaining and the charades game was actually quite fun. There was a huge sense of accomplishment when we finally got a point across or found what we were looking for.

Friday started off a little later than anticipated and the first task of the day was to purchase train tickets for the night train to Hualien (a three hour train ride South from Taipei). We took the MRT (we called it the MTR all weekend because we couldn't get used the different abbreviation in Taiwan).  Our group planned to arrive very early Saturday morning in Hualien in order to maximize the day at Taroko Gorge (a gorge that is apparently one of the seven wonders of Asia). After a little struggling we managed to get tickets for the 11pm train that would get us to Hualien at 2:30am.

Waiting for the MRT

Next stop was the famous Taipei 101 which was the tallest building in the world from 2004-2010. The strangest part about the massive skyscraper is that is one of very few in Taiwan. The lack of other tall buildings makes it very difficult to put its enormity into perspective. The overall city skyline in Taipei is not actually all that impressive and is somewhat confusing. Everything is very flat (no hills like HK), and the wide streets and lack of people make everything seem deserted. This may just be because we are all so acclimated to Hong Kong.

Because of the rain and grey sky I decided that the observation deck wouldn't really be worth paying for so a few of us headed to the food court for a snack. Groceries in Hong Kong are expensive; Taiwan supermarkets were much cheaper so Haley and I finally bought some cheese to curb our craving! I also bought a chocolate milk as I'm sure I have a calcium deficiency here in Asia.

The next adventure was finding the famous Taipei hot springs. There are hundreds of natural sulfur hot springs around Taipei. We decided to head to ones in Beitou. After a long MRT trip we arrived in Beitou and took a taxi to the hot springs. Unlucky for us, our poor Mandarin skills got us to a strange public hot spring building in the middle of Beitou. This was not exactly what we expected, and in desperation Celine yelled out the cab window "does anyone speak English?!". A sweet older lady came over and helped direct us to more authentic outdoor hot springs. All six of us squeezed into a four person taxi (Steph dove into the trunk before the cab driver saw her), and headed to a hot spring spa up in the mountains. The taxi dropped us off at a golf-cart stand which then proceeded to take us to a secluded spa. 

After paying a whole $6USD we went into the hot springs for a long relaxing soak. The rotten egg smell from the sulfur wasn't too overwhelming and the springs were definitely worth all the hassle it took to find them. We had views of the mountains and the cooler drizzly weather made the 41 degree Celsius pool temperatures much more enjoyable. 

We cabbed back to the MRT and then headed to the night market again for dinner. After some more shopping and another strawberry smoothie it was back to the hostel to pick up our bags and then to Taipei Main Station to catch our eleven o'clock train to Hualien.

Good to know that this magical pink box will keep me safe at night in the train station.

I had planned to sleep on the train but the man snoring next to me, blasting AC, and fear that we would all sleep through our stop made it difficult to nap. We arrived safely in Hualien at 2:45am and then attempted to find our next hostel, Colorful Taiwan. The simple 8-10 minute walked turned into a 45 minute walk and finally giving up and getting a taxi to the hostel. We were all exhausted and frustrated at this point.