The restaurant looks so upper-class :O And the hotel is not even a five-star hotel.
Yay for window seats!
The first stop of the day was Hai Bao Pearl & Jewelry Centre (海宝珍珠养殖推广中心), another place aimed at tourists... They produce cultured pearls here, besides selling pearl powder (珍珠粉) and jewelries.
There was a lady who gave a talk about the difference between fake pearls and real pearls. She also prepared samples of (edible) pearl powder for us to try, which I didn't dare to. I asked someone in our tour group about the taste and he said it's tasteless. The lady told us that pearl powder is effective in healing mouth ulcer and the next moment, she and a few helpers came around and asked if we wanted to buy.
I immediately went out of the room. Sigh, it was such a waste of time to be here.
Anyway, our next destination was the Fo Guang Shan Buddha Memorial Center (佛光山佛陀纪念馆).
We passed through a mini shopping centre before taking a walk outdoors. We stayed here for more than one hour as some of them went to pray.
This place has a really beautiful courtyard.
Then, it was a 10 minutes' drive away to this restaurant where we ate lunch. Little did I know that the five dishes served would all be fish! There was steamed fish, fried fish, crispy fish skin, fish balls, and a bowl of fish soup. Well, my parents are the happiest when it comes to healthy eating.
Later, we came to E-Da Theme Park (义大游乐世界) in Dashu District of Kaohsiung. Next to the theme park is E-Da Outlet Mall (义大世界购物广场), which offers discounts as much as 75% on more than 300 well-known brands like Coach, Armani Exchange, and Tommy Hilfiger.
E-Da world (义大世界) was created in the late 1990s, and it has now become a popular tourist attraction, having also a few hotels nearby for the convenience of tourists. Other than that, the area also includes a university, an international school, and an Italian villa style residential neighbourhood.
Indoor games for kids.
At the theme park's main entrance.
I wanted to go on this ride but it was closed -.- In fact, most of the exciting rides that I wanted to go on were not operating that day. It was so disappointing.
The theme park incorporates a Greek-style environment consisting three major sections named Acropolis, Santorini, and Trojan Castle. Basically, there is nothing much inside Acropolis and Santorini, except a few restaurants, kiddie rides, shops, and a theatre.
Gotta give this place some credit for the architecture. It kinda felt like I was in Greece!
Ariel's father, King Triton? :P
Rainbow! :3
The entrance to Trojan Castle.
The games/rides on the first few floors are only suitable for kids.
We went to the top floor and went on a few rides.
The view from the "hot air balloon".
After the fun, it was a four-hour journey to Taitung. Part of the journey was going uphill on a winding road, and since the sun sets early in Taiwan, driving would be quite dangerous if there isn't enough sunlight. We tried to depart as early as possible, leaving at 4pm.
The sky was completely dark by the time we reached the winding part of the ride. It was so scary because the mist was so, so thick that all you can see even just a few metres away are the headlights of the vehicles, nothing more. And yes, the headlights were the only source of light during that stretch of road.
We had our dinner at this place, an aboriginal restaurant (天巴洛原住民风味餐厅) that exudes a traditional feel once you step into the compound.
There was a group of dancers performing (an aboriginal dance I suppose) for the customers, which we managed to catch only a few seconds of it. The performance ended as soon as we settled down for dinner :(
At 8pm, we were one of the few customers left. The staff were already cleaning the tables and arranging the chairs at 8+! Wow wow, I cannot believe they close for dinner this early.
After eating, we went straight to Horng Yi Hotel. Well, it's actually more like a cheap motel. The overall appearance was a vast difference from all the hotels we stayed the previous nights. Didn't bother to take any photos of the room as it was in a run-down condition..
The only feature that gives this "hotel" its value is the hot spring located at the back. The hot spring is natural, in case you were wondering. The pipes that bring in the water are connected to the natural source, so they were chugging throughout the entire night, which meant that we slept (or attempted to sleep) in a noisy environment.
Honestly, it was a letdown. I thought we were going to Jhiben Hot Spring (知本温泉), which is a really nice hot spring resort - according to Google - but I guess it was late when we reached Taitung, so we ended up soaking in this hot spring instead.
The place where the smoke is coming out is where you can cook eggs, using the water from the hot spring. The board says cooking time is 8-10 minutes. I wanted to cook my own egg but hmm.. I don't know why I didn't after all :/
I went into the hot spring for about 15 minutes. At first, it was quite hot but then I slowly got used to it. It's like when you step into a pool and the water feels really cold for the first few seconds, and after a while it gets better.
The water temperature was 40.7°C. It doesn't seem as hot when I found out that the temperature of hot springs in other parts of Taiwan can go up to 80°C and even 90°C! :O
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