Taiwan Trip 2011 Day 8 Green Island Zhaori Saltwater Hot Springs

[ continued from Taiwan Trip 2011 Day 7 Green Island Dinner ]

Zhaori Hot Spring (朝日溫泉)
[ The Zhaori Saltwater Hot Springs has been well known since the late 18th century for their clean, transparent water and ideal temperature, which fluctuates between 60 and 70 degrees centigrade. The springs are fed by seawater and underground water heated by the volcanic lava of Green Island. This is one of only three saltwater hot springs in the world along with the springs on Kyushu Island of Japan and Sicily in Italy. Zhaori has three open-air pools and a spa pool where visitors can listen to the sound of the surf, enjoy the sunrise, or watch the stars as they soak away the stress. ]
Source : Discover Taiwan Website

After a few hours of sleep, we awoke early and quickly made our way to the Zhaori Hot Spring so as not to miss the sunrise.

As we got there the sun began to rise. However there was a layer of clouds blocking it somewhat in the horizon.




Beside the open pools, there is a well like structure which is specially built for cooking eggs. You can purchase your eggs from the main entrance and hang them on these bamboo sticks in a cloth pouch, then lower it into the hot spring water. Sign actually says : Dangeroud High Temps, 95 degrees, careful when using.




As this was our first time here, we just found a big rock and hung our eggs over the side. This was gonna be our breakfast :D We then hurried off to the open pools to see the sunrise.



Some locals were already there, soaking up the seawater and waiting for the sunrise.




Sun finally coming up over the clouds...






Our first Taiwanese Island SUNRISE!! YAY!!

After viewing the sunrise, we decided to try out the indoor pools. The water here was at 41.2C, but felt pretty hot compared with the open pool water. The indoor pool has nice waterfall spouts that you can stand under for a direct blast of salty hot spring water.

We actually thought someone had taken our eggs from the hotspring as they were not there when we went back to get them. Luckily the guard at the entrance had our eggs! Someone had taken them from the hotspring and kindly passed them to him for safekeeping. *Whew and Yum!*

Finally it was time to go. We had to ride back to the Minsu and prepare for the morning activity of snorkeling.

Taiwan Trip 2011 Day 7 Green Island Dinner

[continued from Taiwan Trip 2011 Day 7 : Yong Ya Fang Minsu 雍雅坊民宿 ]

Scootering into town, we decided to have dinner at this restaurant which was packed full. As always our theory was "packed full must be good".

Inside it was pretty crowded but atmosphere was pretty cozy. Despite the crowd, it was not too noisy. Everyone seemed to be enjoying their food.


Lots of framed posters of different types of local fish. Owner must be a fishing fan.

Walking in, on the front desk was a HUGE PILE of fried flying fish. We were very surprised and excited as this was the first time we ever had a chance to eat this type of fish. They serve it 3 ways, sweet and sour, braised or black pepper.

For rice, we decided to get a bowl of classic taiwanese mince braised pork rice. Pretty good.

Then came out main dish, the flying fish sweet and sour style! :D The fish has been battered and deep fried to crispy perfection so much so you could munch and crunch most of it. Flavour wise, the flying fish was a mild tasting fish. The sweet and sour sauce which was pretty good. But the novelty of eating this rare dish in a remote taiwanese island location is what makes it so special.

Our second main dish was some stir fried local DEER meat with ginger and shallots. Went very well with the rice. Green Island has a lot of resident deer population. I guess the locals just go hunt a couple everynight.

After dinner we went back to the minsu. As part of the package, we met up with a local guide who brought a group of us on scooters up a hill, nearby to the local deer sanctuary/park. The main attractions are the local buffalo and deer, which we managed to see but didn't manage to get any pictures. Also this green stick like insect which is indigenous to this island and not found anywhere else on earth!! Lucky us, there were plenty of them out and about for us to take pictures. They are pretty harmless but they are huge insects, many around the size of your elbow to hand!!







After our fun night outing, we passed by this very cutely decorated shop and went in for some ice dessert as the signboard read : "seaweed ice products"

And I am very glad we did. Another local specialty. It's basically a typical shaved ice with taro and sweet potato balls kind of dessert, except this one was topped off with some green seaweed harvested right from the shoreline of this Island. Served on a custom made clam-shell, this was a really nice way to end our first day on this island.

Well back to the Minsu for an early night, we would have to wake up pretty early for some sunrise viewing at the hot springs!!!

Join me next on Taiwan Trip 2011 Day 7 Green Island Zhaori Saltwater Hot Springs

Taiwan Trip 2011 Day 7 Journey to Green Island Lyudao 綠島 via Fugang Harbour

[continued from Taiwan Trip 2011 Day 6 Liyu Lake and Hualien at Night ]

Today I will cover our travels from Hualien township to the Green Island (otherwise known as Lyudao 綠島 locally) Of course, must start the day off with some traditional Taiwanese breakfast rite? We each had a small box of typical Taiwanese egg pancake and hot some soybean milk. Got this from the shop just below our hotel.

Taiwan Trip 2011 Day 6 Liyu Lake and Hualien at Night

[continued from Taiwan Trip 2011 Day 6 Hualien Chishingtan Katsuo Museum ]


After enjoying the breeze and views at the Chishingtan beach, we travelled south towards another tourist attraction called Liyu Lake.

Taiwan Trip 2011 Day 6 Hualien Chishingtan Katsuo Museum

[continued from Taiwan Trip Day 5 Nanbin Night Market Hualien ]

Day 6 in Taiwan and today we will be going via scooter to the Chishingtan beach and the Chishingtan Katsuo Museum.

Hualien train station from our hotel room. Tour buses ferrying tourists, many from mainland china are especially plentiful on weekends.

As we scootered around looking for breakfast, we came by this stall by chance.


Apparently it is quite a famous dessert shop. It is a small corner shop with a competitor selling similiar stuff next door. I must say this is the place to eat tapioca balls. Much nicer tapioca balls than even those made by the grandmothers in Jiufen! As you can see from the picture, I thought this place was selling waffles! That's why we went in for breakfast!

Menu

 But only after sitting down did we realise they were selling icy cold tapioca ball desserts and drinks.


We promptly ordered the house special. It is a mega big bowl of tapioca balls, soft tofu and green beans covered by shaved ice, drizzled with brown sugar syrup and milk. The tapioca balls are different colours due to yam, sweet potato, green bean and other natural ingredients used. This is the one that you should order.

After our dessert breakfast, we headed out for the  Chishingtan Katsuo Museum.It is just a short ride from Hualien city to the Chishingtan Katsuo Museum.

Chishingtan Katsuo Museum

Chishingtan Katsuo Museum

This museum is built on the site of a former bonito production factory. Unfortunately they don't smoke this fish at this facility anymore.

Just outside the Museum entrance, there is a canteen area with stalls all around selling local seafood here. Time for brunch!


Lots of local delicacies sold here. Just order and pay at the main counter and wait for you order. We ordered a plate of flame seared tuna sashimi as it looked really special. In fact the preparation of it was quite a spectacle as you will see below.


The fish meat is first seared with hot flames from the BBQ pit made by burning hay. Hay burns at very high heat for only a short time, so this fella has to quickly light the fire and sear the fish before the flames die down...


The flame seared tuna meat, still mostly raw inside is then passed on to this other fellow.


The meat is then thickly sliced and some ginger juice is squeezed on it.

flame seared tuna sashimi

Because this was done over a fire as opposed to using a gas flame like most restaurants do, you get the extra smokey flavour which is so much better, just like BBQ meat done over a charcoal fire. Served with soy sauce, garlic and shallots. Very very nice!

Takopachi octopus balls smothered with the famous katsuo flakes on top with mayo and wasabi sauce. sooo yummy... This is a must have when you are travelling around Taiwan.

Sunfish fishball soup with bits of chinese parsley. First time for us eating this type of fishball. Quite nice, texture was a bit like beef balls though hahaha...

Seaweed Cold Noodles

Another dish smothered with the famous local bonito flakes. Basically some cold noodles tossed with some wet and dry seaweed in addition to the bonito flakes and topped with shallots. Flavour was good and the noodles were bouncy. I really liked the plate :D




Before stepping into the Museum, most visitors would obsess with taking pics of the fish in this salt water aquarium.


All sorts of sea anemones, colourful clams and fish. Taiwan does have some really nice coral reefs as we were to find out later in the trip when we visited the Green Island (lyudao island).

Unlike some other tourist buildings and places, the Chishingtan Katsuo Museum looked quite new and well maintained.

Different species of tuna

This is basically a small double storey museum with exhibits showing the history of the ocean and beaches around Hualien.

This exhibit shows how the bonito fish were smoked in the past. The fish are put on racks and smoked for months with specially selected firewood like apple or peach wood which imbue the special smokey flavour into the bonito. They end up like pieces of hard wood.

Some old machines used to make flakes out of the dried smoked fish.

More aquariums inside the museum. Local seahorse, coral prawn, camouflaged squid and cute little tigerfish.

There is also a tank with a MONSTER GROUPER in it! Longer than my arm!! DO NOT PUT YOUR HAND IN THE TANK!!

After you have had your fun looking at the fish, you can go upstairs to look at the history of the fishery in the sea around Hualien.


We were lucky to see this. Some workers were making huge bags of bonito flakes. So at least some remnant of the old factory still remains. This place was closed when we visited again in 2012.

These are bonito flakes and smoked tuna flakes for sale. It says welcome to try, please open the cover.

Those bored by the museum stuff will no doubt be happy with the gift/food shop. All the seafood products are nicely package and make excellent gifts.

In case you don't like or are allergic to seafood, they even sell fresh hand made mochi which Hualien is famous for.

Shopping done, we walked around the place a little bit.

There was a row of houses where the local fishermen and their families lived behind the museum. They even had their own chicken and bird cages! Nothing like a fresh raw egg in the morning.

Having done the museum we scootered on down to the beach which we had passed by on a previous night. There is an airbase next to the beach. I managed to sneak a picture of what was probably an F-16 fighter jet parked in its own cement bunker.

Chishingtan beach is a very very long pebble beach with quite a nice breeze and has an endless ocean view into the horizon.

Chishingtan beach 3

 You can see some fishing boats with long nets fishing offshore.

Every now and then airplanes will fly by as well. Managed to get a shot of a military cargo plane flying by. Looks like the one from Con-Air.

After some time enjoying the breeze at the beach we headed towards our next destination south of Hualien, the Liyu Lake.

[continue reading Taiwan Trip 2011 Day 6 Liyu Lake and Hualien at Night ]