Day 1: It's all about travelling

So we got ourselves tickets on a Jetstar flight at guess what 7.05am in the morning . That means waking up at 530am and carrying our hand  luggages , catching a cab and getting to the airport real early ..Peng San...

By the time we got there, most people already checked in and we did not get to sit next to one another (awwww...) but one in front and one behind .Still not too bad...

Anyways, that's when I regretted not bringing my book along. Oh well , I was content to read the jetstar magazine. But in the end I got through that just slightly after the plane took off. Then it was pretty boring all the way to Taoyuan airport and to the THSR(Taiwan High Speed Rail). We got 2 tickets for Taoyuan-Chiayi which is the closest to Ruili. Since the high speed rail station is normally not near the city centre, we got onto a FREE shuttle they call the BRT(Bus Rapid transit) from the Chiayi HSR(嘉义快铁） to the Chiayi normal train station（嘉义台铁） where we arranged a pick up with our hostel (Ruo Lan Shan Zhuang:http://www.ruohlan.com.tw/) for NT$1500 to head up the hills

NT$920= SGD$40 for the high speed rail and it travels at 270km/h nice..... 

The Chiayi tai tie(嘉义台铁) which is part of the national rail system(http://www.railway.gov.tw/en/index/index.aspx)

So up the mountain we go, because the normal road up the mountain is being repaired due to the heavy rains from Typhoon Morakot last year, we had to take the more scenic but bendy road up the mountain. The wife got a bit carsick along the way.The driver said that's normal 90% of passengers feel carsick when he drives this road.The normal tourist road will be open soon and that one is much much better which we can attest to when we go down the mountain. Here are some pics along the way up.

Betel nut trees

So after a long day from Singapore, we finally arrived at our hostel. Ruo lan Shan Zhuang which is the oldest hostel in operation (>40yrs) in this hilly area of the Alishan mountains. So how does the view look like from the balcony of the hotel room .Well see for yourself.

We stayed in the cheaper accomodations provided by the hostels which are clean and nice. But it does not come with air-con and TV. A fan was provided but since it's pretty cold even in summer during the nights , it is not really necessary for the aircon. This hostels does provide a more upmarket( wooden house area,木屋区）which is a little bit more expensive but have air-condition, TV and a nice spilt ensuite bathroom and toilet.

Entrance to room

Corridor

So that is not the end of our day . We had dinner at a local place for SGD$8.50/pax include 5 dishes + 1 soup.

After dinner comes the best part, drinking tea with the owner's husband. This guy makes his own tea and sells it boutique style. That's why he can guarantee what you taste at the tea drinking is the same tea he is going to sell you. Without a reason of a doubt and it's not expensive .But the service is incredible, we drank tea and self made plum wine every night we are there .

So you would have thought that was the end of the day but alas it was not to be so .... We were brought to do some activity with some other guest to make a particular kind of rice cake called Zhuang Yuan Gao (状元糕）at the activity centre that was housed behind the main hostel building