Honestly, they weren't as smelly as I was expecting them to be HAHA, but they were so eager to eat. Hand-feeding them was kinda cute, they were shuffling among the 5 of us, reaching out to whoever's hand held food haha. There were 3 alpacas altogether, a male and two females, but there were a couple more that were enclosed in the farm.
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And of course, in today's day and age.... If you didn't snapchat yourself feeding the alpacas.... Did you even feed them at all?
The B&B owners were also kind enough to cook us a hearty breakfast! These were the dishes served together with porridge. According to the owner, the people in Taiwan usually eat heavily for breakfast, followed by a normal amount of food for lunch, and the least amount of food for dinner. They just take light snacks from the night markets in the evening, and it's enough to fill them up.
Afterwards, the owner drived us to the National Dong Hwa University in Shoufeng. The place was huge! The school also had so many great photo spots, such as this bridge over a little lake. The weather was also breezy and cooling.
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The landscape around the university itself was so beautiful. Students were going around on bikes, probably because the school is too huge for them to be walking around from one classroom to the next haha. In fact, this university is probably bigger than any poly here in Singapore.
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And of course, a mandatory squad photo!
Before we went to our next location, Alvin requested that we stop by this shop for some special black peanuts. The scenery around that stall was beautiful too, a pity I didn't manage to capture it well enough...
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Afterwards, we drove to Lin Tian Shan, a forestry park in Hualien. Once again, the scenery was breathtaking. We don't get to see mountains here in Singapore, but Taiwan is littered with them. Seeing manmade structures built amongst these natural landscapes is not quite something I've seen before.
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Qi Lun and I also finally got to take a cliche couple-y photo on one of the abandoned railway tracks! Thanks to the help of Yong Jie of course.
After exploring the area a little more, we stumbled upon more photo-worthy spots. The only downer was probably how it was drizzling a little by the time we were about to leave, but at least we still managed to take some pretty good shots. I guess the Lin Tian Shan forestry park is also quite a hit among other tourists, but thankfully, the place wasn't too crowded. We were still able to roam around freely!
And honestly, doesn't this photo give off some serious Alan Walker Faded album feels?? Go Google if you don't know what I mean heh.
We also stumbled upon this adorable little beagle that wanted to follow us down the flight of stairs. He appeared to be limping, probably another abandoned dog from another irresponsible owner.... There's too many strays walking around wherever we go, my heart goes out to them. I wonder whether Taiwan actually has shelters where they try to keep and take care of these dogs, but once again, a shelter can only keep a certain amount of them before it gets overcrowded.... Poor thing. It was limping down the stairs trying to follow us too...
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Next stop: Liyu Lake! It was so peaceful and quiet, because there was practically nobody there. We just stood at the lookout area and just admired the sights for a good 20 minutes before we (sorta) trekked along the lake. There were also these cats being fed near the lake!
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It was pretty misty too, but we were still able to catch a glimpse of the mountains in the distance. Cycling around the lake to reach its other end is what most tourists do, but because I'm a burden and I didn't know how to cycle, we had to get to the other side on foot. It was about a 2.3-2.4km walk, but we were able to take in some fresh air, and experience what nature had to offer.
Our final stop for the day was Hualien Dongdamen Night Market, which oddly enough, sounds like South Korea's Dongdaemun. One would only assume that they did this on purpose haha. Because the owner dropped us off not too near the night market, we spent some time wandering about the streets.
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Taiwan's convenience stores' range never fails to excite me. There's just something about seeing rows and rows of new drinks to try that makes me happy haha.
Eventually, we found our way to Dongdamen Night Market, and we got there when it was already dark out. At first, all we saw were game stations, and very little food stalls. But apparently, we just entered the night market from a different entrance, and after venturing on, we found more food stalls, much to our hungry stomachs' delight.
But after seeing so many game stalls all lined up, we decided to give one of them a try. This one required us to shoot pallet guns, which I, needless to say, failed horrendously at. I only managed to pop one balloon after a round of 20+ bullets......... :')
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The guys managed to pop all the balloons on one of the wheels though, but she only gave us a stack of playing cards as a consolation prize. The lady also never exactly explained how the game was supposed to work, she just kept encouraging us to pay the money and play first. A good way to cheat people's money haha, but it was still fun while it lasted.
It was rainy once again, and we had to manage holding our umbrellas on one hand and snacking on the other hand. But surprisingly, this night market had sheltered areas with tables and chairs for people to sit and eat!
The game stalls area was pretty quiet, because the crowd was where the food was. All the squids from the night markets was also pretty bomb, cooked to the perfect texture and drenched in sweet sauce. Didn't get to take too many foodie shots, because I was mostly just munching away, and I didn't have enough hands for a camera hehe.
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That night was be our last in Hualien, so when we got back home, we simply chilled and watched TV. I also took one last bath in the comfortable bath back in our room. Once again, we packed our bags and got ready to set off bright and early the next morning for Taipei.
Day 4's set of photos hold some of my favourites throughout the entire trip. Sometimes, we are too surrounded by concrete buildings and roads that we forget to embrace nature. I would never really consider myself a nature and landscape person, simply because I hate insects, wet soil, and everything else icky that comes with it, but walked around Hualien might have changed that mindset. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that Hualien was one of my favourite visits of the trip. Life there is so tranquil, so quiet and calming, it automatically makes you feel more relaxed too. I'm really thankful that we got to experience something at the other end of the spectrum, instead of just hopping around shops and bustling shopping streets.
