After departing Taroko Gorge, we went to Qi Xing Tan (七星潭). Not sure why this place is named as such but i sort of have high expectations for this place cos when i saw in the photos on the website the place looks pretty but when we went there, there was nth but pebbles and a fishy stench. It's supposed to be 花莲最美的海湾. Photos are deceiving on those commercial websites man... btw 花莲 is famous for stones (or pebbles), dat's why i think 劉阿姨 names her 民宿 as 石头的家 (Stone House). Anws, here's what i took at 七星潭:
comparing to this picture i found on website:
or cos its due to photoshop...whh makes me hav higher expectations of this place cos it reminds me of a scene in 转角遇到爱.
There's a lot of pple picking pebbles here. And it's sort of a tradition or must-do in 石头的家 to pick the pebbles and do pebble-painting, either for 劉阿姨 or u bring home as ur souvenirs. lol~ who will want a pebble man but i must say a lot of guests who stayed dere painted the pebbles for 劉阿姨 and dere's a lot in her 民宿, each one representing different memories.
After which we went to the local fishing wharf to eat sashimi. 陈叔叔 learnt that i dun take raw food but him and the rest of my them urged me to try. i did...but i still dun dare to eat. yucks! but they prefer the salmon to the "local sashimi" whh is made from another fish...陈叔叔 says the locals prefer lighter taste and the local sashimi has a lighter taste than salmon. My travel mates prefer the salmon.
After that we went to buy the famous 花莲嘛薯 (muachee). it's a 老字号 for 70 yrs. After sampling them me and Tom like red bean filling the most. The skin of the muachee is very chewy, diff from those u buy from Chinatown during Chinese New Yr even though they are, or claimed to be Taiwan muachee la. I got 3 packets. Very bulky indeed and take up quite some space in our luggage.
Next we pass by this roadside stall to get some 葱油饼. At first we thought since it's dinner time so we just got 2 to be shared among the 4 of us. But it's so nice until i feel that i can eat 2!!! It has a very unique taste to it. With the skin like roti prata, it contains some spices and of course 葱 but the spices makes it very nice. 陈叔叔 is not exaggerating to say that one will get addicted after eating once. A pity we din get more of it!
Then we went to buy fireworks. Yes u heard it! Fireworks! Displaying fireworks is also like a must-do at Stone House. 陈叔叔 asked what's our budget and we negotiate (more like pushing over) the boss to give us more stuff. Lol! There's this big box of fireworks which the locals say it's like fireworks displayed at Parliament (国会). Plus we also get some sparklers.
We returned to Stone House to rest for a while before gg for dinner and watch the tribal dance performance. The planned schedule is that we shall play with the fireworks after dinner but in case it rains later (花莲 is prone to rain), we decided to play first. We first alight the bigger fireworks first - the parliament one. Haha...the guys light first and 劉阿姨 video us. The fireworks were loud! and It's really very very nice! Then there's this Fireworks where after it got lighted it will spin around on the floor and sometimes even fly up in mid-air!!!! 劉阿姨's dog - 妞妞 loves to play with this. She will dance around this fireworks and chasing it, eating the sparks, sometimes got burnt herself and then eating the smoke after the fireworks died off. Wonder how she come she dun feel hurt when the sparks when into her eyes.
Here's a video whh i got from youtube on some other pple's experience displaying fireworks at Stone House cos i haven got our own videos yet. Cos i feel it's quite hard for u guys to visualise too the fun we had dere =)
1:19 and 5:10 is the parliament fireworks i'm talking abt.
4:45 is the spinning one which 妞妞 will dance around it.
Then there's also this stick where we have to hold it firmly and then the fireworks will shoot out into the air. U can even feel the triggering effect when it shoots out. Then when it was me and my cousin's turn, the wind suddenly change the direction towards us after we lighted it! We turned towards each other and it was just a close shave that the fireworks din manage to shoot each other cos we're turning towards each other to face the other direction! And Hui ping's fireworks accurately (and coincidentally) shot through the hole in the fence cos after turning she din have the chance to lift her arm higher before the thing shoots out and Tom was very amazed by this. HAHA! Oh! And during the guys turn when Tom's firworks shot over the fence, there was this lorry driving passed on the other side of the fence and after the fireworks shot over we heard the lorry crashing into something! Then 劉阿姨 told us the loud noise was the lorry unloading the stones or sth. haha! Not to mention also 劉阿姨's van security alarm will sound when the fireworks exploded. Lol!
After which the two groups- us and Xiaoli's group went to watch the tribal dance performance. Beforehand 陈叔叔 already told us the performers will engaged the audience to participate in this tradition of the 阿美族's marriage custom of 背新娘 (the groom will piggy-back the bride) and we intend to sabo Wenjie and Xiaoli up the stage! muahahaha. The performers were just secondary or high school students. They were dressed in their colourful traditional costumes, some with headbands which they see to the audiences also. The people of 阿美族 have big eyes and distinct features and they're known for they nice vocal cords. Got one part of the show is where they invite more audience to dance the bamboo pole dance (竹竿舞) with them, which i always saw in 吴宗宪's variety shows where they place two poles on the ground with one person at each end controlling them (open and close) and the dancers have to follow the rhythm of the music and dance in and out of the poles.
The bamboo dance!
背新娘! Xiaoli and Wenjie!
And we're wondering Wenjie is so skinny...even though Xiaoli is skinny as well but still we're doubting Wenjie's ability to piggy-back her but then the tribal guys helped to support them up la...
Then after the performance we went to the night market for dinner. There's this famous 小笼包 stall over there which is a must try. At first we thought the 小笼包 will be like those u eat in 鼎太蘴, with soup inside but its' not. The skin of the buns are instead like those Char Siew baos but the filling is very nice..dunno how to describe. And it's bigger than the size of 小笼包 . we ordered like 20 buns (两笼) cos we thot it'll be pretty small but when our orders came we're a bit stunned. haha...we had 5 buns each and by then quite full alr =). oh ya the buns are called 公正包.
Look at this signboard inside the stall!!! I really think it's an excuse not to smile...lol...
The local night market.
After which we went back to Stone House at around 10:15. Then it was Xiaoli's group to play with the fireworks while we watched. We had some sparklers left and 劉阿姨 tell us to draw words with the sparklers and took photos of what we drew. Then Xiaoli had one more fireworks left. The one which can fly and 劉阿姨 asked me to light. But it din flew as high and it exploded in front of where Tom they all were sitting! hahahahah!!!
After that our group went to light the Kong Ming Deng (孔明灯). People light 孔明灯 on this special occasion but then now u can light any time u want. People will write their wishes on the lantern and then light it up. The lantern will then fly up to the sky, carrying ur wishes and hoping that god will see them and make your wishes come true. I wrote that i will find a job soon. David wished himself happy birthday. Tom and HP wrote Hualien rocks and Tom added that he hopes Man-U will win Barcelona. Then HP wrote a "boo!" on his part. haha! I think that's why ur wish din came through, Tom! Then we went outside and lighted it and watched it fly till we can't see it any more. It was a nice weather to light the lantern.
Finally it's time to rest. By the time we slept it's close to 1am. Tired but happy day, especially where u get to play with the fireworks... It's not what u can experience in Spore.
And so it marks the end of our stay in 花莲. I'm definitely gg to miss this part of my trip...
Before i end off let me advertise a bit on Stone House. haha...
here's the main website:
http://www.sutohome.com/
comparing to this picture i found on website:
or cos its due to photoshop...whh makes me hav higher expectations of this place cos it reminds me of a scene in 转角遇到爱.
There's a lot of pple picking pebbles here. And it's sort of a tradition or must-do in 石头的家 to pick the pebbles and do pebble-painting, either for 劉阿姨 or u bring home as ur souvenirs. lol~ who will want a pebble man but i must say a lot of guests who stayed dere painted the pebbles for 劉阿姨 and dere's a lot in her 民宿, each one representing different memories.
After which we went to the local fishing wharf to eat sashimi. 陈叔叔 learnt that i dun take raw food but him and the rest of my them urged me to try. i did...but i still dun dare to eat. yucks! but they prefer the salmon to the "local sashimi" whh is made from another fish...陈叔叔 says the locals prefer lighter taste and the local sashimi has a lighter taste than salmon. My travel mates prefer the salmon.
After that we went to buy the famous 花莲嘛薯 (muachee). it's a 老字号 for 70 yrs. After sampling them me and Tom like red bean filling the most. The skin of the muachee is very chewy, diff from those u buy from Chinatown during Chinese New Yr even though they are, or claimed to be Taiwan muachee la. I got 3 packets. Very bulky indeed and take up quite some space in our luggage.
Next we pass by this roadside stall to get some 葱油饼. At first we thought since it's dinner time so we just got 2 to be shared among the 4 of us. But it's so nice until i feel that i can eat 2!!! It has a very unique taste to it. With the skin like roti prata, it contains some spices and of course 葱 but the spices makes it very nice. 陈叔叔 is not exaggerating to say that one will get addicted after eating once. A pity we din get more of it!
Then we went to buy fireworks. Yes u heard it! Fireworks! Displaying fireworks is also like a must-do at Stone House. 陈叔叔 asked what's our budget and we negotiate (more like pushing over) the boss to give us more stuff. Lol! There's this big box of fireworks which the locals say it's like fireworks displayed at Parliament (国会). Plus we also get some sparklers.
We returned to Stone House to rest for a while before gg for dinner and watch the tribal dance performance. The planned schedule is that we shall play with the fireworks after dinner but in case it rains later (花莲 is prone to rain), we decided to play first. We first alight the bigger fireworks first - the parliament one. Haha...the guys light first and 劉阿姨 video us. The fireworks were loud! and It's really very very nice! Then there's this Fireworks where after it got lighted it will spin around on the floor and sometimes even fly up in mid-air!!!! 劉阿姨's dog - 妞妞 loves to play with this. She will dance around this fireworks and chasing it, eating the sparks, sometimes got burnt herself and then eating the smoke after the fireworks died off. Wonder how she come she dun feel hurt when the sparks when into her eyes.
Here's a video whh i got from youtube on some other pple's experience displaying fireworks at Stone House cos i haven got our own videos yet. Cos i feel it's quite hard for u guys to visualise too the fun we had dere =)
1:19 and 5:10 is the parliament fireworks i'm talking abt.
4:45 is the spinning one which 妞妞 will dance around it.
Then there's also this stick where we have to hold it firmly and then the fireworks will shoot out into the air. U can even feel the triggering effect when it shoots out. Then when it was me and my cousin's turn, the wind suddenly change the direction towards us after we lighted it! We turned towards each other and it was just a close shave that the fireworks din manage to shoot each other cos we're turning towards each other to face the other direction! And Hui ping's fireworks accurately (and coincidentally) shot through the hole in the fence cos after turning she din have the chance to lift her arm higher before the thing shoots out and Tom was very amazed by this. HAHA! Oh! And during the guys turn when Tom's firworks shot over the fence, there was this lorry driving passed on the other side of the fence and after the fireworks shot over we heard the lorry crashing into something! Then 劉阿姨 told us the loud noise was the lorry unloading the stones or sth. haha! Not to mention also 劉阿姨's van security alarm will sound when the fireworks exploded. Lol!
After which the two groups- us and Xiaoli's group went to watch the tribal dance performance. Beforehand 陈叔叔 already told us the performers will engaged the audience to participate in this tradition of the 阿美族's marriage custom of 背新娘 (the groom will piggy-back the bride) and we intend to sabo Wenjie and Xiaoli up the stage! muahahaha. The performers were just secondary or high school students. They were dressed in their colourful traditional costumes, some with headbands which they see to the audiences also. The people of 阿美族 have big eyes and distinct features and they're known for they nice vocal cords. Got one part of the show is where they invite more audience to dance the bamboo pole dance (竹竿舞) with them, which i always saw in 吴宗宪's variety shows where they place two poles on the ground with one person at each end controlling them (open and close) and the dancers have to follow the rhythm of the music and dance in and out of the poles.
The bamboo dance!
背新娘! Xiaoli and Wenjie!
And we're wondering Wenjie is so skinny...even though Xiaoli is skinny as well but still we're doubting Wenjie's ability to piggy-back her but then the tribal guys helped to support them up la...
Then after the performance we went to the night market for dinner. There's this famous 小笼包 stall over there which is a must try. At first we thought the 小笼包 will be like those u eat in 鼎太蘴, with soup inside but its' not. The skin of the buns are instead like those Char Siew baos but the filling is very nice..dunno how to describe. And it's bigger than the size of 小笼包 . we ordered like 20 buns (两笼) cos we thot it'll be pretty small but when our orders came we're a bit stunned. haha...we had 5 buns each and by then quite full alr =). oh ya the buns are called 公正包.
Look at this signboard inside the stall!!! I really think it's an excuse not to smile...lol...
The local night market.
After which we went back to Stone House at around 10:15. Then it was Xiaoli's group to play with the fireworks while we watched. We had some sparklers left and 劉阿姨 tell us to draw words with the sparklers and took photos of what we drew. Then Xiaoli had one more fireworks left. The one which can fly and 劉阿姨 asked me to light. But it din flew as high and it exploded in front of where Tom they all were sitting! hahahahah!!!
After that our group went to light the Kong Ming Deng (孔明灯). People light 孔明灯 on this special occasion but then now u can light any time u want. People will write their wishes on the lantern and then light it up. The lantern will then fly up to the sky, carrying ur wishes and hoping that god will see them and make your wishes come true. I wrote that i will find a job soon. David wished himself happy birthday. Tom and HP wrote Hualien rocks and Tom added that he hopes Man-U will win Barcelona. Then HP wrote a "boo!" on his part. haha! I think that's why ur wish din came through, Tom! Then we went outside and lighted it and watched it fly till we can't see it any more. It was a nice weather to light the lantern.
Finally it's time to rest. By the time we slept it's close to 1am. Tired but happy day, especially where u get to play with the fireworks... It's not what u can experience in Spore.
And so it marks the end of our stay in 花莲. I'm definitely gg to miss this part of my trip...
Before i end off let me advertise a bit on Stone House. haha...
here's the main website:
I like the rooms...very very cosy and sweet =)
There's 2-persons room, 4-persons room, and 6-persons room. Rates are pretty reasonable and 劉阿姨 will even help to cater transport for touring around 花莲.
Here's Tom and David's room:
The interior of the house:
Can u see the painted pebbles?
The breakfast! I like the second one!
石头的家!
oh ya! 劉阿姨's camera can take polaroid shots! like neoprints!
Here's other guests' experience in playing with the fireworks and writing words with the sparklers whereby 劉阿姨 will capture what we're writing:
http://blog.sutohome.com/?p=35
I think this is the website for Stone's House branch in 花莲 City. Very nice!
http://hualien.footprint.tw/stay/house/007.htm