Saturday, December 27, 2008

Day 4: Wuliao in Wulai Part II

The next day, breakfast was at Soyan, the same restaurant that we had had dinner in the night before.




our breakfast spot

The view by day was oh so lovely.




the view

Our friendly waitress told us that we were lucky - it had been raining up to three days before our arrival and the river had been turned a murky brown.

We ordered two different breakfast sets, the healthy breakfast and the works.




yogurt parfait




fruit salad




the works




eggs benedict with smoked salmon




capuccino

The food at breakfast was better than that at dinner, but sadly it was nothing to write home about.

After breakfast, HM and I parted ways temporarily. She was headed to the spa for a "Special Target" package (this received a big thumbs up from HM) while I ventured out to the Tonghou Creek for a spot of birdwatching.




nice contrast




overlooking the Tonghou Creek




the Tonghou Creek

Tonghou Creek was a wellknown birding spot. I went on the bird trail, passing by the elementary school, a local graveyard and the river itself. The most spectacular sight were the flocks of yellow throated minivets (males red, females yellow) that flew from tree to tree across the river. Unfortunately my camera was just not up to the task of capturing that moment.

The weather got hotter and hotter. Having worked up quite a sweat from the walk, I headed back to the hotel.




No bangee - you tell 'em!

I finally had a good look at the hotel building...




Spring Park Urai hugging the bank




low impact architecture

... and even took a walk around the hotel grounds.




now that's a looker

The pool, though a beauty, was so small HM said it required one to invoke one's inner goldfish.

We had originally planned to return to Taipei City before lunch but we were loathe to leave our rather luxurious surroundings. In the end, the hotel kindly agreed to let us stay beyond checkout time. We had time for another soak and even a nap before having lunch at the Siliq Cafe.




tea and Bali

The Siliq Cafe (where we had had tea the day before) spooned out spa cuisine to the worldweary masses who frequented the hotel's public bath-house. As it turned out, the food at Siliq Cafe was rather good!




spinach salad




stuffed tomato





chef's special pumpkin soup





panfried sea bass with truffle wild rice





ricotta cheese pudding

It was light and tasty, and quite unpretentious (for spa cuisine, that is).

After lunch, we took the public bus and train back to Taipei and TS Hotel. The journey took more than an hour.

Back at the hotel, we took it easy.





whoa the biggest remote we have ever seen

We only headed out at dinner time. Our destination was Xiao Dong Ting, in the Datong area, a Japanese eatery that served cheap and good food.

It took us a while to locate the place, since it was off the beaten track as far as tourists go. We had almost given up when, as a last resort, we asked a betel nut seller where Lane 250, Nanjing West Road, was, and lo and behold, it was two lanes away.





inside this alleyway





a series of stalls





open concept "kitchen"





pot of oden





we sat inside

We ordered a range of items:





oden items including stewed radish and cabbage roll, with a special sauce





sashimi





grilled fish jaws - two salmon and one mackerel





chawanmushi





octopus and potato salad

Unbelievably, the bill came up to only NT$600 (S$30). For that price, the quality was unbeatable.

After dinner, we wandered into a branch of Xian Yu Xian aka"Meet Friend", a dessert chain in Taipei, for some lotus seed soy bean curd.





dou hua lian zi (NT$40/S$2)
With that, it was time for bed. We had another big excursion to look forward to the next day.

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