Taroko National Park

I did do more things than just eat in Taiwan - we went out of Taipei to Yilan and Hualien. My favourite part of Hualien was visiting the Taroko National Park.

Taroko National park is named after the Taroko Gorge, a marble gorge which is the landmark gorge of the park. Taroko Gorge and its surrounding area are well known for their abundant supply of marble and it is also home to the Taroko tribe.

There are many well-known attractions at Taroko National Park and there are lots of pleasant walking trails you can go on. As we visited the place during winter, the cool weather made walking really easy.. and relaxing.

I've heard that because of the altitude and location of the park, walking along most of the trails should be pretty pleasant, even in summer. The water levels in the gorge is pretty low and there is less rainfall during winter. The water levels and entire landscape would look rather different during the summer months..

Apart from rocks and more rocks, there are also all kinds of interesting trees and flowers in the park.

 

And here is a picture of me under a fabulous tree. This is the first picture of myself on this blog!

Taipei Flower Expo - Trivia

Some interesting trivia about the Flower Expo:

Trivia #1
The expo revolves around 3 main concepts related to gardening.. so it is more than just "flowers".. I suppose Gardening Expo doesn't sound as nice..

Concept I: Convey the essence of gardening, science and environment protection technology
Concept II: Reach the goals of reduce, reuse and recycle
Concept III: Combine culture and art as parts of eco-friendly living

Trivia #2
The flowers at the expo are not the same throughout the entire period. Flowers for display are selected based on the seasons or appropriateness. For example, when I was there around Christmas, there were a lot of Poinsetias that my friend didn't see the week before.

It is said that that the flowers are replaced as frequently as every 3 days.. Now that, is very frequent! It also means that you'd have a slightly different experience each time you go to the expo!

If you are booking tickets to Taiwan for the expo, check out this link for the various flower themes that will be on display. You'd also want to check out this 3D film for an intro to the exposition area.

Trivia #3
It is said that to finish all the exhibits "properly", you will need about 3 days. The reason being the queues for the exhibits can be pretty long.

For some exhibits, you'd actually need to draw for tickets.. so if you are really unlucky on busy days... 3 days may not be sufficient!

Trivia #4
Just some statistics on the numbers at the 91+ hectares site - 14 pavilions and more than 800 varieties of orchids, 329 million stems of locally developed plant varieties, and award-winning landscape and gardening designs from 22 countries and 26 cities.

I wonder how many visitors visit the expo on a daily basis... because.. there were lots of people when I was there on a Tuesday!

Melange Cafe - Amazing Waffles

For the most amazing waffles, visit Melange Cafe.

The strawberry waffles are crispy on the the outside, fluffy yet substantially chewy on the inside. The waffles are served with yummy custard, strawberry ice-cream, topped off with fresh, sweet strawberries and a light yet delectable strawberry sauce.

The waffles go very well with the variety of specially blended coffee.. but be forewarned, the serving is huge so it is best for 2 persons to share 1 serving of waffles.

This cafe is tucked away in a quiet street off a fairly busy shopping area in Taipei. The location is pretty convenient, about 5 minutes from the subway station. Yet the street is quiet and charming and I liked the design of the cafe the moment I saw it.

I think you will agree with me from the pictures below.

 

P/S: We had a lovely seat by the windows in the restaurant - the weather was pretty cold and yet we had the warmth from the bright sun that day. Unfortunately, that meant that my food photos had somewhat odd lighting.. so the strawberries waffles doesn't look as good here.

Melange Cafe 米朗琪咖啡館
Address: 台北市中山區中山北路二段16巷23號
Tel: +866(02)2567-3787