9 March 2017
Crap photos featuring trains
Taking the train from Taipei to Hualien
Now I am in Hualien. On the way I took lots of crap photos of trains, and photos through the window of a moving train.
Taking photos from a moving train never works, you try and position the camera on an acute angle and avoid the reflection of the carriage lighting and find a clean spot in the window. By the time all of that happens you have completely forgotten what inane scenery you wanted to photograph. And yet you keep trying.
The train itself was excellent, it was basically a high speed train going slower than normal cause the tracks dont support the high speed. It had a dining car, and trolleys of snacks and drinks going past, reserved seating etc. Everyone left the blinds up so I could enjoy the view of the fog and cloud as we went through the mountains, and of the Ocean once we got to the East coast.
Everyone except me went fast asleep pretty much instantly, as if they had been gassed, including a baby in front of me who amusingly growled like a grizzly bear instead of snoring.
Now onto the exciting news! The son of the dead half brother of Kim Jong-Un is suspected to be hiding in Taiwan! Maybe I will get killed by nerve gas after all! If I see a girl with a LOL jumper I will run.
And in even more exciting news, the ladies Pan Asian formal gown 9 ball championship is still going, we are into the exciting 4th round, which features fascinating hats and matching pool cues. It is still live on the main TV channel. Who will be crowned MISS FORMAL GOWN 9 BALL PAN ASIAN CHAMPION 2017?
My train wasnt until lunch time, so I had time to walk down to the river that runs through Taipei which is a long linear park.
Nice mountain. I was up it yesterday.
I saw a lot more of this park from the new airport train when I arrived on Sunday, parts of it looked very new, shiny and impressive, this part in the middle of the city, not so much.
However I did manage to time a photo to simultaneously catch a jogger, cyclists, and old folks playing croquet. That takes a lot of skill, you should appreciate this.
Heres my train to Hualien. No, not really, its an old tram that an old man lives next to.
I had a morning tea snack of mochi made by an old lady. I love their flavourless chewy texture.
Heres my train to Hualien. No, not really, its an old steam train out the front of the station. I could not see an old man living next to it.
OK, now for the inside of the station, I previously mentioned I had never been in there before. I am now sure it must have been closed for rennovations when last I was here, cause the upper levels are awesome.
There is a Tokyu Hands.
A Muji.
4 flash looking food courts.
At least 50 restaurants, including Ippudo, Korean, Vietnamese, 3 curry houses. I will be back here to eat at the end of my trip.
As I had already had morning tea I could not eat a full restaurant meal for lunch, as much as I wanted to. The smallest thing I could find was a toasted sandwich, which was actually enormous. Excellent coffee from here also.
Heres my train to Hualien. Yes, really. There were old men on it.
The ocean appeared.
There was a lot of rice near the ocean.
And after 2 hours I was at Hualien station, which is being completely rebuilt. It was very busy inside the temporary station.
Thats a nice looking mountain.
I was concerned Hualien might be a rural village. No, its very busy, heres a random street, nice looking different mountain.
Heres the main street near my hotel. Very busy, goes for about 10 miles.
So now I am confused, only 100k people live here, and yet when I went to Nagano, Shimonoseki etc in Japan that had many more people, the streets were virtually abandoned.
There is a temple next door to my hotel, which is important, in case I need to find an ATM.
My hotel room is enormous, very modern, bed large enough for a family of 6. No seriously its wider than a king size bed. I have never seen such a thing before. I plan to make a trip to all 4 corners of its vastness later this evening.
Huge brand new looking bathroom too.