The Tan's Diary: Taiwan 2013 (Day 7

The weather in Hualien since we arrived had been gloomy and raining. But it got warm and sunny over the weekend.

At 5.50am on this Sunday morning, I got up and peeked through the curtains and saw the sunrise. Out of the five days in Hualien, this was the only day we managed to catch the sunrise. What a treat before we headed to a local Church for worship.

And this cheeky boy also woke up shortly after, to watch the sunrise with me.

After breakfast, before heading to the Church in Hualien town.

Ms Lim was so kind that she personally drove us (in her personal car) to Hualien Presbyterian Church in Hualien City where her cousin is attending regularly. The worship service started at 9.50am and it was conducted in Hokkien language.

In the sanctuary before the worship commenced.

The choir group presenting anthem.

After the worship service, we were invited to their monthly luncheon fellowship. We really appreciated the warmth and hospitality shown to us by the locals. During the lunch, many of them asked us a lot about Singapore. It then dawned on me that the Taiwanese really envied Singaporeans for being bilingual, fluent in both English and Mandarin. I found myself being really thankful, proud and fortunate to be a Singaporean.

After lunch, we explored Hualien city on our own. We walked from the Church (without a map) and just wandered any where we like, and when our feet got tired, we would find a café to sit by and relax. When we got lost, we hailed a cab.

It was a relaxing Sunday, something that is hard to have when we are in Singapore.

After seven days in Taiwan, one can see that David has already put on some weight in this picture.

Photo taken by Deborah.

The kids got to enjoy some Taiwanese snacks.

While Deborah took this picture, a local passer-by saw us and offered to help us take a family picture.

And that's how this photo came about. I must admit that I was taken by surprise by the kindness of the locals.

Enjoying Taiwanese milk tea...jumbo size.

Afterwards, we headed to Hualien's only shopping centre - Far East 21, by taxi. It is an upmarket shopping mall and things sold in the mall is quite pricey. The price difference compared to Singapore is only marginal. Hence, I wouldn't recommend this place as a must-go in Hualien. For example, a pair of children's sock was selling at around S$12.00 while I could get it (same quality) for $4 at Danshui (Taipei). In the end, we only bought some apples for the kids at the basement supermarket.

Having their own concert at the entrance of the mall.

The kids participated in a dice-throwing game to get some free gift at the children's section in the departmental store.

And had some fun at a small arcade...

Then, we found another café to rest and relax...

Then we headed out to walk along the streets.

We managed to walk past some local shops selling clothes. And I was thrilled to enter the shop and managed to grab a number of cute blouses, shirts and long pant for my kiddos, each piece cost NTD100 (that's about S$4.00). Where to find in Singapore?!!!

Initially, Daddy suggested we walk all the way down to Nanbin Night Market which he initially thought was about 1km away. After walking for about an hour, he realised it was further away than he thought, and halfway through, we dropped the idea of even getting there cos we were totally exhausted by the walking.

While we were trying to catch an empty taxi, we saw many police officers stationed at crossroad. Moments later, an orderly crowd of demonstrators appeared on the opposite side of the road. It was a friendly and peaceful demonstration against the Taiwanese government from recognizing gay marriages. The people were shouting slogans like "one husband, one wife" and "for the sake of our younger generation", etc. It was quite an experience to witness this since "sua-gu" Singaporeans like us have only been watching such things on TV.

After about 15 minutes, we managed to catch a taxi to head back to our minsu. In the cab, I was enjoying the scenery as the sun was setting, while the taxi driver (a retired soldier) was chatting with daddy about Singaporean army boys coming to Taiwan for training.

Back at our minsu, the children had fun running around the field, playing with the swing and got close to the wandering ducks before dinner.

Daddy said he must go back to the same seafood place where we had lobster for dinner on Thursday. But we were disappointed because they had no more lobster when we went back today. Instead, we had these abalone-like clams which also tasted really good!