After all the business meetings and presentations we could finally escape from the city and go visit Toroko National Park, about 20-30 minutes from Hualien City. Many people consider it a Wonderland of Taiwan. It was one beautiful scenery followed by another. I was amazed by the beauty of nature. The grand canyons and spectacular mountains create the most compelling landscape on the island. Taroko National Park is well known for its narrow road with distinct nature views. We walk right along the edge of canyons that goes on for miles. This took pretty much the rest of our day and we all got very tired. However, that was worth it.
In the evening we checked into the best hotel we have stayed in because it was not only fancy, but the mattress was very comfortable and soft, and it didn’t feel as I was sleeping on the wooden floor, compare to the other hotel’s bed. Then we had an adventure trying to find some place to eat. Mee and I came with the group, but they left us at the store near hotel... I guess they didn’t realize we were still in there and left without us. We decided to go back to the hotel and see if we could get a map of the city. On the way there we bumped into Suyash and out journey began... We were passing a place that looked like a bar to us…So we decided to come in and check it out…I saw a few girls sitting by and another girl getting out of a man’s car. I said that it’s not the place we would wanna go…But Suyash and Mee didn’t get it until we walked in…We asked about the bar, but the lady said that Mee and I cannot be in there, and Suyash could pay 8,000 Taiwanese Dollars, pick a girl for an hour, and then he would have free drinks. Of course, because Mee and I were not allowed to this brothel, Suyash had to leave with us. He also thought it was too expensive for the girl haha Then we were trying to find McDonalds. I wish I could describe those streets…I’m surprised we’re still alive and didn’t get in trouble… Even at the hotel we were told not to go far because it’s not safe beyond the cycled area on the map we were given. We walked about 4 miles and couldn’t figure out why McDonalds wasn’t there! Since we were in Eastern Taiwan where almost no one could speak nor understand English, we kept going until one young Taiwanese guy who could speak English told us that we’re walking down the parallel street. I don’t even know why we had a map because we never even looked at the street signs. Finally we found it! But we were not really hungry by the time we got there. We were really mad and just wanted to go back to the hotel. Unfortunately, I haven’t mentioned earlier, I had my laundry with me and I loaded it into the Laundromat machine on the way to McDonalds. Now we had to find that place so I could get my clothes back. We decided to find the hotel first and then figure out where the Laundry place is. By that time I had blisters, even though I wore flip flops, and I wish I wore tunic and wrap hijab so nobody could look at me. Local people, especially men, were staring at me like I was from a different planet. Some men even made a weird noise when he saw me walking by…Pretty scary, especially when you don’t speak the language and have no idea what they are saying about you. Later I was told that they just think I’m very pretty and that was the reason why I got that much attention. However, it makes me very uncomfortable when people stare at me that I want to disappear. That was an awkward evening. But we had lots of fun and it was a wonderful cultural experience, even though it was very strange and even scary…
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