8th day: Salt factory, Wulai and Jioufen

Today we woke up quite early because we planned to go to the surroundings of Taipei and on a way to Taipei city’s area we wanted to take part in an excursion in a salt factory in Miaoli county. So we took our belongings and we drove to our first destination and also on a way to the salt factory we picked up my host’s friend and her guest Min Jung from Korea in Taichung. After approximately 1,5 hour we reached the salt factory and there we had a guided tour where the tour leader showed us a presentation where was explained how this factory utilize a salt from the sea into the different salt products. After the presentation we went in the factory where we could see in practice how this factory produces the products from the salt. It was really interesting to see how is a process of the salt producing after it is taken from the sea and filtred. In this tour I met a few SayTaiwan participants from Mexico, Moldova and Ukraine so it was great to see some other guests with which I haven’t yet got acquainted.

After the tour in the factory we went to Wulai which is famous of its hot springs, cherry blossoms garden in a spring, one of the local tribes-Atayal tribe of Taiwan and there is also a beautiful nature scenery. When we arrived in Wulai my eyes already were attracted by the colorful tourists bridges and while we passed one of them there was a great view to the tiny street with a lot of cafes and shops. We tried in one cafe the one of the local delicacies by Atayal tribe and it was a bamboo shoot filled with a sticky rice. It was very delicious and I again admitted that I liked one more new food from Taiwan. After a lunch we went with a tourism service wagons 1,6 km to Wulai waterfall and a view to this waterfall was just marvellous. After that we went to have a drink in another cafe and I was surprised that my host family offered me and the Korean girl Min Jung to go the hot springs in this cafe. As I read before a trip to Taiwan that the hot springs are very healthy then I didn’t miss a chance to attend them. We spent in the hot springs approximately 1 hour where we relaxed so much that we became sleepy and then we were heading to Jiufen.

We were there around 7 pm and a view from a top to the houses and the sea was breathtaking. After admiring the surroundings we went to the night market where we had a supper and we took a lot of pictures in the one famous spot of the old street nearby in which several popular movies have been managed. After a nice walk we were heading to the B&B house nearby where I felt like at home-we were eating in the main room, watching TV and relaxing. Tomorrow we plan to go to Jinguashi, Yehliu eco park and then we plan to start to go to Danshuei in New Taipei city where a sister of my hostmother lives.