I have been thinking of putting the sea or mountain photo as the featured image in this post, since Taitung (台東), located in the East part of Taiwan, has both amazing scenery for both of them. In the end, I still chose the photo that will calm me down the most.

Another two weeks without posting blogs……So I pretended I wrote this post on the first day of the trip. Everything was almost planned, but not as perfectly planned as I used to do, because I was seeking for some surprise. This was a 3-days-2-nights trip to Taitung. I planned to take the train to the downtown of Taitung for the first day, take the transport back to the hotel in the mountain, where I will stay for two nights. The second day will be the mountain day, hiking and biking. The last day will be the sea day, traveling along the coastline by train. So, what happened to the title of this post? Yes this is the birthday trip, but I found out the amount of exercise I did in this trip also makes it a fitness camp!!! I love it! I took a tons of photos in this trip, thanks to the new selfish stick my dad gave me. This is the first time I travel alone. Let’s get started!

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Starting from 鳳山火車站, I took Puyuma train 303 to 台東火車站. Well, I was quite anxious when I got on board, since there were several serious accidents recently. But fortunately, I got to Taitung train station safely. AND THE WEATHER WAS SUPER NICE!! I was quite worried about the weather forecast several days ago, because it seems a high chance of raining. A raining Taitung is not beautiful anymore. But in this trip, I was so lucky to be bathed in sunshine every moment, until the trip ended.

The first sign after I got off the train is the super good weather; clear blue sky, sunshine, and fluffy white clouds. I got so excited. I walked to the bike station and rent a bike. The staff was so shocked that I was going to bike to the city center, under such a hot weather. BUT I DON’T CARE BECAUSE THE WEATHER IS TOO NICE! And the good thing about traveling on weekdays is every place is not crowded at all, and no need to line up. The way to Taitung city center was quite far, took me 30 minutes, but the road is wide, not many cars, and very friendly for people who bike. I passed through the Taitung museum and the Taitung city hall. Each photo, any angle looks amazing thanks to the good weather and no other travelers. Finally, I got to the first stop in the city center: 榕樹下的米苔目

榕樹下的米苔目 (中午有休息)

臺東縣臺東市大同路176號

Local food using local ingredients, is the aim of my trip. People said if we don’t try 米苔目 in Taitung, it doesn’t count! So before the lunch, (breakfast?) I got to try this local food. But actually I felt more excited about the boiled fish. This fish is famous along the coastline of Taitung. The simple way of cooking can reflect the original flavor the most. The bottom is the black fungus (木耳), with ginger slices on the top. The combination tasted so yummy, also with the wasabi dipping aside. The fish meat is soft and fresh, I was so satisfied. Actually, I didn’t like the rice noodles 米苔目so much. I was not sure the original texture is like this, or I waited too long before eating it. I don’t like the too soft texture of the rice noodles. But the sauce was good. The shop also sells the dipping sauce and chili sauce they serve, I missed the chance buying it since I didn’t know the shop is closed before 5pm. But I still got it thanks to my friend haha. I also ordered a glass of red oolong tea with the meal, which is the local tea in Taitung, refreshing and wash away all the heat I went through when biking all the way here. I didn’t finish all the food except the fish, because I was ready for the coolest aboriginal restaurant.

M’LOMA 阿美族無菜單料理

950 臺東縣臺東市正氣北路109巷60號

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Taitung is very large, around 1/4 area of the whole Taiwan. It is the home of many aboriginal groups. There are 6 aboriginal groups in Taitung: 達悟族,阿美族,魯凱族,排灣族,卑南族,布農族. This bistro belongs to 阿美族料理, and the name of the bistro means “missing the hometown”. This bistro just started their business, and the main dish I order is the new menu, the staff wanted me to give some advice for the chef. They changed menu very often, because they only use local seasonal ingredients. I wanted to try all three items on the menu, unfortunately I only have 1 stomach. The interior design of the bistro is simple, not much decorated. But it is chilling and spacious.

First, the 9-appetizer plate is a fancy beginning. The middle one is aboriginal food, called 阿粕, very famous in Taitung. The rest is all small dishes using seasonal ingredients like sweet potatoes cooked in orange juice, sea salt grilled bamboo shoot, marinated seaweed, local spring onion tamago-yaki, etc. Each bite gave me different surprise, but each small square conveys the same thought: the chef put tons of effort into designing and cooking each dish.

The main dish was served very fast. The chef combined 3 different parts of beef into this dish, adding taro, grilled nuts, dried red prune, and some other vegetables. This was a very warm dish, but the chef told me some ingredients’ season ends soon, so this dish wouldn’t be on the menu until winter time. The meat was very tender and not greasy as I thought. I felt very satisfied with this stewed. There were not many customers in the bistro, mostly are old friends, I guess it is because today was a weekday. I talked to the chef, quite easy-going person. Staying for a while, getting ready for the next stop, but I think I will definitely visit the bistro again. Eating here reminds me the time in LCB.

After the satisfying lunch, back onto the bike and continue the travel. The next stop is the Taitung forest park. I think this is the best option under consideration of this Covid time: outdoor and spacious. Exactly as I thought, no one was in the park except for the people working here. I was like a crazy woman, biking, taking photos, running under the sun for taking selfies……all alone!! Well, I look weird but I was satisfied. I was alone in the park for so long, including talking to my mom while sitting on the stone watching the beautiful lake. I have to mention it again: THE WEATHER IS WONDERFUL! Any photo looks like a painting.

When I entered the park, the staff told me there was a road leading to the coastline park too. So I set up for my next destination, to see the beautiful coastline. I also passed by a super cool white old house, (kind of like a tourist attraction?) and met some people also taking photos there. The whole biking trip took around 2.5 hours so I was all wet. I decided to find a nice coffee shop, sit down, rest, and change my clothes.

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青鳥菓子咖啡

950 臺東縣臺東市中正路251巷19號

When I was searching for coffee houses, I realized there are so many good coffee places in Taitung, and many of them have their own dessert workshop, especially for pound cake. If I have a chance to stay here for longer, (probably after retirement??) I would very likely to go through all coffee houses in Taitung, because each one looks so good! This coffee house is in the alley, but not hard to find. The back side of the coffee house is where they roast their beans. They also have their own handmade desserts. I ordered one black coffee to go, one coffee with milk, one whisky honey cheese cake and one lemon tart. Sounds a lot? of course I didn’t finish them haha. I need to give the black coffee and lemon tart good reviews. The black coffee is Yirgacheffe, the beans I like and the lemon tart is sour enough to balance the sweet pastry. However, the coffee with milk seems too light and the cheese cake is a bit too sweet. But I found out people in Taitung eat more sweet things than other people. Their desserts are all quite sweet. But overall, the coffee place is chilling, offers many kinds of pastry and desserts (of course they have cinnamon rolls but it is way too huge), and the most important thing is I felt so relaxed and got recharged here:)

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Finally, I need to say goodbye to my first day bike. The weather is still good on my way back to the Taitung train station. I need to return the bike and wait for the pick up car to the hotel from the station. In the train station, I got some omiyage and a cup of local herbal tea, very refreshing and good for the hot weather. The driver picking me up was very interesting. He introduced Taitung and the aboriginal stories to me, telling me so many history, and it was from him that I got the idea of using the terrible hotel bike going to the national forest park up in the mountain. Haha, it was not really that bad, just super tiring that I kept swearing on the road, but I have no choice though when I don’t want to take the bus.

It was still quite bright when I got to the hotel. The hotel is so beautiful, daytime and night time. The service and the room are fantastic. Because it is my fancy birthday trip, I chose the room with balcony, (although I only used it for taking photos haha), I can see mountains any time and wake up under sunlight. They even have onsen in each room, (but the public onsen was closed due to Covid 19), and I put on yukata, it reminded me of Japan:)

Not many people like me checked in on this day because I didn’t go on weekend. I enjoyed the not crowded environment. I walked around the hotel before dinner because I was too full still, but there was really nothing except for the convenience store. However, the air was so refreshing and clean, definitely very different from the city. I was so excited to stay here for two days!.

Finally the first day of Taitung trip was close to the end, I lied down on the soft bed and can’t get more excited about tomorrow’s hiking and adventure. Hmmm, according to the exercise amount I did today, it was really the fitness camp, not birthday relaxing trip anymore haha! But I don’t care, and this is the freedom of traveling alone, I can arrange my trip in any way I like! Good night お休みなさい！