Wednesday 13th

Sorry about the long wait for the blog - couldn't get internet access. Up early this morning but didn’t have to be on the bus until 9. We had breakfast with Le and Lien and then I typed up my blog until it was time to get on the bus.
We left at 9 to go to the Tainan Aboriginal Beinan Cultural Village. It was through a 2km green tunnel made up of maple trees and mango trees. Beautiful.
It was up a ramp to the lookout where you could see all of Hualien. We could see where we had stayed last night in the distance. Came on down and walked over to where the relics were. Beinan Cultural relic is the sarcophagus and remnants excavated during the railroad project. It is the biggest and most intact prehistoric habitation of Taiwan. It belongs to the first class of ancient remains. The collections are now exhibited at Beinan Cultural Park for public viewing. To me it was very much like The Terracotta Warriors in China.
We had lunch at an Amis Restaurant. Not Amish. It was a typical gourmet Amis luncheon. Very nice.
After lunch we went to the Fuyuan National Forest Recreation Area which is located in the mountain foothills, 3kms to the west of Fuyuan Village in Ruisui Township. We had to go through a 2km green tunnel made up of maple and mango trees. In addition to having the largest stand of camphor trees of any recreation area in Taiwan, its 190 hectares also feature a Butterfly Farm. The butterflies swarm between March and August. There were some beautiful butterflies. The most popular is the white butterfly with a wing span of about 15cm. I had about 5 on my legs and 1 on my hand that wouldn’t part company when I had to leave. I must have the most photographed legs in town, even though they are skinny.
Following this, there was a hot mineral spa for use. Most of the people had a spa but I didn’t feel like getting wet today. I took the photos.

Some of the crew went walking up to the gorge and saw some wonderful waterfalls cascading over sheer cliff. One couple even saw a monkey waiting for them at the top and took its photo. There was also a sauna but I don’t think anybody took this offer.
After Sandy, Wally and Helen had changed we sat in the garden and had a beer and met with Le and Lien too. It was so nice not to have to rush to get on the bus and go anywhere for a while.
We headed back to the bus at 3.30 and we had a 1hr 50min drive before we stopped again.
Stopped at a “lolly/cake” shop where we got 10% discount on anything we bought. They had heaps of samples and I bought some apricot little ‘cakes’. Then on to our hotel, Chateau De Chine Hotel in Haulien. It is painted in very bright colours but the inside is just wonderful. We are on the 7th floor and the room is great.

Went down for our tea at 6.30 and then Wally, Helen, Sandy and me went across to 7/11 and got some beer and after drinking the 2 bottles, went to bed as we have an early start tomorrow and a jam filled day ahead.