Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Weekend in 宜蘭

I had such a great time in 宜蘭 over the weekend of 7th to 8th Mar 09! The team of LC VP ICX were having their monthly Functional Meeting with the MC VP ICX there and I was lucky to be invited along :)

宜蘭 is south-east of Taipei county, so part of it lies on the east coast of the entire Taiwan island. We took a coach down and if traffic is smooth (like when we traveled there), the ride only takes about 1 hour and 10 mins so it's really quite accessible...

When I spoke with my colleagues, the most common things they would say about 宜蘭 is that you can eat cheap and fresh seafood there, there is a traditional arts museum to visit, there's the 羅東 (luo dong) night market, and there's the really cool beach where people go surfing in summer...

So naturally, I expected a lot of beaches and all... but I definitely did not expect this:
Mountains with clouds rolling along in the distance, rice fields and ponds just beside the road, huge expanse of nature... it was such a refreshing sight...

and then, there was the view when we reached the sea and port area:

These 2 shots were taken from a cliff overlooking the bay... the cliff was about 6 storeys high from the water levelSome of us couldn't resist being adventurous and climbing down to the water itself...That was one great highlight of the trip: being so close to nature, and being able to "exercise" even if it was just a bit through the cliff climbing...

Other highlights include:
A trip to the National Center for Traditional Arts, a very cool place where we also saw how the center is bringing traditional art designs and forms into modern day items such as plates, fashion, accessories and even collectible toys...
A LOT of cheap and super good foodA lot of riding on scooters, whether it was rain or shine :)
And to wrap it all up, a lot of great conversations with a great bunch of AIESECers :)

All my photos (including details of seafood restaurant and homestay hostel) available at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=227841&id=576355703&l=7018c

Part 2 album at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=229895&id=576355703&l=f498aa3b5c

No comments: