台湾蜜月之旅6 – 太鲁阁 ~~ 回程

从白杨步道出来后，我们都又饿又累了。陈阿姨请我们吃太鲁阁一个小市集卖的原住民小米酒香肠。肚子饿了，觉得这香肠特别好吃 :)

回程途中，在我们的要求下，陈阿姨也带我们参观了花莲的一间卖玉石的店。花莲盛产玉石。我们只是逛了逛，没买东西。这是用玫瑰玉雕成的玉书。

回到花莲已是晚餐时间，原本陈阿姨推荐我们到南滨夜市去，除了逛夜市之外，也可到公园及海边散步。可惜那时天不作美，下起小雨，摊子都没开几档。她就建议我们到自强夜市去，说是东西比较好吃，外地客较少到那儿，但对花莲人来说却是更便宜更好吃的选择。

我们的第一摊 ~~ 陈阿姨大力推荐的“第一家烤肉串”，是自强夜市人气第一名，食物选择很多，很多人排队，人多到甚至还有numbering system。天下着毛毛细雨，冷风飕飕，我俩躲在摊子篷下，吃着热腾腾的烧烤，也是一大乐事。新鲜的烤肉沾着老板的独门酱汁，还真的名不虚传，非常好吃，酱汁的功劳不小。我尤其喜欢这鱿鱼串和肉串夹青葱。

我们接着吃了蚝仔煎，比起槟城的，这儿的蚝新鲜肥美，我喜欢他们在蛋饼下放了很多的菜丝，可中和蚝仔煎的油腻，吃起来比较爽口。但另一方面，我则比较喜欢槟城蚝煎的蛋，会煎得比较焦些，更香脆些。

我们最后试了超人气的官材板。一开始看到这奇怪的招牌，我好奇的凑前察看，原来是厚面包占蛋汁煎，再切开放入菜丝和不同口味的肉类。我们点了沙茶酱牛肉官材板，挺喜欢那微辣的沙茶酱牛肉，搭配脆绿的菜丝和煎面包，有点像改良版的汉堡， 吃得我们饱饱的很满足，不贵，还附送一杯珍珠奶茶。

我们其实还想尝试更多的花莲美食，但吃完官材板后我们已经撑到不行了，只好到此为止，打电话给耿先生载我们回民宿。晚上没事做，我们又跑到大鲁阁去打棒球，结束这精彩的一天 :)

台湾蜜月之旅5 – 太鲁阁 ~~ 白杨步道

最后一个主要景点，就是白杨步道了。我们从民宿出发时，刘姐就已帮我们准备了手电筒。之前下雨时，陈阿姨也帮我们买了雨衣。在准备充足下，我们往这来回约一两个小时，长2.1km的步道出发，向白杨瀑布及水濂洞前进。为何要手电筒和雨衣呢？读下去你就知道了 :)

白杨步道的入口是一个隧道，里面伸手不见五指，我们靠着手电筒微弱的灯光摸黑前进。从幽暗的山洞出来后则豁然开朗，清澈的溪流和壮丽的青山就在眼前。一路沿着溪流前进，经过一座又一座的隧道，黑暗，又见光明，又再次黑暗。黑洞里虽然看不清楚，但有时似乎凭着知觉，也能向前直行，是个很特别的经验。有些太长又弯曲的隧道，洞里异常漆黑，一些没准备手电筒的游客还得等多些人聚集一起才敢通过。

这就是隧道洞口，远方的那点光就是出口啦。

其实第一次来这儿的我们，并没有太多的心理准备，也不知道这步道还挺长的，一直想着要不要倒回头去；更不知道尾端有个水濂洞，刚开始以为雨衣只是预防下雨罢了。经过其中一个隧道后，耳边传来轰隆隆的急流声，前方则有两段的小瀑布和吊桥。走上吊桥，才发现那轰隆声原自刚才隧道出口的桥下方有个急流形成的大瀑布。我们在吊桥上拍照休息，凉风习习，群山围绕，水声不绝于耳，煞是舒服！

















再接着走，经过多两个隧道，就到达水濂洞口了。洞中央有条约膝盖深的小溪，只能通过旁边的小走道前进。穿上雨衣，我们跟随一批游客一起往水濂洞探险，走在幽暗的隧道里狭窄的走道上，水流由洞顶倾泄而下。左边紧贴着壁面，右边则会怕一不小心跌下水去，洞里瀑布淅沥哗啦不停直泄而下，水滴滴得我看不清前方，一直害怕会跌到，周围尖叫声四起，非常刺激 :P

慑于水濂洞出口，我们过关成功！

水濂洞出口没什么好看的，是个山崖死路。我们呆了一会儿就往回走，又走了一次水濂洞回到洞口，接着慢慢走回去会合在车上等我们的陈阿姨。这段白杨步道是当天最刺激好玩，最印象深刻的一个 :)

Sweet Cake Birthday

2009 May 04, my first birthday after marriage, and it’s a birthday with lots of sweet cake treat from my friends and beloved darling :)

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A day before my birthday, Vic treated me an early celebration to The Ship for a steak dinner. It’s my first time there, and I enjoyed the food very much, it indeed has the best steak in town.

I ordered the steak set which come with mushroom soup, prawn salad and dessert. I also got a free gift ~~ a cup coaster set.

The prawn salad was good, I like the fresh prawn which cooked just right and served well with thousand Island sauce and veges. The mushroom soup is ok, tasted normal like can soup.

Here comes the steak, I liked it to be mediumly cooked, It was very juicy and tender, just love it!! Vic ordered the rib eye steak which comes with garden salad, and he was very happy with his medium-rare steak too :)

Finally the dessert, kind of disappointing, it’s just a small cheese tart with cream.

After dinner, I thought we were heading home, but Vic gave me little surprise by driving me to Secret Recipe for my favourite cake :) I was so happy with my Caramel Cheese Cake. And yes, this is my first birthday cake this year :)

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On my birthday, SF, LP, FS, LE and YY treated me birthday dinner in Canton-i in QB. It wasn’t our first venue; we planned to go Macedoine Dining (also in QB) at first, but didn’t realize that it closed down already. I always wanted to try out this restaurant but didn’t get a chance :(

Canton-i is one of my favourite in QB, but it’s a bit more expensive for me, so we won’t go there too often :P I like the congee and bbq pork (烧腊) there. We ordered some dim-sum and dessert to share out, other then our own main course. Too bad no one brings camera so I don’t have picture to share here. And since it’s birthday celebration for me, for sure there will be cake!! This time, my friends bought me a piece of Yogurt Cheese Cake from Secret Recipe. (Again, yes, I requeste for it, coz I just love their cheese cake :P ) This time it’s "special" because the cake has already melted with some weird shape. Nevertheless, it still tasted superb J Thanks my friends for celebrating with me :)

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A day after my birthday, CP and SS treated Vic, me, CH and his wife for a dinner in Bella Italia at Bellisa Row, as appreciation for going to their ROM. This is also my first time there. According to CP and SS, Bella Italia is the best Italian restaurant in town. We’ve ordered 3 pizzas and a spegatti to share among ourselves. The pizza was good, tasted different compared to Pizza Hut or Domino. The crust was thin and crunchy, yummy!! And since it was my birthday a day ago, CP also ordered their famous Tiramisu for us, each couple shared one. It was indeed a very tasty Tiramisu with soft texture that melted instantly in my mouth, nice!!

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2 days after my birthday, my teammates celebrated my birthday with me in Tsuruya Restaurant in I-avenue. This is one of my favourite Japanese restaurants, and we always go there for special occasion (farewell, birthday etc). After lunch, they had a surprise cake cutting celebration with me in cafe. This is my 4th cake this year. Thanks my friend :)

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This is how I celebrated my birthday this year, with lots of friendships, love, food and cakes.