Meeting up with Portia
People I met here who contributed to, and improved my trip: Portia (USA)
The bus from Taitung dropped me at the train station, which was inconveniently located on the outskirts of the town. From here i managed to catch another bus into the centre, but i was starting to worry that i would be late for my meeting with fellow Travbuddy Portia. Once in the centre i went in search of a hotel that was listed in Lousy Planet, but from what i could tell it must have been knocked down, or never existed. I fingered through my book and found that Hualien Hero House was located not too far away, but when i turned up i was taken aback by how nice it looked.
The receptionist spoke a bit of English and told me that the rooms began at 1500TWD ($50), which didn't really surprise me. I found the word for dormitory in my book and after she gave me a brief look, which i translated as 'why would you want a dormitory, you wierdo', i was handed a key and told it was 400TWD ($13). I didn't know what to expect of the room, but i was more than pleasantly surprised to find a large en-suite room with air conditioning, cable TV and four beds. Nobody else stayed in the room, so i ended up with a huge swanky room all for myself!
After showering and changing, i walked back into town to meet Portia at her hotel. Luckily i had seen the hotel earlier on, so i managed to relocate it quite quickly. It was 19.15 when i arrived and she was already sat waiting for me in the lobby. After greeting each other, we headed out for Dinner, which ended up been dumplings and soup, with a strawberry milkshake to wash it down. I had spoken with Portia online for sometime and also met her son Eric in
