[5 Days around Taiwan] Day 2: The other side of Hualien

Yeah!! we're back! with a new backpacking stories of our adventure around Hualien for our second day. Here are our welcome greeting XD

Qixingtan Beach

Our first destination is Qixingtan beach, the sky and the water is so blue, I love it very much. These are some photos we capture to remind us of that moment.

 This beach is so beautiful <3 too bad we can't swim 'coz it's too dangerous

Ralph, Sari and me

Actually we want to see sunrise here but we decided to cancel it at the last moment because our driver is too tired and we need sleep because we still have a long way to go today. So here we are on Qixingtan Beach!!!

The Pine Garden

Pine garden is actually a house of some artist who famous of its poem and song. So this guy built a house on a hills and surround the pine tree all over his house. A military structure and century-old pine woods built in Japanese colonial period. Now it become like a museum. What make this house really cool is it has a lot of windows and there are plant on all over the roof and external wall. It makes the house cooler inside with the help of fresh wind, we didn't feel hot at all :D so here are the Pine Garden House.

Welcome you to Pine Garden House

Inside the house XD 

Sightseeing on the backyard of the house 

Front yard 

Pine garden and restaurant

Oh I almost forgot to mention about the ticket price, yes! you need to buy the ticket to come in to this garden. NTD 50 for full price, but if you are a student , then you can get half price by showing your student ID (NTD 25). If you are on group , then you need to pay NTD 40. 

ChiAn ChingHsiou Temple

This is a historical building left by Japanese colonial. This spot is open from 8.30 am to 5 pm. If you want to come inside, you need to buy ticket for:
Full price: NTD 30
Student price: NTD 15
Group: NTD 20
It is quite cheap for a small historical building, worth it :D But if you really not so into the museum-like traveler, so just skip this place , tee-hee XD

In front of the historical building site

Inside the temple

Temple's yard 

Next is looking for eating place (for our Taiwanese friend), since this month is fasting month, so we only accompany them to eat. We are really happy today because we can meet Samuel , one of our beloved labmate, who happen to be in Hualien with his girlfriend (I mention him indirectly on my previous post XD). He will introduce you to the good place to eat in Hualien, especially for you who can eat pork :P 

(This is our friend, SAM)

(Inside the dumpling shop)

(This what the dumpling looks like)

Later on we move on to our next culinary spot, which is a MUST visit shop!! ICE CREAM shop! ice is a heaven word in this hot summer season. This ice cream shop is really famous because the shape is really unique, like a pie. Check it out:

The menu and whats inside the ice cream

Sari and me really sad cannot eat it directly because we are fasting, but later on we come back on this shop just to eat this yummy ice cream! I will not forget about this experience! You really need to taste it!

Queuing at night is longer than in the afternoon *o*

full review of how the ice cream looks like 'coz now we can eat it XD

our revenge message for Sam because this afternoon he tease us with this ice cream!

Liyu Lake with giant black rubber duck

It was coincidentally in the summer festival and they show a giant rubber duck on the lake with 15 little duck surrounding it XD it is so cute and here are some recording of that duck.

We even ride the duck boat XD and here is some of the video we recorded. Oh btw, just forget what I said in the video "we are inside the duck itself" mehhhh..i don't know what's gotten into me and I even don't know what I was talking about mahahahaha tired I think :P

Fairytale Land in Hualien a.k.a VillaHome

Next destination is the Fairytale Land >.< ahahah actually it is a rich man area. So some guy bought this land and made some villa (which is so expensive, NT$ 4500 is the cheapest price to stay one night~_~) but looks like he wants to make the scenery just looks like something from european style? 

But I think this artificial lake and also the villa itself is so beautiful like a fairytale, we really love this place :D 

here is some of the review video

FYI, not many people know this area, so we are lucky that Ralph bring us here. Xie xie nin.  

final review of the fairy land XD

For further information of this spot, you can check it by yourself on their amazing website : amazing and cool website of VillaHome

That is our last destination for Day 2 of the journey, later we go to prepare our break fasting time, so we go to a famous restaurant (seafood) and this restaurant is a must visit place too.

Hualien famous restaurant

and our menu for today XD

So that's all for our second day journey around Taiwan, we still have 3 days more, so we will take a rest and tell you our story on another post. Good night Hualien XD

How to upload your thesis in NCU library main system

I post this because I know that doing this is kind of a hassle especially for you as a first-timer to do paperwork like this. So I will explain to you to help you to overcome the difficulties. This is for those who already finish oral defense and already revised your thesis. Next step is to upload your thesis into NCU library system so that later you can print out your hard copy, I hope this will help even for a bit.

1. Browse National central university Library website at http://www.lib.ncu.edu.tw/e/ewelcome.php

2. Click 'thesis' , as shown in the picture below

3. Then click 'upload papers'

4. Login into the system by typing your student ID

5. After that you can fill out the form as shown in the picture. There are several things you need to know which are 

- the "Academic year" is the year you enter the school for the first time"

- "Year" is the graduate year

- "Thesis year" is the year you finish and upload your thesis

- "Page" is sum of whole page inside the file (including cover, sign papers and all)

After you fill all the form, then hit the 'submit' button and wait until they email you (usually in 5 minutes) whether it is already accepted or you need to correct something in your thesis format. 

Oh, in case you didn't received email 1 hour after you submit the thesis, you should go and check directly to library because sometimes the system didn't read our submission yet and need to be refreshed. So we need to ask library staff to check them.

Good luck!

[5 Days around Taiwan] Day 1: Hualien at Night

We finally arrived at Hualien city and after check-in to our hostel then we go straight to Donghwa University to meet my beloved friend, Cut Nuzlia. She will go back to Indonesia this July 18, so before that I just want to visit her for the last time in Hualien and ask her to took us around Hualien at night. So the first destination was Zhiqiang Night Market, Cut, Sari and Yuhan will introduce you about this night market. Here are some introduction of Cut and the market itself.

Zhiqiang Night Market

Day 1 of the journey was full of surprise and also luck! almost all the food we eat are treated by the Laoban (the owner of the store). First restaurant we visit in this night market , we buy this shrimp for NTD 100 each (which is so expensive for a backpacker like us! ahaha), not long after the bake shrimp was served, suddenly Laoban gave us one full plate of shrimp for free, and we were so grateful for that! Ramadhan kareem! subhanallah.. We managed to record the video because we were video-ing the restaurant when the free meal came. Yippi!

Rainbow Night Market

Next after this night market, we moved on to another one, which is Rainbow Night Market. We were informed that this market is specialized on its variety of games. As you can see on the video below.

Yuhan invited us to try one of the game. I forget how to type the game's name but you can see how the game being played by us on the video. Even though we were not lucky on winning the game ahahah. 

After playing the game, we move on to go around the night market and fortunately met this awesome woman called Paula, her english is really fluent and she works in the night market. She looked at us and notice that we are muslim, so she wants to promote this night market regarding its food. She told us we can try the vegetarian dumpling here with only a cheap price. So do you want to know about this further? check this video out ! 

So if you guys really want to go to this night market, you need to make sure to remember the place or the landmark, so that you will recognize it right away. That landmark will be introduced by Cut on this video :)

Special Midnight Sushi Vendor

So we were still going around Hualien at night and next stop will be the famous midnight sushi shop that you MUST visit whenever you come to this city ahahahah. This shop only open from 10 pm - 2 am and so many people come here because it's really tasty and most of all, it's cheap, man! Only NT 20 for one sushi and NT 15 for the soup ^o^ 

What makes this shop is so special because we once again received free meal, yeay! We didn't spend any money at all to eat here we even received a lot of bonus sushi <3 thanks to someone *smirk* And there are reason behind this free meal. Further information will be revealed on the video ^^ hohohoh.

After we eat all the free food and even manage to bring some sushi back to our hostel to preapre for our Sahoor time. But before that we say goodbye to Cut who already bring us around Hualien in midnight, thanks and much love from Jhongli for your warm welcome ^^ *hug and kiss

[5 Days around Taiwan] Day 1 - All the way from Taipei to Hualien

This was a series of our backpacking journey around Taiwan for 5 days in a row together with my labmate, Zhang Yuhan and Sari from National Central University CEM. As promises after defense exam, we plan the journey, actually all the labmate want to go together but unfortunately most of them need to follow military service and need to do all kind of preparation for job interview and all that, so they cannot go with us. So here we are, the three muskeeters on Ramadhan month which was happened on July, with hot sunshine and an incredible thirst temptation but thanks God we made it ^^ I prefer to video blog (vblog) it instead of typing so many words, I am really bad at writing ahahha so that's why this blog will be filled by lots of video :D So this is where the stories begin.

Shifen Waterfall

1st spot is Shifen waterfall, it is in Taipei, Pingxi district. We were very surprised with the beauty that is presented before us when we arrived here. Real waterfalls, ahahah actually does not have any high expectation to the first spot, but it turns out the waterfall was really special! Although we cannot swim or just play with the water, but still, the scenery is awesome and peaceful. Here are some video we record so that you experience the beauty as well.

This is the front view of the waterfall.

Pingxi Lantern Festival

Second destination is near the waterfall, famous with its lantern festival let alone in this hot summer time. The Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival is one of the most colorful activities of the Lantern Festival. Pingxi is a remote hillside town. In the past, those who worked or farmed in the mountains faced the risk of being robbed or killed, and they used lanterns to inform their families they were safe. The lanterns do not function as signals anymore, but are now used as symbols of peace and good fortune. We had a chance to write our hope and messages through this lantern, we choose blue-color lantern and wrote our messages on that, after that we flew the lantern up there to the sky. It was an amazing experiences, and unforgettable one, since this is the 1st time I flew lantern directly. I didn't record a video here, because each of us is so immersed with the activity, so we only take some pictures to perpetuate this moment.

In the middle of our fun journey, we still remember our brothers and sisters in Palestine who cannot enjoy their freedom, so we wrote our message for them #SavePalestine #Freedom.

Nanfang'ao Fish Town

Next destination is Hualien, but on the middle of the road, we visit random places between Yilan and Hualien. One of them called Nanfang'ao, its one of the three largest coastal fishing town in Taiwan. You can see the scenery on the video below.

Shakadang (Mystery Valley) Trail

The entrance to this trail is conveniently located only a minute or so from the entrance of Tailuge (Taroko) Gorge, behind the Shakadang Toll Station. To reach the trailhead, follow the path behind the toll station that leads down toward Liwu River. After crossing the stream, follow the bank until the river forks at the Shakedang tributary. The trailhead can be found nearby on the right bank of the tributary. The trail itself is not particularly demanding, although it is wise to avoid it during the typhoon season when flooding can make the river crossings treacherous.

The river is crystal-clear and shallow enough to wade. If you explore in the water for an hour or so, you may discover Shenmi (Mystery) Valley. Taroko National Park Headquarters has finished paving the trail to Shenmi (Mystery) Valley. But there is no road behind the check post, so please do not dare to adventure. Generally, tourists only visit where it is downstream near the toll station.

Shenmi (Mystery) Valley features strange-looking marble rocks, limpid blue pool, and arduous cliffs at both sides. The pool at bottom of river is the most beautiful part of the valley. Moreover, the valley is so spacious that the visitors may camp.

Yanzikou (Swallow Groto)

Following the Central Cross-Island Highway, at Yanzikou (Swallow Grotto) the rock cliffs of the Liwu River gorge seem to reach to heaven while the river runs its swiftest and the distance between the gorge walls so narrow that they almost seem to touch each other.

Along the Yanzikou (Swallow Grotto) trail which runs about a half kilometer starting from the entrance to Swallow Grotto to the Jinheng Bridge, you can enjoy the sights of the Liwu River from nearly straight above the water, the potholes on the cliff faces, the springs sprinkled along the lower parts of the walls, as well as the famous rock formation "Chieftain's profile rock".

Changchun Shrine(Eternal Spring Shrine)

Drive from the west exit of the Changchun Tunnel of the Central Cross-Island Highway, then turn south(left) and go along the old Central Cross-Island Highway to the car park next to Liwu River, and you can see the Changchun (Eternal Spring) Shine which commemorates the 226 personnel (military veterans) who died during the construction of the Central Cross-Island Highway (1956~1960). Spring water adjacent by the Eternal Spring Shine flows all year round, and the Highway Bureau named it after "Changchun Falls." It is now scenic spot with special significance on the Central Cross-Island Highway.

Well from here onward, we are going to our hostel in Hualien and then go to Donghwa University to meet my friend and next post I will tell you about all the stories on our amazingly night journey ^^

See you around 

[Random Thought] Reinkarnasi Kata

Satu moment yang paling membuat hati tergelitik adalah ketika aku sedang ngobrol sama seorang teman dan entah bagaimana jadi ngomongin tentang candaan.

"Kak, jangan terlalu banyak bercanda, apalagi berdusta dalam bercanda, walaupun candaannya cuma untuk lucu-lucuan aja"

Kalo sebelumnya sempat aku pikir, ahh kan cuma bercanda aja, gpp lah, wong gk serius-serius amat, biar hidup jgn terlalu tegang dan sepi, biar bisa happy-happy dengan teman lain.

Berselang beberapa moment setelah itu, justru pengalaman seputar masalah candaan ini jadi boomerang buat diri sendiri. Gak hanya sekali, tapi justru berkali-kali, hingga ke titik membuat aku sendiri tersadar bahwa bukan tidak mungkin kalau cara aku bercanda sama teman-teman lain selama ini pernah membuat mereka sakit hati dan bahkan bisa jadi aku sering mengulang candaan itu hingga membuatnya sakit hati. Astaghfirullah.

Bahkan baru-baru ini aku juga sempat membaca status teman berisi:

"Kata bisa menembus apa yg tidak bisa ditembus oleh jarum sekalipun" lebih dan kurang kira-kira beginilah bunyinya.

Nah lho, kena lagi deh. Kalo statement pertama membuat hati tergelitik, statement yang kedua ini menampar hati  ahahaha *istilahnya agak alay ini :p

Jadi terpikir tiba-tiba tentang reinkarnasi. Pemeluk agama Budha percaya akan konsep reinkarnasi, yang artinya terlahir kembali sebagai wujud atau sosok lain dikehidupan selanjutnya. Nah, kalo aku pikir-pikir ternyata kata jg bisa berenkarnasi, kenapa? Karena awal candaan yang kita lontarkan tadi bisa terjadi berulang kali dan bahkan melahirkan candaan-candaan lain yang lebih 'kreatif' demi mendukung candaan sebelumnya. Kita akan terjebak pada siklus candaan yang tiada henti, berulang-ulang, candaan yang untuk menyindir dan lucu-lucuan pada orang lain. Bahkan candaan yang secara tak sadar membuat statement pada dunia bahwa kita itu lebih baik dari pada orang lain yg kita becandain. Walaupun, awalnya tadi maksudnya bercanda, namun karena dilakukan berulang-ulang, dan malah disengaja, justru membuat kita terjebak pada reinkarnasi kata tadi. Dan semuanya ini berakhir dengan dosa. Ya, dosa yg kita timbun perlahan demi perlahan, sedikit demi sedikit setiap detiknya.

Trus jadi berpikir lagi, renkarnasi kata ini juga bisa berlaku vice versa. Membawa kebaikan dan menabung amalan sedikit demi sedikit. Ketika saling mengingatkan akan kebaikan, ketika kita 'lupa', reinkarnasi kata kebaikan ini bisa terus menjadi pengingat buat orang lain bahkan mengubah hati yang 'keras' menjadi lebih lembut, mungkin contoh dekatnya aja dari 2 statement dari teman-temanku sebelumnya buat aku sendiri. Simple tapi kalo momentnya pas, bisa 'ngena' ke hati. Malah bisa jadi amalan buat si pengingat tadi.  

Jadi intinya hari ini adalah, kurangilah candaan bila memang tidak perlu, terlebih lagi, jangan menciptakan candaan dari kekurangan dan kesulitan orang lain. 

Semoga kita dilindungi dari sifat dan perbuatan yang bisa menimbun dosa.

Nabi Muhammad S.A.W bersabda;

“Aku akan menjamin sebuah rumah di dasar surga bagi orang yang meninggalkan debat meskipun dia berada dalam pihak yang benar. Dan aku menjamin sebuah rumah di tengah surga bagi orang yang meninggalkan dusta meskipun dalam keadaan bercanda. Dan aku akan menjamin sebuah rumah di bagian teratas surga bagi orang yang membaguskan akhlaknya.”

(HR. Abu Dawud dalam Kitab al-Adab, hadits no 4167. Dihasankan oleh al-Albani dalam as-Shahihah [273] as-Syamilah)

[Random Thought] Mata Jika Mungkin

Jika mata itu gk da, apa manusia masih melakukan sesuatu hal supaya bisa dilihat dan kagumi oleh orang lain?

Jika mata itu gak ada, mungkin kita juga akan lebih jujur dalam melakukan sesuatu kebaikan dari hati.

Jika mata itu gak ada, mungkin orang akan mencintai orang lain seperti apa adanya dia, bukan karena bentuk tubuh atau parasnya yang cantik.

Jika mata itu gk ada, mungkin kita tidak harus melihat busuknya perilaku orang lain.

Jika mata itu gk ada, mungkin kita bisa terhindar dari pemandangan tak senonoh yang di pampangkan oleh dunia

Jika .. jika... mungkin... mungkin saja.

Tapi mata itu ada! 

Justru karena mata itu ada aku bisa melihat indahnya Tuhan menciptakan dunia ini

Justru karena mata itu ada aku bisa melihat dan membedakan apa itu cantik, ganteng, jelek, indah, rupawan, dan segala kata sifat yang bisa menggambarkan apa yang di saksikan oleh mata.

Justru karena ada mata makanya aku bisa menulis dan membedakan alphabet latin, hangul, kanji, hiragana, katakata, tagalog, han zi.

Justru karena ada mata aku bisa membaca segala keindahan yang diciptakan dari anggota tubuh lainnya, lukisan, tulisan, foto, dan sebagainya

Justru karena ada mata aku bisa melihat dan membaca ayat-ayat suci Al-Quran.

Justru itu aku harus bersyukur.

"Maka nikmat Tuhanmu yang mana yang kau dustakan" - Ar-Rahman

*tulisan tetiba tengah malam gara-gara lagi mikir gimana supaya bisa ikhlas

[Random Thought] Ketika semua huruf Al quran dihapus

Nah tiba tiba saja pada suatu pagi setelah shalat subu, aku terpikir akan satu perkataan yang pernah aku dengar dari salah satu kajian yang pernah aku ikuti sewaktu kuliah S1 (walaupun lupa kapan persisnya itu). 

"sesungguhnya salah satu tanda datangnya hari kiamat adalah ketika semua huruf Al Quran akan ditarik kembali oleh Allah SWT dan tidak ada satu anak manusiapun yang akan bisa membacanya"

Ya kira kira seperti itu kata-katanya, mungkin ada lebih dan kurang tapi intinya hilang lah itu semua huruf Al Quran dimuka bumi. Mengenai kebenaran statementnya sepertinya aku harus cross check ulang nih sama beberapa teman yang lebih mengerti tentang ini, but intinya aku malam ini ntah kenapa jadi terpikir masalah ini. 

Waktu awal aku mendengar statement ini, bulu kuduk ku merinding trus aku membayangkan bagaimanakah umat islam saat itu?ketika tidak ada lagi pedoman yang bisa dibaca sebagai tuntunan hidup. Lucunya saat itu, aku membayangkan kejadian itu berlangsung ibarat di film-film animasi gitu...atau film kayak harry potter lah, tinggal di ayunkan tongkat dan triiingggg....semua huruf Al Quran mendadak satu persatu hilang dimuka bumi, bahkan termasuk ayat-ayat Al quran yang di sisipkan dalam beberapa buku keagamaan, novel, dsb, apapun yang didalamnya terdapat ayat Al Quran. Blasss hilang....dan mulailah kiamat...cetar jebuuummm duarrrrrrr! (Ingat ini hanya imajinasiku saja ;p)

Nah entah kenapa sehabis shalat subuh ini, aku jadi berpikir, mungkin saja kejadian yang di katakan sebagai "ketika semua huruf Al Quran hilang dimuka bumi" ini bisa kita ibaratkan dalam dua hal. Pertama yaitu ketika semua Al Quran dan yang berhubungan dengannya sudah mulai diganti dengan buku elektronik. Mau tidak mau kemajuan zaman membawa kita ke era serba elektronik menggantikan peran buku yang terbuat dari lembaran kertas, yah salah satu alasan yang mungkin bisa dijadikan excuse yang bagus adalah kepedulian terhadap lingkungan, kepraktisan dalam mengakses dan lain sebagainya. Nah aku bayangkan, bagaimana jika suatu hari bumi kita ini di serang oleh suatu virus berantai yang memakan semua data apapun yang pernah di pos atau pemograman apapun yang pernah dibuat untuk di akses secara online. Yang mengakibatkan semua bentuk data di gadged ataupun yang beredar di internet, terhapuskan. Nah ini bisa jadi kan ya. Trus ada lagi yang kedua, zaman dimana tidak ada umat manusia yang bisa membaca Al Quran, walaupun sebenarnya Al Quran itu tetap ada, tapi manusianya ini yang sudah menganggap bahwa membaca Al Quran atau memahami arti dari Al Quran itu tidak penting sehingga malas untuk mempelajarinya. Zaman dimana dunia yang paling utama untuk dikejar, bahasa lain yang dianggap lebih penting untuk dipelajari, dimana agama dibedakan dan tidak boleh disamakan atau diselaraskan dengan aspek kehidupan manusia lainnya, dalam kata lain Sekulerisme. 

Nah lho, bisa aja kan ya, kalo begitu ceritanya, saat ini udah gk aneh lagi kalau statement ttg tanda hari kiamat itu benar-benar bisa terjadi dan bukan seperti imajinasi awalku ketika mendengar statement ini untuk pertama kalinya. Terus tiba tiba aku tersentak dalam kekalutan pikiran ini, nah kalo kita sudah di masa ketika semua huruf digantikan dengan huruf elektronik, atau ketika umat islam sudah menganggap belajar Al Quran dan Islam bukan yang utama lagi sehingga lama kelamaan ditinggalkan, nah artinya tinggal tunggu datangnya hari kiamat dunk ya. Lah terusss...kalau tiba tiba kiamat datang, dan kondisiku seperti saat aku menulis sekarang ini, sibuk dengan kegalauan thesis yang harus diselesaikan, khawatir dan ketakukan untuk tidak bisa menyelesaikan tepat pada waktunya, kepikir bahwa telat lulus akan membuat semuanya berantakan, sampai-sampai kadang lupa  untuk menyisihkan waktu lebih banyak untuk mengadu kepadaNya lewat bacaan ayat suci Al Quran yang memang disediakan agar dibaca dan dipahami bahwa dunia itu sesuangguhnya ada untuk mendukung yang akhirat, bukan malah sebaliknya. 

Trus tiba tiba Jedeerrrrrr duaarrr booommm dwerrrrrr alakazam! Dan tanpa bisa mengucapkan astaghfirullah , tiba-tiba aku sudah gak bisa lagi memohon ampunan padaNya. 

Na'udzubillahimindzalik...ya Allah semoga aku dijauhi dari sifat mengejar dunia ini dan bisa menimbulkan keinginan untuk belajar mengenai apa isi dan makna dalam Al Quran, dalam tiap gerakan shalatku, bukan hanya bisa membaca tanpa tau dan peduli akan arti dan maknanya. 

Just my random thought, ever heard about this one before?share with me and let me know even for a bit :)