The day after our wedding banquet, we made plans to head to the east coast of Taiwan. Given that my parents had come all the way for the wedding, Avy wanted to show them as much of Taiwan as she could. Dad and his partner had made plans to join a tour in China, so they were leaving two days after the banquet. But mum, Avy and I jumped on a train on Monday morning and headed for the seaside city of Hualien.
Two weeks before our train ride, Avy had sat up until midnight to secure our tickets. There are plenty of trains that go from Taichung to Hualien, but there's only a handful of express trains. These will get you there in around 4 hours, while the normal trains will take 8 - 10 hours. If you're on a tight schedule, obviously the express is the way to go. But tickets only go on sale at midnight, 2 weeks before the date, so you have to be diligent and get in quick. Luckily, we were able to get ours.
It was a fairly uneventful train ride, but certainly comfortable enough. We arrived to Hualien station in the late morning. We had booked a room at Li-Shuan Hotel in the north east of the city. They offered a shuttle service between the station and hotel... but only once per day in each direction, so that was a bit tight of them. Nevertheless, they promptly picked us up from the station and dropped us at the hotel to check in. Arriving early, we just dropped our bags and set out for what turned out to be quite a mammoth walk.
We followed Zhongmei Road to the south-west where it merges with highway 9, and then kept following that over the river, stopping along the way for some photos.
Taking a brief tour through the Creative Cultural Park (which is awash with overpriced arty things), we came out the back and followed a smaller market that is set up alongside a disused railway, starting by the intersection of Ziyou and Mingou Streets.
This led us in a round-about way towards the Dongdamen Market. We were still rather early, but we wandered in anyway and started checking it out.
As the sun set, the market came alive and the people flooded in. We spent some time exploring the various streets and stalls, partaking in a few bits and pieces here and there, as one does at a Night Market (it's like they were invented for the stereotypical grazing teenager).
The winner of the night for me was probably the Taiwan pork sausage (not pictured). Or who could go past the old favourite: Ji Pai! That's salty fried Taiwanese chicken, or as I like to call it: TFC! However, tastes aside, the most unique one for me was the dessert Avy had mum and me try. It was icecream served in a crepe, accompanied with coriander (!!) and shaved peanut brittle which the vendor planed off from a huge block there in front of you. Such an interesting mix of flavours, and definitely worth a taste!
The next morning, we got the hotel shuttle back to the train station area. Here, on the north side of the station's drop-off area, on Guolian 4th Road, you will find a bright orange building. This is the bus terminal where you can buy tickets to take the busses that go to various places around Hualien. We got a 2-day pass each and waited for the next available coach. We decided it made the most sense to ride the bus all the way to the end of the line at Tianxiang, at the far end of the gorge, then hop-on / hop-off our way back down the gorge throughout the day.
At Tianxiang, before heading out walking anywhere, we thought it best to eat something. Avy wanted Mum and me to get the best Hualien experience, so we started out with a traditional Taiwan Aboriginal style rice snack. Flavour-wise, there's nothing super special about the rice, it's just the cooking and presentation that's cool. The rice is stuffed and steamed inside a length of bamboo, and you take it out bit by bit and dip it in some sauces before heading down the hatch.
We had a bit of a stroll around the area near the bus station, but then chose one of the hikes in the area and set off to start that. To get to the start of the trail, we had to walk about 30 minutes along the road until we reached the tunnel entrance that would take us through one of the mountains to reach the trail on the other side.
Once we made it through the eerie but peaceful tunnel, it was one foot in front of the other along the trail to the waiting waterfall, taking the best part of an hour to get there. We were lucky enough to spy some local wildlife along the way.
And eventually, we made it! The waterfall was quite impressive, but it was a lot further from our viewing point than I had imagined. It was a good way further up the mountain, but still visible enough. Actually more impressive was the absolute torrent that came under the bridge from the other river to join with the main waterfall's river. From here, the two merge and continue down the gorge as one.
Making our way back to Tianxiang, we got back on the bus and chose our next stop - Yanzikou, named for the "hundreds of swallows singing in the valley". Here, thousands of birds make their nests in the sheer cliffs of the gorge. It's an impressive view, with the almost-vertical cliffs either side of the river below. Definitely worth a look, but you probably won't need to stay longer than the gap between busses.
While waiting for the bus back to Hualien for the evening, I was approached by some high school kids who wanted a photo with me for some odd reason. They said something about a school project - but I don't think their teacher would have told them to go out and get a photo with a foreigner! Anyway, Avy seemed to think by listening to them that they were Korean. Who knows... maybe Latitudes of Matticus is a hit in Korea! Hi, fans!
Back in Hualien, we found a small noodle shop for dinner. Most places have menus only in Chinese, but Hualien, being a bit of a tourist destination, has a few places with translated menus. Nevertheless, wife always knows best, and so Avy decided what me and mum would have for dinner. Luckily, she chose well!
Retiring for the evening, I took the obligatory blogger hotel room photos before we messed anything up, and then we rested up for our final day in Hualien.
Having covered what we wanted in the deeper end of the gorge, we focused our last day on the coastal end.
Our first stop was to tackle the Shakadang River trail, which was quite an easy walk, not including the parts were tall people like me must watch their head! Luckily, these parts are well sign-posted. It was a very pleasant stroll along the river, which was more of a babbling brook.
As with the Changchun Shrine, weather damage had closed the second half of this trail, so we could not proceed past the halfway point, which is neatly signed as below.
From the start of the trail, we chose to walk through the driving tunnel rather than catch the bus. It was a bit creepy, but it got us to the Taroko Visitor Centre. Situated at the start of the gorge, here you can find a decently sized (but overpriced) restaurant, along with a small museum all about the gorge, its wildlife, and the native inhabitants of the area.
We had planned to make our last stop at the beach, but made an on-the-spot decision to get out at the train station which is marked on the tourist map... we figured there must be something there to see. Turns out... not really! There's a couple of odd sculptures in the waiting hall, and a small market in the carpark, but that's about it.
Our final stop for our visit to Hualien and Taroko Gorge was Qixintang Beach which translates to "7 star bay", or something close to that. It's a neat little area alongside the Air Force base (!!), with quite a nice selection of market stalls and buskers. When we visited, a wheelchair-bound guy was busy banging away on his electronic drum kit in time with recorded Taiwanese folk songs, and every so often a guy on his traditional drum would try to drown him out. The first guy's speaker system was a bit loud - not just for the other drummer, but for the general serenity of the area! But noisiness aside, it's a nice area to take a stroll after some intense nature-watching in the gorge.
And with that, we hopped onto our final bus back to Hualien station. The Hualien County Information Centre, directly opposite the bus terminal, has a luggage storage service which we utilised for the day. So we picked up for bags, and got some supplies for the ride home, and then boarded our train back to Taichung.
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