Hualien - Taiwan - Day 4 - 9 Days Backpacking

Day 4

6 of us woke up at 4.15AM this morning to try to catch the Hualien sunrise at ChiXingTan on bike. The night before we ask for directions from Chi but when we went out to the streets, we still got kinda lost. So at 4.35AM, I was thinking whether we would miss the sunrise. The morning sunrise in Hualien was estimated to be around 5.15AM and we were not sure if we could find our way.

So somehow we came to this section of the road where we thought, let's just follow this route. I still do not know how we did it, but soon it looked like we were on our way. The route I took was 5KM, but took about 45mins to complete because there's a section where it was straight uphill for 2KM.

By the time we reached the beach, it was already bright, but thankfully there was a little cloud cover on the horizon, and we managed to sneak it as a sunrise when it appeared over the clouds at 5.21AM. The view was magnificent and the beach was really beautiful as well. If you thought of proposing here, please do. The atmosphere is totally made for it.




The trip back to the hostel was very much faster. Stopped by at a foodstall for some light breakfast of dumplings and cold soya milk. Refreshing! After packing up, I was leaving on the 11.15AM train back to Taipei, took a short 5mins walk to the row of shops opposite the train station to get some local foodstuff for friends back home. Ah, thank the convenience of the hostel as I bought enough to complain about carrying the items around.

As time came for me to leave, I was rather sad to leave behind the memories and new friends I've made here. My advice is to spend 3-4 days at Hualien as it is a really beautiful place and its really enjoyable. Well then, its back to Taipei for some rest.

Hualien - Taiwan - Day 3 - 9 Days Backpacking

Day 3

Started at 7.30AM and followed a van that came to pick me up to Qing Liu 青流 Rafting Company. Reached the shopfront after an hour of sleeping on the van with a group of aboriginal youngsters and then spent another 45mins waiting for them to get registered and other groups to arrive before setting off for the Rafting Visitor Center at the Siouguluan River 秀姑峦溪 which runs for 81km through the Siouguluan Mountains and is part of the YuShan National Parks 玉山國家公園. So expect to have great views of the mountains while rafting.

At Rafting Visitor Center, a video will be showned to teach rafters emergency recovery techniques and safety rules to follow. After that it's straight to the action and a short walk to the river to mount our rafts. There were about 800 over rafters altogether, many of them are from the local universities taking their summer break. Rafters are advised to wear pants and long sleeved shirts to protect themselves from the sun.

Rafting took about half a day as we navigated through the mountains, sometimes on rushing white water, stopping for a simple lunch in between. At the end of the river, which goes out into the Pacific Ocean, we were made to capsize our rafts and float along and relax to near the mouth of the river. The sediments at the bottom of the river which was rather low when I was it, was very fine and smooth.

So once I came back to land, I went for a shower at a simple facility and then went back to the hostel with the van that picked me up in the morning. Felt really tired and had a sunburnt feet but still, I thought that the rafting trip was good fun with a good view to offer.

Back at the hostel, some of my hostel mates were planning to visit Liyu(Carp) Lake 鲤鱼潭 which is about 40mins by bus, for an aboriginal festival with fireworks and water fountain show. This was not unlike the musical fountain show back in Singapore at Sentosa. But it was free and the fireworks were great. By the time it was over, we settled for a night market back at the city area tasting different foods and just walking around.

Went back to the hostel at 11PM and Tim(Hostel owner) was not back yet. So most of us hanged around watching Miami Ink on TV, drinking and just talking & asking each other about our countries.

Then Tim came back at close to 1AM with a new signboard, Amigos is now part of Hostelling International.

Hualien - Taiwan - Day 2 - 9 Days Backpacking

Day 2

Set off for Hualien on the Chu Kuang Train 莒光号 (NT618 for 2 way tickets) at 7:15AM this morning after depositing my luggage with TS Hotel's Lobby. Took the MRT from Ximen Station to Taipei Main Station for a transfer to the Railway. I've packed only the essentials that I will need for Hualien.

The train arrived at the platform on time and it takes 2Hrs 45Mins to get to Hualien from Taipei. The trains stops at several stops along the way and commuters who seemingly are on their way to work alights. The scenery is great with views of the ocean and mountains along the way. On arrival at exactly 10AM, the trains are very very on schedule, I walked out of Hualien Station to the Hualien County Information Center. It is diagonally to the right of Hualien Station and really easy to notice.



Went inside to check on the tours to Taroko Gorge 太魯閣國家公園 and found out that the half-day tour buses start at 11. Registration can be done anytime before the buses set off. As the guided tours did not include some of the nicer trails, I opted not to take up the package. Took some information brochures of Hualien and Taroko Gorge Trails information and called the hostel(Amigos) that I booked earlier that I have arrived and whether they could pick me up from the Information Center. The hostel owner Tim (小刘) personally came down in his hostel car and brought me back to the hostel. Nice bit of service for a start.

I laid down my stuff at the hostel, and then discussed about how I should go on my tour of Hualien with the co-owner, Chi (杨淇). Told her I had the option of joining a half-day tour and skipping certain trails, or go on foot, which should be done from early in the morning because the only public bus back to Hualien City leaves the Gorge at about 6PM. Not to mention that the entire gorge trail covers almost 20KM. And that's not including distance to explore each mini trail along the Gorge.

She suggested to me that I could book a private cab to bring me around but that would cost NT2000 for a half-day booking. Then she ask me to go have lunch first and she would try to settle the tour issue for me. So meanwhile I took lunch and by the time I got back 20mins later, Chi told me Tim could do the guided tour as he was free that day. The cost? NT600 for a half-day tour. But that's because other hostel mates will join me in the tour. Not bad, share the cost, get to know people and brought around by the hostel owner, quite a good deal for NT600.

And so we set off for Taroko Gorge at 12.30 with Tim speeding down the small winding coastal road in his Nissan X-Trail. As the road in Taroko Gorge is having works at the Tunnel of Nine Turns , we had to be there by 1pm (on every hour there is a 10mins window when works would stop temporarily) to be let through. Made it in time and went on our way to the Bai Yang Trail.

Stopped for a short while at the street market area for some snacks and this time I could smell the Smelly Tofu from far away. Decided to try it since the one I had was too tame. I regretted at the first bite as the smell was overwhelming me. It smells like a sewer marinated tofu. Luckily I had my travelmates with me to help finish it up. But all of us agreed that this smelly tofu tops most of the other ones we had before. Tops in terms of smell not taste. After snacking, each of us seemed to have a sewer in our stomachs and it was quite gross actually. And so we set off once again.

The Bai Yang trail has got one of the better views and is more quiet than the others because tour buses do not come here. The trail is about 2KM and at the end of it are amazing views of a great waterfall(horsetail I think).






From the Bai Yang Trail, we drove to the CiMu Bridge 慈母桥, which is actually a bridge that Chiang Kai-Shek commissioned to built in memory of his mother. There's nothing much to see here except for an overhead view of the ongoing Liwu River 立雾溪.



Then we proceeded to the main attraction of the Tunnel of Nine Turns 九曲洞. In this trail of 1.9KM, you get to see upclose the marble formations that have been formed over a 100 million years. If you observe closely you might see shapes of different animals or human figures in on the very large surface of marble.




Was supposed to visit Swallow Grotto 燕子口, but decided to skip it as we got stuck at the end of the Tunnel of Nine Turns due to the roadworks. Missed the hourly passing by a few minutes and had to wait for 40mins for the next window. So we drove straight towards Eternal Spring Shrine 長春祠 and briefly stopped there to admire the sights. It was getting late by this time and we decided to leave for the Shakadang Trail.



Shakadang basically means 'tooth' in local aboriginal language and the trail was given the name at the beginning because a native tribesman shouted "SHAKADANG" when he first saw the river. Later on park authorities renamed it as the Secret Valley Trail because that's what most visitors call it, but with time reverted back to Shakadang as its name. This 4.5KM trail , I felt, was the nicest of those that I went to. The blue water lake in the middle of huge mountains cannot go wrong as a picture perfect moment somehow. Visitors to this trail can go down into the lake and soak in & enjoy the cool blue lake water. If you keep still while in the water, you will be tickled by small fishes that nibble at your body/legs/hands. The guided tours do not bring tourists here, so you can be assured that this trail won't be too crowded. Remember to dress right if you wanna enjoy the water.





Lazed around this relaxing trail before setting off for Seven Star Beach 七星潭 for sunset. But by the time we got there, the sun was already down and it was just kinda dark to see anything. So we took our time and relaxed on the pebble beach while looking overhead for low flying airliners taking off and landing at the Hualien Airport.



Headed back to the hostel at 7.30PM and took a bath before heading out for dinner at a nearby street. Then on the way back, I saw a roadside stall selling oyster vermicilli and promptly handed NT30 over for a small takeaway portion. I ate the delicious vermicilli and then hanged around the rest & relax area. Spoke to a few hostelites and watched TV before heading to bed after a long day.

Water Rafting tommorrow!