Two weekends ago, before Steven went back for military reserve service, we decided to go on vacation to the east coast of Taiwan. Originally we were going to goto “Green Island” but we went to Hualien instead.
My previous trips around Taiwan have been memorable, but not enjoyable. Our trip to Hualien has to be one of the best trips I have gone on in Taiwan and I would recommend visiting Hualien to most people coming to Taiwan for more than a week.
On the first day we woke up early to catch a train to Hualien. We took the upper class train that had large swivel chairs and breakfast service. The ride was about 3 hours through the mountains. Once we got to Hualien, we walked across the street to pick up a rental car. We also had the option of taking a tour bus, however I prefer traveling on my own, not with 20 other strangers.
The mountains and the streams around Hualien are what make the trip special. The roads are narrow and merge into one lane at times, so at times it is tense. The trip was reminiscent of a trip I took with my parents as a child to Bodega Bay. I remember my mom yelling the whole time “Tom, slow down.” This time I was yelling “Steven, slow down.”
We drove through the mountains, stopping a few times to take photos. Our first stop was at a nice red bridge where we saw some bicyclists taking a break. After that we stopped at a rest area and enjoyed the view and the breeze. Our last stop was next to a temple in the mountains that had a large white bodhisattva and a tall temple.
After we visited the temple, we turned around to head back to our hotel. On the way back we took a slightly different route and saw another beautiful temple in the mountains with a large waterfall leading down to the river below. We didn’t have time to get out to visit the temple but we saw many people hiking up to view it.
After we navigated through the traffic jams on the way back we checked into the hotel and cleaned up. Our hotel was quite nice with excellent amenities including a separate shower and bath. I would give it a rating of three and a half stars by US standards. After we went into the city to get some dinner we headed out to a park on the edge of the city. At night this park is filled with fireflies. We tried to take a few pictures, but none of them came out. It is a must see thing for visitors.
The next day we spent driving around to visit the coastal parts of Hualien. We passed a few farms and pulled over to photograph the cows (later we found out they were bulls, but we didn’t photograph that!).
We then took another treacherous mountain road that eventually meets up with the ocean. We drove by many houses in small towns with wonderful ocean views. We also passed by a few tractors, although they are much smaller than the tractors I have seen back at home.
One of our last stops was at a basketball court next to the ocean. No one was playing there so we pulled in to take photos. Next to the court were 20 or 30 chickens, a few ducks and a large turkey. It looked like the turkey was attacking the chickens because half of them were missing neck feathers. Chickens normally have a funny walk, but the missing neck feathers made them look that much funnier.
After we took a few more photos from the basketball court, we headed back to the city to pick up some dinner, return the car and then head home on the train. This was a very nice weekend vacation and as I mentioned earlier I would recommend this to most people who visit Taiwan.
Lastly, this is what a co-worker has to say about Haulien. Additionally, he posted his photos to Flickr.
nice pictures… i recognize a lot of the scenery… will have to try the Parkview Hotel next time, sounds nice…