Day THREE (Taipei > Hualien)
Planned a one day trip to Hualien to view the famous Taroko Gorge even though it was out of the way. It takes about 2.5 hours to reach Hualien from Taipei, so do remember to have a heavy breakfast or buy some food onboard. I booked a minsu stay called The Orange Elephant (橘子大象）which has one of the highest rating yet cheapest accommodation in Hualien. One of the reason I booked was also because they have a pet dog!
It is a short cab ride to the minsu from the train station (150twd). Minsu is similar to homestay, where the owners open up their homes to tourist to stay for the night with the basic facilities provided. We reached about 11am to find that the place was closed! Lucky for us there is a childcare centre nearby with the friendliest people around who can speak English. They helped us to contact the owner and allowed us to use their phone to make calls.
Check-in timing for the minsu was suppose to be 3pm, and the owner was not at home. However, they were very kind to arrange a cab for us to bring us around the Taroko Gorge with our luggages. The cab driver doubles up as a guide for us as well, stopping at the various scenic points for us to walk around and snap pictures.
Taroko Gorge is Taiwan's National Park and it covers a large area of mountains, mostly situation within Hualien. The mountainous view together with the clear blue flowing water makes a magnificent sight. I'll let the pictures do the talking!
no 2 lions look the same here!
Apparently there are aborigines still living in the mountains and only they are allowed to walk around freely in the National Park and to use the resources there.
This is a landslide of rocks. The trees here grow on rocks, and according to our cab driver aka guide, he explained that the roots of the trees secure the rocks together. Hence, when the trees start to get uprooted, the rocks will start to break apart, causing this pile of rocks falling over.
The adventurous are welcomed here! Here's a picture of the bridge which is the starting point of an approximately 8 hours climb. Of course only for experienced climbers.
At some points, the fresh spring water turns muddy due to the residue it brings along with it.
The iconic Taroko Gorge picture you see in websites. haha.
After a half day tour at Taroko Gorge, our driver was kind enough to bring us to a famous beach called 七星潭 (qi xing tan).
It's such a beauty! From afar I thought, okay, just another beach with clean sand, huge waves and blue sea. But as I stepped into the beach, I was like, gosh, there's no sand, this beach is made of pebbles!
Goofing around with D.
It was a brief but worthy trip to make. I heard the sunrise is even more breathtaking than this, but in Taiwan the sun rises really early (like 4-5am I would think, since the sky is bright by 6am) and I have no discipline to wake up at that time. haha.
Back to minsu after that! Was warmly welcomed by the hosts and their lovely dog, 麻吉(Maji).
Okay, this picture of him looks really sian. But he was having his dinner and wagging his tail at us when we came! Really!
Our cozy abode for the day. I love how homely the whole room looks like! Feel so happy just looking the stuff toys and wall stickers =)
Then we head out for dinner! Only bad thing about this minsu is that it is located quite a distance away from the city area. We had a long 20-30 minutes walk to the city area for food. Not much activity happening along the way. Not even proper food, besides convenience stores.
Settled for KFC in the end because it is located at the start of the city and we were starving by then! Yummy egg tarts and their fries are the bomb! Flavorful even without sauce!
had an obliging cup of bubble tea and a short stroll after a full meal before we head back to Orange Elephant. I know, this picture looks like it is taken at a late hour. It was only about 7pm!
Morning at the main lobby of our minsu. Feels like home again. haha. Anyway, if you check on Agoda, you will find many raving reviews on Orange Elephant. The hosts are really the best you can have. They care about your needs, where you want to go, how are you going back from here, what time you are leaving, etc. At the time when we checked in, they already asked us how we are going back to Taipei and if we bought the train tickets yet. They were so kind to help us check the available tickets on the spot, book the ticket, collect from the train station and pass the tickets to us by evening.
Our morning breakfast set! Feels like the sandwich my sister makes for me with her spongebob sandwich toaster.
And then we bid goodbye. Here's a picture with lazy maji who laze next to me when I was having breakkie. A little sad I couldn't spend more time with him (he is said to be more active at noon) and at the minsu. There are other things to do at hualien besides Taroko Gorge. More sceneries, riding a bike close to nature, going out to sea... I will definitely be back!
Till next post,
M
No comments:
Post a Comment