River Deep, Mountain High

Part two! Hualien 花莲 :)

Hualien is quite a small town on the east coast of Taiwan. 110.000 inhabitants and very sleepy. To me, the town itself wasn't really that interesting, but it sure has some gems surrounding it.

So, I arrived there on the 8th and first of all went to the town centre to look for a travel adapter. File under things that you should check before travelling to a foreign country: do their sockets match your plugs? I found one after some time, my quest was made a little difficult by the fact that there are actually two types of sockets in Taiwan. Actually, just check this link, it's kind of difficult to explain. I found an adapter for the type B sockets but then had to get another adapter for type A sockets. Luckily I happened upon a very helpful salesman :) So that problem was solved for good. Then I had 扁食 bianshi, a local speciality. Think Wantan soup, it's pretty much the same thing. Delicious! And only 1,50 for a bowl. Afterwards I went to Hualien's seaside. I've been told by other travellers that it's pretty underwhelming during the daytime, so I'm very glad that I went during the night. I was completely alone there and enjoyed the small piece of quiet. There's just something about the sound of waves that's extremely soothing to me.

My camera kind of fails at night time pictures. Anyway, the sea!

The food!

On the 9th it was time for me to go see the Taroko Gorge - 太鲁阁. Carved into marble by the Liwu River, it's one of the places that you have to see when you come to Taiwan. I went there by public bus from Hualien, they run busses every hour that stop at all the major touristic spots in the park. The first place I went to was called Shakadang trail, a very leisurely trail along a side river that leads you through luscious greenery. Then caught a bus to Yanzikou 燕子口, literally the mouth of the swallow. This part of Liwu River is called that because swallows can be seen flying over it frequently. I saw a few myself while I was there. The trail there runs along a road that is also used by cars and coaches, thus it's not as peaceful as the Shakadang trail, still insanely pretty though. My next stop was the Baiyang 白杨 waterfall. The trail leads through 8 tunnels in total, a very cool experience. And at this point I would like to thank my parents for having the foresight to give me a headlamp for my last birthday. It came in handy :) The waterfall is really beautiful, but the best part of this trail lies a few steps behind the waterfall. In a tunnel that was made for the trail, the water pressure was so high that it created showers of water inside the tunnel. Imagine walking through darkness with water raining down on you from above. Quite a freaky experience, but also really amazing! It was at this point in the day that I made a new acquaintance. I was getting ready to go inside the water curtain tunnel when a Taiwanese man came up to me and asked: "Do you speak Chinese?" I said yes, he said "Great, how would you feel about coming with me and these two Russian guys I'm showing around the park? I don't speak English and they don't speak Chinese, could you translate for us?" Now, in Europe I would probably not agree because of safety and such, but in Taiwan, I thought sure, why not? So I came along with them for the rest of the day. They were really nice by the way, even paid dinner for me. There was only one stop left, the Eternal Spring shrine 长春祠. It was built to commemorate the people who died while building streets, bridges, trails around the gorge. We also walked up to the bell that is rung to lift the spirits of visitors. It's a little bit of a climb, but well worth the sight. We then drove back to Hualien and had dinner at a Japanese restaurant, where by the way I had Sushi without being disgusted for the first time. It was actually quite good, except for the kind wrapped entirely in seaweed. I can still not get over the taste. Now get ready for the flood of pictures.

Bear? Wasps? I was not prepared for this. Luckily it's winter. Everyone's asleep.

The scenery.

Hello friend! Clever camouflage.

The plant that's on the ground in masses is planted by natives in the valley who sell it. It's a common food in Taiwan.

Guess what greeted me at Swallow's Mouth?

The first suspension bridge, not the last though.

Pretty dramatic.

Mountains *_*

The waterfall, and another suspension bridge.

The Shrine.

View from the bell.

And the sushi. Proof.

That's all for Hualien, a little shorter since I only spent one day there really. Hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. Next stop Taitung.

Chinese Word of the Day: 冰淇淋 bingqilin, ice cream. Just important.