Day 2 (Hualien)

 

Breakfast at Eastern Villa was the best throughout the trip with a spread of oriental and western fare (spaghetti, croissant and tea leaf eggs). We had a good laugh over the English translation of roasted peanuts a.k.a explodes the peanut.

 

 

We set off for Yehliu Geopark which is dotted with an array of artwork that Nature has sculpted through erosion and weathering. The semblance of the structures was obvious - queen’s head, candle, elephant, shoe etc.

 

 

Standing proudly in the middle of the park is a statue of Lian Tianzhen, a local fisherman who sacrificed his life while trying to save a student who was drowning in the treacherous waters in the area. The locals nickname the rouge waves crazy-dog-tide (瘋狗浪) as the typhoon-aggravated waves is known to devour the people situated near the shore.

 

 

Next stop was to the old mining town Chiufen. We were lucky; the skies were clear in the rain-prone Chiufen. Walking through the narrow paths, we stopped to enjoy local delicacies - stewed pork noodles, ice-cream peanut pancake, fermented toufu.

 

 

After lunch, we were introduced to the local transportation system, taking a bus to the train station, followed by a ~2h train ride to Hsin Cheng. Peering out of the windows looking at the scenery zip by, I recall a line in a travel documentary: Taking the subway brings you to your destination but taking the train brings you on an explorative journey.

 

 

We reached Taroko Gorge in the late afternoon. Crossing the Changchun Bridge, we navigated through the rocky marble paths along cliffs of the gorge which was carved out through erosion by the Liwu River.

 

 

At the Eternal Spring Shrine, we couldn’t resist taking a sip of the cold spring water from the stream that gushes through it.

 

 

We stayed over at Dong Hwa Hotel Resort which was actually a guest house for visitors to Dong Hwa University. Although we would have preferred a hotel, the room was decent and there's a water cooler outside our room!