Second day (Taiwan trip 2015) - Hualien

We got ready early for the earliest 7:20 am train to hualien. We checked out at around 6:20 am then walked to taipei main station. We bought our breakfast from 7-eleven. If you are going to hualien, look for TRA sign at taipei main station, that's where you should take your train at.

It was a very comfortable and new train. The journey took 2 hours and 5 minutes. We reached hualien train station at 9:25 am. By the way, i have prearranged a taxi driver to fetch us for a day trip in hualien. I contacted yellowcab, Neil Zeng (boxiongzeng@gmail.com), few weeks before our departure. He has a very good review from tripadvisor and few travel blogs that I have read. Unfortunately, he wasn't available for the day. So, instead he referred me to his friend, Yifeng Wu (+886963633939). Eventhough Neil was not available, he was very nice that he arranged our itinerary for the day. I told him that I wanted to visit tzuchi there, and Neil actually fixed the itinerary according to my request. 

As we arrived in hualien, Mr. Wu has been waiting for us there. He drove a toyota camry, so it's just nice for two of us. By the way he provided wifi in the cab. He also passed us one cellphone to use, so that we can communicate with him in case we couldn't find him, after he drop us at one stop.  

Below is the itinerary that I received from Neil. 

One day tour to Taroko Gorge @ quote of 3000 NTD/car

  1. Pick-up from Hualien Railway Station in the morning

  2. Chihsintan Beach

  3. Tzuchi Jing Si Hall

  4. Chinsui Cliff

  5. The whole Taroko Gorge: 

   1) Arch Gate

   2) Visitor Center

   3) Shakadang Trail

   4) Eternal Spring Shrine + Changuang Temple

   5) Swallow Grotto + Zhuilu Cliff

   6) Nine turn tunnel

   7) Cimu Bridge

   8) Baiyang Trail: Baiyang Waterfall + Baiyang Suspension Bridge + Water Curtain Cave

   9) Tianxiang: Pudu Bridge + Xiangde Temple + Tianfeng Pagoda

   10) Lushui Trail

   11) Yehfei Pavilion + Suspension Bridge

  6. Drop at any assigned location (such as night market, down town or assigned restaurant) after leaving your luggage to Hotel Bayview in the evening

  * Chihsintan Beach can be skipped if you have your own plan for it the next day.

  * Visitor Center can be skipped if you are not interested, or to save time for trails in the gorge.

  * Nine Turn Tunnel is permanently closed due to unstable cliff structures and unpredictable rockfalls.

  * Baiyang Trail and Lushui Trail may be alternatives if there is not enough time.

  * Lunch options:

   1) Aboriginal Cuisines in "Dageeli"

We skipped few places at Taroko because we need to do a lot of hiking there in order to see the nice view. I was wearing my high heel boots and we tried one short hike (40 mins). I think that's enough for us. Below you could see pictures that we took during our day trip in Hualien. 

@TzuChi Jing Si Tang. 

Mr. Wu told us that almost half places of Hualien owned by TzuChi. They have their own university, hospital. So, most doctors in the hospital were previously studied in the university. This place is very near to the train station. 

Inside Jing Si Tang. It's a very quiet place. 

Then, on the way to Taroko, we stopped by at their farm. All nuns stay at this place, and if there are any visitor coming from other country, they usually stay there. Cheng Yen Fa Shi also stays there. All the nuns there do farming.

After a short visit, we continued our trip to Taroko. There are a lot to cover there, and a lot of hiking. We chose one simple route, which took us about 40 minutes. Below you can see few pictures that we took in Taroko. Honestly, I cannot remember all the places' name.

The picture with the helmet was taken at Swallow Grotto (燕子口). 

Our lunch at Taroko was not great at all. There are two options for us, one is the restaurant which serve traditional food of the original people there, or a simple meal. We opted for a simple meal, because we were worried that we are not used to the traditional food of Taiwan Aborigines (臺灣原住民, read Tai wan Yuan zhu min), and also it's quite expensive. However, the simple meal is really simple, and nothing great that I would want to take picture of it. I don't even remember to take picture of our food there. The place is not very clean either. We had some kind of like mixed rice.   

Our 40 minutes trekking to see a waterfall. We need to walk for 20 minutes to be able to see the scene. I think it's only ok. But the trekking part was quite fun. There is one part where it's completely dark. But, our driver has warned us about that.

This bridge can only hold maximum of 8 persons, so, we need to queue to walk through the bridge. Of course, I just stayed at the edge to take picture, since I have fear of height. 

We covered only some part of Taroko, because we chose not to walk, and a lot of the scenery can only be seen if we walk. So, we were done at around 4 pm, and, we asked our driver to drop us at our hotel first to check in. He was nice to wait for us there, and then drop us at the city area for our food hunting. We stayed at Bayview Hotel near Chihsintan Beach. This is a very popular hotel, and it's not easy to book. If you plan to stay there, please make your booking early. I booked "honeymoon room with seaview". A seaview room is a must if you stay there. Even though it's slightly more expensive, but it is worth the money that you spent. If I am not mistaken, we paid 2900 TWD for one night. Their service is also awesome! 

Then, our next stop for the day is Hualien downtown area (Golden Triangle business district). There are a lot of good food to try there. Of course, I have done my homework about "Food". Our driver also told us about what we should try in the area. First stop is Gong Zheng Bao Zi (公正包子).

It was very juicy inside, and the size of the bao is quite small (about the size of xiao long bao). We also ordered the dumpling, which is pretty good as well. 

Then, the next one is Mr. goose. They sell goose meat. We ordered a small plate of goose breast meat, and a plate of vegetable. Surprisingly, the vegetable is very nice, but the goose meat doesn't go very well with our taste bud. The meat is quite hard.

Of course a meal will not be complete without a dessert. We were very full after those two meals, but, I read one blogger who recommended this dessert. Apparently, we passed by earlier, but then we didn't go in. There is an interesting way to eat this dessert. First we use our spoon to scoop one taro ball, then scoop the ice. It tasted very delicious. The shaved ice was covered with milk and brown sugar. Oh yeah, by the way, the taro balls are served hot. That's why they didn't serve it in the same bowl.  

That was it for the day. Oh yeah, it's so coincidence that we met our driver, Mr. Wu and Neil. I believe they just finished their dinner. Hahaha, I think it's called 有缘分 (you yuan fen). Actually, I really want to personally thank Neil for all the arrangement that he has made for us. And, by coincidence, we met him! 

Oh yeah, you should of course get "mua chi" (mochi) from hualien. It's famous! There are quite a lot of shops which sell mua chi at the golden triangle district. You definitely won't miss it.