Hualien
During the second week of break, Lane,
Alison, and I made a little trip to Hualien, a town on Taiwan’s east coast. We took
an evening train from Taipei, arriving shortly after eight o’clock.
After Shakadang, we rode the bus to the end of the line, where we ate lunch and bought water. We then rode back down to the Swallow Grotto Trail, a curious assembly of caves and tunnels above the river. We spent the afternoon and evening in Hualien, exploring the city and relaxing at a nearby beach.
On our first day in Hualien, we made an
excursion to Taroko National Park, a reserve established around Taroko Gorge.
After an hour-long search, we were finally able to locate the Taroko-bound bus,
which we rode until the Shakadang Trail. The trail was an easy, leisurely walk,
and the scenery was quite pretty, especially the Shakadang river’s azure waters
juxtaposed against the gorge’s orange rocks. The only inconvenience was that
the trail did not – contrary to our initial expectation – lead to another station
of the bus, and we had to return the same way we had come, which was a tad
boring.
After Shakadang, we rode the bus to the end of the line, where we ate lunch and bought water. We then rode back down to the Swallow Grotto Trail, a curious assembly of caves and tunnels above the river. We spent the afternoon and evening in Hualien, exploring the city and relaxing at a nearby beach.
The Hualien Coast
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A statue of Guanyin looking towards the sea
More Hualien beaches
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The beginning of the Shakadang Trail
The Shakadang River
Walking through tunnels along the Shakadang Trail
The Shakadang River
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Tropical plants
A resilient sapling
Another view of the Shakadang River
A big spider making its way over the trail
A green snail shell
The Shakadang River
A red anthurium
Damselfly
Another view of the river
Another green snail shell
Yet another view of the river
At the top of the Taroko line
The gorge as seen from the Swallow Grotto Trail
The inside of a cave
A fluffy caterpillar
Pebbles on a Hualien beach
A spider on a rock
A rock that looks like bread
A pebble tower
Another Hualien beach
We spent the next day biking. The sun shone
so brightly that I don’t think I ever sweat as much as I did that day. We saw several
beaches, a local lighthouse, and of course the east coast’s majestic mountains slowly draping themselves
in clouds as the day went on and the weather changed. We left for Taipei the
following morning.
Flowers in our garden
A cemetery under Hualien's majestic mountains
Another Hualien beach
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Sunfish statue close to our house
Industrial Hualien
A Hualien lighthouse
Clouds above Hualien's mountains
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