We Ate Taiwan

98年 3月 10日 – Huālián

Today we begin our other adventure outside of Taipei. We are going to Huālián, a town on Taiwan's east coast. While we are there we will visit Taroko Gorge, which – as a result of the region's natural beauty – is one of Taiwan's most popular tourist destinations.

Huālián is two hours south east of Taipei on the express (limited stops) train (the newer high speed rail does not serve Taiwan's east coast). We have an 8am train, so we leave early and arrive at the train station with enough time to grab breakfast from 7-Eleven: milk tea and a pork bun for me, cold noodles and guan dong chu (a kind of soup with fish balls and other items) for Monica. Our food in hand, we make our way to the boarding platform and then onto the nicest, newest, cleanest train I've ever been on. It must be fresh from the manufacturer. As on many buses and the MRT here in Taiwan, announcements to the passengers are given in Chinese, Taiwanese, and English.

Our ride is peaceful. The route takes us over farmland and past small towns – some seeming haphazard and poor and others looking quite tidy. The several areas are a mosaic of shiny rice fields. Many of the towns have a randomly colorful quality that I associate with my visit to Valparaíso in Chile. As our ride continues, the train track begin to run parallel the coast and I have my first good view of the Pacific Ocean. A small pointy island lies not far off shore.

Opposite the ocean, the land rises into mountains. Occasionally flowing out from between them are dry river beds that streak toward the sea. Apparently, this area of Taiwan is in drought, although Monica tells me that this is also a dry part of the year. Still, it is alarming to see such wide corridors of desiccated rock shepherding tiny streams of water.

After the stop at Ilan, there is more urban development: buildings and plants or factories. The few stops on this train are all clustered near the end. It is a warm sunny day when we reach Huālián. Signs in the station advertise Taroko Gorge and the culture of the native Taroko people.

We are met by a cab driver who has been hired by this evening's host to provide us with a tour of the area around Huālián. The town itself is not very big. The area around the town is farmland, military bases, beaches, and points of historical or cultural interest.

Our first stop is a shrine. Reminders of Japanese occupation of Taiwan are scattered around this region, and the shrine is one of them. Eighty-eight stone representations of Buddha ornament the stone wall of the shrine. At the base of many of these Buddhas, visitors have placed wooden cards upon which are written their prayers.

Next our guide takes us to a tourist/visitor center established by and for the region's native tribes. The small structure houses many displays that describe aspects of native culture. There is also the obligatory gift shop. Outside, someone is cooking meat. I skip the food for now and instead pick up some locally made grain-based wine. So far on this trip, I have barely consumed any alcohol. Taiwan is not known as a producer of fine spirits; there are a few local wines, the slightly more well known Kaoliang grain alcohol, and Taiwanese beer.

Next is a drive up into the hills to a small mountain lake. This is a tourist trap. We are offered the opportunity to go out onto the lake in a paddle boat. It's silly, but we do it anyway. It's a beautiful day and the scenery is equally pleasant. We paddle around for a while and take pictures.

Across from the paddle boat docks is a real attraction: several small restaurants. Two things are popular here: fried cakes of vegetables and whole shrimp, and papaya milkshakes. Most of the restaurants offer a similar menu, so we settle on a spot and place an order: the shrimp cake, cooked greens (the dragon's whiskers again) with garlic and peppers, and rice noodles with pork. The food here is loaded with garlic and is surprisingly good. We wash it down with a banana milkshake (for me) and a papaya shake (for Monica).

Many of the places that our guide plans to take us turn out to be closed. That is the trade-off for traveling on off-peak days when prices are lower and crowds are smaller. One of our stops is an old Japanese logging village that is now being restored as a historic site. During the Japanese occupation, cypress trees were logged here. Old wooden buildings and railways remain. Today, the visitor center is closed. We briefly explore on our own.

We are also scheduled to visit a site of some local cultural significance, but when we arrive it is deserted. Instead, our guide takes us to an old sugar cane factory. Here we find ourselves in another tourist trap. There are more people here, most of them recently unloaded from tour buses. Sightseers browse the shops and sample ice cream from an apparently well-known vendor. I have chocolate ice cream in coffee to keep me going. Monica has durian ice cream. I try a little, but it doesn't taste right to me. Durian must be an acquired taste. While we walk around, we see many small shops, most of them selling hand made clothing and crafts. One notable exception is a confectioner selling many varieties of mochi and other sweet and savory snacks. There is also millet wine. Millet is an important grain for the local people, or so it is said in the advertisements. Monica and I purchase a variety of mochi to sample later.

Sugar cane was once an important agricultural staple, but not anymore. The sugar cane factory is simply a tourist destination and a marker of the local history.

To kill some time before dinner, we visit a very strange park. Randomly situated across the street from a military school, the park is a combination of a botanical garden (with an orchid greenhouse), sculpture garden, playground, and jogging area. The entire place has a kid-friendly vibe and is designed in a way to invite discovery. There is no set path to follow and a person can easily miss some of the parks features without carefully exploring every area. We somehow overlooked a maze and a life-size checkerboard that I later identified on a park map.

Evening approaches and our driver takes us back into Huālián for the night market. Compared to the Shìlín market this place is tiny. However, the food is not in any way inferior. We first have lamb stew with herbs. This is easily as good as what we had at Big Footprint in Dànshuǐ. Next we have some fried items: fried chicken with chinese basil, fried fish balls, and fried taro cake for Monica. The fried chicken with basil is the best thing ever. Amazing. The fish balls are also good, but everything right now is being unfairly compared to the chicken. It is spicy and crispy and juicy... After some pearl milk tea, Monica decides to have oyster omelet and implores me to help her with it. I'm not really looking forward to it, but I agree to try. Oyster omelet here is not just egg and oysters. The egg is mixed with some sort of starchy substance that, when cooked, takes on the consistency of soft animal fat. Mixed in with this and the egg are greens and oyster meat. The whole thing is panfried (like an omelet) and topped with a sweet and slightly spicy red sauce. I can at least say I tried it, but I don't want another one.

Before we leave the market and head to the B&B where we are staying tonight, we buy some fresh pineapple and dragonfruit.

A note about taxi drivers. In any country, they are reputed to be the most daring, devil-may-care motorists. Monica remarked to me that Asian notions of personal space – or lace thereof – extend to driving. As a result, our cab rides through Huālián were a strain on my nerves. Then again, I tend to be a very conservative driver.

The B&B is one in a row of such establishments on a slope overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The one we are booked at is a plain-looking place which is disappointing when you consider that this is the most expensive place we will stay while in Taiwan. The best things I can say about it are that it is clean and, in the morning, provides an excellent sunrise view. Our hostess shows us our room, serves the obligatory red bean and rice desert and that is the end of our first day in Huālián.

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Journal Entries

• 98年 3月 1日 – Arrival
• 98年 3月 2日 – First Outings
• 98年 3月 3日 – Beef Noodles
• 98年 3月 4日 – Dànshuǐ
• 98年 3月 5日 – College
• 98年 3月 6日 – Yángmíngshān
• 98年 3月 7日 – Sightseeing
• 98年 3月 8日 – Běitóu
• 98年 3月 9日 – Shìlín
• 98年 3月 10日 – Huālián
• 98年 3月 11日 – Taroko Gorge
• 98年 3月 12日 – 101
• 98年 3月 13日 – A Taste of Home
• 98年 3月 14日 – Return Trip

About My Trip

In 2009, my girlfriend and I visited her home country of Taiwan. During our two week vacation, I wrote daily notes of my experiences and together we took over a thousand photos. Those notes and photos have been compiled into this interactive travel journal.