During my studying & living in Taiwan, I had been traveling to different parts of Taiwan but never been to the island's eastern part. So my plan after the IMBA defense day was to visit the most-recommended place by my friends - the "brilliant paradise of East Taiwan" which is called Hualien.
The transportation system in Taiwan is all linked well. From Taipei to Hualien I had 3 choices to make my travel: by train in abt 3 hours; by bus in 5 hours; and by plane in 30 mins. I enjoyed my window sightseeing a lot through the train ;-)
Solar energy system are popularly-supplied in Taiwan. Not surprisingly,
I met them quite often on the way
My first impression was that Hualien is a peaceful but uncrowded city, especially when I came in summer days of June, the peak season of tourism. Right out there of Hualien train station, the town looked so friendly-natural & beautiful when many houses in the town located at the foot of hills. The atmosphere of a coastal city was so fresh.
There are many beautiful scenic places like HuaTung valley, the ocean and amusement park and also hot springs like Antong, but since I love the coastal & natural beauty, my plan was to visit the Chi Hsing Beach firstly - the most beautiful beach in this area.
Many of my friends chose different tours to visit Hualien from travel agent, but after asking some other senior classmates’ experience, I decided to rent a motorbike and made the trip by myself. With a city map, it made every destination easy to be reached.
The beauty of a flower garden stopped me a while in the side road
I met a small pier on the way
It was kind of cloudy but still much sunny
The thing I really like is number of mountains with long beach in Hualien. They looked so gorgeous & attractive like a young beautiful girl.
At last I came to Chi Hsing beach.
The beach owns a natural environment, most are undeveloped & so pure
It was a long walk from the sand to the water. A family rode their car to the sand
What a great place to enjoy bicycling
The beach was so calm & looked clean but no-one went for swimming
Many people were enjoying their time in the whale watching spot
Whereas some others were resting near the information center
An amusement place in the other side
In the next day, I went to Taroko National Park which is the second largest national park in Taiwan. Taroko is not Chinese. That name originated from the Japanese colonialism time when the Japanese discovered the natural beauty of mountains here. Taroko in Japanese meant “beautiful" ...
Winding roads in Taroko Park...
...later guided me to Taroko Arch
Here the information of the old Arch - Taroko
Wooden scenic spot to view the spring
It was cool to look at the marble cliffs which vary from white to gray
The cliffs created an "open tunnel" - a road with one side of great view to the gorges & vegetation of forest trees. The parks becomes more special for its spectacular mountains & marble gorges.
Cross Road through Tunnel of Nine Turns
After riding through Yanzihkou tunnel, other famous scenic spots in Totoro National Park turned out to appear in front of me.
Hsiang Te temple in the mountain.
You just can reach the temple after crossing the suspension bridge called PuDu
The lake on the road side
For me, two days visiting Hualien were memorable time in the east of the Formosa. What would be the difference of these places' beauty in summer and winter time? I don't know yet until coming back there in winter for my next trip. But I'm very sure I would be happy to visit Hualien with an accompany. And I should go to see another place, DongHwa University - the first & most beautiful campus in east Taiwan as well./.
V in Taroko Park's main yard
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