Eastern Taiwan

Leaving the capital city Taipei may have been a little premature as I had a number of attractions left to visit, but I had already bought my onward train ticket a few days back. That is the first time in weeks I'd planned anything (other than a flight of the Philippines) more than a couple of hours in advance. My plan was to circumnavigate Taiwan in a clockwise direction, and would plan a few days at the end of the trip back in Taipei to finish the missing attractions.

The train was everything that a traveler would need, it was clean, efficient, lots of leg room and best of all cheap. The ticket was printed in both Chinese and English so it was easy to see which carriage and seat was yours.

Train to Hualien

I didn't have accommodation when I arrived in Hualien but I had singled out 2 or 3 places with available rooms as per Booking.com. The first one I tried, was probably the best and had the best reviews but I wasn't a big fan of the location, and also it wasn't clear which of the 5 stories the hotel rooms were located and no signs in English to give you any clues.

The next gaff I managed to negotiate the price down from £16 a night as quoted on the internet to £10. For that I got a huge double room with additional sofa bed, wardrobe, table and chairs, plenty of living space and a decent sized bathroom. Where I stayed the previous night would have been able to manage that space and create a dozen or so private rooms. It was all very dated but was clean enough.

Bicycle shot

Included in the room rate was free bicycle hire which I took advantage of to find out about a day trip the next day and then to cycle to and along the coast for a good few miles. It wasn't that impressive or at least as impressive as the bloke in the homestay led me to believe.  I did find a nice cycle path which took me almost all the way back to where I was staying and ran alongside the river.

The river route, pleasant and not too hot as the afternoon clouds had rolled in

A new town and a new night market. This night market was easier to negotiate as the stalls were not so tightly packed as they were in Taipei. Once again my tried and trusted method of seeing the biggest queue and joining it worked again.

Hualien Night Market

The first thing I had was a pepper beef wrap, is probably the closest thing you could describe it as. They placed mustard, vegetables, beef, ground peanuts on the bread and folded it into an easy to eat sausage shape. Very tasty and great value for £1.

My pepper beef wrap

The second and final thing I had was about an inch slab of bread dropped in an egg mixture and toasted. The middle was then cut out of the bread and filled with beef, chicken or pork and then resealed. It was the Taiwan equivalent to a Gregg's pasty. Again it was very tasty but seriously heavy. I needed the full 3km walk back to my hotel to digest what I'd eaten. Price £1.10 including a free glass of cold milk tea.

Taiwan version of a Gregg's Steak Bake

Whilst on my bike ride I noticed a decent looking bar just around the corner from my homestay. I hadn't been to a bar in Taiwan and it was my 5th night so I called in and had a beer. I was impressed with the price of the beer, it was £2 for a large bottle, before coming to Taiwan I thought it was going to be very expensive but at this price a beer here and there wasn't going to break the budget. I got talking with one fairly eccentric French lad who had some great stories and idea's of travelling with next to no money. The trouble was he had no charisma, and his stories came across as been dull, when in reality he had enough material to write a book.

First Taiwan Beer in a bar

That night at around 4 in the morning I was awoken by an earthquake which shook the room for 5 or 10 seconds after it woke me, it was fairly gentle rocking, not too much to worry about. A few years back I was in Santiago, Chile and experienced a much more aggressive earthquake. Still this was a little unnerving as there is so very little that you can do, by the time you have realised that you are in a small earthquake, it has stopped.

The early wake up from the earthquake alerted me to something, I was covered in bites hundreds of them on my legs. The were too small to be mosquito, but they were itchy as hell.I couldn't find any evidence of anything in the room, maybe they were bed bugs or something like that?

My day trip the following day was to the Taroko Gorge. Tours were 700-1,000 Taiwan Dollars (£14 - £20) for a half day / full day tour. I'd read you could get a day ticket on the public buses for 250 (£5) and the public bus covers the same route. My French friend from the bar said it wasn't worth the money, but two other guys also in the bar said the public bus was excellent and takes you to all the places the private tours go.

I took the cheap option and it was fantastic. Maybe a little more waiting around (for the next bus) than you would have if it was an organised tour, but I probably got to see 3/4 of everything to see in a full day. I could have squeezed in one more stop on the way back but it looked like it was going to rain so I abandoned it for the day.

Entrance to Taroko Gorge visitors centre

My first stop for the day was to walk the Shakadang Trail. This walk follows the turquoise river running through the valley. The walk was very hot but very nice, the walkway was often sheltered by the cliffs. The walk was closed half way due to damage in the last typhoon season,you needed a special pre-arranged permit to continue. A little shop selling local drinks marked the end of the trial. I chose cold Oolong tea which although didn't taste good, prevented me from drinking it all in one go as I would have if it had been water.

Shakadang Trial

River running through the gorge

A short wait of 20 minutes or so and the bus picked me up and took me to the next stop. The drive was magnificent the road snaked around very high mountains and offered fabulous views.

The next stop was Bulowan, here there was a small trial and nice views high up in the mountains. Due to road repairs from recent landslides I would have to stay at this stop for two hours while the road was closed. There was just about enough to do for 30-40 minutes so the rest of the time I had lunch with a nice view.

Decent view

Lunch with a view

Once the bus finally came (because the road had been closed for 2 hours 3 came along all at once), I went to the highlight of the day Swallow Grotto. The gorge twists and turns at this point and the steep marble walls of the gorge are some 600m high. Signs were up everywhere informing you to wear a hardhat as rock falls were frequent. Everyone doing this by organised tour were handed out hard hats as they alighted the bus. No hard hats were provided on the public bus. It was a little unnerving to see 90% of the many people here with a safety helmet and just the ones doing it on the cheap braving it. I'm not sure how much protection a hard hat would be should a boulder come down at you from 600m.

Small bridge very high up over the river

The views were literally breathtaking. This small foot bridge across the gorge was closed, something I was thankful of as it would have been a must do, but was something I really didn't fancy. Because of another road closure I had to stay here for 2 hours also, but I went for a walk with a Dutch geezer, through many short road tunnels in the face of the gorge. Each one opened up to a spectacular view.

600 metre high marble walls, this photo only captures half of it

Great views from our walk

So that was Hualain and Taroko National park done, and it was a great place. I did take away another group of bites from that evening taking my total well over the double hundred so I was pleased to be moving on to Taitung the next day.

I found accommodation easy in Taitung, the first place I went to was more than a little strange, they had a tame pigeon and a rabbit running up and down on the check-in desk. Despite this it looked good, but the price seemed to be a little expensive in terms of value for money. Next door was half the price, not as good, but it had air conditioning and most importantly no bugs. They gave me a free bike and a map to explore the city and surrounding parks.

Bike cam in the park (apologies for the stray finger but I was moving at the time)

Taitung Lake

The night market here was much smaller than in other cities and I walked up and down several times before I determined what I fancied to eat. I opted for BBQ pork, egg, noodles and vegetables and a watery soup for a starter. It wasn't long after eating this I found myself hurrying back to my hotel as it hadn't agreed with me.

Night market food in Taitung

I had considered staying in an art district about an hours drive from Taitung called Doulan, instead I went there for a day trip. Doulan has a big art and craft beer scene with mountains behind and a beach in front.

After taking in the art workshops I took a walk up into the mountains. There is a cafe perched towards the top of the mountain which I'd read offered great views. The weather walking in the direction of the mountain looked terrible, very dark thick clouds, turning around looking out to the coast it looked a glorious day.

Rice fields with the mountain in the background

I continued with my walk which was a steady claim not too strenuous, although it was incredibly humid and muggy. It was a pleasant walk going past rice fields and pineapple farms. I was less than 250 meters from the cafe at the top when, from in the trees I heard some snorting and screeching. I could just about make out a large animal but couldn't tell what it was. If this animals job was to scare people off from going further up the mountain, then I must say he was very good at it.

Pineapple farm

With that I retreated and made my way back down the mountain and back to the roadside where I had to make do with a 7-11 drink with less impressive views. On the way down I did encounter another animal, a huge grey black snake that was curled up on the side of the path. He was quite a big one and I wasn't hanging around to take a photo.

I had about an hour before the next bus back to Taitung so I took a walk to the beach. The beach was further than I thought and by the time I'd made it to the sea, dipped my toes in the cold water and back up into town I had just missed the bus. The next bus was soon on its way after I had a beer chatting to a couple of local staff. Doulan was a nice place, but I'm glad I didn't stick to my original plan of a 3 nighter there. Saturday nights in the old sugar factory are supposed to be very good, with live music and local beers, but it wouldn't have been worth staying for so long.

Doulan black sand beach

After suffering with the food the day before, I skipped the night market and played it safe at a local restaurant which had good Trip Adviser reviews. There is a little art district in Taitung that has hundreds of coloured lanterns lighting the surrounding park.

Laterns in Taitung Park

Nicely done Taitung

Feeling infinantly better than I did the previous evening, I found a little beer bar that was serving 600ml bottles for just £1.45. A geezer was in there who had just bought a nice looking horse from Poland. The horse was a great attraction with the locals who don't get to see very many. The guy who had it allowed the interested folk to ride on the horse and pose for many selfies, an addiction it seems in Asia these days. I said to him that he should charge for short horse rides and make money from it. He later went on to tell me that the horse lives inside his house as he has nowhere else to keep it.

Japanese/Taiwean beer, with horse in background.

It was a nice few days in Eastern Taiwan, Taitung wasn't my favorite place ever, but that maybe because I lost a few hours after eating at the night market. Next I was to head to the very south of the Island to a beach resort popular with locals on weekends for a Friday and Saturday night stay.