I have completed my week long trip around Taiwan, which was quite a trek. I met lots of new people, became more familiar with a train system than I thought possible, and learned that I can fall asleep on a park bench with little effort. But over the next few weeks I'll try to type up and post my time spent at all these various little spots around Taiwan, and my impressions of them. My first stop on the trip was Hualian.

















I had to work until 6:00 on Friday, so I rushed out to Taipei main to catch the train there. It was about a 2.5 hour journey, so I wasn't sure how late the trains ran. Well I was lucky and yet unlucky. There was a train leaving in about 20 minutes after I got there, but it was completely sold out. You can get a commuter ticket, intended for short term trips where you stand the whole time. However, standing for that long with my bag was not really appealing. About 30 minutes after that, there was another train that I would only have to stand for a little ways, then a seat would become available. I opted for that one instead.

It turns out commuter-only tickets are fun. You just kind of park yourself in the walking area off to the side of the bathrooms/water dispenser. And fortunately it was night, so the lack of AC wasn't too big of a concern, but I wouldn't want to do it during the day. Anywho I was going car to car trying to find a place to crash when I came across Guy.

I call him "Guy" because I don't know his name. He was a foreigner, judging by his accent American or Canadian, playing a ukulele. I knew there was a long trip ahead, so I sat across from him and struck up a conversation. Guy is very strange. At first I enjoyed his company, but at around an hour in, I wanted to run away. I asked him his name, to which he responded "Man, I don't do interviews, there's so much more to talk about!"

Okay then.

Turns out "more to talk about" includes his idea that hallucinogenic drugs are the best thing ever, and that he didn't buy a ticket because "the trains going there anyway" and "They don't need money - its all the governments plan to keep the population in check". His attitude was amusing until he started saying really crass comments in English to the people walking by us. "Ah look at this old lady, what a bitch." and "Nice legs darling, come back to my place and I'll show you a good time." I don't know what it's like in Hualian, but in general, people in Taipei can speak English - especially young people. I decided that if he wanted to embarrass whatever country he was from he could do it by himself, so I made for my seat. "Hey man, you just gonna bail? Okay yeah whatever, get out of here then." Yup. Seeya, asshole.

Anyway, I made it to my hostel, had a nice rest, and woke up the next morning to head off to Taroko Gorge. Taroko is a pretty place, and there are several tours there daily. But it's kind of the off season, so not as many now. I took the bus to the end, a village high up in Taroko called Tianxiang. I sat down in a small restaurant for lunch and ordered my favorite, beef and noodles. The owner came up to me with an Asian man and said in Chinese, "This guy doesn't speak and Chinese but can speak English - can you help him order?" I chuckled at the absurdity of the situation. I told him what most of what they had to offer, and we ate together.

His name is David, who was very nice but I feel a little sorry for. He owns a company that sells bubble tea in Seoul, and is in Taipei most of the year to help launch the business here. His wife and kids live back in the UK, who he rarely sees - so he decided to do a weekend getaway. After going around Tainxiang, it was time to leave, but a landslide blocked the road. Stuck there, David and I drank for about 2 hours. So, that was fun.








Going down to the next stop, I bid him farewell and started to hike down. It's really pretty there, and although the bus stops have people milling about, usually I was completely alone in this vast canyon. I was quite surprised when I came across a cafe in the middle of nowhere. I got another beer and took a rest.

Continuing on, I found another bus waiting at almost at the entrance to Taroko. I didn't know when another one would come, so I quickly ran and hopped on. Grabbing a seat at the back, I found Jordyn. Jordyn is an intern in Taipei, on her last week before heading back to the states. She was super nice, and was apparently not offended enough by my likely terrible BO to talk to me. Turns out we stayed at the same hostel, in fact, the next room over. She was going to a beach, and was cool enough to let me come along.

Hualian beach is so so. It's really just a park next to the ocean, because nobody really swims there. It's covered with rocks, and really isn't all that pretty. But for some reason it's also next to an Air Force base, and there were F-16s both on the ground and in the air. I thought that was cool.

After a stroll around the beach, we went to catch the last bus back to the city. Hualian is the city of waiting, because I swear the bus took 1.5 hours to get there. In all, I probably spent 5 hours of my day waiting on fraking buses. So, screw you Hualian. After getting back to the city we went to the night market, which is so incredibly small it's not worth it.

If you can believe it, we met more people at Hualian night market. We ordered some food, and sat at a table with a very nice couple. The guy was named Apollo, AKA the coolest name ever. He and his wife live near Kaohsiung, and invited us out to visit - unfortunately I didn't have any time to do so, but we had a nice chat anyway. I went to get some watermelon juice for us, and I swear to god, I had to stand 30 minutes in line. After waiting all day, I was about ready to kill someone.

So after saying goodbye to Jordyn, and getting a nice rest, I was going to go around Hualian and see the city before heading off to Taidong. This included a hike up Meilun Mountain, a visit to the Martyrs Shrine, see a several hundred year old tree, and finally eat at a famous restaurant. Meilun is a pretty wussy mountain, but was a nice way to spend 30 minutes. The Martyrs Shrine was pretty. Now, as far the tree goes, that is the biggest load of BS I've ever heard. This tree is not 100 years old. I'd be shocked if it was 100 days old. No tree grows like that. The info I got from the hostel said it's completely natural, I guess in the way that your mouth "naturally" spewed nonsense. Maybe they mean just the top, but I find the whole thing suspect. Take a look at the pic and decide for yourself. Yes, this was absolutely the right place. A sign nearby said the same.

The last stop before leaving Hualian was Gongzheng Dumplings. The line was massive, but I had nowhere else to be, so why not? The guy in front of me said this place invented Xiao Long Bao. I acted impressed, but thought in no way was that true. A quick internet search confirms that. Regardless, I walked back to the train station with my bounty of baozi, ready to leave this city of waiting and lying.