1712 Taiwan D5 Hualien

2^nd day in Hualien. No rain!! We are all feeling good… although some are sniffling.

So we should visit Qingshui and Taroko then.

We made a few stops…

Family shot at a bridge (yes, parked at the side safely)

7-eleven toilet break cum morning tea

Off main road to check out some mingsu… and took weird jumping-on-the-street photo

At Road side stall buying sausage

Then we arrived at Qingshui. Nice photo taking spot.

Then we made a u-turn towards Taroko.

Taroko – we stopped at a few places to walk and take photo. It was a huge place. Contented (and it was getting dark), we made our way back to Hualien.

When we got back to the same Slow Mingsu, the special room with one huge single tent, red indian style, was ready to surprise the children…. Again.

1712 Taiwan D4 Yilan to Hualien

The morning was quite bright. We checked out from the mingsu and loaded our luggages into the car. Opposite was a Luodong’s Park. We took the opportunity to walk up, just to have a look. It was OK….

We had to make it to Hualien’s train station by 12noon. So the plan was to go early and spend the remaining morning in Hualien city.

We did a breakfast-hopping-circuit. 3 shops. All yummy.

And arrived about 5min late…. The officer was already waiting to load our car – the last car of the day. (Max 3 car per day).

Train was simple but comfortable. We could enjoy some view along the way. It was still gloomy.

When we arrived at Hualien, it was still drizzling. An officer was waiting for to fetch us to another part to get our car.

We got to Free n Slow Mingsu at about 4pm. The young owner said he was a little worried as he found out the Yilan-Hualien highway (Su-Ao) had 7 road closures… which could take up to 2 hours for every closure. Thank God for the train.

The children were super delighted… room was filled with 6x tent-bed. Yes, like camping tent… but it was actually bed tent. Nice surprise.

We went out for a walk and saw a food truck selling scallion pancake with fried egg. It was to be the BEST we had in our whole trip. And yes, we went back the next day.

That evening, we visited Hualien Night market. Played some games, ate a few types of local food. Good thing it was raining anymore.

Later, the 2 bigger kids wanted to have supper… we found a very yummy Beef Noodles shop…. 200twd though. But it was so good that TJ wanted to go back again the next day. And we did.

1712 Taiwan D3 Yilan

It was raining.

We went into the town centre, set the laundry, and was on our adventure for FOOD.

We were wondering if parking coupon is needed and asked a lady who was walking past. She found out we were visitors and said Welcome to Yilan. Wow.

First shop – Rou Geng, which is starch coated pork. Touted to be the best in Yilan. Though this was the only one we ate here, we agreed gladly. When it was drizzling and still quite chilly, the 4 bowls of soupy rouging seemed too little!

Second shop – DianNaoAYee, computer shop’s aunty. Her noodles was homemade and was very good. P2 rated it 5 star. We had 2 bowls.

Third shop – Bakery opposite 2^nd shop. Lemon bun was famous…. But only available on a certain day of week and this was not the day. Chatting ensued and when the owner found out we were not from Taiwan, they were greatly surprised. Perhaps not that many “outsiders” do road trips and visit local shops?? They advised us against driving to Hualien. Sigh. Anyway, great thing was that we bought only 3 buns, but came out with 8!!! The boss who was baking, came out and passed us 5 as gift! Thank you boss.

It was still raining. But we were happy.

We drove to Yilan town centre, about 20min away. Around the train station, there were a few places we could check out. Photos photos photos.

We spotted a tourist info centre, went in to check regarding the Su-Ao highway situation. A lady at a shop said it would be best to take train…. And that she heard that we could send our car by train too. Huhh??

Walking a little in, we saw the actual tourist info centre, the ladies there confirmed that there were a few small land slides. There would be road restrictions to allow for clearance/maintenance work. It was common when raining heavily. We asked about sending car through train and to our surprise, there was such service but she was not sure it was still being offered. So she called the train station.

And there was still vacancy and we were asked to proceed there immediately. The train station was just next door.

And we bought the ticket for both us and our car!!

It was still raining. But we were quite relieved not having to worry about the Su-Ao highway.

We had hot toufu fah at Yilan night market, and drove back to Luodong to the more famous Luodong Night Market.

So there is a reason why this was more famous. It was bigger and more happening.

It was raining. But we spent about 2 hours here. Walking, shopping, eating, drinking. And playing claw machine.

1712 Taiwan D2 Taoyuan to Yilan

Well rested. Wonderful breakfast.

It was raining. We walked to 7-11. The staff said they had not been selling prepaid card in Taiwan for a few years now. I took it as a blanket ban… not knowing that I could still get it in any of the many telco shops all over Taiwan.

Drove through the Hsuehsan tunnel and arrived at Yilan county quite quickly.

It was still raining. We got to Wushi and stopped at a seafood mart…. There were only a handful of stalls opened. We bought a big squid and had it cooked at a restaurant opposite. It was too much. Perhaps I should have insisted to have one portion deep fried. But, all were happy.

It was still raining. Lanyang museum – it was a very well curated museum. Very educational.

When we got to Luodong, it was raining heavily. We had to move to a bigger room. And then we went out for dinner.

It was raining. We went to a shopping mall. Nothing fantastic there so we had Japanese dinner to make the evening nice! And yes the dinner was yummy!