Transportation:
We assumed Hualien to have transportation, but to our shock, there is no public transportation available. Its either you cab or you walk or you rent a scooter and scoot around.
Table of Contents
1. Guan Fu Sugar Factory
Review
It is a huge place. Museum,factories, transportation mediums. To me, the highlight of it was the ice-cream. Their ice cream are known to be creamy. Not much sightseeing, only a bit, like you can see the mountain behind the factory. I came just for the ice-cream only.
Directions
we hopped onto a tour bus near the Hualien huoche station. But regretted it as it was more expensive. Should have taken the huoche to Guanfu Huoche Station.
2. Taroko Gorge
Review
It is a MUST GO! Gorgeous scenery! We bought a tour package with our Hostel. Our initial plan was to take public bus and walk around, yes we very budget and hardy. But in the end, we realised that its not feasible to walk around. The hostel dude jaw dropped when we asked if its possible to walk around. The tour bus picked us up from our hostel then went to the huoche station for us to do our registration before we were allocated to different tour buses as the tour agency has different packages to different destinations. Overall it was a good package, economical and one gets to see alot of scenery. The sad thing is DAMN IT KEPT RAINING!!!! My phone had moisture retention on the screen after i took pictures with it the entire day. I did not use my digital camera as i was worried that it might get spoilt. We thought that the tour agency would bring us to an over-priced restaurant for lunch but we were pleasantly surprised that the food was economical. Also, the tour is in the morning, so you get to see more scenery as the sun sets early like around 5pm++ . In addition, they have a few dropoff points, so you can choose to get drop off back at hostel or shopping area(triangle in the map below, zhongshan road) or food area. I would strongly recommend you guys to sign up for the package.
credits: chikumama3. Ruisui Farm
Review
fresh milk products & farm animal feeding. Hmm other than buying the milk products from the shop and seeing cows, there isn’t much stuff to do. It is super out of the way. If one doesn’t like getting dirty, don’t come.When we were at the Ruisui Huoche Station asking for directions, the visitor centre uncle told us that usually people will go Ruisui when leaving Hualien. Because for us, we went to Ruisui, then we went back to Hualien, then from Hualien to Kenting, we would pass by Ruisui again. So its like double journey.
Directions
From the Hualien train station, you can reach Ruisui in approximately 1 hour 10 minutes. (Actual travel time depends on the number of stops made along the Hualien-Ruisui route. However, it should not take more than 2 hours). Frequency of the trains is fairly high, with about 1 train running every hour. Train fare may vary depending on the train type.
4. Saoba Stone Pillars
Review
Basically, it is two stone pillars where the origin remains a mystery. Till now, no one knows where it came from and how it was transported. You can see the Ruisui farm from the Stone pillar location. The cool part is that , the pillars are relics of the “Beinan Culture” dating back to the late new Stone Age era, which goes back around 3,000 years. So imagine, you’re looking at Stone Pillars that have been there for 3000 years , woah.
Directions
We were advised to take a cab as we wanted to visit Ruisui farm, Saoba Stone Pillars and Tropic of Cancer. Our taxi driver commented that tourists usually just come to take photos and awe at the mystery. The uncle at tourist visitor centre, he told us to check rates with the taxi drivers at the Ruisui Huoche Station. Our route was first, The Saoba Stone Pillars, then Tropic of Cancer and finally Ruisui Farm. Saoba Stone pillars and Tropic of Cancer are near each other.
5. Tropic of Cancer
Review:
Every summer, on June 22, the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer. This “shadowless” effect that takes place at noon is the Tropic of Cancer’s unique astronomical phenomenon. We were told by the taxi driver that usually tourists come here to snap a photo, that’s all.
Directions:
TAKE CAB!
6. Japanese styled area behind Hualien Hospital
Review:
We stumbled upon this area, it was behind Hualien Hospital, you have to climb the bridge and you will see it on the right. Apparently, it used to be a Japanese area. Ain’t sure if the people still live there.
Directions
7. ZiQiang Night Market
Review
i think this nightmarket is better than the Shilin Night Market as it has no underground food court so it is more airy. Not so cramped. I will do a review on which food is a must try in each region.
Directions:
Refer to the hualien map provided above (:
8. Nanbing Park
Feedback: We wanted to go but the locals told us that it is no longer a tourists attraction and discouraged us from going
We took a package tour, one way from Hualien to Kenting where we visited a number of scenic destinations
9-14. Package Tour
Review
I liked all the places that was on our route, except the 水往上流 which felt very lame to me. Just go there see the water flow in the opposite direction of gravity. By right the water should flow down due to gravity but it didnt. So that was the mystery there. But i didnt really felt mystified , it was like uh, can give it a miss.
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