Life as we don't know it

Travel Throwback: Hualien, Taiwan

Thursday, October 10, 2013 @ 10:47 AM PERMALINK

In the spirit of joining in the #throwbackthursdays fun, I've decided to start doing travel throwbacks.

Now that I have a full time job and am confined to a fixed number of days of leave (not a large number, might I add), I have no choice but to dig deep into the recesses of my mind to siphon out my happy memories of traveling to add a little spark to my days.

(This may be a little dramatic considering that I just took another 3 days leave to go to Merbok in November. To be fair though, those 3 days were the last few I had left)

I had decided to go to Taiwan on a whim. It just seemed that everything and everyone was pointing me towards it, so that's what I did.

I enjoyed Taipei but Hualien really took my breath away.

We went on a dolphin watching tour and were lucky enough to see a large group. It was really spectacular to see them interacting with each other in their natural environment.

As it is with nature, it really depends on your luck if you'll get to see any dolphins. While checking into our minsu, we met a couple who they shared that they had gone out to sea the day before and weren't able to spot any.

One of the guys that worked at the hostel we stayed at in Taipei mentioned that dolphins usually stay away during typhoons and come back in full force after that. This happened to coincide with the period we were visiting Hualien. Lucky us.

Like us, many tourists use Hualien as a base point to explore Taroko National Park. Taroko National Park is beautiful.

The stark granite landscapes and crystal clear blue water were unlike anything I've seen before (perhaps partially because I spend most of my time in built up concrete urban areas) and it was a refreshing change from the usual tropical rainforests we are usually exposed to.

We stayed with Hualien Bay Minsu and I can't imagine a better place to stay. The land the minsu occupies is massive. In fact, the picture you saw at the top of this entry was taken in the backyard of the minsu.

Even the scenery surrounding the minsu is beautiful. You'll really have the sea in front of you with mountains at the back. There is even a plot of undeveloped land at the side of the property where you can spot fireflies. It is just the most perfect place to stay for city dwellers like me.

The owners Mr and Mrs Chen took spectacular care of us. They drove us to and fro the train station (even though there was a last minute hiccup and we arrived hours late), settled the booking of our dolphin tour and Taroko tour guide, ensured that we were very well fed, drove us down to the night market, brought us to buy fireworks and even invited us to their personal BBQ to celebrate Mid Autumn Festival.

And finally, here is a picture of us in helmets cause.. Helmets always make you look funnier when they aren't being put to practical use.

Actually, the helmets are practical considering that the area is known for rockfall, so don't be too cool for a helmet if you are there okay?

Happy Thursday everyone. Just one more day til the weekend.. Hang in there!

Labels: dolphin watching, Hualien, Taiwan, Taroko National Park, travel, travel throwback