Trip report on Hualien

Our recent trip to Taiwan included a first for me; going to Hualien. For some reason even though I lived in Taipei for about 2 years, I never got around to going to Tarako Gorge. We arrived late by train, and took a taxi to the hotel, which was much farther from the station than I had expected. The other shock was the taxi driver charging extra for two small carry on suitcases in the trunk.

The hotel itself, C%26#39;est Jeune, is run by some very friendly staff who seem to be familiar with dealing with some foreigners coming through, though at the time we were there, we saw only one other foreign couple, Italians I believe. We unfortunately found out due to the train we had booked for returning to Taipei (4:40 pm) the next day that we couldn%26#39;t do a regular gorge tour (though have to wonder why the staff didn%26#39;t answer two earlier emails I sent, though I made a mistake sending them only in English. I realized afterwards that I should have included Chinese translations as well). To our surprise though, booking a taxi was almost the same price (I don%26#39;t know if the tour included lunch or not, but the tour was NT 980/person, the taxi worked out to be NT 2000 for 9-4 pm).

That night, we walked over to a local restaurant famous for beef ball soup, very cheap and piping hot. We then walked quite aways to the night market, which turned out to be a disappointment as it seemed mostly geared for young teens with many games of chance and very few booths selling items. There were of course booths selling food, but with my wife%26#39;s stomach problems in Bali, we decided not to risk the stall treats.

We were wondering if Hualien has been doing poorly with the booming economy in Taiwan. The city itself mostly seemed run down, especially the area near our hotel, quite a contrast to modern Taipei. Some buildings were roofed with mere corrugated metal, akin to shed roofing. Other buildings looked very dilapidated and extremely dirty. My wife commented that the buildingings looked like ones in Tokyo some 60-70 years ago! As a contrast, the people in the town are extremely friendly (though I have found that to be true in most of Taiwan) and generally helpful.

We tried to get some more money from an ATM as we needed to pay the taxi driver the next morning directly since we were not booking through the hotel. We had used most of our cash buying train tickets in Taipei directly through the ticket machines as the volunteer told us it%26#39;s easier and quicker to check the availability of the seats (I had asked my wife about buying them earlier, but neither of us had realized that the end of the western year is two holidays in Taiwan). Was impossible to get seats together going down to Hualien, but remember we were buying tickets the same morning of our departure. We managed to sit together anyway as some seats, though supposedly booked, were open.

Crunch!The ATMS in Hualien wouldn%26#39;t accept any of our credit cards! We were told at the convenience store where we tried using all of them (and also later at the train station) that the ATMS there in Hualien only accepted credit cards issued by Taiwanese banks. Oh well, we hoped we%26#39;d get another chance to get money, as we barely had enough to pay the driver with some left over for lunch.

The next morning our taxi driver arrived early.

Our taxi driver was worried that we couldn%26#39;t communicate well with him since he couldn%26#39;t speak Japanese or English (and we can%26#39;t speak Mandarin very well, at one time I could speak it a bit, but now I have pretty much forgotten much of it), but it was fine. He was very familar with the gorge, and allowed time for us to walk some portions (my wife with a problem knee is not a big hiker, so it was fine) and take pictures at several points. Fantastic views and we fortunately encountered good weather (no rain, it had rained the night before).

One odd thing was first he took us to a coffee shop for lunch in the gorge, which was overpriced but had an English menu (200/meal w/ drink). We said instead we would prefer Taiwanese food and went to a regular restaurant near the Grand Formosa Hotel in Tiansiang. Not that expensive, but pretty average food. A bit cold though as the restaurant doesn%26#39;t have any front wall or door, just an open front (the coffee shop was the same).

We then surprised him as we said we didn%26#39;t mind leaving earlier (at 2 pm instead of 3) and had him take us by the beach on our way back to the station. He also stopped at a jewelry shop as well, but since I nor my wife is interested in jade, we passed on buying anything. He did also stop at a sweets shop on the way back, so my wife was able to stock up on gifts for relatives. Very reasonable prices at a chain store, and very helpful staff (they looked desperate for customers, but they allowed us to sample almost everything in the store, one could gain a lot of weight there).

We arrived at the station about 30 minutes early, where I had a coffee while my wife did more shopping (with the little cash that we had left). Of course our first stop back in Taipei was hitting an ATM where my wife%26#39;s card worked like a charm.

Definately recommend seeing the gorge, and if you have time, stay overnight or do some hiking and take a taxi back later. Some nice hikes abound, but some do require permits.

Trip report on Hualien

Do you have a website for C%26#39;est Jeune, or did you book through an agent?

Trip report on Hualien

We booked through booking.com.