Taiwan - Part I : Taichung, Central Mountain Ranges, Hualien ~ The Voice Within

Who says you couldn't survive in Taiwan if you do not know Mandarin? I think I’ve managed to pull through pretty well, even with my terrible command of the language.

This was a comeback visit. Been to the island some 6 years ago. Well, the airline was having this flight promotion and so we immediately jumped on the chance for another short vacation. Not that short actually. 9 full days to be exact.

So, where did we go for that many days? All around, of course! Did some research, identified some places of interest, looked through tens of available hotels and homestays, asked for a driver and wah-laa, off we went.

Taichung City

Right after touching down at Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei, we were being picked up by our ever friendly driver – Na Jie, and whisked us right away to Taichung city, which as the name suggests, in central Taiwan.

The journey was roughly 3 hours and all throughout, Na Jie was very enthusiastic in describing Taiwan’s culture to us. She was such a pleasant woman, and part of our experience in Taiwan was made more memorable by her. She didn’t see us as tourists who were there to snap some pictures and then leave. She treated us as friends and took us to see Taiwan from a local’s view. She brought us to places far from the tourist commercial areas and her recommendations on stays and food have been excellent by far. She took care of our well-being and had made sure that we were comfortable during our visit. We were very lucky to have met her acquaintance.

Taichung city was just a brief stop for us to spend the night. We had put up at CityInn Hotel Plus Taichung City, which had cute room designs for typical tourists like us. Prices were reasonable for basic hotel amenities.

We did had a brief walk at one of the largest night markets in Taichung city – Feng Jia Night Market. It was nothing exceptional to us – you’ll realize that all night markets practically sell the same items, unless you have not been to any.

Central Mountain Ranges & Hualien City

From Taichung city, it was an overwhelming 7 hours drive to Hualien city, through the mountain ranges, which names I couldn’t recall due to the myriad of them. The roads were steep, narrow and winding. I was getting car sick and restless at the same time and Na Jie had been very insistent in continuing the journey.

Boy, I should thank her for her insistence. For the view was absolutely stunning! One wouldn’t have the chance to see them if they were traveling by train. It seems as though we were in Switzerland - the land of my dreams. Now I wouldn’t have to travel that far, Taiwan will do!

random biker

I was in mini Switzerland! At one point, at a certain peak, we were shrouded in mists and the car that we were in seemed to be heading to heaven. I was behaving like a little puppy, with my head out the window and the wind in my face, trying to lick the clouds. :)

We eventually got to Hualien, a county with wonderful views – with one view to the sea and another to the mountains at the back.

Our first stop was at Pine Garden – a Japanese styled building which served as a military office back in the Japanese Occupation Era. Well, the main attraction were really the pine trees surrounding the villa and the view from the highest point of Hualien city. You’ll get what I mean.

It was close to evening when we made a stop at Chi Shing Tan beach. Not a sandy beach but a pebbled one. It had been relaxing walking along the pebbled shore with the sun setting in the distance. The moment would have been perfect if not for families and kids screaming in the waters. Well, it is a public area and it was the weekends. Crowds were flocking the place just to have selfies taken. We couldn’t wait to get out of their way.

Oh, we put up the night at one of the hundreds of homestays in the city – Flower Heart Bed & Breakfast. It was a real adorable place, which was what caught our interest. We didn’t stay long enough to enjoy the facilities. We checked in kind of late in the evening, showered, crashed and left on the first light the next day. You’ll know why soon.