Shawn and Tarisha: Hualien

Woke up early and flew off to Hualien. Literally. We could've taken a train but it would've taken 5 times as long and it wasn't that expensive to fly. So off we went. A half hour later, we had arrived in Hualien and headed to our hostel. Since we arrived at around 2PM, we decided to save Taroko Gorge for the next day and explore the city of Hualien. We grabbed a taxi, got dropped off in downtown Hualien and went walking. We ran into a beautiful Buddhist temple that was holding a ceremony right after we arrived and we stayed to watch for a bit at their request. It was very interesting to see.

As we continued on our way, we did a little shopping and then found the seaside. There were beautiful views of Hualien so we stayed there for awhile to admire the view and of course take a bunch of pictures. Looking at the pictures now, it still doesn't feel real how beautiful everything was.

Our first night in Hualien ended with a visit to the night market. The food was great, Rick and I finally got to try coffin bread (toast that is filled with your choice of filling), and we were definitely pleased with how amazing it was. While Tarisha and Shawn ventured far past what they are used to eating back home in Canada and got... pizza!

Our second day in Hualien was devoted to Taroko Gorge. The pictures speak for themselves. So beautiful and I can't wait to return with my parents, WHEN THEY COME IN JUNE!

After our long and amazing day in Taroko Gorge, we were headed to Kenting the very next day. My mistake was not booking a train beforehand. So when I went to book one that night, there were no more seats. There was standing room but an eight hour train ride standing was not what any of us had in mind. We ended up flying back to Taipei, and taking the High Speed Rail (HSR) to Kaohsiung and from there a two hour bus to Kenting. Finally, we had arrived in the South.