Taiwan Trip 2015 (台灣30天環島記) - Day 5: Fulong Beach 福隆海水浴場， Old Caoling Bikeway 舊草嶺自行車道, Hualien 花蓮 (Blackbear Hostel, Tzu Chi University 慈濟大學)
Since I was thoroughly crippled I had to made immediate changes to my plans. Initially I wanted to visit Luodong (羅東) township and visit the Mei Hua Lake (梅花湖) but had to scrape it because it involved a lot of walking. Instead I headed back up north towards Fulong which was about a 40 minute train ride away from Yilan city. From Taipei city itself it's about an hour plus.
I didn't really plan or research much into this area. All I knew was Fulong was popular for its beach. So after hopping off the train station, placed my luggage at the locker (NTD 50), I then started to wander around. Unfortunately since it's winter now when the weather is cold and with huge winds, not many people were around. The visitor centre was also closed so I had one less source of information. I wanted to take the Taiwan tour bus to visit slightly further places but I had already bought my train ticket down to Hualian 花蓮 and I only have about a good two hours here in Fulong so that was a no go too.
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| Red flag indicating the waters are not safe to swim in the weather |
Anyway, while I pondered what should I do with my available time, I made my way to the Fulong beach. A fee of NTD 40 was required to enter the beach. The unique thing about this place is its huge beach area hence it can cater a large number of visitors at once. The beach area also separates the river and the ocean. Saw some locals just casually fishing around. Certainly a more happening area during the warmer days with tourists swimming around and building castles with its vast area of sand.
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| Huge beach area |
As I headed back to the main area, I saw a few bicycle rental shops for rental and went in one of the shops to ask where could I cycle given that I have only about one hour left in the area.
He then suggested I could cycle towards Caoling Historic Trail (草嶺古道), or if I was more adventurous, to try out the old bikeway which encircles about 20 KM of the coastline as pictured in the map below which could be done in under 45 minutes if I used an electric bicycle. I immediately jumped at his idea, paid NTD 200 for the rental and rode off. At first using the electric bicycle was tricky as it was quite similar to a motorcycle. You have to be careful with the grip as a twist too much could cause the whole bike to fly away. Having said that, max speed for the electric bike is between 25-50 km/h so no licence required.
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| Taiwanese university students doing their graduation photoshoot |
There are ample signboards in the vicinity to ensure bikers go to the right place to start off the cycling trail. The starting point of the trail was at the old train station tunnel which had been converted to a proper bicycle trail. Only bicycles are allowed in here. No walking or motorcycles.The whole tunnel was about 2 km long and it was really fun to breeze through.
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| My trusty bike |
From the end of the tunnel, the bike trail then cuts into the main road and brings the cyclist along the coasts. There are dedicated bicycle lanes so cyclists need not worry being run down by vehicles. Really amazing work here by the Taiwanese government to promote cycling.
Along the coast the scenery was magnificent with the ocean really close to you. If you take the train from Taipei to Yilan you would also pass by the scenic view. It was really cold as well cycling under such conditions but I thoroughly enjoyed. Most of the people here were using proper bicycles and I was the only one using an electric bike.
Apart from just cycling along the coast, there are actually various tourist spots to drop by to visit and explore, like some light houses or temples, but I didn't had the time so I just cycled past. Below is a picture of a primary school facing the ocean, they say it is the school which has the best view in Taiwan and I agree.
Waves are really huge that day but some locals can be seen standing dangerously on the rocks fishing, completely oblivious to waves hitting on towards them. Not sure if they were doing this for fun or to put food on their table but really hats off to them.
I was really getting nervous as time passed. What if I don't get back in time? Well, worse case scenario was missing my train I guess. My bicycle was also starting to make funny noises with its horn blaring none stop and I was also worried that it will run out of battery half way then I was really screwed. But thankfully, I managed to make it past the finishing point in time and returned the bike.
Fulong is also apparently famous for their lunch box (鐵路便當) with a few dedicated shops just right outside the train station. There were also staffs waiting at the platforms for train users to just hop out and get a box to eat as well. This was my first 'bian dang' in Taiwan as well after 5 days here. But honestly, all bian dang's taste roughly the same and the choices are quite limited compared to what you get for our mixed rice/nasi campur back in Malaysia. Also they tend to have more ingredients compared to rice. With lunch settled I then hopped on the train and then moved on to my next destination - Hualien.
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| Cycling trip |
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| Pork chop set. NTD 60 |
This time round I stayed at Blackbear Hostel nearby the front exit of Hualien train station whereas 3 years ago I stayed nearby the back exit at Hualien 11 Hostel. The hostel was about 15 minutes walk away from the station (could be faster if I had a healthy leg). Most of the hostels that I chose for the trip are mostly under 1km away from the main train stations so I did not have waste unnecessary time and energy commuting.
This hostel is being run by older folks so there’s this lack of backpacker’s hostel feel. I stayed at the 1 bed in 10 beds dorm, which was surprisingly quite big with lots of space to move around at the price that I paid for (RM91.13 for two nights). There was ample room on the floor to leave my luggage around and overall the whole place was really clean. The only downside was there is only 1 toilet per room so I had to potentially share the toilet with a lot of people. Thankfully there wasn’t many at that time so there was not much of a competition to fight for toilet usage.
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| Home for two nights |
After settling down all my stuffs
I then headed to Tzu Chi University to visit some of my friends who were there
for their electives. I only just found out after one of them left a comment on
my Instagram haha. Small world indeed. The university is at the back exit so
you have to purchase a platform ticket just to cross over (NTD 60). What a rip
off. At Yilan train station crossing over was FOC. My friend suggested that I
see a doctor at the hospital next door to attend to my wounds. But I decided
not to after looking at the queue as there were many more patients with much
more serious injuries than me lol. There is also a big Jing Si Tang (静思堂) in the compounds with a really
nice Jing Si Café.
After waiting for her to finish
her class, she brought me to have dinner at the university’s canteen. The food
here is all vegetarian (obviously) and it’s really, really cheap. For the meal
above it only cost NTD 250 in which she generously treated me. First free meal
in Taiwan yay! All the students here have to use their own utensils so I had to
borrow a bowl from one friend and chop sticks from another. Nice experience
nevertheless. Back in my own university my canteen food is even more expensive
than hawker centres outside. Ridiculous.
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| Yummy vegetarian food |
Since I did not have any plans at night in Hualian, my friend then brought me around to explore the university’s campus. One of the highlights was the library. Personally I think this was the quietest library I’ve ever been too and you could literally hear a pin drop. There are even signs everywhere reminding students to be mindful of their own footsteps so we walked really carefully and gently. This is a Buddhist university after all and its values are incorporated throughout the campus.
We then left the campus to hunt
for some of the nice street foods. Our first stop was this stall selling
Mongolian Crispy Biscuit manned by an aunty. Basically it’s like roti canai
wrapped with meat and vegetables and tasted quite nice, especially when it’s
still crispy and hot. After that we moved on to try a bubble milk tea store (叮哥茶飲). I
really liked the milk capped green tea. Realising our stomachs were too full to
take in anymore food, I then bid my friends good bye and headed back to my
hostel. What a long day indeed, considering how badly I injured my foot I was
still able to walk this much.
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