An Insider's Guide to Hualien
Jean's colleague from Taiwan, Jennifer, insisted on taking us around the island. She is passionate about her country and she explained that to experience Taiwan you must go to Hualien, a smaller city on the eastern coast. Just next door to Hualien is Taroko National Park, a 19,000 hectare expanse that stretches from the Philippine sea to snowy peaks inland. We set off early, catching a 7:20am train - the only symbols I recognized in the departure sign.
The ladies snoozed almost immediately while I stayed glued to the window. The train snaked through the city along the river and then slowly began to climb over the small mountain range that encircles Taipei. This is when the metropolitan ugliness began to fade away. It began to look much more like Hong Kong - with its sharp, green peaks and thick jungle.
Within 30 minutes we'd crossed over the mountains and reached the coastline. The surf was rough - I doubt anyone swims in this part of the ocean without risking life and limb. An hour into the trip we ducked inland a few kilometers and were soon surrounded by rice paddies.
I've never seen anything like it. There were whole towns and cities built amongst the rice paddies. Each house was surrounded by water, only a small road between the paddies connected them to the next house. After two hours we arrived at Hualien.
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