Day 2 - Road trip from Taipei - Keelung - Jioufen - Hualien

Travelling date: 10th December 2018

I'm so much behind schedule in recording my trip to Taiwan in this blog. In a blink of eye, it's more than 2 years since we last visited Taiwan. Okay, we woke-up quite early in the morning on 10th December to get our rented car from the car rental company, Hotai situated in one of their branch in Taipei downtown Daan. The car, a white Toyota Vios was ready for pick-up and we took it back to the Airbnb apartment to collect our belonging. It was raining all the way from Taipei to Keelung where we targeted to stop for lunch. The drive on Taiwan's Freeway only took an hour to reach Keelung from Taipei.

Infront of our homestay in Da-an District

Keelung City is a port city near Taipei, in northern Taiwan. Surrounded by mountains, it is known for its sheltered harbor. Near the waterfront, there are street-food stalls at Miaokou Night Market that offers Taiwanese traditional snacks and seafood. There are several forts around the area including a hilltop Ershawan Fort where it has cannons and a Chinese-style gate, Gongzi Liao Fort and Dawulun Fort that offers view over the harbor and ocean which makes it worth to visit. However, the rain didn't stop when we reached the city. To make atter worst, we couldn't find any halal meal restaurant in the city. As a result, we had to leave the city with heavy heart with no food and no photographic record at the fort city apart from a photo below that I snapped where I stood deciding whether to wait for the rain to stop or proceed to the next destination.

Keelung Port city, a photo that I shared from the web

Using a google map, we found the only halal meal nearby at the At-Taqwa Musolla and Restaurant located in Rueifang  district. It was half an hour drive from Keelung. We straightaway adjourned to fill our stomach and stopped for prayer. The place is run by the Indonesian, a bit cramp and small. Thinking that it's gonna be hard to find a halal meal in Hualien, we get the chef to cook a fried rice to pack for our dinner. After all, we were the only customer presence at that time. I discovered later that mining was an important industry in Rueifang in the early 20th century whereby gold was mined in Kyufun and Kinkaseki while coal was mined in Kau-tong. I'm sharing below one of the photo download from the web and the few we took while standing in the rain not far from where we parked the car.

Rueifang town

Posing in the rain in Rueifang town

Thereafter, we adjourned to Jiufen which is a mountain town in northeastern Taiwan, east of Taipei. It's known for the narrow alleyways of its old town, packed with teahouses, street-food shacks and souvenir shops. Near central Old Street is the Shengping Theater, established in the 1900s and since restored. There is also the Gold Mine Museum close-by that traces the town's history as a mining hub during the Japanese-era gold rush. I've seen how beautiful Jiufen is from the tourist shared photos in the internet. However, we couldn't take even a single photo outside the car as it was a heavy downpour when we are about to park. It was a bitter moment when hubby asked me whether to proceed or to wait. I had to give-up, snapped below photo and deeply crying when our car turn toward Hualien city. What a day to remember.

What I captured

What I expected to capture... photo shared from the web

On our way to Hualien, we stopped for toilet cum coffee break at a huge supermarket in Su-ao Township. We bought a lot of foods including Ipoh Old Town Coffee (amazing right to find the product from your own country) for breakfast and snacks in times of emergency. The journey to Hualien through the coastal road was amazingly beautiful although it was raining throughout. We passed so many tunnels, a single and dual carriageway which reminded me of my time in SMART tunnel from 2002 till 2007. My Gamuda colleague were visiting Taiwan tunnels before we began our tunnel construction too.

It makes me a proud Malaysian seeing these on the rack

I couldn't share the video footage but I hope this single carriageway tunnel shot is suffice for now

Hualien City is situated on the east coast of Taiwan. The town has a few other attraction such as the Central Pine Garden, a cultural center set inside a former Japanese military office. There are also the Hualien County Stone Sculpture Museum that showcases contemporary and traditional stone carvings and the Tzu Chi Cultural Park, a tranquil green space decorated with statues and a meditation hall. The town is facing the Pacific Ocean coast, where you may find a Nanbin Park that features a popular night market. On the other hand, the apartment that Syahirah booked was very nice even though it was located on the 3^rd floor without a lift. We arrived quite late in the evening and did not take much luggage to the apartment, instead an important items and a clothes to change into the next day.

Us, 2

We had dinner and headed out to explore the Hualien city views at night which was beautifully light up. Hualien city is a famous place for shopping, especially sports related item. My husband has enjoyed his time here so much. Let see how happy he was, able to shop in this city.

In my opinion, Hualien is a really good place to stop and stay a night as you may explore it’s nearby beaches and a must visit destination, Taroko Gorge National Park which we didn’t manage to include in our touring list due to time constraint. You may also admire how the sea and sky merges at Qingshui Cliff located around the southern part of the Suhua Highway. Qingshui Cliff is a collection of coastal cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. There is a scenic viewing area along the Suhua Highway where most tourists will make a stop at on the way to Taroko National Park where one can easily spend close to half an hour at.

I'm sharing the last 2 photos above that we we took at the homestay we stayed in Hualien. Last but least, among the tourist attractions in Hualien is its Dongdamen Night Market, a small Al-Falah Mosque seated in a shoplot area (you may find halal meal and a place to pray here), County Stone Sculptural Museum, Cultural and Creative Industries Park, Martyrs' Shrine, Railway Culture Park, Pine Garden, North Beach Park (Beibin Park), South Beach Park and Night Market (Nanbin Park), Meilun Mountain Park and a few others. You may explored than should you are in Hualien town.