2nd day must be my favourite of the lot. We had a lot of scenic excursions, starting with our bus trip along the northeast coast of Taiwan. Taiwan is an island with mountain regions in its center, hence most of the roads are built close to the coast, providing majestic sights.
My first stop was at Yehliu Geopark (野柳). Natural erosions by the wind and water left many fascinating rock formations along this beach. Here i am posing with the 'mushroom-shaped' ones. My biggest regret of the day was not taking snapshots of the 'candle-wax' ones cos i wasn't able to locate them, but they sure look good from the brochure!
These are the ginger-shaped ones. They really look like real gigantic ginger, even the colour and texture are alike! The red line was drawn to prevent overly eager tourists from falling over the cliff. The waves from the beach was pretty.... it was slamming on the rocks just below, creating jets up along the cliff.
And the most symbolic rock in Yehliu....the Mother of all rocks here...haha....the Queen's head (女王頭). It was predicted that the neck will no longer hold and sometime in the future, the Queen will lose her head. It is still being debated whether they would want to eternally preserve it by artificial means or let nature take its course.
Look! I found my missing slipper along the shore ! Nah, it's another rock formation called the Fairy's Shoes ( 仙女鞋). Looks eeriely like mine huh?
A huge hippo ?
This is Jiufen Township (九份), my favourite town in Taiwan. It was originally a gold mining town. After all the gold had been dug up, the people left and it became a ghost town until several years ago, director Hou Hsiao Hsien made a touching movie with the town as its backdrop. The locals and tourists returned, making the town prosper again. The town of Jiufen is high up on a hill, and the sleepy and lazy town has a unique charm to it.
There were only several small streets up there, with this one being the busiest one. The streets were small and cosy, and it's a slow uphill climb but you don't feel the slope because you're just too busy soaking in the atmosphere.
The quieter area of Jiufen.
After having lunch, we took a public bus to the nearest train station ( down from the hill). We took a scenic coastal train ride all the way to Hualien. We crossed endless rivers and went through countless tunnels with a matching seaview...nice! Pity it was insanely cold in the train...
Another pity i visited the Taroko Gorge (太魯閣國家公園) right after a typhoon. The originally blue river had turned all muddy....really really disappointed because the Taroko Gorge is the MAIN natural attraction in Taiwan...the number 1 on the must-see list when going to nature attractions in this country. The weather in Hualien was cloudy, so the photos just turned out depressing.
2nd day must be my favourite of the lot. We had a lot of scenic excursions, starting with our bus trip along the northeast coast of Taiwan. Taiwan is an island with mountain regions in its center, hence most of the roads are built close to the coast, providing majestic sights.
My first stop was at Yehliu Geopark (野柳). Natural erosions by the wind and water left many fascinating rock formations along this beach. Here i am posing with the 'mushroom-shaped' ones. My biggest regret of the day was not taking snapshots of the 'candle-wax' ones cos i wasn't able to locate them, but they sure look good from the brochure!
These are the ginger-shaped ones. They really look like real gigantic ginger, even the colour and texture are alike! The red line was drawn to prevent overly eager tourists from falling over the cliff. The waves from the beach was pretty.... it was slamming on the rocks just below, creating jets up along the cliff.
And the most symbolic rock in Yehliu....the Mother of all rocks here...haha....the Queen's head (女王頭). It was predicted that the neck will no longer hold and sometime in the future, the Queen will lose her head. It is still being debated whether they would want to eternally preserve it by artificial means or let nature take its course.
Look! I found my missing slipper along the shore ! Nah, it's another rock formation called the Fairy's Shoes ( 仙女鞋). Looks eeriely like mine huh?
A huge hippo ?
This is Jiufen Township (九份), my favourite town in Taiwan. It was originally a gold mining town. After all the gold had been dug up, the people left and it became a ghost town until several years ago, director Hou Hsiao Hsien made a touching movie with the town as its backdrop. The locals and tourists returned, making the town prosper again. The town of Jiufen is high up on a hill, and the sleepy and lazy town has a unique charm to it.
There were only several small streets up there, with this one being the busiest one. The streets were small and cosy, and it's a slow uphill climb but you don't feel the slope because you're just too busy soaking in the atmosphere.
The quieter area of Jiufen.
After having lunch, we took a public bus to the nearest train station ( down from the hill). We took a scenic coastal train ride all the way to Hualien. We crossed endless rivers and went through countless tunnels with a matching seaview...nice! Pity it was insanely cold in the train...
Another pity i visited the Taroko Gorge (太魯閣國家公園) right after a typhoon. The originally blue river had turned all muddy....really really disappointed because the Taroko Gorge is the MAIN natural attraction in Taiwan...the number 1 on the must-see list when going to nature attractions in this country. The weather in Hualien was cloudy, so the photos just turned out depressing.
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