Goodbye Hualien and back to Taipei!

January 7- We definitely enjoyed the morning at the Sea-Hi B&B (Betty, Dad and I watched the sunrise, Paul went for a morning run, Susan and I walked over to the rocky beach with these huge cement blocks, ate breakfast) before we headed to the train station to ride back to Taipei.

Here is the Sea-Hi B&B with its big grassy area (the ocean was behind me when I took this photo)

Closer shot of the Sea-Hi B&B. We were on the rooms on the left side of the photo

View from the deck by our room as the sun rose above the Pacific from the east

Dad getting some hot water for a quick cup of hot tea at sunrise

Rocky beach with the huge cement blocks

Me with my morning cup of coffee

Susan doing her morning workout... =)

Family photo before departing Hualien

Train ride back to Taiwan

When we arrived back in Taipei, we headed to my uncle's house. Since it was Susan and Paul's last day and they were flying out later that evening, we had to make sure to squeeze in walking over to the location of Mom's old house. Our uncle lives in the same area, so it was easy to see where they used to live when they were kids, visit her old primary school, and see the streets that she used to walk in as a child. Her old house is no longer there, and is replaced by a modern building. There were a few "Japanese style" homes still left standing, but most have been replaced by new buildings.

Mom and uncle at the location of their childhood home


Walkway by mom's childhood home

Mom's former junior high school

Mom's old elementary school

Picture with Susan & Paul's friend Fanny. She was such a wonderful woman and took care of us when we went to visit the National Palace Museum

Hunting for surfboards...

January 6- After another lovely breakfast of rice soup with shredded pork, green beans, steamed buns and eggs, we headed south in the Space Gear. Our hope was to hit some beautiful beach spots, allow Paul some time to catch the waves with a surfboard rental, and maybe stop at a few villages and hot springs. Much to Paul's disappointment, although the surf was good, the Taiwanese felt that it was too dangerous and wouldn't rent out any surfboards. Who would have thought, with all the beautiful coastline! We did end up stopping at some hot spring resorts, but since none of us had swimsuits other than Paul, and they wouldn't let us stick our feet in, Paul had to go in by himself. That was kind of a bummer because we couldn't even enter the area and had to watch from the sidelines!

Paul's overall thoughts about surfing in Taiwan =(

It really was a gorgeous drive and we made it into Hualien in time to catch dinner at the shabu shabu place again! If we had a few more days, we probably could have done a few additional stops. Next time! That evening, we stayed in a lovely little minsu (or guesthouse) called the Sea-Hi B&B. The owner was also very nice. He welcomed us in, got us settled into our rooms and then brought us some hot tea. We had booked two rooms, and each of our rooms were 2 floors, so in each room, one of the beds was up in the loft area, which was nice. It really was a pretty neat minsu with an oceanview and a lovely yard area to sit, relax and drink some tea in!

Taroko Gorge-ous!!!

January 5th- Taroko Gorge! I woke up early and enjoyed the fresh air- it was such a beautiful day and the setting of the B&B was really nice (among mountains and very green). Once everyone woke up, we had a good breakfast of rice soup, shredded pork, yams, etc. Paul and Adam weren't feeling it, so they made it into an "oatmeal" by adding a bit of sugar on it. It gave us a good laugh.



It was a fabulous day to check out the park- it wasn't crowded at all since it was right after the new year and people had returned back to work. The sun was out for most of the day, with just a little drizzle right at the very end before it rained for most of the night. We did a couple hikes, went through some very dark tunnels, and overall had a great time! Overall it was a fabulous day!






Taiwanese people are very cautious, because we saw a ridiculous amount of warning signs everywhere we went! Below is just a sampling of the many we saw!

And finally, a fun little video showing how absolutely dark the tunnels are!! I had read that in a guidebook but simply forgot to pack the flashlights in our backpacks before flying out.