day3: hualien

monday, 3/31/2008:

unfortunately, i always have a late start to the day. after getting up and getting ready, i realized i might not make the 10:30am train to hualien, so i waited to leave for the train station to take the 12:18pm zi qiang hao to hualien. the trip takes 3 hours, and on the way i ate another bag of lucky snacks and a bottle of kiwi juice i bought at a convenience store before boarding the train. one comment i have about trains (and this is true about the greyhound type buses in taiwan too) is that it is good that they have bathrooms, but it seems like a lot to ask of me to squat and aim for the "toilet" while the train/bus is jostling around. luckily there were no mishaps. and there was a sink and toilet paper!

i arrived in hualien at 3:20pm, and promptly went to the visitor information center that is in a building to the right of the train station as you exit out the front. although i didn't need it, i will have to say, the guy tending the info center has excellent english. he suggested some places that i could still visit by foot for the rest of the day. i walked to my hostel, formosa backpackers hostel, which took about 15 mins. after getting situated at the hostel, i headed back out into the city. my first destination was pine garden, which turned out to be a building on top of a hill. it was after 5pm by the time i got to pine garden. i guess i didn't set out from the hostel immediately after i got there, and the walk to pine garden was somewhat long and, honestly, kind of miserable, since it was drizzling. at one point i started to go up a somewhat steep hill that was also curving. i happened to be on the inside of the curve (on the left) and there was no sidewalk. the sidewalk was on the other side of the road, but i was too scared to cross the street to get to it, and i knew that pine garden was going to be on the left. as i tried to stay in the minuscule shoulder of the road, a ton of bicycles with middle school and high school boys came streaming down the hill. seems kind of scary! it was drizzling and the road was curved and they were just on the road and it was steep! most were two on a bike. some bikes were also in pairs, joined by having one biker holding onto another biker's shoulder. i finally made it to pine garden, and after going up that hill, at least there was a nice view of hualien, especially the harbor (picture). i think that was more worth it than the pine garden building itself. since it was after 5pm, the exhibits were all closed except one, which had all these household items made from banana tree trunks. the coolest was the cloth that was made from the fibers of the tree trunk, and the clothes made from the cloth. they weren't like, o these are made from bananas, they were quite fashionable! next it was back down the hill and i had planned on going to the night market by the ocean. but i got a little lost, and when i asked for directions, the guy made it sound like way too far away to walk. another day and i would probably have gone anyway, but i was already tired and it was not the best of weather, drizzling on and off. he suggested i go to the street of stone art craft, which was a little closer, and that was next on my itinerary anyway. ...not that it was too close either... on the walk to stone street, i thought i was lost again, because i had to walk through a part of town that didn't seem to have much going on, and it was dark by then, so i was somewhat uneasy, but alas, i kept on going and finally got to some neon lights! street of stone and art craft is basically a square, which is lined on two sides by many many small stores that sell stone jewelery and other stone crafts. hualien is known for its chrysanthemum stone, which is cut from fossilized coral (i think). this has a beautiful effect, with many patterns that look like flowers! these stones were really, very beautiful! most of the stores were similar, but every rock is naturally different and also cut different, so i spent quite a while sifting through all the stores and ended up buying two chrysanthemum stone pendants and a pair of coral bead earrings, each item at a different store. i had gotten to the stone street earlier than planned because i didn't go all the way to the night market, so i kept walking around the square until 8pm, at which point there was an aboriginal dance show. in the middle of the square is a small stage with a bunch of stools in front, and apparently there is a dance show there every night of the week. the dancers looked to be about high school aged and i thought they did a pretty good job and were pretty enthusiastic. at one point, when they were doing a bamboo poll dance, one girl's foot got snapped by the polls and she fell and twisted her ankle. one of the guy dancers that was on the sidelines for that dance immediately joined in and danced the girl part (because there weren't any extra girls), not a beat was missed. at the end they were selling these yarn braided headbands, a simpler version of what the dancers wore, for 50NT (~$1.50), and kept on saying how it was money to contribute to these kids students school fees, so then i got suckered into buying an ugly headband, but i was pretty impressed that these kids came everynight to perform (i'm sure it's not always the same kids), so i figured the headband was worth it, since the show is otherwise free.

in hualien i had also contacted a tour buddy! she had suggested the hostel i stayed at. she had classes during the day, but we were supposed to meet around 6pm! my uncle had lent me his cell phone to use during my trip in taiwan, and somehow, i'm really bad at using that phone... anyway, somehow i never answer any calls. my tour buddy and i finally got a hold of each other shortly before the dance show was about to start, and she came to meet me at the street of stone art craft. we watched the show together. then it was about 9pm, and i had been walking around the entire evening, since about 4:30pm, except the hour i had been watching the dance show. the idea of walking across town back to my hostel was quite depressing. when i saw my tour buddy, her little motorcycle, and the extra helmet, i was REALLY relieved. we went to eat. she took me to gong zhen bao zi, a wellknown shop in hualien for eating xiao long bao (little steamed meat filled buns). they were pretty good. then she took me to get pearl barley ice...which sounded REALLY GOOD, but i was kind of cold, so i opted for the hot version, pearl barley soup, which was still really good. it was nice chatting with my tour buddy. i had walked around by myself all night so it was nice to just sit, relax, eat, and chat with a new friend. then she took me back to the hostel.

the first night at the hostel i stayed in the private double room, which i thought was a good deal at 1000NT (~$30). the room was japanese style, everything on the floor, nice hardwood flooring, and very cute. i had a great night's sleep, finally in my own room after sharing a room and twin bed with my cousin for the past few nights!

WORTH SEEING: street of stone art craft

WORTH EATING: gong zhen bao zi's xiao long bao, i bet the pearl barley ice would have made this list

full set of pictures at picasa!