Meta-vacation Strikes Back: Taidong

We took a meta-vacation to Taidong (台東), which is in the eastern part (ha) of Taiwan. It’s pretty far from Taipei, so you know what that means: train ride.

Train!

Pretty long train ride at around 5hrs. Had the traditional pai gu fan (pork chop rice/排骨飯) bento. Pretty good. Eating these kinds of train bento while riding is a tradition in Taiwan (and Japan, for that matter)

Pai Gu Fan Bento

Got off at the Taidong Station. Interestingly decorated with some sort of native motif (Hakka?).

Taidong Station

(Sorry about the green tint of the picture, my camera sucks in less-than-perfect light)

We learned from our last meta-vacation in Kenting that having a car is a really good idea if running around. So we rented a car from a place near the station.

Trusty Rental Car

The trip was 4 days, 3 nights and we went to a whole lot of places around the area. Despite the title, we only really passed by the city of Taidong… but, hey.

First place we stopped by was the Taidong Forest Park (台東森林公園). It’s essentially a really huge city park with a lake and a beach.

Taidong Forest Park

It’s seriously huge. You can rent bikes in the entrance and that’s probably the only way you’d be able to see everything in a reasonable amount of time.

We decided to just walk along one of the bike trails to the waterfront.

Bike Trails

Engrish.

We also stopped by a bunch of beaches, like this one called Xiaoyeliu (小野柳). Of course, when I say “beach” I really mean more “ocean front” than “surf and frolick”.

Xiaoyeliu

These places always have lots of places to walk.

Xiaoyeliu Walking Trail

There was this one really nice waterfront whose name escapes me right now…

Ocean.

Had these inexplicable decorative structures. Like fish.

Spot the person.

And this /\-shaped thing that looks out to the ocean.

Ocean Watcher?

We eventually got to our lodgings, which was this post-modern-ish lodge up in the hills. I really wish I remember the name, but I don’t.

Rows of Lodges

Inside’s really clean and simple. Kitchen room, sleeping room, and bathroom. Tatami sleeping area with futons. Sleeping on tatami’s actually really comfortable, you just have to be careful on how you sleep.

Kitchen Area

Sleeping Area

Since we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere, we had some trouble finding a place to eat dinner. We eventually found this noodle shop called 秋霞麵店 that sold mostly beef noodle soup (牛肉面) and zha jiang mian (炸醬麵), a kind of sauce noodle dish.

秋霞麵店

Tried their zha jiang mian. Not bad, kinda small though. The meat was kinda interesting in that they didn’t use ground pork but chunks of pork instead.

Zha Jiang Mian + Side Dishes

Well, even though we had trouble finding dinner, since it’s Taiwan, you are at least guaranteed to be able find a 7-11, even in the small town of Doulan (都蘭) that we were near. It’s the biggest thing there too.

Ubiquitous 7-11

Next day we visited the nearby Water Running Up Area (水往上流) which always is full of tourists whenever we pass. As the name implies, the water flows upstream inexplicably here. There must be some trick to it, but none of us could figure it out.

Water Runs Up!?

We stopped by this place called Jinzun (金樽) next. Based on the map, it looked like a short walk to the beach.

Jinzun Map

Turns out that short walk is all really steep steps.

Jinzun Steps

Beach itself is huge and empty (probably because nobody is willing to walk down those steps). Probably could walk for miles if so inclined.

Jinzun Beach

Top of the steps (where we started) has this nice cafe that overlooks the ocean. Enjoyed an iced latte there.

Hilltop Seaside Cafe

I don’t have any pictures, but as we were driving, there were a whole bunch of bikers racing up the road. Turns out there was this bike race called the Tour of East Taiwan (花東) with a whole lot of people participating (at least a 100 or so). They go from 台東 to 花蓮 and back again over the course of 2 days.

The fun part is that all the roads there only have one lane, so trying to drive in their direction gets to be pretty dangerous as people are trying to pass each other.

We also visited a much more popular area called Sanxiantai (三仙台). They called the beach there “Pebble Beach” for the reason that… well… the beach is all rocks.

Sanxiantai

See the cool bridge in the background? It’s apparently called the Eight-arch Bridge (八拱橋). Unfortunately, it was in repair when we went and couldn’t cross.

Closed Eight-Arch Bridge

We drove a bit to Guanshan (關山) which has this awesome 12km (7.5mi) bike path which you can see in the map here:

Guanshan Bike Trail Map

Leading up to the area are a whole bunch of bike rental  shops with people trying to get you to come to theirs. We picked a random one and rented some bikes.

Bike Rental

As you can see, they have a lot of different kinds of bikes, even tandems and motored.

The area was pretty popular too, lots of recreational bike riders.

Guanshan Bike Riders

The bike ride is really scenic and pretty varied. Lots of stuff to see.

Guanshan Bike Path

For instance, it passes by a river where you can see water buffalo frolicking in the mud.

Water Buffalo Frolicking

Goes up into the hills too (rather strangely since there’s not many uphill sections… weird.). There’s a midway station up their with fairly nice views.

Hilltop Midway Station

Eventually you make your way back down and ride along the riverbank (along the Beinan River).

Riverside Bike Trail

The other place we stayed at was this really nice B&B in a town called Luye (鹿野). The B&B is called 易日得民宿 and their house is really nice and spacious.

Living Room

We stayed in a room on the 1st floor with tatami and futons. They even had Wi-Fi, which is always nice.

Bedroom

We went to this nearby hot spring that had little individual baths. These things are actually pretty big, probably could fit 2 people in one. Water’s really hot too, so you have to balance it out with the cold water spout on the left.

Individual Hot Spring

Last thing we went to before returning to Taipei was this interesting garden called the Yuan Sheng Garden (台東原生應用植物園). Where they grow a whole bunch of edible herbs and the like.

Yuan Sheng Garden

The place is a huge outdoor garden with a whole lot of vegetables and herbs I don’t recognize.

(Edible) Herb Garden

They also have a small ranch with a strange variety of animals, like ostriches of all things:

Ostrich

Our big draw though was their restaurant.

Yuan Sheng Restaurant

The place is an individual hot pot place but with a twist.

Personal Hot Pot

You go up and grab all of your ingredients, buffet-style.

Hot Pot Buffet

The really nice part though is that they have a whole bunch of fresh leafy vegetables that are grown right in the garden.

Garden Fresh Vegetables

Afterwards, we drove back to Taidong, returned the car, and hopped back on the train for the 5hr ride to Taipei.

Someday in the train.