Due to the topography of Taiwan, it seems most of the highways are a mix of huge bridges between mountains and long tunnels that cut through the mountains. Some of the tunnels I was going under were so long taking up to 20 minutes of driving before seeing daylight again.
Yilan
When I arrived at Yilan, I parked at a 7-Eleven to get a cold drink. While I was in the store, a lady on a motorbike came past and put what I thought was a parking fine on my windscreen. I couldn’t believe it, I had just parked there for 2 minutes to get a drink and in that time I had got a fine. I later found out that it was just a ticket to pay for parking (after a friend helped me translate it), and that I only had to pay 10 NTD (around 0.48 AUD) at a 7-Eleven (yes you do everything at 7-Eleven in Taiwan) for the parking.
Next since I had no idea what there was to do in Yilan I decided that I would book in at a hostel and ask the reception. I created a booking at a hostel called ‘Central Woods’. When I got there I was quick to ask where I can park as I didn’t want to get another (what I still thought at that time) fine. The receptionist gave me the one spot right out the front of the hostel, the valet spot. It was quite a sight to see a Tesla parked in the front of a hostel like that, so I got a great photo of it. The hostel reception advised me to go to Waiao beach and to the top of a nearby mountain to look around – looking back at my search history I think he was trying to tell me I should try paragliding off the mountain but there was a slight language barrier, so I didn’t quite understand at the time. I then proceeded to go buy some dumplings for lunch at a local restaurant before heading to the beach. On the way to the beach, I came across one of the most detailed temples I had ever seen. I stopped to take some quick photos before continuing my journey.
Waiao Beach
When I got to Waiao Beach, I was quite surprised to discover that the beach had black sand. It was quite pretty, with some large rock formations at one end of the beach, and surfing at the other end, with mountains in the background. Earlier in the day while hiking up Mount Keelung, I had gotten quite sunburn and developed a tan line that showed where I had my camera strapped around my neck. I think some of the locals found it quite amusing as many people were staring at me and I did see some taking photos. At one point there was a couple getting professional photos taken who appeared to be models for something. When I walked past the photographer turned to be blatantly taking photos of me and smiling at me. It was at this point that I realized that I was the only foreigner at this beach.
Mountain Driving Around Yilan
After leaving the beach I drove up the mountain suggested by the. The roads leading up to this were really fun to drive on filled with hairpin turns, straight aways and many other interesting features and views. Occasionally the road would go off the side of the mountain onto bridges that curved around the outside which enabled for unobstructed views of the beaches and oceans surrounding me. The roads reminded me out of scenes from a show I like to watch called Initial D based in Japan.
Luodong Night Market
At night I went to the Luodong night market to look for some street food to eat for dinner. At the market I felt highly immersed in the local way of life, especially since there were no other foreigners there, although it did feel a little overwhelming. None of the signs were written in English and I could not read a single character on any sign. The strategy that I typically adopt in situations like this is to just look for the longest line and join it. After doing an entire lap of the market I joined the line at a restaurant selling some kind of meat (looked like chicken) on a stick. While I was waiting in the line, someone behind me started trying to talk to me in Chinese, but I could not understand what they were saying. Then they talked to me in English, which shocked me a bit as I didn’t expect it. They just wanted to ask me if I was in the line, but I was happy because they were able to help me to order and find out what I was about to eat.
They were also tourists, but they were from Cantonese speaking Hong Kong, so their mandarin was a little limited, but they were able to figure out that it was chicken on a stick and is a popular food used for offering to their religious leader. They warned me that the meat was quite unknown, and they did not know what types of chicken meat they were using to make them, but I was quite unphased by this and decided to try it anyway. When I tried it, as expected, it tasted like chicken.
After I finished my chicken, I bought myself some Xiao Long Bao which was so delicious, and then decided I would try to order some juice. I happened to kind of know how to order juice in Chinese as well as a few basic fruits, so I went to the nearest juice stand tried it out by saying “你好请给我一杯菠萝果汁” (nihao qing gei wo yi bei boluo Guozhi) which I am still not even sure is correct, but I think means “Hello, please give me one cup of pineapple juice”. The lady who I was speaking too look so shocked but then nodded her head and replied “四十块钱“ (si shi kuai qian) meaning 40 NTD (around 1.9 AUD). When I got the juice, I had a satisfying feeling of “wow it worked” although when I took my first sip, I realised something must have gone wrong as while the juice had pineapple, it also had carrot in it. This wasn’t an issue as I still enjoyed the freshly made juice.
