After getting back from Macau, I piled into a car with some friends and headed off on a road trip of Taiwan. We took four days and worked our way down the east coast, before heading back up.
The first day we headed to Hualien, this involved a lot of mountains, and due to Chinese New Years, a lot of traffic in places as well. The views from the highway though are gorgeous. The next morning we tried to go over to Taroko National Park...which for some reason wasn't opening until 3 pm that day. So sadly I have yet to see that, still. We went over to a beach area instead and hung around on the shore for a little while before heading out.
Taitung was our next stop on the list. We tried out one of the resort run outdoor hot springs, they are a great thing in Taiwan. For US$3-$10 depending on the establishment you can soak in cold, warm, and hot pools. The one we went to had a warm area, that had many jets and whirlpools. After soaking our worries away, we grabbed some lunch from the hotel restaurant nearby. Then it was onward to our final destination. Here we stayed at a small villa-like hostel. We went into town for some Thai food. There were a lot of go-cart places we thought about trying, but most were closed by the time we finished dinner.
Our hostel brought us our breakfast on a tray, so we made a little picnic on the floor. Afterwards, it was off to the Kenting National Park to take in some ocean waves. There are some amazing views off of the cliffs there, as well as some nice places to dip your toes into the water. We wandered around the main strip of town after our gazing of the ocean. We got pasta at a small restaurant where a big dog kept me company the whole meal. Sadly when we finished our munching at a few other places in town, it was time to get into the car and drive home. 7 hours later, we were back in Taipei and facing the reality of the work-week coming up. If only I were back in the sunshine again.
