On Monday the 27th I took the train from Kaosiung to Taitung. The view outside was mostly countryside, often with the sea and mountains visible. It got dark towards the end, so I'm not sure what the last part was like. I got into Taitung in mid to late evening, and took a taxi from the train station into the city centre (Taitung's new train station is for some reason outside the city proper). I didn't have a hostel reservation for that night, but planned to try the hostel anyway and to use one of the cheep hotels listed in my guide book if the hostel was not available. As it turned out the hostel was easy to find and had space. However, it was entirely luck that I found the manager at all; she turned out to not usually be at the hostel, but happened to come by when I had been standing by the door for only a couple of minutes. View from the train View from the train

Taitung is very small, and has a lot of park right next to the city centre. The day after I arrived I took a long walk through Black Forest Park, along the beach, up the path along the old railway, and in Liyushan Park. Black Forest Park (or at least what I think was Black Forest Park) is a large area just to the east of the main part of the city. It includes some lakes, and connects up to the beach. The beach stretches back from there along the water in front of the city, and in some places has some more park behind it. The old railway path starts at the old train station (which unlike the new station is located conveniently right next to the city centre), and goes several kilometres inland following the disused train tracks. The farther parts of this are more or less in countryside, but along the way there are a few café type places. Liyushan Park is a wooded hill near the old train station, with trails (mostly stairs) and good views of the city at the top. View in Black Forest Park, including a fighter jet Part of a park in Taitung, looking toward the beach The beach at Taitung Along the old railway path in Taitung (the building is not the old station, but might be an even older one) Farther out along the old railway path in Taitung A view from farther along the old railway path in Taitung A view from mount Liyushan over Taitung

One unusual aspect of Taitung is that fighter jets from a nearby air force base train over the city and parks in the morning (and also the evening according to my guide book, though I didn't notice as many then). While I was there they mostly seemed to do loops passing over the ocean, part of the city, and Black Forest Park. Sometimes there were several planes in formation, but mostly it was single jets looping one after the other.

The next day I visited the National Museum of Prehistory. This was ok but not great, because the exhibitions often don't feel quite complete (this may be due to limitations of the English labelling). However, it was still interesting. It had displays on geography, archaeology, and the aboriginal groups.

While I was in Taitung I finally managed to photograph some of the lizards that occur around here. I've seen lizards before, especially in the south, but mostly they move too fast to photograph. There are also some smaller lizards, but I haven't managed to photograph them. A lizard A lizard

Taitung was a great place to spend a couple of days. I could easily walk a few blocks from my hostel to get breakfast and then a few more blocks to go eat on the beach.

On Thursday the 30th I took the coast bus to Hualien (there are two major routes between Hualien and Taitung; one bus line goes along the coast, while another bus line and the train go through the valley between the coastal and interior mountains). The bus took most of the afternoon, so I got to Hualien in late afternoon and found my hostel. I explored a little bit in the remaining part of the day. Fortunately I ran into a German women I had met in the hostel in Taitung, along with another German traveller she had found. She was also vegetarian, so we went and found food together. A view somewhere along the coast between Taitung and Hualien A view somewhere along the coast between Taitung and Hualien

The day after I arrived in Hualien I went to Taroko National Park (quite close to Hualien) by bus. I initially went to Tiansiang, a village part way into the park, and walked back along the road from there to the park entrance, sidetracking to a few of the easy side trails. The main attraction in the park is Taroko Gorge. I assume it is the gorge the main road goes through, but I was never entirely sure. In any case, both the main road and most of the side trails run through deep gorges, largely in marble. Rocks along a stream in Taroko Waterfalls and a foot bridge in Taroko In a tunnel leading to a side trail in Taroko Part of a road and a foot trail (above the road) in Taroko Part of a road in Taroko Part of a road in Taroko Part of a road in Taroko Part of the main road in Taroko A pagoda in Taroko Along the Tunnel of Nine Turns, a foot trail in Taroko

I stayed one more day in Hualien so I could explore the city properly. Hualien also has a lot of parks in the city, though they aren't quite as convenient as those in Taitung (possibly just because Hualien is a larger city). There is a park along the beach (although for most of the distance the beach itself is not accessible), with a bike trail continuing along the waterfront near the port, and trails and green space along the river. There is also Meilunshan Park, on a large hill with views of most of the city. The park covers most of the hill, but there is also a military installation at the top. Part of the waterfront in Hualien More of the waterfront in Hualien Looking back towards the city from near the waterfront in Hualien, including Meilunshan and the dome in the military base Riverside trail in Hualien Trail and view in Meilunshan Park in Hualien

I also visited the Tzu Chi Campus. This is the main centre of the Tzu Chi Foundation, a charitable organization which (at least in their own description; I don't know much about it otherwise) does a lot of work around the world. The main visitor attraction here is the Still Thoughts Hall, which I gather is used mostly for training volunteers, but the campus also includes a hospital and a university both run by the foundation. While the foundation is Buddhist, they have no problem working with other religions and seem to have a number of volunteers who are not Buddhist. My tour guide was apparently Catholic, and spoke very passionately about the organization. The Still Thoughts Hall on the Tzu Chi Campus in Hualien

One distinctive feature of Hualien is the stonework. Since the area produces a lot of marble, sidewalks (and I think buildings, although I didn't notice it as much) are often in relatively fancy stonework. There are also a number of stone sculptures throughout the city, and quite a few more in the grounds of a cultural centre. There was also a stone sculpture museum by the cultural centre, but I didn't go in. Random stone sculpture and sidewalk in Hualien Stone sculptures outside the cultural centre in Hualien

Overall the east coast was a more attractive place to visit than the rest of the country. The cities have more green space (although this may partly due to smaller cities), and there are quite a few accessible national parks. There are also more travellers including a number of English speakers, especially in Hualien, and people seem more used to tourists. In Hualien there were even people outside the train station trying to convince me to come to their hotels instead of my hostel. I would have liked to see more of the national parks, but decided it wasn't worth trying to work out the buses in the time and budget I had left (the alternative to the regular buses is organized tours, which were more expensive and didn't really interest me anyway). The east coast apparently also is relatively multicultural, with a large aboriginal population. This mostly wasn't very visible to me. There were a number of aboriginal sites around, but I didn't go to any; they were largely either relatively inaccessible or quite touristy. The cities seemed to be trying to recognize the aboriginal population, at least with decoration and occasional informational displays. I have no idea if this went deeper or not.

On Sunday the 2nd I took the train back to Taipei. This route was initially similar to the bus ride from Hualien, but sometimes went farther from the coast. After a while the terrain opened up a bit; I think this must have been where the coastal mountain range ended. View from the train on the way back to Taipei