Hualien, Taiwan.
During my last day in London, I was traveling by bus to the London airport to take a flight to Ireland to begin my backpacking trip. While I was waiting for the bus, I met a couple that told me about couch surfing. I had never heard of couch surfing at the time. Couch surfing, is a online community where people are able to meet and stay with others from all around the world. Travelers can search for surfers in the area they are traveling to and send a message to that person to ask if he/she/they can stay with him/her/them for a night or two on their couch, or just simply meet up for lunch or a drink. The couple I had met that day told me what a great experience they had while couch surfing and highly recommended me trying it during my trip. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to couch surf during my backpacking trip because I didn't know which area I would be traveling to each day nor did I have computer access. Most of the time you need to give people at least a few days or a weeks notice upon your arrival.
Fast forward 1 year
I'm back abroad traveling the world! I thought I would take a chance and try couch surfing. 'Last week, Angela told me I didn't have to come to work until 1:30 p.m. on Monday, so I thought I should take advantage of the long weekend I had and go somewhere outside of Taipei! I decided to travel to Hualien as I've heard the east coast of Taiwan is just gorgeous. It was already Wednesday and I felt it might be to late to find someone on couch surfing to stay the night, but I decided to anyways. I began searching the surfers in Hualien and came across a lady that was 38 years old, and had spent 1 year in Israel. I was very surprised to of found someone in Hualien that had volunteered on a Kibbutz for 1 year. I decided to message her to see what would happen. I wasn't expecting a replay back in a half hour! She had said, her apartment was not available at the moment, but if I didn't mind, I could share a room with her in her house. She went on to say, 'it would be a pleasure to meet me since both of us are new to couch surfing and both traveled to Israel twice.' The end of the message wrote, 'I can pick you up at the train station when I arrive.' My whole face just light up. I was shocked! I thought wow, this is too good to be true. I decided to quickly walk to the train station and ask about train times. After half hour of trying to communicate with the lady at the ticket window, I bought a round trip ticket for 728 NT (about $25) to Hualien! I was soo excited that night!
Saturday, I woke up early and boarded the train at 9:03 a.m. to Hualien! The train ride was 4 hours. The ride all along the coast was beautiful! It was a nice change of pace to see the countryside and get away from the city. The entire way I was looking at the mountains and the Pacific ocean. At 1:15 p.m. I got off the train and walked to the tourist information center where Jessie (the girl from couch surfing), and I decided to meet. Sure enough she was in the tourist office gathering maps for our weekend! I gave her a big hug and we connected right away. We went in her white Toyota to downtown Hualien for lunch. We both enjoyed a bowl of noodle soup (I had green bean noodles, she had rice noodles) while getting to know one another and sharing stories of our time in Israel. After lunch, we went to her place and rode bicycles around her hometown. It was wonderful. She showed me all around the area she grew up in and pointed things out along the way. We rode to the coast where we stopped to take pictures. We also went to the fish market and enjoyed some fresh fish soup. The ride was about 3 hours and afterwards by legs were so soar. It was so windy that day that I had to peddle even harder. We relaxed for an hour until she was scheduled to work at the local pub (8:00-10:30). I decided to go along and walk around the downtown while she was working. Downtown Hualien is very small, but still a nice city center. I think I walked around the city center three times, stopped by this nice street to listen to a band play for awhile and still had a half hour to spare. I went back to the pub and waited for the live music to play; the pub has live music every Friday and Saturday night. It started just as she was off of work, so we listened to one song and then left to go back to her home. Jessie, insisted I sleep in her bed as I was the guest. I told her I didn't want her sleeping on the floor, but she refused. She was so nice to me throughout the whole weekend. That night, I had such a hard time sleeping as my legs were so soar from biking early that day. I finally went to sleep and felt much better in the morning.
Sunday, we woke up at 9 am to travel about 40 minutes to Taroko. Many people come to Hualien to see the beautiful Taroko national park. Before we began our day we stopped at the local supermarket to grab some freshly baked bread for lunch. Her sister had given us fresh grapefruit to enjoy on our trip; Jessie told me the longer the grapefruit sits out the better. We traveled by scooter to Taroko, which was really fun! Along the way, we stopped and took pictures and of course she pointed out everything to me. We ate our picnic lunch at a nice rest stop where their were tables and chairs along the beautiful gorge. It was a magnificent location. Once we were full we hiked one of the many trails in Taroko park. The trail went into the lush gorge and we could see the road from up above. We walked through two dark caves; the caves were so dark you couldn't see your feet or anything in front of you. The trail wasn't very long; it was about an hour total. We drove up the road past the hotels/hostels (there was a church that was made into a hostel) to a place where there were hot springs! We climbed down the stairs for about 10 minutes and there we were at a small hot pool. There weren't many people at the hot springs as it wasn't a marked sight. I met a 26 year old guy, Dennis that came to Taiwan with his family; they were from Singapore. Dennis was very friendly. We talked about our travel experiences and careers. He works at a company that tests air crafts. The hot springs were very hot (apparently the springs can get even hotter in the summer) and the water relaxed my muscles from the bike ride yesterday. We walked back and stopped at a tower where you could climb the spiral stairs to the top. At the top we had a nice aerial view! We continued taking many pictures and riding along the gorge. Her sister had invited us for dinner at a restaurant by the coast, so we decided to head back around 4:30. It was sad leaving the beautiful Taroko. The resturant we ate at for dinner was beautiful, but the entire time we were there (two hours) we were the only ones! It was so strange. For dinner we had chicken soup, squid with vegetables, 2 vegetables dishes (one almost tasted like cooked cucumbers) and my favorite was this fish dish (I don't know the name of the fish). It was all very tasty and we had watermelon for dessert too. We enjoyed a nice stroll after dinner :) Jessie sister's son was teaching me Chinese that evening, it was great!
My train left at 9 am Monday morning. Jessie, took me to the train station, it was a 15 minute drive. It was sad leaving Jessie and the beautiful area of Hualien. I couldn't of asked for a better first experience couch surfing. Jessie was such a kind and friendly host. I was very fortunate to of found her. She made me feel very comfortable and was very pleasant to be around. It's cool how a complete stranger would stop their life and show you around their hometown. I got back to Taipei at 12:15; I took a faster train this time. I made it back just in time for work at 1:30. It was a great weekend. :) After seeing the country side I felt like I was in Taiwan, Taipei doesn't feel like Taiwan at all. Taipei is just one big city. It's hard to imagine what my experience would be like if I took a teaching contract in a small town in Taiwan.
This weekend I'm going to Kenting, the southern tip of Taiwan! Kristin had invited me a few weeks ago. The group we are going with will be about 35 + people! I'm very excited! It should be another great weekend.
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